The public holiday cycle

 Ooh La La finally arrived some, 3 months late but it was worth waiting for, a pink and blue collection of pretty baby prints and of course there is the sweet panel as well.

 Sweeeeeeeet..........

 Now when a public holiday occurs, it is the opportunity to go into my sewing room, in a not so frenetic manner, and have the day to sew, while the cherished Mr Draper, goes about the outside tasks. Well that is the theory.
After a multitude of cuppas, sealing the tiled floor, finishing off the washing/ironing from the previous week, entertaining various kids that popped in, washing the dogs and de-fleeing them and their bedding,(the dogs that is), and attending to the usual issues of food, l managed to only get this done.
A new pattern from Urban Chicks has arrived along with the collection of fabric, so l thought l would whip up the quilt as it has 3 D flowers on it, it is quite time consuming so it didnt fit into the schedule very well but the finished product is looking good, so here is the sample of the one of the blocks.

Now there is only 24 to go....when is the next public holiday?????????
You will be pleased to know that the grass got cut...................

Cheers Mary

new arrivals

 A big week last week at the Drapers with lots of boxes arriving, so here is a little sample for you of part of what came in.  Vignette Issue 6 was posted out and there are some copies at the shop.

 Fly a Kite, just cute.

and Reunion by Moda  a really good lot of fabric, if you are a bit stuck on what to use to make a male quilt  no pink in this collection.

  Now is the time that you put your head on your right shoulder,                                                           This is the Amy Butler Raincoat pattern finally made up with some great laminated fabric that l have in the shop, there are still a few patterns left and plenty of laminated fabric to choose from.
 The raincoat is in the shop window. 
I wonder if this week will prove to be eventful.........................

Cheers Mary

On a roll

 Its surprising to me that customers still ask for simple patterns and kits for babies,  the quilt you need to whip up in a hurry because your daughters girlfriends beauticians aunt has had a baby. Well to help ease this burden, here is the quickest and easiest quilt that l have made, and have kitted up.  The good old (new)Bubby Quilt, with no gender specific fabric, precut squares , backing, binding provided. Quilted in Cotton Perle which has given it a soft look and yes l even managed to do that(quilting that is)

 Bronwyn Hayes got a bit of a thrashing to, l have had this pattern Sweet Boxes for a little bit, and l needed to have some thing that would resemble Easter, so l made this little sweet box out of some left over fabric, also very easy a covered button finished off the look on the lid and here is my gift that my kids will get for Easter with a chocolate in it. Yes l thought they would have grown out of Easter too, but no they still love chocolate.......

 The lovely Irene , will be celebrating a significant birthday soon and she has organised her own birthday quilt and has asked some friends, of which l am in that category(woo hoo) to make a basket square for her, the fabric to represent the person making it and she required it to be hand pieced. So it was a relief when it was only a 6 and half inch square block.

So this is what l did, Irene was a bit wary of me and my bright colour choice she indicated that if it was tooooooooo overboard with lots of orange , it would be relegated to the top left corner or the back. So in an attempt not be be relegated l toned it down.
Is'nt the idea of a birthday quilt great and also if you organise it, you can define what you want but let the girls you have asked add there own individuality.
I will keep you posted as to where my blocks go.

Cheers Mary

Catch up

 I am over saying time flies, omg its nearly March, what has happened to February.                        Being busy is a good thing, the disadvantage is that as the time flies we get just that little bit older blah and more blah.                                                                                                                                Do you ever feel like you are in a" deja vu" situation each time l open a delivery l think like this .   But then look at what arrives gee this is bliss..............
The picture above shows off  plain jelly rolls, an interesting marketing devise by Moda, well just think about it we do tend to end up cutting up a plain homespun into a quilt,so why not have it cut for you.  At the moment only 3 colours have arrived but more are expected.

Next, this fabulous reproduction collection 1862 Battle Hymn, just a couple of of bolts shown to entice the next project.

 Now over the years l have generally steered away from hand piecing a quilt for a couple of reasons, the time frame it takes, l would'nt have any quilts in the shop if this is all l did,  also if l sit to sew, its usually to do embroidery.  So when Judy Newman came in 2010 for her class on Gelati, l was inspired by the ease of hand piecing this quilt, the quilt class also coincided with a great collection of black fabric arriving, so l put two and two together and the above picture is the result , l am delighted with the fact that number one l finished it, but also l completed it within a five year time frame.
So Janice this  picture is for you as you were the one that kept me going on this project.
Kerrie from Black Forest Quilting will be quilting it shortly so it will be in the shop when its done.

And the Magic Garden also arrived,  a super bright panel with some lovely blends, another quick quilt to make up.
I have also realised that due to the length of this blog l need to write a bit more regularly, then l wont need to to be  writing essay length blogs.

Cheers Mary

Thought of the Day: "Gee its wet."

I know where the time went

 Well the exciting and knowledgeable Margaret Mew of Quilt Station arrived at 10.00am and left at 1.00pm mmmm what happened in that time, apart from the usual customers, deliveries, coffee, and compulsory viewing of Margarets Quilts, the 2012 calender came out and l was lucky enough to have booked Margaret for some teaching dates.
Margaret was also able to bring out her brag book which happened to be a copy of the current Quiltmania Magazine  No 87 which displayed one of her quilts that is currently residing in France.
Margaret is a reproduction specialist and a brilliant machine quilter and its hard to contain my excitement, her quilts are very touchable and not beyond the reach of most patchworkers.  Margaret will be teaching Beginners Patchwork by Hand classes starting in June 2012.

 This quilt is called Geese Crossing and the class for this will be on Saturday 18 August 2012
Bookings are being taken now. I will be having a window display of Margarets quilts hopefully in May which should be good.  Margarets website is linked to mine so pop over and have a look.

 Just a minor detail: Rounerries Deux by French General hit the shelves.

Simple Charm also arrived

What a morning thankyou Margaret

Cheers Mary