Birthday Fat Quarter Swap

Well the EB girls are truly amazing and this is the sort of thing that happens on your birthday. Your postie gets really cranky and has to drive up and plonk a huge amount of mail on your door s it doesn't fit in your mail box. It then happens to be full of lovely lovely fat quarters and other lovely little surprizes. You guys rock, you really do.

Here is the most eclectic mixture of lovely lovely fabric:

Top Row: Adds (HUGE piece of Robert Kaufman, Amanda - AJ(Lovely spots - think it's prints charming), Bec (Retro cats in Paris!), Joy (lovely pink and yellow print), Leah (chocolate print on dusky pink. Definatly my fav!!)


Middle Row: Cass (Gorgy Retrol Dick and Jane I think and an Owl and Pussycat Magnet), Kylie (Prints charming & Button box), Natalie (funky purple paisly and wonder pieved quilts mag), Amanda (Michael Miller heads, retro blue scrap and 2007 Annual P&Q mag - YAY - don't have this one!)


Bottom Row: Emma (Palazzo - Yippeee!), Xena (ovely mushrooms), Lily ( Freespirit and a charm square), Helen (Gorgeous Geisha Girls)


Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

A day at the Job Warehouse

I got my day and boy was it a day. Mucking around in the dust and dirt and boxes and crates. The stuff that I unearthed was amazing. Lace, trim, ceramic buttons, thimbles, button on collars, woollen under garments and feathers in every colour of the rainbow all hand wired, braids, lace, netting, satins, silks felt hats.

Here is some of the treasures that were unearthed!
Guipure Lace, black 100% cotton on wooden spools, ceramic buttons, tortoiseshell buttons














Lace, lace and more lace, trim, ricrack, sequined trim, eyelet lace. I can't take good photos but this stuff is so beautiful.
















Darning thread in every colour of the rainbow. Even some wool darning thread!







I haven't taken pictures of the other things that really don't show up well. Some buttons that are made of pressed metal, some old buckles, thimbles. Oh the goodies.

I have been invited back and can't wait to go next time to see what I can find.

The Big Flower gets Quilted!

Easter is a perfect time for eating chocolate and quilting. They go hand and hand really as they are 2 of my favourite things.

This Easter I had the time to quilt my Big Flower quilt that I had been putting off. The stippling is a little dodgy as the old sewing machine's tension has decided it's too old to behave, but we managed in the end. Ended up stippling flower chains in the 16 square patches and echo lines int he flowers and leave. I'm really happy with the end effect. A few dodgy lines but......gives it character.















My lovely lounge loves it's present.

Sewing with Babysitters

My mum is the best. She is here visiting at the moment and I got to sew all day yesterday!!

My beautiful friend's daughter was christened today so I made some little shoes, a ball and an ABC's book. I so happy with how they all turned out.
































Then as I was on a roll.....I whipped up a second pair for the little baby Georgia that was born last week with a rough start to life. Hope they will make her mum smile a little. I got the fabric from a scrap swop. There is heaps of lovely little pieces that I now have to play with thanks to Bec. She makes and sells the most amazing bags on Etsy so my scrap pile is now full of funky fabrics. YAY!

Thanks Mrs Price!

Well, I will need to place the full blame on B's Prep teacher for this one. She came on a home visit and had the most lovely fabric that she had made into a handbag. I had plans for this dress quilt made of all these pastels BUT I had to have her fabric. It was going to be the border of this quilt and basically the rest of it was designed around it.

Add to that, the visit to the Job Warehouse and the amazing vintage trims and this is what you get:


All the dresses have lace or buttons or ribbon. The handbags and shoes the same. I will post close ups of things when it has been quilted. So Raelene - this one is for you!

First attempt at dyeing.

Well, that was a whole lot of fun. With my little sneak peak dresses comes a whole lot of opportunities to dress them up with trims. Add to that a visit to The Job Warehouse where I hunted and found some of the most amazing vintage trims and glass buttons to add to the black and white dresses and maybe a red shoe here and there.

Here is what we started with. Obviously the black and red ones weren't dyed but the others were prime candidates:
















The process (and yes, I really should have worn gloves!)


















The end product:
















I am just stoked!!

The Ugly Quilt

In all it's glory.

Made from a whole lot of scraps. Someone from work wanted it. It's now being handed over to have photo's put in the large squares and then quilted.

For some reason the photo was really dark so have just changed it to another...hopefully that will help to show it's beauty!