Feathered Star Pillow

As promised yesterday a finished pillow. It didn't take long to whip it up into a pillow this morning as all the hard work had been done.
After making this my friend dropped round with bottle in hand  so a little celebratory drink happened..any excuse will do. After she left I whipped up another feathered star top in just the central material (Kaffe) and some grey linen background and I enlarged it to 140% Which makes the new top about the size of a Europe pillow The size of the grey cushion below. I'll show that another day.

Pillow works and spoon

This is a piece of driftwood that I picked up in Burleigh Heads on our Queensland holiday. Salted and roasted in the sun to an ashen grey on the outside, The wood is light and dry and when the outer layer is peeled back this spalted wood appeared. Pity about the hollow track a little deeper in. So after further shaving and much time...this grey and bent spoon appeared. I decided to keep the bend and the thickness of the wood in the handle with a tiny wee scoop up top.  Big enough for a spice spoon. That being said I later decided to chop the length of handle in half so it could be used for that purpose. Now to find a piece of pottery to accompany this spoon's character

The shorty version below doing a balancing act.  I can make a baby sister to match with the other half of the wood.

And just because I dont have enough interests at the moment I decided to join a pillow swap on instagram organised by Little Island Quilting. For years I have loved the feathered star pattern and thought this would be a good opportunity to try it out. I would never make this in a quilt , too many fiddly bits, but a pillow is manageable. I must admit that I find joining points trying and my first attempt has lots of faults in the sewing execution but I still like it.

Fabric selection

Playing around with the pattern by  feathering the inner triangle. My accuracy is hit and miss in some of the the strips.

Needing to make the pillow bigger I added triangles

Continue with the teal blue background... no..

Throw in a few more pieces of fabric and this is my first top

What to do with all the left over scraps? A start of a scrappy quilt?

Tomorrow I'll show the quilted version of the top but I haven't photographed it yet . Maybe by then the pillow will be constructed. Then I can make the real pillow (Without all the missed seams) I also thought I would enlarge the feathered star a bit so that I dont have to add extra strips to make a  large enough pillow.
Always plenty of options. Do you think this pillow fits in a vintage theme - this is what my swap partner has asked for. It certainly is a vintage pattern. Oh well I have plenty of time to play with ideas
See you soon. Cheers

Belated Monthly Mosaics

October 2015

November and December 2015

Just The Neighbours

These guys have been raiding the fig tree next door and seem to be getting used to my presence to a certain extent. They've been particularly cheeky and flying low and swoop past on their trajectory into the trees.

January Finishes

 I bought this framed vintage car in an op shop and immediately thought about tearing it out of the frame and making a boys baby quilt out of it. Thank you very much to the maker, whom has painstakingly cross stitched this for me. Colour Inspiration- check, center focus - check , and left over triangles in brights already cut for me. Easy Peasy.. rip up an old sheet and quilt made in two afternoons. Got to be pretty happy with that! I put a running tacking stitch in red to give a little interest in the zigzag. One down , two girl quilts to go!

I riffled through all the bits of printed cottons I had and started whipping up cushions. Some I have crocheted edges to, others left simple.

I have also eco dyed some cloth to get leaf imprints on the fabric . I have then echoed the eco print with either a eucalypti flower or the actual leaf shape. 

 And more printing
magnolia flower and seed pods

Fan shapes

That's my crafted lot!

Berry Nice

Looking at my arms tonight I see the shredded aftermath of blackberry picking. It made me think of Pink Floyd s song Learning to Fly,,, torn tied and twisted.. well that's what my arms are, but the words are tongue-tied and twisted. Pink Floyd really are fabulous story tellers and project a sense of dream in their songs. Blow you away at least until you are comfortable numb. A balm to the scratches and scars of life, drift to the echoes of drum and guitar on a river of words and music. FaBULOUS  stuff and worth a revisit.

This is not what I expected to be saying about blackberry picking.
The picking, besides the barbs of the thorny bushes, is quite a serene event. I pick on the side of the road as cars go whizzing by. I dress for the occasion and look an awesome sight..... Said she in jest. I have this old long sleeve shirt in orange and thorny plucked jeans that I wear every time. The orange is so that if I fall in the bushes and disappear, and IF someone comes looking for me, I'll be easy to find.... all torn and twisted covered in blackberry stains and torn to shreds! I take a step ladder with me now (Well I did the last time I went ) and will never go without it again. It's amazing the berries you can reach with a little more height. The best of the bush is always out of reach ... but not anymore. Four and a half hours of picking...five buckets of 2.2kg each...major haul! I have now filled every jar I own with jam and have collected mum's supply of jars for jam making. I am also freezing berries and feeding the family fresh berries. And it is only the beginning of the season. More picking on the way providing the weather is not too hot and I can escape for the day!

 A rose amongst the thorns~thistle beauty

I love how the trees are supports for the brambles and berries drape from the trunks and branches. I'm sure its not ideal for the trees but it makes a pretty picture and ideal growing area in the shade for the berries...bigger berries

These berries were ripe the next time I came picking... just waiting for me!

Jam recipe here

See you soon!

The First

Alrighty!  A third of the month has past and not a word have I uttered...Firstly the warmest and best wishes for the new year. Better late than never, and you know I loves ya!
Do you want excuses or should I just get cracking into to this most informative post that i am producing.
Much and little has happened.
Generally I think my life is ho-hum , just the general day to day stuff. Time whizzes by and I dont seem to do anything and then....yep, you guessed it, chaos and heightened activity (particularly when family arrive for Christmas) and there arent enough hours in the day to get it all done.

The first of the year started off very early. My youngest had a cracking  start at the cafe ' in Brighton with a 0630 hours start. Although my husband did volunteer the early morning drive, i was awake anyway and took her. Seeing as i was already up with the birds I decided it would be a good idea to take some photos down at the Patawalonga River.

A very serene start to the new year or so you would think by looking at the glassy waters below

An early morning stretch to limber up and dry of these damp feathers

Not so serene looking to the south. Bushfires once again burning but in the opposing direction to Decembers fires. Makes for a hazy sky in such heat.

 Still not bothered!

Look to the left

Now look to the right

Sifting through the mud for a feed

And a more exuberant neighbour

Idle gulls

Preening duck

Oh how mortifying to be caught on camera!

Im guessing these guys are a cormorant of some sort

Sitting on the fence, the safe thing to do~

 Well that's first of the New Year done and dusted.
More tomorrow as i have been out with the camera. See you soon, stay cool! (That's for all my Aussie buddies whom are roasting in our relentless heat)