Material acquisition at Material Obsession

I couldn't pass up a trip to Material Obsession whilst we were in Sydney, and of course, I had to make some purchases whilst I was there.

Some lovely prints to add to my ever expending stash.  Hopefully I'll be using most of these in my current EPP project.

Not sure where I'm going with this. I started following one pattern but I'm now thinking of  going off on my own tangent and combining it with another pattern.

Ooops I seem to have disappeared for almost three weeks

Sometimes time just flies.

As usual, not a lot to show, but I have had a finish and almost a finished quilt top.

What have I been doing? Not much really.  Life has been tootling on and I just don't seem to have the time or inclination to get into my freshly rearranged and tidied sewing room.

A bit of this

and Scooter is finished.

Scooter

I was inspired to make this quilt after seeing this. I don't enjoy copying, I like to put my own spin on things. This is one of those times that what I had in my head and what I made, is not the same. I don't hate it but I don't love it.

Quilting in progress

Backing and binding

It's backed with a cute flannel and I'm not sure of the name of the fabric for the binding. I wanted to use something from my stash, but was having trouble finding what I wanted,  J went through the fabrics she had brought up here to work on, found it and it was a good match.

Crinkly after washing

Speaking of J, she has started on a hand sewing project which is absolutely gorgeous.  Personally, I think she is crazy, but unlike me, J is disciplined and will finish her projects.

It's a design by Sue Cody called Gelato Rose. Quilt as you go, so at least after finishing each block, the batting and the backing is finished as well. All you need to do is sew them all together.

These are the first two blocks she has completed.  Only 18 to go!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also played with Kirsty a couple of weeks ago. We went to the  Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show, you can read all about it here.  I bought a few things, including these blues.

Wow, Kirsty is a great photographer, but she introduced me to Happy Street, a time sucking game that is addictive.  I want to curse her.  I have Angry Birds on my iPad and phone and hardly ever play it, so was delightfully, blissfully unaware of what would happen to me if I started playing Happy Street. Take my advice and don't play it, but if you do, I would love to be your friend so that I can move through the levels quicker, mwah ha haa.  It is addictive. Be warned.

A couple of weekends ago I pulled out this pile of fabric and started cutting.

Fabric pull

I was very smart. I planned to use some white charm squares for some of the triangles in the layout, to save having to cut a WOF strip. So off I went, and cut 5 inch WOF strips of all my blues and greens, then cut the triangles. Next step, to cut the triangles from the charm squares. Hmm, as usual, I didn't think it through before hand or do a test run. That's me, jumping in feet first and worrying about the details later.  It often kind of makes for some interesting design ideas/choices though.  I then realised that  even though the triangle was 5 inches high, it's more than 5 inches wide, so the charm squares weren't big enough.
I swore,
quite a bit,
took a breath,
and then had a play.
I used the off cuts from the WOF strips and added them to the charm squares to make them big enough to cut, and voila, an interesting addition to the layout.

Two pairs of rows ready to be sewn together

I became more creative with the cutting as I progressed.

That was a couple of weeks ago, and I still haven't finished the top. I've sewed the rows and even sewed pairs of rows together, and I'm crossing everything that I will have this project finished very soon, so that I can move on to something else.

WIP Wednesday - Maybe I Should Crochet Again

Well hmmm, not a lot craftwise has been happening at Chez Sunshine, sigh. I missed last week as I had nothing to show. In all honesty, this week I've tried to do something, anything I've really tried, BUT the mojo is in short supply and the moon and the stars are not in alignment for Little Miss Sunshine.

I was hoping for another finish and started putting together the blocks for Floral Bouquet.  Not a huge task and most people would probably get it together in a couple of hours. Moi, no such luck. Not last week and not even this week.
The call of Brisbane and the Gold Coast was too strong and I snuck away, twice. A couple of days away for rest and relaxation.
I hope catching up with friends and a change of scenery will have done some good and now I'll be back with some sewing mojo.

From this - blocks sitting nicely on the design wall

to this, a very crumpled partial quilt top. It needs a very good pressing before you see any more of this.
Hopefully next week the final border will be on and I'll have another quilt top finished.

I've been working occasionally on the English Paper Pieced starflowers, but I even forgot to take a pic of the last one I made before I sewed it to the others. Sorry the colours are not very good in these as I took them in the early evening and the lighting is not the best.

This will give you an idea of how it's starting to come together.

Nothing has happened on the HST project that I started a couple of weeks ago. The fourth block is still sitting on my little design board waiting to be pieced.

Tiggly Winks quilt top was finished a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't touched it since.


