RoseyPosey

Friday Favourites

2010-11-26T10:41:00.000+10:30

Colour!

1. wonky log cabin, 2. fields of flowers..., 3. Progress, 4. Cathedral Window, 5. Finished, 6. Visible and invisible flying geese

Piecing!

1. Ringo Pie - Anna's Dessert Block, 2. Mug rug

Swoon!

I also wanted to show this wonderful pieced block but Silort has opted out of BHL so a link it is.

I won, I won!

2010-11-13T08:00:00.001+10:30

This awesome bundle arrived this week from Kaelin. I won her blog giveaway at the Plaid Scottie, thanks so much Kaelin!

To top it off Kaelin's in my hive for the 3x6 and sent along my block at the same time. Here's a close up of the zigs and zags - I love it.

Friday favourites - late edition

2010-11-12T21:52:00.003+10:30

Friday favourites - late edition, originally uploaded by LilyRose0.1.

It's been a long, tiring week with some late nights at work so I'm soo happy to be on the couch with Mr Posey (I'm sure he'll love that moniker), the cats, flickr and trashy renovation shows. I'm too tired to create tonight but not to appreciate some yummy eye candy! Click the picture to see the links to the photo owners. Blog catch up tomorrow, I have some lovely loot to show!

Happy Mail

2010-11-06T09:16:00.000+10:30

It seems that I've been too busy sewing and receiving packages to blog! I'm so behind on reporting on my good fortune. The loveliest mug rug and goodies arrived from Laurraine/Patchwork Pottery.

I really loved this when Laurraine posted her design and it's just so perfect! I know that Laurraine thinks it's funny that it's on my wall but no mugs are ever going anywhere near it - especially ones with tea in them, tea stains! This is soo perfectly designed and made that I was excited but not at all surprised to find out that Laurraine has been featured in one of my favourite quilt books, Quilts Baby! Go and visit her blog, everything she makes is just gorgeous.

I also received my pincushion from Jessica/quilt happie.

Really cute, and it's Jessica's own design - I'm going to have to try it for myself. That little owl needlebook is living in my hexie organiser.

I'm sitting out the current round of the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap and have been busy sewing placemats and circle blocks. Maybe I did learn my lesson about taking on too much? I'll let you know when I finish my 36 geese for the 3x6!

All rugged up...

2010-10-11T15:18:00.000+10:30

I'm finally coasting along and have had a whole weekend of slacking off and only sewing what I feel like. It feels like mid-semester break used to at uni. I guess it feels even more like a holiday because it's my month in the Bee Seam Piecing Downunder bee and all I have to do is oooh and ahhh over the pretties being made for me. I'll enjoy it while I can because I'll soon be back at it making placemats for the Placemat Swap, my 6 blocks for the 3x6 Sampler Quilt Mini Bee and my normal bee sewing.

I had quite a few finishes in September including the mug rug I made in the Scrappy Mug Rug swap.

I had so much fun with this swap and the little rugs are so addictive. And just because I've made so many things for other people recently that aren't pink (ok, so my pincushion was mainly pink) I put this together for my own mug rug.

I love the colours in this one and I'm really pleased I chose them for my blocks in the 4th quarter of the 3x6. I can't wait to see what everyone makes.

Swap September

2010-09-30T16:25:00.003+09:30

Pincushion - ready to go, originally uploaded by LilyRose0.1.

This month has been such a big month with so many things to sew. I'd like to say I've learnt my lesson about taking on too many things but somehow I doubt it!

I sent off this pincushion to my partner in the Scrappy Pincushion Swap today after making another one for her to choose from last night when I got home from work. I really hope she's going to like it - I just feel like I've missed getting her right with this one even though {big hint} this was the one she chose. But there's a difference between "I'll have the best of two I don't really like" & "I love it".

On the other hand I just know that my Mug Rug Swap partner is going to really love her mug rug. Pictures later.

Friday Faves

2010-09-17T08:15:00.002+09:30

Just a few of my favourites from round 9 of the Doll Quilt Swap. There were so many more that I loved.

1. Doll Quilt Swap - Received!, 2. DQS9 Front, 3. dqs9 :: daydreaming + kite flying, 4. Finally!!, 5. DQS9 quilt to be packed..., 6. DQS9 rec'd!, 7. dqs9n, 8. Doll Quilt Swap #9 - Recieved

My creative space...

