In Real Life

Yesterday was a big day for me.  I met quilters.  In real life.  Not through a computer screen.  True!

Some time last year, my dear friend Gemma directed me to a Facebook group called "Quilt Club Australia" aka QCA.  It has been through this group that I have had possibly 100's of my quilting questions answered.  Where I have been able to show others interested obsessed with quilting, my progress - no matter how shaky, how hilarious or how triumphant my progress may have been!  I have been cheered on, encouraged and enabled to stretch my learning and grow my ability.  I have thoroughly enjoyed every single day, being part of such a wonderful group of women and men!  And yesterday, 14 Melbourne members got together to chat, swap ideas, gain inspiration and gather knowledge.  And about an hour in to our gathering - we partook in Show and Tell.

It is with much pleasure and jaw-dropping delight that I share just SOME of the amazing quilts that were brought along......

Christine and her paper pieced dragon wall hanging.

Lisa and her Great Barrier Reef quilt - created around souvenir tea towels from her visit to the iconic Australia destination.

Jodie and her memory quilt - Jodie has only been quilting for four weeks!

Sue's amazing quilt!!!  

I loved this quilt by Carol (who is hiding behind it!).  The brilliant prints just pop with the black background.

Norma's block of the month quilt.  Lots of appliqué!

Judith's beautiful Cathedral Windows.

Ummmm......this would be me.  I think I was pointing out my dodgy appliqué on the back of my Bloom Bloom Pow quilt!  

And this lovely lady?  This is my MUM!  Meg is a prolific machine embroidery freak!
If you stick around, I will be doing a whole blog post, very soon, about my Mum and her quilts :)

Moira's gorgeous jelly roll quilt.  Love the V & Co range!

Shirley and one of her many Convergence quilts.

Sarina and one of her stunning, bright quilts!

And our hostest with the mostest - Sharryn.  Such a gorgeous Owl quilt!  Thanks so much for opening up your home to us Sharryn!

I could have put up all 50 odd photos I took from yesterday, but I would have been here for days!  As beautiful as the photos are, they really just do not capture how much love and devotion has been put in to each and every creation that was shared.

The best thing that came from yesterday?  Well, I now have real life quilty friends!  Don't get me wrong - I LOVE all of my online quilty friends!  In fact, there are a bunch out there who know more about me than you would believe.  But to actually sit with a group of women, and be able to touch and look at their quilts, and ask them questions was really great.  We also learnt more about one another, about our families and where we come from.  I guess we can now put a story to the face we see on the computer screen.

I gather you can tell it was a fabulous day?  Lots of laughs, ooh'ing and ahh'ing.  And exchanging of gifts.  I ensured my gift did not get taken from me in the hilarious "kris kringle".  Apparently licking the back of a charm pack and then rubbing it on your behind kind of puts others off wanting it??  Remember that one!

So tell me - do you gather with quilty friends?

Sunday Stash - In Pictures

I shared with you last week how I was spending some of my tax return.  Well, the UPS and postman both came to the party during the past week, and my stash got a ridiculous boost in numbers.  I'm now on a fabric fast.  For a long short time anyway....

The Intrepid Thread never fails to excite me! 

Some Sarah Jane deliciousness from Fabric.com

I finally bought some Ghastlies after months of procrastinating.

Nordika......yum yum.

Waterfront park......sigh.

Interesting colour combo for a cot quilt.

David Butler Parson Gray fabric for a boy's quilt.

Heather Ross......these prints are seriously divine.

Randomness.......two are for binding for quilts in the making, the fairy tales for my Chloe and I just like the bugs, pinwheels and zig-zags!

Soooooooo.........what do you think?  Did I spend my money wisely?

I'm linking up with Sunday Stash being hosted by Fabric Mutt this week - You can too!

T.G.I.F.F. - No seriously - Thank God This Week is Over!

