Ipod Pocket

Recently I made this little felt pocket to keep my ipod safe while it's languishing in the bottom of my handbag.  It gets pretty knocked about in there when I'm rummaging around for my keys/phone/money/lipgloss/a pen.   Now I know that my ipod is the soft and furry thing in there, it's also much quicker to grab when I need it. 

I highly recommend such a thing for anyone who's still wrestling with three devices in their bag instead of one. 

Hayden/Santa, you know what I'm talking about.

The Warm Up

It's really warming up here.  Every October it's like someone turns on a massive oven with its door open facing Townsville.  During October and November you can feel this oven heating up daily, and by January-February we're really being roasted.

I have been staying cool indoors during the day, sewing.  Not more patchwork, and not clothes (don't get excited Katherine), but I've been making cushion covers and a few little crafty things that are likely to turn up in some peoples' Christmas stockings.  Family, you have been warned.

Lily is my constant companion when sewing.  She likes to rest on any fabric I've laid out for cutting and she loves to investigate the sewing machine - especially when it's going.  But best of all she loves to pull out pins.  She gets as many pin-heads as she can in each mouthful, pulls them out with a jerk of her pretty head, and scatters them all over the floor.  I don't mind so much when they come out of the pin-cushion, but when she pulls them out of the fabric I've carefully pinned up for sewing ... well it does try my patience.

Patchwork Number Two

I've made another one.  You're right, Claire, it is addictive. 

It served me really well on the weekend when we went to watch the North Queensland Athletics Championships:  while Hayden was off snapping action shots of the runners and jumpers, I rested on my blanket in the dappled shade.

I only looked up from my book once, when some gangly teenagers rolled up and started practicing with a shot put right there on the grass beside me.  My peace was ruined. 

 They needed a lot of practice.

First Patchwork

Here it is.  My first patchwork quilt.  If you don't like it don't tell me, cos I'm ridiculously pleased with it.  And with myself.

I have seen a lot of different patchwork quilts on all those crafty-mummy blogs I browse, but I never felt the urge to make such a thing myself because if there's one thing we don't need in Townsville it's extra warmth.  

Then I saw a tutorial on House on Hill Road for a patchy picnic blanket and I thought that's something we could use... or at least give away.  I had the best time picking out the fabrics and co-ordinating how much and where for each one; instead of trying to keep track of some complicated geometric pattern (that would be nearly impossible for me and not at all fun) I made an unstructured pattern that just 'seemed right'.  And I love it.  The part of sewing I always like best is choosing the thread to match the fabric, and when you're making a quilt there is so much matching and co-ordinating to be done. 

Up until now I've tried really hard to furnish our house in a way that's warm and welcoming without crossing the line into 'cottagey', and that's not easy in a town with no Ikea.  With this new patchwork thing I might just be tipping the balance.  

Ah well.