Townmouse

So, this is our table

Who would have thought a new table would make us all so happy.

It took a little bit of getting used to.  Anything new and different in a space takes a bit of adjusting to. Henri and Adelaide immediately wanted to get out their paper and pencils and do some colouring.

When we sat down to a family dinner last night we all loved it. We all raved about how good the new table is - even the children.  Spaces and objects that bring family together are so important in a house.

This morning I dropped into the florist and found these interesting branches with little rust coloured buds on them - the perfect colours for the space.  The table top is so large compared to our old one that I felt it needed something on it, and something a little more contemporary at that.  It will all be good until one of the children snags a branch and my laptop gets drenched....

Rearranging the studio

This week I had a giant clearance sale in my studio for my local customers.  It was one of those "at these prices I must grab 4" type sales.  It was so rewarding to see bulging bags of stock getting carried out of my house by happy customers.

Look - lovely empty baskets.  At the start of the sale these were bulging with Twirl Skirts and Boy's Shirts.

And these trays were overflowing with a mix of tees, summer dresses and Liberty tops.

You know how good it feels when you clean out your child's cupboard and send their old clothes to the thrift shop?  This sale felt good in that kind of way, but multiplied.  I moved about 300 units of stock.  Yippee.

I now have empty drawers and more space to put things away. I've moved my quilt rack to the window.  Previously there were boxes of fabric and bags and bags of winter pyjamas there.

I now have some speakers and my iPod in the studio so I've got favourite music on rotation to keep me company.

But probably the most exciting thing in this space now is my new sewing cabinet.  Yes, it's extremely unattractive, but not quite as bad as the table that houses my industrial sewing machine (on the right).

I haven't had a chance to play with it yet, as I've been busy organising stock for my sale.  So I can't wait for a quiet moment to sew at my new work space.  We are now at the start of three weeks of school holidays so I know I will have to be patient for that quiet time.

Maybe I should have titled this post "rearranging the house" because we've just been out and bought a new dining table with the earnings from my sale.  You can see our existing dining table here (I wish our house was that neat today).  The table and chairs are getting trashed by the children in their heavy school shoes. The surface of the table is uneven and makes doing homework on a bit tricky. Upholstered chairs are very impractical for little people who are so good at spilling their food. So we have bought this table, which is getting delivered tomorrow. To go with it we have found some very cheap versions of the classic Eames chair.  These chairs look good in so many different contexts.  I'm hoping they will look good in our dining space.

Now that I have sold much of the stock that was taking up space in the storage area off our garage we can store our good dining table and chairs there.  When we come to sell our house they will be brought out again and used to present my studio as the formal dining room.

Until then though, I'm enjoying my clutter free studio. (Oh, and the sale prices are now on the website for those further afield who want to grab some bargains.)

Another Liberty girl's top

Adelaide is getting so tall now I've had to make this top in the next size up from the last one.

I bought this Liberty fabric in the haberdashery department of Le Bon Marche in Paris last year.  (I love it that a high end department store in Paris still has a haberdashery department - heaven.)

The top is another repeat of my much used favourite Townmouse pattern.  Sewing that neckband is fiddly and not particularly enjoyable.  This pattern comes together a lot slower than some of my others, but the finished product makes it worth it.

This fabric looks sweet with navy, so a navy cardi and navy Mary Jane Start Rites complete the look.

Free motion quilting practice

I'm practising my free motion quilting.

This isn't something I've tried before.

I needed a small project on which to practise, so another hot water bottle cover was whipped up.

I like these loopy loops.  They remind me of those handwriting practice sheets my youngest son brings home from school.

Free motion quilting is relatively easy on a small piece like this.  It's when you try it on a bulky quilt that it gets harder.  

I'm thinking of purchasing one of those unattractive sewing tables that your machine sits flat in. Do you have one of these?  

My industrial machine sits flat within a table.  It's as ugly as can be, but is lovely to sew at.  I'm sure it will make all the difference to machine quilting.  My machine currently sits on a rickety little Ikea table with my overlocker.  Not really ideal.

(By the way, does anyone else get confused between 'practice' and 'practise'.  I'm having to recall primary school grammar to write this post.)

Finished Ribbon Quilt

Finishing a quilt was such a good feeling, I was inspired to finish another.

This quilt is from way back.  I started it years ago.

I call it the ribbon quilt as the background fabric looks like a ribbon running through the blocks.

The Purl Bee did a cute version and called it the Masking Tape Quilt.

Most of the fabrics in it have been in my stash for 15 to 20 years; back in the days when I was drawn more to antique quilts and reproduction fabrics.

The quilt isn't that large (I ran out of the background fabric). It's cot quilt size.

It will be more at home at our place at the snow, where the interior has red touches.  This can sit over the back of the red armchair there (yes, red chair, a la Graham Norton). An old print from our first house has gone there, which has the same muddy reds and yellows in it.

I think it will all hang together quite well.

