Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner.

Thank you to everyone who popped in and commented on my 50,000 giveaway post!  It was really lovely and insightful to hear why you keep coming to see me here, and what brought you here in the first place.  It certainly helped to reassure me that blogging is not a complete waste of my time!  You all made it very difficult for me to choose a winner too!  But here she is:

I love the thought of sitting around with a cuppa talking about quilting!  Note to self: join a quilting group.  A real life quilting group - not online!

I shall send you through an email tonight Deb and get that little stash of fabric and goodies off in the post!

Today I went in to the city to the Craft & Quilt Fair.  Had a lovely wander around and saw some fabulous quilts.  I will share some photos and conversations with you another day - I'm stuffed!

Thanks again everyone!

xxx

Collaborate For A Cause 2013 - A Handmade Love Fest!

A few weeks ago, I shared a work in progress with you all, and mentioned Collaborate For A Cause.  Well, the time is almost here for the biggest Facebook auction of the year to start!  If you haven't heard of C4AC before, then here's a very quick intro - The wonderful Jen Kennedy from Ainslee Fox Handmade started it three years ago, pulling together the handmade community, to collaborate with one another and raise money for charity!  Last year over $40,000 was raised!  You can learn more about C4AC HERE.

Tonight, I'm sharing with you my finished collaboration with Danielle over at Cottonberry Kids!

 

I had never actually heard of Cottonberry before, but put my hand up looking for someone to collaborate with, and Danielle was brave enough to approach me (I don't know about you, but approaching people I don't know is hard, for fear of rejection!) and of course I said a big YES!  We got to brainstorming about what we wanted to create, and a few days later I received The Intrepid Thread newsletter via email and the Riley Blake "Hipster" range jumped out at me!  I messaged Danielle and suggested the range - and it all went from there!  Julie from The Intrepid Thread kindly gave us a discount on the fabric when she found out it was for charity - so thanks Julie!!!

For my half of the collaboration I used THIS pattern/tutorial for a little pinwheel doll's quilt.  I made a few little changes, just by adding extra borders, and the finished size is 19.5".  And the backing fabric is a gorgeous Riley Blake polka dot in the same bold colours!

I sent the little quilt over to Danielle, and she did a fabulous job photographing it - especially considering the horrible weather she had to deal with!  Her beautiful doll - named Rylee-Kate - is so utterly divine and just screams Happiness!

Our collaboration is raising money for Red Kite - a national cancer charity that offers support to children, young people and their families while they undergo their cancer journey.

If you love Rylee-Kate, her quilt and little pillow, you can bid on them from the 26th of July, at 8pm HERE.  The auction finishes on the 28th of July at 8pm.  There are HUNDREDS of collaborations in the album - and they are all absolutely, positively AMAZING!  You NEED to check it out, and you NEED to tell everyone you know about it!  There is something there for everyone - and it's a great time to grab some awesome handmade goods to put aside for Christmas!

So go on - what are you waiting for?


PS - Last chance to enter my GIVEAWAY tonight! Free fabric anyone? xx

W.I.P. Wednesday - A Little Circa Fun

It's not often that I buy fabric because I think it will be popular - rather than me really loving it.  But that's exactly what I did when I chose to add some Circa to my last fabric order.  I must say - I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw it!  It is probably the girliest fabric I've ever had!  And yes - NOW I love it!

Anyway, after it started speaking to me, I thought I best listen and got to thinking about what to do with it.  And this is what I came up with!

It's a very simple design, but oh so effective.  I made the nine blocks first, and then they sat there over the weekend.  When I pulled them out yesterday, I was muddled where to go to from there.  It was originally going to be a cot sized quilt, but when I did the math (you know how much I suck at math) I realised it would be the wrong dimensions for a cot size!  So, I just re-jigged my technical drawing (this time on the back of an envelope) to up it to a single size.  And added some reverse blocks on the ends.  LOTS of white space for quilting!

And my favourite view of quilts.

I've also made the backing, but it photographed terribly due to being mostly white!  So you will have to wait to see that until next week - when I hope I've been able to go and buy some more batting and will have it quilted - Fingers crossed!