2010-09-16T06:48:00.002+09:30

These quilting projects are both calling out to be finished. The first is the Mendocino coin quilt that I started last year(!). One little alteration to the back, 3 or four lines of quilting and binding to go. Surely this should be easy to do but the next pretty/big/swappy thing is always so much more interesting.

The second is this barely started Quilt as You Go project that I'd like to make queen size!

I do have a plan for this stack of lovelies though, they'll go out to my fellow Bee Seam Piecing Downunder bees next month. I thought that these blocks might be a little too much to ask for but everyone has been very generous and said that they're keen to give them a try. I'm hoping that 22 blocks in my mailbox will motivate me to complete the rest.

I love starting new projects but finishing them is not my strong suit. What about you, are you a starter or one of the mythical finishers?

(On the not finishing note, I forgot to add the link for you to go & visit more creative spaces over at kootoyoo!)

Quilt Block Colouring Templates

2010-09-14T14:59:00.000+09:30

I've driven myself a bit nuts the last couple of days looking for and then trying to make a quilt block template for mini bow ties - you know, the sort you can colour in to try out your design? Finally today I drew one up in google docs. Here it is in all its exciting glory ~

Pretty spiffy huh? If you find yourself in need of a 4x5 block mini bow tie quilt design, this is for you. Just click on it. I've posted it over in the sidebar as well (don't worry if it looks a little wonky in the preview - it's fine when it prints). After all of that effort it would be lovely if at least one other person used it! If mini bow ties aren't what you're looking for here are some links to other quilt block templates~

The WWQP Colouring Book: 50 quilt block templates to colour in. Also has block piecing instructions for these and many more blocks.
Block Central's Quilter's Coloring Book: Smaller collection of quilt blocks templates to colour.
Block designer: Allows you to build a block with squares and half square triangles & print it out. Produces a single block.

Some other really useful block resources

With Hearts and Hands...Huge List of Free Quilt Block Patterns
The list of block tutorials from the Quilting Bee Blocks group on flickr.

Sunday Stash

2010-09-12T07:49:00.003+09:30

I'm a little obsessed with stocking up on the Heather Ross at the moment so I got some of this Frog Prince in the pink colourway.

It was lovely to see it in a little pile with some of my other pieces of Far Far Away 1.

Heaven. More to come soon, although in very small amounts because they come from local shops.

Doll Quilt received

2010-09-11T14:07:00.001+09:30

I received the loveliest package from Rachel/ contented be which contained my gorgeous doll quilt and so many extra goodies that it felt like my birthday.

These are Rachel's pics (I hope you don't mind Rachel), every photo I've taken for a week and a half has been so blurry & I really wanted to post my stunning little quilt. I sparted this little baby straight away & was soo happy when I opened it. I just love it.

Here's one of my blurry pics of my loot!

Yep, I made out like a bandit.

I sent mine off on September the 1st but it hasn't arrived yet. I'm nervously waiting for my partner to receive it and hoping that she likes it as much as I did.

Meanwhile, I'm playing along in two little swaps - the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap and the Scrappy Pincushion Swap. It's really fun to do something small after the Doll Quilt Swap, although I'm having the busiest month ever.

Sorry to you RSS people for the multiple postings, I'm having serious blogger issues today!

Friday favourites...

2010-08-27T09:09:00.003+09:30

Musky pinks with a little soft yellow, green, blue and grey.

1. DQS9 top nearly done, 2. peek a boo, 3. 98.365 (testing!testing!!!!), 4. DQS9 Quilt Top, 5. mini quilt., 6. My row block 4

Click the links to visit the lovely quilters.

My creative space...

2010-08-26T07:28:00.015+09:30

Lately, it's been hexies, hexies, hexies.

Ok, so there has been some other sewing too but the photos suck. Do you ever go through bad photo patches? It's like bad hair, all of a sudden nothing works and you can't leave the house/ upload your photos. So, hexies it is...

These are half-inchers that I made using the fabric glue basting method (tutorial coming soon). This method isn't quite as portable as sewing them as you really need a surface to press down the edges but I still like to keep my little kit handy.

Visit some other Creative Spaces over at Kootoyo.

pink stash...

