Friday

Further adventures in Athlone, with Aurora The Travelling Blythe. Today was one of those overcast grey days typical of late winter here. Sky, river and stone all look much the same. We went walking in town again, looking for sights to see. This is a view of our town bridge with the Church of SS. Peter and Paul behind.

 This church contains  six (I think it is six) Harry Clarke stained glass windows. Aurora herself reminds me of Harry Clarke's work. Her pale face and saturated jewel colours, and the coloured glass on her pull-strings  So I had to see them both together. It turns out the interior of a large church does not suit my photography skills, and I was unable to capture anything of the windows themselves, but I intend to have another go at photographing them soon.

Next stop, The Bawn. a dubious lane in Athlone town centre, which was the birthplace of Count John McCormack. And is also a Chinese restaurant. Count John was apparently H. P. Lovecraft's favourite singer, who Lovecraft once emulated on a wax cylinder recording of himself. I believe he (Lovecraft) destroyed the cylinder almost immediately  but what an artefact that would be! I sometimes wonder if Lovecraft had ever heard of our town in his reading about Count John.

And back to the river. We saw some swans fly by. My walks with Aurora take a lot longer than my usual walks, with all the photo-snapping. But I really enjoy her company. My icy cold fingers were suffering for it though.

Love her purple fairy dress. It was too pretty to cover up.

Aurora And The Blue Sky

 Since signing up to host a Travelling Blythe, I occasionally wondered what I would do to entertain her when she arrived. I never really thought of anything exciting. And then her imminent arrival was announced! And it's winter, and I'm in a wintry flump. I live in a big town by Irish standards. In summertime we have a lot of touristy things going on, lots of river related activities and even the occasional barbecue at my parents. Winter here is a bit grim to be perfectly honest. But then I thought about what I love about my town. I love the River Shannon, the hidden quiet places, and our great big sky. So that's what I decided to show Aurora today.

Enid (my resident chatterbox) explained the following to Aurora: "Ireland is kind of shaped like a giant saucer, see? A ring of mountains on the coast and all flat like in the middle. So here in the Midlands we look up and see a big giant sky. Unless there's fog. Then we don't see anything". Which is basically true. But I love those ever-changing skies. Mostly grey, sometimes blue. Often raining.

Today was a blue sky day. Hard to believe it was snowing with a white-out sky yesterday. Still freezing cold mind. My girls lent Aurora the Woollyrockers owl sweater as she apparently didn't bring her own. (Enid: "Who comes to Ireland without a sweater?") I'm actually working on one for her to keep, so she'll have her own soon. I really love Aurora's little hats. 

Today we went on my usual walk. From teacupfaery central (The Wacky Shack) we make our way through the town centre. Past the gauntlet of coffee shops in the shopping centre. (Enid: "Jane is allergic to cake you know! So she never takes us to the fancy coffee-cake shops! How sucky is that!" Me: "It's not the cake, it's the gluten, and you are being insensitive!"). Ahem. We stopped outside the library where a nice lady complimented Aurora's outfit. She was very interested in the whole travelling Blythe business :)

After the town centre we headed to the Abbey Graveyard, a ruined abbey on the riverbank which looks particularly peaceful in winter. You can just about see St. Peter and Paul's church across the river. That church contains some particularly epic stained glass by Harry Clarke so it will hopefully be a stop for another day. My camera battery died before we got around to doing much on the other-side of the river, but we made it home before the rain.

I apologise for the high probability of dolly ramblings over the next few days. We are having a lovely time with Aurora. I don't have a very adventurous life but I feel lucky to be able to share it with Blythe. It has been nice to be taking photos outdoors again. It's actually a lot easier than quilt photography, and I missed it. Expect more Athlone adventures soon :)

Monday

I'm not sure what to do with myself today. It's cold and windy out, and all I want to do indoors is take photographs of some finished mini quilts, but the light isn't quite up to it. Aurora the travelling Blythe has arrived in Ireland! She is a beautiful custom Thumpety Thump and I will be her guardian for the next week or so. Hoping the weather will allow me to take her outside shortly. Here she is by my dolly shelves, settling in.

I've been experimenting with scrappy-trip-along blocks over the weekend. I made two pincushions using 1.25" strips, so each square ends up just .75" finished. (Using decimals for imperial measurement feels entirely wrong, but fractions look too messy in type, so I'll stick to decimals. Hope they are clear enough! I am much more comfortable writing in pencil than with keyboard. Quieter too.)

Anyway... pincushions! I might be in love with these. They'll be headed to the shop soon, just need to finish up the photos. I chose the patchwork fabrics to co-ordinate with backing fabrics I wanted to use. Each pincushion measures approx 5.5" square and is stuffed with polyester toy stuffing. I used some adorable cotton twill tape with measuring tape print to make little loops at the top of each cushion, should you want to hang them or attach some tiny scissors.

