Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas Day and are enjoying the lull between Christmas and New Year. We have been spending time enjoying our pressies and watching the cricket, with the odd nanna nap thrown in!
So now I've been think of the New Years resolution, I always never ever stick to them so this year I'm putting in some planning, thinking about how and when I can fit in that daily walk and how I can possibly finish all my UFO's before I start anything else, of course the last one is never going to happen but with some planning I might be able to come up with a compromise. I have gone through the sewing cupboard and found all the UFO's that were hiding there and I am now formulating a plan to finish some of them in the new year, wonder if that will work? There are a couple of long term projects in there that won't be finished quickly, but there are a few that are achievable. For a start 3 scarves that had been cut out and had been mellowing in the cupboard for..., well at least 8 months were finished yesterday! This thangles quilt that I posted about a while ago is still on the list
the blue scarf I have been knitting is also on the list but has been growing steadily and should get some more attention soon. All in all there are seven items that could or should be finished soon and seven long term projects that I hope to make some progress on next year. And then there is the wish list, all those things I want to start but I really shouldn't until I get at least some of these finished.
 How's your list looking?

Cheers
Michelle

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Three more projects

Three new patterns out, these were all out for the start of December I just forgot to put them on the blog duh! The first is a really quick Christmas table runner.
the next is also a quick pattern a Christmas Donkey stitchery.
and the lucky last is a baby quilt that I made for my brand new nephew,Hunter.
just ignore the washing on the line, I can't find the cropped version.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Busy Busy Busy

It's that time of year, I say every year I'll be more organised next year, but I never am. However I have now finished the mince pies and shortbread and most of the presents are wrapped and under the tree. It's just the stuff you can't do until the last minute like pick up the prawns and the one present that has been ordered for months and is now threatening not to get here on time!!!!! Can't wait for holidays.

Here's another of Meg's chrissy photos, this time with raspberries.
Meg has been churning out gingerbread house like a production line, the biggest is ours of course, she has even added a shed out the back for my sewing room! Wish it was real.
Hope your week isn't too busy

Michelle

Saturday, December 3, 2011

101 uses for a quiting ruler

I've found just the thing for cutting our gingerbread houses. I think a 60 degree pitch on the roof will be just right!
I had the triangle ruler out today making a few of these hexagons  

Sorry for the dark picture but I was using Meg's camera, but while I was downloading my pics I found this
What a creative idea, it's so cute.
enjoy!

Michelle


Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Quilt to you wilt

I went to quilt to you wilt last Friday night at Mrs Martins, WOW you should have seen the cake,it was to die for!!!! actually you can see the cake if you pop over to karen's blog  it was soooo yummy. I'm planning to make it for the Weatherman's birthday on the weekend, even if it's a total disaster it should still taste OK as it's full of icecream and violet crumble, yummo
Cheers

Michelle

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Fruit and Veggies

The garden has been doing it's own thing and with all the rain and warm weather it can almost be seen from space! Here's some pics to show what's been happening.
Veggies, onions,celery,cabbages,broccoli and some basil

Mullberries


Mr Kiwi in flower, pity Mrs Kiwi isn't co-operating!

Cherries, hiding from the birds

Blueberries just starting to change colour

and raspberries!

Cheers

Michelle


Thursday, November 3, 2011

Remodelling

As you can see I've been having a bit of a makeover on the blog, I finally managed to add a picture behind the header, if only I hadn't over thought it all I could have done it months ago! I had tried before only to have the photo take over the entire page, so I googled and tried to reduce the size very technically and follow all the fancy instructions and it never worked. Yesterday I cropped it in Word, saved it and uploaded and it's fine duh!
 I have also learnt how to add pages, Yay! So we now have a patterns page which I will keep adding to over the next few days and soon all our patterns and new releases will be there! All our patterns are available from Karen at Mrs Martins Quiltshop and Marilyn at http://www.thepatchworkteahouse.com/, they both run a great mail order so give them a call.
Enjoy Your weekend!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Melbourne Cup

Melbourne cup Day today here in Victoria and yellow roses are the order of the day for all fashion savy race goers, each day over the cup carnival features a different flower, mostly roses, except for Derby Day which has a blue cornflower, then the cup is yellow roses, Oaks Day, otherwise known as ladies day is pink roses and Stakes Day or family day is red roses. Flemmington racecourse has the most amazing rose garden with a lovely Crepescule hedge and they get them to flower just at the right time every year.
You can see the hedge in this photo it's the apricot line down the side of the track.
An update on the hexies......well I'm still tempted but I really need to get some UFO's out of the way first!
Michelle

