This little guy has been mooching around our house, making himself at home.  I picked him up at a local garage sale.  I love the colours and the way he rolls*.  He makes a hollow jangly noise as he wobble and tries to right himself.  Suddenly, I want to paint the world orange, blue and white to match his optimistic beak and outfit.


Sometimes he looks like he is trying to talk to the lamps, other times he's befriending  the matryoshka. Either way, I think I'll let him stay.

*For those interested in how he works, you can read all about his physics here.  He's a 1970's Playskool Weeble.  

Last minute birthday dresses are getting to be a habit.  3 days out from Little E's  birthday, I was cutting out a new dress.  What is about impending celebrations that makes me embark on maniac crafting missions?  Is this just me?

The birthday passed without a hitch or a dress.  I put the final touches on it last night - hand sewing the hem and facings.  E loves it.  Miss H's birthday dress is a distant memory* and she wants one too.

The pattern is from a Burda magazine with a few adaptations**.  This fabric just sang yellow at me, so we had to have yellow piping, lining and hem facings.  It is so hard to remain gloomy when you know everything is bright on the inside.


*The tale of Miss H's Dorothy dress is yet to be told, but has a recurring theme of Monday inspiration, weekend party and late night sewing.
** The pattern review is over here

Scrap Republic is a book that has me excited about playing with colours* and rediscovering my fabric stash.  I spotted in on a friend's book shelf and have to admit that I have been looking after it for far too long.

In a market where books play one-up-manship, boasting huge number of projects, this book quietly has 8, and focuses instead on the techniques.  The book focuses on gaining confidence in using colour.  Each of the 8 projects is based on using a rainbow spectrum of colours, in order, with different effects.  The projects had me searching through my fabric drawers for a little bit of every colour.  If you haven't a collection of fabrics to choose from each project has a "solace for the scrapless" option.  It would also be great to team up with a friend to swap fabrics to put together a range of different prints.


Of course a book review is not complete without trying out a project.  I chose Beeline, which uses long strips of colour to make a mini quilt, or in this case a giant floor cushion.  I like the way each project can be considered a warm up exercise without always committing to a full bed size quilt.

Format 8 projects starting with short and simple works and gradually becoming larger and complex as the book progresses.  The book begins with a discussion of how to use and sort colour before launching into the projects.

Who would I recommend it to?  This book is best suited to someone who already has a few fabrics to call upon and is looking to use them in a way that makes them sing.  If you prefer muted colours and restricted palette, perhaps try one or two projects, but this book is probably not for you.

Would I buy it? While I won't be buying my own copy, this book is fantastic for quilter who love colour and want to branch out a little.  It would be a great addition to a quilting guild library too.


*excuse me while I insist on using NZ spelling, colour, grey, etc.  The rest of the spelling errors are my very own.

This sea of red greeted me through the Monday morning fog.  One kid dropped off to school, one hanging out with Mum, and one Mum home from travels.  It was a nice landing back into the minutiae of home-life and the onset of Winter.

When I saw the lady with leaf blower, I rushed home for the camera to capture it all.  Looking at the photos now makes me think of "The Red Tree" by  Shaun Tan.  A somewhat melancholic tale with a hopeful note.  I even found a golden tree glowing in the distance.