2010-08-22T08:03:00.002+09:30

I love pinks. I tried to resist them for years but now I've given in and I think around 80% of my stash is pink. These are some Denyse Schmidt, my only piece of Bari J, some Japanese Sevenberry...

and some Munki Munki kitties.

I'm soo happy to finally have the kitties and have already cut into this piece for a little project I'll share later.

Friday favourites

2010-08-20T08:00:00.002+09:30

1. DQS9 coming along, 2. block for sarah, 3. DQS9 top, 4. Pastel ceramics, 5. 3x6 Bee 3rd Quarter Beehive 8 neetermo, 6. Bow tie quilt, 7. Nora Barlow, 8. Nicey Jane hexies

Why should all that yummy eye candy languish away in our flickr faves? Dust them off and bring them out into the light I say. I'm loving delicate colours, gorgeously pieced blocks (hexies with borders, blocks with ruffles!) and circular bowties. Click the links to visit the talented sewists/photographers.

Stash & swap

2010-08-15T10:58:00.003+09:30

Stash
Some recent purchases ~ spots ~ most from the never ending scrap bag I bought from One Flew Over, and the Kei from Badskirt.

And these two pieces of Saffron Craig, also from the scrap bag. I have to admit to shrieking a little bit when I saw these in the pile!

These are my two very favourite Saffron Craig prints and these are very decently sized scraps. I'm a lucky girl.

Swap
This little package made its way over the Tasman this week. It's my swap goodies from Cat for the Handsome Hexies Swap. Cat and I have been doing some mutual hexie admiration across the blogosphere so it was really sweet to get these from her.

I especially love the Matryoshkis! So gorgeous.

Thanks again Cat! I'm really looking forward to the next round of this one, it's been so much fun.

Tonka on a Tuesday

2010-08-10T07:00:00.000+09:30

My friend EJ came by to photograph some sewing work & fabrics for me & snapped this shot of one of our cats. It's such an amazing shot, very much like a portrait of a person (hmm). Her nickname is Tonka because she stomps along so loudly it's like Godzilla smashing all of the Tonka trucks. She doesn't usually look this cranky ~ she's just been moved off of the fabric!

I've had some really cool dreams about Tonks ~ in one she was riding in my bicycle basket, jumping in and out at whim even though I was riding pretty fast. In another she won the 'Best Cat in the Whole Wide World' title ~ says it all really.

Sunday Stash

2010-08-08T16:59:00.003+09:30

Some Nest and Joel Dewberry from Pink Chalk Fabrics ...

and some Japanese prints, the bottom two are from Badskirt.

I'm slowly being won over by the world of cute Japanese fabric and couldn't resist all of the details in the piggy fabric - just perfect for little hexes.

Stitching up a hexie storm

2010-08-02T14:34:00.005+09:30

I've finished my hexies and have packed them all up to go off in today's post. I really hope my partner likes them. I wasn't able to use my favourite colours (!) which were in my partner's dislikes so I raided my stash for any little scrap which might fit into their likes.

A few little extras snuck their way in.

The completed stack.

It's been a fun swap and I've really enjoyed the hand sewing. I sat out in the sun last week during my lunch breaks at work & whipped up a few of these, very relaxing.
I've ordered more pre-cut papers from Patchwork with Busyfingers and will be trying my hand at some other shapes when they arrive. I went all out & bought some acrylic templates as well to make fussy cutting easier.

Hexalicious!

2010-07-25T19:05:00.003+09:30

I'm making these little babies for the Handsome Hexies Swap (Round 2).

They are soo much fun & completely addictive. This round we're making 25 hexies for our secret partner and it's going to be pretty hard to stay within the limit. I have a bunch of fabrics fancy cut and plan to make them all up & then choose the best 25 (or so). I'm also working on a hexie holder using some essex linen and echino.

You may see a little gnome poking his face out at the back there - I got a big generous swatch of this Spoonflower print when I bought a 500gm scrap bag from One Flew Over along with some matching lime Munki Munki, awesome Saffron Craig prints & little bits of Katie Jumps Rope (amongst lots of pieces). As I was basting my little gnome hexie (hoping my partner is a gnome lover, unlike me) I couldn't help noticing his terribly cute pink cheeks and his overall air of mischeviousness & next thing I know... I might, possibly, maybe like gnomes. Heather Ross gnomes, on a hexie. I don't think I'll ever go for a gnome in my garden but I think I can stop warning my swap parterns to "hold the gnomes"!

