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to wrap...

my sister's soon to arrive first baby in....

A small but soft bit of luxury, that is still to be blocked but is at last, off the needles.

Cashmere with a knitted bound edging that I hope will lie flatter once I get a bit of steam onto it. At the moment it is a bit too bouncy and curly for my liking.

This was a blanket that constantly evolved as I knitted. I started off with the idea in mind of it being mostly the soft linen colour with just one stripe of pale pink on it somewhere.

Then it was going to have a simple pink tipped ruffle instead, about two thirds of the way up. By the time I was halfway through I had decided that I wanted it to feel and look a little like an old favourite sweater- hence the small band of Fair Isle. I had to ponder the edge finish for a while as I wanted to keep the overall feeling simple. After seeing this blanket, I decided on the knitted bound edge.

Hope the baby likes it...we'll find out in just a few weeks.

I am just a little bit excited.

Just a bit....

ink, paper and thread...

add a little glue and you are well on the way to making a book.

Day one of the embroidery workshop yesterday and our first exercise was to make a book with a decorated paper and fabric cover.

One of the aims of the workshop is to use hand and machine embroidery and to work beyond your usual boundaries. My natural inclination would be to stop here, or at the most add a little texture and depth to the body of the cover using (most probably) white thread so that it blends into the background. Maybe a small amount of blue or even red thread for contrast but nothing too alarming.

Do I stick to my usual aesthetic ( simple and fairly minimal) or try to do something different - maybe add some shocking colour or bold texture? The materials requirement list included beads, buttons and lace to embellish the cover.
All of the above which are still sitting quietly in my workbox. All around me there is a riot of colour, texture and embellishment happening. Lace, crystals, heavily stitched surfaces.

I have already taken the bold step of messing up the surface of the accordion pages I am going to stitch into the book.

Crumpled, ink stained and torn - quite a world away from my standard clean ivory pages.

Embellished or unadorned?
Need to think about that one.

chasing my tail...

it feels as though this is what I have been doing for the past six months. And not very successfully, I might add. There are still boxes to be sorted through and two rooms to be organised.

If I focus too much on the things I haven't managed to get done, I get quite frustrated and annoyed. So, possibly more useful to look at what I have achieved so far.

I started this last year, just before I began packing to move to the UK. All it needs now is to weave in the end( artfully hidden in the photo) and lightly block it.

 

A simple charcoal cowl....
I decided halfway through knitting it, that it would be perfect for a friend,so the fact that it is summer here and rather hot isn't really important.
It is my own pattern ( if you can call it that) using a Jo Sharp silk,alpaca and merino mix. I find that this type of knitting suits me perfectly - in the round, so no seams to sew and a few cables to make me feel a little bit clever without trying to hard.

This little girl is now sleeping from around 7.30 pm until 4.30 ( or 5.30 on a really good day) - which is quite something,considering she was waking every two hours and needing attention( mine!) back in January.
It certainly hasn't been quick or particularly easy but I held firm to my resolve to avoid the controlled crying regime and I think we are both the happier for it.
Now I have to work on going to bed a little earlier so that I can catch up on a little missed sleep.

My big girls are trundling along quite nicely as well - all good here.

If I can work out what is happening with my broadband connection ( painfully slow to the point that I can feel myself aging as I wait for pages to load), I aim to start posting a little more regularly. Once every month or so does not a good blog make. 

See, glass half full kind of stuff.

What I have done, rather than what I haven't. That would be me, Pollyanna all the way.

Tail is in sight. At least I think that's my tail.

three things to celebrate...

I am celebrating my second Mother's Day this year ( I joined in the UK celebrations too).For the first time in  about 20 years, I was able to make my own mum a cup of tea on Mother's day and take it to her in bed. Quite a novelty for both of us.
To all of the mothers, motherly types and  to anyone who has ever stepped up to the plate and filled the role of a mother - enjoy your day!
You are special, you are needed and most of all you are loved!
Happy Mother's Day!
( I used the same words last year and the year before- for me it says what I want to say simply and perfectly. I will probably post exactly the same thing this time next year as well.)

