Happy Birthday to me!

It was my birthday on Tuesday, and to celebrate I have bought myself two new Bower Beads: a kookaburra and thylacine stripes. These are designed by Tasmanian jeweller Ruth Waterhouse. I love Ruth's designs and have a few of her pieces. I purchased the beads at Sargisons in Hobart.

This photo shows the detail on the back of the kookaburra. So beautiful! I am loving these beads: the detail, the weight of them and how they feel on my wrist. Delicious.

Lavender bags and some knitting for the cold

June and July are big birthday months for me, and here are a few gifts I've made. They are all cross stitched and filled with lavender. My new cross stitch obsession was inspired by this beauty. The piece above is actually tiny and the picture below gives you a sense of the scale. I loved stitching this, though the small stitches were right on the edge of my capabilities without any magnification to give me a hand! I used a cream Semco 25ct evenweave, with one strand of DMC over one stitch.

The scale of these two is much larger and a lot more rustic with coarser linen and two strands of floss over two stitches. The floral pattern is from this lovely book, and the bird is from a vintage knitting graph I found on the web a couple of years ago. Happy birthday Kate, Anne and Lou!

Last, but not least, here is a balaclava in 8 ply New Zealand merino. I've been wanting to knit one for the past two winters, but have only just got around to it. We have had some cold mornings here in Hobart, and a couple of weeks ago I decided it was easier to walk to work than defrost the car. I really wanted to wear the balaclava, but I look quite scary in it, so decided on a beanie instead. This will have to wait for an appropriately chilly bush walk. The streets of Hobart aren't ready for it!

I've been home from work the past three days with a bout of labyrinthitis, but am starting to feel a bit better. I'm off out to dinner tonight with a couple of friends. We will try and get a table at Garagistes - this is our second attempt. Wish us luck!

A Bevy of Cushions

I have been making new cushions for my couch: getting rid of the old hippy style green florals and replacing them with blues and reds and woolen checks. I found the embroidered tree at an op shop years ago - so much work and someone gave it away! This is an old beloved cushion and the linen is starting to wear. I will need to unpick it, mend the linen and then resew it.

The largest cushions are wool - from second hand kilts and op-shop fabric. I unpicked the kilts and gave all the pieces a hot machine wash to slightly felt them. I particularly like the blue and beige check. The needlepoint floral is a piece I stitched thirty or more years ago. My grandmother taught me how to do needlepoint and bought me the kit. The piece sat unfinished in the cupboard, to be discovered and finished many years later. I backed it in velvet and filled it with feathers. I finished the red check cushion this afternoon. It's just two squares sewed together without a fancy closing - I just sewed the opening up with an invisible seam. Because the wool fabric has been pre-washed in hot water, I can throw the whole cushion in the washing machine and know it will come out ok.

This gorgeous piece of fabric is Kristen Doran's 'Winter Nest' panel. It has been waiting patiently in my old oak filing cabinet. I had thought to incorporate it into a smock, but think the cushion does it better justice - it is on permanent display rather than hiding in the wardrobe.

The back is red and cream cotton ticking, bought from Spotlight a few years ago - such a pity I can't get this anymore.

There is something quite uplifting and energising about changing things around the house. Sometimes I go around re-appraising all my stuff and getting rid of anything I wouldn't buy now - looking with fresh eyes and ruthlessly giving things away instead of hanging on to things 'just in case'. The op-shops benefit from my donations and I end up feeling lighter and relieved of the past.

I can't believe the weekend is almost over. Where does the time go? Time now for some soup for dinner and then I'll settle in front of the tv for the next installment of 'Downton Abbey' - an addiction after only one episode!

A curtain for the bathroom and a new hat

I finished painting the bathroom window a while ago, and here is a little curtain I made to cover the ugly metal vent at the top. I used a sheer linen for the background to get a see-through effect, and the little birds are from scraps of fabric I had in my stash. The finished curtain is lovely and light, and floats gently when there is a breeze through the window.

The flying birds are from Kajsa Wikman's beautiful book 'Scandinavian Stitches' - I'm glad to be able to bring a little Syko delight to my bathroom!

And here is the blue beanie made from Michael's Christmas handspun. It has turned out well. I ran out of yarn, but managed to find a similar weight in my stash to finish the top - you can just see it in the picture. The border is 'Saxon Braid' from Nicky Epstein's 'Knitting on the Edge'. There is small typo in the pattern, so keep your wits about you if you ever use it. I ended up writing out the pattern in long hand so I didn't have to continually reference the abbreviations. I've used this braid in other projects - it's a bit of a favourite.

A Finished Quilt!

Here is my finished Verna quilt, professionally quilted by the Quilted Crow ladies in New Town. They did a wonderful job and I'm thrilled with the quilting - but now it's done I don't like it any more! I loved the fresh and citrus colours as I was piecing it, but my tastes are moving more towards reproduction fabrics and classic reds, pinks, blues and browns. More of that to follow in another post...

 Here's a close up of the beautiful stippling, and the plain binding.

Here's a good view of the different fabrics. I haven't washed the quilt yet, but have been assured that it will crinkle really well. It's not very soft at the moment, and would hopefully soften up after a few washes. Postscript: My dad popped around with an early birthday present - a new heater for my little flat - and I have given the quilt to him. He loves it!