My friend Andi Herman and her hubby are developing a website that allows you to generate pixelated quilt patterns from digital images, how totally cool is that! The site isn't ready to launch yet but they have a pre-launch page up and 'live' that shows you what the site will be like and gathers registrations of interest.
Anyone who registers gets a free Marilyn Monroe quilt pattern. It's at www.youpatch.com go and check it out!
So the Gwen Marston train has left the station, and she is in Melbourne for Amitie tomorrow. She will be in Sydney in early July and there are still places for her night lecture, which I assure you will be well worth seeing for all quilters, and perhaps particularly interesting for "Modern" quilters. The lecture is called Abstract Quilts in Colour, she will have quilts to show and interesting things to tell you.
The lecture is on July 11 at 7pm for 7.30. It's at the auditorium at Mary MacKillop Place in North Sydney. There are loads of lovely places to go for dinner etc beforehand if you wanted to go with a group, and there will also be a light supper provided afterwards. Tickets are $50 and you can book through Cottage Quiltworks at 9997 4661.
Don't miss this opportunity, Gwen is one of my all time favourite quilters. She has never been to Australia before and will likely never come again, so get in quick and see a real live Quilter talk about her craft. See you there!
Also during that week is the Cottage Quiltworks Winter Escape. I am teaching July 11 and 12, you can come along and make this quilt:
All That and the Hatter from Hand Quilted with Love, or this quilt:
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, which is so new it's not finished yet (don't judge, I had gastro last week). Don't worry it will be finished in time for class! It's an Aussie flag (obviously), but I am happy if you want to make a NZ flag, or indeed an Italian one or a French one or whatever! You can also make anything you like from any of my books, I'm not choosy. There are only a few spots left though so be quick and come along for two lovely days of stitching and chatting and being creative. Bookings also through Cottage Quiltworks.
Patterns for Block 3 and 4 are up at the Spotlight website for download!
Are you quilting along? It's not too late to join in! Plus make sure and send me pics of anything you make with On the Pond so I can share them on my blog, for all to see. Hope you're all having fun with the fabric, I love hearing from you all :) Happy Tuesday everyone
We're nearly there - and the sign of nearly there is always the arrival of the advance copy. And arrive it did - Hand Quilted With Love - on Friday.
I am so so so excited about this book, I can't express it. For starters, it's a beautiful production - my new publisher, Cico Books in the UK, have produced a hard cover with a jacket and it it just so pretty. Look at the end papers for a start!
Inside are 16 projects I've been wanting to make for ages, ranging from very quick and fun and easy to quite the challenge. Included are - YES I know you've all been waiting for it, you sent me enough emails!!! - the quilt from the design wall in the front of Quilting From Little Things:
It's called String-Sane. Also included is the Bass Line quilt that I designed for Amy - so some of you will be able to spot your blocks in there!
Although the book is called Hand quilted with Love it's not all about hand quilting - in fact some of the quilts are machine quilted! It's just about my love of quilting in general, and wanting to share it with all of you :)
If you want a signed copy you can pre-order now from my website. The book will be launched on March 14 worldwide, so stalk your local quilt shop or book shop, or buy it online, and I can't wait for all of you to see it!
I have some fun things planned for when it comes out... in the mean time though check back to the blog in the next few days for some pics of the awesome things people are making with my new fabric range for Spotlight, On the Pond, and some completely awesome tutorials for things you can make using the fabric, including some completely gorgeous stitcheries from my friend Belinda!!
I'm so excited to announce that the first week of my free quiltalong with my On the Pond fabric starts today! If you are an Aussie or a NZer, and on Facebook, you can go over and "like" their page to download it - it's worth doing as you will also get notice of any specials etc they have going on.
I will be selling kits for the BOM, and also selling the fabric by the metre. This is for overseas customers ONLY however. Its $16.99pm in store and from me - however if you're a Spotlight VIP you can get it from them for $12.99pm, it's mad to buy it from me when you can go instore and get it for $4 cheaper!
Without further ado, here is week one of the BOM, for those who don't have Facebook etc - and the fabric requirements to make the whole quilt. If you do quilt along with us, wether here or overseas, make sure and send me a pic.
*** CORRECTION*** there is a small typo in the pattern for week 1. The instructions say to cut pieces from the white to 2 7/8". They actually need to be cut 2 3/8 as it states lower down the pattern. If you cut and sewed your pieces already don't worry - it won't make very much of a difference to this pattern so it's a very minor change!
Do you know my friend Saffron Craig? If you don't, you need to know her, right now. Not only is she a complete sweetie, but she is also a completely awesome Aussie fabric designer.
Just before Christmas Saffron came along to my sit and sew day at Cottage Quiltworks, and she had with her fabric from her two new ranges, Banksia Bloom and Wombat Wonderland. She very very kindly gave me some to play with too.
