A little bit twee

'I don't really like patchwork,' I tell Ann in Frangipani, the fabric shop in Sandy Bay.  'I think it's a bit twee.' 

Needless to say I am there to buy yet more fabric to make another patchwork item for the little people in my life. 

What I do like about patchwork is that it a bit of a mystery at the beginning what all the fabrics are going to look like together.  It's also rather meditative, the repetitive task of sewing little squares together.  I guess it's like anything - the more time and effort you put into it, the greater the satisfaction at the end.

So twee or not I have a bit of a patchwork addiction going...

A birthday skirt for 4 year old Maia

A quilt for baby Jaxon

A Babushka skirt for Eliza, size 5

A little aproned skirt for Zoe, aged 18 months

 

 

Patchwork titivations

I like patchwork even though it is a bit twee.  It suits my sort of sewing though - easy straight lines and the building up of bits and pieces. I decided recently to use up all the heavy linens and furnishing materials I had left over from millymaker bag-making ventures to make a half quilt  for the end of our bed. 

I am very proud that the only expense involved in making it was two reels of cotton.  I even used an old tatty quilt as the 'innards' for it so it really is a recycled piece.  It looks much nicer on the end of the bed than the old moth-eaten blanket husband favoured and it is a nice weight to keep the tootsies warm in winter.

This weekend I made a tablerunner for the sideboard in the kitchen from bits of silk Japanese kimono scraps bought from Wafu Works sale last Sunday.  I like the nice bright citrus colours and it adds a bit of life to the 'minky' kitchen.

What will I make next?

Saw some interesting scarves in Cromwell NZ that might provide the inspiration for new sewing project...very girly and 'spring' themed - stretchy coffee material layer below loose weaved linen flowery layer and then netty textured overlay - all a bit 'stringy' and interesting soft muted layers. Noella also has some big ideas too on an ecofriendly product that might be a goer... stay tuned....

Here's some pics I can put up now of things I made for family in NZ - rattles and teething squares for Emily and Van der Linden bub to be, a treasure roll cum pen wrap for James and quilt for Zach. Loved making them all.