rose hip

enco-o-o-re!...

   

...yes, another pile, although this time they're cushions instead of pillowcases! I know I promised to share the finished woolly blanket with you in this post, but I just can't seem to get around to sorting through the photos I took of it (I usually take much to many photos and then it takes me forever to go through them!) and I really wanted to touch base with you before the month of May is up. While I did mean to show you the blanket along with these cushions, I'll save the blanket (along with some other goodies) for my next post. These cushions are part of my bedding project which I mentioned here and which you may start getting a feel for by looking at these three photos together:

 

This is just a first glimpse of these cushions as I will come back to them in greater detail in future posts and show you more styles I made but haven't gotten around to photographing yet. I was hoping to be able to update you more regularly about the progress I'm making with my bedding scheme (including the above-mentioned blanket and an appliqué item I'm putting together at the moment), but my month of May has been a bit frenzied so far... For one, after a bit of a slow start due to waiting around for plumbers, electricians, etc., to become available (ah,the joys of house renovations!), our basement reno has definitely gathered some momentum as we just had concrete poured over the floor, thereby embedding the radiant heating floor system which we had installed (we will have warm toesies next winter!). We are now looking into polishing the concrete to give it a nicer finish and we have also started the framing work. I did take a photo of what it looks like but it just looks like a dark, depressing cavern right now since some of the window openings have been boarded up to make way for new windows, so I decided I'll hold on to the photo and show it to you as a "before and after". (Ooooo, I can't wait for the "after" phase!)

With May being here and everything growing so fast in the garden, I've also been going to our lake house and doing lots and lots of weeding, because if I don't, I'll only have clover growing everywhere! I do have the most beautiful lupins unfurling there at the moment (I collected the seeds from a nearby lupin meadow two summers ago which I then sprinkled all over the place) which puts such a huge smile on my face because I've tried so many times growing them in Vancouver to no avail... Isn't May such a wonderful month for gardens as they are always so full of promise at this time?! I do hope your month of May is going well and showing lots of promise for the beautiful months to come and I do hope you will be back for another visit very soon... Thanks for popping by!

my precious woollies...

 

 

...and no, I don't mean my woolly long johns, but my stash of woollen fabric that I have been slowly collecting over the years! I know the mercury might be rising where you are (it certainly is in Vancouver as it feels like summer today...) and woolly fabrics might be the last thing on your mind at the moment, but I have been working with them lately in order to make a patchwork blanket (as mentioned in my last post) and therefore, despite the weather, they are on my mind a lot these days!...

 

 

Precious they are because, for one, I love fabrics with wool in them, as they tend to have yummy textures which makes it fun when combining them together or with other fabrics; you can't even begin to imagine how much fun I have when I pull out a whole bunch of cut squares like the ones above and play around with them to make a patchwork (as I write this last bit I can just hear some members of my family saying that maybe it's time for me to get out a bit more but I know you know what I mean!)...

 

 

What makes working with woollens all the more interesting for me is that I collect them from many different sources; some of them are actual wool fabric yardage, others are thrifted sweaters which I felt in my washing machine, and still others, vintage woollen clothes like pleated skirts made of Scottish wool. So, when I pull together a bunch of squares I've cut from all these different sources into a blanket, I get a real sense of satisfaction as I truly feel like I've made a patchwork, or a needlework in which miscellaneous pieces of cloth of different designs, colors, and textures are sewn together.

 

Now, my woollen stash is precious to me because, as I said, I love working with it, but also because I find nice woollen fabrics hard to find locally; very rarely have I found yardage at my local fabric shops which I would be willing to buy despite it being pricier than a lot of other types of fabric. Undoubtedly, one of the reasons I can't find any at my local shops is that I'm looking for wool fabric with punchier colors and textures than most people are willing to make garments out of these days. So, most of the yardage I have collected over the years is from thrift shops as I always keep my eyes open for pieces of wool fabric during my thrifting rounds, even when I have no immediate plans to work with wool fabrics, and even in the heat of summer when wool is the furthest thing from my mind! In this way, I think I've succeeded in amassing a swell little stash as a lot of my woollens are vintage pieces from the days when people were into wearing garments made of bright plaid and houndstooth woolly fabrics! Do any of you like to work with wool fabric and, if so, are you willing to share your sources with us... perhaps you even know of a good online one?...

 

When in thrift shops, I also regularly check the skirt section for longish, pleated wool skirts, which are often made of lovely Scottish wool fabric in beautiful colors; when taken apart, they are a great addition to my stash despite the time needed to undo all the seams in the pleats! And, of course when it comes to wool clothing at thrift shops, the sweater section is a must... Over the years, I have been building up a lovely collection of wool sweaters in a rainbow of colors which I felt by throwing them into the washing machine set on a high spin warm/hot water cycle. I look for sweaters in pretty colors, brights and pastels, solids or in simple patterns such as stripes; several years ago you might remember, the Gap came out with collections of patterned sweaters in pretty colors, such as pinks and aquas, which can still be found in my local thrift shops and which I find especially sweet when used in a patchwork blanket. However, the catch with finding wool sweaters at thrift shops these days is the price; when I first started buying them, I could find great sweater treasures for only a few bucks, but, nowadays, a thrift shop chain like Value Village regularly prices them at $9.99 and upwards which, when you factor in the cost of felting the sweater and the fact that, once shrunk, the sweater (unless a very large one) doesn't yield a lot of patchwork squares when cut up (because of the irregular shapes of sweater pieces, there is usually a lot of remnant felted wool which I usually try to save for other uses...), makes for expensive woollen fabric! Despite their higher cost, I'm still always on the lookout for sweaters that I think would work nicely in blankets and, while I may be more choosy in what I end up purchasing than I used to be, I'm still constantly adding to my collection because they make a patchwork blanket so much more precious!

 

While a little unseasonal for a lot of you, I hope you didn't mind my woolly little post and I also hope you will come by again shortly as I will be posting about my finished blanket very soon. In case you're also wondering (and I know some of you are judging by the emails I've been receiving of late), I will be putting together a batch of pillowcases for my Etsy shop this week... Thanks for the visit!