Banksia Bloom is 100% organic cotton, and such a fantastic Australian range - so many are so horribly kitch but this is just gorgeous.
These are the ones Saffron gave me to play with - I think my faves are Sitting On a Tree:
and Gum Flowers:
but I love the big kooka as well - I made a beach bag using him, it came up so nicely and the fabric is lovely and soft.
You can see the whole range (and buy it from Saffron) here. If you're a shop don't forget she wholesales too.
I have to say though my completely favroute thing is these Kookaburra softies - Saffron sells the panels, all you have to do it cut them out and stitch them up. I like them so much I have to order some for my studio.
Aren't they gorgeous??
The other new range Saffron has out is Wombat Wonderland. In case you have somehow missed that I have a new niece (sorry, I know I've been banging on about her a fair bit on social media - hey, want to see a picture?)
We went swimming :)
Wombat Wonderland is so cute!! And what do you think I'm going to use my pieces for... I wonder....
I think they would make the cutest little dresses. The graphics that go with this range are delish, I especially love the stripes and the triangles:
You can see and buy the whole range here.
There are some gorgeous fabrics in my studio at the moment - I cant wait to get cracking on my new book and use them all up!! :)
Hello lovely people, good morning to you! A quick post to let you know that my Craftsy class is up and running! We already have loads of students having a fantastic time over there so come along and join us!
The class is calls Big Techniques from Small Scraps. You can learn to make 6 different small quilts with me, all in different techniques and styles. You can join in any time and watch at your own pace, so don't be worried that you've missed the start of the class or anything like that!
I would love to see you all in class, make say and say hi if you join in! Also as a special offer for December, purchase anything over $20 from my web shop during the month of December and get a card entitling you to 50% off my Craftsy class.
Have a great day everyone! I'm off to teach a real life class :)
YES! It's Aurifil Block of the Month time and this month the gorgeous block is provided by the Lovely Mrs. PorkChop, aka Amanda Woodward-Jennings!
Yep - Halloween!!
Amanda is the co-owner of the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery Her block is too freakin' cute, hop over and download it right now. Don't forget to check out Amanda's blog and say howdy, she is a sweetie pie and if you haven't visited her blog before you will enjoy the experience.
Over on the Flickr group meanwhile, I can't believe all the amazing Summer blocks from my design that are popping up! Here are a few:
There are loads more, make sure you go and have a look. I love all the personal touches everyone has been adding to their blocks. There are quite a few pics where people have finished all 9 months and put them together - they look so great! And don't forget that if you make a block and post it to the Flickr site, you go into the running to win fantastic prizes every month.
I could go on for quite a while about how much I am loving appliquing with Aurifil's Mako 50 weight right now... I'm working on a project with a lot of Liberty, Kaffe and various other pretties, and the colours are just so very perfect for the fabric I'm using, and the Mako is so FINE - it just disappears into the fabric like magic. Love it, But I think this is my favourite colour:
So - Laura and Katy are going on a road trip around the US - they're visiting Arizona, Utah and Nevada.
The idea is that they will sew as they go and blog about the projects they stitch, inspired by the amazing sceney and colours of the midwest. They've invited some others to play along with a pic of somewhere they've been to recently, and an EPP project inspired by the colours of the photo! So of course the first thing I thought of was my trip to Africa.
Here are my brother and I standing on the banks of a river full of hippo. The problem with Africa is that the palette is kind of the same no matter where you look - beautiful, but kind of brown and green! So i looked at this pic from Lake Tanganika, the world's largest fresh water lake:
Which gave me this palette, which I made using the palette builder tool at Play Craft.
Which I love! But then I decided that was really cheating a bit and I should have a proper African palette. So I used this pic instead, which is one of my favourites from the trip. We drove up over a hill, and the sun was going down - and suddenly all these giraffes popped their heads up all ot once. They looked so funny.
Much more an accurate representation of Africa, don't you think?
So here's the palette. I've spent this morning picking out some fabrics to make a block with:
I wanted to get something slightly tribal and organic looking, as well as some texture, some spots for the giraffes. I'm quite pleased with what's I've got picked out.
But...... I have to admit that my head has been so full of cotton wool getting ready for my own trip to the USA in two weeks (I'm going to Denver and then to Houston!), that I forgot to make a block!! I get a black mark against my name, I know. Bad Sarah. To redeem myself I will sew the block up tonight and blog tomorrow, please check back to see what I did :)
Join in with the blog hop and sew along - there are some amazing prizes and offers to be had along the way from sponsors including Pink Castle Fabrics, Paper Pieces (they are offering a coupon code for 20% off using PAPER20 on checkout) and Aurifil Check out the details now and join in!!!
Off to stitch.
