I heart Amy....

Butler, Kaffe Fassett, Anna Maria Horner, Tania Whelan....(sigh). And that's what this little pile represents - lots of yummy fabric that I bought with my 'birthday' money back in February when I visited Patchwork on Central Park for the very first time. I hadn't found the right project to cut into it until the other day when I was cruising quilting blog world and discovered this quilt-along that The Old Red Barn Co is hosting. Looks like fun and seeing as it's over 6 weeks, managable!

I've been working away on the red and pink zig-zag today and it's really been giving me some grief. If anything was going to go wrong, it did. Lots of broken cotton.....but that's my fault for using cheap cotton. Lesson learnt. Then there was the caught up lining. Bah! Don't you hate that? So a bit of time spent unpicking and re-doing. I think most of the problems were caused by patching a strip of batting to make it wide enough, added to the huge amount of seams, so it was possibly a bit lumpier than usual. But all that aside, the stippling is all done. Now I just need to have a stretch and a think about what the binding should be. I'll let you know.

No. Thank you.

More fabric envy.....Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope range is just gorgeous and again, discovered when it's virtually impossible to purchase in Australia. So what does a girl do? Buy online from the wonderful Sew Mama Sew in the US, that's what. I only ordered it a week ago and it arrived today! I'm so thrilled and cannot wait to use it. I almost have the whole line and am thinking I'll do something like this. I love the 1930's look about it. So thank you for the 'thank you' Sew Mama Sew! I know the note says you appreciate my business, but I'm loving your fabric service!

Oh so sweet

I finished my red and pink sweet zig zag quilt top last night. The photo doesn't look too different to the previous post where it was just laid out on the ground. (Just a little less fuzzy having used my newer camera that J had purloined whilst he was interstate for a few days!) I think it's looking very lovely. Can't wait to quilt it....just need to decide what colour thread to use. It's currently 112 cm x 150cm, the perfect lap size.
Now back to the other one!

Pink Zig, Red Zag....Sweet

I've been in love with Moda's Sweet by Urban Chicks range from the moment I set eyes upon it and desperately wanted it as a jelly roll. But I discovered it all too late and they were all sold out when I tried to purchase one....absolute classic case from my 'buyer behaviour' text books. The more I couldn't have it, the more I wanted it! And, what's more, I knew exactly what I'd make with it. So you can imagine my delight when I found two on our recent Sew and Sew's Melbourne trip. Yippee! Thank you GJ's.

Explaining this fabric lust is the excuse for now having two quilt tops on the go at the one time (not counting the paper piecing and not counting the first quilt I ever attempted that's in the cupboard not finished!). I just couldn't wait to see how it would work. It's another zig zag but slightly modified to suit the width of the 2 1/2" jelly roll (ie. cut 4.5" rectangles not 5.5") and uses the pinks and reds from each of the rolls (11 pink and red plus solid red). Here it is laid out on the floor before piecing.

The great thing is that I can get another two quilts out of the remaining fabrics........sweeeet!

Even more beautiful-er

I've become a huge Heather Ross fan since reading about her in blog world. So a few days ago I bought some of her fabrics from Belsize Square the online fabric store and it arrived today! Fabulous service, gorgeous fabric. Oh how I wish R was little all over again...what I could do with those beautiful mermaids!

Beautiful things

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I'm not a fan of eating mushrooms. But there's no denying fungi can be spectacular looking. So when I saw these little toadstools growing in the office atrium, I couldn't resist taking a snap. Particularly as they don't last long. Tomorrow they'll be fungi dust just like the ones that dried on the wall a few days ago.

On the sewing front, I've unpicked the red and white seams, ironed it again and have it ready to lay out when I can have a good solid run at it with few distractions (does that ever happen?). So in the meantime, an experiment, a diversion.

There's lots of inspiration out there in blog world for paper piecing strip scraps, see here and here. It's a lot of fun and pretty easy once you get going. Here's the start of mine. It's still got the paper on the back and still pretty random but I'm really loving it! I'm even tempted to start cutting strips instead of using scraps!