Things have been awfully quiet here in my home this week.  My sewing machine has been sitting dormant, there have been no loose threads attacking everyone's clothing and nobody has stepped on a pin.  You see, I spent the first few days of the week either sitting in our local Emergency Department, or in a hospital ward wondering what on earth was going on with my insides!  To cut a long story short - I had a pretty impressive pain in my abdomen from last Friday, and when I finally went to the GP on Monday afternoon, she sent me off to see if it was appendicitis.  Hmmmm.......  Ultimately, after spending one night in the ED and another night on the ward - it turns out they really couldn't figure it out, and didn't want to go exploring.  Which suited me just fine!  We shall now refer to those couple of days as "forced rest".  On the plus side - I started The Hunger Games series of books, and had plenty of time to read!

Fast forward to yesterday afternoon, and I really needed to sew.  Nothing too big, just something to keep my hands busy.  So I got on to this month's Wombat Stew Bee Blocks.

The lovely Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts designed her own Kimono paper pieced blocks, and asked us to choose either the front or back.  I chose the front......

It came together sooooo quickly and was a wonderfully easy pattern to follow!  So...... I decided I'd also make a back.....

Another very quick pattern to whip up!

And that my friends, is all I sewed this week!  Well, I did just finish a dress tonight, but will save that for another day!

I'm linking up with T.G.I.F.F. being hosted by Sewing By Moonlight

AND

Paper Piecing Party at Quietplay

Sunday Stash - The "I got my tax return" Edition!

I'm very happy to be hosting Sunday Stash today, thanks Fiona for leaving it in my sometimes incapable hands!

Until I started quilting, I looked at fabric purchases a completely different way.  I would choose entire fabric collections, yards of each print, and then make little dresses and outfits from them.  NOW, I look at my purchases from a different perspective.  Fat quarter bundles have become a staple in my fabric diet, because I have come to appreciate just how far one fat quarter will go when it comes to quilting!  Give me a whole bundle of fat quarters and well, the options are huge!

Today I'm sharing with you (some of) what's on its way to me.  You see, I got my tax return a few weeks ago, and I also got paid for my Flying By The Seat Of My Pants quilt, which a lovely customer bought from me!  Sooooo, after much window shopping (read: online fabric shopping), I finally decided on a couple of purchases.

There are sooo many beautiful fabrics being brought out every. single. day.  And it makes it increasingly difficult for me to decided how I am going to spend my money!  Given that the Australian dollar is not as strong as it used to be, I have to really think long and hard about said purchases, because it's not as cheap!  I have email subscriptions to quite a number of online fabric stores, namely The Intrepid Thread, Fabric.com, Westwood Acres, Pink Castle Fabrics and Hawthorne Threads (the list is huge, but these are my favourites).  Being kept up to date with these stores means I'm more likely to know when they are having sales or specials - and that makes me a very happy fabric loving girl!

So how does one choose?  Well, I think about any upcoming projects I need fabric for and I also look through the Sales sections to see which past collections I have drooled over may be up for grabs!  There are also times when I NEED to purchase fabric that I just HAVE to have!

Have I dragged this out long enough?  Want to see what I have coming?  OK, here goes:

Nordika in Frost Valley

Waterfront Park in Breeze

World Tour

Briar Rose - I bought a few of the prints from the range, including this one!

Custom Bundle - Julie from The Intrepid Thread is incredibly helpful and put this bundle together for me after a special colour request from a friend for a quilt.  They are mostly made up of a range by V and Co.

I also grabbed a bunch of gorgeous prints that were in the sales section of The Intrepid Thread.  Half yards of gorgeousness that I know will come in handy!  I will be sure to show you all of this loveliness when in lands here in person!

I may have made another late night order from another online store, but that will have to wait for another edition of Sunday Stash!

So - have you made any purchases this week?  Want to show us your stash, delve in to the depths of your fabric and notions?  Go on - I dare you!  Linky below!

An InLinkz Link-up

T.G.I.F.F. - The Gift Edition

This week's sewing has been all about gifts!  I posted about a couple I got finished on Tuesday, and over the past two days, I've managed to get the rest done too!  That calls for a big old HOORAH!  Without further ado.......

