Winners and Christmas Quilt..

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Christmas!! I Hope you took a much needed break, spent time with family and friends and ate LOTS!! 

A late Christmas present to TWO lucky winners (No. 192 & No 231) of my Pat Bravo Giveaway.

Katie B. said...

Beautiful fabric! Your quilt pattern is gorgeous.
My favorite flower: Hydrangea

December 21, 2010 5:34 AM 

Trisha said...

I am a follower! :) And that fabric is so gorgeous!!

December 21, 2010 10:51 AM 

AND.....I thought i would show you.. the pressie I made for my Mum..( a HUGE Jim Shore fan) This more 'traditional style' Quilt i made VERY quickly... well, i actually left it til the last minute! So it was made in a few days..

..... I'll tell you more about it NEXT post!!!

 Enjoy your holidays!! xx

New Quilt Pattern and Pat Bravo Giveaway!!

The Lovely Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics asked me a few weeks ago if i would like to host a giveaway on my blog?? What perfect timing!!! I had just finished my latest quilt 'Edens Garden" made from all of her Fabric in the Paradise collection.

Now for those of you who haven't tries Pat's fabric, its printed on a silky soft Premium cotton and you really can 'feel the difference'. Its just beautiful to work with, and has a gorgeous drape.

My 'Eden's Garden quilt measures 69" x 84" (175 x 213cm). It uses 12 of her Fat Quarters and i bought extra yardage for borders and backing.

The flower blocks are all machine pieced using the traditional corner to corner curved piecing technique. Now some of you may be nervous trying curves... but trust me.. its WAY easier than it looks!!

This quilt was fun to sew, the only problem i have now is..... I have seen Pats NEW released lines and I want to make this quilt in every one of them!!

BAZAAR style, is a Moroccan line with accents in fashion. COQUETTE, is a beautiful lavish floral and BOHEMIAN SOUL, is so 70's and so relaxed!! These all ship next year in Feb, March and April... so i spose i still a have time!! Pat also has released her fabulous 'blenders' line LACE ELEMENTS which will be great for a multitude of projects and as the background fabric for this quilt. You can dream over more pics of these collections HERE and Pat's site or you can purchase them directly from HERE....

For Our Giveaway, Pat has so kindly offered 2 FULL Fat Quarter bundles of fabric with 18 Fat Quarters in each!! Each bundle includes all 18 prints in the Paradise collection.

 There will be 2 lucky winners, each winner will win..... a FULL Paradise collection bundle AND my New 'Eden's Garden' Quilt Pattern.

You will have 3 chances to enter :- 

1) Leave a comment on this post telling me.... your favourite FLOWER!

2) If you are a follower of my blog (or a new follower) Leave another comment

3) If you subscribe to Pat's blog (or new subscriber) Leave another comment

This giveaway will be open til just after Christmas and the winner will be drawn randomly on December 26th.

My Quilt Pattern will also be offered at 20 % off while the giveaway is on... You can purchase the pattern HERE

Thank you so much Pat for an amazing collection. You fabrics are a dream to sew!!

Good luck everyone!! xx 

Winner Winner....

Thank you so much...all 651 of you!! Who entered my Giveaway... 

Congratulations to No. 426

patterns by figgys said...
Love: "Curlicue Crush" gorgeous!
shelly@patternsbyfiggys.com
December 14, 2010 6:13 PM 
Ive sent you an email xx

And for all of my lucky readers...

  Remember the generosity of Pat Bravo.... from my last post??  Pop back on the
20th Dec for our Giveaway ...

See you on the 20th!! xx

Giveaway DAY!! $50 Pink Chalk Fabric Voucher and ANY 4 Chasing Cottons Quilt Patterns!!

This is my first time participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway DAY!!!....What a perfect time of year to host a massive blogging Giveaway! We all know Giving is better than receiving.....

 So what I'm Giving....

Choose ANY 4 Patterns from my SHOP....

AND

PINK CHALK fabrics 

How to enter.... Just leave a comment telling me your Favourite Chasing Cottons Pattern!!