Monday, October 31, 2011

Hexagons

I have avoided hexagons as a rule, they have never grabbed me as something I wanted to do...until now when I saw this http://mollyflanders.blogspot.com/search/label/grandmothers%20flower%20garden and now it's got me thinking that maybe they are not so scrappy and disjointed as I always thought and also being able to break them into single flowers to complete, it could almost be achievable.......maybe lap size? But for now I have enough to complete so I'll just keep pondering the idea, for now.
Cheers

Michelle

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Irises

The irises are out, I am so lucky to have such a large variety of these beautiful flowers, there is about 20 different varieties. One day while having a BBQ at a friends house we watched the neighbour a few houses down ripping out a whole garden of irises, when he started throwing them on the bonfire we jumped the fence and rescued them! Turns out he didn't like them and the couple that had owned the house had collected them for years. Well they have a good home here, and every year I'm reminded of Mr and Mrs T who had to leave their irises behind when they moved onto a nursing home.
Blue ixias, the colour of these is a wonerful duck egg blue, it hasn't shown up that well in the photo but the colour is so unusual for a flower. This is only the second year they have flowered, before I finished the garden edging Phill always thought they were stray grass and whipper snipped them just before they flowered each year! After 9 years in the garden they are now doing great.
Hope you are enjoying  your garden too.

Michelle

Saturday, October 8, 2011

NOTY

Wow what a day! The NOTY quilt show was great, hundreds of quilting, sewing, chatting ladies all excited about quilts. I've talked, laughed and chatted all day it was great! So if you have a chance tomorrow, jump on in and catch up the the lovely NOTY ladies and their wonderful show.
Have a GREAT weekend!
Michelle

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

NOTY Quilt Show

On Saturday and Sunday this weekend I will be helping Karen from Mrs M's at the NOTY quilt show in Eltham. Here's some of the samples I've been making up for the weekend.
These are a pair of cushion covers, I made one for a sample and had to make a second for the couch. I think they look a bit funky with the linen and repro fabrics.
There is also a table runner in yummy pinks and brown repros, using the house stashbuster from westalee,
and a hexagon cushion too.

So hop on over and have a look at the show .

Cheers

Michelle

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Knitting! yes really, knitting!

I dont knit, I've tried and it just doesn't work. My Nan was a great knitter, even she gave up on me. I made it too tight and the wool would split and I hated the feeling of the yarn on my hands. Everything I tried gained and lost stitches at will, there was loops and holes and everything you can think of went wrong. But....it's finally got to me I'm sick of saying to everyone "no I can't knit" it's like revealing a dirty secret and because I sew and craft and embroider and make clothes and stuff people think I should be able to knit too.So I googled and found a pattern then I googled some more and learnt some stitches and now here's my first ever finished knitting project Ta Da!


Well blogger has turned it on it's side but you get the idea, and it's finished! I'm being very disaplined with the knitting projects, especially as Spotlight had 40 percent off wool last weekend. Yes I did start something else but not until I had finished this one and I bought wool for just 1 more project, there will be NO stash! The next project is slightly more ambitious but I'm taking it slow and I found some really nice bamboo yarn so it doesn't catch on my hands.
It's also on it's side, but you can see it's lacey and has a rather involved pattern but where's the challenge if I try some thing easy, and after this I'll have something I really love and I can say ÿes I can knit but I would rather sew" Now I just have to keep going till it's finished. Notice I haven't done anything with shaping, that's a bit too scary ! By the way the pattern is called Brooke's column of leaves scarf and can be found at www.brookenelson.com/leafscarfpattern.html there is also great you tube videos for all the rows, you can learn anything on the internet!
cheers

Michelle

Enjoying the garden

The garden has taken off and the growth and flowers are big enough to hide the weeds, it looks great, I was out taking some photos the other day.
Euphorbias, I think I spelt that right

Adjuga, violets,aqualegias and iris


and look who else was enjoying the garden too.


Cheers

Michelle

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Choices choices

Guess what I'm trying to do, yep decide on paint colours. I would love to say I'm going to paint my sewing studio which would sound great, but as my sewing machine is currently sitting on the kitchen table I'm really just painting the kitchen and family room and I will just have to dream about actually having a room of my own.
The colours haven't shown up very well but they are a range of light blue to aqua and at the moment the preference seems to be with the second from the top but half strength.
Tomorrow I'm hoping for a sunny day as I'm taking Mum over to see Karen's new shop, it's only small but it's full and it's so cute, then we're taking Tulley to Emerald Lake for a picnic. Hopefully we'll see Puffing Billy, Tulley loves Thomas the tank, if only Thomas clothes came in pink she'd be happy!

