blanket

organic

bamboo

blanket

made for Max

without knowing it i got the colour combo 'right'

grow strong little man

stitched by roma

 there was a great family gathering o's just recently
as noted in 'navigating' t'was in the poconos in pa

that meant Oscar had the chance to play with his international cousins

roma - the name my mum gave herself
to be called by her grandchildren!

well roma ... came to me a few months ago

"I would like to make flicka, huddy & ity
a quilt each ...

so they can be wrapped up in my cuddles when i am not with them

lovely idea isn't it

kind of stems from the Prayers & Squares aethetic

a patchwork quilt ministry that my mum is very invested in
so she planned each one to suit personality & age
 &
here they are
the moment they were given
special labels from a special roma

 let me show you each quilt ...

 

this babuska quilt is for flicka

she is now at school & 

is such a sparkly chirpy little mother-hen

great way to use this fabulous fabric hey!

its from suzy ultman's range little kukla byrobert kaufman

there'd be some machine & hand quilting stitching done on these quilts

... with some help from me
as you know i love the tactile nature of
little stitches

 these bright blue & greens triangles

are for huddy who is 4 ....

love this fabric range too
its bungle jungle by moda

by tim & beck 
roma used this quilt design

 equilateral triangles

not easy to piece perfectly but she's done it

here he is playing with his quilt like a cubby house

 we have a bit of a thing for bunnies in my family

roma gave each of her grandchildren a special bunny when they were born

Oscar's has been so well loved that we actually now have a few

as the first one needed severe surgery!
i had one a long time back too ...

 this 3rd quilt is for 'ity' who is 3

an extraordinary amount of work in this one

the quilt design is by the red boot quilt company

the bunnies are all machine appliqued

she decided to use lots of flowery fabrics in between
instead of appliqueing flowers as well
good solution i think

& their faces

take a close look

done on her fancy janome

love the quirky faces & those glasses!
cool huh?

love the response ity has in this pic
sweet to see her curled up with all that time care  & love
hasn't roma done an amazing job

round of appluase for you mum/roma!

the gift of sharing

a note on sharing

what do you share?

we share our lives with our family & friends

we share our love with special people who warm our hearts

we share our homes with people we care deeply for

we share our thoughts & wishes

we share our skills in our work place & in our homes

we share our gifts .... or do we?

way back last advent....
 ann our director of Wellspring spoke 

about the 3 wise men & their journey

a journey that for certain had many physical obstacles

those wise men carried gifts

gifts for a king

a king sent to save us all

sent to share his love
to share his word
to share his life

perfect model for all of mankind

got me thinking then & i keep revisiting about

how i share my 'gifts'

been reflecting on what my gifts are?
i am an artist, a maker & a teacher
i naturally want to share ideas

 ann made the point

that if we ALL actually 'shared' our gifts
instead of hoarding them for 'some day'

(when is 'some day'??)

the peace that we all search for would
'be'

God asks us ...

to share

to act justly

to love mercy

to walk humbly

Micah 6:8

in our 'humanness' we all find it hard to share
sharing means that we have to take a risk

we find ourselves overwhelmed with timetabled commitments

 with loyalties, we protect our individuality, we hoard
... or simply we are fearful

fear is such a powerful matter of the mind

that can cripple us from our path

now .... i'm going to
share
my thoughts about:

sharing & blogging

might be a touchy subject ..... 

so be warned or simply ... do not read on!

when you are a blogger you are naturally sharing

...sharing ideas or feelings or thoughts

its personal
(but its my blog so i can essentially blog what i like!)

i will often write in comments i leave for other bloggers
"thanks for sharing" .... as i appreciate what it takes to actually share!

when the un-spoken rules of blogging etiquette are ignored

its hard to take

hard because you've shared yourself

& then the response has not been
just
or humble
or respectful

in all of history there has never & never will be a vacuum of ideas

the history
of architecture

of art

of food 

of farming

of dance

of music

of literature
of science
of story telling

every single creative mind has been
influenced

so of course if you read a lot of blogs

then you to will be influenced & inspired

it kind of ...
is the point
!!

but the very personal element of this is ...

really the ideas of someone
albeit on their blog

are that person's intellectual property

so no one should really be
pinching ideas

the nature of blogging as an absolute has
no vacuum!
on one hand if you do not wish for your ideas to be 'pinched'
then simply don't blog about them
but what if they are purchased items?
when the detail has not been disclosed via multi-media?
what if as an original idea no-one 'owns' the copyright
but the way you've made something is uniquely yours as far as you know it to be?

so when we are influenced
 ... we pinch ideas or 'elements of'

it can't be helped in one sense

its why the www works

information & ideas spread quickly

nothing is original 

i've made plenty of things that have in no way

been my original idea

but as you may have read ....

i am proud of how i tweak it my way

so people ....
work on making it your way

& not directly or indirectly copying it
copying with no credit is not polite, its stealing, especially for gain
copying for no profit with no credit is still not polite
copying with permission & credit is the way to go
or simply make it completely different

i share from time to time

'how-to-make' stuff

often, none are my ideas essentially

but you know .... they've been given my wendy-tweak

so that makes them original right? ... or does it?
kind of yes but not
so i don't hold the 'rights' to them
yet does anyone?
grey area hey!

so 'share' people with full grace

share your ideas where appropriate
task risks
that way we'll all 'feel the love' ....
& the rebounds of sharing will be abundant!

if you'd like to make a comment on this subject you are most welcome

i may or may not choose to publish your words
if you have been a sharing blogger you too may have
found that sometimes sharing can backfire & be hurtful
perhaps even hurtful enough to not wish to share or blog-on?
not by anything you have done but from the actions of others
let me know how you handled it

if what i've had to say
'hits home'
 in some way

consider it, reflect on it ....

 i have considered these words long & hard
i hope that they will be understood as they are intended

so how will you use the gift you can give?

the gift of sharing?
take that risk
believe that the rewards will be great indeed
for if no one were to share
this world would be a very sad place indeed!

bunting tutorial: sewn with grace & peace

really we should all be gracious

& caring & joyful & inclusive & forgiving

& sharing & humble & loving

all year round .... not just because it 'tis the season!

i try to be

so here i am on Christmas eve

sharing some hints with you all about

something i love making ...

bunting flags ... mini sized

i have long multi-coloured all different

fabric lengths of it!

they are for parties (or Playful Markets!)

