Zentangle class

It has been very busy for the last two weeks, with visits to Hobart, birthday's, classes and opening on Sundays. Yes, I took the plunge and have opened the shop on Sundays from 11-3pm leading up to Christmas. I may continue after Christmas or I may not. So far it has been very good.
On Saturday we had a great day with Jane Monk learning how to draw and sew zentangles.
Above are our first examples and below is my unfinished second try. Yes it is now finished and I have also done a third. Thanks Jane for a great day. I am now addicted.

This is my first piece stitched. I just have to decide what to make with it. The Horizon was great to work with, even better when I found the open end foot and learnt to use the start button and not the foot pedal.

And here we are hard at it. Til next time -keep quilting.

Melbourne quilt market

I had a wonderful day in Melbourne yesterday catching up with old friends, meeting new people, seeing lots of great quilts and new products as well as buying a couple of pieces of fabric.
Here I am with Michelle Hill on the Lloyd Curzon stand and her beautiful new quilt, The Adelaide Floral Sampler, in the background. I wanted to bring it home but Jim said it would cost too much money :) Well I had just better get a wiggle on with my copy. If you get a chance to see it, look at the wonderful quilting. I have the patterns, kits and BOM ready to go.

Natalie Bird and I in front of her new Christmas quilt. It's just lovely, the patterns will be in shortly.

Bil Day and Wilma from Dayview Textiles and me.

Libby Richardson and me in front of her new quilt.

Saffron Craig and me in front of her lovely fabrics and yes, I did bring some home and more on order.

And that's enough of the photos of me. Thanks to Terry who took them and was so great putting up with me all day and carrying all the bags. I was only going to buy one pack-honest.
Happy quilting

Zentangles and colourful Fridays

I saw colourful Fridays on Daisyquilts blog and thought it was a great idea, and maybe it will inspire me to post more often. It is chocolate today and I only have one photo so far, maybe more tonight. Below are a couple of examples of Jane's zentangles. She is taking a class at esmes on Dec 4. Only a couple of places left. So if you want to draw or sew like this email me soon.

Lots of news

We have just received a new magazine "Vignette" by Leanne Beasley. This exciting new magazine is only available from quilt shops and features patterns, recipes and a block of the month. Kim is going to make up our shop sample and I think we will use a new range of fabrics from moda called Dilly Dally by me and my sister.

Here's my centre square and fabrics for Helen's free stitching round the block quilt. I have just started the first border for Kate's quilt. I am really enjoying this round robin so far, not sure if I will feel the same after the tiny hexagon's we are doing this round.

A new baby quilt that I have just finished binding. We have kits in pink as well.

Another of Clares quilts using different colours. Love Terry's legs, when I'm not so busy I will learn how to crop these photos.

And lastly (is that a word?) for today but by no means least, we are holding a Zentangle workshop on Saturday 4th December with Jane Monk. It will be a one day workshop which will take you from beginner to confident intermediate. A great lunch from Peckish is included and it will be a fun, fascinating and relaxing day. Anyone can create zentangles, you don't need to be able to draw. Go to Jane's site and check out her work. I will put up more info soon.

Snibble finished

I have finished my first schnibble. Leanne challenged me to do one schnibble a month and so far I am on target. It is hanging in the shop and you will notice that there is very little in the background. I have taken a lot of the displays down and hope to get more up next week. Maybe Leanne's quilt :). I was too busy on Saturday so here's hoping next week I may get something new up.
Terry and I had a lovely day at the Deloraine Craft Fair today. Despite the rain it was a good day. There were not a lot of people there so it was good to be able to see everything. The NZ Hoffman Challenge was great and it was wonderful to chat to Betty Twaddle, the organiser.

Ralph comes to class

As promised here is Ralph. He was a special guest at our class last Thursday. Luckily all of us were dog lovers and there were no cats to chases cos he was supposed to be taking it easy.
Ralph lapped up all the attention and I think we may have to ask him to come again soon.
I don't think we were influenced by the cup cakes he brought. :) Doesn't he look stylish in his red sequins?

Notice the new icon on the side bar? Well, Leanne, Rebecca, Kate and I are participating in Helen's new free friendship round robin. I will put up more info soon. Click on the logo to take you to Helen's site.

Happy Quilting

My first schnibble

This is my first quilt from the Schnibbles times two book by Carrie Nelson.
Leanne has issued the challenge to make one quilt a month for 12 months!
I used fabrics from the Sanctuary range.Just need to finish it by the end of
the month. If I can get her off the machine it won't take long.

We are a little excited today because Ralph is coming to class. Who is Ralph you
ask? Find out next post. Must not forget camera. Hope he's not camera shy.

More fabrics and quilts

These new fabrics ( Hope - Collection for a Cause) came in yesterday during my lunch break. Yes, I took time out to have lunch with Terry. I doesn't happen often and it was a lovely lunch. Anyway Leanne just had to open them and she hopes to use one of these charm packs for her challenge next month. More on this challenge tomorrow. To see what we have started go here.

The Adelaide Collection Fabrics for Michele Hill's floral Sampler BOM.

A small quilt I have made using charm pack of Martinique.

A close up of Clares quilt "Alphabet Soup" using the new panel from moda.

Clares quilt 123, made by Kim using our fabrics.

New fabrics and a runner

This is the tablerunner I made from the Park Avenue fabrics by 3 sisters from moda. I would like to have made a quilt from this range but I didn't have time.

Some new fabrics that have just arrived. Sorry they are sideways.

I have been very busy writing up patterns today. I haven't started sewing yet but hope to soon.

