A Lockdown Project (Round 2)

 

Earlier this year, I came across this photo in my instagram feed.  I immediately feel in love with the colour, the flowers and the texture from all the beading and embroidery on the fabric.  It took a little while to track down a stockist in New Zealand, so when I did, I purchased two fat quarters of fabrics designed by Sally Kelly from her Fantasy collection, all the while intending to embellish it one day.

Fast forward to August, and another lockdown due to Covid, and I decided to pull it of my stash, then sort through all my embroidery threads and beads to see what went with it.  I was quite delighted to find I had a lot of coordinating threads, cos I don't know when Aucklanders will be able to get to real shops for colour matching.

So now I'm having a little bit of fun, deciding what to bead, what to stitch and what type of stitches to do.  I"m not sure if it will get turned into a cushion cover or bag just yet, but it's bright and cheerful and makes me happy.  That's a good thing at this time.

Stay home, Stay safe.  Kia kaha.

Things Here Lately

• I've started another wool felt applique project, mainly to see how felt and embroidery applique works on a fabric background rather than a felt background.  Very much inspired by the colours I used in my needle book and the fabric I found in my stash for the vase, this will be a cushion based on The Still Life pillow in Wendy Williams book,Wild Blooms and Colourful Creatures.

• Speaking of books, all three above have been read and thoroughly enjoyed. Nora Roberts' novel, Under Currents,, tackles the gritty subject of domestic abuse.   Daisy Jones and the Six,  is set in the late 70's about a rock band, written in an interview format with each band member answering questions the story is told.  Very much the sex, drugs and rock n roll era,  I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this novel.  The Strawberry Thief is the final book in the series that started with Chocolat.

• Even though it is winter in New Zealand, the hibiscus shrubs in my neighbourhood still flower.  This one caught my eye on a particularly foggy morning walk.

• I took myself into Newmarket this morning, this is an upmarket suburb of Auckland, so very interesting  for people watching, and it has beautiful shops to browse and dream in. I could have spent a lot of money on some beautiful dresses for summer.  Ostensibly I went in to purchase a little bit of fabric from Centrepoint Fabrics  in the last days of their closing down sale, of course I had to stop at a nice cafe for sustenance. 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Things Here Lately

Autumn is well and truly here now, although it has been very mild and pleasant outside, evenings are still a little cooler.  Here's a little bit of what I have been kept busy with, and enjoying over the past couple of weeks.

• The quilting plan for my Hexie pillow cover has changed.  Last night I decided the quilting I had already done just wasn't me.  Luckily I hadn't done any more since this post, so it didn't take to long to unpick.  Some tape for stitching guides was applied, a brighter thread used, and voila, a finished pillow top.

• Miss B celebrated a birthday last week, I made her a Spiced Honey Cake using this recipe.  Quite mild, not overly sweet, though I could quite happily sit there and scoff a bowl of the icing myself.

• Some good books have been read.  I especially enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing.  I have noticed that a lot of my reads this year are based on strong female characters set in the times of WW2.

• I had a quick trip on the train to Drapers fabric the other weekend.  The greenish/black fabric is tencel and is in the process of being turned into some culottes.  The navy cupro is probably destined for the same pattern, and I couldn't resist this animal print viscose which will be a top of some description.

• My tamarillos are slowly ripening.  My tree is quite laden and with them currently priced at NZ$12.99/kg in the supermarket I am quite pleased to be able to enjoy lots of them this season.

Wishing you all a wonderful May.

Another Day in Devonport

My second Sunday in Devonport.

I walked and explored side streets today, that led to beaches with stunning views of Rangitoto Island, wonderful old houses and interesting architectural details.  Flowers always catch my eye. Yes the sky really was this blue too.

I spent a couple of hours at the movies at New Zealand's oldest operating purpose built cinema and watched Collette, and then had a little spend at Cushlas Village Fabrics.  I'm planning on using the bright Kaffe Fasset fabric as the binding on my Carolina Chain quilt.

Weekends will be back to normal now, so normal sewing and quilting posts may resume.
Have a wonderful week ahead.

Things Here Lately

Some of the random makes, happenings and finds from the past month:

• My Carolina Chain quilt is progressing well, possibly some of my medium fabrics are a little bright, but I figure this will be a really cheerful scrappy quilt, with lots of interesting fabrics.  It's destined to be donated to my local Hospice when it is finished.

• The other weekend I took advantage of one of my favourite fabric stores having 50% off everything and bought some fabric.  The top fabric is a silk/viscose and is going to be made into a top, the middle is a cotton/linen  is destined to be some shorts (pattern has been printed and assembled) and the bottom cotton print will be a dress of some description.

• This large moth (about 2") was resting on my mailbox for a few hours one day - I haven't identified it properly but after some time on google, I am thinking it is possibly be a type of Kawakawa Looper moth.

• Some pretty blooms from my garden - Dietes Grandiflora and a tropical Vireya

• Pretty piles of quilting fabric make a good resting and hiding place for Meeka - not that there is a lot of room on my cutting table at present for her either.

Eight More

Well that's another month completed, bringing my total of Ice Cream Soda Blossoms to 32 now.

I never realised how many floral fabrics I had in my stash, I haven't used the same fabric twice yet, I'm trying not to use solids in these blossoms, but am finding the inner kites hard to work out sometimes.

I bought some fabric (Jennifer Paganelli's Austin in green) to use as part of their quilt backing over the weekend - it just seemed a perfect match, and a pretty box to store them in, much better than the plastic bag I had, now they stay flat.

I'll be having a little break from these now, I must make my felt Christmas decorations in time for Christmas and finish my AMH quilt top.  October goals!!