The Short and Long of it

Today I would like to share some more cross stitch projects that I have finished over the years. This first design was from a kit by the Heritage Craft company of England. I made it as a birthday present for my friend Chris. It is supposed to be a scissor fob but she hangs it on her Singer sewing machine stand.

The design was fairly quick to stitch. I actually did it when we were on a camping holiday in Adelaide one year. It was good to work on in the Summer heat because it wasn't too large.

 This is a view of the back. It was also fun to make the tassle and very simple.

Now I will share a project that I made for my sister's 30th birthday. This is a Paula Vaughan design. I love her designs because they usually feature a quilt or flowers in them somewhere and her colours are exquisite. This design is called "Little Women" and I worked it on linen. I chose this design because one of my sister's favourite books is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Also, we both love the movie - the Katharine Hepburn version.

This is the cross stitch project that has taken me the longest to complete because it is quite large. I stitched on it every day for four months. In some places she blends 2 colours together, one strand of each, to get the subtlety of shading required. I entered it at the local agricultural show which is on at the end of October each year in Bendigo. It cost 50 cents to enter and I got second prize and won the grand sum of $2.

Talk again soon

Jeanette

My first finished quilt

Hello again. Today I thought that I would share my first quilt with you. It is nothing fancy, just a panel that I sandwiched with batting and backing fabric, so it is technically a quilt even though there was no patchwork involved.

I made this many years ago for my niece for her birthday. I whipped it up the day before because it is only small and, as I said, it is a pre-printed panel. To ad a bit of interest I used blanket stitch on my sewing machine to go around each of the Sunbonnet Sues. It came back to me when my daughter was old enough. She used it in her dolls pram.

The next quilt I will share with you is the first large quilt that I finished. I measures about 180 cm square and is made with flannel fabrics. I bought it as a kit from Alison at Canterbury Quilts but I modified it slightly. My friend Chris has a lovely raggy quilt on the back of her couch and I have always wanted to make one.

So after buying the kit I cut the blocks slightly bigger and sat down with a piece of graph paper to work it all out. As this is a quilt as you go type of quilt, I went back to by some flannel for the back. Alison's original quilt is a 10 x 10 with the centre panel and two borders. Mine is a 9 x 9 with only one border.

When I was finished cutting I had some scraps left over that I knew I would never use on anything else. So I sewed them all together and put a border around it to make it the same size as the centre panel on the front. The working out probably took as long as the actual construction but I think it was worth it. It is a great quilt for a male because the centre panel is a farming scene with windmills and tractors. My brother loved it.

Talk again soon

Jeanette

A baby girl

I can't remember if I have mentioned that both of my brothers, and their partners, were expecting the second child this year. They were also both expecting girls. I thought I would share some baby cards that my daughter and I have made.

I had bought a package of card making supplies. There weren't any instructions in the box so we just created whatever took our fancy. Elizabeth made this one which had some brads holding the "It's a girl" note down and one shaped like a hand.

I mad this one, which is very basic, embellishing the hood of the carriage with a pearl heart and buttons on the wheels.

Here is another one I made. The booties are mounted on foam squares to add depth and I dry embossed some swirls in the bottom left corner.

One of my nieces was born in late July and the other is due later this month or early November. Here is a pic of baby Abigail. Isn't she a cutie.

Talk again soon

Jeanette

A Clowder of Cats

Did you know that a group of cats can be called a "clowder, cluster, glaring, dout/destruction (of wild cats), litter/kindle (of kittens)? No, neither did I.

My grandmother-in-law was a lovely lady. She was small of stature but big of heart and I always felt as though we shared something in common. Maybe it was because we were both Taurean. It was definitely because we both loved cats. When I met her she had two cats and so did I. She was also an avid gardener and lived at home until a stroke meant she moved to be cared for by family. Here she is all dolled up to go to my wedding in 1992.

Gran (Allison) 1992

That same year I embroidered a couple of cross stitch pictures for her birthday. They were kits by Lanarte which is a company based in Belgium. Their designs are exquisite, although they can be a pain to stitch because of the subtlety of colour, but that is also what makes them outstanding.

She had a ginger cat called "Tangey" and a tabby called "George" and she loved to cut up lamb chops with scissors to give them a treat.

When she passed away the pictures came back to me and they will always remind me of her. I will always remember her strength of character and how she could tell her grandson what was what and then look at me with a twinkle in her eye.

Talk again soon

Jeanette

Birthday cards

My sister and I have always loved collecting the birthday cards that we have received over the years. When we were growing up we would keep them in a shoe box in a drawer under the bed. Now I have a few shoe boxes and they are in my bedside tables. It is interesting to look back at the style of cards from twenty, thirty or forty years ago. It is also nice to read what people have written inside, some of whom are no longer with us.