Did a little cooking yesterday and made chocolate brownies to take to a friends place last night.

They must have been good cos they didn't last long. It has seemed like a long weekend, because we had a quick trip to Hobart on Friday night, dinner with Lauren, back to the shop on Saturday and out for dinner with our friends. I also made a fruit cake yesterday and there is still some left, so the Monday night girls will be happy when I take some in for them. I will also take a piece for Leanne :)

The small photo above is fabric from the Adelaide Collection by Michele Hill. I am about to start sewing the first block in her new BOM.

Clare's quilts

As promised here are a couple of pictures of Clare's quilts. Sorry they are not great photos. To find out more go to Clare's blog. She has lots more photos and info.

Keep quilting

Here are two of my latest quilts. I've had a nine patch addiction for a long time. These are both variations of the magic ninepatch. Where you make simple nine patch blocks, cut them twice through the centre rearrange them and then restitch into new blocks. They will be available as kits very soon. I have some lovely quilts on loan, from Clare of Clares Place, on display in the shop at the moment. I will post pictures and details next post.

Keep quilting.

Where have I been?

Winter is obviously very busy for me and this year seems to have been even more so. I did take last week off and we had a little holiday down south. A few days in Hobart and a couple on Bruny Is. This is the view from the lookout on the neck between north and south Bruny.
And a bit of late snow on Mt Wellington. I am so glad we live in the north, it is much warmer.

I have completed a few projects using nine patches recently so next post I will show you the results.

Keep quilting

What I have been up to

 

We spent a few days in Hobart earlier this month with Lauren and these are the cushion covers I made for her.They took very little time to make using woollen blanketing and pearl thread in the bobbin of my very old Bernina that Lauren is borrowing.  It was great that the old girl can still perform so well. The covers will look better when I get the right size inserts for her.

 

This was the Black Forest Cake I made for lunch with friends on the long weekend.  It was from the Masterchef  magazine recipe by Gary Mehigan. Supposed to take 40 minutes to prepare and one hour to cook.  Well I don’t know how they did it in that time because it took me 6 hours all up,  with a couple of breaks. It was very well received, but I don’t think I will be making another one for some time. And those plates I served it on were dinner plates not bread and butter plates. It was an impressive height. It’s good to know I can still cook because as most people know Terry does most of the cooking these days.

Lynette’s buttons arrived this week for her first block of her My Garden BOM. They are disappearing very fast. I can’t wait to see the sample Leanne is busy stitching.

And last but not least my first Dear Jane border triangle! I never thought I would be making these but the bug has bitten and this is the first and I don’t think it will be the last.

We had a great get together today and welcomed a new member, Val.  She has moved to Launceston from St Helens and it was wonderful to get to know her and see the blocks she has made so far ( I forgot to take photos) and her carrot cupcakes were to die for.  Kate’s cream horns were on an equal par, I should have taken photos, then you could have seen what you missed out on Leanne.  Can’t wait til next month.

A productive afternoon

This was my first success today. Despite making several mistakes and the loss of the last page of instructions I finally had a finished bag. Its called Bella by Melly and Me and it was supposed to be easy. Well it was I guess, but I just kept doing silly things. Then I put the borders on this BOM by Natalie Bird called Kitchen Kapers. I have been working on it for a long time. It's great to have it finished and I hope to have it quilted ready for the Scottsdale exhibition on the June long weekend.

This is a very old UFO and I have been working on the crazy hearts trying to get them finished. They will be appliqued to the quilt top after it is quilted. I did find the border fabric and hope to have it bordered and quilted soon.

This block using Rural Jardin fabrics was going to be a pocket for a bag, but I think it has turned out a bit too big. I will have to rethink it.

And this will be a quilt using the Eden range of fabrics if I manage to get it right. The 4th block in row 3 will have to be unpicked. Well no ones perfect, I will just keep trying!

The farmers wife and Dear Jane

Today we had our Dear Jane meeting. Well I think we may have got our dates crossed cos there was only Leanne, Christine and I. Maybe we will do it again next week!!! I made two DJ blocks and still managed to talk a lot. The largest block in this photo is from The Farmers wife and is called Butterfly at the Crossroads. I also made this today. I know I haven't got time and I shouldn't be starting new projects but the fabric spoke to me and I had to make it. The heart block is part of a needle book that will be an extra project for my French Medallion BOM.

My Garden fabrics and machines

These are the fabrics we have chosen to make Lynettes new quilt in. They look great with the threads that she has used. We still have a few buttons for sale. Can't wait til they come in.

New Janome machines in the shop. I have almost opened them all now.

Here are two of the owls Kim and I have made. They are from the moda bakeshop site.

Elephants

We have gone a little mad over elephants. I asked Kim to make one for a sample for the shop and she loved them so much she made several. Then the girls in my class wanted to make some so we had a night and made one each. I even made one cos my daughter said she'd like one (don't know when she will get it though!) They are a Heather Bailey design. Kim also made a tortoise from the same designer.

My Garden

As you will see I have just added a new logo to my site. (I am feeling rather clever.)
I am participating in Lynette Anderson's My Garden BOM.
Lynette has designed a nine part BOM and is giving it away with the purchase of a button each month from our shop. I will give more info shortly.

We have Janome sewing machines

They have arrived. Our new janomes are still in the process of being set up in the shop. I have only opened half of them and I can't wait to get them all fired up. It was a big decision to take on a Janome dealership and I am looking forward to selling them.

Another re-organisation is happening and on Monday we should be fully operational.

I am still finishing quilts - and won't it be great to sit in the shop and sew? I only need more hours in the day!