Rapunzel

2010-07-14T13:52:00.003+09:30

Also for my DQS9 quilt. I've settled on a layout for my star and blocks thanks to all the lovely comments from my fellow swapees. I wanted to show all of my blocks but my laptop & I are not friends today so it's just this one. She's my fave though. I think the purple is a little strong for the overall fuchsia & orange colour of the quilt but I'm keeping her in anyway. Have to mix it up a little right? I think Rapunzel might just be my all time Heather Ross character favourite, just pipping Frederick the goldfish bowl fishing kitty at the post. It's not visible in this little scrap but at the bottom of Rapunzel's tower are teeny tiny hairpins.

I've also gotten this perle to do my hand quilting outlines. I had trouble finding the right colours in no. 8 so have gone with no. 5. It's pretty thick but I've bought some needle with suitably large eyes and am hoping for the best.

A scrappy star

2010-07-10T20:11:00.005+09:30

for my Doll Quilt Swap quilt.

Still working on the rest of the layout.

Sunday stash, birthday edition.

2010-07-04T08:00:00.000+09:30

Stack of loveliness.

Princesses.

Finally, this lovely selvedge.

Sunday stash

2010-06-27T09:00:00.000+09:30

Old stash.
Japanese fabrics - the first three are from Kimono House which I visited when I was in Melbourne earlier this year, the bottom one was from Funky Fabrix. I don't have names for any of this stack, I'm sorry.

New stash.
Solids from Blueberry Buckle. Ash, white and some Essex linen/cotton blend in putty. Lovely quality, shame I do not like the colour of the putty now that it's arrived. May be destined for ebay unless it grows on me. On the other hand, I love the ash!

Resizing has added an ugly moire to this photo, click for bigger & prettier.

I think I'm in love

2010-06-26T10:41:00.005+09:30

I'd already begun to open my heart to yellow (which I've always hated) & then next came orange (ewww!) but now that I've begun combining them with plums, purples & fuchsia they've swept me off my feet. I think the silver of the Kona ash really makes it for me too.

I'm playing with quilt designs that try to capture the feeling that I get from these photos ~ so far its only working with teeny tiny squares (yikes) which would mean ticker tape or confetti I guess. I have to admit I intended this to be a little model ~ for a block in a box quilt say~ but it may turn out to be to scale. I'm not sure yet whether it would work for a lap sized quilt.

I can't wait to see how the new Heather Ross line Far Far Away 2 goes with these fabrics from her Mendocino and first Far Far Away lines. I have a birthday package winging its way across the sea right now. Some of those fabrics will go into my Doll Quilt Swap quilt, some into a charity quilt which I'll blog about once I get it underway and some will be just for me ~ especially the roses.

Busy like a bee

2010-06-20T15:42:00.004+09:30

Today is brought to you by the letter B. First of all, I'm on to Plan B for my Doll Quilt Swap design. After spending a little more time following my partner around (virtually) I think that this suits her better than my original hexie/mendocino plan.

Bad photo but you get the idea, I hope. It's my first swap of any kind and I've found that coming up with a design that suits your partner is easy, it's coming up with something that connects the things you both love despite your diferent tastes that is fun & challenging. Does that make sense to anyone else?

My second B is Bee Seam Piecing Downunder. Yep, jumping into the biggest swap on flickr wasn't enough, I've also joined a really lovely Aust/NZ bee and should be receiving some fabrics in the coming week. It looked touch & go there for a minute with getting enough people but now we're all full up. After most of a year lurking around the online quilting world I feel happy to be coming out of my shell a little & can't wait to get sewing.

Third & final B is batting. I've started whipping up my batting squares for sewtakeahike's Quilt as You Go Quilt Along. There have been some truly gorgous blocks posted at the flickr group and since it will be a while before I can afford to have something long arm quilted this is an excellent way to get a queen size quilt onto my bed.

