Hexie Snowflakes......

ok... this post is a little late, but I did warn you that I had a 'little' catching up to do. 
Each Christmas I try to think of a little something that I can make for friends.  Since I had been teaching a 'hexie' class I was immediately inspired (and extremely thankful) by the lovely Nova's creation over at her blog, 'A cuppa and a catchup.  Her snowflakes were just perfect, and I changed them to my all time love, the trusty ol', can't possibly go wrong,  'red and white' colour theme.  I had also just bought some gorgeous red and white cotton twine (fancy that!) so it was all just too perfect for words. 
Most of them unfortunately didn't get delivered on time, but they were appreciated none the less. 

Many thanks Nova, if you were in reach, I would have smooched you for sure!

Michelle xx

Bargello Strips

I am teaching a Bargello class in February and this is my sample,  (please ignore my Aunt Millies being used as a table cloth underneath). I made my MIL a Bargello table runner for Christmas and found it a lot of fun and very addictive.  Maybe because my curiosity has now been satisfied, this seems to be a much longer progress.... or maybe because this is a about 15 times bigger?!  There are 20 strips in each 'set' and I need to make 4 full sets and 2 partial sets.  I've finished 12 strips so far, and then, the fun really begins.  You then get to cut and slice, and make magic.  I shall you my progress as I go along.

As with all things quilting, there are always handy tips to make life easier and bargello is no exception. I'll let you know these when I've got a full list for you.

Hope you had a happy Australia Day,
Michelle xx

p.s. quite proud of myself... I looked at my strips sitting there about 10 minutes ago and thought, "I should blog about that.. I'll do it tomorrow", but then decided to strike while the iron is hot!  Feels quite good to be organised I have to say.. might give it real bash this year!

one . word. BACKUP!!!!

Oh my gosh.. not a great start to the new year (shame really because the REAL start to the new year was fantastic!).  The new(ish) computers hard drive died, crashed, kaputt! And NOTHING could be retrieved.  Yes, we do have an external hard drive, but we hadn't backed up since last March, so everything since then has gone... photos.... patterns... everything.  Its definitely not the end of the world, people have to deal with far worse in life (and I'm actually the type of person that once something has happened... its done.. so I'm quite calm).  But please let this act as a reminder for you to back up your data. 
So enter friendly Dell computer man (thankfully said computer was still under warranty)... whom I'm sure got the most exuberant welcome he has had in a long time (I made him love his job today).  He painlessly replaced my hard drive, and made me a very happy woman.  Hubby kind of had mixed emotions, as it meant his job once he got home was to reinstall and resetup (is that a word?) as he much as he could. 
So, now that I'm back in the cyber world it is time to pull my finger out and get on with it.  I had a wonderful break (although not too many photos to share.. but lets move on), and am feeling very enthused. Lots of exciting things planned and lots to share, but I'll trickle them out over the next couple of weeks..

Happy stitching,
Michelle xx

Bargello...

busy busy busy..... isn't it always the way at this time of year? We are heading off to Adelaide for Christmas this year and I still have a gazillion (yes, it is a word) things to do. I still have Christmas presents to make (ok ok! I might also still need to DECIDE what to make).., Christmas presents to buy, pack.. (think of what to pack), and Christmas parties to be had.  Oh, and we also have an 18th birthday in the house tomorrow... just a little exciting... and disturbing (I can't be that old can I?).
So, my mother in law has a thing for table runners, so for Christmas, guess what she's getting?  Thought I should make one a little special though, and since I am running a Bargello class next year, bargello seemed liked a logical choice.  I have been having so much fun making this.  Like with so many things quilting, it is never as hard as it seems, so give it a go if you've ever thought about it.  I'm finding it quite addictive and can't wait to get into my sampler for the shop (completely different palette... green and blue batiks). 

Here is the runner in pieces, I called it a night when I sewed two of the strips the wrong way around.  I will post a piccie of the finished product in the next couple of days. 

Enjoy your Christmas preparations,
Michelle xx

A special quilt for a special teacher...

Well..... Elsie (and I) have been so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful teacher for her first year of school, and since Mrs East is a quiltmaker herself, I wanted to make sure that I made something special for her.

With the help of the wonderful teacher aide, Mrs Wagstaff, all the children drew a picture of Mrs East.  They were just gorgeous!  They all had the big smile and glasses, and most the lovely blonde hair (one cute3 little man even put in a couple of stray grey hairs... how cute!)  I smiled everytime I looked at them and  I loved the way they were so different.  So many of the girls included butterflies, handbags, bracelets, even buttons and rings. 

I then printed these pictures on to special photo fabric, and made them into a quilt alternating with pinwheel blocks.  I held a sewing afternoon at my house and had the help of some lovely Mums matching, snipping and ironing.  It was a huge help as it got a lot of the initial work out of the way. 

We presented the quilt to Mrs East this morning, and well.... she was just slightly pleased to say the least!  The tears were still flowing when we left..  The children had so much fun pointing out their pictures to her and were all so excited.  It was such a joy to make, and to give.  To give a quilt to someone special whom you know will treasure it is just makes it all the sweeter.

Here is a closer up image.  Hopefully I will have some more tomorrow as a lovely Mum took some photos (the couple I took at school were blurry... probably because I was shaking..)

Have a great week,
Michelle xx

p,s,   cant tell how excited I have been to share this!!  I couldn't share this earlier because this special lady does pop over here every now and again!

Quick and Cheerful table runner.

Quilting doesn't always have to be intricate and time consuming... sometimes the fabric (ok.. maybe a lot of the time!) is just so gorgeous its ok to let it talk for itself. This late shipment of Christmas fabric arrived in the shop the other day, and knowing that I'm quickly running out of time for making Christmas presents, but REALLY REALLY having the need to make something, I decided to make my mother in law a quick table runner. After cutting out the fabric I knew that I just HAD to have one too, so made my 'pattern' even quicker and easier... 30cm of the feature fabric, bordered in the contrast. What could be simpler? Those batting off-cuts are perfect for table runners, and I'm not going to get too fussy about the backing fabric for this one either. I will spray baste, quilt it very simply, and Bob's your Uncle! (or the man next door, or whoever Bob would like be really...) Ok...must.clean.house.so.I.can.quilt (todays mantra..) Have a great week, Michelle xx
p.s. the pattern for the larger 'square in a square runner is Liisa's and available at/from the shop. Gem of pattern, I have made a few already!

Our New Little Veggie Box

My lovely husband spent a few precious days of his leave building us a couple of lovely big veggie boxes down the side of the house. All has been going well, the tomatoes are growing, the beans sprouting and we all like going out to see what has changed from day to day.

We have had some very hot days in Brisbane this week so I went out to check on them yesterday afternoon when I got home from work, hoping my little babies hadn't wilted. We had put up a little temporary fence, to keep Charlie out while it was all still new and exciting, and I could see that I had left it open.... OOPS! But then I turned the corner..... Charlie had indeed had a wow of a time..... MAJOR OOOOOPS!!!! He had had a lovely time in the first box, somehow didn't manage to knock over the bigger tomato plants, but had certainly rearranged the other things. He had also dug some monster holes (a little hard to see in the photo). I spent the next hour re-levelling dirt and re-planting, but was just thankful that he hadn't touched the second box with the beans! He looks quite innocent doesn't he? Michelle xx