.: new designs :.

Happy Easter to you all! - hope you've all had a peaceful and chocolate-filled Easter Sunday.  

Just popping in to share with you our three new cushion-panel designs - they just arrived last Thursday from Spoonflower.

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We haven't had a chance yet to sew with them, or cut them into panels for the shop - too much chocolate to eat, wine to drink and lounging around to do. 

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Can you read this one?  Just to help out those of you who have not yet succombed to the need for over-40 specs: "Dear Teen Pop - thank you for applying for Mums' Night Out.  We regret to inform you that your long layered fringes and sugary, but hopeful lyrics are not needed at this time.  We are not saying that we will never, ever, ever get back together.  We will review your application on the morning school run.  Sincerely, 80's Music".

{{close-up of the label}}

We love them, they are so fun and will add a bit of colour and fun to your lounge.  We'll have them listed in the shop in the next few days - allowing a bit of time for a little more chocolate-eating.  

Here's to your happy Easter weekend.  xoxo cat

.: one more sweet pouch :.

Happy Easter weekend to you all! - how is your consumption of chocolate coming along?  Very steady here - the odd little egg or two with a cup of tea ... several times a day ... 

I'm popping in to share pics of one more sweet pouch for the gorgeous Ros' Sweet Pouch Swap.  The lovely lady this is headed to, indicated that she liked greens, pinks and owls. 

{{front}}

{{Pam Kitty Morning button card}}

{{back}}

And the all-important 'sweets' part of the 'Sweet Pouch Swap' - I've gone with my favourite Green & Black's milk chocolate and The Natural Confectionary Company Party Mix.  And since it's Easter tomorrow, I had to include a couple of Malteaster Bunnies - good grief, I've scoffed my fair share of them in the last month.  And as the 'local area' postcard, I chose one from Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, which is a well-known koala / kangaroo / wombat / Australian-animals-a-thon attraction. 

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{{ready to go}}

Happy Easter to you all, hope the Bunny finds you safe and sound.   xoxo cat

.: lattes to go :.

Since making Jane's fabulous Refractatorium blocks for the AusModBee, I've become a little obsessed with paper-piecing.  I've bought and downloaded a few patterns, which are waiting patiently in the wings.  They're in a folder actually.  No wings around here. 

The pattern I keep returning to - since I love it so very much - is Latte To Go, from the amazing Penny and Kerry of Sew-Ichigo.  My first latte was blogged here.

And here are a few more:

So far, I have only kept the very first one - the one with the orange background up the top - all the rest have been made as pressies to give away - a bit of latte-to-go-love to share around.  

On instagram, Berene from HappySewLucky said how awesome a whole quilt of Lattes to Go would look - just imagine - different colours, different sizes, a whole world of fussy-cutting-happiness.  Berene is the designer behind the fabulous improv word fabric I use so much - it's a fussy-cutting-piece-of-joy.  The 'beautiful', 'birthday' and 'first class' on the lids above are from her fabric. 

Next on the sewing to-do list are a couple more zip pouches.  And then some more fabric-ironing.  Happy Wednesday to you all - only one more day til the Easter hols!!  xoxo cat

.: March AusModBee - block 2 :.

I finally made my second block for Charlotte, who is Queen Bee for March in our AusModBee.   My first block was blogged here. 

Charlotte asked for traditional blocks - or traditional with a modern twist - using Kona white, slate and bright pink.  I've gone for two friendship stars and two pinwheels.  The pinwheels needed a little border as I didn't have enough fabric left to make them bigger. 

Pretty darn happy with my points.  I've been learning so much being part of this Bee - the carefulness of my cutting and sewing have improved a lot.  There's still a long way to go, as I struggle with precision, but I'm on the way. 

Here are both my blocks together. 

They are in the good hands of Australia Post now, on their way south to Charlotte.  

More sewing to share tomorrow.  Hope your week is going well.   xoxo cat

.: hippity hoppity :.

Easter's on its way.

Bring on the bunnies.

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How cute are they?!  They're from a very cute, quick and easy little pattern by Rosalie Quinlan, which I bought online from Ballarat Patchwork.  

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The little navy-mix one is already flying south to my nephew in Bondi.

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Over the Easter weekend, I will sew up more, using a completely random mix of colours.  And next time, I'll sew the tummy on BEFORE I stuff the bunny.  I kept pulling stuffing through with every tummy-stitch.  

Easter also means The Bonnet Parade at school.  Hello Riot, local newsagent and hot-glue-gun.

{{no captions are needed for these awesome bonnet creations}}

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I hope you've been noticing the hot-glue-strands in the photos.  They're an intentional highlight.

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More sewing coming up.  I still haven't finished my fabric ironing-and-folding marathon.  But I really had to walk away from it for a few days.  Too much ironing, not enough sewing.  

Here's to a happy Easter week for everyone.  xoxo cat

.: running :.

So the heading could be misleading, in that it may imply that I have been running.  Or that I do run. When in actual fact, I never run anywhere.  Ever.  Truly.

These last couple of weeks have just felt really busy - lots of stuff happening, lots of running (driving) around all over the place, not much time to sew or sit for too long.  So - I feel like 'running' is the way to describe it.  

Then today I finished a cushion for a small friend.  Who DOES honestly love to run.  And she is super-good at it too. 

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The insert is 26 inches - it's a ginormous cushion.  Wish I'd thought to take a pic of the cover by itself once I'd finished quilting it, so you can see it says 'run Lizzie run' - rather than 'run izzi run'.  Ah well.   For all the letters, I used the fabulous 'Word Play Quilts' book by Tonya Ricucci. 

