last night i finished a quilt that i have been working on for a VERY long time.
i think poor little maeve was only just three when i started it, and she will be four in less than a month. she has been waiting for this for a quarter of her life!
i wanted this quilt to be bright and cheerful, without being too kiddy or “pink-for-a-girl”. it did turn out more pink overall than i’d intended it to, but i still like it:

i hope it’s something that she has til she’s 104, and remembers that her crazy auntie essie gave it to her, and snuggled up under it with her to read stories and sing songs.

i hope you like it too!
essie xoxoxo

it’s not autumn here in the southern hemisphere, but i’ve got some autumn-esque things to blog about!

my dear friend sarah is going through a bit of a stressful and emotional time right now, and wants to have a very low key birthday. she’s coming over to our place tonight for a quiet meal and some girl-time. but a quiet birthday doesn’t mean the cake can’t be a bit special, so i have spent my morning making this:

i am NOT the baker in this family, so i have no expectations of it tasting as good as it looks, but fingers crossed it will be edible and festive!

in other news, i was sorting out some photos in my flickr photostream yesterday and realised that i forgot to show you how this old project turned out!

i pretty much made the pattern up as i went along after being inspired by a pattern in joelle hoverson’s “last minute patchwork and quilted gifts”. forgive the photography - it’s not my best, but you still get to see the finished quilt and that’s the main thing!

so here i am, surrounded by these lovely orange, yellow and earthy hues, wishing i was heading into a crisp northern hemisphere autumn and a cold winter, rather than a sticky hot aussie summer! ho hum!

essie xoxoxo

my honey has recently taken up the ukelele. she has a red one and his name is eustace. she plays him all the time, and it’s basically the cutest thing i have ever seen:

he had a soft case that came with him from the shop, but it was kind of boring, and i have been promising for weeks now to make him a new one, with a little more personality. last weekend i came good on that promise:

it was a lot of fun to make this from scratch without a pattern - it definitely boosted my confidence in “freestyle” sewing (for want of a better term!).

it even has a little pocket for her pitch pipe, though i still have to sew a button on there so it doesn’t escape.

sajee says that eustace is now he best dressed ukelele in the land - hee hee!

essie xxx

do you have a pattern that you come back to time and time again, because it’s just so great? i have a few, and the ‘library bag’ pattern by leanne of leanne’s house is one of them. i’ve made it for friends, i’ve made it for aunties - and most recently, i made it for one of my teachers:

we’re having a quiet day at home today. exams are over (hurrah!!!), it’s a lovely wintery day, and later this afternoon we are going to take this little beastie to the groomer:

i wonder how she will look once she’s all de-scruffed…

i am working on a big quilting project, and i am really excited about it!

i am using up all my scraps (well, technically, i’m making a scrap pile with much smaller pieces in it!)

when i am finished, there will be 900 of those little squares, all pieced together into the scrappiest quilt in the whole wide world. i’m planning on posting a tutorial when it’s done, so stand by!

xoxo

right now i’m working on a quilt that a friend commissioned.
it’s great, because i’m getting the opportunity to play around with pretty fabrics that i would not ordinarily have reached for in the shop…

it’s a coin stack pattern that i’m pretty much working out for myself - i’ll let you know how it goes!

i’ve recently signed up with a ‘mini-quilt’ swap group on flickr, and i am having such fun with it. i sent my first swap package off about a week ago, and now that my swap partner has received it i feel i can post pictures.

what i am most excited about is that i designed this little quilt from scratch. i’d never done that before! the patching was pretty straightforward, and nothing to get too excited about, but i think the stitcheries are a bit special.

i hope my swap partner, two cheese please, enjoys owning it as much as i enjoyed designing and making it!

love, essie xoxo

i love the internet. i really do. there are so many resources at a crafter’s fingertips. ideas, stories, tutorials and patterns from every corner of the world.

like this one, for example:

i made this quilt for my mum, using a pattern called ‘olive rose’ by valori wells - you can download the pattern here. it was an easy pattern to follow, and relatively quick to put together- the only tricky part was choosing all the different fabrics (there are over 30 in there!), but it was also fun to hunt them down

i thought i might share some of the other free patterns i’ve found in my travels:
~ the ‘freshcut’ quilt by heather bailey
~ the ‘bohemian’ quilt by anna maria horner
~ a pointy kitty by hillary lang of ‘wee wonderfuls’
~ ‘the easiest bag you’ll ever make’ by leanne of ‘leanne’s house’
~ a party garland by the purl bee

have you found any great patterns online lately?

love, essie xoxo

this is just a short post - i’m flying out to london tomorrow (squee!), and i thought i’d just share the project i’m taking with me:

i’ve started this hexagonal quilt, and i’m completely hand stitching the whole thing. over the last few days i’ve made these little stacks of hexagons, tied neatly that i can carry around in my hand bag while we’re gone, and whip out on trains, or in parks, or anywhere else that i end up sitting and relaxing for any period of time. they’re really light and compact, so i think they’ll make the perfect portable project. i’ll let you know!

see you soon!
essie xoxoxo