A little reminder that today is the last day to enter my GIVEAWAY.  It ends tonight and the winner will be announced here tomorrow night!

I'm linking up with W.I.P. Wednesday - You can too!

A Tale of Two Dresses

Every day, I receive a gazillion emails in my inbox.  They vary from the all important special sales online to recent blog posts from my faves.  Every now and then, there will also be an actual typed email from someone I know!  But, a few weeks ago I got an email telling me about a new pattern........and I kept that email because I loved the look of the dress, but had SO lost my passion for dressmaking that I didn't know if I would buy it, let alone make it.  

Fast forward to earlier last week.  I had some free time.  That does not happen very often.  I wandered in to Lincraft in the morning to get some denim for a new bag - only to find out that ALL of their fabric was half price!  BINGO!  So not only did I get denim, but I also found a couple of gorgeous lightweight cotton prints that would be nice for dresses.  It was right about then that my plans for bag making flew out the window.....

At around 2.30 in the afternoon, I started two dresses for my girls.  Not only are my daughters five and a half (the half matters you know) years apart in age - they are also poles apart in dress sense.  Miss almost five year old Chloe is a princess/barbie loving girly girl.  And Miss I'M TEN! Chelsea is trying to decide whether she is a high fashion supermodel or a beanie wearing goth....... Soooooo, here is the tale of the two dresses......in photos.......

Not so special just hanging around!

I finished both dresses around 8pm that night!  Hence the dodgy iPhone pics of the girls!

I guess I wanted to show you how different a dress can not only look on the hanger, compared to wearing, but also in the use of different prints and fabrics!  The little version (actually, it is TOO little - the sizing on this pattern was a tad small, so I've bought more of the bloom fabric to make her a bigger size - dress anyone??) is a poplin bordered print.  Perfect for this style of dress!  The bigger version (which falls beautifully below the hips - perfect sizing) is a lovely soft voile.  It's the first time I have sewn with voile, and it was great to work with!

Needless to say, both girls loved their dresses!  Now we just need the weather to switch over to Spring and they will be able to contemplate wearing them!

If you like this pattern, you can purchase it HERE.  It was pretty damn easy to follow, and the finish is neat and tidy.  There are also some beautiful options to change the look of the dresses.  I will certainly be making many more of them.

Have you tried any new patterns lately?  Sharing is caring!

xxx

PS - Have you entered my GIVEAWAY yet?

50,000 - Not That I'm Counting!

It's been a super cold, wet and Winter's day here in Melbourne.  But that little number up there just put a smile on my dial.  I'm not much of a statistics girl, in fact, I don't really like numbers - BUT - I just noticed that this little blog of mine has now officially gone over 50,000 page views!

I started tapping away on my keyboard back in 2009, not really having any real vision or purpose to my blog.  Or page views......hahahaha.  In fact, the majority of those before-mentioned pageviews have been in the past 12 months - when I started blogging my way through sewing and quilting.  Who woulda thought?

Long time readers will know that I started out with lots of personal ramblings.  I still come in here and ramble about my personal life every now and then, but mostly I'm sharing my love of quilting - through trial and error.  Although I was taught to sew by my Mummy, some 30 years ago - quilting has been something I have mostly researched and learnt on line!  My husband told me years ago that I needed to find a hobby.  Seems I've found it......

To say thank YOU for stopping by, viewing my blog, leaving me comments, giving me handy tips and links when I ask for them, and when I don't - I'd love to do a little old give-away.

If you've been reading here for a little while, you will know what I'm talking about when I say that my little shoe-box is bursting at the seams.  Just when I think I couldn't possibly fit any more fabric on to my shelves, more sneaks in.  So for this give-away, I'm going to send some of my fabric a packing.  To your place!

The lucky recipient will receive a surprise pack of fabric - a few scraps, fat quarters and maybe a notion or two. 

To enter, just leave me a comment telling me what brought you here to my blog, and if you are a "follower", why you keep coming back?

I really am chuffed each and every time I notice that I have a new reader!  And I read every single comment that is left - so on the odd occasion I don't reply - please know I have indeed read it!