I'll be doing something a little different for my quilt as you go quilt - the blocks will be courthouse steps/drunk love type rather than scrappy log cabin and they'll all have a 2.5" white outer border which should look like sashing. I love the scrappy look but quilte honestly I just don't have that wide a range of fabrics (despite my dedication to building my stash!) & think I'd just be disappointed with the results. Scrappy will just have to be a future project, instead I'm going with the fabrics below plus a few others.

It's such a grey afternoon, maybe I could squeeze in one more B and run myself a bath...

I may love Heather Ross but I still hate gnomes!

2010-06-12T20:00:00.007+09:30

1. mini quilt., 2. modern mini quilts, 3. Yellow warbler, 4. Tree swallow, 5. "my favorite dress" quilt, 6. Elsie Marley Mini Quilts, 7. Far Far Away Quilt, 8. 'Quiltie', 9. Follow your heart mini art quilt, 10. Mendo Dresden, 11. 1.01 PurpleBird Baby Quilt 1, 12. patchwork placemat for the kiddos

Whew! I've made mosaics, created galleries, rounded out my 800+ favourites, written silly things in my profile and made my complete dislike of gnomes well known. As fun as it's been indulging in my own favourites (not to mention some of the beautiful new things I've found) I can't wait to find out who my Doll Quilt Swap partner is & start finding out what they like!

I'm in!

2010-06-06T15:29:00.002+09:30

I think this calls for a whoo and a hoo, I got into the Doll Quilt Swap. I am soo excited and my partner is incredibly relieved to no longer be living with a mad woman who is constantly muttering about why they'd be such a good bebe! Yep, it felt like a long wait around here.
I whipped up this inspiration mosaic in celebration. Actually, this is version two - my original had some blanks so I had to recreate it & then some of my faves mysteriously disappeared, hmm. The end result is less dark greys and less drunk love blocks in this version but it's still full of things I love.

1. Fussy Cut May Block 3, 2. Bee Modern Hanie's block II, 3. Three by Six - for modernsewl, 4. 10 blocks done!, 5. beginnings, 6. flying geese, 7. Received from Chaletgirl. DQS #5?, 8. Saffron Craig designer challenge block, 9. My favorite!, 10. Good Folks and Linen Pillow, 11. string quilt for baby, 12. hey geese!, 13. ohoh, 14. Far Far Away Quilt, 15. DQS7 Peek, 16. pink bird block, 17. DQS7 Spider web block from Sew Hip, 18. 1 & 2, 19. Hexagon quilt top, 20. wonky stars, 21. Mixtape Quilt, 22. Skinny 9-patch, 23. Targets, 24. ORBC Hexagon Quiltalong -- WIP, 25. Quilt As You Go Quilt Along, 26. aweeee!!!, 27. doll quilt swap 7, sneaky peek part 3, 28. dresden love story quilt

Can't wait until we're assigned partners & I can start planning what to make!

Coin quilt progess

2010-06-02T11:47:00.007+09:30

** Edited to remove truly horrible photos & replace with more bearable ones.

My Mendocino coin quilt top is almost done, just top & bottom sashing to go.

I'm so sorry for the so-so photos I took with our camera today.

I've just checked my flickr account and it seems I started cutting for this quilt 8 months ago - not exactly a hive of productivity! In my defense I really got stuck with this quilt and was really uncertain about finishing it. Initially it was going to include darker colours & go from white through to dark plum but it just wasn't working for me.

Here the coins all are sewn together in a much better photo.

Eventually, after playing around one day and making this little scrappy number (below, another so-so pic, sorry) I realised that I love the way the blush colours just melt away into the white and that I was never going to like that bright orange block that cut my quilt top in half - see it there, the pumpkin coloured Kelp Forest? It would have to be ALL blush for this quilt, even if I did have to use up the rest of my precious fat quarters and cut a whole new set of coins.

Since I realised that I've been able to make some progress. I made strips to cut my new coins from and have added the sashing. Although this quilt is literally taking me forever! I have learnt an enormous amount in the last eight months, much of it thanks to the amazing world of flickr and blogs.

Here are a few of the things I've learnt:

I have to trust my own sense of colour & style and not try to force things that don't work.
For accurate piecing a pressing board is an absolute must! I'm so happy with the blocks I've been able to make since I made myself one.
If I'm going to blog I have to be able to take better photos!

