Craft Fair Goodies

On Friday I went to the Craft and Quilt Fair in Launceston with Vicki and Christine M. We met up with Sarah, Roseanne and Gail and had a lovely day shopping, eating, talking and admiring the quilts in the exhibition.

 Not surprisingly, I showed little restraint in the fabric purchasing department! I found these lovely Japanese prints on the Be Be Bold stand.

These grey fat quarters were from Frangipani Fabrics. LateIy I have collected quite a nice little stash of grey fabrics.

Fee had some fabulous specials including these one metre rolls of wonderful stripey fabric.

And oh dear,Tilda was at this fair too. Bad news for the credit card but great for my stash were these Tilda beauties from Fresh Fabric.

I spent quite a lot of time at the Handiquilter stand and had a play on the Sweet 16. The lovely Sarah took this picture and was very keen for me to post it on my blog. Hope you are happy Sarah. LOL!

 To Elizabeth who asked about Christmas Fun. It is a design by Lynette Anderson. It was her button club BOM last year. Elizabeth, I tried to reply to you privately but you are set as a 'no-reply' blogger.

Christmas Fun

I've been plodding along on my Christmas Fun blocks and have now finished 3 blocks.

This is Christmas Cottage.

 

Wouldn't it be nice to live in this little house?

 

This one is called The Pudding, I was a tad disappointed that part of the vine disappeared into the seam. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable when the quilt is finished.

 

 But I do love this cute little blue bear.

 

 Here's how the 3 blocks look when joined together. Quite cute, if I say so myself.

I am trying to avoid the quilt looking too 'brown and countryish'. The Glace fabrics seem to be helping me achieve this. What do you think?

Yesterday I went to the Craft and Quilt Fair in Launceston. I will try and pop back tomorrow to show some of the goodies that found their way into my bag. 

ANZAC Day Sewing

This morning I marched and played in ANZAC Day parades at both Forth and Ulverstone. It was a beautiful day ... warm and sunny ... and there were loads of people at both services.  

I made the most of an afternoon off to work on the February Schnibble I.S.T.H. (Insert Snappy Title Here). I was super busy in February and didn't find the time to make the quilt then so as the Summer Day top is done it seemed like a great opportunity to try and catch up a bit.

I am using one of the earlier French General lines, Rural Jardin. I love the reds and blues in this range and thought they would be great for these star blocks.

 

 The blocks are made entirely with half-square triangles, pieced slightly larger then cut to size. I like the accuracy that results from this. Another thing I love about the Schnibbles patterns is the really clear pressing instructions which ensure everything fits together nicely. I finished another two blocks after these photos were taken so only three more to go.

 Back to work tomorrow but only for one day then it's off to Launceston on Friday to the Craft and Quilt Fair. Bye.

 

Summer Day

April's Another Year of Schnibbles quilt is Summer Day. I am quite pleased with myself for having the top all done and it's not even the end of the month yet.

 I chose to stick with the fabrics on the pattern cover ... to me Strawberry Fields seemed the perfect choice for this sunny little quilt.

 The flying geese blocks were fun to piece and with the addition of a strip on each side most of the work was done.

 I cut my outer borders a smidge wider to allow for trimming the sides straight after quilting.

Once again, I am looking forward to finding out which Schnibble we will be making next.

Little Bits of This and That

 Little bits of this and that is what I have to share today.

Yesterday I started one of the Marg Low kits I purchased last week at AQC. Below is the front of Gem's Dilly Bag in gorgeous Ruby by Bonnie and Camille. The felt flower was so nice to stitch. ... very quick and easy.

 Last night I finished the stitchery front of  Bronwyn Hayes' Bunny Googy Bag. This is available as a free pattern over on her blog.

And at long last I have finished the Cookies block of Christmas Fun. One down, seven to go!

Also, this week, I was the lucky winner of these Creative Cards on Rosalie's blog. Thank you, Rosalie. My favourite is the Happy Easter Gift Bag ... I hope to trace the stitchery onto some fabric and make a start before the weekend is over.

Later today I'm having afternoon tea at Two Oaks with some stitching friends. Should be fun.Have a good weekend.

Melbourne and AQC

Last night I returned from a 3 day trip to Melbourne. I took my 11 year old niece and we had a great time shopping, eating and visiting some of the attractions.

The weather was lovely and warm the whole time we were away. We visited Luna Park on Thursday night where I nearly died on the Scenic Railway ... never ever again! The carousel and ferris wheel were much more to my liking. On Friday night we played Glow in the Dark Mini Golf at Docklands and on Saturday morning we visited the Aquarium. The rest of the time was devoted to shopping .. I'm sure we went to every Smiggle in Melbourne!

The highlight for me was our Friday visit to the Australasian Quilt Convention at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens. There were lots of stunning quilts to see and exciting shops to fossick through in the expo. Of course I made a few purchases.

This selection of Moda reds and greys came from Patchworks with Gail B. Included are Pezzy Prints by American Jane, Countdown to Christmas by Sweet water and Reunion also by Sweetwater.

Doesn't this lollipop look cute ... and no calories either. I was pleased to find this and will use it to bind my Bunny Googy Bag (if I ever get the stitchery finished!)

One of my favourite stands was Marg Low Designs. She had lots of lovely small projects available as patterns and kits as well as delightful fabric bundles in reds, pinks and soft greens. I was quite restrained and came home with just the selection below. Yum ... looking forward to having a play soon.

Now, the find of the day for me were these fabulous TILDA fabrics. I have several Tilda books on my bookshelf and have admired the Tilda fabrics the projects are made from for a long time.

 I was so excited to find these fabrics. Those above and below were purchased from Chandlers Cottage.

 And this lot (my absolute favourites) were from The Patchwork Teahouse.

 Have a closer look at the scrummy reds ...

 and pretty blues.

I loved this red birdie print so much that a couple of metres found there way into my bag!

 

While away I also found these gorgeous ribbons. The top two are from Typo and the bottom one I found at L'uccello, a lovely shop located on level 2 of the Nicholas Building in Swanston St.

Well, it's back to work for me tomorrow. Hope everyone had a great Easter break ... I know I did.

Hexie Time

Yes, it's hexie time again ... lots of pink and red this week.

 No 15

No 16

 No 17

 No 18

No 19

No 20

No 21

I have been asked to share the method I use to make these. Paper piecing expert, Sue Daly has a tutorial here which explains it far better than I could. There are also great instructions with pictures in Vignette Issue 2  by Leanne Beasley. The sewline glue pen makes it so quick and easy and is definitely worth a try if you haven't yet attempted paper piecing.

Bunny Pincushion

Have you seen all the Easter 'gorgeousness' over at Red Brolly. I couldn't resist the Bunny Pincushion.

It only took a couple of nights to stitch then a few minutes this morning to put together.

I thought it looked really cute on my dresser with the sweet china.

There is also a pattern for a very cute googy bag which I'm hoping to start this afternoon. Thanks Bronwyn for these delightful designs.