I may or may not have spent my daughters inheritance on enhancing my fabric stash.  Some of my stash enhancement included:

Lots of lusciousness from  Sew Mama Sew, it's some of the latest range from Jennifer Paganelli - West Indies, and oops, I forgot Misaki is the top one and also some Loulouthi. As much as I'd like to say I have something planned for it, I don't, so I'm going to have to find somewhere to put it so that I can look at and drool over it. Instead of starting crochet again, maybe I should just concentrate on hoarding fabric, lol. That's a legitimate pastime isn't it?

The statistics for this week

Worked On This Week
Floral Bouquet quilt top - all the central blocks and setting triangles are sewn, just needs the outer border and it's finished.
English Paper Piecing - 1 more starflower

Sitting On The Sidelines
Mystery Quilt *
HST project (It still needs a name)
Material Obsession BOM
McFlurry - still have to make the backing *
Circle Game BOM *


Waiting Patiently For Me To Show Some Interest
Jacobean Flower
Don't Look Now cushion
Hexagon Cushion (I forgot about this one)

At Long Arm Quilters
Plume Quilt


Weeks Statistics
New Projects - 0
Worked On - 2
Ignoring - 3
Sitting Quietly On the Sidelines - 2
Hyperventilating Over - 3 *
Almost Finished - 1

I'm linking up to Lee at Freshly Pieced for another WIP Wednesday, so hop on over to see lots of beautiful WIP's.

Adelaide (part two of the quilting/alcohol/food escapade)

I arrived in sunny Adelaide on Thursday afternoon.  Just before I caught the flight, Shay sent me this.

How awesome is that! I had a good chuckle in the gate lounge.  However I had an attack of the worries on the plane, so as soon as I landed I sent a text to Shay to tell her what I was wearing in case she didn't recognise me!
I didn't need to worry.
We recognised each other immediately and there wasn't a single awkward moment the whole time I was there. We got on so well, it's as if we had known each other our whole lives. It probably does help that we keep on saying we're twins separated at birth, we have so much in common.

Shay was the most perfect host, it was such a pleasure to stay with her and boy did we have some fun. She is just as funny and crazy as I expected.  I got to see all her renovations and restorations in person, and they are even more fabulous than the photos, she is one very clever and capable person (except for maybe sewing raw edge applique, hmm, snort and doing teeny tiny shapes in free motion quilting) other than that she is a rock star at making stuff.  I also had a snoop around her sewing room and saw her quilts in person, it's amazing how much more gorgeous they look compared to the pics, and I had thought they were pretty fabulous from the photos.

Enough of the love fest.

Now down to the nitty gritty.

This was also waiting for me when I arrived at Casa Pyjamas, the menu for whilst I was in residence. Note there are some vegetables on there, lol.
However I was very disappointed to find that Slack Tea Thursday wasn't resurrected for this truly special occasion.
Shay Shay Shay.

I'm still not sure how much I can divulge of our exploits, but I don't think I'll be able to show my face in Adelaide for some time, and as much as Shay is trying to convince me to move, I really don't think I want to spend my time behind bars in South Australia, Shay is going to have to come here to visit.

I have been asked if I could give my version of events, I think some people may think that Shay is prone to exaggerating and poetic licence, unfortunately, not so much!  I will however state for the record I did not dance on any tables, I couldn't get up on one even if I tried. Shay, however..............that girl can move! I'll also say for the record that the cops were very nice.........................................................!

Now on to the quilty side of things.
It was the perfect opportunity to do a quilting class together, little did I know I would be branded for life.
It didn't bode well when we walked in to the class and wanted to sit together and had to boot somebody off a table so that we could. I'm sure there was a collective sigh of relief later on Saturday when people realised the enormity of the possibility of sitting at our table. I think there would have been people madly trying to swap places later so that they could get away from us.
So we were now in the naughty corner, very appropriate too, I might add. It was quite a good place to sit, although close enough that I'm sure the snorts and swearing were overheard by a few people. That may explain the distance people kept from us, other than a few brave souls who ventured to talk to us at lunch. At least neither of us swore then.  Speaking of which, the lunch on both days was lovely and there was more than enough to go round, Hettie's Patch did a stellar job.

We found another thing in common we don't do well with quilty stuff under pressure!

Now Shay did have a little bit of trouble getting the raw edge thing down pat, but at least her applique pieces stayed on, she is a legend at cutting out,  getting them on to her backing and getting them to stay there, mine on the other hand left a trail fluttering behind me as I walked away from the ironing board.
I need to do ironing applique 101 before I go any further with raw edge applique.
I didn't know the pieces had fallen off, the most embarrassing part was when Kellie found some of them on the floor and knew who they belonged to, shame shame shame!

Mine - minus the ladybirds, the bird's beak, a number of leaves and the centre of a flower.