Dolly Knitting

Last weekend I decided to make a determined effort to finish my dolly-knits-in-progress. I love knitting, absolutely love it. The tiny needles, the stitch counting, my little glass kitty shaped stitch markers. The whole process. Except for the horrid business of weaving in the yarn ends. That's where I tend to procrastinate. A bit like the common problem among quilters of stalling at the actual quilting part. So yes, I'll freely admit it, I hate weaving in my yarn ends. But I would hate even more for my knitting to fall apart,  so occasionally I just make myself do it. Usually by bribing myself with coffee and gluten free jaffa cakes.

So far this week two commissions have been completed, and three more little tiny garments for the shop. Including a new sweater dress which is exactly the style I would wear if I were a tiny plastic person. It has slightly longer then usual sleeves, which are totally necessary this weather. I'm also hoping to be able to offer Middie Blythe sized knitwear soon, just waiting to hear a review of the fit as I don't actually own a Middie.

I have finished my Patchwork Heart Mini Quilt and will get around to editing the photos shortly. I'm obsessed with making minis at the moment, a fantastic way to try out techniques and colour combinations without committing to the time and expense of a bigger quilt. Aiming to keep up the mini production on a vaguely seasonal basis, starting with the Love-Day themed heart block.

Something Fishy

I made another skirt! The idea for this one popped into my head on my freezing cold riverside walk a few days ago. like most people, I am in love with Tula Pink, and particularly her newest Salt Water collection. This collection is particularly special to me though as the giant Pacific octopus is my most favourite animal. I even have tentacles tattooed on my arm. I bought myself a FQ bundle for Christmas (and have since bought a second back up bundle, ahem.) but was lamenting the fact that I didn't have enough of any one print to actually wear it. But luckily, my patchwork skirt plan came together rather well. I used all 8 prints from the coral colourway, plus the sea stripe in blue for the waistband.

My sewing plans this weekend involve a couple of patchwork heart minis. Using AMH voiles, Liberty tana lawn, Madona Road and Carolina chambray. I also found time to make peanut butter and cherry blondies :) Off for another freezing cold walk now, then more happy stitching, blondies and plenty of coffee!

Far Far Away

Hello January! You are mostly bitterly cold, and you make me want to stay indoors and sew quilty things. I've been entirely neglecting the internet this winter. I never actually got around to photographing my second Christmas quilt properly (I finished it on New Year's Eve!) but this week I have my official first finish of the year to share.

My Far Far Away Quilt. Made from my last little stack of Heather Ross double gauze, and some fantastic soft denims. There are a few pieces of FFA linen in there too and just a little bit of quilting cotton.

 Binding is Free Spirit Designer Solid in Chartreuse. I am really enjoying bright solid bindings on my small quilts. I particularly love this bright green with the blue and white backing fabric.

The quilt back is made from one piece of Denyse Schmidt voile, which is amazingly soft and silky, and was a pleasure to hand quilt. I quilted my favourite baptist fan pattern using white Aurifi 12 wt thread.

This little quilt is the softest most inviting quilt I have ever made. It measures 28.5 by 34.5 inches and has been listed in my etsy shop here. I have also listed a few mini quilts and dolly sweaters :)

One Stitch at a Time

I'm sorry I've been so quiet lately. The usual November gloom got me badly this year, and threatened to take December with it. But I am putting my foot down. Going to try to work a bit more time for me and the things that make me happy into my days. Like these little Candy Stripe Long Johns. I LOVE to knit them. I wouldn't be stopping either, but I have just run out of red yarn. The last batch of the year will be shipped to their new homes today, so I thought I would take a moment to share their picture. I am really proud of these little knits, made from my own pattern. And it makes me so happy to knit them for others who love them too.

What I want now is more time for sewing. I've missed my machine badly. Last Saturday I decorated my studio a bit, so there is a tiny winter wonderland in there, just waiting for me to come and play. And that is just what I intend to do. I'm currently working on In Colour Order's Colour Hex Quilt Pattern. It's coming together nicely so far. I'm using a selection of Center City prints and co-ordinates on Kona Coal. I intend to quilt it myself too, as I really really need more machine quilting practice. I'm starting to appreciate my own wonky quilting and trying to be less perfection obsessed. I really really love Jeni's pattern. It totally pulled me out of my sewing flump. I'm considering making a bed sized half-hexy quilt for me using the same construction.

I'll try to actually do something with the photos I can't stop taking. They never seem to make the leap from camera to computer these days. But I won't force them. For now it is time to sew.