Something from Scraps...

 

hi there!

 

being the beginning of the year...

activity wise, that is...

it was decided that 'mainly music',

a community programme for sharing music with tiny kiddos,

got new tablecloths.

i got to hem them.

 

out of the scraps...

'cos the tablecloth was a bit too long,

there was enough for a cushion.

 

 

the back is held together by silver studs...hammered in.

this one's for miss holly, age 2.

at the end-ish of last year
i took some photos of a frangipani flower.
gradually the petals fell off
and a bare stem was left.

 

 i just left it in the jar
&
before long little leaves formed
reaching out to the light,
roots began to grow in the water.

next spring
i'll plant it out in the garden.

i've just found out
that the swimming pool opens again...
clean and fresh,
after being flooded last week,
on wednesday..yay!

hope you've got good things planned this week too...

naturally Carol xox

 

 



Sew Stitchy Bird Cushion...

 

good afternoon!

 

sweltering hot

i'm here at my computer

with the fan blowing on my back

&

wishing a breeze

would sweep through the window

and cool my reddening face.

 

 

 

speaking of red...

the second cushion is finished.

 

this will go on miss a's bed

at the completion of her bedroom makeover..

{which her mum is doing while she's in thailand...see previous posts}

 

 

 

this one was smooth sailing.

i cut it out in the cool of the evening on sunday

while the church across the road

serenaded carols from their front lawn

during their annual christmas celebration.

 

living across the road from a church

certainly has benefits!

 

 

 

{i have found the secret of getting an even row of studs.

 i did the ones that show on the outside first

then if the bottom halves are slightly crooked it doesn't matter...

'cos they're not showing.

i did it the other way around last time

and they looked slightly skewiff on the back of the aqua cushion.}

 

 

early on sunday morning...

well, not that early, 6 am,

i woke up the household for a few minutes

while i hammered the studs in

and finished off a few seams.

the red cushion was finished before i went to church just after 8.

{..and i got the washing up done before church as well!}

 

 

 

 

tomorrow..tuesday

i will hand them over to go to their new home

'cos miss a arrives home at the end of this week.

 

this morning i started on the final bag for miss d...

 

 

it is wonderful looking at all your beautiful winter pictures

as i swelter here..

i find them so refreshing,

even though i love summer flowers and ocean pics too.

 

 

have a marvellous monday...whatever the temperature!

 

 

naturally Carol xox

 



Aqua Hexie Cushion...

good afternoon!

 

wow...it's the first of december...the christmas month...

that deserves a little sparkle don't you think?

 

 

 

just to get you into the spirit of the season!

 

 

yesterday i was telling you about a mum

who is doing up her daughter's room

while she's away volunteering in thailand.

 

i volunteered to sew a couple of cushions

which will enhance the new decor.

 

the first one is finished...

 

 

thankfully.

 

it's not that i didn't want to sew it...

on the contrary,

i was so eager to get it started,

that after shopping in the cool of the morning,

i got home just as the room i sew in was heating up.

 

my cutting out was a near disaster

with a false start to the red fabric on the back..an inch too narrow...

and having to be recut

then the sides of the hexies weren't straight

and i shaved off the edges...

getting it looking this good was a miracle!

 

 

my sewing machine computer

had a meltdown about buttonholes the other week

so i had to think of a different way to fasten the back of the cushion.

 

i went to lincraft and got some studs...silver and bronze.

 

just as well i bought a packet of twenty

'cos i hammered a piece upside down on the first attempt.

fortunately mr m was at hand and explained gently to my heat strained brain

how they work.

the test piece went ok ,

but i took his advice then and had a break and a banana sandwich.

 

 

revived and revitalised

the cushion ...studs 'n all...albeit slightly wonky

got completed.

 

well, that was quite a saga wasn't it?

 

moral of the story...

don't work in a hot, hot room

&

have lunch before you start!

 

 

take care...

 

naturally Carol xox

 



 



Wrapping Up Saturday Morning!

 

a big hello to you this gorgeous saturday!

 

 

 

earlier in the week

mr p asked me if i could make something for a four year old's birthday.

it is for his friend's niece.

 

so on wednesday i cut out a cushion cover...

this morning there it was looking at me..still unsewn.

an hour later

after discovering that my buttonholer won't work ...at all...

just keeps sewing on the same spot...what the???

i made a simple envelope opening/closing cover

instead.

 

then of course i wrapped it up without thinking of taking a photo!

 

here are the elements...

 

 

add some of your wild imaginationings...

 

 

and this..that i made a couple of weeks ago...

