A Few New Things

I know I have been a very regular blog poster lately, but my internet connection is behaving and I want to do it while I can.

So today I am here to tell you about a couple of things have noticed lately.

1st There will be a blog tour in the new year that sounds quit fun. There is a button over there on the right hand sidebar that will take to you to some more information if you want some great freebies and prizes.

2nd, There are a few other buttons on the sidebar that you may like to investigate.

There is Tea-cup tuesday which is lovely.

The bloggers Quiltapalooza which sounds so fun and is still quite a surprise yet.

There is a Layer Cake Quilt-a-long and a heap of other things.

NOW FOR THE REALLY GOOD BIT...

A Brand new E-Zine that is arriving with the New Year.

It's called The Quilt Pattern Magazine and it sounds wonderful.

Apart from being a monthly magazine with 2 BOMS, lots of other patterns and lots of wonderful information and articles.

The cost is amazing... You can get in now and get a subscription of 13 issues for $11.99 USD.

I don't know about you but I can't find another quilt magazine at that price.

There is a great blog-hop running where you can win a yearly subscription (or your money back if you already have one like me).

Just have a look HERE for the blog hop page with the link to all the people giving away this wonderful prize.

Go here: THE QUILT PATTERN MAGAZINE and look around to see what will be on offer.

Just so you know, I am not being paid or offered anything to do this post. I just though people may want to know. Not that I have that many readers or anything...

Bye

My Favourite Time of Year - The Florin Street Band (Christmas 2010)

I found this on another blog I read and I just had to share.

Read some of the comments and you will agree, it's a good old fashioned Christmas song about getting together and having a joyous time, not about the commercial side of Christmas.

It's just lovely and I hope you have a listen and it makes your Christmas that little bit nicer.

Merry Christmas to anyone who reads this blog and to all my family and friends.

See what I made

I have been busy making some thankyou/Christmas gifts for 2 very special girls.

They helped their mum look after my 2 rascals during our local football season this year and I am ever eternally grateful.

I would trust my children with these 2 girls more than I would trust them with some adults. I know some parents wouldn't be too fussed about a 3 and 1yo but I am. There are too many wierdo's out there and just too many things that can happen if you do not watch them.

So after 15 rounds of football where I umpired 2 games per week and even managed to play about 7 or 8 games in between I will be forever grateful that I had a bit of normality to my season and that my children were well cared for.

This is the quilt for Bridget, she is off to Boarding School next year and I hope she will love it enough to take it with her. It ended up about 50" wide x 68" long. I used 12 fat quarters and just a simple stack, slash and shuffle method.

The fabric is "Santorini" by Lila Tueller and was so lovely to work with, I like that the big pieces let the fabrics do their thing.

I quilted it very simply using "organic straight line quilting" as I have seen it names. Simply started in the middle and went straight down without marking a line and just eyeballed it. I was amazed at how straight I can sew when I try hard!!!

CLICK ON ANY PICTURES TO MAKE THEM BIGGER!!!

The dress is for Emily. It's a pattern from Ottobre Magazine 6/2009, #32 Jolie. It's actually a winter pattern but I jazzed it up by making it in the lovely "Summer Song" fabric range. I made the yoke in a different fabric and you can't see it very well but there is a small ruffle at the top of the yoke in a yellow version of the mail bodice fabric, the ruffle goes all the way around.

I must have mis-read the instructions somewhere along the way as I got to the neckline and just couldn't figure out what they wanted me to do. I ended up making some binding using the same fabric as the yoke and the neckline worked beautifully.


I cut it out in 152cm height but it will be too big for her this summer unfortunately as she is a petite little thing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE AND A SAFE NEW YEAR.

Before I go here is a picture of my kids on Tuesday. It has been the craziest weather lately. Today it's 30 deg and hot. The other day it was snowing on the mountains... go figure.

Oh and I nearly forgot about the "Knights" costume that Sam wanted me to make him the other day. I did a google search and got a pillowcase and was going to do a fancy hem and applique on the front but he was happy with head and arm holes, who am I to complain that I don't have to do more work.

