makings and ramblings

I meant to post the photos the other day, but I was distracted by other things.

This was the gorgeousness of the autumn leaves all over the lawn...2 days after the gardeners had cleared the grass. Honey is almost camouflaged. They are mostly all gone again now as this week the gardeners came with a big truck and sucked them all up and took them away. Most of the trees are bare...we are on the cusp of winter.

Here is a wintery moon just a few days after the last photos. I went out to get some more wood from the fire and just had to photograph the gorgeous moon. I love being surrounded by such beauty.

Yesterday I finally finished the quilt. After spending 6!!! hours on it just yesterday. It is really a mess...not even a proper rectangle, but even worse, after I washed it to get it to do that lovely quilting thing of shrinking a little, the "fabric" markers the kids had used had faded so much you could hardly see them. So, as much as I hated to do it, I went over their work in more fabric marker and some permanent marker. I tried to be as true to the original drawings as possible, in terms of colour and form. Ella didn't seem to mind, so hopefully none of the other kids will.

But since I have finished it, I have to pack up all the mess up in the study. A HUGE task as I have been sewing curtains as well over the last week or so. I always work messy. I also started this little bag last week, so I had to finish that too. Made entirely of woollen fabrics from the op shop. The cat is my own design...I had some iron on webbing stuff that I wanted to try. It's lined so can be reversed so there is no cat. The fabric was really floppy so I used left over quilt batting inside. I probably should hand quilt it a little, but some other time. I'm actually really happy with it. It has a nice stitch detail of winding leaves on the seams of the handle and top of the bag. I've just discovered this stitch on my machine and I love it...I used it on the edge of a tea towel I made into an apron and it looks really cool.

And finally my woven scarf which I finished last week some time and have been wearing ever since. It actually took 4 balls knitting 2 strands at the same time. When I went back to buy more of the more colourful ball it had sold out, so I got another blue grey toned one. I don't actually mind. I think continuing the purple throughout holds it together. I haven't washed it yet to see how the bamboo holds up, but it is very warm.

So, now to attack the study...what a job!