New Amitie BOM

Putting it simply, I simply adore Jen Kingwell's (Amitie) talent for quilt and pattern making.

Jen's new Block of the Month quilt 'Bring Me Flowers' is yet another fine example of her gift for combining sometimes wacky but always wonderful fabrics to create delightful quilt blocks, sent out and received each month with great anticipation on my part!!!

Month two has arrived and is in progress! Such gorgeous fabrics including Liberty's, yum.

And in case you are wondering, I am still slowly working on Jen's Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt. Another classic pattern that can now be purchased as a pattern from Amitie here. Laying them all out like this makes me realise I have actually completed quite a few blocks now. These are being stitched using the hand piecing method and needle turn applique, as are the above 'Bring Me Flowers' blocks.

I'm not in a rush to get these done, I love having some hand work to pick up and put down whenever the mood takes me, so keeping them on hangers will mean they won't get deep creases in them from months of being folded.

Well, the sun is finally shining, so I'm going to go and soak up a few winter rays! Have a gorgeous weekend everyone. xo

Patience, Perseverance, Persistence!

Perhaps, just perhaps, I may have learnt a little of the meaning of these three attributes by the time I have finished my current quilting project! Remember this quilt?....

My Kim/Keiko Flower Garden Quilt (pattern based on Kim McLean's Flower Garden, most of the fabrics are Keiko Goke fabrics). It took around 18 months to make the top (strip pieced backgrounds, needleturned applique flowers). I have now embarked on hand quilting it...with A LOT of little Kantha style stitches all over the entire quilt!

Using a crease marker, I am marking up a few inches at a time, at 1/4 inch intervals, then sitting under a good light at night and hand stitching away until my heart is content!!

Of course I am using Perle 8 threads to do it (I do just adore them)...6 subtle colours and usually done with around 3-7 rows of each colour. I have found it stitches well using a size 8 embroidery needle.

This is going to take me a little while, I'm finding I can get one flower panel done in around 3-4 nights of about 2 1/2 hours of stitching each night. But I must say, it is better than therapy, I find it ever so relaxing and enjoyable, so I don't think I will mind the time it takes!

May!

"Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, 

summer an oil painting 

and autumn a mosaic of them all."

-   Stanley Horowitz

I do love the month of May! With the days getting shorter, the nights becoming cooler and the trees in all their rich, autumn glory. 

The past few weeks have been a blur of creating, visiting patchwork shops, a fabulous weekend away and meeting friends. The launching and currently full BOM Citrus Sweet Love designed by Emma, Sarah and I...

A couple of trips to Amitie of course and meeting lovely friends....

L-R) Judy (a very fine house), Lucy (amitie girl) 

Louise (lululollylegs), Jen (amitie textiles), me! 

with some lovely fabrics purchased and swooned over! I even spied some of Jen Kingwell's new patterns (a terribly blurry photo taken by me, ooops!)...

and Jen's new BOM Bring Me Flowers received in the mail...these first blocks are almost stitched ready to show!

A wonderful parcel all the way from England containing Michael Oakshott's new range of Oakshotts...Impressions. Aren't they divine? I will be making something up with these delicious fabrics soon.

Then to top it all off, last weekend my gorgeous stitch group and I took off for Ballarat! What a time we had (and I will try not to make you too jealous!). Seven of us stayed here (Evandale a place we can highly recommend if you are looking to stay in Ballarat for a few days!)...

...two doors away from Ballarat Patchwork!! It was so lovely to see Emma again and even though she is selling her wonderful shop, I know she will still be creating. Oh I would love to buy that place, alas, it is a little far away for me!!

Yes, that is money ready to spend in my hot little hands!!

I was privileged to meet two girls I had met on instagram here, Deb and Katrina, the world is such a small place! Next a visit to Morgan in her gorgeous 'take you back to your childhood' shop Crafty Squirrel, and coffee at Such N Such where more money was spent! A little walk beside the lake to catch a lovely sunset before a fun evening of a lot of food, laughter and even a little stitching!

Next day was on to Ballan and a visit to an amazingly well stocked Millrose Cottage. It was such a wonderful surprise to run into good friends Lizzie and Meredithe and Glenda as well as meeting another instagram friend, Bernadette. 

Phew, what a time! Tomorrow I'm teaching my free motion quilting class at Treehouse Textiles which I'm really looking forward to. So that about wraps up my month of May. I will leave you with a picture of a sound barrier wall on one of the highways in Melbourne (don't ask me where, I'm hopeless with directions!). I thought the colour and design was really eye catching!

Applique with Scissors

Following on from this post I have made another 'scissor' drawing, this time keeping in the citrus theme...

These little quilts are fun and satisfy the need to play with lots of colour and fabric!

The raw edge applique around the little shapes is complemented by the free motion quilting.

I love the Keiko Goke stripe fabric for the binding. Gorgeous crayon-y colours!

It was fun to include a little of the selvedge in the hanging sleeve on the back of the quilt...

Millie decided she wanted to model this little quilt, she does it so beautifully don't you think?