Quilt gone wrong

It was perfect when I laid it out yesterday afternoon. No repeats, no clashes. Lovely. Very happy with myself. But somehow between taking it from the floor to the sewing table it's gone and got all mucked up with colour clashes all over the place. Not once but many times over. Once I could live with, but every row? No.
In a word, it's a disaster that I can't rectify easily. So I'm unpicking about 80 seams and starting again. I'm so annoyed with myself. I know everyone makes mistakes, it was just hours of work that I'm undoing!

Just amazing

We were lucky enough to have two weeks holiday on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts back in April but whilst we were enjoying constant rain (yes on the Sunshine Coast ...ha...ha!), back home in Adelaide continued to be dry, dry, dry. We arrived home to lots of dead plants. I trimmed this little one back, gave it some fish emulsion, and willed it to survive . And most importantly we've finally had some rain. I mentioned to J this morning that we should head out to buy a new plant for that pot outside and he told me that he noticed yesterday that it was coming back. Truly amazing! It must be the little fairy who lives in the pot with the plant.

Red and White WIP

It seems most blogs I'm reading are talking up the merits of the disappearing 9 patch....so much so I decided to give it go. To top that off, Clare came to the same conclusion. Even more uncanny is that we're both working on quilts for our girls and they're both red and white! There's just no accounting for good taste I say!

I love how a pile of fabric squares can work its way into being a strip, then a patch, then a quilt.

Here's how far I've got with mine....still a way's to go. If only I didn't have an assignment and exam hanging over my head!

Primary Zig Zag

This little zig zag quilt was inspired by the wonderful tutorial from amanda jean of crazy mom quilts. You must try it, it's so easy as the cutting is all rectangles! I've opted for a slight adaptation to the recommended fabric layout to use up some of my left over 'Super Mario' fabric....I think the colour repeats helps the whole quilt hang together really well and I really love the backing....it reminds me of men's pj's!

Happy Days

Every day is special and none more so than Mothers Day.

I was given strict instructions last night.....'don't get out of bed and don't come into the kitchen...you're getting pancakes for breakfast'. (R was never one for keeping things a secret.)
Following the presentation of my glorious gifts (paper flowers, bookmark, handmade soap and Empire of the Sun CD), R and L disappeared. A bit of kitchen clanking ensued and within 20 mintues I was presented with the loveliest pancake breakfast ever.

Who cares that the crockery and cutlery doesn't match. It still works! Thank you family. I am very lucky. Happy Mothers Day to everyone.

PS.....the plate is last year's present!

Out of this world

When Claire announced that she was off to Japan and 'would we like anything?', Clare and I immediately said 'anything Super Mario' as our boys are huge fans.
Claire didn't let us down and returned with the most amazing piece of 'Galaxy' fabric for each of us. I pushed aside my idosyncratic 'I can't cut it, it's too lovely' habit because I knew exactly what I was going to do with my bit.
The girls at Patchwork on Central Park had given me a copy of their 'Birdsong' quilt pattern on my last visit. It's the perfect pattern for a feature print. Super Mario and his mates surrounded by strips of primary colours, heaps of fun and really easy. Most of the fabric is from Spotlight, including the blue and yellow star fabric used on the back and the binding and there's a little bit from Hetties Patch too.
L loves it and can't wait to start using it. He and R have their slippers on (a wonderful purchase from our recent girls weekend in Melbourne) and are rearing to go!

Sew and Sews Do Melbourne

What a fantastic fabric blitz the Sew and Sews had in Melbourne last weekend. So much so, we've created a blog to share our adventures.

Sew and Sews started last year. A weekly catch up of like-minded girls, each bringing our crafty projects along and learning new skills like quilting, bag and soft-toy making and generally speaking, worshipping art of the fabric stash....not to mention a few glasses of champagne, cups of tea and Ivana's fabulous baked treats.

That leads us to Melbourne! Cheap flights from Adelaide to Melbourne and the weekend was born. Some new fabric finds like GJ's in Brunswick, Ziguzagu, Richmond, for divine Japanese Kimono silks and cottons and our old fave, Patchwork on Central Park, Malvern. Not to mention the Camberwell Market on Sunday morning meeting the lovely Elizabeth with her buttons and trims and the 'wool man'. (And the Lego man for the kids back home!) Getting it all home was a little scary as our carry-on was limited....but we managed to scrape through.

Here's to many new projects and planning the next adventure!