 

The little boy for whom this is being made has arrived safe and sound, half a world away.

Welcome to the world Billy, and happy Mother's Day CJ!

The project is progressing well except that I have run out of blue thread.

The online store that I ordered it from is waiting for more stock as well....I will have to be patient or try to find another place to buy the same shade thread.


Last but not least- a birthday portrait of me taken by Charlotte.

This was one of the years that my birthday coincided with Mother's Day - we celebrated with a yum cha feast (dim sum here) in London's Chinatown and a tour of London for my Mum. Loads of fun finished of with cheesecake and a glass of champagne.
Perfect.
(Now, if I can just hunt down some more thread....)

stitch by stitch...

 

I have always been tempted by the beautiful vintage French linens on offer on EBay- however the cost of shipping to Australia meant that I only ever window shopped.

When I saw this piece of linen and cotton ticking up for offer I just couldn't resist it- and shipping to the UK is not quite so scary.

Perfect for making a present for a new baby due to arrive next week - heavy and textured, yet with a lovely soft handle.

 

I've had the fabric for a while and a vague idea of what I wanted to do with it.

At last I have cut into the fabric and started to stitch. I'm still not quite sure where it is headed but I am enjoying watching the design slowly appear stitch by stitch.

Unplanned yet thoughtful;patterns taking shape under my fingers almost without me having to think about it.

Not the way I usually work at all.

I like it.

another (small) elephant...

Much to their delight, Rose and Charlotte have been invited to be flower girls at a wedding, two weeks before we leave.
So instead of thinking about boxes and cold weather, I have shifted focus to pink embroidered silk and pale green frothy tulle...

I am using a pattern from a favourite Japanese book...

As it will be hot here (hopefully!), the girls will be minus the top and the leggings, with a singlet top instead.

(Fabric details - embroidered silk  and pale green tulle from Tessuti fabric)

any excuse...

to stop sorting and packing for a while.
This time I was meant to be sorting through my wool stash, deciding what to take with me, what to store and (gasp!) what to give away. However once I stumbled across a single ball of Noro (actually the only ball of Noro I have ever purchased) it was game over as far as the task at hand was concerned.
I have a Teva Durham pattern  for a Lace leaf scarf  that I had purchased long ago but never found a reason to knit up - now I had a ball of wool and a reason to give it a whirl.

I then came across this post over at the purlbee and decided that I am going to alter the pattern and add a keyhole closure like the one shown. I have also made the neck part twice as wide so that it will actually keep the neck warm! I think it will be perfect for one( or maybe both) of the girls.
Next up on the list of Things to Sort are the art/craft supplies.
I'm thinking that might take a while and a good quantity of tea.

the first quilt I have ever finished...

and Rose slept cuddled up under it last night...which me feel a bit warm and fuzzy.
(And then I finished picking  up a few  more stray bits of cotton and headed back to the machine.)

keep on snipping...

It's birthday month in our house and I decided that I wanted to make the girls a quilt each for their birthdays. I have seen raggy, shaggy quilt on a few favourite blogs along with comments on how quick and easy they are to make. And so I began.
Easy - yes, I have to  agree with that.
Quick? Well, the sewing part is relatively fast but the seam allowance snipping? I can only do a few seams before my hands start cramping up so it's been a few seams here and a few seams there. I have almost finished so it will be into the wash and drying hopefully before the weekend. Because that's when it's Rose's birthday. And then I have to get started on Charlotte's quilt.
 Lucky for me that Grace has a while to go before she starts asking me where her quilt is....

( Linen from Quilter's barn)

almost a wrap...

stumbled across the pattern for this cache coeur a few weeks ago on Ravelry. Quick hunt through the stash to find some Jo Sharp Silkroad aran in Ricepaper and it was on the needles.
Only a few rows to go before I can sew on the buttons and get small Grace to model it.
Wonderfully simple to knit - thinking about making one in a darker colour...charcoal maybe to balance out all of the red and pink in her wardrobe.