Surprise in the mail

I found a lovely surprise in my mail box last week from the lovely Amy of happythings. It was a set of fabrics, buttons, ribbons and chocolates for Valentine´s Day. Thankyou Amy, how thoughtful! I was so inspired by how well the fabrics go with each other and immediately had to sew a pillow. I love how the black fabric stands out proudly amongst the patterns. My next finished project from The Crafter´s Companion is the book cover by Tania Ho (chocolateachuva). I mixed Amy´s fabrics with a couple of my own and it´s definately just the first of many book covers. I had such an AHA moment when I turned the cover inside out after sewing it, brilliant! It now adorns my organiser so I can admire it every day.

Sunday Scribblings # 48 puzzled

I love puzzles.

I have a Sudoku calendar and finish one puzzle every morning during my second cup of coffee. I love to make picture collages which resemble puzzles and I love a good crossword. I made my own crossword here, try it if you like!

The Crafter´s Companion cont´d

Summer Top - directions by Mariko, supereggplant.
Pin cushion - directions by Katey, onegoodbumblebee. (Katey´s design is for an ice cream pin cushion but I decided to make mine in a small shaker box).
Elephant Pouch - directions by Myra, mylittlemochi.
Fabric Basket - directions by Sarah, thesmallobject.
I am so enjoying these projects and the inspirational stories that the women featured in the book have shared. From the 17 projects I have now finished 13 and it´s been a kind of therapy for me. I have recognised similarities to many of the women aswell as differences and I have come to recognise my boundaries and the role that I want craft and my creativity to play in my life in the future. I can´t put all my thoughts into words right now but I´m getting there - I am looking forward to finishing the projects...stitching my quilt by hand is last on my list and every stitch will symbolise a new positive thought. I can feel a shift!

Sunday Scribblings #46 - Yummy

Yummy, yummy, yummy, I got love in my tummy,
and I feel like a-lovin you.
Love, you're such a sweet thing, good enough to eat thing,
and it's just a-what I'm gonna do.
(Arthur Resnick - Joey Levine)

Love and food, the 2 yummiest things I can think of. I remember the song yummy, yummy, yummy, from my childhood. There was an add that was on TV all the time showing kids eating soup, licking their lips with their eyeballs rolling back while the song was playing. When I was a kid I loved to eat but I was always worried that I wouldn´t get enough...food-love-food-love... while I ate, it felt good, like I was being rewarded, like I felt loved, cared for, nourished. In my teens I had a best friend, Bettina who did judo and could eat whatever she liked without gaining weight while I was labelled as chubby. When I look at photos of myself as a teen I see that I wasn´t chubby at all, just chubby compared to Bettina. I started to dislike my love of food and my body and the ups and downs of dieting started. That was such a long time ago and I wasted a lot of energy for a lot of years worrying about my weight and what I was eating.
When Erich got to know me and the tug-of-war that goes on in my head when it comes to eating, he said "hey, you are gorgeous! Stop worrying, just eat when you´re hungry!". Why is this so easy and logical for some and sooo difficult for others?

Other Sunday Scribbles here: http://sundayscribblings.blogspot.com/

The Crafter´s Companion Projects

I am having a love affair with pink - I adore that pink fabric with the flowers which was a bed linen set that I bought on sale last year. When I saw it amongst all the other boring bed linens I imagined all the lovely things I could make with it and right now it´s in almost every project I make so even when I run out of it, it´ll still be here. The checked pink fabric with the red ribbon is also bed linen found in a bag of old fabrics that Erich´s sister gave me - it reminds me of my Grandmother who had similar bed linen.

I used the pillow case for Hillary´s apron which I will be wearing when I do my gardening. The pockets will hold my little shovel and my garden cutters. Hillary is quite famous for her softy patterns in the blogging world - I especially loved her pointy kitty pattern. And that amazing photo of her fabric stash!

Square tissue boxes aren´t available here in Austria so I made a rectangular tissue box cover. I love Heidi´s little house tissue cover but mine looks nothing like it. I made a piece of crazy patchwork and followed Heidi´s instructions on how to put the cover together (without the roof). It looks great on my bathroom windowsill. I love the way Heidi writes about the paper dolls she played with as a child, I had those too and it certainly brought back old memories. I wonder if they are still available?

I hadn´t been blogging for long when I stumbled upon the illustrator Tania Howells and I was thrilled when she asked me to do a swap with her. She sent me the most beautiful items -badges, a Home Companion, some emroidered fabrics and threads and the loveliest bits and pieces. The photo of her inspiration board is beautiful and her needle case pattern is perfect! I´ve been wanting to make one since I saw all these lovely ones on Flickr and I used one of the fabrics Tania sent me as the outside piece. I made some of the pockets wider so my round needles also fit inside. No more looking for my needles!

Lisa Congdon´s words about why she creates and the healing power of making things with your hands really touched me. Her log cabin pillows are beautiful but...her artwork, her blog, her lifestyle, the way she dresses, her apartment -they are all parts of the one big canvas called a bird in the hand.

That´s 9 projects finished, 8 to go!

Library tote & patchwork purse

I love to take little treats to work with me...collaging materials, magazines, a book or knitting, things to brighten my working day during the short breaks between classes. It´s not always easy to leave the house and spend the day teaching english when I´d rather be sitting at the sewing machine but having some inspiration with me brightens my mood. In future I will be using this library tote as my treat bag. It´s a perfect size and I love the quirky little pocket which I have decorated with (you guessed it!) yo yos. This bag was designed by Fiona of hopskipjump, who also makes the most beautiful soft toys. The pattern was well explained and very easy to follow. Everyone has their own tricks when it comes to putting a bag together and the more you make, the easier it becomes. Last week my trusty old money purse fell apart - Lyn from mollychicken included a lovely patchwork purse pattern in the book and I managed to add an inside pocket and coin compartment to mine. I painted on a fabric stiffener so the purse is more vinyl like and can be cleaned with a damp cloth. These little things certainly brighten my day and it´s lovely to get compliments for things I have made myself. Lyn´s blog is an endless source of inspiration and I love to look at all the ideas from Japanese craft books. The Crafter´s Companion is full of beautiful photos and inspirational stories...next on my list of projects are the pillow case apron and the tissue box cover.