Puffolk Suffs!

I mentioned in my last post that Julie had the great idea of bloggers going to the Makers Market in Daylesford would wear pink Suffolk Puffs so we could ID each other without having to wander around staring at people, trying to work out if they looked like the one inch profile photo we'd seen....

Anyway this is my creation -

Not perfect but they will do, hence calling them Puffolk Suffs. I have stitched them together at the back and attached them to a safety pin. I do have little brooch pins floating around somewhere but....who the heck knows where.

I had never actually made Suffolk Puffs before so it was a bit of trial and error knowing how much to trim off before stitching etc but they are ok. At the AQM I saw that you can buy a butterfly shape. I can't imagine how they'd turn out, I thought getting the heart shape was tricky enough but maybe that was just me.

Anyway, hope to see some of you bloggy ladies at the market.

If you see a brunette wandering around, staring at peoples chest area...it's just me trying to see if it is you :)

Abbe

Crazy little thing called LOVE

Just to prove that I do actually do some patchwork from time to time, I thought I'd show some pics of the auspicious first commissioned piece.
Most of the material is cut out and after some pondering I've decided to go with the Disappearing Nine Patch (DNP) as suggested by my dear friend Sue at Quilt Times.

Talking about that lovely lady at Quilt Times....

Look at what she sent to me!!!!She'd told me expect something in the post and but I was blown away to receive not only some choccy (after a big call made by me that Aussie Cadbury's is better than the UK version), a wonderful chook, an English quilt mag with some 'real' tea to have a proper cuppa to go with it AND a stunning table runner. It's absolutely beautiful. I'm so flattered that my new friend Sue Poos (my name for her) went to so (or should that say, sew) much trouble for little old me.

She's a darling and becoming a true friend and just goes to show that quilting and blogging crosses age and continent divides with ease.

What a lucky girl I am.

Hope to see some of you at the Daylesford Makers Market on Sat. Julie has had a great idea to wear a pink Suffolk Puff to help ID us bloggers. I have to get making or I'll be left wandering around as an UFB (Un-Identifiable Blogger).

Happy sewing,

Abbe xx :0)

Delivered

The last week has been huge! I was lucky enough to go to Australian Quilt Market on Sunday. I met up with my friend Jenny, a long arm quilter and we enjoyed a talk by Victoria Textiles reps who gave out some great freebies and showed off some fab new templates. I met the lovely Kellie from Don't Look Now. I knew her work was special but up close - Amazing!!!! I can only hope to be able to machine quilt with half as much talent. There were also lots of wonderful new fabrics and products that I am sure we will see in our favourite quilt shops soon.

I had been waiting for a delivery from Hancock's and it arrived! I was so excited to hear the thump on the veranda - somehow one can sense the sound of fabric but maybe that just shows how addicted to buying fabric I actually am :)

Oddly it came via Swiss Post...

And these were the goodies inside. Dare I say there were another two deliveries a few days later with some Amy Butler Love and a few other necessary bits and pieces.

There were some great sale fabrics and combined with the Aussie dollar being so strong against the US...it was hard to resist. If nothing else it will all look great in with the rest of my stash.

Hopefully some sewing (finally) on Monday as I plan on heading to 'Finish' at Threadneedle Craft with the lovely Merrilyn. It'll be nice to have a chat if nothing else, but I really, really need to do some sewing instead of just buying and dreaming.

Happy stitching,

Abbe :0)

Squashed

My mojo was squashed by a mean person. I choose to focus on all of the fabulous things in my life - I will re inflate!

How can I be sad with a life full of fabric, beautiful sunsets, fabulous friends (both human and feline), and sunflowers. Life's good!

Sew well. I'm off outside to plant some seedlings - a bit of gentle therapy.

Ab x

I had a lovely walk on the beach at Phillip island with my mate Jess. She has bought an investment property and we were supposed to be painting her deck but somehow that didn't happen and we meandered along the shore instead..... This is the potential fabric for the quilt along project being hosted by Kellie at Don't Look Now. I am way behind already and haven't made a decision about what fabric I want to use. It's on the list!

This is my step-mums quilt on her bed. She was really happy with it and says she'll get a lot of use out of it.

I was happy with how the quilting turned out and it was good to see how I'd improved since the first quilt I pieced and quilted.

This is another project on the list. I have been commissioned to make a baby quilt for a girl I went to high school with. She wanted blue, orange and a bit of green. I still haven't decided what block I will use but I'm looking forward to getting stuck in. The fabric is washed but with 30+ degree heat I'm not up for ironing right now. Maybe later if it cools.

Lots of pics but not much getting done - I think that's a theme with my blog posts :) Oh well, no point in feeling guilty...it'll get done eventually.

Julie has done a great tutorial for a stunning little girls dress/top. We've had discussions about a big girl (29 year old big girl) dress and I'm going to give it a try soon. yep, that to is on the list!!!

Happy sewing,

Abbe :0)

I need help!

Okay, smarty pants people out there - yes, I need help in lots of ways but today, specifically, I need help with Liberty.

Several years ago I was given these Liberty fabrics. There is a fat 1/8th of each. Nine of the pinky warm colours and seven of the bluey cool colour way.

My question to you all is WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH THEM? I need ideas. I have read before that Liberty fabric is more fragile so needs a lot of support in any blocks that it is in so I need to bear that in mind. I'm not sure if I want them all mixed up but I think at some stage I'd like to do a blue and green quilt so it might be better to separate the colour ways. I have a lot of doona/duvee covers that have a lot of pink so I was even thinking cushions...? I don't know but I'm well and truly open to ideas.

Let me know what you think.

Last little bit of binding to do today and a few ends to darn in and then the step-mums quilt is finished. I've been distracted by the garden over the last few days. Today it is extremely windy so it would be no fun out there. A good chance to spend the day in the sewing room and I might even do some baking later.

It's the Melbourne Cup today (a horse race for you out of towners) so I guess I'll watch that later and then I'm heading to Melbourne tonight and on to Gippsland to visit my folks tomorrow.

Better get out of bed I suppose.... yep, still on holidays.

Abbe :)

And the winner is....

JULIE!!!!!! From Julie's Provincial Patch winner of my first giveaway. Mr CP kindly drew the winner from a hat, saying he could barely handle the pressure :) Email me your snail mail Julie and I'll send the goodies your way.

Thanks to all of those who visited and commented on my blog and an especially big thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes. I hope all of your birthday wishes and dreams come true too.

I have had a lovely birthday...it's still sort of going as I haven't caught up with many people yet. (No money in Dad's card which is always a good sign....and I'm seeing him next week :)

Not much to tell in the world of sewing but lots of little ideas floating around my head as usual and still binding the quilt for my step-mum. Will have it done asap for when I visit on Wednesday. Finally got the pics to work. Above is Faith, stitching away and below is the lovely big pot of spag sauce. There's enough to cover about 6 single meals with pasta and a couple of lasagnas. Yum!Happy sewing,
Abbe x