 

First cab off the rank is this gorgeous cushion (yes, another cushion!) that will be gifted tomorrow to a very special little girl who LOVES One Direction!  When I asked her Mum what colours her birthday was, she told me her doona (duvet) cover is a red, white and blue 1D cover!  So I went with that - paper piecing a capital "T" for her name and making the rest up as I went along!  You can find Quiet Play's Alphabet pattern HERE, along with loads of other awesome patterns!

 

I was thrilled to find the most beautiful Union Jack fabric in Spotlight.  It is actually a cotton drill, so a bit more hard wearing than regular cotton.  It's made for a stunning cushion back and binding.  Isn't it gorgeous?

I free motion quilted the cushion front using the very last of my white Aurifil (insert sad face).  When you have used Aurifil for quilting and then go back to using regular non-Aurifil cotton, you really can notice the difference.  I feel another overseas order coming......Aurifil anyone?

 

This morning I set myself the challenge of getting five dresses cut out, and at least two finished by day's end.  Given that I woke up feeling like crap and had a spanner thrown in the works in the afternoon, I am pretty damn impressed with myself - because I got all five cut out - and four of them finished!  This first Mermaid Pinny was a special request from my Ms Chloe.  She is OBSESSED with mermaids, and I bought this fabric, ummmmmmm, quite some time ago for her.  She was beyond excited when I showed her the finished product.  And she begged for snap finishes instead of buttons?!?!!?  Ok, done!

 

Next up is a little size two pinny for a friend's daughter, whose birthday is coming up fast!  I thought whilst I was on a dressmaking marathon, I may as well add this one to the production line!  This Fly A Kite fabric is one of my all time favourites!  I bought quite a few yards early this year, and love sewing with it!

And last but certainly not least are these two divine Little Red Riding Hood pinnies.  They are size 3-6 months, and teeny little twin girls, whom I shall be meeting for the first time tomorrow!  This is another favourite print(s) of mine, which my Tokyo best friend picked up for me in the Napori Fabric Town.  I will be sad when it runs out!  Or maybe I will be happy - because that will mean I'll have to send her out fabric shopping in Tokyo for me again?

And now?  I'm tired!

I'm linking up with Quiet Play's Paper Piecing Party and T.G.I.F.F. being hosted over at Amy's Craft Shenanigans - You can too!

When You Think You Have Nothing To Sew!

Saturday night, whilst watching crap tv, I was thinking to myself "I don't have anything to sew this week".  And then lightning struck, thunder cracked, and a tonne of sewing projects seemed to appear from nowhere!  Apparently whilst taking a few days to prepare for the rainbow party to end all rainbow parties (You can see the baking efforts HERE), I had failed to remember a couple of birthdays coming up, the fact I would be meeting a friend's twins for the first time, oh, and then the husband asked if I could make some sort of cover for his iPad? Sure.

So I went to my day job Sunday and Monday, and then this morning got cracking on my list.  And this is what I have achieved so far......

It is my Mother-in-law's birthday today - Happy Birthday Anne! - and although we have put towards Michael Buble tickets for her, that's not until April, so I needed something small to give to her tonight.  I'd never made a mug rug before (which is quite obvious given the bloody horrible job of binding I did!) so I did a quick Pinterest search to find out how big they were meant to be.  This one has ended up being around 5" x 9.5".  I had some of the backing leftover from my Swoon quilt, and lots of scraps also, so began working out how to incorporate them in to my mug rug.  I made 2.5" HST's from triangle scraps and then sewed them into the little blocks.  Free motioned the swirls through the middle and added some script - the ever so obvious "coffee" and "cake", and in the corners, I have added the names of her four grandchildren.

I have never worked on such a small scale before when it comes to binding, and really struggled!  It is literally the worst job I have ever done joining my binding, but I am hoping that Anne will forgive me, and I will promise to perfect it for another one!  Overall though, I was pretty happy with this quick little project!