 (make sure you include your email address so i can find you, if you win!)

'Curlicue Crush'

'Sand Castles'

'Diamond Bouquet'

'Rolling Meadows'

'Birds of Paradise'

'Star Jewels'

The Giveaway will stay open until 17th December... i will choose a winner by Random.org! 

Giveaway Now Closed!!

Want another Giveaway???.... Tis the season.... 

Pop back to my blog on the 20th Dec...

 The lovely Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics contacted me...and would love to give away a

 Fat Quarter bundle of her "Paradise collection' 

to coincide with the Release of my Latest Pattern... 'Eden's Garden' 

So come back on the 20th December for all the details....

Until then.... Enjoy the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway....and GOOD LUCK!! xx

Kids Handmade Christmas Decorations

Its always fun to do some sort of Christmas craft with the kids. Whether its baking, making cards, decorations or Ginger bread houses...(btw, i need a good recipe for them) they just love getting in the Christmas Spirit. This year, I saw in the Dec10 issue,

 Home Beautiful magazine...

  Ceramic Decorations!

 They are so so easy and definitely kid friendly!! 

We made ours for gifts for loving Grandparents and friends and had a few left over to decorate our tree.

Wanna make some??

  YOU NEED : 

White Air Dry Clay (Spotlight $14.95 kg), Cookie Cutters,

 Lettering Stamps (Kikki K or Riot Craft), Ribbon....

and a few household items...Baking paper, Rolling pin, Bamboo Skewer etc..

TO MAKE - 

Roll out clay onto baking paper.. 

Use your cookie cutters to cut shape. 

Use your Stamps to make words or message. 

Use a bamboo skewer to make a hole big enough for ribbon.

 Smooth out edges...and allow to dry (bout 24hrs)

Tie Ribbon...

and....YOUR DONE!! 

The kids had alot of fun! 

We made about 15 decorations and used half the clay...to give you an idea how far it goes. 

Instead of wrapping them up, I think i will use them as a hanging tag on my Christmas packages this year!

I think they will add a nice touch,  they make the Perfect Label AND a  Handmade Pressie to cherish and keep. xx

Christmas hot pads...gift idea??

Last week i thought i would add some Christmas cheer to our kitchen/dinner table and make some Christmas Hot Pads...

I have never made them before... even though they are so Quick Easy and really just Mini quilts with extra insulation... For those of you who aren't sure how to make em.... here's a few steps... And for those of you that are experienced quilters... well, just look at the pictures!!

Step 1 - Make four little blocks...any style, and size... and col... Mine were 8.5" finished size... I was going for 10 inch...but they just seemed WAY too big!

Step 2 - Baste - Make four mini quilt sandwiches... if your a little unsure you can read about basting a LARGE quilt HERE.. for these the techniques are all the same ... just tiny and QUICK! and of course an extra layer of Insulation.

I spend a good half an hour lamenting over what way i should add my extra layer of Insul - bright...only to find when i actually opened my roll...it was written in BOLD writing... you put the shiny side of the Insul-bright lining up... and have it closest to the top!! WHO knew to actually read the instructions!! 

For this layer...i used Insul-bright. For those of you in Australia you can buy some HERE... It is a bit crinkly/ noisy... I have never used insul-bright or any other brand before... so I'm not sure if they are all noisy....???

Step 3 - Quilt your little quilts...I recommend using a walking foot... Its quite thick and i think a regular foot wouldn't quite work... and I just free motion quilted a design on two of them. Then for the other two I used my walking foot and quilted 1/4" off seam line..  

 Step 4 - Bind your little quilt/ hot pad... I have never bound my quilts by machine before... i usually sew    them on first and then hand sew the back... but i saw a great Tutorial HERE on how to machine bind your quilts... so i thought i would give it a go... it worked great...and so so quick and easy! I still prefer the exactness of hand sewing the binding onto the back... but for a project like this.. its genius!


....oh and for the loop... i just used ribbon...I sewed it into the seam of the binding on the top... then as the binding flipped over to the back.. i attached it again at the back... so its all nice and neat at tightly secure.

