Monday, May 9, 2011

Darn It All, I just Broke My Foot................

Yes, I just broke my foot...........my darning foot that is and I also broke three needles before that, grrrr......
It's not that I am careless, just a little too enthusiastic when inspiration hits.
Fortunately, No. 1 is in town and on a 'mercy dash' to the sewing shop to pick up a new foot for me.

Having felted some woollen jumpers last week I felt the need to make some wrist warmers. The fact that it was pretty, jolly, chilly yesterday might have had something to do with it too.
This cherry, red number would fit someone with a hand a little larger than mine, but they turned out well and I love the blue and red together.

Sometimes, the longest part of making them can be deciding how to embellish them.



Of course I had to try them out and when it was time for a hot drink out came one of my favourite Winter mugs.

In the background you can make out the clothes horse in front of the heater.

It was quite a chilly weekend so the clothes weren't going to dry outside.

My boys were away, so I had the house to myself.


Today, I have been beavering away at more wrist warmers, for a market on the 21st.

It will possibly be the last market I do in Bright until Spring as it gets very chilly up there.

Standing at your stall shivering away is not a good look and there are so many stalls, I doubt the organisers could find a venue large enough to hold it in.

Obviously, Autumn leaves feature..........

Along with hearts...........

The embellishments are yet to be sewn on and now that my machine is out of action for a little while some 'slow sewing' will be taking place.

The middle pair of wrist warmers are a slightly darker lemon than the photo shows and they are 100% Cashmere, so soft and delicate, just lovely.

Hmmm, do I really want to sell them?


With the boys away I decided to head up to Beechworth on Saturday morning to visit a Farmers Market and just soak up the Autumn colour.

It's such a lovely place and the Autumn colour is spectacular.

I love the pattern and texture of these Liquid Amber seed pods. They are actually a bright green, my little camera doesn't show this too well, but the textural beauty is very interesting.

I wouldn't like to stand on one in bare feet as they are very spikey, not nice at all.

I googled them and found out the seed pods are also called:- Space Bugs, Monkey Balls, Bommy Knockers and Cuckoo-Birs among other names.

I have actually never heard of any of these, have you?



A beautiful carpet of leaves all the way down the street, varying in colour from tree to tree.

A visit to Beechworth isn't complete without checking out the two Op shops.
In the first I found a beautiful jumper made of Shetland wool. It was quite large and a light weight, loose type of knit. The muted colours of Turquoise and a Heathery Mauve caught my eye straight away .

I picked it up, checked it out, thought about it, carried it around the shop and then hung it up again.
I felt that it would end up sitting in a cupboard and I couldn't bear to cut it up for wrist warmers even though they would be lovely in those beautiful shades.

I finished browsing and then headed off to a couple of other shops still thinking about this jumper. Eventually, I decided that I should buy it so walked back to the Op shop and of course..... you guessed it....... it was gone. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes, but I thought I was showing amazing self control. Never mind, it's new owner will love it, I just hope I don't see someone walking around with Heathery Mauve wrist warmers made from Shetland wool.............


What I did pick up was this beautiful childrens book.

It was a Christmas present to 'Jason with love from Grandma Salmon, 25.12.1979'
I hope Jason enjoyed it as much as I do.

Love the illustrations.

More toadstool love happening and look at all those swallows.

I've never seen them in great numbers like this.
We usually have just a few flying around here and they nest in the roof vent.


Fancy feeding all these mouths.
Blue Tits, lay 8 to 15 eggs.......
Poor mum and dad they would be busy as, feeding this brood.

There's a lot of sweet birdy love going on here.


Here we are in Autumn, with lots happening in the woods..........

There's something very appealing about older style children's books.
I'm not sure what it is.
Maybe it's the fact that they were around before computers and TV took up all our time.

That you had to pick up a book to find out information, but I just love them and my collection continues to grow..........oops.

