a lovely weekend - Irene Blanck pattern launch.....

I had a wonderful time last weekend.  I swapped days at work last week so I had Friday off - only realising a couple of days later Monday was a holiday too, so I had accidentally organised an extra long weekend for myself! I spent Friday tidying and cleaning at home - not fun while you are doing it, but very satisfying at the end!

Friday night of course was FNWF and on Saturday, my friend Amanda and I went to a pattern launch at Mary Kelly's shop Patch and Quilt in Gisborne, of new designs by Irene Blanck, of 'Focus on Quilts'.

 

Held in Mary's classroom at the rear of the shop, a small exhibition of Irene's quilts both new and old was set up, and it looked gorgeous.  It was a shame that, as the room is needed for classes during the week, the exhibition could not be left for longer so that more people could see it. 

 

Irene's quilts really are beautiful, and it was really enjoyable to see so many of them in one space together.

 Confetti laying flat on the table in the photo above
 

Irene herself is a lovely lady, and very inspirational.  She is a very prolific and talented quilt designer and maker, and yet has an extremly full life away from the quilt world, including a full time job, doing hospice care, and teaching meditation classes, as well as looking after numerous family members.  Irene says that if she can find time to quilt, then anyone can - and I would have to say I completely agree!

In fact, she has inspired me to try and be more organised and productive with my own quilting, and managing my time with the other aspects of my life better (and hopefully I am doing better; I already have 3 finishes for OPAM, which is unheard of for me lol!).

Here are a few more photos of Irene's quilts - all taken for my blog with Irene's permission.

 

Melon Lime & Bitters on wall in photo above  

I did buy two of Irene's patterns which I have noted above - one for Confetti, a hexie quilt which I have loved since I first saw it about 4 years ago, and one of her new designs, Melon Lime & Bitters.

Afterwards, Amanda (who doesn't like to have her photo on the blog) and I went to my favourite cafe in Gisborne, 3 little pigs, for hot chocolate and a muesli bikkie for me, and latte and sticky syrup pudding for Amanda - yum!

 

On Sunday I spent the whole day at home sewing and reading, just me and Ollie. 
It was pure bliss, and sooo relaxing.
 

I also spent some time with family this weekend, including a lovely visit from my Mum and Stepdad for afternoon tea on Saturday, and out for dinner at one of our local Chinese restaurants on Monday night with my Mum and my niece which included lots of laughter and silliness - always important for the soul!
 

  

It was a fantastic, accidentally-extra-long, weekend!

xx

another catch up and friday night with friends - june 2014.....

The gifts I worked on over Chookyblue's birthday weekend are now finished and gone to their respective recipients. These were birthday gifts, for friends whose birthdays were in May, and were all meant to be mug rugs, although they may have grown a little too big for that lol -

Firstly, this one for Anette, as for a long time from when I first knew her, she was always working on green hexies -

This one for Donna, who loves Canada and moose (mooses?) -

And finally this one for Marg.  Marg and I, along with Sue and Tracee, are working on the Underground Railroad quilt together, so I chose the 'Basket' block from the book for her

  

This past Friday was FNWF, and Sue came to my house for some more Underground Railroading.  Tracee had family commitments on the night so couldn't make it, and Marg had SES training, but came later for a cuppa and some dessert.

Sue and I worked on our 'Crossroads' block -

sewing away.....

hmmm, does that look right?......

we've been working hard.....

our finished blocks.....

Sue' blog post is here ...

a cuddle for Ollie.....

I really had a great night, thanks Sue and Marg

xx

finally, a chookshed catch up.....

I really enjoyed the Chookshed's 2nd birthday party, and once again thank you to Chookyblue for inviting us to celebrate with her.  And, as everyone enjoyed this party so much, I think Chooky is already planning a celebration for the Chookshed's 3rd birthday next year!  I am sure we will all once again be happy to take part in that...