Cheers

Michelle

Friday, September 9, 2011

All Our Own Work

Today I've been at the All our own work quilt show for the Heathmont Baptist church with Karen from Mrs Martins. What a great local show with some wonderful ladies organizing it. It's on again tomorrow in Cuthbert St Heathmont, they have lovely soup and great sandwiches for lunch too, so if this Melbourne weather is getting to you or you've had enough of the football, head on down and say Hi!
Cheers
Michelle

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Spring!

I know yesterday was officially the first day of spring but today the weather is up with the seasons, so happy Spring to everyone and I hope your weather is as nice as ours today. I picked up some violas at Safeway this morning and I'm heading out to put them in right now!
Cheers

Michelle

Owl Quilt

I'm sure I say NO New Projects until I've finished at least one UFO or at least caught up on samples I need for classes, but I couldn't resist this quilt. I saw a similar raggy quilt in Spotlight the other day when I popped in to get numbers for the back of Hay's footy jumper, see I was there for a totally innocent reason. Well the one they had made was from a simplicity pattern and it was a butterfly and flannel quilts are soooo cuddly and their flannel was on special at $1.99! So I just thought I'd whip this up, should only take a couple of hours and I could have it made as a surprise for Meg when she got home from school.......well it took a little longer than expected, partly because I didn't buy the pattern and do it the easy way and then I decided she really is into owls at the moment so I should make one of those etc etc....anyway
and as I felt a little guilty at getting off course I caught up on some of my westalee blocks




and this one in slightly different colours
So now I dont feel as bad and there's one happy girl asleep under her new quilt tonight.

Cheers
Michelle

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Photo's

Still trying to get around to sorting out our holiday pics, but here's one you just have to have after visiting central Australia
Yes it really is that spectacular and yes it is worth traveling that far to see it! I loved Ayers Rock and the Olgas On the first two days we had sunshine and a light breeze, perfect to do all the walks and the on the last two days
rain! But it just made it even more spectacular, in the rain Ayers Rock is covered in lots of waterfalls and pools of water, the waterholes are all full and it changes to this silvery grey colour, a real treat to see.

Cheers

Michelle

Friday, August 12, 2011

Better Weather

Here's hoping for better weather this weekend, I'd like to get into the veggie garden and do some prep for the spring planting, but we'll have to see what happens.
The Fairy Circle pattern is back from the printer so that's another job for the weekend, packaging and a hanging sleeve for the back of the quilt.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Cheers
Michelle

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Fairy Quilt

Here's the result of the cake making,
a ladybug! Not too bad except for the licorice spots which tried to curl up after a while and the dog who pinched the remaining half while we were trying to clean up afterwards. But at least it wasnt the multi-coloured disaster I was predicting. And next is the long awaited Fairy Quilt

the photos not great so here's a closer shot
Hope you like it, the pattern will be available in the next week or so, at Mrs Martins and the Patchwork Teahouse.
Cheers

Michelle

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Little ducks

It's been a productive week, so far I've quilted the fairy quilt and have the binding on, with any luck I'll get it sewn down tonight and then there's just the pattern to finish. Then there's been the washing that's finally finished and all the camping gear is packed away again Yay! I feel like life is back under control again (is it every really under control?probably not but I can dream). Just have a look at this groovy binding I made for the fairy quilt.
Meg has been busy making these little meringue ducks they are sooo cute!

Cheers
Michelle

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Washing Washing Washing

Well guess what  I've been up to ....yep washing mountains of it all from our trip and all covered in red dust, luckily the weather has been good. Also this week we have had Tulley's 2nd birthday so a bit of cake making has been going on, practicing for the weekend when the rest of the family will be here. At the moment we are tossing up between the very hungry caterpillar cake which she calls a cat-o-pillow or a pink and purple hippo. Wish me luck it could be a big multi coloured disaster!
We have down loaded some of the photos, this is Jordan's favourite
Boys never grow up! and here's Tulley working on some birthday presents

Oh if you pop over to Karen's blog mrsmartinsquiltshop.typepad.com she has a dotty quilt thats nearly finished and loving displayed by Sybil (the dog)

Cheers

Michelle

Monday, August 1, 2011

I'm Back

Just ducked out for a little bit but I'm back now, actually we've been on holidays for the last month seeing a lot of the country that we've never seen before and it was nothing short of spectacular! And the weather! mmmmmm lovely, while poor old Melbournians were freezing and slogging it out in the rain we had 18 -25deg days and very little rain. The place we had the most rain was Ulluru which is really stunning in the rain, the waterfalls are amazing and it changes colour to a silvery grey. Photos to follow but at the moment they are still in the laptop numbering somewhere around 800! So not too much sewing over the last month but I have been appliquing dots, a simple project that I could do while travelling. I saw this quilt at the Monbulk quilt show, very simple pattern but really effective, I pre cut all the circles and squares before I left from all of my reproduction fabrics the colours are warm and muddy and great for hiding all the red dust they came into contact with.
I see blogger hasn't changed it's still randomly rotating my photos. Just a small selection of the dots I think I managed 127 or so while away, the background squares are 4 1/2" and the dots are a 2"circle. I'll be back with more photos soon.