I whipped out to the hairdresser after lunch, and had this mop of mine chopped and coloured, then straight back home and on to the iPad cover.  I made THIS iPad cover last year, so I found the pattern I bought and went with that.  Except this time I omitted the button and loop for a snap closure, thinking the husband would prefer it.

Much to my pain and horror, I cut in to my much coveted and loved Architextures bundle.  It hurt me greatly, but I figured it was for the greater good, and my husband would surely love me and appreciate the sacrifice I made for him thank me for making it, and probably shrug at my fabric choice.

I LOVE how it turned out!  I only did some simple straight line quilting around the top part, after I realised the text print is not printed straight (!!!!!!!).

And I pulled out a co-ordinating aqua blue print I picked up from the remnant bin on Sunday at Spotlight!  Winning!  It went beautifully with the snap.

The only thing wrong?  I failed to remember that the husband's iPad also has a bloody keyboard and cover attached to it for taking to Uni.  Which means the cover I have made is around half an inch too small.  Devastation ensued.  But then I shrugged.  I will unpick it once he returns from his Manager's Conference "work holiday" in Bangkok.  Yes, the poor love departs 15 degrees in Melbourne tomorrow, and doesn't return until Monday.  Shame.

So although it was a productive day, both projects were not perfect!  But I do recall  when I asked a couple of weeks ago why you all stuck around here on my blog, a few of you mentioned you liked my honesty and the fact that I point out when I get things wrong royally stuff up!

A QUICK CHANGE OF SUBJECT - Suzanne Seniore from Sewpony popped up a post yesterday sharing her excitement as being among five bloggers considered for the final spot to take part in the upcoming season of Project Run & Play!  I told her I would share her good news and send you all to her BLOG POST as well as consider voting for her HERE!  She is a fellow Aussie blogger and a Melbourne girl to boot!  So if you have a couple of minutes, it would be fabulous if you could go and check it out, and vote if you will!

I'm linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday - You can too!

Sunday Stash #21 - The One Where I Get Co-ordinated!

This week's Sunday Stash is to basically explain that I had no idea what was in my stash.  When I decided to make my Pink Posy quilt, I thought I wouldn't have enough pink prints, so made the trip to Spotlight, who were having a sale on quilting fabrics (Ok, when I got there, found out the sale had finished the day before, but they graciously gave me the discount anyway!).  I went about pulling half a dozen pink prints, and a bunch of other gorgeous selections to take home with me.

 The grey and white chevron is for a quilt back on another project in my mind - it's gorgeous!

Once home, I started going through my stash, which I have always had "organised" in collections of fabrics.  So if I have a complete or part range of fabrics, regardless of what colours they are, they would be sitting on the shelf together.  In doing this pink fabric pull, I was taking fabrics out of every nook and cranny in my tiny sewing room, and before I knew it, I had discovered pink prints I never even knew I owned!

Exhibit A.  Plenty of pink.  Around 60 in total!

This discovery (and serious lack of memory) led me to do a bit of rearranging later that day.  I remember seeing that Gemma from Pretty Bobbins stashes her fabrics according to colour, so I got busy.

To say I was surprised at what I found would be putting it mildly!  I have all sorts of colours in that little room!

Apologies for the crap photo - but this room is so tiny that I am stuck in between a wall and my desk with my iPhone to take this photo!

And now they are all living together in harmony.  All fabric yardage is still stored wrapped around boards, and mostly in collections, however, the pinks are still all sitting together (not in this photo).  But as you can see, I have sorted my fat quarters and up to hard yards in to pinks, purples, greens, blues, reds/oranges, yellows, brown/greys, low volumes and black & whites.

I am hoping and praying that this will make finding fabrics for projects a whole lot easier!

I'm linking up with Sunday Stash @ Finding Fifth - You can too!

Ps. I'm hosting Sunday Stash next week - so be sure to link up!