Since my children were born I have kept all of their cards too. They don't seem to value them as much as my sister and I did at their age but I still keep them. One day they may change their minds. The card above is one that I made in a class and gave to my daughter for her 15th birthday. She was going through an "oriental" phase at the time.

This card is called a waterfall card and I made it for my daughter's 16th birthday. Again it has and oriental feel with the background paper but the girls pictured are  flappers from the 1920's.

This made me think about going to the pictures recently with my daughter to see "The Great Gatsby". I remember studying the book in high school and seeing the 1974 version with Robert Redford. She studied it last year at school and we have come full circle. I disliked the book, the 1974 movie and the recent remake but I could appreciate its aesthetic beauty. My daughter loved the book and the movie.

 Getting back to the card, it is called a waterfall card because as you pull on the tab the panels flutter open with a waterfall effect.

As each panel peels back it reveals the next picture and a sticker stuck to the back of the previous panel. I planned it so that the last panel would reveal a heart.

Do you keep your birthday cards?

Talk again soon

Jeanette

Miscellaneous Monday

Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.

Lewis Carroll

Well, because I finished my crochet rug last week I was rummaging around for something else to do. What I found was another thing that always takes me back to my childhood......a jigsaw puzzle. I bought this last year with the idea that I would make it up and glue it to a canvas to hang on the wall. This idea comes from when we visited relatives in Germany in 1980. They quite often had finished jigsaw puzzles decorating their homes. It is a great way to have some of the greatest artwork in the world in your home without the expense and with being able to look at it and say "I had a part in creating that piece", even if it was just to put it back together. This artwork is created by Australian artist Gordon Hanley and is called "An Appetite for Books".

Children today don't know what they are missing with all of their electronic gadgetry. There is nothing like starting with puzzle pieces and watching a picture appear before your eyes. I remember sitting on the bedroom floor with my sister on rainy days, spending hours putting puzzles together. I had four wooden style puzzles that had different dogs on them - I remember some Corgis and an Alsatian. She had puzzles with smaller pieces, I vaguely remember something fanciful, characters from nursery rhymes.

I think this is why I love cross stitch so much, a picture is created with thread one stitch at a time in the same way that a jigsaw puzzle is put together. 

Except with cross stitch you start from the centre working outwards and with a jigsaw I start with the outside edge and work inwards. How do you do a jigsaw puzzle?

I find a few minutes every morning now to put some pieces in and it is slowly coming together. It is wonderful at this time of the day. My children are still asleep, the sun is just coming up, the birds are twittering and I can hear the sounds of Bendigo coming to life.

This reminded me of a movie starring my favourite Aussie actor, William McInnes, called "Unfinished Sky". If you haven't seen it yet, take the time. It is a bit of a puzzle and the title comes from the fact that the main character is working on a jigsaw puzzle with a lot of sky in it. If you have ever done one like this you know how frustrating it can be to distinguish one piece of sky from the other.

That also got me thinking about recently buying the latest edition of Empire magazine which lists the "500 greatest movies of all time". I thought I would compile a list of my favourite movies, one from each year, or two if I really can't decide, and put them on my profile. I have started and it is interesting to see how many Alfred Hitchcock movies have cropped up. I really do love a puzzle!

Talk again soon

Jeanette

I love teapots

What is it about teapots? I love them and I know that I am not alone in this. Is it that they hold such a delicious drink? Is it their shape (although they do come in a variety of shapes and sizes nowadays)? Or is it that they take us back to our childhood when we sang:

I'm a little teapot, short and stout,

Here is my handle, here is my spout.

When I get all steamed up then I shout,

Tip me over, pour me out.

Teapots pop up everywhere not just in the kitchen. Tea towels, cookie jars, pictures, ear rings, pillows, oil burners, lamps, fabrics etc. Here are some of mine.

And of course they feature in a variety of craft projects. Below are two wall hangings that I bought as kits from Honeysuckle Stained Glass & Patchwork; the blue mat I bought at a craft show in Melbourne and is designed by Nikki Tervo of Brandy Gully Designs. Both blue and white projects I made for my Mum because she has a Blue Willow dinner set.

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The possibilities are endless but I still prefer the humble teapot. I would love to collect them but they take up so much room and require constant cleaning if left out in the open. A friend of my sister has a collection and it is housed in a large glass fronted display cabinet.

My collection numbers five. A plain blue one that I use for everyday when I have the time to brew a pot, a set that is decorated with a pumpkin motif.........

This pot is impractical as the handle is hollow. When you pour hot water in the pot the handle becomes too hot to "handle". Pardon the pun.

The other three sets are these. The pink "Petit Cafe" I bought for myself when I was on holiday in Canberra; the green floral on striped background (is that called chintz?) was a present from my sister Michele; and the bear sitting on the honey pot is from my friend Chris. As you can see, each of these actually has a teacup underneath the pot. Aren't they cute?

