Love Steampunk

My etsy email today was titled Victorian Tech, and I must say I am heavily drawn to Steampunk stuff.  Now if only I had an IPhone I think I would have to have one of these, I think it is the coolest case ever.  

Favourite Things Friday

From memory I think Mrs P said she would be late in putting up FTF post, but as I need to fill in a bit of time while the kids are playing WII (they have a pupil free day today), mind you I should be doing housework or working on karen's quilt but I am lacking energy today so that probably won't happen... Too much sports day yesterday I think, standing around in the heat (when we haven't had much yet) and wind and then too much sleep. Don't report us for child neglect but I then fell asleep on the lounge just after 8 (so did hubby). The kids woke me up at 8.45 after watching a shark eat a woman on CSI, put them to bed they were too tired to have nightmare's ... tonight might be different lol.

I digress.... my favourite things friday is Geralton Wax and this time of year is when it looks its best.

The reason I love them is they remind me of my childhood. My nana's next door neighbour had one in her garden.  The garden was always immaculate and well tended.  She had a formal flower garden in the centre  which was always perfect and then this beautiful ball of pink flowers to the right.  My mum always worked so we spent a lot of time at my nana's house, she had a lovely flower garden as well but the neighbours was always perfect, secretly I think Nan was always competing with her, but she was like the Martha Stewart of Gardens and Senior's Craft so there really was not competition.

I have 4 bushes but only two are worth photographing, the other 2 have just not done very well I don't think the soil is very ideal in that bit of the garden in fact I think it is pretty much just top soil on a big lot of builders rubble.  The bush above is always a winner, I think it is a fairly generic variety.  The one below is quite pretty but hasn't liked the drought over the last few years and isn't looking as good (hubby is threatening to dig it up), but it's flowers change shade from light pink to drk pink as they mature (or it might be the other way round) and I like the different shades on the one bush.

While I was taking snaps I found this guy, another favourite thing for me a dragonfly he was pretty spectacular.  I haven't seen one quite this small.  He had a fluro blue spot at the end of his tail and his main body was bright green, which is a bit lost on the photo... one day I will get that macro lense.

Did it again forgot the important bit.  

Check out Mrs P.'s Quilting in My Pajamas to see other Favorite Things. 

A Little Bird Told Me

That it is only 8 weeks till Christmas.  That means I have to make 3 teachers gifts, sort something for the quilting girls and think about and start on stocking my market stall.  Also throw into the mix the fact that I have designed a boy's quilt which is half cut out.  Have Karen's quilt on my machine (planning on a finish this weekend) and squid wants a sewing case made from one of the cases I got from Sarah.  I think those 8 weeks are going to be busy. I have teachers gifts sorted, I have a project coming up in Homespun and I think it will be perfect for them, but you won't be able to see photo's till after it is released.  As my daughter has a male teacher I am a bit at a loss so I think I can Man Up my Homespun project sufficiently.

It's sports day today so no creative space here I am afraid but you can check out some at kootoyoo.

This market was announced yesterday and I think I might dip my toe in and have a stall. It is set to be held on Sunday evenings 6th, 13th and 24th of February.  That time of year the only place to be is by the sea so if you are in Adelaide any of these weekends it might be worth a trip to the seaside.

Very Sketchy Daisy Cushion

Here is my latest tutorial for QFD, it is all worked in a single strand of thread on natural linen.  The size of the cushion is a little smaller than your usual bed pillow and I find it is great to lean on while I am sitting on the lounge as it supports my lower back while I stitch.  I hope you like it.  You can find the Tutorial here.

Favourite Things Friday

This week my favourite things are these.  Freshly manicured and painted nails.  Every 3 weeks off I go and sit and have them done with the girl who has been doing them for over 10 years.  Sometimes they are pretty mangled by the end of the 3 weeks but when they are freshly done I am happy as long as I manage to get out of the shop without smudging them lol.

Check out Mrs P for more FTF.

My Creative Space

I wasn't going to join in this week but thought I might just blog about my new project that is buzzing around in my head at the moment.  I am going to design a boys quilt, not a little boys quilt but more a big boys quilt.   Here are the backgrounds, I am going to be drawing some applique soon but I have decided on these dark backgrounds, I didn't want to go for black but sort of wanted that impression so have gone for lots of dk greys with plenty of texture.  I will be doing raw edge applique and use a nice heavy black thread.  The applique will be in quite bright colours and I will probably be going for solids as I have seen some Day in the Country Solids that are bright but with a bit of subtleness to them which I think will work well with the grey.  I worked on a sketch last night and my son just said "SWEET" so I guess that means it passes the coolness gauge on a 10 year old going on 20 something.

Check out more creative spaces at kootoyoo.