With a Nod to French General

We've been getting very Frenchy around here lately.

It now looks like an almost certainty that we will be back in the UK and France next year so it is good to have a few little francophile reminders about the place.  This is my new linen cushion that I LOVE from www.houseofyorkinteriors.com I also fell in love with a quilt pattern using my French General Layer cake and have had to purchase another layer cake and the border fabric for it (how yummy is that red border fabric and how good will it look hiding our very sad killed-by-the-kids couch!)

And I have been crocheting more washcloths and came upon this lovely red cotton in a box inherited from James' Aunt.  The box was an old hosiery box with precious bits of lace and sateen and florists tape and wire and a skein of red cotton.  I think it must have been from her teenaged/young adult years.  Anyway, I think the red makes a lovely "French General" touch with the ecru/bone cotton from my stash.

There has actually been quite a lot of gratuitous spending here lately; more fabric at Mannum Craft Fair yesterday (to make a strippy quilt for Mads for Christmas) and some more fibre from the lovely www.kathysfibres.com and a bit more wool from Bendigo to participate in a ravelry knit-a-long (because lord knows I need another project LOL)  Tomorrow my lovely friend Lea-Anne is coming over to knit socks so all in all quite a crafty time of it!

And just because I can; here are the children that were bribed with cake and lollipops so that their shameless mother could go to the fibre fair!

Happy Monday!
Nell
xxx

July Finishes

This morning, while the kids played Pirates, I stitched up all my finished but not seamed knitting!  "Listening" to Pirate Play is preferrable to watching it as I always feel compelled to say "Please don't swing from the curtain rod" or "Don't make your baby sister walk the plank!" whereas when you listen to it you can just enjoy the "Land Ahoy!" and "look lively lads" with Maddie's sweet little pirate chatter of "I'm going to bed now, I am berry sleepy!" interspersed through the pirate phrases! When you are 2 and a half your play scripts tend to revolve around sleeping or eating or going to the bakery for hot chocolate!

Anyway, I digress!  This is a baby hat and adult mittens in "Ivy" (which was also the first wool I learned to Navaho ply)  Not really my colours so destined for sale or the present box.

A present for my friend's newborn daughter Violet.  This is a bunny/merino blend plied with a straight "fairies" merino and soooooo soft and squooshy.  I love the way the bunny creates a fuzzy halo!

My July Quilt Finish was this small wall quilt for the AMQF Alzheimers Benefit.  The theme was "memory" and because my sweet Nanny has all but lost hers I made my quilt with a goat and donkey to represent "Green Acres" which was Nanny and Grandad's farm (a place I have very fond childhood memories of)  I don't like the challenge colours and I have never liked deadlines so this quilt was a tough one to do.

Lastly I finished off a cushion for Maddie's room using the leftover fabric from her quilt, and a pillow for my craft room using the leftovers from the couch quilt.  I love the way Maddie tries to muscle in on every photo!

And just in case, like me, you can't get enough of red and aqua - check out my little piece of loveliness in my Happy Place - makes me happy just walking into that room!
Hope you are having a lovely weekend and celebrating your finishes too!