The black and white one belongs to my daughter and is also a gift from my sister.

When I was recently walking through a local shopping centre I saw these in a the window of Le Brew Caffe  and had to share them with you.

Do you have a collection at home too? I have some thimbles as well but I will share them with you another time.

Talk again soon

Jeanette

PS It is currently 12 degrees celcius, expecting a low of 5 degrees overnight and a high of 15 degrees tomorrow with a clearing shower. What fun for the weekend and school holidays to boot.

By hook or by crook

I was shopping recently in one of my favourite shops. You know the sort, they stock a bit of everything, something for everyone. Well, I was wandering down an aisle looking for something when, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted something else. You know me, I love autumn tones and when I saw this I just had to have it.

When I got it home I thought, well what do I do with it now. It is a 12 ply wool so it will obviously need a large needle. So, I got the largest crochet hook I could find and started experimenting and this is what I ended up with. The finished size is 26 cm (10 inches) square.

Now when it comes to crochet there is something you should know. I have never finished a crochet project that I have started in my life. Every 10 years or so I will see some wool, buy it, and start crocheting until I get sick of it and toss it aside. Why then did I buy this? Because it looked pretty and I was in the mood. Well now I had one square of crochet done but what could I do with it. An idea formed and I went back to the shop and bought all they had left.

As you can see, because of the nature of the wool, each square has turned out slightly differently and I am loving it. 12 ply wool and a size 10 hook makes the work very easy and it is something I can do while watching TV (time vanisher in my book). At least this way I feel as though I am accomplishing something while watching Ripper, Mr Selfridge or comedy shows with my daughter.

What are my plans for these squares you may wonder. Keep watching this space to find out.

On a final note: Thank you Nana Barton for teaching me how to crochet. I will always treasure the time we had together: you teaching my sister and I to crochet, you letting me practice on your piano because we didn't have one at home and you playing some wonderful pieces for me even though you fingers were twisted with arthritis. I will always remember that a lady, who was not related to me in any way, allowed me into her home and showed me kindness and love.

(Sorry about the quality of the photo but it is the only one we have of Nana Knuckey (left) and Nana Barton (right) )

Conservatory Gardens, Bendigo

Hello all. Here is my first post about my home town in Bendigo. The following pictures were taken by me with not the best camera in the world but they should give you an idea. The text I have borrowed from a leaflet produced by Bendigo Tourism.

The ornate conservatory building was erected in 1897 and is the last such building in existence in a public park in Victoria. Special floral displays are exhibited here throughout the year.

The cast iron fence was erected in 1878 enclosing land that was once used as a rubbish tip.

The Washington Fan Palms (Washington filifera, a native of Arizona and California) were planted in the late 1800’s.

The beds under the palms are now used to showcase the city’s spring tulip display.

The garden has retained its 19th century statuary, garden baskets and conservatory building.

As stated above, the Conservatory itself has different displays in it at different times of the year e.g. Chrysanthemums on Mothers Day. After my brother's wedding our family went there to take pictures and it was beautiful.

And so ends my first post about a Bendigo attraction. I hope you enjoyed it. Come and visit sometime.

I'm back!!!

Hello anyone and everyone who might be reading this. Sorry I have been gone so long but life just gets in the way sometimes.

Since I last posted I have still been working on my Nice People, Nice Things project and I will do some separate posts about that later.

I have also started some new projects and finished others, all of which I will post about.

With regards to family: I have also got a new niece, born July 24; I am expecting another niece to be born in November; my nephew has recently taken part in a débutante ball; my other nephew is now a qualified bricklayer; my daughter is 18 and finishing her last year of high school; and my son is finishing his last year of primary school.

Well that is all I will post for now because I thought I would just see if I could remember how.

But before I go.....

I thought I would start doing some posts about where I live so that all of you can see what Bendigo is like.

Stay tuned for more posts and pics

A finish for Jonathan

When I was rummaging through my stash this week I found a Charles Craft baby bib and decided to make a little gift for my new nephew Jonathan.

I got the patterns for the alphabet and hearts here. I started stitching it on Friday at work during my lunch break and finished it yesterday. I put some red and white star print on the back to cover my stitching and gave it to him last night to welcome him home.

I also gave him this card which I made in a class a while ago. It is also in a bib shape so I thought that was appropriate. It is hard to see in this photo but there is white ric rac around the edge of the card and across the top of the "pocket".

And here is a picture of my son William holding his little cousin. He is so happy to have a new friend to play with in the future.

Well I better get back to my NPNT stitching, a birthday present for my other nephew, a birthday present for my ex-Mother-in-law, a year 10 graduation dress for my daughter, and Christmas presents for everyone......fa la la la la.

Talk again soon

Jeanette