Saturday, April 30, 2011

Incoming goodness and new life!

Hi all,

This week has been a great week for the mail box! First up I got my mug rug from Sharon….

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I really LOVE it! She used my favourite fabric range “Sunkissed” and the navy background sets it off beautifully! Sharon also made a matching needle book! This was for the Mug Rug Adventure Swap and sign ups for the next round start on Sunday. This has been so much fun I highly recommend joining in! The button is on my side bar for the link!

The next day I got some Joel Dewberry….

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This is from Sew Love Fabric. It is the Aviary 2 range. I love the colours in this fabric and I plan on using for the Double Wedding Ring quilt but first I need to pick a background fabric….any suggestions?

Yesterday I had a girly day with my mum. We caught up with Jane for coffee. What a great chat we had!

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Now I finally have some Sunkissed to call my very own! I bought this from Jane’s shop. And some lovely charm squares Jane threw in too!

We visited Quilt Essentials at Eatons Hill.

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I couldn’t resist the Kaffe. I love the grey background. And the solid was on sale so I got what was left, only about 3m! Don’t they go together well?

Next stop was East Coast Fabric at Lawnton. They sell patchwork fabric cheap….not because it is inferior but mostly it is end of lines.

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The top fabric is a panel and I am seeing a sewing machine cover! The ricrac is from the Oh Cherry Oh range by Moda.

We then went and had a little visit with Christine.  If you have the chance to meet fellow bloggers go for it! It has been wonderful meeting 2 ladies who are passionate about quilting too. And being able to put faces to blogs makes it so much more friendly!

So I have done some major stash building this week, but I do have plans for most of it!

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Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the new life part!

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If you look closely you might be able to count 7 chickens. Hubby noticed the hen was missing and thought a snake had gotten her. Then he goes down to collect the eggs and feed the others, and there she is with 7 little chickies! They are soooo cute! How she managed to sit on 7 eggs for so long without being discovered is amazing, she obviously knows a good hiding spot!

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Monday, April 25, 2011

Play time!

Hi all,

It has been over a week of school holidays and public holidays here. So not a huge amount of sewing has been done but I did manage to play a bit!

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This is the first stage of Big Little George, a block by Lynne at Lily’s Quilts.

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This is the block fully pieced. I am halfway through quilting it but my sewing machine has started playing up again….not happy. It doesn’t seem to like free motion quilting.

So during some non-sewing time I came across a challenge by Sarah at The Last Piece, the Naked Bed Challenge!  It sounds interesting but there is only a month left. I have been playing with ideas on EQ and drew up my favourite block. This is the test block on the design wall.

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What do you think? I am unsure about the fabric selection, it is Make Life by Sweetwater. The block will be 16” finished. I think I have a problem with doing blocks in normal size, I seem to always make them smaller or larger!

Fortunately I have been able to borrow my mums spare sewing machine again, so I will be able to finish this quilt off….

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I just picked it up from Christine, she does long arm quilting and is local which is very handy!
 
I hope everyone in Oz has enjoyed the loooong weekend!

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Monday, April 18, 2011

Mug Rug Swap Adventure

Hi all,

It is time for the reveal! Sharon has received her little gift from me so now I can show you!

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Sharon likes sunsets and sunrises. Her hubby is a cowboy. Can you see my inspiration? I call it Sunset Silhouette.

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A close up of the cowboy and his horse! I used raw edge appliqué for this part.

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I also made Sharon a little hexie scissor keep to match. 

Stats for the mug rug - I used fabric from my stash. The techniques include paper piecing, needle turn appliqué and raw edge appliqué. It is quilted with free motion quilting. Size is 4 x 8.5 inches.

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Plume’s and Cars!

Hi all,

I have a couple of finishes to share with you. First up is a table runner.

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This is from a book called “Skinny Quilts and Table Runners”. I love so many of the projects in this book! I used a Plume layer cake for the top and Kaffe for the backing and binding.

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I went a bit crazy with the wonky photography! LOL

I have made a couple of cushion covers as samples for Debbie of Jump Creations (my SIL). She is planning to have a table at the North Lakes Farmers Markets this sunday, come and check it out if you are in the area!

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A little birdie told me - there is a great giveaway going on over at Vreni’s blog, she has some great prizes! I would love it if you didn’t enter LOL then I might win!

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Sunday, April 10, 2011

We have some winners!

WOW! You guys are awesome! I can’t believe the response to my little giveaway, I went from 83 followers to 113 of you lovies!

Now, I used Random number generator for this so don’t blame me for the results!

The 5 fat quarters of Melly and Me

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are going to live with – 61 -

Quilting Mom said... My to do list seems to be longer than I can tackle...lol..Congratulations on 100 Posts!! Thank you for a chance in such a great giveaway!!

And the Mug Rug

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is going to – 23 -

barcord said... Hi Jess, What a generous give-away. Thank you for whoever gets those beautiful fabrics and that dinkie mugrug. Love the binding on that. By your list, I can see you are going to be busy this month and onward......... :o)

YAY! I will be sending you ladies emails very soon. Congratulations!

I hope I can keep all my new followers interested with what is going on in my crafty corner of the world! Agh, the pressure! ;)

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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

New month = new list and a 100th post = Giveaway!

Hi all,

So I have started a new list again, it feels like only yesterday when I did the March list!

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I have the usual suspects again this month, bees and swaps, the Schnibbles quilt hasn’t moved again, either has the Handmade stitchery.

But I have been working on the Oopsy Daisy table runner -

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I have one of the stitchery panels finished. I actually could cross something off the list already – the Plume table runner is finished. I haven’t taken photos yet, so I will save that for next time.

I am questioning weather I should commit to doing the Vignette BOM. If you have seen it you will know it is a BIG commitment, about 2 years (at least). My problem is, if I loose focus it is not a design that can easily be made into a smaller quilt, each block is obviously part of something bigger.

And one of my all time favourite designs is calling me! The double wedding ring quilt along, I mean I already have the Marti Michell templates! 

Anyway, it is GIVEAWAY TIME!

I had a hard time deciding what you would like to win. I have settled on 2 prizes!

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I am going to share the love and giveaway 5 fat quarters of Melly and Me “Where the wind blows” fabric. It is so pretty! My favourite design is the white dandelions which is the bottom piece.

And for the 2 prize -

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Is my “Scrappy raw edge Origins + selvages from my scrap bag” Mug Rug. I hope you like it! It is about 4” x 8 1/2” in size.

So all you have to do is leave a comment! If you are a follower you get to leave a 2nd comment!

I will draw two winners on the 10th of April!

The giveaway is now closed!

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This post is linked to -
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Sunday, April 3, 2011

Tying up loose ends…

Hi all,

This weekend I have been finishing up a few loose ends..

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This is block 1 of the Tokyo Subway quilt, my Bee in Oz block for Shruti from February.

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Here is a sneak peek of the mug rug I have made for my partner in the Mug Rug Swap Adventure. Can you guess the theme?

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Dawn is doing up a “Laalaa” comfort quilt for Wendy (she is having a knee operation), and put a call out for siggy blocks. I really enjoy reading Wendy’s blog so I put my hand up to make one.

Guess what else I discovered…. My next post will be my 100th! So keep an eye out for a giveaway!

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