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Despite the beautiful weather today, the grass is alas too muddy to welcome the addition of my completed  picnic rug.

There is another problem. The beautiful vintage sheeting and the soft lofty batting, combine to make a picnic rug that feels rather at home on the guest bed; in the role of a blanket.

We are both confused now as to it's proper purpose. Rug or blanket.

Also, does one iron a picnic rug/blanket?

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Inspired by SouleMama's picnic blankets.

Vintage sheets from Kitty. 

And best wishes to her family.

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It was a joy to spend some time in the sewing room this weekend. Cutting, pinning, sewing and quilting. The picnic blanket incorporating Kitty's vintage sheeting fabric is all but finished. The stripy binding needing only to be hand stitched, then the blanket is ready for use on the next picnic outing.

The binding is a Spotlight find that I've had my eye on for awhile, waiting for the perfect project. The wadding was the exact width I needed, but had a little more loft than anticipated, making a cushiony soft blanket that you could sleep under, just as well as sit on. However, quilting a rather thick 1.5 x 1.5m project on my little Jem Platinum Janome sewing machine was a difficult endeavor. The backing is a sweet vintage sheet from my stash, in the same tones as many of the fabrics incorporated.

I'm really happy with how it's turned out and will share more photos soon. An excuse for more picnics, if ever an excuse were necessary.

Simple and colourful...

Simple. I like simple. But colourful? I'm not really one for all things colourful.

Still, in the Christmas spirit, and as I have an almost one year old now, I though I needed to push my boundaries a bit.

With the sewing machine birthday gift, my Mother also lavished me with fabric, including my first jelly roll - Moda's 'Holly Jolly' by Sandy Gervais.

The weather here does not necessitate the use of a quilt, so I thought a throw for the couch may be in order. I have finished sewing the top and need to rummage through my stash now for an appropriate backing. Maybe something not Christmassy, to make it reversible?

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PS. I do not care about your ugg boots, so please do not spam my comments again. I have reported you as a spammer to blogger.

Humph!

Seeing things...

Sorry, the sun was on it's way down when I snapped these pictures of a building in the Gold Coast. We were on our way to a lovely dinner in a revolving restaurant.

But tell me, do you see a pattern that looks very quilt like too?

I love mail...

Yesterday hubby was on his way out when he checked the mail box. He held up a rather large 'United States Postal Service' envelope for me.

What could it be?

My gorgeous Doll Quilt Swap 7 mini quilt!

Complete with a lovely card, a crochet magazine, a sewing kit in a tin for crafting on the go...

(How clever is the magnet in the lid to hold your needles?!)

Amazing 30's reproduction style fabrics...

And of course, a gorgeous mini quilt, made by the lovely Quilty Bee. It is so sweet!

(Never work with babies and animals, or babies and quilts? Cohen would not look at the camera and stay still at the same time...)

I'm afraid you may have to have a peek over here to get a better photo of the gorgeous mini quilt. You see...

I took these photos after having taken some of Cohen covered in banana. It seems he put little sticky banana finger smudges on the lens.

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Thanks again Quilty Bee! I love it!

And thanks to all those involved in the Doll Quilt Swap and my swap mother Lynne!

Can't wait for the next one now.

My Creative Space...

I have five pages of emails that I have not as yet responded to.

I have a baby who will only fall asleep in my arms.

I have a large pile of laundry waiting for me.

I have a doll quilt swap piece to finish.

And then Frankie arrives in the mail...

Must.finish.things.bofore.reading.magazine...

More creative spaces here.

Inspiration...

I missed the 'Eye Spy Inspiration' post, what with the death of our computer, but I have been thinking about it.

I must say that in terms of my crafty pursuits my Mother has been the major inspiration, as she is a dress-making, quilting, crocheting goddess.

Also on the list of inspirational crafters would be Christina of 'The Sometimes Crafter', quilting extraordinaire. It never fails to amaze me how much craft Christina fits into her days, especially given that she has a gorgeous distraction, little blue eyed Brice.

Today I was inspired to cut and assemble this quilt top for Cohen, using the aforementioned (Sunday Stash) 'Paint by Number' fabrics by Erin Michael in simple 8.5 inch strips.

Had it not been for the generosity of Christina and her friend Liz I would not have had enough fabric to complete the single bed top.

As you can see Cohen was rather intrigued....

PS. I swear I did not move the baby into any of these shots. It seems rather that if you are looking at something, or taking a photo of something, Cohen is curious as a cat...

Hexagon quilt...

Hexagon templates from here.

Free ones here.

Tutorial here.

Using this fabric.

I am hoping to make something like this.

Another.long.project...

It was the best of times...

I love Thai food.

Sunday night, dinner at Thai Orchid - Spring rolls, Curry Moreton Bay Bugs, Deep fried Banana with ice cream and cream... yummmmm

Wonderful art work on the walls of the restaurant. How cool it this? Sleeping baby. So cute and so quiet...

Happy baby. So cute, just less quiet...

Friends super cute little chickens. Hello...

Awww....

New heels - totally practical for a new mum with a 4 month old baby, right? (From Novo)

But I didn't stop there, I brought another pair... I love shoes and there are so many styles that I like right now. (Would you believe these are from Target?!)

It was the worst of times...

Cohen continues to teeth, but with no little pegs to show for it yet.

Today he also got his four month needles and he was not impressed and kept reminding me about that during the day by bursting into tears at intervals.

I got my flu shot too and I feel like a bully punched me in my arm...

Neither my sewing machine or my over locker are working.

(Sob, sob...)

So I can't finish my Pay it forward gifts (sorry guys, they are number one on my list too), or my quilt, or over lock Cohen's flannelet wrap.

Sigh...

If I just try it once...

If I just try it once, I won't get addicted, will I? I just can't stop thinking about it. I see it everywhere... I knew someone who did it once, just to see what it was like, and they never did it again. But I know others. Once was enough, they were hooked... Maybe the addiction is in your genes? Maybe it is hereditary? If so, I'm in trouble. My mum and my sister are both recovering addicts. I couldn't say no. It's peer-blog-pressure or something. I think I could do it a few times and stop. Yeah. I'll do it. I'll buy some fabric to make my first quilt. I can't resist... Spotlight has 20% off today only... And so it begins... collecting fabric to make my first quilt and quilting lessons from my Mum...