I have my next one planned already!

New Block of the Month!

Today I am so thrilled to be able to show you our new BOM (block of the month) quilt created by Emma and Sarah (Treehouse Textiles) and me (Cabbage Quilts)!!

Introducing Citrus Sweet Love...

Our BOM design is made up of 12 on-point blocks, created using hand piecing and machine sewing methods...

Added to that are the 6 beautifully organic applique blocks (we have stitched them using needleturn method, though they would be just as gorgeous using any method of applique).

Then the lovely grey sashings with their salmony cornerstones, as well as the triangle borders with their striking pinwheels, set off by lovely degrees of grey.

Citrus Sweet Love has been a delight to work on across our design, choosing colours and yummy fabrics, stitching it up and adding some lovely hand quilting to finish.

Now For The Details!

Limited places – Mail out begins first week July, 2013
$45 per month (postage included) for 12 months (Australia)
$50 per month – international (postage included)
Cost includes fabric to create Citrus Sweet Love quilt top, patterns and instructions, postage.
Quilt measures 150 x 200cms.

To the best of our ability we will give you the exact fabrics seen in our quilt however on some occasions we may need to substitute, you can be confident that our fabric substitutes will be gorgeous.

We will also be running workshops in conjunction with our BOM program to help with template piecing and needle turn applique

To register your interest in Citrus Sweet Love please email Emma, with your name and phone number so she can contact you....info@treehousetextiles.com.au

We hope you love our quilt just as much as we do! xo

Fabric, a Meet Up and a Musical!

Fabric 
Another beautiful parcel from the Amitie Stash Club arrived today...isn't it divine?

 I love having fabrics chosen for me, and I rarely find ones that I don't like. These are being saved for a rainy day!

Meet Up
Is anyone planning on a visit to the AQC at Melbourne Royal Exhibition Building this week? A few of us are going on Friday and meeting up...would love to see you if you are around. We will be meeting at 10:30am on Friday (19th) in the middle of the food hall. If you want to come email me and I will send  you my mobile number so we make sure we don't miss you!!! See you then if you can make it.

A Musical
Other news in our family is our youngest son is working hard in a local amateur theater group ( People's Playhouse), performing '13 the Musical'.

Fabulous photograph taken by Mike Fletcher for Peoples Playhouse

For those who know this musical he is playing 'Eddie', such a fun role and plenty of stage time!!! I do love seeing young people being passionate and creative, and putting on such an awesome show. I can't wait to see it again this weekend. What have you got planned this weekend, anything special?

Cut and Paste

I am totally useless at drawing! Painting, illustrating, doodling, any of them. I just cannot do it. This makes designing my own applique designs very difficult. So for a long time I've had a little thought in the back of my mind. What if I skip the drawing part and just get some fabric and my good, sharp scissors, and just start cutting? That thought finally prompted me to give it a go last week...

Ok, so the result was a little primitive, but WOW I have had so much fun with this method. And it is so freeing. Just being able to cut wonky and perhaps a little weird looking shapes out of beautiful fabrics, then glue them onto the background (I used an Elmer's school glue stick), then go to town with the raw edge applique and free motion quilting was such a satisfying process!

All of the fabrics in this mini quilt (20 x 20 inches) are from the wonderful pile of Keiko Goke's fabrics that she sent me here. Except for the white background behind the flowers and the colourful Kaffe Fassett fabric I have used on the backing...

I love Keiko's heart fabric for the binding.

I will be writing up a tutorial for this method in the next month or two, I am definitely planning to do more of these in future. I will have a second one to show soon. I still wish I could draw, but perhaps for now my 'scissor' drawings will have to do.

Promise of Joy

If you have been wanting to buy Kathy Doughty's wonderful book 'Making Quilts... the Promise of Joy', now may be the time to do it!

Check out her book on sale here. And see a few inside photo's from my review here. Definitely a fabulous book for a quilter's stash!

Week in Pictures #3

It's been over a month since my last week in pictures!!! Here is a little of what has been happening around here lately...we had a lovely few days with friends in Anglesea over Easter, this wonderful old timber fence sitting along the beach draws me everytime, I just adore the old wood and beautiful rust marks from years of wear...

Back in 2010 I hung a quilt off that fence...remember this one?

 (Kim McLean pattern called Hearts and Flowers)

Alas, this year I didn't have a quilt ready to hang there!!!

There is a lovely little gift/florist shop there that had created a wonderful welcome as you enter...totally made out of buttons! How clever...

When we got home we finally got our old dining room chairs fixed up...all it took was a good staple gun, an hour or two, and a lovely home dec fabric from Ty Pennington....Before...and After....!

So happy with the result.

I am also still working on my Green Tea and Sweet Beans blocks from Amitie. (I cannot wait for their new bom to be released!). Two drunkards paths blocks...

And a sweet poppie block...

The blocks in this quilt are so addictive and I'm finding a lot of new friends in the instagram world who are slowly working away at these blocks too. How about you, what are you working on this week? xo