A bit of a hiccup

Hello friends, just a quick pop-in to let you all know I might be scarce 'round these parts for a bit. I am rather busy with some doctors nonsense and trying to feel myself again.  I hope to see you soon with a skip in my step and rosy cheeks.

xo

Rules for Misfits

A little over a week ago, on a most unprecedented whim, I decided to make a quilt.  It's been ages, years even since I've gone down that particular path. I do believe I was inspired by my little misfit quilt that I picked up recently. To keep things simple (meaning: giving myself a real chance of actually ever finishing the quilt) I set up a few rules for myself.

Rule 1. I must not buy anything other than thread, only using supplies I have on hand.
Rule 2. Choose one pile of scraps from my hoard and use only the fabrics from that pile for quilt top.
Rule 3. Choose a very simple quilt block pattern.
Rule 4. (In 4 parts) I must not fret and worry so. I must not spend hours painstakingly rearranging blocks, then rearranging them again until it is perfect. I must let go of perfectionism. Just let it happen; a little random is good for me.

I must admit Rule 4 has been the most difficult to adhere to, but I managed somehow.

I made my first quilt when I was only 13 in Mrs. Bloomquist's sewing class. It was a miracle of early 80's dirty blues, tans, and maroons.  While piecing the thick polyester batting one day, my finger got in the way and the heavy duty Kenmore sewing machine sewed right through my finger tip! It was a very exciting and painful day in sewing class, ah memories! Though my quilt may not have been the prettiest thing going, I was so proud. I'll have you know too, that quilt was in regular use until 2 years ago when it was left behind at a music festival.

Later, when I was just a young 20-something, I fell hard for quilting.  Well, at least the piecing part of it all. I dreamed of one day owning my own giant quilting machine, Oh the quilts I would make!  Ah, but time marches on and while I did make some full size quilts, over the years I would whip up a few baby gift quilts of the small and manageable size.  And now it's been a long time since I've even done that.

I had forgotten the obsessive nature of making a quilt. It has been all consuming on some days. "What do you mean, what's for dinner? Can't you see I'm sewing a quilt?!"
Though I have been plagued by doubts and occasionally thought the whole thing looked a little bonkers, I have carried on.

Oh, I forgot to mention another rule I made for myself...
Rule 5. Break a few quilting rules!
Check!

For instance; sew a pieced quilt backing that does not actually match the quilt top. (I do so enjoy two looks in one you know.) Also, after sewing said backing, put it up as a curtain for a few days, why not?

 
As I have been sewing along, Pony Girl has made the request that this quilt be hers, "So that I can pass it on to my children and then they can pass it on to their children and on and on." Clearly, we are a family who loves misfits.

So that is my story of the making of a misfit quilt.

"What?" you say, "No fair, you haven't shown us the actual quilt!"

That my dears is because the quilt is not yet finished.  All the elements are in place, but things have got a bit busy 'round here and the final Ta Da! must wait. I assure you when I have a chance to get to the intimidating quilting part, and the last thread is snipped, all will be revealed!

Happy Friday

Happy International Women's Day! Happy Friday! Happy Weekend! We're off to the beach!

xo

Cool Things for Kids - of all ages

We have a birthday coming up in the Little Green Cottage. A Very Big Deal of a birthday, Pony Girl is turning 8!  So I've been doing some research on cool things for kids on the interwebs. I thought I might share some of my favorite finds with you.

First up we have Flaming Nora's Sewing Kits. I know these are awesome because Pony Girl and I had a chance to collaborate on the Happy Brown Owl together.

These kits come with absolutely everything you need to sew up a new friend.  And just in time for Easter I spied some sweet little chick kits! There is also a Panda! My personal favorite though, has to be the "Make a Mo" moustache making kit! I think that kits like these make great presents for kids because they provide the chance to work on a really fun project together, help your kids learn new skills and they are pretty darn cute!  You can find all of Flaming Nora's Kits HERE.

Ok, these are more for a younger child, but I love them so much I had to include them. Handcrafted wooden toy pixie cameras! These come from team Twig Creative Etsy Shop, man they make some great stuff!

I love paper dolls and these are so sweet! They come to you via Gingermelon as a PDF you can print yourself.  The dolls then can be colored in by the recipient, cut out and articulated, so cool! She also has some really fab doll patterns in her shop.

And then I kind of fell in love with this vintage kid's bicycle basket from Oh Vintage Deer.  Which should give you a hint of what our girl might find on her big day!

Happy day everyone!

Hello Monday - It's the little things

Goodness, despite best intentions, life happens and things get busy, or strange, or dizzy as the case may be.  I am running behind in all corners, I need to catch up!  I have had some blog posts on the docket for days, so the best thing is to just get to them.

This one is close to my heart!

Just a little while ago I was proud to post my contribution to The Red Nose Day Dolls project. If you missed my post you can find it HERE.
Please take a look around to see all the amazing creations contributed by the talented artists and makers, it is truly wonderful!
The Ebay Auction for the dolls and all of their beautiful accessories begins March 7th and ends March 17th, so very exciting!

And you can help too! Blog about the Red Nose Day Dolls and link to your post here, tweet, or facebook about this wonderful project, just grab the Red Nose Day Dolls Badge on my side bar to link to their Facebook page  it would be such a big help if we can spread the word!

I have to say again what an amazing privilege it has been to be a part of such a fantastic community project.  Thank you Emma and Ros for including me!

Oh, and by the way... Mac is a movie star!  Love this video!