I’ve been quilting for about four years now, and sewing for over three decades, and this is the first time I’ve washed my fabrics before cutting and sewing them! I’m a little amazed at myself, but here’s the thinking. I’m making tablecloths and napkins!! They’re going to be in and out of my washing machine heaps of times, so I better have my dimensions right, and know up front if my fabrics will shrink or not. One thing I really don’t like is tablecloths that are too short. And I want my napkins ...

Yesterday I had not one, but two encounters with greatness. My morning began with the mail from our post box. My daughter handed me two parcels with my name on them before taking the rest of the mail to Moshe.

One parcel was a thin A4 yellow envelope, and although it was intriguing because of the beautiful tape on the back of the envelope, I went instead for the larger heavier parcel that I knew were my books that I’d ordered from the Book Depository in the UK (that offers free international shipping). If you remember from my 4th ...

Ice Cream Social

Just purchased the oliver + s Ice Cream Dress pattern from Badskirt in Australia. I have a special little girl in mind for this project. Need to find just the right fabric for her now.

While I was visiting Badskirt, I took a look at the Trims section and these trims just fell into my shopping cart!

100% linen zakka trim - pullcarts

100% linen zakka trim - train

If you’d like to join in the fun, here is a link to the Ice Cream Social blog page on oliver + s. Here’s the link to the ICS Flickr ...

I’m so excited! I had cancelled my project from last year to make a quilt for my friend, because she’d originally had her heart set on a very traditional, “old-worldly” kinda quilt, and a few months ago, she bought a fabulous, modern house, and decided she didn’t want a quilt any longer, it just didn’t fit the look! I was really disappointed, but figured she didn’t know much at all about modern quilting.

Today that all changed. I showed her some of the incredible modern quilts around, showed her Cherri House Quilts, and Oh, Fransson ...

Lookie what I got in the mail today!

Nani Iro Pattern Book

Think I’ll make myself a fresh cuppa and have a little “me time”. In a couple of hours. When I’ve handled a couple things. Like checking the status of our medical bills/Medicare rebates/claims/etc. And making lunch. And then cleaning the kitchen. And preparing dinner.

OK, so I’ll probably take it to bed tonight to read through. Unless..

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Just because I adore the rest of the Palettes of Laura Gunn’s Poppy, I added the Gray Palette to the Spice Palette I’ve already chosen for my piano cover. I think the fabrics all work perfectly together. I tried first to add the Aqua Palette to the Spice, but it didn’t work so nicely. The Gray? Love it with the Spice!

Laura Gunn Poppy - Gray & Spice Palettes mixed together

These will look glorious over my piano! I’m thinking large irregularly-sized blocks, with perhaps the stripes as sashing? Or maybe a soft blue/grey Kona solid.

Related ...

I know. I haven’t written much lately. Nothing really about what’s been happening in our household. I’ve been pretty busy over the past couple months. Busy, and dealing with big things. Really big. Not just Moshe’s illness. But also the things I had to take care of that he did before 24th April. Like his business. And the finances. He did all that. But then came 24th April. Diagnosis. Moshe has cancer in his left kidney. 8th May. Saturday. Laproscopic surgery. Cancer & kidney removed. During the week, recovery just fine. Looking forward to going home. 15th ...

I’ve just finished tracing the pattern onto my fabric, so here is the line-up of little guys…

little guys lineup - embroidered pillowcase

I know it’s a little hard to see, so here are some closeups that I’ve edited to show the drawing:

little guys lineup - left side

little guys lineup - right side

How cute are they! I’ve just finished dinner and I’m spent. Moshe’s watching the footy, and Sarah’s going to lie down, give her back a rest, and I’m going to start embroidering these little guys. Hope tonight’s a quiet ...

Two exciting things actually. One is that I finally found my Brahms music that I had been searching for for months. Of course it was in a fairly visible spot. On my bookshelf where I keep all my music, just a shelf down and right. Ridiculous. Anyway, I’m really delighted about that because I can now play one of my favourite pieces of music again. Brahms: Rhapsody in G minor Op.79 No. 2. Um, when I say “play”, what I actually am doing is learning to play it all over again, it’s been so very long since ...

soup vegetables and lovely little white running stitches

Here are the vegetables that have been sitting on my kitchen table since yesterday, and am I making soup? No. I’m sewing. I love my little embroidery girls. I sat up in bed last night watching another episode of “The High Chaparral“, don’t laugh but I love that show, after one of those days when it’s like …well I don’t know really what it’s like, but I do know it was full-on. I only had about another half hour of stitching left to finish the quilting, but ...

pretty girls all in a row - embroidery

Since I’d finished the baby elephant quilt, and Moshe still had a ways to go in the hospital, I had to start on a new project. Last week I made it to quilt class, and the girls were starting on a new project. It involved embroidery, which I love doing, and was little in size, so perfect to pop into my bag and do on my lap at the hospital. I think this is Trish’s design, but I’m not hundred percent sure. I’ll check next week and make sure ...

