Dolls

Oh dear, September disappeared without a posting.  And this will be the only one for October as I have heading back to my old home town for a wedding and a school reunion.

Several months ago I entered an Ugly Challenge where we had to construct something from ugly fabric.  Zombies or The Living Dead fabric, while a pretty colour, left me uninspired for many days. 

I 'researched' Zombies and The Living Dead as in all honesty I have never been interested in such a topic.  In the end I decided on a doll, and having fabric left over and thinking how dull the doll looked I added a little quilt.  I am not sure that The Living Dead need a quilt!

 

The daughter of an old neighbour and still a friend was diagnosed with cancer.  What could I do?  There is little other than offering empathy and hope in such circumstances, but a little niggle prompted me to make a guardian angel.  The colour purple is a favourite of this patient so the doll had to have purple hair, and wear shades of purple.  The doll has been received and named ... Violet.  May she keep her 'mother' in good humour as she undergoes treatment after the extensive surgery already undergone.

About time?!

This morning I received a concerned email from a fellow blogger and friend ... was I OK?  I hadn't posted for a while!!!  And she was right.  I decided to take some action.

 

I have been busy but very neglectful of posting. 

 

Cushions seem to be 'the thing' at the moment.  A while ago a neighbour took us into town as our vehicle was in dry dock and as a small thank you I made a cushion, and forgot to take a photo in my haste to deliver the gift. 

 

A few weeks later a request was made from same neighbour.  Her mother-in-law was soon to celebrate her 100th birthday, which in anyone's book is a magnificent achievement, and even more so when this particular lady lives in her own home with only a minimum of help.  The notice given was a tad short which meant I had to look through my stash for a suitable fabric to make a quick start.

 

I chose a fabric featuring red roses and after looking for a suitable stitchery design soon had the needle flicking in and out of the design.  [the blank part in the photo is where I embroidered the lady's name ... the internet is too large and wide to publish important details].

I am pleased to say the recipient was thrilled with it.

 

Another swap, using purple or blues, saw me constructing another cushion which winged its way to Canada.

When I last flew to New Zealand I purchased a length of fabric that sat in my stash while a promise to myself to make a bag lurked in the back of my thoughts.  A forthcoming trip back to my old home town galvanised me into action.  The result?

Do you have pieces of useful fabric left over from another project with no particular project in mind?  Last year I made youngest grandson an Advent Calendar incorporating a rather pretty piece of plaid in Christmas colours.  With another Christmas fast approaching and wishing to make a gift rather than purchase something I made a set of table mats.

And ... another length of fabric is more than half made for more table mats.  To me it makes sense to use up my stash [which seems to expand the moment I close the cupboard door] on little gifts that should be useful and which show the recipient they are thought of. 

 

 

A journey back in time

About 35 years ago I made a cushion for my daughter. Then  Holly Hobby was as popular as Sunbonnet Sue is today, and I feel they are twins, almost identical twins.

 

Twin friends of my daughter admired this cushion and when their birthdays came around a few months later I made them a cushion each; one featured red and time has erased the memory of the other.  About twelve years ago one of those twins, the recipient of the red Holly Hobby cushion, came back to her old home town and arrived at my work place to purchase essentials [food!].  She was thrilled to see me.  Her first comment after the initial greeting was 'I still have that cushion you made me!'  Yes, I was chuffed to think that a young girl had taken her cushion to a distant city after her marriage.

 

My daughter is moving house and yesterday she sent me a photo

of her cushion, along with an apology that it was grubby.  I noted the lace was past its best but this cushion has travelled from New Zealand to Australia, has spent time in many districts of Western Australia; but most of all she had kept it and Holly Hobby herself was intact, proudly holding her bunch of flowers.

 

These days as I make items for gifts and post them to various friends and relatives I wonder how many of them will have been kept as a small treasure that brings back memories of days long past.

Another beanie

Slowly but surely my balls of knitting wool are diminishing; another beanie completed making the odd balls of double-knit wool left only suitable for something with lots of stripes.  I feel that they may languish forever in their storage place!

 

I do like making stripy things; be they jumpers for small children or hats or crochet blankets, its the sewing together I am not so keen on ... matching the stripes can be extremely time consuming [and boring]. 

Beanies

I have been busy clicking knitting needles and have completed [and posted away] the two beanies 'ordered' on Sunday. 

 

Thankfully I was able to use wool here.  Knitting something as quick as these beanies give a real sense of satisfaction ... a job completed quickly.

A quilt and Other things

In spite of my absence from Blogger posting I have not been idle ... several small projects have kept me sewing, and just today No 2 son told me he had given his knitted hat to a friend who was so taken with it two more are ordered.  I hunted through my wool, of which I confess I do have a reasonable supply, and bought a pattern and have casted on.  Hopefully two beanies will be in the post by the end of the week.

 

Recently Jacquelynn Steves offered a free BOM, an offer I took up.  Her Sew Sweet Simplicity quilt is now complete.  What I especially liked about this BOM was it went for four weeks, the last two of which had two blocks on offer.  They were both lovely ... my quilt is a six block quilt!  My stash of fabric catered for this BOM ... but the stash barely seems to have diminished!

 

After a project that takes many hours I like to 'chill out' with something small and quick.  I had a more than reasonable amount of plaid fabrics and had long kept in the back of my mind a magazine pattern for a country Christmas table runner.  Another for the box!

 

After viewing a tutorial for a particular block of an easy pineapple I decided to put my new-found skills into another bag and was pleasantly surprised how quickly the pattern came together.  And how easy it was!

 

 

Now the knitting awaits!

A frog he would a-wooing go

 

A frog he would a-wooing go,
Heigh ho! says Rowley

Many of us learned this poem, or part thereof as it consists of several verses, and many of us have a special place in our heart for the green frog, whether he is Rowley or not.

 

Two senior frogs, Theodore and Raymonde discuss their younger days and assure each other that never, even in their wildest days of youth, did they 'carry on' like young Rowley of the poem.  In fact their discussion runs along similar lines to that of senior family members when discussing the youngsters.

 

Theodore and Raymonde spend their time sitting discussing; putting the world to rights and wishing for rain.  In the heights of summer rain seldom falls from the skies and when it does invariably it occurs in a downpour that doesn't fill ponds for Theodore and Raymonde to dive into.

Theodore in the striped trousers and is on his way, via Australia Post, to my little great grandson who has a second birthday next week, while Raymonde stays at home bringing a smile to our faces.