Madeira Celebration, Pastels and Hand Dyes

Sheila, with what will soon be Sappho's quilt.
Last week Sheila had been telling us of the search she was on to find a piece of fabric with a banana, or at the very least some tropical fruit, of course we all wanted to know what she was working on, Sheila always designs her own quilts, so knowing that another one was on the production line we all wanted a peek, and as promised, today she bought the flimsy along.

The quilt is for her Grand daughter Sappho, who was born on the island of Madeira, Sappho was only a toddler when her family came back home so Sheila has designed the quilt for Sappho with memories of her birth place and also of the visits Sheila and her Darling made to the Island.

The mauve's and purples for the mountains, and the lush greens of the tropical vegetation splashed with the vibrant flowers frame the central slash of Broderie Anglaise.

Sheila then features some of the many memories of Madeira amongst the lace piecing, the wonderful markets and abundant produce,waterfalls were everywhere and the most amazing treks along the irrigation canals,
Wine making of course, but another product Madeira is famous for is wicker, baskets and furniture and of course the beautiful lace making.
Then there is the thrill of daily survival, seriously folks, you should see the pics Sheila bought in, almost vertical mountain sides with the roads wending their way down, with the ocean below, far, far below. Oh and the Airport!, first time Sheila flew in she was surprised when the passengers applauded at the landing of the plane, then she found out why!

Wendy was inspired by Sue to try the four patch kaleidoscope, this quilt design has really taken hold with a few more in the pipeline, hopefully they will all be finished for the Christmas Fair, coming up soon.............real soon only 77 more productive days to go girls..........yikes......
although, I did google days to Christmas and found one website - Santa's Warehouse - that promised it was 693883 days to Christmas...........that I like, don't care if it is a computer conniption, I like it and I'm keeping it.

Lorraine made this beautiful quilt for her niece. Now I ask you, isn't it beautiful? Lorraine is adamant that this is the first and absolutely the last pastel and polka dot quilt she will ever make. Not a pastel lover our Lorraine.
However, I have to tell you the temptation to just snaffle that quilt and bring it home to love was almost overwhelming, only the thought of the tears and tantrums saved the day........oh not the nieces tears and tantrums, Lorraine's!
The flimsy on the table is also Lorraine's work, she was all set to do the workshop last week but an S.O.S. from her Darling saw her driving off to Brisbane, back almost home again, turn around, back to Brissy and finally home, now that is almost above and beyond. Lorraine promises to bring it in for a 'proper' pic when quilted. Proper? maybe I need to be forgetting the machine quilting and get back to the photography lessons..........oh these learning curves, almost too much for a body to bear.

Thankfully there was a rather yummy distraction in gallery room, The lovely and industrious ladies from the Palmwoods quilters group were visiting with us. Selling their luscious hand dyed fabrics.

These ladies are raising funds for their building fund via their hand dyed fabric sales. The credit card facilities were activated for yesterdays visit and I definitely saw smoke arising from the credit card machine, wow, girls, you really do know how to shop!
And you can see why, not only luscious fabrics, from the prettiest pastels (yep, got some) to the most vibrant, but also patterns and kits including some for table runners and various bags.
Just look at that beautiful burgundy bag above, the pic just doesn't do it justice.
And this tote, how cute is that!. Lovely fabrics, fantastic inspiration. Thank you Ladies for a wonderful visit.

iQuilt Free Online Magazine

Sheila has sent us a link to an online magazine, '----iquilt---- for material girls online'.
Thanks Sheila, its a great site, really got lost in the site.

It's put together by two Aussie girls, Nora Buckley, who's background is in Mechanical engineering, (how often do you discover that! great quilters often have either an engineering or math background) Nora's blog can be viewed here and then there is Alison from aliquilts that you can see at this web spot.

The magazine looks fantastic, with lots of historical reviews, check out Hodgens Gown when you visit, not to mention the 9 years quilt, then sail on through all the back issues to January '08.
This is a wonderful magazine, full of all the things a quilter holds dear to her heart, not sure why it seems to have slipped under my radar, must have been a 'head in the clouds' day when it first surfaced.

Most of the articles are free but you need to register, easily done, just scroll down on the sidebar to 'Subscriptions to iQuilt are now available' click on 'read more' and a new page will load. Continue to follow the prompts and you will eventually be subscribed.