As I am so good at underestimating the time things will take me, I did not get as much sewing done as I had planned - but something is better than nothing, and I was still pleased with the sewing that did happen - some sewing for gifts - more to come on those in the next post - and I dragged out one of my small UFOs, a wallhanging, and did some more work on that -

Most annoyingly, my day on Sunday fell in a bit of heap as by lunchtime I had the beginnings of a migraine, so it was off to bed with some tablets for me.

I hope everyone had a great time partying too.

xx

a handy tip, and an amazing product.....

A few months ago, I was ironing fusible web onto some fabric, when the tip of the iron caught the fusible web flipped it over, and the whole sheet stuck to the bottom of my iron.  Although I forgot to take a picture of it, it was something like this.....

 

 

only worse (and not coloured) - the whole base was pretty much covered.

 

I tried four or five different things to try and get the fusbile web off but to no avail, so I put the iron aside and forgot about it.

 

A few days ago, whilst doing some tidying up and cleaning, I came across the iron and was going to throw it out.  And then I remembered I had these....

 

 

A package of 'purple rags', or 'rags in a bag' from Flylady, a American company.  I personally think Flylady is an amazing resource, and know that they research their products thoroughly, only selling the best they can find. 

 

I have often read emails about these purple rags, and all the amazing things they can do, and so decided to give them a try.  Only 30 seconds and some elbow grease later, all the fusible web was gone, every single bit!  It looks like a new iron!

 

So, if you have this problem sometime, it may work out cheaper to buy a package of these from Flylady, rather than having to go and buy a new and possibly expensive iron!

 

xx

Huckleberry Stitches - 'Kathleen Tracy' quilt-along.....

I love mini quilts, and I love the patterns of Kathleen Tracy, who has written quite a few books featuring mini quilt patterns.

 

This morning I saw a post over on Kathleen's FB page, that Tilda at Huckleberry Stitches is hosting a quilt-along using this book of Kathy's - 

 

 

I didn't have to think too hard or long about it to jump in and sign up.

 

For this first month, we are making the Log Cabin mini (on page 37, if you have this book... and I should probably say, that if you want to join in with this quilt-along, you do need to have your own copy).

One of the things I love about mini quilts is that they are great for either using up scraps, or just shopping from your own stash - if you have a stash like mine, that is lol...

I am really looking forward to joining in with Tilda on this quilt-along. 
Maybe you would like to join too?

xx

the party continues..... and a help request

The party in the chookshed continues this morning.  Thanks again to Chookyblue for inviting us.

Chooky has asked if we could help out with something that is important to both her and to many other people also.  You can read about it on Chooky's blog here -

http://www.chookyblue.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/help-please.html

It is PERFECT sewing weather here today, very wet and drizzly with lots of fog around earlier this morning.  Just the perfect day to hunker down in front of the sewing machine!

As I underestimated the time a couple of my projects would take me, I did not get as much done as I had planned yesterday, but I still enjoyed it - and there is still the rest of the day today for sewing!

Photos to come later.....

Hope you have a lovely day, whatever you are doing...

xx

the party has started.....

First of all, huge thanks to Chooky for inviting us all to a wonderful weekend of sewing and partying.  Isn't the cyber quilting community a wonderful place!?  SO many ladies coming together from their own homes to connect with other like minded sewing- and craft-aholics.

The party has started here... Today I am working on some gifts - so no pictures till later in the week for those - and hopefully a small Christmas wall hanging that I am at least planning on turning into a flimsy today.  Some tracing on the light pad is also in the planning department.

Here I am, all set up and rearing to go lol -

Working on my first gifty project -

A cup of tea and something yummy to accompany some hand sewing -

This is my favourite tea cup which I often drink out of - but I have even bought out the saucer to celebrate this momentous occasion, lol!

And here is one snoozy little puppy, wondering what all the excitement is about!  No supervisor here, Sue!

I hope your day is going well - and if you are partying with Chooky too, I am so pleased to be sewing along with you!

xx