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Timestamp: 2011-01-31 08:31:34 UTC

 

 

 

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My Queensland Flood Relief Raffle is now CLOSED. And the winner is:

Ticket number 58, Lisa, who said:

Here is my fourth post
receipt number 4: 3233865
Thank you Sarah
Lisa

Lisa bought 4 tickets so I am so pleased she won! Thank you SO much

to everyone who entered, you have done a great thing helping to raise

money for such a worthy cause.

Lisa please email me your details to [email protected] and I will

organise to post your quilt to you! Congratulations!

Housekeeping

Morning sunshine.... Sleepless in Sydney here. Been up doing the computer housekeeping since 4am. No sleep for a week. Might as well blog, right?

I have a ginormous post about the rest of the classes in Holland to put up but that will require actual brain cells, so here are some things I needed to remind you of anyway today!

First up, Dollies Online is up and running for 2011. If you haven't already signed up run right on over to Sew n'Sell and do it now! For those of you who don't know, Dollies Online is a program I run with my friend Amy. Each month Amy and I alternately make a small quilt, usually smaller than 20", with a different technique. You can buy the patterns for $15 AUS monthly, but if you sign up for 12 months of emailed dolly pattern goodness they are only $10 AUS, plus you get a free 13th pattern to say thank you!

All the 2010 patterns are still available seperately for purchase. Amy has made this months pattern using some From Little Things! TOO CUTE.

The second thing is that my Queensland Flood Raffle ends at 5pm today Australian Eastern Standard Time. Thank you SO much to everyone who has bought a ticket, you have helped raise $780 so far, not to mention that this money is part of over $99,000 (can you believe that??) raised by quilters and crafters in Toni's flood relief program. Way to go everyone!

So lets have a last ditch effort to raise a tiny bit more today and see if we can get my raffle to $1000. If you haven't already bought a ticket go to this post and see how, and you could win one of my quilts. It's only $10 to have a go!

And the third thing is that Heather at House of a la Mode is having a giveaway thanks to the Fat Quarter Shop of my fabric! So run on over there, but first remember to check out Dollies Online and buy a raffle ticket. That ought to keep you all busy for a while, I'm gonna try and go back to sleep. Night....

A Bunch of 100 Rozen

Onwards from Tilburg to the beautiful town of Deventer. I have been to Deventer once before and I am pleased to report that it is just as pretty as I remember :)

I love the roof lines on the old Dutch buildings, and also their use of stripes in the brickwork! I saw some wonderful examples of this in Amsterdam, but that post will have to wait until I get home - I forgot my camera cord and had to borrow one to do this post :)

The shop 100 Rozen is in the old town of Deventer, where the town first began. The streets are paved with cobblestones and the little alleyways are filled with bookshops and antique stores. 

It really is just so charming and quaint, like stepping back in time. Once a year they have a Charles Dickens Festival in Deventer, where all the towns people dress in period costume for a week and the whole town looks as though the clock really has wound back. I would LOVE to see it! Maybe next time. It's scenes like this that have my imagination racing for people wearing cloaks and horse drawn carriges.

SO beautiful. 

Here is 100 Rozen, which means as it sounds, 100 Roses! When the owner, Jeltje, opened her shop 3 years ago, she decided she would try to have 100 fabrics with her favourite flower on them, and that's how she named the shop! She has recently moved into a new and larger shop next door, and here it is.

The space is lovely and bright and white, and a friendly place to have a class.

Jeltje had seen a quilt I made for the Dollies Online program last year called Star, Flower, Heart (which has started for 2011 - quick, go and sign up!) and so she made her own version for 100 Rozen - complete with a rose in the centre! She asked for me to teach her 100 Rozen version for the class. Here is my original (you can still buy this pattern here):

and here is Jeltje's quilt. 

We had options of green or blue kits, and after everyone had picked they got to work very quickly!

Thank you to all the ladies who came to class, I had such a nice time meeting and chatting with you all. Here is our class picture, although a few had left already so we are short some :)

That is Jeltje in the front holding the sign!

After the class was done and we had some show and tell, I went for a small walk back through the town to my hotel. There was the weekly market being held in the centre of town, with stalls full of tulips, fruit and vegetables, meats, clothes, toys...

And of course, cheese!

