Year of the Tiger is coming

I bought a charm pack (5 inch squares) of Tula Pink's range "Eden". See the full swatch list here. 

It's the Chinese year of the Tiger - which is my year, and this fabric range features tigers more than anything, so it's time to use the charm pack. 

Plus, I am loving the colour pallette, and I think if I make a super simple quilt I can use large kantha stitches to hand quilt it. The kantha stiches have been bringing me a lot of joy in the evenings. Soft batting caressed with the needle,  handwork while watching amazon prime,  interest in colour change, and I already have it!

I laid out the fabrics into an arrangement I like, then chain pieced them keeping the arrangement intact.

That was my air conditioning contentment. In the cool of the evening we went to the part of the main waterfront beach which has a stinger net up. The stinger net is to keep out marine stingers (jellyfish) which are prevalent in these warm waters from November to April.

We went in the cool of the evening. There was a small swell, even though it's not really surfing territory as the Great Barrier Reef prevents the big waves forming. 

There was enough swell for the boys to practise and learn to stand on the board. Miss 10 didn't want to have a turn. She sat on the beach and didn't enter the water at all. Perhaps she doesn't like the sea salt.

It was a beautiful end to a magickal day with the children on school holidays.

 

Kid Crafter

Crafty Mamas love it when their kids get crafty. Especially if he is wearing the zoot suit I made!

This kids loves this suit. Wears it whenever he wants, couldn't get him to save clothes for special occasions if I wanted to!

Thank you to the local shopping centre for putting on fun craft activities for the children on the school holidays.

 

Christmas Bubble O Bill shirt

I loved this Christmas Bubble o Bill ice cream fabric from Missy Rose so much, but I didn't know what to make with it.

I only had half a metre, but it's 150cm wide. Not quite enough for a pocket, the facings or the collar. So I used this stripey fabric for the collar.

And he absolutely loves it.

I know that Christmas has past, but he doesn't care. He is wearing his Grinch suit any day.

Boy shirt #3. This could be an addiction.

 

Blue boys zoot suit

Check out the brass style press studs on this kids zoot suit.

A little bit roomy, with space to grow, but super comfy.

The boy is rapt, and everywhere he goes, people exclaim about his suit. They all love it!

I've made a few more tissue packs, creating the seams as leaders and enders.

It's amazing what one can do with a few scraps. 

I really find the purple and black together so striking.

I have cut out another boys shirt, time to go stitch it up.

 

The Electric Life of Louis Wain

We recently bought an amazon firestick for the TV. Wow, talk about shaking everything up! Totally life transforming, we don't need shelves of DVDs anymore. We get to watch new movies and TV shows without buying them.

It's a very exciting thing.

 I already had an amazon subscription because for $7 a month, I get most of my online orders from amazon AU shipped for free. This is better value than me buying a gift and mailing it interstate where my family live. So it feel like the movies and TV are free - an added bonus.

So we watched a movie last night with Benedict Cumberbatch (whom I already really liked in Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Strange). The movie was titled "The Electric Life of Louis Wain".

 It featured his life and his passion to create unusual artwork with cats. And it turned out that he never really copyrighted his work, so it was printed en masse and he was never paid for it. It was a big mistake on his part, devastating to the family and their financial affairs.

Then I realised I had some of his artwork on the back of my cat Christmas decorations.

I turned around on the couch, and there was his artwork.

Right behind me.

I bought this fabric about 6 years ago for $2 a metre in the after Christmas sales at Spotlight. I guess it was sold cheap because they had to pay no licensing.

It was an incredible synchronicity to me, to turn around to see the crazy Christmas cats that I had made,  backed in Louis Wain cats. 

 

Boy's blue shirt

This is such a pretty colour to play with.

I love the purpley blue. It's so calming. I think the indigenous fabric print is showing women, food sources and waterholes. It's like a map.

This one just needs the metal press studs hammered on.

And now it's time to make the shorts.

 

New year, new plan

New year, a new project.... 

Little boy loved his Christmas zoot suit so much. He needs another suit! He is at that age where he loves matching.

I bought this fabric half price at Spotlight. Let's see how this little boy likes it.