Threads on the floor, on my clothes, in my hair…

My DH says my craft room currently looks like the Fabric Fairy has thrown up in it. It is a wee bit messy and re-arranged, but for a good reason. My friend Kaye and I are having a bag stall at:

The Inglewood Artisans Market

Which is held on the 2nd Saturday on the Month (not THIS Saturday, like in the ad above). The next Market will be in 2 weeks time – on 14th November. I have been sewing PVC covered bags all day today, here are a few examples.

I shall be giving my lovely Pay It Forward girls (no, I haven’t forgotten you!) their presents from any of the bags that don’t sell. I will also put one up as my part of the giveaway when we eventually celebrate our 100th blog post (Oops!).

I also FINALLY finished another Pleated Beauty Bag for my friend Steph, who has been patiently waiting for it for awhile. She chose denim with brown and aqua pleats.

Oh, BTW, I managed to travel to NSW and back last week for a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) Field Staff Training Seminar. I had a excellent time away with some wise, loving, encouraging and courageous women – and lots of laughs too. Many thanks to my beloved DH for holding down the fort.

Best get back sewing (& blogging).

With Love

To market, to market…

I return to the world with a little more brain space after weeks of preparation for my children’s annual Spring Fair which was last Saturday. It was a perfect day and my 9 year son and I shared a stall. (Sorry – no photos as I left the camera at home) He had made boats from pine, which he cut out, sanded and oiled. I made the sails from lots of bright scraps. He laid them out on a blue cloth and they looked great. He sold all 18 and was very pleased with his fundraising efforts (going to his lego fund and NOT the school!) I had made some tops, covered notebooks, sock monkeys, hairclips and made a little money to help pay for these….

When my DH came home and told me how great the Australian dollar was doing against the $ U.S., two weeks ago, I knew that was his way of telling me that it was time to make some fabric purchases! I’ve been trying to balance out my fabric collection by buying some light fabrics and I couldn’t resist these pink yellow and browns from the Fabric Bee. I love that we live in such a connected and well serviced world. A week after ordering them they were in my letterbox. They have now been placed in my new fat quarter storage unit…

Yes, another antique suitcase, but in slightly better condition that the hat box. It really lends itself to the pinks and browns and reproduction prints, but I’ll put my brights in there too to keep up with the times. I need to refold them all to fit three rows in… may not happen!

TODAY… as I was sitting in my from room attempting to drink a cup of teas while it was still hot, the postman came to my door. With a parcel from the U.S. which had “VARIOUS CUTS OF COTTON FABRIC” on the packing slip. OHHHHH…. AAHHH!!

Put down tea……

Clear space on still cluttered table recovering from Spring Fair….

Breathe….

Hold breath while ripping……

 

 

 

I thought I’d buy myself a Christmas present for someone to give me (my DH has told me that if I don’t come up with an idea, I may not got one) as I want to make a quilt for ME! And when I saw Moda’s 1974 by Urban Chik’s, I decided that could be it. I was born in 1974 and I loved the green/blue tones in this range. I was very thankful when I saw Quiltersbiz had the fabrics at such a good price. So a jelly roll, some green for backing, red for binding, yellow just because… and a charm pack from elsewhere will hopefully add up to a new quilt some time soon! Do I have to wait until Christmas… after such a successful stall at the Fair I might have to keep these out for now… Oh dear….

 

A could always order some more for Christmas – I hear the exchange rate is still quite good!!

 

Happy Stitching to you all!!

 

Katherine

 

Back in the REAL world again.

I finished the book on Sunday, on the way home from a week of family holidays in Dunsborough (South Coastal WA). We had a refreshing time away which included lots of sight seeing, eating, shopping, fishing (DH & kids), reading, catching up with friends and some sewing!!! Yes, DH let me pack the Janome :)

DH and kids on the Busselton jetty

Heidi and Indianna, and the Babushka wall hanging I made her

(pattern by Hot Possum)

I also made another bag… It’s a McCall's pattern (M5599 or Easy Stitch and Save M5790). The fabric is by Michael Miller (Lavender Round About).

I thought I’d include a photo of the 24 hour sewing retreat I went to in September – we had a ball & used every minute of our 24 hours! Thanks Cheryl for organising a fantastic time away.

Steph (jewelry & tea/coffee making), Cheryl (finishing a quilt & domestic goddess apron making), Shelley (knitting) and Zoe (scrapbooking). Yes, that’s my sewing machine in the front (with the lovely red & white patchwork sewing mat made by Kylie!) – you can tell by all the Textile Traders bags on the chair.

Um, we still are going to celebrate our 100th post – eventually. Thanks ever so much for your patience!

With Love

PS - Thanks Jenni from Mummy Daughter Time for this

RECESS time

I fell in love with the “Recess” range of fabrics last year and knew I would have to make a quilt with them. I bought my first ever layer cake and some yardage and got planning. After some playing around with angles and graph paper, I came up with this block layout:

I made the quilt top with a simple layout, and sashing. It looks like this currently:

I’m going to get it quilted professionally, as it won’t fit into my machine. I’ll give you an update when it’s all done. There were a few left over blocks, so I made this quilt:



I like the red border on this one – the large quilt need the red binding to finish it off I think. As this one was also small (40”), I quilted it with the flower design in the centre of each block. (see close up above) Below is the back of the quilt – it had to be made up of all the left over scraps…

I might end up using this one as my ‘Summer’ quilt to hang near the front door… at least until I am inspired by some other summery fabrics. Mmm, that fabric was fun to work with…

 

Happy stitching to you all,

 

Katherine

Back to busy-ness

So school holidays have finished and the busy weekly routine returns again. I love school holidays and the way my children have time to remember how to play together with energy and less arguments. If that happens, I get more time to sneak away to my front room and sew a few rows of my latest project! Here’s what I’ve been up to…

Yes – here is the first project from the Glenharrow Spring Stitch In. I liked the idea of using the canvas to finish this project by Rosalie Quinlan. I used one of her new fabrics from her”Grandmother’s Flower Garden” range as the border. I finally used my staple gun that I bought to cover a chair 4 years ago. I might use it on the chair one day!!

  I’ve been having ‘scrap’ issues , so needed a bigger home for them. Thanks to ebay, a $2.65 antique hat box, and a bit of old fabric and glue, I have a new scrap home… It’s very rustic but it works – I haven’t added in my current scrap collection yet – these were just off the couch in the spare room!!

Back to quilting which is my definite passion currently. Here is one I made for my Grandmother’s 89th birthday. I bravely quilted this one myself too as it’s only 40” square. The fabric range is Odelia by Sentimental studios for moda.  I think she’ll like it.

A dear friend admired this quilt while it was waiting to be completed, so I thought I’d use the left over’s to make her a quilt… This is what it looks like so far…

I’ve been using the quilt along patterns that can be found here. I guess I’m quilting along 2 years late – but Amandajean  has done a great job at giving very simple instructions to complete each block. Hopefully there’ll be enough fabric to do the border she has done – we’ll have to see. I did manage to get extra fabric for the backing at least!

 

So, I guess I did get something done while those school holidays were on – sorry it took so long to fill you all in.

 

Happy Stitching to you all!

 

Katherine