Cross stitch, a love-hate relationship

I have had a love-hate relationship with cross-stitch over the years.

When I first tried out cross-stitch in my early 20s, I found the slow progress very frustrating, aggravated by frequent mistakes resulting in a lot of unpicking and reworking. Several projects sit abandoned in my sewing cupboard, and the only project I have completed was done in fits and starts over a number of years.

But somewhere along the way the tide began to change.

When traveling for work in my pre-baby days, cross stitch was a great way to fill in a quiet evening in a hotel room. And since becoming a mum the "busy-ness" of life has slowed down somewhat as I became more home-based and I am now more easily able to enjoy a quiet evening at home with my partner, a movie and my cross stitch.

In fact, I feel a happy sense of achievement when I look at the design taking shape under my needle. And I have more patience than I used to, I can see that while I may only get a small amount done each evening it slowly but surely contributes to the overall design. My current project is the "Exquisite Lily Sampler" designed by Sandy Orton. I hope to take a progress photo to share soon.

How did you start cross stitching? Did you enjoy it immediately or was it a more gradual process ?

Cheers,
BJ

Time to try crochet...?

Last year, when Blondie was only a few months old, i purchased some beautiful pale blue bamboo-cotton yarn to make a cardigan for him. What i didn't factor in was that 1) it had been years since i had actually knitted anything, 2) i wasn't that good at it back then anyway, and 3) my attention span had not yet returned from wherever it went after i had the baby. So the cardigan remains a work in progress.

However, I have just stumbled upon the most lovely crocheted baby beanie. Learning to crochet has been on my list of would-like-to-learn things for a while now. I think i will search my crafty cupboard for some spare wool to try it out with.

Friday's Favourite Five

While browsing the web i found the following quilts which i love, love, love:

• Red Pepper Quilts has made a nine-patch quilt entirely from stash. The nine-patches are made up of a mixture of mostly pink and red fabrics and the central square of each block is white.

• Cluck Cluck Sew has a red and beige/tan quilt made up of half square triangles. It is very striking but also has a lovely simplicity about it as well.

• These lovely string blocks in really caught my eye at Retro Mama, i love how cheery and bright the different fabrics are. I have occasionally wondered about doing a string quilt but have always hesitated because my stash is rather small and sadly outdated.

• Am loving the red and aqua fabrics in this spiderweb quilt by a quilt is nice. Red and aqua/turquoise is one of my absolute favourite colour combos.

• Quilting Sisters saw some stunning quilts at a quilt show recently. One was made of red four-patch squares in a variety of red fabrics, with black and white check sashing in between. Many years ago I made a version of this quilt after seeing the pattern featured in an old issue of Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine (circa 1998-9, i think ??). It was the third quilt i have made.

What are you loving this week?

Cheers,

BJ

Owls, owls, owls

I am always on the lookout for interesting owls because my mum has been collecting owl ornaments for about 30 years. It all started when she became a "Brown Owl" leader at our local Girl Guides group and received some owl trinkets as gifts from her Brownies at the end of each year.

Mum doesn't take home just any old owl either, they all have to have what she calls "personality". Although that hasn't stopped my sister and I from picking up the occasional really kitsch or ugly owl just for laughs.

Now this lovely printed card in STARASHAN's Etsy store definitely fits the "has personality" preference. Was blogged about here.

And then while looking for a particular fabric, I just found this post at Funky Fabrix blog showing some beautiful owl fabrics and crafty goodies.

Cheers,
BJ

Make your own chalk shapes

I saw this great tutorial over at alphamom for making colored chalk shapes. In this case they were stars for Fourth of July but i am pretty sure that you could make them any shape depending on the moulds you had on hand.

I will be filing this idea away for when Blondie is old enough for this type of activity.

Cheers,
BJ

What to give my partner for his birthday...

My partner's birthday is not for a few months yet, in fact not until October. So why am i already thinking about a present?


Well, partly because I often find guys hard to buy for and partly because Mr Wonderful is just not that attached to "stuff". He has relatively few wants. His favourite hobby is photography and most of the associated items that he would love are out of our present-giving price range, even if i was game to try choosing something without him there.


Which means i have to be creative and think a bit outside the square for a gift that is both meaningful to him and will be appreciated. I really like these framed zodiac couple prints i saw recently over at Cicada Daydream. My only hesitation is whether they are more my taste than his...?


I have also been thinking it would be a lovely treat to arrange for our little Blondie boy to have a sleepover at Nana's (my mum), so we can go out to dinner and then Mr Wonderful can have a much cherished sleep-in the next morning. I know he would LOVE that.


Decisions, decisions.


Any ideas for a birthday present? Have you given your partner a particularly well received gift?


Cheers,
BJ

Friday's Favourite Five

There are so many fantastic, clever and creative ideas around that I thought I would take a few moments to mention my favourites this week:

• I am loving this gorgeous quilt over at artsy-crafty babe - red & white stripes, divine !!


• The Happy Hour pattern has long been one of my favourites, and i particularly like the way crazy mom quilts has made these blocks approximately half the size of the original pattern so they finish at about 7inches. I have no idea which fabrics I would use if I were to add this to my list of "things to do", though. Maybe that pile of Kaffe Fasset fat quarters I have been saving for just the right project...?


• I haven't seen this type of quilting before but Tallgrass Prairie Studio calls it 'organic line quilting' - I LOVE the fabulous texture it adds to the quilt.


• Unplug Your Kids has posted about making colored rice which she found to be a great activity for kids of all ages. I think at 15 months my Blondie boy is perhaps a bit young yet, but I can't wait to try this out when the time is right.


• A set of stackable fabric boxes caught my eye over at oh, fransson! I think they will be a perfect present for a close friend who is expecting her second baby in August. The tutorial is available at Sew, Mama, Sew!

Have you seen something fabulous that you'd like to share?

Cheers,
BJ