Now, which quilt will I finish next?  I must make the most of this momentum.

Finished Tide Pool Quilt

Oh my, I've finished a quilt.  This is a rarity.

The quilt top has been hanging around since mid 2010.  And it's not the only quilt that has stalled at the quilting stage.

But nearly two years later I'm still fond of it, so it was on the top of the To Do list of quilt finishes.

As I said in my earlier post about this quilt, it really has no place in our current house.  It's too fresh and modern.

So this might be relegated to the linen cupboard with my other quilts that don't see the light of day.

Or maybe I could clear a shelf or two in the armoire in my studio.  Now that I don't have a lot of Townmouse stock left, it might be better use of that storage space.

I'm so excited to have finished a quilt, I'm going to post it over on the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's blog. Do head over and take a look at the many hundreds of quilts that are popping up there.

Quick quilting project

Recently I've moved my many thousands of family photos onto an external hard drive.  My previous external hard drive hit the floor that many times that it started to really falter.

Family photos are too precious to lose, so I decided to satisfy a sewing urge and whip up a simple protective pouch for it.

I decided to put a buttonhole at the top so it can remain closed even while in use.

I just plug it in through the buttonhole.  Now if it gets knocked off the table the photos aren't lost.

One of Adelaide's hair elastics, stitched into the binding, serves as a button loop.

Quilts in the making

This airing rack I bought a while ago seems to have become the place where my quilt tops hang out while they wait to be completed.

There are a couple of swoon blocks hiding there; there's my half square triangle star quilt (3 blocks complete) and some blocks made with the Quick Curve Ruler that are awaiting sashing.

Adelaide has taken a liking to this quilt because it's in the favourite colours of most little girls - pink and purple.  Not my favourite colours but this quilt seemed to call for bright fabrics.  These are Joel Dewberry Heirloom prints.

I've decided I'm going to take my quilt tops to a long arm quilter and get them finished.  There are too many now that at are the quilt top stage and aren't progressing any further.

A winter shirt

It's been a long while since I've done any dressmaking.  This is my first for the year.

This is one of my favourite Townmouse winter top patterns. Adelaide has worn this a lot in other fabrics and sizes.

This is a pretty Lecien fabric I bought a while ago.  Adelaide has cardigans in red and blue which will work well over this top.

Simple crochet scarf

There was plenty of down-time at Three Hummock Island in the evenings.  While the family chilled out in front of the fire my fingers were busy making this.

It's a very simple pattern, inspired by this image.  The pattern for which can be found in this book.

I didn't have the pattern so just winged it.  Three chain, one double crochet/treble crochet, three chain, etc.

I found some cute little badges for Adelaide at the Red Hill Market on Easter Saturday.  It helps make the scarf a little more interesting.

The yarn was a Rowan Amy Butler wool cotton blend.  I think it would be more cuddly in a pure wool or cashmere. But this was all I had on hand when we quickly packed to go away.  Perhaps another one is in my future.

The most beautiful beaches in the world

We've just returned from 5 blissful days at Three Hummock Island.

The calm conditions enabled us to take the boat out and explore some of the beaches on the far side of the island.  We chose Friday 13th as the day to visit Dead Man's Cove.  This deep, sheltered cove got it's name from a nasty incident involving a scientist and some torpedoes.  He was left there to test his weapons and when his colleagues returned they found he'd blown himself up.  Just one of the colourful stories that make part of the history of this fascinating place.

After lunch at Dead Man's Cove we headed for home, and found this unamed beach to pull into.  It had a perfect rockpool for Adelaide to frolic in.

Meanwhile the boys threw their lines into the crystal clear water.

Will was needed to help Henri cast out his line.  Henri was very excited when he caught his first fish of the holiday.  I was happy to see it get put back into the ocean.

For the half hour trip home in the boat Adelaide fell asleep in my arms while we bobbed along.  After the girls were dropped ashore, Will and boys headed out into Home Bay and caught flathead for dinner.  We declared it a memorable and near-perfect day.

Quick children's pyjamas

There are two things I have a lot of in my studio: t-shirts and fabric.  Put the two together and you have a pair of children's pyjamas in no time at all.

Corrie has been making pyjama pants for her little ones.  She inspired me to do the same.  This pattern I use for the pyjama bottoms in my range.  The pants are super easy.  I did away with the side seams to make the making that little bit quicker.

I whipped up these pants in under 8 minutes.  Yes, they're that quick.  My tip is to stitch the waistband elastic into a circle before you sew it into the pants.  That way you don't need to pass it through the waistband channel on a safety pin (like most commercial patterns tell you to).  Simply fold the top of the pants over the elastic to form the waistband channel, enclosing the elastic as you go.  This way is a little harder to master, as you have to wrestle with the elastic a little, but it's super quick.

Adelaide is excited about her new pyjamas.  After this little try-on this morning she laid them out on her bed all ready for this evening.