New cushions

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With all the lovely sunshine we're now getting it seemed a good time to brighten up the lounge room with some new cushions - and what better to do that with than my lovely new fabric by Patricia Bravo. I started with a simple cushion using the 'sparkles in teal' fabric:

I also made a small cushion cover from the 'tealight in ashy' fabric:

I think the cover I'm most happy with though is the one inspired by Ashley from Film in the Fridge:

I've never made anything like this before but really enjoyed the process of piecing it together and am so happy with the result. Now I just need to get my new couch cover made!

Hope you're having a great week!

My first purchase of designer fabric

It seems strange now, but until I started reading sewing and quilting blogs only a few months ago, I didn't know that designer fabrics even existed let alone just how many and how lovely they are!! One shop that seemed to sponsor many blogs was Hawthorne Threads so I thought I'd have a look through their many, many wonderful fabric collections (pretty dangerous for someone who has always loved fabric as much as I do and who has a pretty large collection already). There were, and still are, so many fabrics I would love to purchase but I tried to restrain myself and bought two fat quarter bundles both Paradise by Patricia Bravo, one in Sunrise...

 and the other in the Sunset colour palette (the images of these two collections are from Hawthorne Threads).

I was so excited when the fabrics arrived - gorgeous colours and so silky soft - truly lovely! It's taken me a while to be brave enough to cut into them though, but I finally have (albeit with a project that uses only a small cutting of each fabric). Using some waffle cotton I had purchased from my local fabric shop I made some new tea towels and decorated them with a strip of designer colour. Firstly I made a pair of tea towels using Sparkles in Orchid and Teal...

And the other pair of tea towels featured Squared Fashion in Pink and Blue.

I'm really happy with how they turned out - they really freshen up the kitchen (although now I'm a bit scared to use them in case they get dirty!!)


What was your first project using designer fabric? 

A slow week...

Well it's been a slow week on the blog, but very busy in real life with lots of sewing and crafting, not to mention getting lots of inspiration at the Craft and Quilt Fair which finally made it to Adelaide over the weekend after touring the rest of Australia and New Zealand throughout the year. 


My intention in this post was to share just a couple of the projects I've been working on, but before I do, I'd first like to say hello and thank you to the wonderful people who've added comments to my previous entries - it was such a lovely surprise to log on and read their kind words. I've even got 2 followers now - how exciting!!


Now back to my sewing projects... as you may remember, I recently had the pleasure of discovering my mum's collection of laces and trims. It made me think about the small collection I have (a sample of which you can see above) and about what I could make using some of my favourite pieces. So here are two little purses I made during the week - beginning with a purple one of course (my favourite colour!) I love the softness of this velvet.

And the lace adorning this jade green purse is so pretty. It makes me want to learn how to actually make my own lace, something a group of very talented ladies from the Lace Guild were doing at the Craft and Quilt Fair. Hopefully one day it's something I'll be able to do too. 

Hope you're having a great week!

Such beautiful flowers!

I just love the vibrant colour of these bottlebrush flowers - aren't they stunning? Thanks Mum!!


I also love seeing the flowers that are blooming elsewhere around the world. One blog that often has pictures of local blooms is Ravenhill - her pictures of wild strawberries were lovely. I've never actually seen strawberries growing wild like that, only at home in the garden or in very orderly rows in a strawberry farm. (You'll also find pictures of her sweet Scandinavian Matryoshka dolls and other pretty creations - enjoy!)


What flowers are blooming at the moment in your part of the world? 

Dreaming of Paris...

I'm sitting here this morning dreaming of Paris - perhaps I should watch Amelie today (one of my all time favourite films!) When I was there last year with my gorgeous boyfriend we spent some time visiting sites featured in the film. We were lucky enough to stay a short walk from the Cafe des 2 Moulins (pictured above - and where Amelie worked of course) and enjoyed a breakfast of hot chocolate and pastries each day. They even had the travelling gnome on the counter:

The fruit shop looked just the same as in the film:

And the area around Sacre Coeur was so picturesque (although the phone box Amelie uses in the film doesn't actually exist):

What special place are you dreaming of today?

