Galette

Time is ticking away and our Mannum Retreat is just around the corner!  I am really looking forward to catching up with all the girls, sharing some new tips and most importantly - sleeping through the night!


This year at the retreat we will be working on this quilt......

It is a quilt called Galette, made from Honey Buns, that I originally designed for Homespun back in 2009.  I named it after a French pastry called a Galette des Rois which is traditionally eaten at Epiphany.  Hidden inside the galette is a small token named a fevre, and the one to find the token in his or her slice is crowned king or queen for the day.  We were staying with some friends in France at Epiphany one year and I was the fortunate fevre finder.  Queen for a day - finally, the recognition I deserve!  Pity it only lasted for the day and really only got me out of doing the dishes. 

Yummy Galette des Rois

I made the original quilt in Patisserie by Fig Tree Quilts and this is my favourite block.

Since it has been nearly three years since I made it, I thought that I should test the pattern again before heading off to Mannum. To test it I used some scraps I had left over from a quilt I made for Mum last year.  The scraps are a bit of Pom Pom de Paris, some Blackbird Design Fabrics and some Howard Marcus Collection for a Cause fabric.  I have to say that I am a little bit in love and am now going to remake the quilt in these colours. 

If you live in South Australia and fancy a little getaway in March then there are a couple of spots left for the retreat.  Click here for details.

Buzz Lightyear presents - Sunday Stash

This week the postie delivered this stash....

 

An Athill Range layer cake, 2 Moda Basics Jelly Rolls in Parchment, a Basic Grey Hello Luscious Jelly Roll and a lovely Riley Blake Fly a Kite Jelly Roll.

The Athill Layer cake has already been transformed into large pinwheel blocks and next on the list is to make a double hourglass quilt out of the Hello Luscious.  The colours in that range are so fresh and lovely - I am itching to use it.

On a side note.....Am I the only one who talks to the Toy Story crew?  The other day I found Woody floating in the bath with a very naked Barbie doll.  As I was fishing him out I realised that I was chatting away happily to him about treating Barbie with respect and not just using her for nudie bathtime fun.  Surely I am not alone? 

Pfaff Ambition 1.5

I would like to introduce you to my new friend, the Pfaff  Ambition 1.5.  My mum bought her for me and she is a beauty.  I had been idly thinking about a new machine for a while.  My main gripe with my previous machine (a Janome My Style) was that it was so noisy that I couldn't hear the TV when I was sewing. How's that for a First World problem?

I am a little bit in love with my new machine and here's why......

10 Reasons to heart the new Pfaff Ambition 1.5

• It has a speed control - you can go super slow for tricky delicate sewing or like a bat out of hell when you are piecing strips
• Compared to my old Janome, it is quiet
• It has a needle up/needle down function which I love
• You can set it to automatically reverse stitch when you begin and end sewing
• It has a top loading bobbin with a clear shield so you can see how much thread you have left (not that you need it because....)
• It has a bobbin alert for when your bobbin is about to run out
• It has a touch screen and a stylus to program the machine - very cool
• It has a bobbin thread cutter so you don't tire yourself out reaching for the scissors everytime you wind a bobbin
• The quarter inch foot is very accurate (I had to take to my old Janome foot with a power tool so that it would sew an accurate quarter inch seam)
• And finally it has an integrated walking foot.

Just when you thought I couldn't rave any more about this machine - check out the range of stitches!  (I can report that stitch number 1 works a treat...I may never use the others).

It also has  really neat built in storage for you bobbins, threads and tools.

And just before I go...will you check out this contortionist cat?  Here she is doing some kind of Yoga du Chat.  Bless her.

Bon Week-End everyone!!

Something done...finally!

This week with kindy in fully swing I have been treating myself to a little sewing time in the mornings. I should be trying to clean my uncleanable lino (!!!) floor, but I prefer to hide in my sewing room instead and turn a blind eye to the weat-bix that has set like cement under the highchair.

I have got some projects ready to go, but I have taken myself aside and had a stern word and have decided to finish off some old projects before I go charging off to cut up more fabric.

A couple of years ago I designed this table runner for a Christmas in July retreat that we held.



I played with a second option set on point that we also taught, but I never finished putting the borders on the sample. I decided last minute to fussy cut the striped border fabric and mitre the corners and so it has languished in the too-hard basket (literally) until this week. Here it is dangling from my washing line.





Here's a close up of the block. The block is called the Honeymoon Block and so I named the table runner "Second Honeymoon".




I also made the first version in Martinique and when it's quilted I'll give it to my Nana. It looks really classy hanging there next to my washing, doesn't it?

I am linking to Sew and Tell Fridays at Amy's blog.....go check out what other crafty peeps have been up to this week.

Infinite Variety App

Does everyone remember this quilt show?



Of course you do. If you're like me you drooled over over people's blog posts about this exhibition and wished that you had the opportunity to go. Well wish no longer peeps. You can go and without leaving your loungeroom because.............................there's an app for it. Of course there is! There's an app for everything. And best of all, it's free and it's actually really good. Check it out at the App store - Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts.

Lizzie

Reading this blog you would think that I no longer sew. There has been some crafty action lately but it is slow and presently consists of lots of squares and triangles pinned together ready to be blitzed by my new Pfaff. This is hardly interesting. I thought instead I would introduce you to our cat - much more interesting.

Meet Lizzie......





Until Lizzie I had never had a cat. I have always been a dog person. Ridiculously so. My two dogs died about 6 months apart shortly after my first baby was born and it broke my heart. In April 2010 I was feeling ready for some furry love and stumbled across the Moorook Animal Shelter. Moorook is a "no kill" shelter situated in the riverland. I saw a picture of Lizzie (then called Lisa) on their website. She looked so dainty: her ears were very pointy and widely spaced; she had a serene expression and her tailed curled delicately around her feet when she sat.

I showed her picture to my husband and without much discussion at all we made the 3 hour drive to Moorook to check her out. Sometimes you just know "like you know about a good melon" Cutting a long story short....we brought her home with us. She had fleas, worms, some strange, mangy rash on her legs and the poos she did for the first couple of weeks defy description but she was very loving and sweet and she was ours.

Lizzie's days are now mainly spent snoozing on beds, nagging me for food and pacing in front of me on the desk while I surf the net, wiping her tail under my nose as she goes past. Not bad for a cat that started out life as a kitten dumped in the middle of nowhere.