Out of all the tapestry cushions I’ve worked, this is my favourite. (well, since the others were all for the chapel and given away, to see the others click on the “tapestry” link in the “labels” below) And no, this doesn’t live on an outside chair as pictured, but in pride of position on our bed. If the house was burning down I would probably grab this cushion…
I stitched this one from a design in a Kaffe Fassett book, borrowed from Mum. At the time I just bought some canvas and some threads in colours I liked and just started happily stitching away, as is my wont. It wasn’t long before I realised that the canvas he had used for his design must have had a much bigger grid, and that my resulting cushion would be tiny. His original design was for a four flower by four flower cushion, each unique. Well, once I had completed this part of the design I ad-libbed a few more flowers, based on his designs and tweaking the petals and whatnot to get some extra flowers in the same style, until my design was an acceptable size for a cushion, five flowers by five flowers as it turned out. Grr, so much extra stitching, if only I’d checked the canvas requirements would have finished so much quicker…!
I also changed the border design a little, on his cushion design the little border motifs weren’t meeting up in a nice neat order which was distressing to me; so on my cushion I altered and fudged them so they met up in each corner in a kind of “mitred” fashion (see close-up below)…
Flower patch tapestry cushion
Just blown in…
Scene 1:
A dilapidated hall. The monthly scheduled meeting of Shoe-aholics Anonymous. A circle of seated ladies, subdued and looking sheepish, but very well shod. All eyeing each others footwear covetously.
Convenor; Ladies, we have a new member, here to confess her sins. Please make her welcome.
Me; Hi, I’m Carolyn and I’m …. (gulps and takes a deep breathe, lower lip wobbling) addicted to shoes.
All in unison; Hi, Carolyn
Yes, it’s true. I stay away from shoe shops as much as possible, in order to avoid wear and tear on the credit card… but look at my New Shoes!! Cool, no? I bought them on a recent day out with my friend J, my enabler and partner in shopping crime… These are going to be worn and worn and worn… I think they are tres stylish and they are as comfy as. Perfect for my lifestyle. Welcome to my shoe shelf(ves) new friends, I hope the other shoes make you welcome and don’t get jealous of your fabulousness.
Oh, and if I look a bit wwwwwindswept here, it’s because I AM. Very. This morning was like being in a windtunnel.
Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7303, green cotton velveteen
Top; Cue
Cardigan; refashioned from old jumper
Tights; Metalicus
Boots; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes
Bag; Gucci
The wind and the tides as our companions…
This is Sienna’s favourite place to be in the whole world. When we are here she regains the unalloyed joie de vivre of a puppy; uncomplicated, pure and complete in her appreciation of soft sand and rippling water. The tide is her playmate, her partner in the crime of meaningless high-spirited fun. The peekaboo waves are an irresistible tease, their behind-her-back whispering a gentle and cheeky provocateur demanding her stern attention…
And sadly for her it’s out with the hose and the hairbrush at home…!
Cool Bunnykins
This is a very late post today! Been a busy day…
Communing with the lorikeets
Today I asked Tim if I could borrow the scarf I made for him years ago to photograph for the blog here; he is far too busy for me to needle him to model it… and found this lovely bench underneath the flame trees which are considerately blooming quite magnificently right now… the sight of the brilliant scarlet blossoms against drinkable blue skies was breathtaking in its sheer intensity; and above me was a flock of these little fellows feeding and squawking to each other. The hues of the rainbow lorikeet provided an extra blast of saturated primary colour. Flitting about from branch to bloom in vivid splendour, they were chatty and busy little bodies cheerfully banishing solitude…
Details:
Scarf; made for Tim from anny blatt pure wool bought when we were all in Paris
Tops; both Metalicus (the cardigan new to me but second hand!)
Jeans; Little Big, from Labels
Boots; Mina Martini, from Marie Claire shoes
Bag; Gucci
Black with rose-pink accents
My husband wittily suggested I title my post “Amish chic”, he he cheeky… It’s my hat. But we’ve lived amongst the Amish and I never saw an Amish lady in jeans. “Amish menswear chic”? I hope not. I prefer to think I look more …err, “kind of equestrian”?… yeah, well maybe.
Yesterday I visited a second hand shop and op shop with my friend E, or “went thrifting” as Americans say…! (lol, I’m already imagining my grandmother, a stickler for correct English, giving me a strict grammar lesson on that one! But hey, language is supposed to be an organic ever-changing tool for communication, right? Right.)
Oh, back to the haul. I got this hat in an op-shop, it’s of stiff felt and lovely. I also picked up two Metalicus cardigans and a lovely beaded Wheels and Doll-baby cardigan second hand, the latter only needs a few buttons stitching on more firmly to be perfect. Score!! And I’m so thrilled I got my Metalicus fix without having to break my Wardrobe Re-fashion pledge!
This morning I noticed for the first time that this scarf actually goes beautifully with the little silk chiffon pockets on my cardigan. A small detail. Just a touch of rosy pink to warm up the black elsewhere.
And since lately we are having reasonably warm sunny weather today I’m wearing a summer top, a little white lacy short-sleeved thing, last seen here. Believe it or not I still have three lengths of different white lace in my stash, awaiting my attention… I’m really being very good about my stash. I’ve cut out four more projects ready to go. Unfortunately three of them still require a visit to the fabric shop, to pick up some needed extras such as a bit of extra lining for one, some matching braid or ribbon for another and some buttons and braid for the other. I just hope I can escape from the store without succumbing to the siren call of all the new spring fabrics that I know will be there… wish me strength…
Details:
Top; my own design variations on New Look 6483, ivory cotton and crocheted lace inset strips
Cardigan; Alannah Hill
Scarf; knitted using 3 balls Colinette chenille
Jeans; Burda 7863, black denim
Boots; Andrea and Joen, from Uggies
Hat; op shop
“Snow Bunny” beanie
I know, I know, the name I’ve given my new beanie is kind of ridiculous and inappropriate, given today’s weather you can see in my photo here; blazingly brilliant sunshine in clear periwinkle skies… it’s OK, I’m happy to have the irony in my life. I love the sunshine absolutely, but I can imagine those of you lucky enough to get snow in your winter must be hiding a chuckle at what our Perth winters are like… When we do finally get some grey miserable days with storm clouds overhead (which we will) my beanie will seem more fitting, but I wanted to show it off for today since I just finished it the night before last… and the truth be told I whipped it off for the rest of today because my head got too hot…
This beanie is a plain ordinary beanie, no bells or whistles, made with Patons Jet, a wool/alpaca mix. I bought ten balls of this at the beginning of winter, so expect to see some more projects in this yarn before winter’s out.
Thankyou ladies for the sweet comments you left about my Mum yesterday, she is a beautiful lady and I consider myself the lucky one to have her in my life.
Details:
Beanie; knitted with Patons Jet, colour 100
Tops; both Metalicus
Skirt; Vogue 7303, bottle green cotton velveteen
Tights; Metalicus
Boots; Fornarina, from David Jones
Bag; Gucci
“Jewel” knitted waistcoat
Here is a waistcoat I knitted for my mother, ooh, probably about seventeen or so years ago. Round about the time Kaffe Fassett was having a big impact on the creative textile world. I took this photo of her wearing it the last time I went down to stay with Mum and Dad in the country.
The waistcoat is made up of about twelve different wools/cottons/blends in a variety of berry and jewel colours to a Kaffe Fassett “triangles” design I saw in one of his books, and the shape and knitting pattern of the waistcoat is my own design.



