My first quilt top...

It's been lots of work, but here it is and I am so happy with how it's looking. As you can see, I've used the fabrics I mentioned previously which of course include a mix of purples and soft greens (my favourite colours for a while now). 

For the sashing I've used some gorgeous white cotton that my mum kindly bought for me (thanks Mum!!) - can you see the delicate printed design in the picture below? (You might need to click on the photo to enlarge it a little so you can see the detail - my basic little camera and lack of photography skills made it difficult to really capture how truly lovely this fabric is.)

As for the design of the quilt, it was inspired by the very talented Ashley from Film in the Fridge. I've been reading her blog regularly for the past few months and have been so inspired by all the amazing quilts she has created - they're really what made me want to try quilting. I particularly loved the simplicity of her Blocks and Stripes Quilt and thought this kind of design would be a good place to start - and I am so happy with the results so far!! Now it's on to the quilt back...

A cute little pincushion

The quilt top is almost ready to show you - should have photos tomorrow (I'm so happy with how it's looking and can't wait to share!) In the meantime, I thought I'd share another little project I've been working on - this cute little pincushion. When I was visiting Mum the other day, she gave me this lovely piece of linen:

It was originally made in England to place over the back of a lounge chair as a decorative headrest. The linen is in really good condition and the crochet/needlework trim is so pretty, I just had to turn it into something new. So I combined pieces of the linen and the trim with some fabric from a cotton top I no longer wear and some soft denim from my stash to create the pincushion - isn't it lovely! 

Lace, ribbon, trims and more...

Ok, so I've been a little distracted from quilt making (and blogging) over the past few days - the sunshine and warm weather has been so lovely, making the beach pretty hard to resist (maybe I should have called this blog 'Peta loves the beach'!!) The quilt is progressing slowly though and I should have pictures of the quilt top to show you soon. In the meantime, aren't these trims truly gorgeous!!

I went to Mum's for a sewing day and although we didn't do much sewing, it was so much fun admiring all the beautiful ribbons and ric rac, lace and other trims that Mum has in her collection. I'm looking forward to another sewing day soon so that we can make some cute little bags and maybe a summer dress or two trimmed with some of these precious finds.

Hope you're having a lovely day!

What a gorgeous day!

Looks like my sewing might have to wait for another day - it's time to head to the beach! Hope you're having a wonderful day.

I feel inspired...

...to try making a quilt! Although I've been sewing for as long as I can remember, quilting is something I have never tried but after seeing all the beautiful modern quilts created by so many creative bloggers I've decided that it's time I try. So I've chosen a few of my favourite fabrics from my stash that I think will work well together and I'm ready to get started. Hopefully in the coming days I'll have something to show you.

Bonjour!

Hello and welcome!


Over the past few months I've had the chance to spend quite a bit of time reading other people's blogs and have been captivated by their stories and impressed by the sense of community that seems to exist between bloggers and their readers who are often also bloggers themselves. Most of all, I have been inspired by the creativity of people writing about their sewing, quilting and crafting projects. It's actually encouraged me to get back into sewing and crafting myself, something that I love to do, but that I have neglected in recent years. The enjoyment I've gained from reading others' blogs has also made me think it might be fun to create my own blog, somewhere I can record what I'm thinking, doing and creating - so here it is! As you may have guessed from the title of my blog, my name is Peta and yes, I do love Paris. I also love chocolate (a little too much!!) and as I've already mentioned I love crafting so I'm thinking that this blog will give me a chance to share some of these things with you. 


So to begin, I'd like to share a photo of one of my favourite places in Paris - it's actually a garden at the rear of Notre Dame. I've been lucky enough to visit Paris a few times, and on each visit I have really treasured spending time in this tranquil space admiring the architecture of the cathedral in front of me as well as the peacefulness of the garden itself...