February 2013

22 February 2013

happy blogiversary

happy 3rd birthday little blog - yes, three years although I only did three posts in my first year and it wasn't until October 2011 that I really got into blogging - I was in my first blog hop in November 2011 so that was a great motivator :) Actually I think it was around October 2011 that I went "live" with my blog - nothing like a long honeymoon !! so if I want to get persnickety I could say I've only been blogging for 1 1/2 years but I'm going with 3 :)

I'd really like to thank everyone who has ever visited my blog or left a comment - I'm pretty amazed that I now have over 100 followers on google friends and I also have readers through email and RSS - thank you so much- its really nice to receive so much support from people all around the world and it continues to amaze me daily:)

I've met so many wonderful people online over the past three years and as I usually sew by myself its been so nice to be able to connect with people with the same passion !

so to celebrate and to say thanks for following along with me, I have a copy of Material Obsessions 2 for one of my readers :) its such a great book with heaps of eye candy ! its by australian quilters Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke - and just a heads up Sarah's newest quilting book, Hand Quilted with Love is due out in March - keep an eye out for that one - it looks fabulous too :)

if you'd like to add this book to your library, just leave me a comment by Friday 1 March (australian time) and as I'm about to start on my free motion quilting journey you might want to share your best fmq tip !

giveaway closed - Michelle from Quilts from my Crayon Box was the winner :)
~~I'll email the lucky reader on Saturday 2 March so please make sure I can contact you :)~~

good luck and have a great weekend- I'm off to the sewing room:)

14 February 2013

happy valentine's day

I thought I'd share my gorgeous valentine's day roses that were delivered first thing this morning :)

hope you have a great valentine's day !

07 February 2013

a lovely year of finishes for February

after consulting my wisp list I've finally decided on my a lovely year of finishes project for February - its a pink candlewick embroidery cushion cover that needs to be finished into a cushion.

I actually have two candlewick embroideries that need to be made into cushions plus a stencilled one so that's three projects but as they were started around the same era (mid 1990's - gasp!) I think they should be finished at the same time too !

I made the stencilled bunnies cushion in a crafty class that I took while living in Bunbury, Western Australia, so it was actually made in 1995 - the classes were held one night a week over 6 weeks at a gorgeous little school in the centre of town and we learnt to make all kinds of different things including beeswax candles, marinated feta cheese, and spool dolls, as well as stencilling - it was great fun and I think started my love of crafting :)

I moved to Perth not long after that and discovered the gorgeous Heirloom Elegance in Subiaco - I did heaps of classes at that wonderful shop - ribbon embroidery, wool embroidery, as well as a candlewicking class by Sandie Meldrum who was an amazing teacher (her book Traditional Candlewicking has been reprinted 4 times).

I really loved doing candlewicking and of course I bent the rules and used the pink thread for the second embroidery I did :) I made the first one in the traditional cream on cream. Both of these cushion tops are dated - the cream one was made in 1995 and the pink one in 1998.

I'd recently been thinking about making some cushions for my couch so when I came across a box of UFOs and these cushion tops a few weeks ago while I was cleaning out my garage - it was definitely kismet !

When I pulled the pink one out of the box I immediately decided to put a border around it and I found the perfect fabric - like it was made for the design ! The cream on cream top already has a green border with mitred corners and also has a gathered trim that needs to be sewn on - it always amazes me that these ufos are still in good condition with all their bits together, especially when I think about all of the moves I've done - since sewing those two candlewick embroideries I've moved two states and ten houses !!

The stencilled cushion needs a new border - the current one is a poly/cotton blend and old fabric that just wouldn't suit my couch ! I'm sure I'll find something else suitable in my stash !

Linking up to a lovely year of finishes

05 February 2013

fresh sewing day

gee - that month just whizzed past - can't believe its already February !

In amongst all that whizzing - I did do a few things in January that I can show for Fresh Sewing Day.

I've done blog posts for these finishes so I thought I'd just add the photos with links !