Back to Work!

The Christmas weekend is over and it is back to work for me... Sue and I have been cutting, cutting, cutting for what seems like weeks and now all thats left for the January Fabric Club is to finish folding this small (?) pile or two! Fabric Club sometimes seems like a never ending job, but, the finished packages are worth the effort. I know many of you enjoy receiving them, if you don't and you would like to find out more - click here.

The Friday girls had their Christmas break-up last week and I thought you might like to see some of their handiwork. Julie made these adorable little creatures for Chris. Yes we do do a few things in this group other than quilting.

In October I visited Houston quilt market where I met Barb Adams and Alma Allen from Blackbird Designs. I had a chat to these two lovely ladies and during our conversation I mentioned my very prolific group of Friday stitchers. Barb and Alma were intrigued and sent home a small 2 1/2" charm pack, one for each of them. They set themselves a challenge to see what they each could make.......

This is what they created from their own small packet of fabric and a little more from their stashes. I am very impressed and I hope Barb and Alma are too!

Now back to the folding....

Until next time, 

P.S. If you prefer dogs rather than cats - check out Lynette's Christmas pooch Hugo!

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is here and Christmas Day is done for another year. The lead up to Christmas is always busy but Kimberley and I found enough time on Christmas Eve to make our new annual Gingerbread House. You may remember that this was a tradition we decided to start last year... lets see how long we can continue! This year we have made a modification, 'stained glass windows', when it gets dark we light a small tea light that we have placed inside the house and the windows glow just like stained glass.

Some of the spoils this year included a new outdoor setting from the kids to replace our old 'Darby and Joan' two seater, just perfect for enjoying the amazing weather we are experiencing here in Melbourne this week. These gorgeous tea cups (or buckets as we have fondly named them) were a gift from London earlier this year. They have lovely large saucers too, the perfect size for homemade mince pies and biscuits.

And how about this little darling! This is William and he is about 8 weeks old. Mark and Jayne are fostering him and his four brothers and sisters until they are big enough to find new homes. Now I'm not a big fan of kittens, but this little puss is adorable. He had played with the paper and ribbon till he was tuckered out and promptly fell asleep where he was, so cute!

And what am I going to do today? Well it is well into the afternoon now, the Sydney to Hobart yacht race has started, the Boxing Day test is on and I think I will start playing with these yummy fabrics. There is a new set of templates to test and a new block of the month to start..... but the cricket score is Sri Lanka all out for 156 and Australia starting to bat! Will I stitch or will I just keep watching the game.....

It is back to work tomorrow as the shop will be open from 10am till 3pm, Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week, then back to normal trading hours from Wednesday next week (2nd January).

I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas break with your family and friends.  

Happy Christmas and best wishes to you all,

A Graduation

This past weekend our family headed off to the Royal Exhibition Building, here in Melbourne. Many of you may know this destination as the home of AQC (the 'Australasian Quilt Convention') one of the largest Quilting events on the calendar. 

This time instead of setting up our quilts and fabrics we were present to witness our eldest son graduate. 

After many (many) years of study he was awarded his Phd in Engineering!

I thought you might like to see Mark along with his very proud mother and grandmother! 


Back soon, with more quilty things,

Countdown to Christmas

Do you remember when Christmas looked like this? Or maybe your Christmas morning still does!

This little man is now 24 and living on the other side of the world. I found the photo while looking for the Christmas tree decorations last week and it reminded me of the more simple times when the kids were small, Santa came for regular visits and you knew what they were up to. (well, most of the time!) 

The suit was worn for almost the entire summer holidays whether it was hot or not!

My regular contribution for family and friends are the Christmas fruit cakes. This year the weather has been very up and down with temperatures ranging from 18 C to 38 C all in a matter of 3 days. 

The saying here is that - in Melbourne - we often have 'four seasons in one day', and it is very true. 

So I struck while the weather was cooler on the weekend and made all of the annual cakes in one go!

10 kgs of dried fruit, 2kgs butter, 3 bottles of brandy, etc, etc. This batch is waiting for the previous one to bake. I started at 12 noon and finished for the day (night) at about 11 pm. 21 cakes...done...in varying sizes and shapes!!!! 

Mmmmm the house sure did smell good......

And here we are - cakes baked and some wrapped ready to distribute.

What memories do you have of Christmases gone by? 

Until next time,

Sunday Show and Tell

Who can believe that it is the 3rd of December? Where has the year gone? 

Yesterday was our last Sunday sewing for 2012 and there was some stunning show and tell from Olga. We have been following Olga's progress with this quilt she was making for her daughter Emma's wedding. Emma and Simon were married two weeks ago and Olga borrowed the quilt back to let us see it completely finished and quilted.

This quilt is from a pattern by Di Hall - 'The Antique Wedding Sampler'.

Bonnie has almost attached her four corners on this lovely appliqué quilt. This is a pattern from Robyn Falloon.

And Julie is still in love with hexagons! Julie has almost completed her second Mrs Billings (yes you did read that right, second) and still likes making hexagons... This quilt of tiny 1/2 inch hexagons will grow into the 'Patience' quilt by Sue Daley.

Until next time,

Friday sewing?

Every so often the regular Friday girls get together for an extended stitching session and yesterday was one of those days. We have a theme to each of these special days and this months theme was 'Pictures of me, Pictures of you'. I thought you might like to see some of these lovely ladies as they were when they were much 'younger'.

Weren't we all little angels! Have you ever tried putting names to faces as young as these? We made a good try at it and had lots and lots of laughs.