Then there is Jess. I cut this outfit out for her last Christmas but didn't get around to putting it together, thank goodness I cut it out so big as it fits her this year.

The pattern is from Ottobre Mag 3/2009. The dress is #5 Alicia & the pants #2 Cassia. I didn't put elastic in the arms as I thought it was going to be our usual hot christmas. I also omitted the elastic in the shorts lets and opted for the red ruffle instead. This was her modelling the other night before bed, she screamed when I had to take it off. She has had a hair trim since then too and is nice and curly again, not fuzzy.

Then last but definately not least is my gorgeous niece whom I still haven't met because she lives in Baltimore. Isn't she cute. The spitting image of my brother and I don't usuallay say things like that. That's the quilt I made them for their wedding, I am so happy that they seem to use it so much, it's in nearly every photo I see.

Don't Walk & Definately Don't Run!!!

There is a giveaway but I really, really, really don't want you to enter.

Corrie of Retro mummy Fame who has the Gorgeous Retro mummy shop

is having a super fabulous giveaway but I want to win it so please don't go there!!!

Kaffe Fassett ***GONE THANK YOU***

***THANK YOU EVERYONE THIS HAS BEEN PURCHASED BY SOMEONE***

I have booked and fully paid for a set to the Kaffe Fasset workshop being held in Canberra on Wednesday 16 Feb 2011.

I just found out this morning that there is a very important personal commitment that is happening around that date that will make it impossible for me to attend the workshop so I would like to try and sell my seat to someone.

Please e-mail me if you would like more details and are interested.

I have already contact Addicted to Fabric in Canberra to make sure this is o.k. and it is, we just need to notify them of the change if one happens. They don't have a wait list but they know I am looking for someone to take my ticket.

Fingers crossed I can find a taker or I am very much out of pocket.

Tea Cup Tuesday

I saw this recently on this blog:

and just loved it. Plus I need something to motivate my blogging!!!

I know most people think that Tea Cups are a thing of the past but I love them and think they are just beautiful and have decided to participate for a while.

I inherited some lovely tea-cups from my Grandmother, plus my Mother-in-law has a wonderful collection that I will be sharing with you.

I myself just love a cup of tea throughout the day and it feel so much more special if you have it in a pretty china cup.

So here is the first one for you to admire:

This is actually one of a set of 4 that I picked up a yard sale, it doesn't look like much but I love green and I love glass and it's made in france which makes me love it even more.

Here is another one for you for this week

This is part of a massive set of the "Old Country Roses" collection by Royal Albert - Bone China from England.

I inherited this set from my mum who didn't want to cart it around anymore so not it lives with me. I have a teapot, salt & pepper shakers, massive platter and complete 6 piece dining set plus more.

And lastly I thought I would share my latest win!!!

I was lucky enough that the planets aligned one day and the kids were being good for half an hour one Thursday morning and I called into the "Creative Mojo" internet radio show to say hi to Mark Lipinski. I just wanted to say hi and say how much I enjoy the show and would you know it, they were giving away these great mugs to all callers and they sent one all the way to me in Australia.

It's a great show that runs every week, I subscribe to it in my I-tunes podcasts so I can listen to it when I like. There are all sorts of different guests talking about heaps of different things and Mark is just a hoot. Go and check out the blog to see who's on this week:

MARK LIPINSKI'S BLOG

IT'S GIVEAWAY DAY!!!

I am not hosting one here on my personal blog.

BUT

You can go here to my shop blog and enter one there.

Then press this button

and go and enter the rest of them, you may have to wait a while for the post to appear at Sew Mama Sew as it's not the 13th in the USA just yet, but I guarantee it will be HUGE and well worth the visit.

ONLINE CLASSES

I keep asking myself where can I find more hours in the day and never come up with an answer.

But still I find more things that I want to do.

One of those things I just had to do was sign up for the R.A.I.L online class in the Roses On My Table group.

The AMAZING thing about this workshop is that for $35USD you get 12 months of workshops. One new workshop every month AND...

get this...

The videos are downloadable so you can keep them at home and watch them in your own time. There are extra instructions that you can copy and paste into a word document and a great group of people that chat, share and help each other.