 

 

+

 

bright yellow tissue paper

hot pink wrapping paper

loud lime ribbon

black/pink polka dotted tape

 

=

 

 

 

 

...and it was a wrap!

 

oh!

and then there was this most delicious chocolatey scent

wafting over from the kitchen...

 

mr m {just back home to stay for a while}

had made these...

 

 

chocolate date scones {biscuits in american speak}

topped liberally with coconut

 

no...i've never eaten these before either!

 

i was assured that there was only 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in the whole mix,

so i had a couple for brunch..yum!

 

knowing him,

he would have just made up the recipe as he went along.

it was well worth filling up the pantry for last night...

doing that big grocery shop i've been putting off a while..hehe!

 

enjoy your weekend...

 

naturally Carol xox

 

 



Making Mountains out of Molehills...

good afternoon!

i made this cushion earlier this year...
during the period my computer wasn't working
and just never posted it here.

i do have a soft spot for selvedges and scraps.

 

have you ever had something small

escalate before your very eyes into something it was never meant to be?

 

this happened to me

when i innocently ordered an omelette with sides of mushrooms and a grilled tomato

at lunch time today.

 

the waitress brought the omelette...perfect...but no sides.

so the omelette went back to gather it's mushies and tomato...fine i thought.

but no...

a while went past

& i realised, oh no!

the chef is making another omelette as well.

 

eventually...

another omelette comes out.

plain, this time... with mushrooms on the side.

 

oh well, i thought, i'll just eat this and shut up...

but a friend jumps up and talks to the chef.

thank you, i said, appreciating the help but feeling a little bit embarrassed...

'cos..well, getting it wrong twice?

 

i went over to the counter, menu in hand.

i explained...to the girl who took the order.

'fine' she said, ' i'm sure the chef has understood'.

'that's good' i said back.

 

haha!

looks like no one understood.

 

ten minutes later...

i get a styrofoam container.

in it was

the plain omelette

on top of

the original omelette

&

the mushrooms!

 

i think if i had uttered a whisper

the chef himself

would have thrown eggs at me..haha!

 

i ate the warmer omelette, paid and came home.

i had to chuckle though...i'm not offended at the chef or the waitress...

'cos it was just a giant lesson in miscommunication

&

i'm still not sure whose!

 

next time

i'm not ordering the omelette!

 

naturally Carol xox

 

 

 

 

 



London Tube Cushion...

good afternoon!

i have been absolutely loving these calm blue days of winter,

the sparkling dew on the grass

and even the sharp cold mornings

fresh and clean.

tomorrow

the cold wind is coming again,

so i am treasuring today.

every morning this week

i have had somewhere to be early in the morning

but have been home by elevenish

and have enjoyed blogging with my new computer,

reading..i'm still powering through books.

i had forgotten how good it is to learn and get absorbed in a good book

until i didn't have a computer to share my time with!

i have also done a bit of sewing....

london subways  tube...
thanks fiona for pointing out that london has a tube not a subway!

the backs are different

but sticking to a red, white and blue british theme.

front facing.

the first pics i took were on the black leather couch

where they looked fabulous

but

our lounge room was a bit dark..winter light..or lack of it,

so

i had to move them to a lighter space, near a window.

our house is an old queenslander

where most of the windows are still original...

a mere eighty or so years

and have patterned glass not clear and smooth

so let in less light.

i am torn between keeping them

and changing them to a glass that i can see the view through

and will let more light into the rooms.

a friend's birthday is coming up next week...

i think i will make her an apron.

i haven't made one for a while.

what are you thinking of making next?

enjoy the day!

naturally Carol xox



Like Diamonds!

hi there...

being able to sneak in another post 

is a bonus this morning!

mr t's fan belt lies somewhere on a road 

five minutes from here,

so he has borrowed my car to take his assignment 

down to uni

&

i get to use his laptop for a few hours...

great exchange.

{expensive though, i'd only just put some fuel in his car and then have had to put more in mine. hehe..that's just the way life works sometimes isn't it?}

on monday morning after the rain on sunday

i took these pics...

when the poincettias 

looked like 

they had been sprinkled with diamond dust.

don't you just 

love

love 

love

the sparkles in...

your garden

your street 

and your whole world

on a sunny morning after rain?

last week 

an old friend

needed a bit of a lift,

so to cheer her up

i made this for her...

i chose all my best floral fabric scraps

to make it as pretty as i could..

and she liked it 

and it did cheer her up.

what more could i want!

have a beautifully

diamond-sparkley

kind of day...

naturally Carol xox

 

 

My Sewing Mojo Has Returned!

hi!

after a few months of thinking

that if i never sewed again it would be too soon...