For dinner that night, Jeltje and her family put on a little party for me at her house above the shop. Her husband Henk and her son Roel were the Masterchefs, and they did an amazing job! The food was wonderful and the company was too. Thank you so very much to Jeltje and all her family and volunteers for making me feel so much at home in Deventer. I wont forget my stay!

PS. Because I don't have my camera cord I will have to wait to blog about the rest of my journey until I get home on Friday - but if you want to read about my trip to Birdblocks in Amsterdam you can look here where I have guest blogged!

PPS. Thank you SO incredibly to everyone who has bought raffle tickets for Queensland Flood Relief - the raffle is still open, please scroll down for the post.

Travels!

I'm sitting here in Deventer in The Netherlands, listening to the clock tower chime the half hour. The clock is in a beautiful old church around the corner from my hotel, which is in a lovely old brick building on the river.

(The carvings on this cathedral were especially capturing my attention on my walk today, as I am re-reading The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett at the moment, and I can almost see Jack carving the stone!)

I'm having a wonderful trip. Today I was at the shop, 100 Rozen, in Deventer, and yesterday at Serendipity in Tilburg. I will share the pics from the class at Tilburg today and from Deventer tomorrow. 

Serendipity is a tiny little shop, so charming with lovely glass fronted cabinets and pretty quilts and dolls everywhere. Betty and her husband were so kind to have me stay with them and looked after me so beautifully! I felt very at home, even if I was VERY quiet from the jetlag :)

We packed 14 ladies into Serendipity for the workshop. Eleven hand sewers in the shop - 

And 3 machiners in the classroom.

Everyone worked very hard from the moment they arrived! I don't think I have ever seen a class dive in with such energy. As a result we had almost everyone finish at least 3 blocks of their quilt, and two with gold stars :)

This dolly quilt is from my new book, Quilting, From Little Things, which will be available in Australia on April 1, and in Europe not long after that. USA you have to wait a little longer I think!

Thank you so much to Betty for having me and to the class for coming along to say hi and sew with me. We had a great day. 

Don't forget to by a ticket in my Queensland Flood Raffle, and see you tomorrow for Tales of 100 Rozen!

Queensland Flood Appeal Raffle

Thankfully the flood waters in Brisbane have peaked, the waters are receeding and the immediate crisis there is over, however towns downstream are still in danger, and there will still be the reports of loss of life and loved ones to face. The long and heartbreaking task of cleaning up has begun for everyone in these devestated areas in the coming days, weeks and months, and now is when all of us are able to do something for these people, even if we can't be there to help in the amazing volunteer effort.

Floods are spreading throughout New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. In short, there's a very wet crisis in Australia and we need your help!

When I heard about Toni's Flood Appeal Auctions  I thought it was a perfect way for me to get involved. I decided I would do a raffle rather than an auction, because then more people can participate - not everyone can afford to bid lots of money on something big like a quilt.

In the last issue of Australian Quilter's Companion, I have a quilt called Flutter By. 

It is made entirely from Freebird by Momo. It is 55" x 62" (140cm x 155cm), which makes it a good size for a large cot, the top of a single bed, or a couch throw. 

It has been professionally machine quilted by Kimpossible quilting in a butterfly pattern, and it has a gorgeous textured yellow seersucker stripe on the back. I'm happy to put a label with my name etc on the back if you would like me to.

So here you go, your chance to win an original design, published, Sarah Fielke quilt - or just a really, really nice quilt for your house or someone special! How to enter?

This raffle is open to everyone, worldwide and the tickets are $10 each. (The only condition is that I will ask you pay halves with me on the postage if you win) To enter, please click here, which will take you to the Premier's Flood Relief Fund website.

International readers, scroll down and there are details there for international donations too. You need to donate $10 to the appeal, and then come back here and leave a comment WITH YOUR RECEIPT NUMBER. You can enter as many times as you like, but you must have a seperate receipt number for each $10 entry.

The raffle will remain open until January 31st, as I am going overseas on Wednesday and I can't draw it until I am back. So you have HEAPS of time to TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS!! Come on blogland, I know you are capable of telling the world about this so please blog about it, tweet it with #fielkequiltraffle, facebook it and generally let everyone know - $10 and its going to the most wonderful cause. 