I love these as I can save them and then take my time and do them at my own pace but Zinnia is always there to help and offer encouragement too.

I am on my second month now which is a gorgeous Memory Keeper box.

I actually missed the very first month that it was held but it is now available as a separate lesson that I am going to go and purchase. The month just past was gorgeous domino pendants, very elegant and beautiful.

I have to say, after purchasing a few online workshops this year there is only this one and one other that I have been fully satisfied with.

The other ones are classes held by the lovely Mary of Green Paper Packages Blog.

She has held 3 and I have all of them and have learnt so much about collage, colour, design, shape and all the lovely elements associated with paper art, ATC's, collage and much more.

The latest class is Collage Basics with Vintage Paper.

Here too Mary is so very generous with her knowledge and encouragement.

There is always lots of free images to work with and lessons that come in downloadable PDF format so that if you are like me and don't manage your time very well you can do it when you get to it but still learn and watch what others are doing on the flickr group.

So if you want to learn more go and have a look, it will be worth your while.

A Give away but please don't enter!!!

It's a bit of a conundrum really.

I have to tell you about it to get an entry.

BUT

I don't want you to enter.

Go ahead if you must

The lovely Corrie of Retromummy fame is having a giveaway. She is very generously giving away a whole bundle of Sweet Broderie fabric by Rosalie Quinlan.

Go and enter if you really must but I am going to win. I tell you this.

While you are there go and visit her Retro Mummy Store she has very different fabrics to my store. She has lots of lovely cute Japanese & Lecien fabrics and some gorgeous patterns and magazines. Go on, support a wonderful Australian fabric business visit Retro Mummy today.

5 Years ago today

I can't believe it myself but this time 5 years ago we were having our Wedding dinner with our most wonderful familiy and friends.

Less than 6 months later my brother moved to the USA where he promptly met the lady who became is wife 2 years ago in June just past. They also now have a lovely little girl whom they called Adelaide who was born in May this year.

We have a little boy who will be 4 in April and a very strong willed little girl who will be 2 in March.

Time does go by so fast, I don't want it to, I am having too much of a good time.

I hope everyone out there can know the happiness that I do even if it is only for a short time.

Prizes, Pincushions & More

I had a wonderful month in October.

I won this

I entered a competition on the Crafty Mama's blog I was astounded to get the envelope and find not 1 but 5 different lengths of Farbenmix ribbon inside it.

I am truly grateful for this lovely little prize and I suggest you keep an eye on the Crafty Mama's Blog they are always having great giveaways and have some great tips and sewing information.

And this

I have a yearly subscription to a wonderful new e-zine called

Fat Quarterly

They have an excellent blog that you can have a look at and then purchase either single issues or a yearly subscription to the magazine.

Every issue is jam packed with great patterns, interviews and some fantastic giveaway's. I have been a subscriber since issue 1 and always enter the competitions, I was totally blown away to get an e-mail telling me I had won this book from a giveaway in their 2nd issue.

I highly reccommend having a look at their blog even if you don't decide to get the magazine. There is a quilt-a-long that happened a while ago that you can still get the instructions for. They have great interviews, there was one with Denyse Schmidt the other day and regular features with other quilters and designers.

They also gave a free Holiday Special Edition to all subscribers recently which was great.

As for the book that I won, what is not to like. By the wonderful Australian team behind the "Prints Charming" Store it is full of easy lessons and tips on printing your own fabric and then super projects to showcase your or someone else's lovely printed fabric. Over 40 sewing and printing projects that you can do at home.

I received this

I joined in a swap on Flickr. A Mug Rug Swap. I had never heard of one before but it's basically between a coaster and a placemat and is about big enough for a Mug and a small plate.

Things have taken off for the Mug Rug movement since this first swap and you can go and join the group as there will be plenty more swaps I am sure.

This lovely creation was sent to me by the lovely Jodie from the USA, I don't have her blog address handy but it's so cute, it has 3 little cups spelling out the word tea, some extra bits of fabric and a very nice recipe for some almond cookies that my family just loves.

