Archive for 2008

BIRTHDAY SALE – 20% OFF ALL STOCK

Friday, November 28th, 2008

Our Birthday Sale starts on Tuesday 2nd December and
finishes on Saturday 13th (10am – 5pm).

With 20% off all stock this means big savings on all your quilting needs.

Just for our special blogging friends, we are starting the sale from this post giving you a head start in selecting from our extended Kaffe Fassett range, gorgeous new Melly & Me patterns, as well as all other stock in the shop.

We look forward to serving you in our usual style with quick postage ensured.

LETS GO SHOPPING

New Patterns from “Make it Perfect”

Thursday, November 27th, 2008

We have some lovely new clothes patterns that have just arrived. The are designed by Toni Coward from Make It Perfect. They are a range of simple yet stunning clothes for kids and adults. I have already made a pinny and it was soooo easy and it looks fantastic. I now have to make a couple more for the other nieces!

My version of the pinny dress

Pinny

Pinny # 2

Flipsy

Fancy Pants

The Versatile Wrap

Lazy Day Hat

Introducing Pippi, Hilda, The Fat Quarters Bag and Bonza & Beaut.

Thursday, November 27th, 2008

We have some fabulous new patterns from the Melly & Me team. We love their patterns and these new ones are even better! I can’t wait to make the horse Pippi, but then the koala’s are cute too and I do really Hilda with her big belt. I’m just going to have to make them all.


Pippi

Hilda


Bonzer & Beaut


The Fat Quarters Bag

Free echidna pattern download

Wednesday, November 26th, 2008

A little while back we had a competition to create a Ballarat Patchwork Mascot. We ended up with two entries and Janelle, the creator of the Echidna Pincushion has allowed us to share it with you. Just click on each page to get the pattern and instructions and many thanks to Janelle for being so generous and sharing her lovely pattern.

page-1 page-2

My New Pad

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

Many of you may already know but I have moved into the back of the shop. A very big change for me as my last house was a four bedroom monster. Much too much room for one person a cat and a dog. Well I am now living in two rooms, a little kitchen, tiny bathroom and laundry. I have been very busy doing a little decorating if you have noticed the lack of posts recently. I am nearly done, just a few little things I am looking for that I will find at some opp shop or from a second hand dealer. I thought i would share my living space with you so be warned there are lots of photos!

The shop is quite an old building with a tiny little kitchen. The bench with the sink is so low, I get a sore back when I do dishes. They must have been a lot smaller in the olden days. The kitchen table I have actually had for years. It has been living at my sister’s down in Melbourne. It was looking a bit worse for wear and a customer told me to rub in almond oil and it would freshen up the laminex ……. she was spot on. It looks great.

As you can see I am a fan of red and green so I decided to base my kitchen around those two colours. I have had heaps of fun looking around for red and green stuff.

I am a collector of all things Coca Cola. The collection is quite large and I have it all stored in plastic containers under my parents house. I just don’t have the space anymore. I did keep the one sign and I love it
in the kitchen.


I have just finished making those cushions. I have made them out of Anna Marie Horner fabric, Kaffe Fassett fabric and Amy Butler fabric. My three fav designers. I just machine quilted them all a bit differently. The couch was a bit of a bargain, picked that one up for $30 – did have to get it recovered, that was a little more.
The coffee table was from a garage sale across the road from my old house. $5 for that one. Quick sand, stain and varnish ans it looks fabo. I love a coffe table with a magazine rack.


Some of art glass collection is up on top of the book shelf. I have a big collection and only brought my favourites with me. You will see more later on.


Yes I am one of those freaks who likes to have her books in colour order. Makes finding anything a bit of a challenge but I do love how it looks.


This is back the other direction to my work space. I have my sewing machine and computer out all the time. I do so much work on both it is just easier to have them out. Anyway hwere would I put them, it’s not like I have a cupboard or any sort of storage space. I put the three shelves up next to the sewing machine. I love to have my extra feet, quick unpick etc easily available.

There is my lovely computer and big A2 printer. She takes up so much space but it is lovely to be able to print large stuff. As you can see I don’t have any windows except on the back wall of the house. mmmmmm. But I do have a skylight in the lounge/sewingroom/computer room. There is also one in the bathroom and kitchen.

This is my lovely bedroom. I have also had to put my plan drawers in here. No where else to put them.  The quilt on the bed is my scrappy log cabin quilt newly finished. I love this quilt it is so lush.

I have put a bookcase on top of the plan drawers to make them look a bit more like a bit of normal furniture. I got the drawers from a second hand dealer for $100. It had no outer frame so my Dad put one on for me. I love it and it is fantastic to store all my artwork and paper.

My one window with metal security thrown in for free. I got the curtains at the opp shop and just added some backing.

My lovely dressing table that I have ad for years and years. I have always meant to give it a face lift but i have grown attached to it’s worn ways.

Some more of my art glass in lovely reds and oranges. You can see the green of the curtains better in this photo. So as you can see I am very cosy and snug in my new home but very happy. I have all the stuff I need and of course 24 hours access to a quilt shop………….. dangerous.

Christmas Yo-Yo’s

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

I have been busy making yo-yo’s to decorate our shop Christmas Tree. I can only show you one side of the tree as the other is bear. Need to keep on sewing!

I have used the small, large and extra large yo-yo makers from clover to make the Christmas tree. I also got some self cover buttons to put in the middle of each yo-yo.

I used the large and small clover yo-yo makers for the wreath. My personal favourite!

New Book and some updates

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

I am so excited by this book. 501 quilt blocks by Judy Hopkins. I am a huge fan of her other three books from the Around the Block series. This book includes all three of these books in one. Very exciting.

Now for the updates.

We have the Grandmother’s Braid Templates from Victorian Textiles in stock. This will make cutting out this quilt so much easier and it also goes with our Grandmother’s Braid Pattern.

The smaller (4.25 inch) Drunkard’s Path Templates are also in stock.  These templates were used in the black and white quilt I made a couple of posts back. These templates also work with the Large Drunkard’s Patch Template (8.5 inch). (Which I think quite a few people would have after making a Lime and Soda quilt.)

Japanese quilt backs and some entertaining elephants….

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

Two new fabulous quilt backs arrived yesterday. They are some beautiful Japanese fabrics at 280cms wide which makes them perfect for backing your quilt. The designs are just lovely.

Also some darling entertaining elephants from Alexander Henry.

Clever Beginners

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

Our last class for beginners “Star Sampler” has just finished and once again we are very proud of all our new patchworkers. Congratulations Ladies, your quilts look great!

New Books from Amy Butler

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

Two new fabulous books arrived yesterday from Amy Butler.
Two books full of great ideas and inspiration.

Amy Butler’s Little Stitches for Little Ones

20 keepsake sewing projects for baby and mom

In my new lavishly illustrated sewing projects book, you’ll find all new charming and contemporary projects for the nursery, baby wear, soft toys, and many more surprises! The projects are designed for babies 0-12 months and their mothers, featuring beautiful photos of the finished designs by our friend Colin McGuire. It was fun to produce these little treasures, and I think you’ll find many projects in here for all the wee ones in your world.

Amy Butler’s Sew-It Kit

15 simple and stylish sewing projects for the home.

A great giftable kit with 5 new sewing projects to accompany my IN STITCHES book. The kit includes fabric and notions to make one of the projects and 15 beautiful project cards with easy-to-follow instructions, all packaged in a unique box format.