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All the letters are blue.  And the background is the very sweet Sweetwater print 'Bucket-list', from their 'Noteworthy' line.

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To throw another colour into the mix, there's also the fab crosshatch print in red, from Lu Summers' Summersville line for Moda.

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On the back is a Marimekko-esque print from Spotlight. 

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So that's it then.  The end of a couple of weeks of 'running'.  Hope your run-up to Easter has been a little more slower-paced.  I am much more tortoise than hare.

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xoxo cat

.: do you Downton ? :.

It's been over a week since we blogged.

Vee and I have some super-very-fun new designs in the works, which we will share as soon as we can.

Other than that - admidst normal life rolling along - I have been ironing, ironing, ironing my way through my stash (see our last post if you're keen to see some ironing action).  Very boring, nothing to share.

I DID just see this awesome YouTube clip on the awesome Heather Ross' blog, and thought I would share, since Downtown Abbey is on tonight - yahoo!!  I hope it works - have never actually tried to share a video before.  

Enjoy, and happy weekend.  xoxo cat

.: taming the stash :.

So my fabric stash is a bit out of control.  To put it lightly.

Which isn't helped by my bad habit of NOT neatly folding and putting fabric away as I finish each project.

Instead, I just toss the fabric onto a pile at the end of my sewing-table.  Sometimes I fold it before I toss it.   Sometimes I don't. 

Here's a snap of the fabric mountain at the end of my sewing-space yesterday.

{{can't believe I'm showing you ... }}

Shocking, right?  And that pic doesn't really do the mountain justice.  

So, today I started on an epic ironing-and-folding marathon, based on Sew Fantastic Terri's tutorial and using these:

{{archival boards for storing comic books}}

Terri's suggestion was for another brand, available from Amazon - but I wanted to try buying them within Australia, so I googled until I found this shop - which is in my hometown.  I didn't want to wait the two weeks for international delivery, and also wanted to shop as locally as I could.  Without leaving my lounge.   I bought them last weekend, and I think they arrived on Tuesday - super quick.

Much of today has been spent ironing.  And folding fabric onto mini-bolts.  And separating fabric into piles to donate and possibly de-stash.  I'm not even halfway there, but it's time to stop for a glass of wine. 

Thought I'd share my current favourite two piles with you, before heading to the fridge: 

{{Melody Miller}}

{{texty prints on neutrals}}

I am determined to keep going til my sewing space is clear and tidy.  That could take a while.  

Hope your weekend has involved more fun.  And much less ironing.    xoxo cat

.: March AusModBee block 1 :.

Charlotte is the queen-bee for March in our AusModBee.

Charlotte is making a modern sampler out of three solids, and has asked for traditional blocks - or traditional with a modern twist.  

The solids are Kona white, slate and bright pink.

Since I'm still pretty new to quilting, this is another awesome bee-challenge for me.  Solids + traditional.  I never know how to use solids, they freak me out a bit.  I love the colours Charlotte's chosen, and so it was on with the challenge of finding a good traditional block that would highlight them well. 

I've done lots of googling for blocks, lots of blog-looking, plenty of Pinterest searching, and heaps of book-flicking.  And for block number 1, I've gone with:

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It's 'Star within a Star' by Brioni Greenberg, and it's in the very excellent Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters book.  

I'm not even sure what the traditional star-block is called - maybe an Ohio star?  I'm very happy with this block though - and it finishes at exactly 12.5 inches, which is what Charlotte has asked for. 

Still thinking about what block number two will be.  Happy middle-of-the-week to you, hope you are getting less rain than we are in Brisbane.   xoxo cat

.: barista-in-training :.

So I'm becoming a little addicted to making lattes-to-go.

I loved making my first one so much, so thought I'd sew up a few more.  They've been made with specific people in mind, which has informed my fabric choices a little. 

Berene's fabulous word-fabric has come out again ('birthday'), as well as her cute maths-fabric (the lids on the two 'cafes' cups).  

The cups are made from Pam Kitty Morning button-cards (the pink teacups), Prints Charming-for-Spotlight starbursts, Martha Negley Farmington feathers and I think the blue is an Anna Maria Horner print - it's a FQ I picked up and doesn't have a selvedge.    

The background is black/white Timeless Treasures sketch.

If you want to make your own latte-to-go - and who wouldn't?! - pop across to Penny and Kerry's  fabulous Sew-Ichigo shop.    xoxo cat

.: latte to go :.

Thanks to my new-found paper-piecing skillzzz (yes, with a 'z') - courtesy of Jane's amazing AusModBee blocks, I thought I would try the 'Latte to Go' pattern, to make a coaster.

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How cute is it!?!  The very awesome pattern is by the talented ladies behind the Sew-Ichigo paper-piecing designs - Kerry and Penny - please click through and stop a while to read Kerry's and Penny's lovely blogs and take a look at their gorgeous creations. 

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How good does my Andy Warhol bug mug look sitting on the coaster?  I fussy-cut a little take-away coffee cup out of a Heather Ross print for the middle of the cup (part of a Munki Munki pyjama leg - yes, really - I've had for ages, bought from SewDeerlyLoved).

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The top of the cup is a maths-grid print from Andover.  The pink starbursts are part of Prints Charming's fabulous range for Spotlight.  And the orange is Timeless Treasures sketch. 

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I loved making this pattern, and think there will be many more lattes-to-go in my future.  Even though my take-away coffee of choice is actually a skinny-cino ... Hope your weekend has been relaxing.  xoxo cat