There are also some other great raffles and auctions going on via Toni, (is there a master list of all the auctions? I couldn't find one) this is a fantastic way to help support our friends in Queensland and maybe get something lovely for yourself at the same time. I want to give a plug here to my friends at Fat Quarterly, who are raffling off five, yearly subscriptions to their fantastic online magazine - if you don't already subscribe or haven't renewed your subscription yet, hop on over there because $5 is cheep cheep for a chance to get a year of this wonderful publication!

Relief services in Queensland are asking that people NOT donate items, but to donate money, as often things are donated that aren't needed or they have too many of. so spare a bit of change and do some good. Please tell your friends about my raffle and Toni's blog to help raise as much money as we can.

and...... GO!!!!

Hang in There Queensland.

What a scary few days, and more to come. Lucky me I'm in Sydney but all my hubby's family is in and around Brisbane or Toowoomba, and my mother's family too. We are so lucky though, everyone is OK and accounted for, some trapped, but dry and safe. So many families are not so lucky, and we are all thinking of you and holding tight to hopes of better days to come for all of you and your families. 

If you don't know what is going on, here is a link to news articles about the terrifying floods in Queensland at the moment. There has been terrible loss of life, some of them small children, and more to come. Such a frightening and unprecedented thing to have happen, and the days to come are predicted to be terrible too.

And this is one of the reasons I love the quilting community - Toni at Make it Perfect has come up with an auction to help raise money for the thousands of families affected. I'm going to hold one, and if you want to help too you can contact her at her blog. Otherwise you can wait for all the amazing auctions that are going to sprout up all over blogland, and bid your hearts out! All the money from these auctions will go to the QLD Flood Appeal. Well done Toni, a great idea!

On a happier note, today I went over to the new Calico and Ivy shop at Balmain to see Sarah and say howdy. 

It's VERY pretty. Loads of lovely things you will want to buy.

If you're in Sydney, you should pop over and say howdy. Be warned, it's very tempting.

Ok, time to sew around here. If you are in QLD, please stay safe and dry tonight and the nights to come. To all my family I love you and I'm thinking of you and all your friends and neighbours and their families.

And last but not least - I know there are tons of quilters in Toowoomba, Gatton, Chinchilla, Dalby, Gympie and the areas all around. I know because so many of you contact me, by email or on my blog, and tell me about your quilts, and the wonderful quilt shops and their owners in Toowoomba and Gatton. So I'm thinking of all of you, and hoping with all my heart that you are all OK and safe. 

Goodnight all xx

New Play Things

Delicious things have been arriving in my mail box over the last few weeks! Today, the postie brought this from The Fat Quarter Shop: (where, I might add, you will shortly be able to get From Little Things)

The Tammis Keefe Tribute collection by Michael Miller. 

I love Tammis Keefe, and I own two of her hankies that belonged to my grandma. Heavens only knows where she got them. The fabrics are just so cute, I love them. If you want to know a little more about Tammis there is a good post at True Up.

This arrived last week from Monica:

Well, this and more. Monica is my fabric sister over at Lecien, this is the green colourway of her line Holiday Happy. We did a swap of the whole range, so I got a big fat parcel! You can see the rest of Monica's range here. 

And a week or so before that, I got a beautiful parcel of Ruby Star Rising from Melody Miller:

I just love this range, I have ordered some bolts of it just for me, but if you're having trouble finding it let me know and I could be persuaded to sell you some. It's a bit scarce!!

I got a lovely email from Rachel in my e-mailbox, telling me how she just made her first quilt from a pattern in Material Obsession One. 

Well done Rachel! I love your colour choices. 

Summer here in the Fielke house has been casual... lots of swimming and eating and drinking, family and friends around for lunch and dinner. I've been busy with new projects but in between it's been lovely to see everyone and spend some time with my three beautiful boys.

At the end of next week I'm off overseas - a trip to The Netherlands to teach for Rhinetex, who run my Sarah Fielke Dolly Quilts Program, and to teach for two lovely shops, 100 Rozen and Serendipity. I'm looking forward to the trip very much, but not to the cold! Leaving the beach for the snow will be a bit of a rude shock I think.

More on that later, for now - a little hand applique by the pool I think, perhaps with a Pimms. :)