Distressed??

This is pictures of some of the first things I sewed when I started on the quilting adventure.

The two pictures on the left shows a pillow made with quite expensive (as everything quilting is here) FQs that I bought a bundle of at the Sewing Festival in the fall of 2007 I think and the one to the right is made of both quilt fabrics and the green one is bought at sale.

Now I wonder if anyone out there has any idea about what has happened to these fabrics? It's like they just have disintegrated or something like that. When I see these I kind of despair, what if this phenomena happens to objects I have made on commission or as gifts to loved ones in four years ahead in time? Is it the threads, mice with acid or bad fabrics that is the reason???

Thankful for any input on this matter. I've been to IKEA to get some new inner pillows and some fabrics for backing. Now I just have to figure out what pattern to use for some new covers :-)

I have some more pillowcase I made around the same time, but they are just fine.

I found it

the small tiny label saying "Red Rooster Rhapsody" and I found the fabric on sale along with two more of the same series. 5 yards for 15$ is not a bad bargain ;-)

So now I can finish three of the place mats and then lay aside the last two until that package get's here. What to do ...what to do in the meantime? I do believe that I'm going to start on some new cushion covers, the ones I made four years ago are starting to fall apart of their seams. I got some lovely plaid fabrics from a dear friend that I'm planning to use as focal fabric. Lucky me who has friends like her, not only does she create magnificence soaps, she send me fabrics as well :-D

RELP RELP

If anyone knows what fabric this is (and manufacturer) and even maybe have a small bit to spare (10x100cm or 2inchX1yrd) I would be ever so happy.

I need it to be able to finish the binding of the last two place mats.

Edited- of course I need more than 1m or 1yrd -  I need 20cm on full width, nothing less, otherwise it would be doll mats LOL.

Placemats over and over again

On and off (a long bit off) I have been working on making place mats for our large dining room table which seats 14 people with a bit of good will;-)

By now I've made three different themes and not being entirely happy with any of them:

First round I decided to make two of each of seven different color schemes, but most of them looked quite sissy. Then I selected the one in the middle, cause I really loved the India colors. Got as far as binding the ones with the elephant in the middle, layered and quilted eight of them and then it struck me -upholstery is blue and curtains has dark purple olives printed. So dark red/yellow might not suit?

OK, blue place mats then....had some leftover blocks from my nieces USA bed spread and used them. With a disastrous result. I mean - just look at them!! Have you seen anything as boring in your entire life? Not only boring, they are plain ugly. Good thing I didn't get as far as sandwiching them before I was struck by that insight;-)

So here I am now, back at quilting the rest of the middle once, I have one to go. And then it hit me - these will not look good with the new china! And here is where some might think I'm a bit crazy or something in that vicinity.....but I finally decided on a light grey, dark grey and cream theme and ordered some yards of fabrics. Since it will take a week for them to get here, I have all the time in the world to come up with a design that I really truly like.

They are only place mats - right? And they will mostly be covered with plates and cutlery and glasses and napkins and.....Well at times I am a bit of a overachiever, that's for sure LOL.

Wolfie in Sweden where it's rey and a bit rainy, not the nicest weather to start clean up the garden in.

Things to long for

Ack, my heart bowled over with longing  when I read this. But nevertheless a great longing, it just don't feel right to go on such trip without the family. And - not sure that non Aussies can tag along....

So I spent some of our money on some new good china instead - this:

Well not the coffeepot or the cups.....but I really would want some of the individual bowls that is part of the series Grey Pearl. Not Black pearl mind you, Grey LOL.

Richness in different ways

Yesterday I got this in the mail:

I haven't started on any of them - just keep myself in suspense and instead read an old Modesty Blaise novel for the time being.

Today these waited for me in the mailbox:

The blue ones are for finishing the new place mats, the red/green ones for my stash. I got them from Thousands of Bolts, a great place to get quality fabrics at affordable prices and from where I get most of my treasures.

Surprise of the year - I got a bit of the bonus system at work for last year. I haven't got a krona (SEK) for the last 10 years. Not because I don't deliver or reach my goals, far from it, but for one reason or the other, I was never qualified enough to participate according to the leadress I had at that time. Lucky me who now got a boss who sees and recognize my qualities :-D

Laugh if you want to ;-)

The reason for non quilting posting latterly is not due to idleness but trying my hands at stitchery.

Let's start with that I'm not an embroidery type of gal....when the other girls I worked with at the large operation/surgery ward was hard at large and intricate Clara Waever embroideries, I red and only relented once, doing a small pink cross stitched rose. Which got me one more nickname (the first was Ylle) - the Rose ROFLMAO.

And to this day (well last week or so) I have hold true to that aversion, until I happened upon some lovely and/or fun looking stitchery. The thing is that the pillows on the couch need new covers and I want something different than real patchwork this time and some stitched blocks with flowers would look nice combined with ordinary blocks. But 30 years or so of non-stitching create a necessity for practice before getting down, not to mention practice on drawing designs. So I have spent my free time on small patches of fabrics upon I sewed all kind of stitches and believe it or not, I have even managed to art of French Knots!!

So here is the result of my efforts:

 a small "envelope" for my new MP3 player. The design is not to the better part of my own, the floral sprig (and the letters ought to be, but my clumsiness made them different LOL) from the Vignette magazine No1. And I had only a small selection of floss to choose from, but for such a small piece it don't matter. The measurements are appear 10x8 cm and has a little pocket on the back for the earphones:

I willingly admit that this is not one of the best things I ever done (and that hurt my ego a bit), so I can't help but smile (so feel free to laugh you too) looking at it. But if I continue to practice I might be able to achieve the lavender sprigs/wreaths design that floats around in my mind for the pillows. Such blocks would make the best carry-on sewing for this summers vacation in the RV, since it's harder than hard to fit and use the Horizon in there ;-)
If anyone knows of free online lavender patterns, feel free to holler :-D