Sweet Vintagey Goodness

I popped into the Nth Adelaide Vintage & Fashion Fair on Sunday and found a lovely little treasure trove of vintagey goodness to trawl through.

It was a quick but successful visit as I found a new member to add to my vintage planter collection that I spoke about last year. For $4! This little beauty isn't strictly a planter but I believe it's a milk jug that goes with a tea set similar to this.

And this new little treasure is sitting on my rapidly progressing Lone Star quilt. I'm using my precious collection of Momo Wonderland and hopefully it will turn out ok.... Have to admit I'm a little nervous just winging it and not following a pattern but so far so good.

Progress on Janelle Wind's Little Bluebirds

I started this quilt back in 2008. Wow. Three years ago! I loved the colour scheme of the red, aqua and white so very much and bought it as a monthly kit from Sarah at Quilt Fabric Delights.

I'm not much of an embroidery gal but thought the amount of stitchery on this quilt was achieveable. But what I did underestimate was how slow and challenging I would find the needle turn applique. I'm hopeless at it! So much to my dismay the quilt kit sat hibernating in my cupboard for 3 years. Until now.

Recently my genius friends suggested a whole new way to approach the applique which really inspired me again to get stuck into it. Why not raw edge applique the quilt in the same manner that Kellie Wulfson does? Of course!! So yesterday out it came and I achieved so much now that the mental road block of turned edge applique is far over the horizon.

There's lots more to come but I was so excited to get this far so quickly that I wanted to share it with you.

Around the Block 2 - Block for Sheridan

I had loads of fun making this block, my second last, in the Around the Block 2 swap. Sheridan asked for lots of white in her block which was a challenge for me as I'm normally into saturating things with colour.

I liked the freedom of making it up as I went along and finding the balance in the negative spaces. Good one to stretch the brain cells this one!

Around the Block 2 block for Becky

First off, thankyou to the folk who gave me some tips re: my previous post. Much appreciated.

I've been keeping a little busy finishing a block for Becky for our Around The Block 2 swap. I added a couple of fabrics in with Becky's selection. I hope they are ok! Here tis':

We came, we saw, we shopped, we danced Part 1

Calico and Ivy - the gorgeous Amy works here, lucky gal.

Divine colour - Prints Charming

Rainbow Love - Prints Charming

Happy thread - Prints Charming

Friday night dinner

photo credit
Saturday morning walk/run - the reason you don't see me in this picture is that I'm five miles behind this group! But I did make the whole 5km round trip.

Hawking my wares Sew Vintage style.

photo credit
My new girl crush - Juddie of Flightless Boyds. Love your style Juddie!

More senseless fabric shopping, this time Sunday morning at Material Obsession.

All in all it was the best fun I've had in years. So much fabric and such little time. Not enough hours in the couple of days we had to talk to everyone but those I did chat with, thank you for being such gorgeous people!

And btw, the rumour about me being one of those loud South Australian people... it's all true.

Wonderful Wonderland

It's a cracking 41 degrees forecast today so a perfect day for staying indoors with the airconditioning cranked up and the sewing machine going. I trotted off to my local quilting store on Wednesday and found myself 2 Jelly Rolls of Momo Wonderland by Moda. It's been on my "would like" list for a while and to find them half price was fantastic luck!! Underneath the Wonderland roll is another of my "would like" fabrics of late, Rainy Days & Mondays by Riley Blake. It's super cute, with a modern yet retro twist. I love it!

So what to do with two rolls of fabric? I've been thinking about a Bento Box style quilt for a while now and thought that the Wonderland fabric would look lovely in one just like the gorgeous one below. The quilt featured below features another of my favourite lines of fabric, Flea Market Fancy. Drool......

Quilt by Red Pepper Quilts

In my journey through Flickr I also found this cushion that would be gorgeous in my room or my studio. So that idea is on the back burner if I have any fabric left over.

cushion by hanies

And lucky last is some fabric newly arrived from the US for one of my customers who was after fabric with records on it to show her kids that there really was a form of recorded music prior to CD's!! Love the retro, fifties styling of this Robert Kaufman print. I'm making up a couple of sunhats in this fabric so I will share when they are done.

Around The Block 2

I have spent a lovely bit of time lately sewing some blocks for Around The Block 2, a block swap I signed up for this year. Here's a few that I have finished this week.

Around the Block 2 - Jewelled Squares

I have completed my first block for Around the Block 2. It is a block of blocks called Jewelled squares and boy they were fun to do!

This block is for Helen. She sent me all the fabrics and I had the fun of pairing them to make pleasing little blocks to put together. So much fun! Looking forward to sharing with you the blocks of mine that I recieve from the other members of the swap.

Getting back into crafty headspace

Here I find myself three weeks post-boob reduction and all is great. Very minimal pain and all healing well. I even dipped my proverbial toe in the water today and tried a D cup bra on and it fit!!!!! It was even in a delicious hot pink colour!!!! Methinks a whole new world of bras in all the colours of the rainbow awaits.

On the crafty front I've signed myself up for Round The Block 2 and am busy preparing to start. I've chosen a quilt block and 11 other lucky ladies are going to sew my blocks for me and I will return the favour for their blocks. A very convivial arrangement indeed. Here's some test runs of the blocks I have chosen. Please ignore odd colour choices. It was late and I was tired! I'm going to try another version of this block tonight but with two circles, one inside the other. Should be great!

