I am off to Melbourne today for the Australian Quilt Market (Trade Only). I know that I will come back engergised and inspired by all the wonderful things I will see. One in particular that I am looking forward to is seeing Leanne's new block of the month Down in the Garden.
I will be back on Monday with all the latest and hopefully photographs (always talk too much and forget to take them). In the meantime you can see more sneak peaks of Leanne's quilt on her blog.
Today's inspirational bag design is Anna Maria Horner's Mutli-Tasker Tote.
I love this bag!
When I first cut out the pattern pieces there just did not seem enough pieces for the finished bag, but it goes together in such a different way to any other bag I have made in the past. Unlike Feathered Friends in the previous post I did read the instructions, which are well written and easy to follow and I look forward to making another of Anna Maria's patterns.
This bag is earmarked as a gift and I am not saying for who on the off chance they do read this post, but I will be making more. Although it is a large bag it is really comfortable and I can see it being useful for so many uses.
The fabrics I have used are from Whimsy by Pillow & Maxfield. So clean and fresh. If you would like a kit for this bag, just let me know what fabrics you would like and I can put them together for you.
I used the medium woven fusible interfacing to interface this bag along with peltex to reinforce the base.
I See Stars is such a fun pattern from Natalie Ross In Stitches. I now have a wonderful stunt sewer to help me out with sample making and Kim did a wonderful job of putting together the kit we sent her.
and a close up of the fun stitchery
I See Stars is a large tote bag ideal for shopping, for your taking your craft in or even to take to the beach.
We have put together some new bag kits for you choose from too - you can find them here.
I hope you are feeling inspired to make a new bag. I'll be back again tomorrow with another.
We would love you to come and visit us at our
One of the things I thought about when choosing a name for my business was what quilt fabric meant to me. It is more than just something to quilt with, especially as I started this journey and continue it as a sewer or is that sewist rather than describing myself as a quilter. I love the colours, textures, how each fabric range is so different and what I imagine I can make out of each piece that comes through my hands. These days there is a lot of imagining and not so much of the making.
I know that I am not the only one who feels this way. On Thursday I had a phone call from a lovely lady in Canberra who sounded just like I did years ago when I discovered the joys of quilt fabric. Her comment was that she had been looking for fabric online and was so thrilled that she had stumbled on our website (and other sites selling quilt fabric). She didn't know that all these wonderful fabrics existed. Fun to have a new convert to the world of quilt fabric. To me that it what is all about, it doesn't matter what you make with the fabrics, but it is the delight you feel in the making or even just the fondling of the fabrics. I say there is nothing wrong in collecting fabrics.
To me quilt fabric delights.
So with that in mind I decided it was time to spend some time doing what I love - making clothes. Here is my finished skirt (I even put the button on Jodie, no safety pin!). The top I also made. It really is a buzz to wear something you have made yourself.
The fabric is from Bari J's Full Bloom and the pattern is Burda 7947 (without gathers over the hip/thigh area - I definitely do not need any extra there!)
I have two more cut out, one in Love and another in a beautiful lightweight linen mix. So here's to some more late night sewing stints.
Oh and the excitement, other than making the time to sew, well some of the projects I have been working on for the last few months are coming to fruition and I can't wait to share then with you. You are going to love them but I will have to keep you in the dark just a little longer while I dot the i's and cross the t's. 2010 is going to be fun and you will be able to join me in the journey.
Last Saturday and Sunday saw us up at the crack of dawn packing the car and trailer and heading north to Gawler. It was a wonderful weekend and we were looked after so well by committee members of the Gawler Quilting Circle. It is not often that we are waited on with tea, coffee and cake while we are at Quilt Fairs. Not only that we were surrounded by beautiful quilts.
Don't mind the silly look on my face, but this photograph has the best view of the two amazing quilts that hung on the stage behind us. I think the one on the right was the winner of the Viewer's Choice, it certainly attracted a lot of attention. The quilt on the left was made by Helen Campbell and the quilting was amazing. She had two other quilts on display equally beautiful. My favourite being the one at the end of our tables. The quilting was stunning.
We shared the shop area with Jen and Terry from Patchwork by Sea (their tables are to the right of the picture) and had fun chatting with them in the quiet moments.
I also spied Kathryn's finished Welcome Friends basket. Kathryn started this at Inspired Stitches and I remember admiring her choice of threads then. It looks beautiful finished. Needless to say, we sold a few kits and patterns for this project.
Jen headed out Sunday to visit some of the other exhibitions - she said the quilts and the garden on display at Hilltop were just beautiful. Keep this exhibition in mind in 2012.
Yesterday we had out first bus group visit. I usually say no to bus groups, because our house is only small. Be we spread out amongst various rooms and it worked. The ladies got to see some of Janelle Wind's beautiful work up close as Janelle kindly said I could keep her samples until after they had been. So if you have a quilty group who would like to visit, let me know. Especially the lady from Kapunda (?) who I saw at Beating Around the Bush. We can do it but perhaps not a full bus of 40 at a time :)
I have a lovely new project of Helen Stubbings of Hugs N Kisses to get started on, so that when Helen has the pattern ready I will have the stitcheries ready. Helen has been working on a new quilt along the lines of Nice People Nice Things, this time the packaging is such a lot of fun and I am sure you will love it. We will be offering the quilt in a few different colour ways and fabric ranges. If you are interested please send me an email to register you interest.
So I am off to relax with a cup of tea and start stitching.
Love is here and it is stunning!
What about whipping up a Sexy Hexy Quilt?
or maybe a skirt, dress or top or even all three?
Speaking of Amy Butler, Amy has released a new fabric range called LOVE! Here is what Amy has to say about Love.
"I couldn't be more excited about LOVE! My newest fabric collection for Rowan has me reeling. I've gone over-the-top with prints and color to make a luscious and yet "bite-sized" collection of 26 quilting/fashion weight fabrics and 12 Home Dec weight fabrics. A marriage by design coming from a love affair of rich, soulful, organic florals and architectural prints passionately inspired by my recent trips to Indonesia and England. Rich tropical colors with ethnic imprints, and elegance found in over the top florals like full roses and exploding peony blossoms join together in an optimistic celebration of print and color."
We have the full range of Love in quilt weight fabrics on order and they should be here in October.
Amy is also releasing two new patterns shortly and you can see more inspiring images here
I am so lucky to have some of the laminated Grandmother's Flower Garden fabric to play with. Ever since Rosie first told me that Lecien would be laminating some of it I had this vision of a little girl in a red rain coat.
Of course I don't have a little toddler girl to put it on, but that doesn't matter, sometimes you just have to make something because you want to.
So here it is, carefully modeled by our geranium bush, the sun even came out to play. In case you are wondering the gingham trim is bias trim from A Day in the Country which I have available in a couple of colours.
The laminated fabric will be available from Quilt Fabric Delights later this year (November I think), but unfortunately not in this red. Maybe we need to start a campaign to get the red.
I have ordered these colours - some of the stripes are also available and if I have enough pre-orders my arm could quite easily be twisted to order these too. The price will be $35.00 per metre.
