Good intentions

 As usual about this time of year, I start making resolutions involving stash-busting, and yet every year the situation becomes even more dire than the one before. It is always too hard to resist the crisp newness of brand new fabrics, the exciting new designs that come out, the pleasure of not having to try to match fabrics that comes with buying a set of pre-cuts or fat quarters from a new range.

But this year will be different! I will start making scrappy quilts and will be a bit more prolific about piecing too. By the end of the year, I'll have cleared some room. I promise.

So today I rummaged through some scrap bins and started making some scrappy houses.

I couldn't find a block the size I wanted so had to draw up my own. These are 12 1/2" unfinished blocks. The windows and chimneys used 2 1/2" squares and the doors 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles, so these were perfect for little scraps.

I put them together without rhyme or reason, totally randomly except for trying to get some degree of contrast between the main house colour and the windows and doors.

I'm not sure how I am going to put them together. I have seen a lot of lovely house block quilts on the web where the houses are tilted a bit wonkily. Or should I make scrappy sashings to use even more scraps? Or not use sashings at all and make them into row or town houses, a bit like the pic above? Or maybe add a few tree blocks in between? Hmmmm, there are too many options, it is hard to make a decision.

I also finished hand quilting my little autum hourglass quilt this week.

While rummaging through scrap bins I found a good quantity of some deep purple, hand-dyed fabric which will be just perfect for the binding, so putting that on and finishing this quilt will be my task for this week.

Happy 2012

I've spent this morning preserving some produce. Despite the coolish summer so far, and probably as a result of the heavy rain, everything has just been so productive except for the tomatoes which are yearning for some heat. I have been eating spinach and leek pie, zucchini slice, eggplant bake, miscellaneous quiches etc constantly for weeks! And still can't get rid of everything in the garden!

This morning I preserved some zucchini strips in olive oil and pickled some beetroot. To do the former, I degorged the zucchini overnight in salt and cold water, then drained and pressed out the excess water. I brushed the strips with olive oil and grilled. Then tossed them in some cider vinegar, lemon thyme and garlic, packed into jars and topped with olive oil. These will good for antipasto, pizza toppings, pasta sauces etc throughout the zucchini-less months.

This is my favourite project of late ..... a cute little bag made from Ruby charm squares a Secret Santa gave me.

These fabrics are just so fun and lively. I used some ribbon that came on one of my Christmas presents for the drawstring, but I think I'll look in my stash for an appropriate fabric to make some more dainty ones.

I've also put together a small lap quilt made from 80 charm squares and a couple of other fabrics. The fabrics are from the Bittersweet range, a lovely autumny collection. I love the way they appear so radiant and jewel-like when set off by a neutral background.

I'm handquilting this one, and not doing a very good job of it. I'm not using a frame, but even though my stitches are sometimes a bit too taut and the fabric isn't quite flat, I really like the antique, puckered look this is giving it.

Christmas Post

Merry Christmas to everyone!

The gorgeous little ornaments above came to me in an ornament swap. I was looking for a place to hang them, not having put up a tree this year, then decided they looked very sweet in this bowl of pot pourri in the centre of the table.

I was also spoiled by a Secret Santa swap partner who sent me a wonderful parcel full of goodies, including chocolates, cashews (my absolute favourite treat) divine soap and the sweetest cross-stitch gift tag. It also included this fantastic wall-hanging:

Another thoughtful friend sent me a lovely surprise parcel as well, full of beautiful handmade goodness and vintage charm.

As for me,  I just haven't been doing much crafting lately. I put aside my crinoline ladies for a while to work on a set of embroidered puppy dogs instead but I only finished two before putting that aside too. I must get back to work on these, they are sooo cute:

I have been very lax about posting lately and have very rudely also failed to respond to the lovely friends who left thoughtful messages or emails about my posts. I have been going through a bit of a low patch the last couple of months and have just not had much motivation to do anything at all.

