flying past with a giveaway

I recently bought some fabric ! It was just by chance as I trawled through bookface one night I saw a great fabric bundle and clicked through to Clair's fabrics.

I poked around for a bit and there was the fabric I had been wanting so before you can say "pass the magic money card" I had paypal-ed (which is not even like real money at all) and bam it was mine.

Then the lovely Clair of Clair's fabrics emailed me to tell me that she would be refunding some postage. I said not to worry but she insisted. (she is like that I have found).

Anyway my fabric arrived and it was perfect...but a few days later another parcel arrived containing these fat quarters. Clair had sent them to me as a giveaway for you guys ! How awesome. I think it wold be rude to look gift fabric in the mouth , No? 

If you would like to win this set of 6 gorgeous fat quarters, called 'Winter Polaroid' you need to pop over and visit Clair's shop and then come back here and tell me your favourite fabric or bundle.

You won't get bonus entries for mentioning this anywhere or bookgramming or any other things and

you can't increase your chances by hiring a sign writer or following me or Clair or anyone at all.

(that all just sounds like hard work to me)

I'll declare a winner  tomorrow,

Thanks Clair !

Hanging out, downtown with my friends

Well, technically they call it teaching, but yesterday I got to hang out with my young friends at Millrose. Do you get sick of me telling you how much fun these kids classes are? Or how awesome the kids are?

I stupidly didn't get photos of everyone, but I'm telling you the fur was flying yesterday as we sewed up Baxter the hedgehog. I am sure you can imagine just how much mess we made with seven people chopping up fur, I am sure they are still vacumming it up at the shop.

My next class is going to be the Foxes at Patch 'n' Quilt is Gisborne. This is my second class with these foxy guys so I am like a total expert now ! If you would like to join us in the new store on April 26th call Mary on (03 ) 54 207333. Hanging out with Mary is always a blast- she is like a jet propelled craft machine and she makes me laugh so hard the tears threaten to run down my legs.

After that I'll be packing the sewing machine away and doing a handsewing class here in Ballarat ( can you hear the serenity) at the newly opened Cotton Factory.

These little folk ( and there is a new one in my hands as we speak) are suitable for any level of sewing skill. We only need two stitches to make them and you can choose any of them to work on. ( and maybe the new one if I pull my finger out).

If you would like to come along ( Friday May 9th) you can book online here. While you are there, you can check out the other classes as well, including a class with the extremely spunky Nicole Mallalieu of You Sew Girl.

Of course, there will be a whole lot of real life and real job in betwixt all that crafty goodness but for now there is still holiday time and that means I need to get moving and crown the one dozen polar bears that are sitting on the kitchen bench.

 

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gloomy

It sometimes happens, that the things that are meant to be first come second,

while the things that are third, came first. 

So the things that are second will have to be third

and the things that are fourth are yet to be sewn.

(and the 2 has nothing to do with it).

It is grey and raining here today and if tea were alcohol I'd be dancing with my knickers on my head by now.

Playing by the rules

 Do you set yourself rules ? guidelines? parameters? Do you give yourselves little rewards when you have finished something? I do it all the time, then I change the rules, move the goalposts and dement myself .

 The rule for the weekend is to finish off some things, and I mean completely finished. No leaving the hand sewing for another day. 

As a result, yesterday I wound 11 little pom poms and sewed them to eleven little hats

I stuffed , closed, added ears and tails and nostrils

to eleven hat-wearing hippos.

Makeover

 Baxter circa 2011

I am teaching a kids class in Ballan on April 9th so I thought I'd rustle up a new version of Baxter the Hedgehog. I was hoping for some fur in the rainbow sparkle family and was surprised that my local superstore didn't have anything quite tacky enough. So Baxter went all winter-white instead.

Baxter circa 2014

I have bucket loads of teaching coming up, both locally and not-locally. If you want to join in, you can check out my classes page. I am going to teach in Ballan, Gisborne, Tasmania, Warracknabeal, Sydney, Melbourne, back to Warracknabeal (and how does New Zealand sound?)

I had to get a yearly planner to keep track of myself, but now I have to remember to coordinate it with the diary in my hand bag and the calendar inside the pantry.

(this from a woman who can't remember where she parked the car when she leaves the supermarket)

 and Finn, who has no calendar and no diary and no idea of today , tomorrow or handbags says Hi.

(Arse-sniffing notwithstanding- the whole dog thing sometimes appears to have a lot going for it).

Fun by any other name

I taught a foxy class in Ballan at Millrose Cottage yesterday and had an absolute blast.

Even though it was a class for grownups, there was some very childish behaviour and a little bit of inappropriate discussion ( just how I like it).

Some topics of conversation were so enthralling (tattoo nightmares anyone?) that it took me four attempts to mend poor Ruben the Donkey.

In my down time I've have been amassing the army.

 

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On Friendships and Corduroy

I'm not sure how many of you know my friend Stephanie, we have been blog friends for years and last year when I was at Quilt Market we got to meet in real life. Yes, there were better photos but this one is my favourite.

Stephanie and I email each other a bit and we talk about life stuff and bloggy stuff and dog stuff and for a while now we have also been talking book stuff. 

Stephanie's book Uncommonly Corduroy has recently been released with Martingale. Now that I have my very own copy I have to share it with you.

I love this book! One of the things I often find with craft books is that they lack personality. They might be chock full of projects and brilliant instructions but they could all have been written by the same person.

So I was so pleased when I got Stephanie's book and thought - it sounds just like her !!! Every project has a little description explaining why it was made or how it got its name and I couldn't help but smile as I read them.

This quilt is Fairlane and Stephanie writes "Dad drove a 1966 Ford Fairlane 500 for more than 40 years before selling his beloved car. That was the car of my childhood. Dad's cars were always white with black interior - classy, just like Dad." 

The solid black in this quilt is corduroy. This is one of my favourite quilts along with the first one below.

 "Images from Uncommonly Corduroy by Stephanie Dunphy, Martingale, 2014; used by permission. Photo by Brent Kane. All rights reserved."

Its called Plenty of Raindrops and the green just kills me  - I love it. 

Stephanies book has heaps of large clear diagrams, making it look like even I could whip up one of these quilts or bags. You know, maybe its an age thing but I really like big pictures in books.

The book itself is beautiful. Glossy with gorgeous large photos and step by step instructions. Its clear , uncluttered and fresh. It has 17 projects including some really cute bags - The one above is called "I Heart Dresdens" There is a great section on working with corduroy but of course all the patterns work without it just a beautifully. 

I am so excited that my friend has written this book - and as always so very overwhelmed that this little blog opened the door to this crazy wonderful life of craft and crafty mates. 

I borrowed these photos from Stephanie's blog and also from her Supreme friend Candace's blog -

You can find out what was going on in that first photo if you read here.

You can check out Stephanie's book on Martingale or Amazon . 

Corduroy- it's not just for pants !