{i know that is unimaginable for some of you..hehe!}

i finally cleaned up and reorganised my sewing corner

&

after gazing at  my cupboarded stash of fabrics

i started to dream of making jazzy pillowcases

&

made several for myself and family and friends....just 'cos i could.

next week two of my friends are having birthdays.

&

all summer i have been giving various friends

my cushions...some left over from my madeit shop

and others i just had sitting aside.

i always pray about which ones to give to which person

&

am always delighted when they say that how did i know

that the one i picked out for them was perfect...

the Lord is my secret weapon..hehe!

this time i felt that none of my premade covers would be right

so making a union jack cushion cover came to mind.

i found a picture of one in a magazine

and then got to work.

i think i will include that little red, white and blue heart in the present too...

i made it a few months ago...before christmas last year...

&

i have another navy floral cover that i made to go with this one too...

it has white and green in its colouring as well...

i think they will suit her blue sofa well..at least i hope she thinks so!

well

cheers for now...

please forgive me if i haven't left a comment on your lovely blog this month

as a day and a half per month isn't half long enough to pop in

and say 'hello' to all of you gorgeous peeps!

naturally Carol xox



A Finish...

a big hi!

on this very warm & sunny afternoon....

sometimes finishing something that's been sitting around a while

can be a drag...

just the thought of doing it

wears thin as it's moved from pillar to post.

i've used this as a prop,

cleared it off the table before dinner,

moved it onto the table again

when i've gone to use the sewing machine,

hidden it away for a while

when i wasn't interested

&

brought it out again

when my conscience has said

'what about that little bit of crocheting you haven't finished?'...haha

well..all along,

in my heart,

i knew

that it would end up covering a teeny little cushion...just 35cm...

'cos the little cushion was just sitting there

begging to be covered!

i know this looks a bit skewiff in this pic...

but it is a lovely cuddly piece of woolly goodness!

just the right size to fit between the small of your back and the sofa,

or rest a weary cheek on while resting your eyes for a moment.

the back..a little less spectacular...

{but just as cuddly!}

by the way...

since my lounge room makeover,

i love having somewhere permanently set up

for  the display of a bunch of flowers.

the lilliums are gone,

but a bunch of bright red gladdies

are about to bloom

in among a red flowered,

black berried

piece of bush

that mr w found down the back yard

on the weekend...

it was pretty so we had to keep it.

i've made another of jeni's little bags...

see 3 posts ago..i think...

for my first.

i'll show you next time!

have a creative kind of tuesday...

naturally Carol xox

Almost Wordless Wednesday...

hi!

"blossom"

is my creative mojo coming back?

naturally Carol xox

A Basketful of Flowers...

hi, how are you this afternoon?

nearly a week ago now

i completely overhauled our lounge room

and then decided to make these cushions.

i haven't decided for sure

whether i'll keep these or sell them,

but i do like them...

this basket lives next to the tv

in an area that is kinda shadowy most of the time...

so i thought some dashing florals would make this basket shine.

these sophisticated ladies

in their best kimonos

are lounging on my chest right now...

they may just be holidaying

or perhaps they'll stay a while.

where are you hanging out this weekend?

wherever you end up

i hope you'll have a great one!

i'm off to bring kara inside...

she barks at the kids next door,

well, not them particularly

but the wheels on their little trikes

send her crazy.

{she doesn't like the wheels on the wheelie bin either!}

see you next week...

naturally Carol xox

Freedom Garden...

good afternoon!

it's been a beautiful day here

and what is better

is that i feel free.

yesterday my thoughts were tying me up in knots

and making decisions seemed impossible...

i felt like the father in 'fiddler on the roof'.

i should do this...

no,

on the other hand...

etc etc etc.

then my amazing little sister rang me

and the advice she gave just freed me up...

i think she knows me better than most

and she told me just how i was thinking

and where i was screwed up!

boy was i screwing things up...

i was like a large knot.

so even though i cut these out on saturday,

i couldn't sew them

'cos i wanted happy thoughts

to be in my head while i sewed..lol.



sunday they just sat there

then this morning i was happy!

have i sorted everything?

not really..'cos this one's a journey.

but now there is hope.

now i am thinking about the freedom i do have

to make choices...

not what i should do

but what i could do

it's my choice...

&

i can choose anything!

are you feeling boxed in today?

by circumstances...

or the people around you?

it's your choice...

what kind of person do you want to be?