Yoda of the quilting world

Last Friday night I designated the long weekend to making some serious headway into finishing my daughter's quilt that I started well over two years ago. The top has been pieced for such a long time but the major task of quilting the layers together has had me stumped.

Three days later I find that I have almost finished the main part of the quilting work. But having strayed from the original pattern and creating my own design by stitching in the ditch (stitching along where the pieces meet), I find myself wondering 'How do I know when I've quilted it enough?'.

The answer surely lies within google I pondered. So I researched... how heavily to quilt a quilt, how much to quilt a quilt, how to quilt, best Oscars frocks.... the search terms got more and more vague. I found nothing. Feeling like I'd hit a quilt-covered brick wall, I walked away from the computer back to the sewing machine. And then it came to me.

It was almost like Yoda of the quilting world was speaking to me. He told me that I will know. I will know when it's done. Aside from considering I have been having too many late nights and too much caffeine, I accepted this sage wisdom wholeheartedly and plowed on. I will know when the quilting part of my quilt is done.

To sum up this long tale..... trust. Trust yourself and not the internet to tell you what to do with a craft project. Trust your creative side that it will know and guide you on your path. Don't let the google side win.

Adelaide Blogmeet with Kellie of Don't look now!

The super talented Kellie of Don't Look Now! fame is coming to Adelaide on the 17th and 18th of October to teach a class on her amazing raw edge applique technique.

I thought a nice Adelaidean welcome in the style of Ric-Rac might be in order. So I am in the process of organising a blogmeet for either the night of Friday 16th or the night of Saturday 17th of October.

Would you be interested in coming along, having a laugh, sharing some food, meeting other bloggy pals with similar interests? Perhaps you've read another person's blog and you'd love to meet them in person. I'm thinking somewhere casual for a dinner, perhaps a pub or cafe. If you have a great suggestion for a venue, I'd love to hear it!

If you are keen to catch up, please leave a comment below with your preference for either Friday or Saturday night. I'm waiting for Kellie to get back from her Sydney jaunt to find out her preference too!

photo courtesy of Don't Look Now!

My weekend at Inspired Stitches

It was a wonderful weekend hosted by Sarah of Quilt Fabric Delights, held at Marion here in SA. I managed to wangle a leave pass from the boss for the weekend, so he and my daughter ate fast food and lolled about the house whilst I to stitch and stay overnight for a weekend of relaxing.

Firstly I shopped, then sat and stitched. The shopped some more. Then stitched. You get the idea. Lots of learning how to be proficient at hand stitching, something with which I'm not that savvy. I met some lovely gals next to me who were my table buddies and later Saturday evening my dinner buddies. Very nice to meet women with so much in common. Judith and Vickie and Jackie, you know who you are!!

I was shopping for my family and I this time, which is unusual and a nice treat, as I usually fabric shop just for Silly Gilly. Lots of new projects to start on now, including a couple of bags using a pattern Melly provided for the weekend. Also a new pattern for a winter top for my daughter.
And of course some fabric... just because. :) Note all of these fabrics are available from Quilt Fabric Delight's online store. Sarah's customer service is brilliant!!

From L-R: 70's Rainbow Garden by Prints Charming
Cathedral by Anna Maria Horner
Andalucia Tiny Dots Paprika by Michael Miller

From L-R: Garden Maze/Midwest Modern by Amy Butler
Happy Dots/Midwest Modern by Amy Butler

Garden Party by Free Spirit

From L-R: Paisley Garden by Prints Charming
Starburst by Prints Charming
City Blooms by Kitty Yoshida


Kyoko pattern by Modkid - top for my daughter

Lots of colours that I wouldn't usually use. I tried to be more bold in my combinations of fabrics to use together. That's one thing I admire in others - their ability to put different fabircs together and have the whole look so cohesive and appealing.

And the most delicious purchase of the weekend was.....

A layer cake of Sweet fabric by Urban Chiks.

40 squares of 10" x 10" fifties and forties inspired deliciousness. I have absolutely no project for this at all but am leaning toward a quilt perhaps? I think I'll just look at it and stroke it for a while.....

Silly Gilly is a nervous Nellie

I've been procrastinating when it comes to finishing a 'big girl's' quilt for my daughter. I can't honestly remember when I started the quilt, suffice to say she wasn't walking, so that would be a good almost 2 years ago.

The top is pieced and the backing is now together. All I have to do is quilt it. I say 'all' but golly me if I 'aint as nervous as Bambi in the forest.

And of course there is the self-imposed pressure as we are considering buying my almost three year old a big girl's bed, so of course she can't sleep in it without her big girl's quilt. Dang, I don't want to start and muck the whole thing up but in the same breath, I can't wait to get stuck in.

Here's a little peek of me finishing off some embellishments yesterday.

If the magic book fairy dropped me a parcel....

.....this is what it would be....
This book, by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke, is full of some of the most deliciously inspiring and exciting quilts I've seen in a long time. They speak to me as a combination of vintage style and modern ideas. Such beautiful fabrics and written in such an easy to read manner.

Kathy and Sarah run a patchwork shop in Gladesville, NSW. I wish it was a little closer, but they do have an online store too....

They have a blog too - Material Obsession. Go have a look and be absolutely gobsmacked at some of the work the girls and their friends have been doing.