Tuesday, January 27, 2015

2 New Designs

 I'm very excited to share my latest 2 designs with you all. Introducing " Baby Love." A pretty Baby Bunting decorated with my stitchery designs
 Don't you just love this pram. Makes me wish I had a  baby girl, Nah not really. I'm well and truly over that now. I like my good nights sleep every night. And now my boys are teenagers I have much more time on my hands to do the things I love to do like sew and design pretty projects.

 The baby quilt was such a delight to work on, The fabrics are  by Aneela Hooey and  called Posy are just so cute. It was fun fussy cutting a few prints to include in the quilt.

 Of course it wouldn't  be complete without a few cute stitcheries thrown in the mix.

 The photography is so beautiful, I especially love the bunting pages. Its so pretty and makes my projects shine. I would love to be there for a photo shoot one day, just to see what they do with my projects and how many photos they take before they decide on the "Right" one.

If you look closely you can see my bunting sharing the cover with lots of other amazingly beautiful designs.
If you are looking for this wonderful magazine its out now in Newsagents. Patchwork and Stitching Vol 16 No 3

Have a wonderful week, hope you find some sewing time.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

The week that was..

 Its been a funny old week, I worked Monday and Tuesday then I had the rest of the week off, Oh I had big plans to do lots of things , first on the list was to keep quilting this old project, only 4 blocks to go then a few baskets to be hand quilted. Nearly there and I must say I am thoroughly enjoying this project again.
Second thing to do was to  make Plum Jam, Our tree is full of luscious plums, we have given so many away and still we had heaps. So after searching the net for a few recipes I found one.
 The smell while these plums were cooking was amazing, Lovely  aromas swirling around the house. While the jam was boiling away I made choc chip cookies, sorry no photo, by the time I thought about it there were 2 left so hardly worth the effort, I take that a good thing though. My boys do like cookies.

 Decorating the jars was almost as much fun as making the jam.  I haven't tasted the jam yet but son number 2 assures me its pretty good.
 Thursday I had a sewing day planned but 2 of my boys got gastro, so I spent most of Thursday and Friday washing bed linen and disinfecting everything in our house.  They were so miserable. 48 hours later all is well and back to normal.


Now its Sunday and my days off are almost over, back to regular routine tomorrow. I have got some sewing planned just for me this afternoon.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Friday night with friends

 Well what a week its been, I worked full time everyday and boy was I tired. I normally only work part time but my collegue had the week off so I worked all day, It was a good week though. I do enjoy my job. Then we had friends over  from the mainland for a visit  so we were entertaining them as well,
 After such a big week Friday night with friends was just what I needed, Thankyou to Cheryll for hosting, During my holidays I was sorting my quilts and as I have a few that aren't finished I thought I would spend  this year trying to get them finished. This one I started so long ago, I think it was 2009. It's all made and half hand quilted .
 I have mainly hand quilted around the baskets, then I thought I would do a hand quilted flower in the red squares, well I did a few  then I got bored so the quilt went into the cupboard for a LONG time.


 Even though my taste in fabrics have changed alot since I started this quilt  I still love it.  And I feel that once its all finished I will love it even more.  I gave up on the hand quilting, unpicked the flowers that I had stitched and  last night I started quilting  a grid design  in the red squares, If you look closely you will see a flower  shape that I unpicked in the back ground.
 There are 20 red squares and you know when you realise  you will never get back to it but you want it finished then you have to make some changes. I am really happy with the grid quilting, I also  did a bit of straight line machine quilting around the border so it all ties together.
Our friends left to go home today so tonight I am keen to do a bit more on this quilt.
 Of course I have to share a few garden pics, my zinnias are looking so pretty right now. So many different colours.

 I have corn flowers as well,
 And my sumo lilliams are beautiful. I was so thrilled when these babies flowered.
I won't tell you how much I love my garden because I'm sure you already know.

If you would like to see what other ladies got up to for Friday Night with friends, click here and you will see the list of names.

Have a wonderful weekend. Hope you find some sewing time.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Tilda

 Back to work tomorrow, I have had a great break, I did so much sewing and I even found time to finish a few projects and got some new ones started. Today I was working on my newest design for Homespun magazine later in the year but I can't show any photos yet sorry. Anyway while I was sewing with my much beloved Tilda fabrics ( Opps I've given you a hint ) I was looking around my sewing room and I realised how many tilda things I have actually made over the years.
 What first got me interested in Tilda was a book that had a Tilda doll in it, I thought they were adorable so I made one. Well that lead to one more and now I have 7 tilda dolls.
 I designed a table runner for Patchwork and stitching magazine and of course its made from tilda fabrics, this was lovely to make. Its so pretty.
 Then I made some pouches to hold my sewing goodies.A big one and a little one for my binding clips.
 I made a cute little draw string bag. These are so much fun to make and don't take that long.
 I couldn't part with my scraps so I made some lavender bag tags, They smell divine.
 While I was looking on Instagram yesterday a few of my dear friends had made Lori Holts cup quilt, I thought this would look so pretty in my newest tilda fabrics so I finally cut into them and made this mini cup quilt. I'm so happy with it.


 Last year I made a tilda quilt, its a great pattern by Clare's Place and has large blocks that showcase pretty fabrics, Today I made the binding for it and actually sewed it to the quilt, When the weather is cooler I can hand sew down the other side.
So I do have quite a collection of tilda fabrics and dolls,

My other love is Bonnie and Camille fabrics, but thats another post entirely,

Have a wonderful week and thankyou for stopping by.

Friday, January 2, 2015

A New Year & New Projects

 Happy New Year to you all, I hope you have had a wonderful start to 2015. I certainly have. I have had a week off work and I have absolutely loved every minute. Most of it has been spent in my sewing room. Lucky for me that I'm the only one on holidays, hubby and 2 of our boys have had to work so when  I haven't  been taking them  to Coles and McDonalds I have been sewing. First finish  or should I say last finish for 2014 was this pouch I made up last week, No pattern used, just my imagination and my favourite fabrics. I was thrilled how it turned out.
 Using the green and dark blues from Bonnie and Camille's fabric ranges worked so well. Above is the front.
 This is the back. Now even though I loved making this pouch in these colours I have enjoyed working with the  prettier colours pictured below even more.
 This is going to be the outside of my new sewing bag, The pattern is from Craftsy and its called Bionic Gear bag, If you do a google search your bound to come across it. Its very similar to the Sew together just a bot bigger and an extra inside pocket. I have loved making it.
 This project has been dragged out of the cupboard again, I started this in 2010, how embarrassing I have only finished 1 1/2 blocks, So to spur me on I spent a few days sewing the blocks together and getting them ready for the stitching part. I thought I could spend a few nights a week working on one block at a time then by the end of the year I hope it might be finished.
 I just need to make sure I stick with it.
 I was very lucky and received some beautiful christmas gifts from my very talented friends. My stitching buddy Cathy made me this gorgeous wall hanging. From Tilda fabrics, oh its so pretty.

 My friend Stephany who lives in Belgium made me this beautiful notebook cover, its made from felt. Steph also included some tilda goodies and Greengate tags, they are beautiful. Thanks Steph. I love them all.

Tracee from Quiltkitty loves life crocheted me this adorable cushion, so much work has gone into it. I love it, thanks Tracee. It looks lovely on my bed.


I've got 3 days left of holidays so I plan to make the most of them, I'm off to tidy my sewing room so I can start making a new mess.
Have a great day and I hope you find some sewing time.

The big 5 0

 Well its been a very fun week for me. Last Saturday I turned 50. It was a fun day of celebrations followed by a wonderful dinner with 30 ...