Apart from the usual work and time stresses, both of my beautiful pups have had some health issues over the last couple of months which has really knocked me flat and I have just been unable to take an interest in anything. First Sugar was diagnosed with a mast cell tumour of the most aggressive form on her inner calf. It was very small but as they needed to take very wide margins to be sure they got it all, she had to undergo some nasty surgery.

This is a type of cancer that commonly affects Bull Mastiffs (and other dogs, especially Boxers). Many dogs get it but in most other breeds it is usually of a fairly low grade and removal is often effective. However, in susceptible breeds it is often very aggressive and fatal.

Sugar had an ultrasound and it had not spread to her lymph nodes or liver, where it usually mastasizes. However, statistically, for a cancer of the grade they removed, the long term prognosis is not good. They recommended she have chemotherapy but even then the prognosis statistically would not be good long term, and as she is prone to allergies and infections, I did not want to put her through a course of treatment that would shut down her immune system. Besides, she is physically healthy and mentally happy and if I am going to lose her, I want her last months or years to be happy, not to be miserable and sick from treatment.

On top of that, I found a lump on Spice I was worried about but as I was a mess with Sugar recovering from surgery, only got that investigated properly three weeks ago. This turned out also to be a mast cell tumour and, being on her hip, was going to be difficult to remove so we were referred to a specialist surgeon.

Spice had surgery on Monday night and because of the location and because her's had indistinct edges, they had to take a much wider margin than with Sugar so she has a massive wound almost 30cm long with about 40 staples in it. It is a ghastly looking surgery, but she is on painkillers and lots of other medication and it doesn't seem to be bothering her too much. She is refusing to rest and recuperate and wants to run and jump around and play. She is supposed to wear a bucket collar to stop her from licking it, but she has learned how to get that off and thinks she is very clever having done so. She is in a little bit of pain as she is a bit more clingy and needing more cuddles than usual, but it isn't stopping her from doing what she wants and it isn't stopping her from being active!

I am supposed to be keeping her confined until her surgery heals but that is near impossible! 

She has also had an ultrasound and her lymph glands and liver are fine at this stage. We need to go back over Christmas to get her stitches and staples out and get the biopsy results which will tell us how aggressive her tumour was.

It has all been a bit of a strain with several vet visits a week for the last couple of months with tests and checkups and surgery and everything else, and wondering how long we have left together. I have pretty much avoided most of pre-Christmas commitments this year, saying no to parties and barbecues etc, just not being in the mood.

But, nasty surgeries aside, both of my girls are happy and feel healthy and playful and energetic and don't feel sick at all, and that is the most important thing. And while the cancer most probably will come back, we can only hope it doesn't do so for a couple of more years at least.

The secret to successful child-rearing

I recently bought some iron-on embroidery transfers from Grandma's Attic. (Note to self: stop buying crafty things online, remember your car rego is due, Christmas is coming, pups are nearly due for their vaccinations etc! It is an addiction, and you need help!) These were so cheap, and they actually work, giving a clear, crisp outline with minimal ironing on! Unlike my experiences with iron-on embroidery patterns from here.

The above is from a set of 1930s tea towel designs, one for every day of the week. Only, I am planning to make these ones into a quilt, if I finish them all.

I also bought a set of iron-on puppies and herbs, so lots of embroidery to be getting on with.

I was restless on the weekend and started flipping through old, old magazines for some vintage inspiration. I love old women's magazines, especially from the 1940s, even the ads and recipes reveal so much about the period. For instance, lots of inventive and imaginative, if unpalatable, butter substitutes to deal with rationing. And lots of lard - yuck!

But the ad below came from a magazine in the early 60s and I laughed so much at it, I just had to share it - click on it to zoom in:

Drunkenness - the answer to all problems!

