A boys story & sneak peeks!

Hi all,

This week mum and I visited a couple more shops on the quilters trail, rather than boring you with all the details I will share just one highlight......


I have been on the look-out for this book since it came out, I am so pleased to have it now. There are so many great designs and ideas for boys (obviously) in this book. A must have if you have males in your life!

I also have some sneak peeks to share!
First is the quilt I am working on for the "Little Quilt Swap", see my side bar for the button and link......


Second, a stitchery I have designed especially for Caboolture Sewing Machines 2010 quilt competition which has the theme of "Opposites", they don't do much hand work at the shop but I'm hoping it strikes a cord......


I am still learning the colouring technique, as you can see, but I love the extra dimension it gives to your work. For a great example check out Cheryl's Under the Sea BOM (link is on my side bar).

Be Happy,
Jess xo

Holiday snaps & butterfly bag!

Hi all,

We had an interesting holiday. It rained so much the first 2 days we thought about calling it quits and coming home. But it is such a beautiful spot that we decided to tough it out - and then the sun shone!

Pondering the rain clouds out at sea!

This is only about 20m from our campsite!


We had a great time and we will keep going back to this spot - it is one of my fav's!

Of course none of the sewing I took with me got done but that should probably have been expected!

But I did finish this bag once we got home....

It has been a UFO for a long time and when I saw these bag handles at the Patchwork Tree in Alderley (on the bus trip) I knew I could cross it off my to-do list!

Be happy,
Jess ;-)

Quilter's trail . . . . .

Hi all,

The Quilter's Trail Bus trip was a fantastic, inspiring, migraine inducing journey!

First stop was Twilight Crafts at Esk. It took nearly 2 hours to get there but I was pleasantly surprised - they have a great range of fabrics and great customer service considering they didn't know 22 women where about to decend on them until 1/2 hour beforehand.

I found some tiny ricrac, not sure if its for sewing though as I found it in the scrapbook section. I fell in love with the Patty Cake pattern as soon as I saw it. And don't you love the spiders!

Next stop was Sew Creative at Gatton. This is a really nice shop, nice and spacious with a great classroom area where we had lunch. I found some great fabric here for the space quilt I am gathering fabric for.

Can you see the lace? You will see it again at the end of this post!

Next up was Patches Indooroopilly. Which is another great store with a huge range of fabrics. They had a fair bit of the Love U range by Deb Strain which I really love and have been keeping an eye out for.


I also got some more ricrac - is there a theme? - and some paper piecing papers to try out!

Finally, And I mean finally because I was getting quite a headache by now, we visited The Patchwork Tree at Alderley. It is quite a cute shop in a side street, you wouldn't find it unless you were looking for it! More lovely fabrics and finally some threads other than DMC.


I had once thought that Kaffe Fassett fabrics where not my cup of tea, too bold and dare I say, gaudy, for my taste. But since doing Kellie's workshop my eyes have been opened and they now have a place in my heart!

So that was the bus trip. My lesson re-learned is that I am not a good traveller! I get a migraine every time! But I did enjoy it, and it was great seeing shops I hadn't been to before.


This is what I did with the lace I bought at Gatton. The tutorial is from Vintage Dutch Girl. I wanted to try it as soon as I saw it and now I have. I love the result and so easy!

I am off now to start preping some hand sewing for our camping trip! You might not hear from me for a week or two but don't fret I will be back!

Be Happy,
Jess

Checker board set & Quilters Trail!

Hi all,

I have just now, and I mean only a few minutes ago finished a bag to put my nieces checker board in!
I didn't have a pattern so I made it up as I went along.....


It is a basic rectangular bag with a pocket similar to shirt pockets and a fold over top.
Now the set is complete and I'll post it early next week. I hope she likes it!

If you look at the picture of the bag you will see a sneek peak of another checker board I am working on for a tutorial! Probably be a few weeks off though because we are going on holidays next week, yahoo!

A while ago my mum put us on a waiting list to go on a bus trip to some patchwork shops tomorrow. And guess what 2 spots came up - so we are on our way along the Quilters Trail, starting from Caboolture Sewing and Patchwork!
I will regal you with tales of our adventures in a few days!

Be happy,
Jess

I'm a Winner & a busy bee!

G'day all,

Guess what!?! I'm a winner!
I can't believe it - I never win anything, I have pretty much given up entering giveaways!
This win is from OPAM. Thank you so much Peg and Kris, you are doing a great job hosting this group!

Here is the pic I tried to put on last time...

Meet Josephine the jellyfish. She is the first block form Cheryl's Under the Sea BOM.
Next up is a block from the Homespun BOM. This is one of the small corner blocks.

Can you guess what this is?.....


It is a Checker board with suffolk puff tokens! (can you see the strand of hair? LOL)

The puff's are breeding!

I made this with some help from my 8 year old niece, so it is quite an easy project. What took the most time for me was the quilting. Because we didn't catch all the edges of the squares with the fancy stitches I decided to practice the quilting I learnt at Kellies workshop.

So, there you have it! I have been a busy bee!

Bee Happy,
Jess

PS. Would you like a tutorial for the Checker board?