Cheers
Michelle

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Shortest day

Yes we're heading back to the sun, days are now getting longer again and spring will be on it's way! OK OK maybe I'm jumping the gun a little but it's just sooooo cold and we didn't really get much summer here this year I can't wait for the better weather. We had a big storm this week strong winds and rain and the only branch that came down landed on the washing line, again. Luckily it's a circa 1960's hill hoist so it's only bent two of the arms but it has left it unusable. Lots of Melb and surrounding areas were hit really hard so I think we've got off lightly.
I've decided to unpick the Stonehouse Mill quilt and put in the second lot of blocks, I think it makes the centre panel stand out a bit better.
OK well I was going to add a nice cheery spring inspired pic but blogger says otherwise so it's pictureless, maybe next time.

Cheers

Michelle

Monday, June 13, 2011

Choice?

Well here are the two versions of the Stonehouse Mill quilt. The first with the original blocks and then with the toned down blocks. I'm still not sure which I prefer so feel free to let me know which you like, I'd love to hear your opinion. The photos aren't great and the second one has the blocks just laying over the originals but you get the idea.



Cheers

Michelle

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

New Blocks

More cutting out, these are the new blocks for the quilt, I'm hoping these won't be as busy as the previous lot and calm the quilt down a little. The original blocks will then go into another quilt with plain sashings.
I have been using the Westalee square in a square trim guide to cut the corners off of the triangles, it's making the square in a square blocks a lot more accurate than I normally make them, which is also making the finished blocks more accurate also, yay!
What is it that when I try to lay out a quilt to look at it the kids decide to play on it, it's like moths to a flame. I was trying to motivate myself to finish quilting this quilt and Tulley decided it was the place to play ball. It's one of those projects that I ran into problems with it sitting flat when quilting and I really like the quilt so I don't want to muck it up, but it all got too hard and was put away to "mature" for a while.
I still can't work out why it turns the photos around, it seems totally random.
This quilt was thangles sampler blocks, a month by month project that I actually kept up with, I really like the fabrics it's all reproduction prints and I plan to put in on our bed........ when I get it finished.
Cheers

Michelle

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Quilts and Footy

Not much happening around here lately, the current quilt has stalled a little. I put it all together and decided that the center block and geese looked great,....but the surrounding blocks are perhaps a little too busy. Soooo I've been cutting out more blocks and trying to gat a balance between busy and boring, I think I'm getting somewhere....hopefully!
I've also been looking at my finished items list and noticed that not much has actually got finished for a while so I might have to do some work on that this week too. Of course things like westalee blocks for classes and some, and I stress some, of the civil war blocks have been finished but they are just blocks not a completed item so they don't rate a mention on the "list". I've also been doing some blog hopping and I love this site http://inspiredbyantiquequilts.blogspot.com/ she has some lovely quilts with an antique feel to them go have a peek.
Well I'm off to watch the footy Gold Coast are scaring the pants off Geelong, could be the upset of the year!

Cheers

Michelle

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

There's snow on them there hills

It's snowing and it's freezing here today. I can see snow from the kitchen window so I've been keeping warm with the wood stove on making flocks of geese for the next quilt.
Aren't they pretty. Just four small star blocks left to make and then I can put it all together.
 On a different note here's what I was given for mother's day He's a robot vacuum cleaner (of course he's a boy, don't we all dream of a man who vacuums?) and I love it, I push the button when I leave to drop off the kids and by the time I get back the crumbs are gone and he's back in his dock recharging for next time. The best bit is I can set it in the bedroom and it vacs right under the bed, wonderful! The kids have named him Dustin

.... Dustin Beiber.

Cheers

Michelle

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mums out there! Hope you all had a nice day. I had to work so it was very quiet Mother's day, but I have been sewing again. The finger is feeling much better and it was great to get back to it, using the rotary cutter is still a little clumsy but I'm improving.
A sneak peek of a house block but with a small twist which I will show you as soon as I have finished it.
And some pieced blocks to go with it, which blogger has turned on their side, in yummy repro fabrics from Karen at Mrs Martins cheers

Michelle