So pop on over here to sign up for your free magazine, make a coffee and kick back to enjoy another great online resource!
And if you are really enjoying this wonderful endeavour, consider subscribing, its only $26 for a years subscription of 6 mags, so less than $4.50( Is my maths right?? that seems awfully cheap, and best of all ...........they come to you, right into your inbox. How cool is that.

Gum Tree Designers Christmas Freebie

The waiting is over, the first design is ready, yep, today is Monday 5th. and the first Gum Tree Designer Christmas freebie is sitting on the Gum Tree Designer Blog just waiting for you to download and start stitching. Click on the Gum Tree Designer button in the sidebar or go here.

And who's little bundle of loveliness do we have?, Judith Tetley has started the ball rolling with the gorgeous 'Christmas Rose' and you will just have to visit the Gum Tree Designer blog to see what 'Christmas Rose' is, I know you are just going to love it.

Those clever girls have changed their button colours to Christmas red and green, and I will change the buttons in our sidebar as each freebie is loaded, so just click on the changed Gum Tree Designer button in the sidebar to visit Judith at Creative Studio to say thanks and see what she has been up to, there is a bit of an overload of pretty and yummy on her latest post. I really want some of those draw knobs, and if you could see the disaster that has happened in my sewing room your would agree they are needed...........desperately.

Tessellation Workshop with Val

What a great array of tessellated flimseys met us when we arrived for our workshop with Val, the original flimsey had step by step blocks for our greater understanding, although step two, glanced at from a distance convinced one eager lass to cut her block in half..........ooops! oh dear!
There was an 'I Spy' variation, wouldn't that be great on a Grandies Wall, or a bigger version as a quilt or quillo.
Val had a range of tessellated flimsies for our inspiration. These diamonds with the floral chevron is a real eye catcher.
Stars and Windmills in stunning colours,
And this geometric in solid colours, a simple enough block assembly but the colour placement creates another stunner.
Firstly there was some figuring out to be done....that kept everyone busy for a bit.followed by in-depth instructions from Val, with the ever willing Sue, our workshop co-coordinator helping out in the background.
Wendy showed us her workshop ironing and tracing prototype. Firstly you gotta have 'the pretty' so Wendy quilted a cover for her board.
Open it up and there is the sandpaper on one side and the pressing board on the other. Wendy is working on the idea of a cutting mat on the back. Pretty Cool huh!. Maybe this should be our next workshop.
Ja`, making sure everything is centered and as Val instructed, pin, pin, pin.
Lorraine decided cutting in bulk was the way to go.
Fran showing us her first completed block.
As work progressed we got to see the other colour choices and combinations. Ja` went with a grey background and red and blue for her kimonos, Chris decided on a solid cream background with Japanese prints
Wendy chose a warm beige background and Japanese prints in lovely browns, pinks and rusty reds, while Caiti's choice is the kimonos in sunflowers and a WoW paisley background.
Janice went for the black background and for the Kimonos, Japanese prints on a black background.
Sometime through the afternoon Lorraine H. decided that strip piecing was the way to go and managed to assemble all 16 of her blocks. Lorraine chose a White on White print background in a geometric design and some lovely Japanese fabrics
It was a fun and fantastic workshop, beautifully organised and prepared. Thank you Val and Sue

PINK........Pink..............ooohhh its a pink day!

Yep, all those lovely pink goodies purchased from you wonderful crafters and artisans at the Christmas Fair were right on the button. Call from Sis just a few minutes ago. She is a second time Granny to another lovely Little Girl, a cutsie pie was born to our sweet niece this evening. We are all sooo soo happy.

The Wednesday post, with lots of pics of our workshop will be posted tomorrow............sorry, hope you will all understand. Wow, a girl!!, in a family dominated by boys this is wonderful.

Ohhh, happy dancin' in this neck of the woods.

A New Free BOM

We have a new Freebie BOM in the sidebar. 'Lifes A Hoot' is Paula's new stitchery BOM.

The first month is available here, the cutest little stitchery owls with a lovely friendship sentiment.

Not only is Paula one of the Gum Tree Designers who are busily giving away freebie bundles and patterns but she also has other freebies at her Sew Little Fabric site http://sites.google.com/site/sewlittlefabric/home. Click on either of these links or use the 'Sew Much Time, Sew Little Fabric' button in our sidebar and follow the links.