This quilt was originally going to be a gift for someone who was having a baby boy.Only problem is that I couldn’t wash out the pencil lines, even after twice washing very carefully and with supposedly good soap, so I can’t really give it as a gift. And even though I won’t say who you are, and you’ll never know, I’m really sorry! I did have the best of intentions when I started. It kinda works out fine though, because – you can read more about why here – I actually am happy to keep it ...

I keep coming back to these fabrics. I just adore the colours of the MoMo Freebird range, and the designs are simple and pretty. In my shopping cart at Hawthorne Threads. Thinking, thinking.. the Blue Sky Palette is my favourite of the two.

MoMo Freebird - Blue Sky Palette

..but I think I need a couple from the Grass Palette too..

MoMo Freebird - Grass Palette

Related posts:

1. resisting hawthorne threads new arrivals
2. drooling over laura gunn’s poppy
3. up to my ears in fabric

Oh it was fantastic! The Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild finally had its very first meeting! Such a long time coming! I started this group on 20th January, and here we are, five months later, and we finally met! I have to say it was worth the wait. I was so thrilled to see 29 members attend, and we had a brilliant time. Everyone received a Welcome Gift when they signed in, as well as a raffle ticket, and throughout the day, we drew tickets and 22 prizes were handed out!

We had a fantastic Show-and-Tell Introduction session, and some of ...

I got home from the hospital and didn’t really feel like dinner. A roll with mum’s gehackte leberlach (home-made delicious best-in-the-world chicken liver “pate”) was all I wanted. I sat at my desk and read my emails. And then I had an idea.

Several unpicked buttonholes and hours later, here’s what I made. Luck was on my side all through the process – that little bit of orange/red topstitch cotton I’d found in my stash lasted through several unpickings and right to the last stitch, with not a single bit left on the spool, and nothing ...

That’s her slogan. Whose? Gretha Oost. I’m so excited. Gretha’s water bottle is finally in production. This means that she must have reached her target of 10,000 sales. Not really any surprise since she’s come up with such an innovative, environmentally brilliant product.

If you have a concern about the now infamous disposable water bottle and its growing contribution to non-degradable landfill, then click here to read what Gretha’s come up with.

OUTSTANDING!

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How absolutely exciting! I’m jumping out of my skin! I had my first piano lesson today with Kenji. Awesome, awesome, awesome. Not a lot of playing, more getting really clear about what we’re going to do. So, here’s my new project challenge for this year… to attain Grade 7 level in piano, Grade 4 in theory, become skilled in sight-reading, and learn, learn, learn about the composers, their era, historical info, etc. Not a small task by any stretch of the imagination! But oh, so very exciting!

Here’s where I’m starting. I’m going to ...

But like my daughter Devorah said, it should be suspended on a structure so it can actually spin as you walk. Don’t you reckon? Like a big ferris wheel, but a bookshelf! Brilliant.

Here’s the link to the page from whence this image came…

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Someone asked me that today. I said “yes”, and then began to explain that well, I don’t know because it’s been awhile… But you know what? I am a musician. That’s who I am. It’s who I’ve always been. I’ve just been a musician who hasn’t been playing much, or developing my skills really. And now, that’s just what I’m going to do. Life’s short, and it’s urgent, and I just haven’t got the time any more not to do this. And the brilliant thing is that I ...

Sorry, you can take the girl outa Texas, but you cain’t take the Texan outa the girrrl!

And there’s Mum, when I was about a year old, isn’t she beautiful? And Dad and me, taken right before his heart surgery a couple years ago. I talk to him in that photograph you know, like he’s really there. And that’s how he’d listen and smile back at me. There’s the little photo of Moshe and me that used to sit on my desk at Buzz and Bloom that I just got back a couple ...

Here’s the pincushion I finished yesterday. Do you like it? It’s for my Clover Flower Head Pins that are now due to arrive with my bobbins “before Friday”. If you’d like to see how I made it, here’s a link to the page. This one’s called “Dresses in my Wardrobe Pincushion“. For obvious reasons Do you like my little embroidery?

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In preparation of my new packet of Clover flower head pins that’s due to arrive any yesterday, I need to make another … yes, you guessed it … another P-I-N-C-U-S-H-I-O-N!!

I’m currently pulling out bits and pieces from my fabric cupboard, looking for inspiration. I would love to make a selvedge pincushion, but, because I haven’t been saving selvedges for ages in preparation, it means cutting them off fabric I haven’t used yet, and I don’t feel quite right about that somehow. I’ll see, perhaps my aversion will dissipate if I don’t come up with ...