And since I'm here replacing photos, here's one of my new blocks I'm so happy with -

Just a shame about the blue tint of the pic *sigh*.

Stash for today

2010-05-02T13:50:00.002+09:30

Zips! They were a complete bargain, even if they are a little grubby.

I love the blur in this photo, taken by my friend EJ for me (as was the photo below).

My teeny little stash of Little Folks, hoping for some more soon.

2nd Sunday Stash

2009-11-08T14:20:00.001+10:30

Time for more stash already - some Echino this time.

I didn't have time to take many pics and didn't get many good ones but I thought this blurred one was pretty cool with the way everything is floating.

See more stash here.

Sewing on Saturday & Block Party Book

2009-11-07T09:04:00.011+10:30

I'm up, I've had a good week and I'm really inspired by some of the amazing and pretty things I've seen lately so I'm ready to get sewing but my sewing machine has other plans. I'm taking it in this morning to get the tension sorted out. The good thing about taking it in though is that it's a really good shop & they'll fit a free motion quilting foot for me. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that yet (eek!) so I'll ask them about a walking foot and if they think my machine is up for the amazing quilting odysey it has ahead of it.

But I did mention pretty & inspiring so I'll share two of the things that made me happy this week - take a look over at Heather Ross' blog if you haven't visited lately. She has the loveliest drawings of the owl & the pussycat, wait until you see the honeybear bottles! She is such an amazing designer and her storytelling isn't bad either. It looks like it might be for fabrics but there's no telling whether we'll get to get our hands on it. With everything I've heard about her deal with Munki Munki it will probably be more cutting up pajamas or bathers or some such for her fabric fans *sigh*.

The second really inspiring thing is that the talented gals over at Block Party have a book deal in the works & are changing over to a quilt along. They'll have a new block to make each quarter - I've never made a block in my life but I can't wait to get started. It's on my big scary list of things to learn so it'll be great to do it virtually with a bunch of other people. They're also having a giveaway to celebrate but there's no point you entering because that Erin Michael paint by numbers bird is mine! ;)

1st Sunday Stash

2009-11-01T12:05:00.007+10:30

I love Sunday Stash over at 1/4 of an Inch and have decided to play too.

Erin McMorris, New Park Slope Birds in Ivory
Michael Miller, Tiny Dots in Paprika
Alexander Henry, Bird Seed in Pink

I'm a bit hooked on birds at the moment & these will probably be used for some log cabin blocks. Check out the rest of the goodness here.

Another post? Procrastination must be the answer

2009-10-31T10:52:00.005+10:30

Yes, I have a job application to write so of course I'm visiting some of my favourit blogs and dreaming about fabric. I now have an enourmous pile of things to iron included the just washed batch from yesterday. I'm so glad that I bought some of the West Hill, the individual ponies have so much personality & I love the pink floral almost as much. I didn't have the patience to wait until it was washed and have already hacked out a little patch of ponies & made a couple of 1 1/4" hexes. Amazing considering I'm normally the "I can't cut this, what if I need it for something better later" type. I've also made some hexes to go on the back of my Mendocino coin quilt.

That's them before the were sewn together. I also have a hex flower in the lighter colours used for the coins as well. I'm using 16 fabrics altogether.

Sadly, these photos make everything looks so dark! Sorry. It really is bright & vibrant. I have some Kona cotton in berry for the sashing and the final colour not shown in the photo is underwater sisters in plum. It's time to finally get going - if I get this jo I'll be part time and will have plenty of time for quilting & isn't that what all good career decisions are based on!

Happy wash day

2009-10-30T13:30:00.016+10:30

Well turns out that I'm as sporadic about blogging as I am about eveything else! Am having a lovely day off despite being too tired & listless to settle down to anything having had 6 hours sleep (thank you kitties, who wouldn't want to wake up at 6.15am on a day off?). It's a mixed day - I'm very frustrated with my sewing machine, I just can NOT get the tension set. I've given it a proper clean and fresh oil but I think it has to go to the repairers to get looked at. No sewing up my Mendocino coins which are all cut up & ready to go. Or even a new iPod cover since I spilt coffee on the old one this week giving me an excuse to retire it & its dodgy beginners stitching. Come to think of it I had tension issues even then. Satisfying myself with washing new fabrics and catching up on the blogsphere.

