Walnut Dyeing

I hulled the walnuts that are ready and thought it would be a great opportunity to try dying with the hulls. I filled a pot about 1/4 full with the hulls and added water and boiled it for about 1 1/2 hours. because I couldn't find a good way to strain it I cut a pair of stockings in half and put a skein of yarn in each half and tied it shut.
I just popped these in the pot and left for an hour ( I turned the heat off). The first lot was quite dark. The next lot I did not leave in as long.

I also tried some BFL sock and some 50% silk/50% wool which is the lighter yarn below - It came out a beautiful colour. These all came out semi solid as the stocking tended to float soo the bottom yarn was darker then the top.

Today

Listening to Laura Marling.
Making banana cake with Evie.
Eating wasabi peas.
Sewing bags for Upmarket (it is still on despite the storm damage at UWA).

Melbourne

Another crazy week. Grace and Amelia turned 5 and then it was off to Perth again. The girls and Chris went to his parents for the weekend and I went to Melbourne to see my sister. There was much eating, great live music, lots of walking and window shopping and some puchases.
Lucky my sister's work is right near Tessuti so I popped in after dropping my bags off. So much choice, so many lovely things. It was very hard to make decisions.

These lovely skirts are Surface Art which I found at The Cat's Meow - a great little shop.

I think I tried on every pair of boots and went into every shoe shop in Melbourne. It took me two days to realise that my calves are not meant for boots ( my sisters have the same problem). So a new pair of Dr Martens it will be this winter. I did find these very cute Djano and Juliette shoes in Bunbury yesterday and they fit my strange wide feet. We collected out first bucket of walnuts yesterday. We have been hulling and I have been researching the best way to dye yarn.Rain!! The first rain we have had in out new house. It was lovely to watch it over the valley.

Now it is back to sewing for Upmarket this Sunday.

Pixies

I'm back form the quickest trip to Melbourne to visit my sister. There was drinking, eating, shopping and Pixies. I'll be back when I have recovered.

Saucepans

My Mum gave me these fantastic saucepans on the weekend. They were my Grandmothers. For a women who didn't like cooking she had some fantastic kitchenware.

Dresses

We are back from Perth and a wonderful wedding. Chris' brother was married on the weekend and we all had a great time! Congratulations Neil and Alyssa!!

Pink Dress

The dress is finished. It has been quite a journey to make what is essentially quite a basic dress, which drove me insane at times but I am happy with it. I used a linen/silk blend from Tessuti which is beautiful to touch and easy to sew.
I used a pattern from Burda magazine 07/2008. After making a muslin I removed the front pleat and added some darts (as well as some to the back). I think I might make another one of these in a print to wear over a long sleeved shirt and leggings for winter.
My copy of Pretty Little Mini Quilts arrived this week. Such gorgeous little quilts

Little bit excited to see mine on the back cover.

Flea Market Fancy Platypuses

Thanks for all your messages about my finger. It is fine now, just a little sore.
I save all my scraps of my favourite fabric and really needed to use some of them. Platypuses seemed to be the perfect use. Two are from Flea Market Fancy scraps and one from Pop Garden.

Good Trip, Bad Trip

Good trip: Albany last week to see my parents and sisters.
Bad Trip: To the hospital yesterday to get the sewing machine needle removed from my finger. Lucky for you there is no picture of it. Straight through the nail and out the bottom of my finger. Pretty pleased I didn't faint or vomit or get a drop of blood on the fabric.

In sewing news for the week:
A change of pattern for the pink fabric. This is from Burda Magazine 07/2008.Quilts in progress

Eva's dress.

Mixtape and Tea Towels

The latest issue of MixTape is out (thought the camels haven't quite made it here with mine) and if you are signed up to get the newsletter you can win some great things including some of my yarn and patterns.
Sneak peek of my tea towels for the tea towel swap. A bit if gocco and a bit of stitching.