& can be strung up on the 'invisible' hooks we have

strategically positioned about our family room

no crepe paper streamers in our house!

in fact we even have a set of black & white bunting

that has been used on several occasions

(but i am wondering if its jinxing the result??)

there have been many little gifts made & given

just like these ....

now gracing bedroom windows

is my 'thing' for 1st Birthdays

this 'happy' set is the most recent, made to match

& i've sewn a mountain of these for my

hARTylittlepeaces market stalls

& they are also stocked at

Shop Handmade! 

 so somewhere along the line

i may have Googled "bunting tutorial"

i can't remember ...

i usually check out google images

i salute & say 'thankyou' to everyone who shares

share their ideas ...

i've simply looked at what other people do

 & then 'tweaked' it all my way!

problem solving the practical

i'm very into neat finishes .... & i love a double fold binding!

 so

you can make bunting in triangles which appears to be more conventional

or other shapes like semi-circles or deep scallop shapes or squares or the like

you can simply cut the shapes & leave a raw edge or pink if you are using fabric

or you can sew them face to face ....

or not use fabric but paper or card or plastic instead

there are endless options

like there are endless sizes

i came up with my version a long time ago

here's how it goes...

i cut my triangles by way of cutting

wof - width of fabric strips

 i then have a scallop template that makes

slicing the triangles super quick!

yep ... letting out all my secrets here ...

 then .... mostly these triangles are sewn rst - right sides together

in matching fabrics but of course you know

sometimes i mix it up!

turn them out & press

not rocket science but is best to be precise

to be sure you end up with flags the same size!

& before you know it you'll have a nice little stash!!

(well ... its little for me!)

 now for the binding ...

since this binding is not required to perform twists & turns

cutting wof strips is fine .... join

you've worked out how many flags you wish to string

& then work out how far apart you'd like to space them

  make you binding double fold

that means .... press it in half

then open & press the raw edges into the centre press fold

... it will end up 4 layers thick ... make sense?
i use a gadget ... super quick once again

the bunting i make to sell have 12 flags

so here's a combo with 3 fabrics ... all Christmas-y of course!

binding to match

i do suggest that you choose your fabrics carefully

small prints are best, i love a dot as you know

but watch when you're cutting that if you have a one directional design

... well some of it is going to be upside down

now ... my suggestion is that you just don't go there 

as i see it as a bit of a waste of fabric really

ok ...now line up your components 

in fact it really helps to set up the flags in a pile ready to go 

that is ... in order ... 

or you may find you sew in by accident 2 spotty red ones ... oooops!?

save you the un-picking!

here we go

i sew a length of 'ribbon' binding ....

then i start to insert the flags ...

so be sure to have the binding opening facing left

stitch away

you can see my flag spacing here

about the distance from needle to the edge of the bobbin plate

 12 flags later & i add in my hARTylittlepeaces tag

ready for action ... or gifting!

 but perhaps you'd like a no-sew version!??

here are a few hundred i cut recently for

our Playful Market

i bought a couple of Christmas themed

scrap booking paper pads

each square piece i cut in half vertically

then each half was folded across the short side

hole punched twice

then the trick with stringing these bad boys

is

to use a kind of 'hairy' twine or something with some texture

why? so that the paper doesn't slip & slide along

you can see here they are hung parralel all along the width of our hall

what makes this so effective is the 'on-mass' approach

then you need to try to hang it all as taught as possible

so simple & it works & is amazingly effective!

again this idea & process has been

my own problem solving applications

& lots of years of working with large groups of children

& settings where a mass application has been the solution

so just as a final note

just like everyone who shares 

ideas & concepts on their blogs etc

they are intended for you to use for personal reasons

not for reproducing for personal gain

so please on my behalf

& for all those generous souls that enrich our lives

sharing on their blogs & sites all over our globe

please respect these wishes

on a note of wishing ... 'tis the season!

i wish for you and your family

a truly joyous, sparkly, happy, giving time

this Christmas

let us celebrate the birth of Christ our Saviour

pray for peace & grace in our world

 

Happy Christmas!!

& there is still time to whip up some bunting ....

a quilted gift ...

on this day last year

i posted about a precious handmade gift

given to us ... or to Oscar really

you can read about it

from my attempted Blogtoberfest of last year ...

here is Oscar in May 2008

10 days old .... the last day he wore a 0000 suit!

& here he is today

October 2012 ....

4 years & 4 months later

somewhat grown hey!

..... she must have 'known' he was going to be a boy!!

a little red & the whole rainbow

 our little friend Gabi turns 5 tomorrow

i've been busting to make one of

the red thread's ...

ooshka babushka dolls

made her into a little red riding hood

fabric themed of course!

with a red lined cape

.... & she has an alter ego ... Miss Super "G"

...... so if you'd gone down to the woods today

... you were in for a great surprise!

there was a colour filled rainbow party for her today

 a special layered Birthday cake was made

by her clever mummy!

& cake pops too!

 not sure who was the more pleased with this little gift?

Gabi or her mummy or me!? enJOY xxx