Some incredible inspiration

Oh the things people make with fabric:

Image found here.

 

Video found here.

Thanks to Anna for pointing out this amazing video.

And some pink flickr inspiration for a rather wet and grey Sunday morning ....

1. Untitled, 2. Isopogon, 3. P1010558, 4. waratah, 5. hyacinth, 6. 'Strawberry Sundae' wall art closeup, 7. details - pink balloon, 8. hot pink,orange & red square quilt, 9. madelinetosh vintage :: lepidoptra

Have a great week!

Andi x

Bloggers Quilt Festival

I missed the last of Amy's fabulous festivals so I am determined to be in on the fun this time around.


The quilt I want to show today is one you may have seen before (before it was quilted).


I had intended on giving it to my parents for a house warming gift a few months ago but ... well .... life got pretty busy and I have only recently finished it.

So instead it will be a birthday present for my mum in a few weeks time.

 

It will live on my parents' dark green leather couch so I used a very plain dark green backing fabric to offset all the colour and movement on the front of the quilt.

I quilted it with simple straight lines on either side of the seams.

This gave little stars of david where the quilting lines met. A nice (and unexpected) touch for a Japanese style quilt that will live in  Jewish home.

I know my mum will love it. After all, she bought the quilt kit in the first place!!

I'm so glad to finally be able to give her the finished quilt and see it being used and snuggled under in her new home.

Thanks for visiting. 

Head over to Amy's to see all the other festival quilts. 

(Make sure you have plenty of time and a cuppa. There's always hundreds of amazing entries).

Andi :-)

My creative space.

My creative space today is squeezed in somewhere between swimming lessons, school expos and general domestic diva-ness.
I'm going to the 3rd week (of 8) of an upholstery course.

I'll be turning this ...

... into something rather fabulous featuring this ...

More creative spaces can be found here.

Have a fabulous Thursday.

Andi x

Mulgrave Makers Market

I had a delightful time at the first ever Mulgrave Makers Market on Sunday. Melbourne put on some amazing spring weather and twenty-something stall holders (in the crafty section) made me swoon and SPEND!!


Jenny from Oh-Joh had a gorgeous stall with loads of aprons, skirts and other loveliness!!

Ella's birthday is coming up so I bought her a skirt and matching head-band.

I also bought her a cute necklace from Button Creations (wish I could find the website/blog for you).

And for me? A divine bag from the lovely Lisa of Pink Heart Designs.

The organisers (Fi, Justine and Bec) have done an amazing job getting this new market off the ground. Word is that the next market will have even more stall holders so I'll be back FOR SURE!

I managed to catch up briefly with Fi who was super busy being all things to all people (for a change).

And to top it all off .... the Makers Market is attached to a farmers market where I bought fruit straight from the folk that grew it, cake from the lady who baked it and flowers from the people who picked them.

A lovely day indeed!!

Andi x

Cushions and a question

For our school's annual fundraiser, I donated a customised cushion item for the silent auction.
I offered a cushion that included an appliqued name, a photo, etc.

The family that won the prize have 3 daughters and the winning mum was unsure how to handle the prize.
So I suggested 3 smaller cushions, each with a single initial.

Each cushion unique, but clearly part of the set.

With pretty pink Patch Andi labels on the backs.

They will be given as Christmas gifts so the girls haven't seen them yet, but Mum is pretty pleased with them.
I am too!

And now for my question ....

Yesterday I used bamboo batting for the first time.
It is lovely and soft and was a dream to quilt through.
However, I have been left with a quilt covered in bamboo fluff and there is fluffy stuff all over my house.
Has this happened to you?
Would it be worth pre-washing the batting?
I need to know as I have just bought an entire bolt of the stuff and can't face the fluff!!!!
HELP!! PLEASE!!!!

Andi x

My creative space.

It's my first time joining in with Kirst's Thursday fun but it won't be my last.

This week, my creative space is all about Softies for Mirabel (another first for me).

With plenty of inspiration from here and here.
I made the faces in Word (because I don't have any decent illustration programs) and printed them onto fabric sheets. The rest I just winged. She's pretty large (about 17 inches tall) and super cuddly.

I'm sure she'll be well loved by someone small.

More fabulously creative spaces here!!

Andi x

Feeling much better thanks!

Taking a couple of weeks to sort out my calendar, straighten up my house, spend some time with my family and get some serious stitching done has done no end of good for my mental health.

Thanks so much to everyone who got in touch to make sure I was OK. I really am! Totally and incredibly OK!!

In the past few weeks I have achieved a huge amount craft-wise. I probably have about 10 different posts to put together to show off my projects.

But I thought I'd start by showing off some crafting my kids have been doing ...

I'm a proud and happy mumma!

Back soon with some of my own crafting.

Have a great day.

Andi x

Simplifying

I've been feeling rather overwhelmed with life of late. And with end of year festivals and birthdays coming up, I know it's only going to get more hectic.

So I'm trying to simplify my life. I've reneged on some earlier commitments. I've given up some treasured regular catch ups because, as much as I love them, I'm finding it hard to find the time. And I'm trying to reduce the amount of time I spend trawling the internet.....

That means I'll be taking a blogging break for a while. Not sure how long. Maybe a week. Maybe a few months. I don't know. I just know that as much as I've loved blogging and all the wonderful baggage that has come with it, I need to offload a little (for now). I need to step back and breathe.

Tomorrow is the 2 year anniversary of this blog and I think it's a fitting time to take some time for reflection.

I'll probably still pop in occasionally to visit your blogs and flickr accounts. I can't totally resist all your creative goodness. I look forward to catching up with you all on the 'other side'.

I'll leave you all now with some photos of the divine little quilt I received from Louise as part of the Down Under Doll Quilt Swap. Thank you Louise for such a thoughtful and stunning piece. And thank you Kate for organising it and including me in the quilty mix.

See you all soon.

Andi x