Now for some sewing... oops forgot pictures of that part as we were too busy reminiscing about our childhood and growing up. But I can tell you that most of the girls were working on their 'star a day' projects and I can see some will be completely finished in time for Christmas.

Until next time,

Summer School - part 3

My Chintz Medallion quilt is almost done, just a little more appliqué and a floral border to go. 

I think you can picture the overall effect!

This class is on Saturday & Sunday the 19th & 20th of January, floral fabric kits will be available.

 As I was finishing up at the shop this afternoon there was a late delivery!

These stunning fabrics from Barbara Brackman called 'Metropolitan Fair' have been much anticipated and, 

when they are completely unpacked, will be just as gorgeous as the sample pack looks. 

'Toasted' by Jo Morton arrived last Friday. Lots of warm creams with very interesting patterns.

And these, also a Friday delivery, are 'Margo's Favourite Shirtings'. Light, clean, almost white shirtings.

Don't forget all of the new fabric ranges can be cut into our - 1/2 30cm bundles (30cm x 55cm) just call the shop for pricing.

Until next time,

Summer School - part 2

Let me inspire you with some more Summer School 2013 projects!

Ring of Roses with Sue - this little beauty can be created using templates for hand piecing or an English paper piecing technique. 

Learn both and then choose your preferred option. A one day class on the 22nd January.

Visit Sue's blog for a closer look.

Clamshells, 24th January. This fascinating technique is much easier than it looks!

My project is a bed runner but you can make any size/shape you like!

Mmmm, a bit of a colour theme happening here at the moment! Sue and I have must be on the same wavelength :)

And a small preview of the 'Chintz Medallion'... I have almost finished enough for you to see! 

A larger photo will follow on the next post......

Are you still looking for some Mrs Billings fabric? 

I recently came across some of the original border fabric plus others from my quilt and have put together a 

limited number of starter packs. If you are interested please email me for more information.

Until next time,

Summer School - part 1

Here is a small taste of the 'Summer School' classes for 2013, for more information on our class list and event schedule visit here

Hamilton Place - Thursday 17th January  

 Aunty Greens Garden - Saturday & Sunday the 12th & 13th of January

with Irene Blanck

These quilts are just two of the workshops to be held this coming January at Somerset Patchwork 
keep watching over the next few days for more! 

Until next time,

Show & Tell - and What's New!

We are home at last from our travels and wow, what a year it has been! 10 shows, 4 states and 2 continents all in nine months. I am tired just thinking about it! You can imagine how much am I looking forward to being home for at least the next 4 months ... maybe there will be some time to start and possibly finish a new quilt or two! 

Margaret has finished a 'quilt or two' this year (lucky girl) and brought them in for show & tell during the week. 

The first quilt is 'Marylebone' designed by Sue Ambrose. 

 And this gorgeous quilt is 'Barrington Court' also designed by Sue Ambrose and made by Margaret.

 Carol is working on 'Barrington Court' too! Very different colour range but just as lovely.

These two quilt patterns are available from Somerset Patchwork, or visit the website for more information.

There were a few new exciting ranges delivered this week too! 

This unusual collection is 'Retro Geo' by Paula Barnes, from the early 1900's I believe. 

 I just love it!!! Can't wait to play with this one.

And this vibrant collection is 'Prussian Blue' by Pamela Weeks for Newcastle Fabrics.... mmmmm, very nice as well!

Until next time, when I will have some 'Summer School' project photos...,

Mrs Billings, Tara and me!

The Adelaide Craft and Quilt Fair was on last week and while I was there I met Tara from Tazzie Quilts. 

Tara has been working on her Mrs Billings for sometime now and it was lovely to see it up close and personal. 

You may have seen Tara's progress on her blog, if not have a peep!

Tara is using mostly French General fabrics from Moda and it is looking fantastic!

 During the Quilt Show Tara was demonstatrating and stitching her final hexagon border...

Have you seen Laurie Simpson's Mrs Billings? 

Have a look at Lauries blog and follow her progress using a selection of many of her Minick and Simpson fabrics, also by Moda.

It is looking gorgeous Laurie.

Don't forget to send photos of your Mrs Billings, I would love to see them too!

Until next time,

Touch down...

I have landed in Melbourne again (but only for 2 days) and to my great delight remembered that there was Sunday Sewing at the shop! A smaller than usual group today, but as you can see by the photos that follow, they are all very creative ladies. 

Olga has been working on some houses from a 'Blackbird Designs' book. 

These are two of nine large blocks of appliquéd houses.

Heather has been working on her 'Civil War Bride' quilt by Corlis Searcey. 

These birds will be ostrich's when they are finished.

One of our new members Elaine is also stitching a 'Blackbird Designs' pattern. Not sure which one unfortunately!

 Our other Heather was piecing this lovely little 'Brides Bouquet' block.

Mary is continuing on her 'Baltimore' quilt, not many more blocks to do now I think.

Ann has been stitching clamshells... they are coming along beautifully.

Bonnie placed a little bird on her appliqué quilt today, love the fussy cutting of this one.

Carlene is working on this lovely sampler... I didn't get the name of the pattern for this one.

And I did a little more to my Summer School project quilt and shared a few new books that I brought home from Houston, two lovely books by Laurie Simpson and Polly Minick. These two talented ladies design fabric for Moda and have written books featuring their fabric ranges. I was very lucky to meet them during Quilt Market last week.

I have unpacked my bags, done the washing and will be repacking again tomorrow as we are off to Adelaide for the Craft and Quilt show starting on Thursday 8th November. Don't forget to call past and say Hi if you are in town.

Until next time,