So we both fell behind on Saturday and we were getting a tad worried that we were going to be the only ones that didn't finish the project by Sunday afternoon,  however it was nothing a stiff drink or twenty didn't fix on Saturday night.
Despite the drink or twenty on Saturday night we showed up again to cause more havoc and mayhem on Sunday.  Shay was right when she said she almost cried, I was pretty sure she was going to cry at one point and I don't blame her as she was having trouble with her machine, and the foot we both had was very very difficult to work with. The open toe plastic darning foot on the Janome is crap for quilting small shapes. I was just lucky I had a  great machine in the Janome Jem. I didn't quite get to the crying stage but a lot more swear words were heard. I spent part of the afternoon cutting out more leaves, a beak and ladybirds to replace the ones that fell off on Saturday. Even then I still managed to iron the backing of the steam a seam onto the steam a seam instead of taking it off before ironing on to the fabric!

We both learnt quite a lot from the class.  I love raw edge applique, Shay not so much.  I need to leave the iron on it longer to make sure the damn pieces stick to the background. We learnt lots of tips to help make applique easier and quicker, I need a little more help than most. We both now know the ins and outs of free motion quilting and should be able to (with a lot of practice) turn out some pretty good quilting. I learnt what Trapunto is and now I can do it. Well actually I think I can do it, I haven't got to that bit yet, I did say we fell behind, but at least I know how to do it, when I want to do it!
My vocabulary expanded as I learnt a whole lot of new swear words in multiple languages. I also know for sure it is impossible to do a quilting course at a beautiful quilting shop without buying fabric.
Hettie's Patch is a gorgeous store, the women who work there are lovely and so helpful and it has a huge range of fabric. It was impossible not to make some purchases.

More to add to the stash, by this time there was no rhyme or reason to the purchases, I just bought what I liked, and hadn't seen or had sold out in other stores.

I love all of them but my absolute favourite is the script at the bottom of this pic, sorry I don't know what it is other than it is a Moda fabric.

I have been looking at 1930's repros for ages and every time I decide to buy some I can't make up my mind, but as soon as I saw this bundle I just HAD to have them, 18 fat eighths.
Shay had to hold me back from rolling in amongst the bolts, I was in heaven. If I hadn't already bought out half of Melbourne I would have bought a lot more.

I've spent today, unpacking, doing loads of washing and then trying to find somewhere to fit all my fabric purchases. I think I need to build an extension to house all my fabric or buy a bigger house, lol!

Melbourne (part one of the quilting/alcohol/food escapade)

I'm not sure whether the universe was in alignment to try and stop me from going to Melbourne and Adelaide last week, and to try to put me off ever going again, but at some points it did feel like that. I'm sure there might have been a distinct possibility that the world would tilt on its axis when Shay and I got together.
It started with my flight to Melbourne. I arrived at Sunshine Coast airport to find the weather had suddenly turned bad and they were not sure whether the incoming flight would be able to land, which meant I couldn't fly out, hmmm.  It was a nail biting wait for an hour.  The airport was full of people waiting to fly and to pick up people flying in. Fortunately I was flying with Virgin, not so lucky the people flying with Jetstar, the Jetstar pilot wouldn't land and diverted the plane to Brisbane. Both Virgin flights that were due, eventually landed without any trouble. When I say the weather turned bad, I'm talking Sunshine Coast, Queensland bad, not the rest of the world bad. There's only one runway and it's short, so if  there are strong winds and very low visibility planes can't land. On Tues there were heavy showers, no wind and the cloud was low but not what I or anyone in the universe would call fog, and at times there were patches of blue sky and sun, and you could see for miles. Like I said -  lucky I didn't book with Jetstar!
So with the good luck of booking with Virgin I was off to my girls only week of mayhem.
On the day I arrived in Melbourne, there was a security breach at Melbourne airport which apparently caused chaos, fortunately after we had left the airport.  (I had absolutely nothing what so ever to do with it!!!!!!!)
Score - Universe 0 Me 2.

Arriving in Melbourne the weather was hot and sunny, the exact opposite to what I was expecting and had anticipated when packing my suitcase. I stayed in Melbourne with Julie who had stayed with me over the Christmas break when it was THE most dreadful wet, and cold weather we had ever had in a summer since I have been living here. SO of course just to rub it in, the weather in Melbourne was absolutely perfect, sunshine, blue skies and nice and warm, well it would have been perfect if I had packed summer clothes, not winter!!!!!
Universe 1 Me 2



This is the only photo I took of my two days in Melbourne, and I took that in the first hour.  I think I was having too good a time after that to remember to take any more.
We spent the time shopping, eating, drinking and catching up, it was lovely.
Julie took me to a few quilting shops and also to some very nice clothes and shoe shops where I may or may not have picked up a couple of things.
I certainly bought some fabric, I'm still keeping the global fabric economy ticking along nicely.
My purchases.

 A lovely bundle of lusciousness.

 Some basics.

 Liberty fat eighths.

 Munki munki!!!!!