And this

A Pin cushion swap that I joined. It was run by Ellie I was terrified after I signed up for 2 but then I found the funnest pattern that I sent away and I got this very cute little chicken in the mail from Penny at Back Valley Seasons she even included the cute little hand beaded heart that you see pinned to the side of the chook. I have had to hide it from my Mother in law as she is a chook nut.

She included a lovely card that has a Gelatin Mono-print feature on the front which is very clever.

AND this

How cute is this little fellow. A little beetle from the amazing

Diana Trout. He is cute as a button and nice and small, it fits in the palm of my hand. I am using him when I am moving around a bit and need something portable.

I will do a separate post with my offerings later on this week.

I have also just cut a a lovely Bali Pop to make up into the Quilt a long quilt from the Fat Quarterly blog so I will show you that too.

BLOGGERS QUILT FESTIVAL

Hello and welcome to my not so regular blog posting.

This is my 3rd year of entering a quilt in Amy's Bloggers Quilt festival.

Every year there is some wonderful quilts to be seen, and often lovely stories to go with them.

It also means that every year my blog reading list gets a bit longer.

So... here is my entry for this year.

I only finished this quilt last night, it is a gift for my cousin who is turning 21 next week but his party is tonight and I wanted to have it done.

He is a Carlton Football Club Fan (Australian Rules football) so I made it all in Navy & White.

The pattern is a free one that i got from Anina at Twiddletails she ran a Quilt-a-long a while back and i saved all the information and then made the quilt just now.

The instructions were very easy to follow but I didn't want to just cut out 1 square at a time and do it in a week by week format so I put all the information in a spreadsheet and added them all up and cut it all out at once. Thank goodness for spreadsheet, the maths nearly did my head in even with the help.

I am quite happy with the result. Some of my pinwheels are a bit wonky but the majority of them are just great. I did rush a little as I had a tight deadline.

As for quilting I was quite stuck but then I stuck with simple and did a straight line down the middle of each sashing strip. Then I had an idea that I wasn't sure would work. My lovely Janome MC11000SE has a stippling feature so I simply did one spot of stippling in the centre of each block. I was worried it would look strange and to some it may but I think it's a different way to use a stipple, kind of making a feature out it and it adds a strange depth to the pinwheels.

The label is also done on my machine using the letters from the Monograming function.

All up the quilt finished up at about 48" x 62", it is 100% cotton front, batting and backing. The front is simple homespun and the backing is a Michael Miller called Western Bandana in Denim, that is also used for the Binding.

Thank you to anyone who has visited I am doing my best to go and see some lovely quilts also.

**NEXT** Google Reader Simplified

I have a whole stack of blogs on my Google reader.
I sometimes have trouble keeping up with my reading.
Due to my dodgy internet connection I also find that I don't leave alot of comments as it is a slow painful process most days.

However,

I was reading on a blog recently that there is a new way to access your blogs through the Google reader but you actually get to see the complete blog page each time and it is so much easier to access the comment form from there.

As a result I am a very happy blog reader and am able to show a bit more "Love" to all the wonderful bloggers that I love to read.

This is just one blog that gives great instructions on how to use the "Google Next" feature.

GOOGLE NEXT INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SWEET LIFE

September Catch Up

OMG as they say, I can't believe that it has been 6 weeks since I did a blog post.

I don't know where time has gone either, that's scary.

I have been super busy though. We had to go to Sydney for DH to have another operation on his eye, hopefully this is the last one though. It's very frustrating for him.


I have been doing some sewing and this is my finished projects for the month.


This is a little cushion that I made for my cousin's baby who was born in January.






This is the other side of the cushion. The stitchery reads "I don't mind being sweet and small, one day I'll wake up big and tall". It's so appropriate as my cousin is 6'4" tall and very big and strong. I got the stitchery from this wonderful blog: Mrs Moen
she has lots of lovely free patterns and stuff.

This is a little "Mug Rug" that I have made to send away for a swap. I made a different one first but I can't find the picture.




Now to make matters worse I have signed up for 4 more swaps, something I said I wouldn't do this year after overloading at the start of the year.

I have also been getting plenty of new fabric so have a look here, I should have it all loaded up by tomorrow.

CRAFTUMI

No not some strange new language.

