Quilt Fabric Delights

Meet Piar

We have been waiting for a handraised baby bird for quite some time, ever since our budgie Spice had to  be put down (he had cancer poor little thing).   Every weekend for the past four weeks Garry has rung the Bird Place to see if there are any available yet.  This weekend there was, but because of the Open House we had to wait until Saturday afternoon to collect him. As you know we had our  Open House, Saturday was our last day and we finished at 3.00pm.    At 3.01pm Vanessa was hopping up and down asking can we go yet.   

So meet Piar our new baby.  Piar is a baby Green Cheeked Conure.  Piar has a cute little yellow hammock to sleep in (I wonder if he would like a quilted one instead?).

While Piar technically doesn't need to be feed baby food any more (and it smells just like  human baby rice cereal) the man we purchased Piar from recommended that we feed him at night to help with bonding.  Rachel is a little more nervous about handling birds so we have given her the job of feeding.  He only takes a little bit before bobbing down inside Garry's hands so she can't give him any more.  So far he is loving sunflower seeds and apple.  A bit like a child as he leaves all the other seeds and hunts out the sunflower seeds.

 

Piar is very cute and I think given the hot weather we are expecting here in Adelaide this week you will most likely finding me sitting on the couch in front of the airconditioning bonding with Piar.  I bet in time he will make a great sewing assistant, pulling out pins and the like.

Multi-Tasker Tote

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.

Feathered Friends

Today's bag is Feathered Friends by Melly & Me.  If you came along to Inspired Stitches 2009 you will already have this pattern.  Have you finished yours?  If you have I'd love to see a photograph of the finished bag and I am sure Melly would love to see it too.  If you haven't - what are you waiting for?  It will make a wonderful gift for someone.

 

I did the embroidery for this while teaching some of the children in Vanessa's class to embroidery.  It was a great project to show them what they could potentially do once they had mastered embroidery.  For me it a a lesson in making sure I read the instructions.  I ended up doing the embroidery for the pocket twice since I didn't read the instructions properly and cut out the pocket along the line rather than using the template to mark the stitching line.  Just as well I love doing back stitch.

Once again we have kits available for this bag.  You could make it up as a gift (or for yourself) or the kit itself would make a great gift in itself.

Inspired Stitchers don't forget to send in your photographs.

A Pocket Full of Sunshine

Today's bag is another Natalie Ross In Stitches design.  This time it is A Pocket Full of Sunshine, once again stitched by my incredible stunt stitcher Kim.  Kim's work is beautiful and she also made this in record time.

 

For this bag we have used fabrics from Proud and to give a little zing some starburst from Rainbow Gardens by Prints Charming.

We have kits available, but if you would like it in different fabrics, just ask and we can put together one for you.

I See Stars

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.

Another movie star bag

Following on from yesterday's Ava bag (made me think of Ava Gardner) this bag is the Audrey (think Hepburn) designed by Janelle Wind. Once again I have used fabric from the Full Bloom range by Bari J.  Yes, your right, I do like these fabrics a lot.

I really enjoy making up Janelle's patterns, they are clear and easy to follow and your project always ends up looking like it should.  I also really like the shape and size of this bag.  It is the perfect size  for me and fits neatly over my shoulder.  I have been eying of some of the Lantern Bloom fabric and am thinking that it would make up beautifully into an Audrey bag.

If you would like to make a summer version of Janelle's owl bag, Spotted Owl in white is back in stock.

I will be back tomorrow with another bag to inspire you.

Ava in Full Bloom

November marks the start of gift giving season in our family.  My sisters both have birthdays this month followed by Vanessa and Rachel in December and a few days after that is Christmas.  So it is time to start thinking about gifts.  Every year I think I should start earlier but I never seem to change and leave it until the last minute.

I know that Vanessa and Rachel read my blog and occasionally my sisters  read it as well, so I can't show you what I am making for them just yet.  I thought that maybe some of you are also in need of inspiration so over the next few weeks I am going to share some ideas for handmade gifts.   This week I have a bag theme, because everyone loves a new bag.

This is Ava by Grand Revival Designs, the fabric is once again from the Full Bloom range.

Ava is a lovely pattern that goes together easily.  There are two handle options, I have chosen the shorter handle for this one.  You could also make the bag with a contrast handle which would change the look of the bag.

Open House

 

We would love you to come and visit us at our

If you are coming along please email me to let me know so I can make sure we have enough goodie bags.

A little excitement

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.

Gawler Textiles & Arts Weekend

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.