Kaffe shot cottons and a couple of Japanese fabrics. The "button" one I had been searching for, for awhile so I was very happy with these from Patchwork on Central Park.

 I can't remember where I bought these. A shop in Hawthorn from memory. It's amazing what a couple of days of wine with meals does to one's memory, cough cough, ahem!

A few stash builders and some Panache from GJ's Discount Fabrics in Brunswick St, Melbourne. Wow they have lots of fabric there.
All this fabric was shipped home because my suitcase was packed full already with all my winter clothes, (so useful when the temp is in the high 20s and low 30s), and a couple of summery purchases so that I wouldn't die of heat exhaustion over the next few days.  This meant that I had lots of lovely parcels of fabric to open when I finally arrived home, it had double the impact, nice!!!!!!
Universe 1 Me 3

I had a great couple of days in Melbourne, beautiful weather, fabulous shopping, lots to eat and drink.  Julie lives walking distance to some lovely cafes, and great shops (no quilting shops unfortunately), we had brunch, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner out and I loved every minute of it. We even went to an old Melbourne haunt of mine from the 80s and had a cocktail or too.
It was a fabulous start to a brilliant week. It also prepared me for the mayhem of Adelaide!!!!!!!! All of which you are going to have to wait to hear about in the next post.  (I need to get my story straight, and make sure I don't jeopardise any future travel plans to Adelaide!!!! Lucky I don't need a passport to go back to South Australia!)

Tuesday Tidbits (and tails)

I'm making up for yesterday's post. I suppose I could have eked out all of this over a number of posts, but I'm finding it easier and quicker doing it this way, which gives me more time to quilt and crochet, and that's a good thing!

The backing for Strawberries and Champagne (pre-pressed).

I used most of what was leftover from piecing the front, 12 inch squares and a vertical and horizontal line of 2" x 6" strips.

Bitchypoo has sort of tidied part of her room. She bought the comforter and a couple of the cushions on sale with money she has saved from her part time job and she commandeered a couple of my cushions.  The rest of her room still looks like a clothes bomb has exploded but at least her bed is made and looks ok.

Friday we drove down to Brisbane to see Wicked on Friday evening, it was fabulous, I spent half the evening drooling over the fabrics in the costumes, looking at colour combinations. I especially loved one of the Emerald City costumes. Unfortunately I can't find an image of it.

Photo from The Age newspaper.

We stayed in Brisbane Friday night and came back Saturday. Instead of shopping we opted to go to the Museum and had a look at the Science Centre. It's quite small compared to others we've been to but it was fun.

A couple of photos of my "angel" pulling faces.

On the way home I picked up Fanny Pfaff as she was back from brain surgery and now should be like brand new. I haven't set her up yet as I'm really enjoying using the Jem.
Quilting has begun on the Strawberries and Champagne quilt, it's going ok, not quite as well as I hoped but it looks ok, and as the pattern is so busy the mistakes are not going to stand out, phew (I hope!).

Beautiful morning light and little wispy clouds this morning.

I've picked these for the next monochromatic challenge - guess what colour, lol!

This gorgeous stack of deliciousness is for something I'm designing. Cross your fingers for me please that what is in my head will work and look just as good if not better once it is pieced.

Finally, we can't have a Tuesday post without my wonderful Bailey.

This is his current favourite spot to chill out when he's resting from being Keeper of the Quilts.
Excuse the mess in the background, that's my pile of stuff that's ready to go out to the recycling and rubbish bins.

Stash enhancement

 I haven't bought any fabric so far this year, that's 7 whole days and counting. However I did make a couple of teeny tiny (snort) purchases on 31st December 2010, which even though I ordered them in 2010, I didn't technically pay for them until this year.  As I see it, I ordered it in 2010 so it counts as 2010 stash!!!!!!!

These are the first arrivals, from the FQS.

3 1/2 yds of Bella white bleached along with these 5 half yards,  3 pink,  Kumari Garden, Bonnes Amies Confection and Delilah Pink Dots, all for different projects.  Two of the Ty Pennington range,  the kiwi colour is not what I would call kiwi, it is SO bright, it doesn't look anything like what I thought it would.  This can be an annoying problem when ordering fabric online,  I'm sure I'll be able to do something with it, one day, if not it might appear in a give away.  I love the grey/white one that is beautiful.

Meanwhile, today I was supposed to be cutting into this pile, to start on another project, but I was seriously distracted  by having to dig trenches, and continually empty the swimming pool as we had 126mm of rain (5 inches) from 8am until 4pm today. Bizarre, as my parents only live about 6kms (just under 4 miles) away and they didn't get much at all.

 My hastily dug trench. The sun came out for a few minutes.

Gutters overflowing

 Garden beds under water

I am not complaining too much as this is nothing compared to what they are facing north of here.