A fantastic new place for Aussie craft suppliers to sell their Supplies and Tools.

They can be commercially purchased supplies or handmade supplies but you can sell them here as long as you are in Australia.
Purchases can be made from within Australia or from International buyers too.

It is actually designed by the "Made It" crew who do a wonderful job of getting Aussie Handcrafted items on the web.

So go and take a look and support Australia a wee bit more.

CRAFTUMI

Terriffic Tuesday

Feeding Cows in the fog

It's green alright, we have had heaps and heaps of rain but it's too cold for the grass to grow







We have 2 tiny Poddy Lambs right now.
They are only 4 days old.
My mother-in-law makes the coats!!!

Adelaide's quilt is finished.

I machine embroidered it using a lovely butterfly alphabet.

I made it using a "Funny Babies" charm pack and the pale pink around the fabric is Polar Fleece.

It looks and feels pretty good, especially for a baby but I will neve be doing that again. It was a nightmare to sew and I am so proud that most of my points line up.

The pattern is acutally a Table Runner pattern that I lengthened and put 2 side by side.

It is from a book by Heather Mulder Petersen in her book "On the Run"

AND.... Drumroll please....

Here are 2 sneak peaks of my very first ever Mixed media canvas. I will show the completed thing at the end of the month after it has been in a small local Art Exhibition that is on in 2 weeks.

3 July Finishes

Here are just a couple of things that I managed to get finished this month.

I have plenty more in the works but time is not my friend right now unfortunately.


This one is a winner all round.
"Pleated Pouch" from a wonderful tutorial here
It's so cute and ends up about 7" x 5".

This is my "Pleats" piece for the Monthly Challenge over here and it also is a "finish"





This is a bit wonky as I did it in a hurry, it's a camera case that I made for my new Camera. It is really a phone pouch and it's a bit roomy but I needed something quickly and had this cut out.

Next time I will try add a layer of stiff interfacing and some more layers of batting to keep my camera safe.





This next item is a small quilt about 50" square. I made it using 1 Honeybun. It was originally a pattern for a Jellly Roll but I just did it using the smaller strips instead.
I made this quilt for our Football Clubs annual Promise Auction. I was so pleased that this quilt made $90. My best yet.


This is the front and the back of the quilt, I am really pleased with how it turned out









This is a close up of the quilting from the back.
I did a free-motion continuous spiral that goes all over the quilt except for the borders.
Some are big and some are small. Some are not so even but I am getting much better at the free-motion quilting.

A catch up

I have been flat out lately so much has been happening.

I had 3 wins of wonderful prizes.
I won a yummy Flutterby charm pack from Ryan Walsh I can't wait to look through my patterns and use this.
I won a beautiful piece of sun dyed fabric from Delia which will be very carefully planned into something special
AND
I won a lovely book from Angela which is just very special as she originally won it from the author and it is signed too. It is really lovely of Angela to share the love once she was finished with this book and I will make sure that I do the same.













I received some amazing fabric that I have listed on my OTHER BLOG and in MY ETSY STORE












We had a couple of sunny days when the kids and I could get outside on the lovely green grass that we have at home.
This is how farm kids play...

Sam on his bouncy ball with the Rams looking on in surprise.








Jess with the kids best friend, Sophie is the most gentle kind dog you could ever imagine, she's not real good with the sheep or cattle but you could trust her with the kids lives.
And yes I do dress her like a boy on the farm because we have so many clothes from Sam that I am not going to ruin new good clothes.



This one because he is just quite angelic when he wants to be.







We have also had a stack of rain, which is good, it's still a bit cold for it to have any effect on making the grass grow and there is just mud everywhere but it's lovely


Visiting Cows







Let's take a walk Soph...








We have lots of lovely little lambs...very cute








Then on Saturday this happened. I was happy to be asked to play my 3rd game of netball for this season when they managed to find a fill in umpire for me but then I go and do this...
I don't think it's broken, I had some x-rays yesterday and am off to the doc tomorrow to find out what's up but I will need at least one weekend off.
Such a bummer, my umpiring is going really well and I was going to get to play some more games before the end of the season.
Now I think I will stick to umpiring for the rest of this year.