{in your heart of hearts}

people perish without a vision

that's true!

start to build a picture of who you want to be

from the inside out...

it's your choice.

today will be the day you choose to be who and what you want to be...

so will tomorrow....

and the next day!

etc..etc...etc...

naturally Carol xox

Oranges and Lemons...

good afternoon!

it's friday again..

it comes around so quickly!

i seem to say that every friday,

but it's true.

this week i've finished off

a couple of very bright cushions...

big pops of colour...

but with a woodsy kind of seventies vibe...

doesn't that colour just explode right at you?

normally i would edit this photo

and crop it to make max's tail disappear

but i  just thought i'd give you a peek

at the general chaos that usually accompanies my photo shoots!

so take good note of the crinkles on the black lounge,

the curtains stuffed into the back of the couch

and the unkempt affair of a tail hanging around

..hehe.

now you can pick up the seventies vibe..

the wooden daisy buttons

and the coffee bean brown contrast.

this is the edited version of lemon sunshine woodland fern...

where the decor or tidiness of my loungeroom doesn't matter!

max has been banished offscreen!

in the light of early morning

the glow in the dark factor seemed to multiply

in the pics taken

on the black couch...

the cushions really don't glow like this in real life...

really!

i was led this week

in my creative endeavours

by the sunny days

and growing warmth of spring

and these bright shades

epitomised the look of summer to me.

what has led your creativity this week?

have a great weekend!

naturally Carol xox

Grateful for...Strauss!

hi & good afternoon!

on this happy sunny weekend

i am grateful for strauss

{all of them}

and the vienna philharmonic orchestra...

there was a repeat performance yesterday on sbs

of their new years day concert

& 

 i have loved the music of strauss

ever since i heard the enchanting 'blue danube'.

when i was about fourteen

i remember asking for a cassette tape of strauss' music...

especially the waltzes.

it was the first bit of classical music i ever loved.

so yesterday

my joy was full

as i listened to the orchestra,

took in the sights of austria and the surrounding european countries

&

sewed.

i realised as i sewed

that the pattern on the fabric

of swathes of pink roses

matched the pink roses that were decorating the great hall

that the orchestra was playing in.

the vienna town hall

 is always exquisitely decorated...this year was no exception

 with 30,000 rosy hued blooms

and greenery to cheer the audience up

in the snowy austrian winter

&

dozens of crystal chandeliers swinging and sparkling

sending light

from the painted and moulded ceilings.

dressed formally

the orchestra played,

beautiful ballerinas danced

&

the audience

in all their best finery

cheered and clapped

enthusiastically!

not quite austrian...

but a 'parisienne apartment',

oh, well.

hoping you're enjoying your sunday!

naturally Carol xox

Pretty Special!

hi..

i can't believe it's already friday!

i don't really know what has happened to this week

it' just flown by...

and here we are at the end of it

again!

i started the week off with a few dreamy blues

well,

i'm ending it in the pink

with two pretty special fabrics

which were whispering in my ear...

make me into very cute cushions

for a girl somewhere.

having ignored them for a few weeks,

wanting to savour this fabric and it's sweetness first,

i could put them off no longer

&

got out my ricrac to match

&

a length of pink bobbley bits

and sewed them all into these...

these cute little vespas

are already to go...

vroom, vrooming in amongst the pink polka dots

big and small

orange and pink...

sewing in the bobbles

all the way around was a bit tricky...

but lots of fun

&

i just love sewing anything pink

which i think goes back to having four boys

and being surrounding by blue,

with only one daughter,

who, of course, i couldn't make wear pink all the time..could i?

she tells me now

she didn't really like her pink painted room...

but i must say i did

and she didn't say very much at the time.

oh, that's right...

i painted it when she was away on holiday!

{i must have been a bad, bad mum!!}

i hope she doesn't feel scarred for life

by pinkness.

although i am absolutely certain

she'd love these cushions

and the vespas and spots, ricrac and bobbley deliciousness...

aren't you?

i hope you have much deliciousness

planned for your weekend...

and knowing there'll be blue skies here

helps a lot!

naturally Carol xox

My Blue Heaven!

hi!

this fabric

is as close to blue heaven as i could get...

romantic and dreamy

and just adore blue and white stripes,

they are a match made in heaven...truly!

want a closer look at the stripes?

and the back?

now just imagine yourself

lying in amongst this trio of comfy blue goodness

on your freshly painted verandah...

under blue skies

this summer!

yep...

i'm just imagining it now...

hang in there...

summer's coming to oz...very soon!

naturally Carol xox