A couple of milk jug covers

Here is one of the beaded jug covers I made through the week. The pattern is one I found on the antique pattern website I referred to in my earlier post (and which I am too lazy at the moment to go and link to). I had enough thread to make another which I did last night, using this free pattern:

I love the little three dimensional flower on this one, although the loops (at least in my version) are a bit biggish and aren't going to stop pesky flies from getting through. Then again, I don't really have any jugs that need covering so I guess it doesn't really matter.

One of the goodies I bought online  recently was this little Christmas stitchery book by Natalie Bird. There are twelve 4 inch stitcheries, which can be made into a quilt, pillow or other things as well as another one for a stocking. One of my favourites is this little penguin:

Checking in

I thought I'd better check in and write a post so my poor blog doesn't feel abandoned.

It isn't that I haven't been doing anything worth posting about, but I certainly haven't been finishing anything. My house is a trail of half-finished little projects at the moment, none finished enough to be blog-worthy. I wish I could take some annual leave and just settle in for a few weeks and do some serious crafting - I have 4 1/2 months annual leave accrued which does not make our auditors and senior management happy, however I'm a project manager and there's no one else to manage my projects so I can't take it right now. Maybe I'll get some time off over Christmas.

Right now I am working on a little crocheted milk jug cover which won't take much to finish so that will be one UFO down. I've also started an embroidered little tablecloth which is one of a bunch of kits I bought in a sale a few years ago for the only reason that they were about 80% off and I thought they were too cheap not to buy, even though I doubted my ability to finish such a project. The one I am doing at the moment is a stamped cross stitch design on linen. The thread is pretty thick and the crosses pretty chunky so it actually doesn't take that long. It is just a little boring. It might take me a bit longer to move this one out of UFO/WIP status.

I've also had a couple of slowish days at work so have spent a naughty couple of hours Googling to fight off boredom. Apart from a few rash online purchases (well, not rash, as they are absolutely gorgeous, but hardly necessary in a house bursting at the seams with craft goods and a projects list about 200 years long. I'll post more about these new purchases soon) I've also come across a couple of fantastic free resources I haven't come across before:

• Needlecrafter - hundreds of free vintage redwork and embroidery patterns
• Antique Pattern Library - a fabulous library of scanned vintage patterns, especially crochet

Just what I need, more projects worth starting!

And apart from all that, I've been spending more time gardening now that Spring is here which is fun, but eats into my crafting time. My herbs and lettuces and spinaches and rocket and leeks and spring onions are all being very productive, my finger eggplant plants I'd left in since last year and just looked like sad sticks have bloomed back into life, and I've been growing a lot of new vegetable plants from seed. I've just transplanted tomatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchinis and am still waiting for some other seedlings to grow and mature to transplant - a couple of more types of tomato, another type of eggplant, rhubarb, beans, and I forget what else. Oh yeah, okra. I've never eaten okra before and am told it is quite horrid, but I wanted to grow something different.

It's Raining Again .....

so forgive the dark photography! This is the first project in the Cookies and Cream Christmas Club which I finished off yesterday afternoon. Each month we receive a new Christmas pattern and a little gift to help us get started. The above, a Gail Pan design, came with some lovely hand dyed embroidery thread to use in the project. I've already received project four so I'd better get my act together and catch up!

I had mowing and weeding on the agenda today but it has been raining heavily since late last night, so I guess with it being too yucky to do anything else, I might just get some sewing done today.

I heard that my puppies were very heroic last week and scared away two potential burglars. A neighbour saw two unsavoury characters enter my property and walk up the drive toward the house (one, very heavily drugged and swaying). Before they could get to the front verandah my pups appeared at the gate and barked and growled at them aggressively, scaring them and alerting the other neighbours. One man ran away but the other was too drug-addled and staggered onto the front lawn and tried to hold himself up on the front fence, but collapsed. So my neighbours called the police who arrived in force (8 of them no less) and got the unconscious man taken away in an ambulance. He had dumped his drug paraphanelia (syringes etc) on the lawn but there was nothing there they could charge him with and as they did not touch the house, could not prove intent to burgle either. I am so proud of my baby girls for being so clever and brave!