Do any of you feel the same way about books?
Maybe you can explain the attraction better.
I would certainly love to hear what you think.

So a very pleasant couple of hours was spent in Beechworth, then it was home to light the heater and do some sewing. A very enjoyable weekend in all

The boys arrived home in the wee, small hours of Sunday morning. It was nice to have them here for Mother's Day and spend some time relaxing together.

I hope you all had a good weekend and a lovely Mother's Day spent with family.

We are heading into a chilly week with rain forecast, so as soon as my new darning foot arrives, I shall be back in my regular posi at the sewing machine.

I hope whatever your week brings, you enjoy it, thankyou all for stopping to say "hi".

Till next time, take care,

Claire X






11 comments:

  1. Hi Claire, what a gorgeous posting!! Loved the meander through your world. Really like the embellishments you make for your wrist warmers, have to giggle that you are wondering at the beauty of autumn colour and here I've been visiting an arboretum for the spring blossom! What wonderful names you found for the seed pods, the best I can get is calling sycamore seeds 'helicopters' when I was a kid and throwing them in the air to watch them fluttering back down. Funnily enough I've been admiring an old childrens nursery rhyme book here at the museum I've hooked up with - the drawings are finding there way onto a nursery quilt now, for the quilting pattern, wonder what those lovely illustrations might set off for you? Best wishes.

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  2. The wrist warmers look great, they should sell well.
    Love the names Monkey Balls and Bommy Knockers!

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  3. Ohhh, I am so sorry to hear about your foot - I have extra sympathy now when I hear about broken bones...

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  4. Hi Claire,
    How frustrating to have a broken sewing machine. It always happens when inspiration is at its greatest. :(
    I like your wrist warmers. I would never have thought of doing this. I would be thinking of either crocheting or knitting a pair. Your idea is much easier, quicker too.
    I've heard of the term Bommy Knockers before but never knew what it was related too. They do look VERY prickly. The colours of the leaves and the green of the seed pods is lovely. It certainly is very pretty up where you live.
    The nature book you found is cute. I love trawling through op. shops looking at the books. I can usually be found looking for old crochet patterns too and have been lucky enough to find a few.
    I guess with all this chilly weather your fire will be going all the time. I hope you have plenty of wood in your wood pile. Do you use wood from your property or do you have to buy a couple of loads a year?
    Have a great week, and happy sewing,
    Anne xx

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  5. Hi Claire
    What a great idea for wrist warmers! They look lovely and toasty.
    I've got a vague memory of that nature book - I wonder if I had it as a child? You know when something just looks very familiar?
    Have a good week
    Emily x

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  6. I'm so glad that it was only your darning foot that you broke, Claire and not the one on the end of your leg - that would have been awful! Love the bright cheerful colours of your wrist warmers.

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  7. We just call those things prickly pods. And I am starting to notice a bit of a badger collection going on... on your mug and on the book...

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  8. Beechworth in autumn is spectacular and you've captured some wonderful shots. My favourite embellishment is the leaves by the way. It is freezing here. We have temps in the minus overnight and highs of 14 so I think winter has kicked old autumn out.

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  9. I hate it when I break things on the sewing machine and don't have any spares! The wrist-warmers all look lovely and the leaf embellishments are very pretty! I love the illustrations in the nature book! :) x

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  10. oh how I LOVE that children's book, such gorgeous animals. Your wrist warmers are great too ,love the red and blue together. Keep warm, we are having very warm days here, much more like Summer than Spring! It's been nice to stumble across your blog, Catherine x

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  11. Those wrist warmers are gorgeous and such vibrant colours......brilliant. I must admit I've always been a bit nervous of free motion embroidery but you're lovely sewing has given me the inspiration to maybe have a go.

    Beautiful autumn images of all those fallen leaves.....even though I love spring, autumn is my favourite time of the year.

    Thanks for your comment and I'm pretty sure the flowering shrub outside my kitchen window is a forsythia, although I may be wrong.

    lily x

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