Picnic minus the grass

I wanted to get a shot of this picnic blanket on grass, but my new yard is still waiting for sod. I just got soil, which I guess is something. Not having grass does have a big advantage - time I would have wasted mowing and weeding is freed up for more sewing!

I whipped up this picnic blanket when a friend and I planned a lovely afternoon under a tree in a park to escape the sweltering heat.

I pulled the fabric from my stash - teeny flower and fruit designs I thought were perfect for a picnic blanket. I could have used a bit more yardage, but worked with the bits I had. Every bit. The binding is pieced together with leftover fabric strips and the remaining scraps weren't big enough to save.


It's reversible with the same patchwork design on each side. I prefer the blue side, which is the one I quilted with random squares and rectangles.

I can't believe how quickly I made this small quilt - pretty much in a day - compared to the long toiling over my first one. Now I feel ready to tackle a bigger project. Thankfully I need not look any farther than my stash again, with a few kits just waiting for me.

Quick and easy

I whipped up a set of pillowcases tonight for a friend's birthday with these batiks I picked up last week. The one print, predominantly a deep blue/black dotted with lighter blue triangles, kinda looked like a night sky sparkling with stars. Seemed like a perfect choice for pillowcases. The other is in matching blues with flowers.


I know I love my handmade pillowcases, so I hope she does, too. I'm going to bundle the pair with a bottle of shower gel and sponge, all tied together with a ribbon.

Tada!

My quilted tabletop is finally finished! I started this long, long ago. Well, last summer. Then it gathered dust all winter. And summer arrived. Again.

I think the delay was really just my nervousness. I made the squares when I first started sewing and I just wanted to play around with pinwheel blocks cuz they looked like a neat technique. Making an actual quilt with them seemed way too daunting. Really it wasn't too scary once I jumped in. It's by no means perfect, but I learned a lot along the way. And, hey, it doesn't look too bad.


The quilt adds a nice splash of colour to my cafe table. Now it looks like the perfect spot to sip on an iced coffee and read a book.

Lesson learned

Ah, the credit we give our memories. I figured I knew what size my bathroom window was and I could just guess how much fabric I needed when I found one I loved. That did not work out so well. My memory imagined a much smaller window. Normally I'm cautious and get more than I think I need, but this was kinda pricey fabric and I didn't want a lot left over.


So I have half curtains for my downstairs bathroom. The design was a necessity due to a mistake, but I actually think they work just fine. They give enough privacy while still letting a lot of light into the small room. Plus I've learned a valuable lesson to always measure for a project. (Seems obvious, right?)

The fabric is Anna Maria Horner cotton voile. Very nice, but takes patience to sew. The bright colours go perfectly with the quilted wallhanging my mom made. Below the wallhanging you can kinda see a swatch of the paint colour. A bright, light blue called cloudless, I just had to paint a patch because it looked like white in the can. I seriously thought they must have missed putting in the pigment (and, I admit, was a bit outraged at the presumed mistake when I thought I'd have to take it back to fix). The room will look great when it's all done, and surprisingly bright for a teeny bathroom.

Two birds

Here's the yarn I spun from the fibre I dyed with red cabbage. The colour variation is subtle (read: barely noticeable, especially in the photo) from mixing at the spinning wheel the two slightly different fibre colours I got from the original dye and then adding baking soda to half the batch for some chemistry magic. First the fibre was muted blue, and then the altered pH turned it more green.


This picture also shows the rather outrageous colour in my craft room. I love this deep pink. It's so invigorating! Too bad I can't admire the colour because that room door must be closed unless I'm in there crafting. Too many tempting goodies are in there for the kitties to resist.

Pretty and silly

Finally I overcame my fear of sewing curtains. I don't know why I was so hesitant. It's probably the easiest sewing project. Do a little ironing, sew a few hems, press and voila! Curtains! I made these for my upstairs hallway with Cloud 9 fabric.


The walls will eventually be a light grey, which happens to be in the print but is a colour I'm bringing from my old place. My favourite picture is beside the window - a limited edition print by Berkley Illustration. It's so peculiar - in a good way. I love their quirky animal prints. Check out their etsy shop (www.etsy.com/shop/berkleyillustration) for a smile.

Necessity

My old iPod shuffle fit perfectly in a pocket at the front of my biking backpack. My new, wider touch did not. The new gadget is also way more fragile than my sturdy shuffle and I wanted to keep it safe while I out riding on bumpy country roads.


I sewed this little pouch to hang off my handlebars and it does the trick. I just can't easily skip tracks like I used to. That's probably a good thing anyway. I put all those songs on there cuz I liked them, so I should just listen to whatever tune pops up on shuffle and focus more on the ride.

Ps. I'm not alone in thinking we're spoiled by digital music. Check out this recent post on THXTHXTHX, a blog of daily thank you notes.