On the other hand I'm sooo excited to have stumbled across the new Anna Maria Horner Little Folks fabrics today. They are so delicate and gorgeous. I've loved some of her other designs and have about 9 metres of Good Folks Azalea in plum (I need every single metre I swear!) but a lot of her stuff is just too strong for me to bring home. I love looking at it but couldn't really imagine it at my house if you know what I mean. The new designs are smaller and subtler and I can't wait to buy em all up. I really love that she's included some solids in the mix. I'll probably get lots of the pink (which I think she's calling sweet) but will get some yellows too and if I can afford it (hah!) will try to push myself towards some blues too. It's so easy to just stay with the palette you're comfortable with.

1. qm 62, 2. Kokka/Echino at quilt market, 3. sugar.cookie.pillow, 4. playground.pillow, 5. moonlight.pillow, 6. village path / VAH06 berry, 7. baby bouquet / VAH07 berry, 8. little honey / VAH05 berry, 9. village path / VAH06 sweet, 10. four square / VAH04 sweet, 11. baby bouquet / VAH07 sweet, 12. forest hills / VAH03 sweet, 13. voile solid / VS03 rose pink, 14. four square / VAH04 berry, 15. coloring garden / VAH01 berry, 16. coloring garden / VAH01 citrus, 17. coloring garden / VAH01 sea, 18. diamond mine / VAH02 sky, 19. four square / VAH04 lilac, 20. village path / VAH06 lilac, 21. forest hills / VAH03 sea, 22. baby bouquet / VAH07 dusk, 23. booth.5, 24. booth.2, 25. anna maria's booth 1

Size/quality isn't really doing it justice but I'm pooped! Visit the lovely people above who took the photos for better quality.

I'm also waiting waiting for the new Tanya Whelan Dolce line, so beautiful & I see that there's new Echino (1st couple of tiles above) on the way (back to linen/cotton, not double gauze, yay!) on the way. Do these amazingly talented women not realise that I have bills and am supposed to be saving my money?

Just starting out

2009-07-25T23:21:00.010+09:30

I'm new to this blogging affair so when I set this up I just ambled on about the first fabric related thing that popped into my head. It never occured to me to write something vaguely introductory, in part because I don't really expect anybody else to read this and I was completely surprised when my link below was noticed - I didn't know that would happen! Anyway, I haven't sewn for about 6 years but have recently been inspired to start again by all of the incredibly beautiful fabrics available these days. My previous projects were mainly made with op-shop fabrics, with the occasional really good sheet or tablecloth find but nothing that compares to the lovely things that are just a click away now. I started by buying two small pieces of liberty and a tiny stash of echino as a birthday present for myself earlier this month but then placed two or three more orders over the next couple of weeks. I now have quite a nice little stash of my own and am waiting on 6 (!) metres of Anna Maria Horner fabric for bedroom curtains. I'm also sitting on my maxed-out credit card trying not to order up a whole passel of Amy Butler - I'm trying to convince myself that I need to stop ordering random fat quarters and actually plan some projects. I have made a few things, the first being the bird above, made with some Amy Butler faves from the pattern at Spool - it has some rough bits (like the tail) but I love it and it was fun to make. I also whipped up this little ipod holder & hiding next to it a little travel tissue cover.

I made a couple of silly mistakes and there's some ugly stitching that I'd like to fix but it's not too bad. I'm now 1/2 way through a knitting needle roll for a friend's birthday and my next challenge is getting up the courage to rotary cut some of my fabric into coins for my first ever machine quilting project.

What to do with Mr Owl?

2009-07-20T14:33:00.004+09:30

I've got a fat quarter of Echino's Tiger on the Flower in natural with one complete owl (plus 3/4 of an owl, a tiger, a grey bird and a bee) that I'm still trying to decide what to do with. He's sitting on my mantle piece at the very front of my stash and is the last thing I see at night. I bought a red zipper at the markets for 50c to turn it into a nice big pencil case with room for lots of coloured pens and post-its etc but I also like the look of the Bend the Rules Sewing Artsy Clutch. This one with the Echino leopard looks amazing.
Still waiting for the book to arrive from the library so I guess I'll decide then - until then it's Mr. Owl looking at me from the mantle - I think I'll miss him when he's gone.