Thank again!

Love Midge

xxx

*  Entries are open until 9am Thursday 25th July (Australian Eastern Standard Time). Winner will be chosen by me and posted via my blog on Thursday 25th of July.  Please ensure you have left your email address in your comment if you are a NO REPLY BLOGGER.

T.G.I.F.F. - The One Where My Swoon Gets Sent Packing.....

Remember this photo from Wednesday?

Well, it now has a beautiful pieced backing to go with it.....

When I bought the yardage for this backing - from The Intrepid Thread - I was not really sold on the print.  I mean, there are sooooo many divine prints in the Notting Hill range, but all of my first choices (yes, you can have more than one first choice!) were too low in stock and would not be able to accommodate this 90" beauty!  So the lovely Julie said "this is it".  And that's what I got.

BUT - now that it's made up - I LOVE IT!!!!

I had to use my brain and lack of mathematical skills to come up with the pieced section.  Lucky for me I'd only just read THIS blog post by Christa Quilts, in which she talks about how she works out her pieced backs.  Although I knew that's how it would be done, it was very helpful in this process.  I used my own technological know how to work mine out.....

Old school.....

So that's it my friends!  My beautiful Swoon quilt is finished!  Well, sort of.  This will be the first quilt that I will not be quilting myself.  And although I am VERY excited about sending it off to Jeanette to be quilted on her long arm, I am just a tad bit disappointed that I won't be doing it myself.  And on that note - I best go and spend another hour or two looking through designs and trying to come to some sort of decision about HOW I want it to be quilted!!!  Aghhhhhhh!!!!!!

I'm linking up with T.G.I.F.F. being hosted by the lurvely Molli Sparkles today!  You can too!

Now.......what to do with ALL those Notting Hill leftovers and scraps?

W.I.P. Wednesday - Swoon Half Done

I'm practically jumping out of my skin with excitement!  Today I finished my Swoon quilt top!  And I'm almost finished the back.  Yeeee-hahhhhh!

I had planned on using the huge amount of scraps to make little stars or something tricky to go in the junctions between the blocks, but when I made a mock up, I just thought it took away from the main blocks, so I literally scrapped the scraps.  I was also planning on making 12 blocks, but after laying 10 finished blocks out on my lounge room floor, I adjusted my plan because it was so damn huge!  I did however want it to be bigger than the 80" that the pattern made - so I just made the sashing and borders 5" wide instead of the 2.5" as the pattern instructed.  This quilt top now measures a scrummy 90" square.  It's massive!

Another discovery made during this process was that my 1/4" foot for my Bernina is not entirely accurate.  I always knew it wasn't spot on, but these blocks were meant to be 24.5", and they came in just over 24".  Which meant I had to trim them down/square them to 24".  And this also then meant that I lost some points on my stars on the edges on the blocks.  But I really am not stressed about it - because it's MY QUILT!

Isn't she lovely?

As soon as I finished the quilt top this morning, I started working out what on earth I would do for the back.  I had bought some six yards of one Notting Hill print for the backing, but even with the two widths joined together, it was going to be around 13" too narrow, so I got to figuring out how to make up the width.  This is where the larger scraps from the cutting out of blocks came in handy.  And this is where my super technical mathematical diagram came in to play.  I'm so smart.  Not.

Anyway, the backing is almost done.  But you will have to wait until Friday for that reveal - because I will have a finished project!  Well, finished as far as I can - because this little big baby is being sent off to a long arm quilter.  The first time I've ever done that!  One of my lovely readers directed me to a Flickr group, where a long arm quilter was offering to quilt Swoon quilts for a cheaper rate.  Only problem - she was in New York!  So I scrolled through the comments and stumbled upon an Aussie quilter offering the same special offer!  And that's where this quilt is heading.

I'm still stuck on a design for the quilting.  I will be spending time over the next couple of days looking through the design catalogues and trying to come to some sort of decision - if you have any suggestions or ideas in terms of quilting - TELL ME!!!

I'm linking up with W.I.P. Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced - You can too!