We've had a fun week this week... We put up our tree... Made some cute decorations (ill show you in a couple days), Decorated our house... We have been to a few Christmas activities...our kids eagerly look out the window each night to see how many houses in the neighbourhood have put up lights.... its all starting... and at the Johnson house..." Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!!"

Gathered Clutch

You may remember a few posts back i posted about Christmas gift ideas?? Well, it was my little sisters birthday last week and i decided to use the Gathered Clutch Tutorial to make her a Make - up Purse.

 

This tutorial was quick and easy to follow... This purse was made using fabric from the Amy Butler ' Love' collection.

and i decided to line it using the same red dot..

About a month ago before i found this Tutorial, I made myself a make-up purse using scraps from this quilt...

I am still in love with the Heather Ross' Roses... I even just ordered more of her Roses in cream to make a table runner for my dining table.... I love the weight and Cotton/Linen blend.

 I lined it with Kona Cottons Cerise....I do wish i had of used the Gathered Clutch tutorial for this one... In her Tutorial it shows you how to line the purse with the machine and just turn in right way out. For this one...i just made the outside and the lining separately, and put the lining inside and hand stitched around the top edge to keep it in. The machine way is MUCH easier...and quicker!

I would recommend using an interfacing...however with so many small batting scraps...I just used batting.. It gives it a really nice soft feel. You can see in the pic i just machine quilted diagonal lines... and somehow fluked them lining up!!

Hope your having fun sewing over this holiday period. If you doing your Christmas sewing and need some more fabric... you might be able to grab some more at great prices....A bunch of Stores are still having their Thanksgiving Sales....maybe for another 24 hrs.... Film in the Fridge posted a list of the stores where current sales are on at the moment... So if your quick... pop on over...Its definitely worth checking out!!

We just put our Christmas Tree up tonight, danced to Christmas Carols and our family is feeling the wonderful Christmas Spirit... I'm excited to start doing some Christmas activities and crafts with the kids! xx

To Market.. To Market...

.....to buy a ....well, not much... but i did have an amazing time!!

My passes and a Pressie to greet me... left on my pillow from Saffron! ;)

Last Weekend i was able to pack up, leave my world behind and head off on a fantastic and much needed Girly weekend to Melbourne for the Australian Quilt Market. Kate and i jumped on a plane EARLY Saturday morning...and spent the day at the Market... where we met up with Saffron and Toni. These two women are so inspiring...i could really just sit and listen to them talk for hours.

Kate, Saffron and Me

Kate, Toni and Me

.....and we did!! The four of us had a great time hitting the Melbourne restaurant scene...and stayed up til 3am in the hotel chatting chatting and more chatting.. I miss you girls already!! When is our next catch up..??

The Market was fun.. seeing all the latest fabric being released... however, spending so much time on the Internet and Quilting blogs...i think Kate and I knew more about the latest fabric than the distributors!! 

Here's a few i saw at the show that i hadn't come across yet....from Kokka...

Being as though i have ventured into the world of doll making... i did purchase some felted wool for hair...in case one day i might need it if i ever want to make another doll...you can buy some here

I miss you guys...I am so lucky to have 'real life' friends to talk to all about Quilting and Sewing and Fabric non stop!!...Who share the same passion with me. My hubby only indulges me so far..then his eyes glaze over and well, i know its then time to stop!!

Speaking of Girly Weekends...for those of you in Australia, have you heard about..and are you going to this??? A Sew it together... Weekend. Held in Sydney next march 2011... It sounds like a fun event... some of the Sponsors  so far include.. Retro Mummy, Material Obsession, Pink Chalk Fabrics, Hawthorne Threads, Ric Rac, Inner green and ME!! YES me!!... For every one who attends this event will receive a 'goody bag' full of great stuff...and each goodie bag will have one of my patterns in it!! I am so thrilled to be able to Sponsor such a great event. I am loving this whole 'handmade movement' going on here in Australia at the moment. So young and fresh and different! Pop on over and check it out!! Looks like it will be alot of fun! xx