hellooooooooo

hi everyone, long time, no post!  life has been crazy busy, sadly not much sewing but way too many hours at work and some house renovations haven't left me much time to be creative.

i did manage to take a short holiday and attend Grampians Textures, i was lucky enough to be able to do the 4 day bag making workshop with Nicole Mallalieu (the genius behind You Sew Girl).  i picked up some great tips and techniques for designing and making bags that look professional (handmade as opposed to homemade).  thanks to Nicole i think i have finally conquered my fear of zippers!

a couple of photos of the bag that i designed, drafted the pattern for then made (just a couple of little things to finish off and it will be ready to use)...

wishing everyone a slightly belated happy st. patricks day (and happy birthday to me!)

 

Frames are finalised

i have spent a pleasant afternoon finishing off the scrap-booked frames that i started a few weeks ago at a workshop...

the only thing that i need to do is find a nice photo to go in the "frame" of the second canvas.

woo hoo another project DONE!
 

ahhh, sewing again

I've been doing a little stitching again, finally!

firstly there was an easter postcard for a friend... (layered ribbon idea was from here)

then a few more selvedge triangles for my selvedge spider web quilt...

and there has been a bit of hand stitching on the side (started at a relaxing stitchery class taught by Natalie Lymer at Ballarat Patchwork)...

 

Newly finished quilt tops (aka why i love annual leave!)

lime/aqua kaleidoscope quilt (from a class at Ballarat Patchwork)

front (in the glare of day!)

(with flash)

back - made from left over fabric from the front

(i don't know why the photo has loaded sideways but blogger wont let me change it)

"Jeanne's Diamonds", Christmas mystery quilt (apocketfullofmysteries)

front

back - made from leftovers from the front of the quilt

 

stringing along

i love being on holidays -  it's currently 40deg C outside (very hot!), but i have the a/c going and no plans to leave my sewing room!

i finally finished sewing the last 15 blocks for my kaleidoscope quilt and i now have the quilt top webbed together (vertical seams are sewn but not the horizontal seams) - that is my 14y.o. quilt helper at the top of the photo and the pink squares are the markers that i use to keep my rows in order

 now to sew the horizontal seams and decide if it needs a border

kaleidoscope goodness...

yesterday i had the pleasure of attending a patchwork class taught by Pam Jansen at Ballarat Patchwork where i started to turn this...

into these...

sewing has started....

next step...

 they will eventually become a wall quilt for my bedroom

ETA.... i have been using Marti Mitchell's kaleido-ruler  - it has been easy to use and as made this quilt a pleasure to cut out!
 

Fabric painting

On Saturday I had the pleasure of going to a fabric painting workshop with Kerry Gillespie from "My Favorite Things" (it has taken me this long to get some photos of my project lol)  those little marks up the top of the picture are color tests (they will be trimmed off later)

and here are some close ups...

i think that it is pretty cute!  i love the softly faded look of it.  of course now i need to decide if i am going to stitch around each toy or if i am going to use a permanent marker (i am leaning towards the marker!)

A bit of cheer

My zygo flower is finally open and it is beautiful! 

And look, there are heaps more flowers on the way...

The bag workshop at Ballarat Patchwork was heaps of fun and my little bag is looking pretty cute (even if I do say so myself!).  There were some lovely ladies doing the class and we had a fun day - ripping fabric (such a satisfying sound!), plaiting fabric and stitching it back together again!