Possibilities

I made this brooch with some of the polka-dot poplin fabric I used to bind the baby wraps. I've been wearing it ever since.

I'm developing ideas for some summer brooches. The spotty dots make me smile. I'll probably see what I can do with my hand dyed cottons next. The shape of the flower isn't quite right yet, but it gives me a happy starting point. 

Welcome Baby

Friends of mine are expecting their first child in March next year. I have to confess to being overcome with cluckiness. At this distance--in time and geography--I'll confine myself to making pretty wraps and decorating teeny-tiny items of clothing in gender-neutral colours. Later on I'll book myself some plane tickets for a couple of weeks after the due date.

Here's a polar fleece wrap, bound in pretty polka dot poplin. As a bonus I got to try out the knee lift presser foot attachment on my new sewing machine. It's so much fun to be able to go around corners without moving my hands from the work.

I've also made a couple of baby muslin wraps. And there's a quilt in the planning stages. This is the first baby of the new generation and it's hard to contain my enthusiasm in the making department. 

Champagne Service (and a cute cat)

I'm just back from a clothes shopping expedition--not my favourite activity. I was after some everyday t-shirts in my current size. Since I'm hoping my current size will only be a passing phase on my ongoing journey to a healthier me, I wasn't out to spend a lot of money or a lot of time.

I found some basic t-shirts in a style I like. I tried on the black one. It fits. Great! My plan was to buy a few colours. I rejected the liver-coloured one and the bright apricot-pink. Likewise the plain white. The mint green went into my basket. Then there was my favourite bright marine blue-green.  They call it Caribbean. I wanted one. There were plenty there in every size except mine. I asked for help.

Here's where the story takes an unexpected turn. A lovely tall young woman answered the page with a smile on her face. She proceeded to

• quickly check the stock while tidying up the shelf
• check the computer
• verify the stock against the computer entry because the computer seemed to have the wrong information
• check the boxes out the back of the store
• check the fitting room
• take my name and number with a promise to contact me when the expected stock came in.

. . . all of this done cheerfully, quickly and efficiently.

I literally just got home. My first task was to feed my dogs. The phone rang before I'd filled their bowls. It was K-mart Northcote. I said, "Don't tell me you found the shirts the minute I walked out of the store". No, but she had arranged for three in my size to be transferred from a nearby store. I should hear from them in a couple of days.

Now, I don't normally rant about bad service, young people these days and other such, grumpy old lady topics. But I am seriously impressed and thankful. That's what I call champagne service on a soft-drink budget--I gather beer is expensive these days.  

As for the cat, it's white and fluffy with mismatched eyes, and has nothing to do with my story, but I had to give you something nice to look at, and the shirts aren't that exciting.

He (or she) was sitting on the fence when I walked past the other day with an inscrutable cat-stare in blue and green. That's all. 

Beautiful Brown

I took up my dyeing challenge yesterday and brewed up these colours.

A combination of warm colours like red ochre, waratah, desert pea, kangaroo paw, sandstone and citrus resulted in a rich blend of autumn tones. Can you tell from the names that Landscape dyes are made in Australia? Meanwhile Spring seems to be well and truly on its way down here. I'm seeing more and more flowers on my daily walk.

Some photo-editing skills are on my wishlist. The skein is just a little bit more earthy in person  than what is showing up on my screen. I'd be grateful for any suggestions about where to start with learning to adjust my pictures. I'm using a PC and don't expect to convert to the Apple family any time soon.

Flower Variety

I'm filling in some of the gaps in my range of flower brooches. Of course there are plenty of pinks and purples in the collection already. On my table today:

The white one is made from Bendigo 2 ply yarn--it was an experiment. The blue-green is one of my procion hand-dyes--a corn silk fibre. The brown is a hand-dyed wool, left over from my latest armchair project. 

Lavender Love

I noticed a huge lavender bush while I was out walking the other day. Quite a lot of it was hanging over the footpath, so I was tempted to go back and pick some. I like to make my own pot pourri to help keep my wool safe and to sweeten the house in general. A basket full often also finds its way onto my market stall.

Instead of creeping up in the dead of night, I knocked on the door and asked if I could pick some lavender. "Help yourself!" was the response. "Take as much as you like." I took them at their word.

Would you believe I now have ten bunches like this hanging from my ceiling rack. And the bush is still covered in flowers. What's more, I know that cutting it back at this time of year will only result in more blooms in the coming weeks. I don't think I'll have to worry about having enough lavender for a while.

Exploring Pretty

With the encouragement of my first "Make Craft Your Business" class and the prospect of a market stall in the near future, I went back to exploring possibilities for my flower brooches.

I had a whole ball of this hand-dyed cotton yarn--enough for many flowers. There's no way I would repeat myself so many times. The one on the top right of the pic is my usual pattern. The centre one grew from a facebook post by "yarnbomb consortium". That led me to a pattern from adorn magazine. For some reason mine doesn't look much like their pic, but it got me thinking about different ways to make petals. The other two are knitted versions.

I think I'll build on the new crochet design today. I want to make it firmer as that will be more stable for a brooch.