Winter Blues

It’s been very chilly in this part of the world lately – perfect quilting weather in fact! Here are some winter blues that won’t give you the sniffles.

PicMonkey Collage

Blue is one of my favourite colours and I love the variation from aqua to the deepest navy. Do you feel inspired?

Speaking of inspiration I was fortunate to attend the opening of the Textile Art Academy’s tutors exhibition last night. What a wonderful bohemian group was there – and really inspirational pieces. It certainly inspired me to think about the next project. Here are a couple of photos of the people I saw there. Aren’t they colourful! These girls know how to live life that’s for sure.

Janet de Boer

Janet de Boer

Jan and Phillippa enjoy the evening

Jan and Philippa enjoy the night

One of the artists Sandra Pearce

One of the artists Sandra Pearce

I was reminded in another way this weekend of the importance of living life and taking time out to pursue your inspirations. I had a call from a lady whose sister is suffering from dementia and is now living in an intensive care facility. This lady wanted to give me her sister’s stash because she doesn’t sew and doesn’t know anyone who quilts. As I am in the phone book under A I was the first one called. I thought it was so sad and vowed to distribute the fabric to those who make charity quilts. Although this will be a positive end to the situation I still think it’s very sad. So…really…. make sure you have a plan for your stash because you don’t want your family to give it all away to strangers now do you?

Since we last spoke we had a birthday in class. I always feel honoured when someone comes to class on their birthday – what an important day to attend. Here’s June having a special wish on hers.

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Almost finished the stocktaking – don’t forget to enter the competition to guess the number of fabric bolts in the shop – you have until New Year’s Eve – that’s accountant’s new year of course – or this Saturday night if your not sure.

New project, new fabric, new baby

Isn’t it strange that the things we like to do seem to be difficult to start? When I am sewing I am quite happy but there are always other things to do and sometimes I seem to fiddle around until it’s almost too late to start. The past two days have been a classic example of this. I have been hoping for a free weekend for a month now and when I finally have one I managed to find all manner of tasks to do rather than sitting down for a weekend of quilting – and I have two projects ‘on the go’ so there is no excuse. But no Poz E Dogg had a bath, shopping was done, a new book was read from cover to cover. Only a meagre amount of sewing was achieved and now the weekend is over and it went so quickly. Reminds me of ‘The Church’ song ‘Life Speeds Up’. That’s for sure! Do you ever have trouble getting started on something you actually enjoy?

Anyway this one of the current projects – the fabric version of a vintage travel poster that I found in an old diary. I did manage to sew it to the background but still lots of embellishing to do, not to mention the quilting………

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The other new thing this week was the fabric range ‘Salt Water’ by Tula Pink. I am really taken by this range – especially the aqua colour theme.

PicMonkey Collagesalt waterPicMonkey Collage coral

As usual the suppliers do not have the full range to send me but the fabrics above are in stock. They are sufficient to make one of the great cushions in the free pattern. This pattern features combi van cushions (Remember the 60’s?) Definitely have to have one of those. Have a look here for the pattern.

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Finally some other ‘new’ news – the lovely Nicole who has been with us on Wednesday evenings (and has the pink and grey sampler quilt in the gallery) has a new baby girl called Isla Rose and weighing in at only 6lb so quite a small bundle. It’s wonderful to have such good news and we all wish Nicola and her family the best. No photo yet but stay tuned.

Happy Days

OK enough of the sadness of the last week – we need a much-needed injection of happiness at this point. What makes you happy (apart from your stash of course)?

Hearing from you all this last week has made me happy and oh Valentine’s Day morning what do you think Luvvy had done? He left early for work and when I went to the kitchen this is what I found:

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The card is a musical one which plays The Turtles song “So Happy Together”. I have been playing it ever since and am amazed that the battery hasn’t run out. The little bag had a necklace which is engraved ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ – how appropriate. So of course he is back in my good books after having been annoyed with him for a week for not having noticed any changes to the house after I’d spent a whole month re-arranging things and de-cluttering.

Of course fabric makes me happy too are so many boxes to unpack I don’t know where to start. How about here at the range the workshop girls saw last week. This one is the autumn neutral version of Plume that was so successful last year. We already have a quilt under construction with this. Watch this space!

PicMonkey Collage

If you would like a free pattern then go to the Timeless Treasures website here.

But wait there’s more! I have a link to my Pinterest boards. There are currently 8 boards with beautiful images from art quilts to organisation ideas. If you would like to have a look just click on the link on the right (at the bottom of the column).

And just to finish – if you aren’t the neutral type and like a little more colour then I should show you the ‘Perfectly Perched’ range that arrived – there are some great projects on the net with this fabric but first have a sneak peek of the colours.

PicMonkey Collage

So it is a lovely Sunday (a little cloudy but quite warm), Luvvy is in the good books, the Teenager is practising his bass guitar in readiness to become a rock god and I am unpacking fabric. All is right with the world. There’ll be more fabulous fabric next post – enjoy your Sunday!

Look What Postie Brought

Just finished tonight’s class and thought we’d unpack what the postie brought this morning.

PicMonkey Collage

How nice is this fabric – and fits perfectly with the pink theme for February. The fabric is by Timeless Treasures and is called ‘Flora’. There are several sizes of magnolias in this range from the very large scale luscious full-blown variety to small pink buds. A border fabric and coordinating textured ‘plains’ complete the range. This is perfect for quilting, home decor or apparel projects. Large graphic prints are on trend at the moment and they can be used for appliques or just as part of a pieced quilt as in the central photo. It is a quilt made from a free pattern here http://www.ttfabrics.com/projects/flora/ (well you all said you wanted free patterns so here’s one for starters – an interesting asymmetrical design. Let me know what you think.