Sunday Stash #4

This assortment of fabric was purchased a few days ago with some little children's japanese patterns in mind...


The fabric on the left is a cotton voile, in the middle is linen and the end is a beautiful japanese seersucker cotton.

Look what arrived...

in the post this morning! It is the first stash of fabric from the quilting bee I have signed up to- The Beehive. I am so excited to be a part of this but am also feeling the responsibility of looking after and piecing Mel's fabric.


So today I am just playing with it, getting inspired by researching log cabin blocks and admiring her fabric choices and I am sure it will hit me when I know exactly what to do with it (fingers crossed!).

Sunday Stash #3

There is something about this fabric that makes me think of spring/ summer- probably the cherries! The fabric on either end is Farmer's Market by Sandi Henderson (for Michael Miller) and the spot in the middle is Urban Chicks. It is with some other fabric next to my sewing machine, just sitting there waiting to be used, but for now I just like to pull it out and ponder.

Ta-da!!

This is the first quilt I have quilted myself on machine, thanks to a very helpful lesson by Deb Louie, which demystified the whole process and gave me the confidence to just try it. This is a baby quilt for my girlfriend Marie, who is having a baby girl in December.

The quilt is about 22" square, so good for strollers, bassinet and a play mat. The fabric is all Prints Carming except for the gorgeous flamingos, which is a Japanese fabric I bought from Tessuti Fabrics probably almost a year ago now. The backing fabric was hand printed and was just too gorgeous to be fiddled with. Unfortunately I cut it a smidge too short so had to add the baby paisley, but I think it's quite a sweet bit of serendipity!

I am still marvelling at how good the stitching in the ditch looks. Even though it took more time than the straight lines on either side of the seam, it was worth practicing, as the next self quilted project is a lonestar quilt (no, am not insane, just like a challenge!).

Sunday Stash #2

I have had a hectic week of obsessive sewing which will be posted later this week with the finished product... in the meantime all I have to show is my eclectic assortment of buttons...

Mostly flowers, hearts, frogs and a couple of cats thrown in there!! For some reason I get alot of comfort rifling through my buttons, delicious colours for all seasons (if you are under 5!).

Sunday Stash #1


Check out this fabric- Marc Jacobs on sale from The Fabric Store in Surry Hills. It is a high quality cotton sateen, such good fabric I was convinced there must have been silk in there, but apparently not. I think it will make a yummy summer frock.

A sleepless afternoon...

So how do you entertain a girl who just doesn't want to sleep in the afternoon??? After pulling my hair out wondering what on earth to do as I saw my down time slip away, I decided we would have a baking session. Miss B was donned in all her glory in her cooking apron, given to her by her lovely Aunty Sue.

The experiment was to bake a cake using Nuttelex, a replacement for butter (all those cooks out there cringing, I know!). Miss B is on a no dairy and no soy diet and it had dampened my enthusiasm for baking until today. And guess what? The cake was delicious!!! A never fail Madiera cake recipe from Nigella Lawson's How To Be a Domestic Goddess.



Let's just hope I can exhaust her tomorrow so I can have some time to sew in the afternoon...

Breathe in...

and start typing! Welcome to my blog, this is my first foray into the online wilderness. I have been quilting for just over a year now, and would like to start by showing you my very first quilt, made of course for my little Miss B...

It was inspired by Prints Charming fabric, and yes, I spent seven months hand quilting. The tension is "unique" but I was pleased with the effect, all crunchy cotton. This is what the back looks like...

On the back I stitched a "B" and couldn't bear to finish the heart to the left, so I could always go back to the quilt if I wanted to...

That's all for now, until next time!