Must be time for....

another tea cosy - after all we haven't had one for a whole month. So here it is - the March ("I'm supposed to make a small quilt but I'm a rebel") tea cosy. I found these wonderful Nepalese wool felted flowers, made by Papoose and instantly thought I just have to put these on a tea cosy.It's to be a rather late birthday present for a friend of mine who is an avid tea drinker. When I last stayed with her she had the most beautiful small book on tea which included the quote that is on the back which just says it all...

Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world

T'ien Yiheng

A Red Letter Day

I have been so looking forward to it - and today it finally happened. I arrived home this afternoon, after finshing my paid work for the week, and there it was in the letter box. The new edition of Selvedge. It's been a long wait as they moved offices a couple of months ago and the edition was delayed so they could produce it up to their usual high standards. It has seemed like a particularly long wait, which reinforced for me that this magazine was something that I really wouldn't want to have to do without. Other things may have to be sacrificed in these times, but for me Selvedge won't be one of them.

There was nothing else for it. I immediatley abandoned thoughts of sorting out the sewing room, made myself a pot of feijoa tea, got out my favourite tea cup and one of my gransfather's embroidered cloths, put my feet up and lost myself in its pages.And it was wonderful. Each page better than the last, full of colour, georgeous textiles and inspiration.

I mean just look at these pages of 18th and 19th century samples of French mattress tickings. They are just begging for a quilt to be made based on the colours and stripes....

I think this may have to go onto the list of quilts to be made - someday...

Another fascinating article was about the tradition in parts of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina for women to prepare clothes that they wish to be buried in. Margareta Kern, an artist, undertook a photographic and video study of some of these women for an exhibition called Clothes for Living and Dying. The photos are moving and I was so swept away reading about them that I was late to pick the boys up from school.

Thank you Selvedge - you enrich my life.

It's not just me

There are others - honest.
I feel sure that whoever knitted these up and wrapped them around the trees in Manners Mall
also feels that primal need to knit.

Hard to argue with really, isn't it. These were my consolation find after my unsuccessful attempt to find the 19mm circular needle in the biggest knit shop in town. While I disappointed not to get what I wanted, it was quite a consolation!

The Primal Urge

It seems that the moment the seasons turn (and believe me they have turned with speed here over the last week or so) I get the irresistible urge to pick up the knitting needles. There is something very comforting about the thought that you can create something that will keep you warm in the cold months ahead and I find the rhythm of the needles particularly soothing.

So I've started small this year with a couple of hats for babies that will be arriving over the next few months to friends. I love these as they whip up so quickly and are always appreciated - every baby needs lots of hats if they are to be born into the wintry climate here in Wellington. I've been using Debbie Bliss baby cashmarino for these and as a result now have my much older children almost begging for hats of their own out of this wool.

Now I know this is a slightly odd thing to say, but I am really looking forward to the weather getting much colder so that I can wear (and let's be honest here - show off) the amazing gauntlet mittens that I was given at Christmas. My dear friend Marilyn, knitter extraordinaire, made these for me after I admired them in a book she had from the library. They are an absolute work of art - I am going to be the most stylish mother,watching winter sports from the side lines, in the whole of Wellington with these on! How could you not look at these and not wish that the weather was already cold enough to wear them?

Actually, if the truth be told, I really prefer the colder months to the truly hot. Once autumn is here you can wrap yourself up in wool and just snuggle up. The more generous swathes of fabric that we tend to wear in the cooler months hide a multitude of figure flaws and I just find it more comforting somehow. No doubt I will have to come back and repeatedly read this when I feel like complaining about the wild weather when we are in the depths of winter!

I have my next knitting project in my sights - but first I have to find a circular knitting needle, size 19mm. It's a monster of a project and I'm itching to get started - all that is holding me back are the elusive needles....

The Challenges of Collaboration

I'd imagined that my new collaboration would be lengthy and give my daughter and I lots of time to spend up in the sewing room together.... Now why would I have thought that?

Instead of this idealised picture I've been under pressure this week - my daughter has been sewing faster than I can cut and she's mentioned it to me, maybe about a dozen times, in that disappointed "you are holding me up" way that children have. Put simply, I've been racing to keep up.

Fortunately she has just had a busy weekend that kept her out of the house, preparing for Waka Ama Nationals (it's a form of Maori outrigger canoeing). It was the most perfect day, better than most we had this summer, so sitting watching the waka races was a great way to spend the afternoon. Having got her out of the house early this morning, I finally managed to catch up.... and all the blocks are now prepared for her to start sewing the whole top together.

Thank goodness - she has the look of excitement back in her eyes. At this rate this could be the quickest quilt ever made in this house - if the pressure doesn't kill me first!

The Start of Something New

I've started a new quilt this weekend, as well as an important new quilt collaboration. I am jointly making this quilt with my 13 year old daughter and its proving to be lots of fun for us both. I'd been thinking for a while that I wanted to make a new quilt for one of my close friends daughter, who is also 13. She still has the baby quilt on her bed which I made her when she was born so I've been feeling for a while that she was most deserving of a replacement.

Fortunately both the girls are close so when I suggested we make it a joint project my daughter thought it was an excellent idea. There has been full consultation on the design, fabric and layout and at the moment she is thoroughly enjoying sewing up the blocks that I have cut for her.

After dinner tonight she said that she really wanted to get back to the sewing machine and make some more - my husband just shook his head and rolled his eyes. There is just no getting away from sewing in this house!

At the rate she is going this will be one of the quickest quilts ever - and I'm also willing to predict it may well be the first of a series of collaborations. She is truly my daughter!

The Pleasures of the Post

Much excitement in my house today as we arrived home to find a package from my latest textile purchases from Trade Me. I just ask you - who could resist this...

or this...

or this...

or, my pride and joy, this.... I think I will have to make a special inner to fit this tea cosy so it can pressed into service sooner rather than later.

Of course the answer to my question is regretfully clear to me, if the rolling eyes of my family are anything to go by! Such is life - it would be so tedious if we were all the same, and the competition for these would be too much to contemplate!