.: how can it be the last day of June?! :.

This year is zooming past, it's way too crazy, how can we be at the end of June already?!  And it's suddenly so cold in Brisbane - which makes it even crazier that we saw our first-ever (and hopefully, only-ever) SNAKE in our backyard last weekend!  I'm shuddering remembering it all over again, just too hideous.

Today I'm sharing my blocks for Gina's month in our Care Circle of do.GoodStitches - made today, in the nick of time, on the very last day of the month!  I so don't like being late for anything, let alone bee blocks.  Gina asked for a colour palette of grey, navy, white and peachy-orange.  Our pattern this month is based on Micro Mod Shake Up by Alexia Abegg.

I was enormously happy to open out these Summersville + Castle Peeps/Lizzy House blocks to discover the house-and-car-lining-up-perfection! - I couldn't have planned it better!  

And now for my stars - these are for @marika_makes on instagram - and will soon be on their way to Canada.  Marika is very kindly sewing three quilts for the recently-orphaned daughters of friends of hers.  What a lovely, gentle blessing for those little girls at such a terrible, awful time in their lives.  If you can help by sewing up some stars too, please check out Marika's instagram stream - she has asked for red/yellow/orange/purple stars with grey/black/low volume backgrounds.  

Hope your week has started well.  I'll be back in the next day or two, to share all my pics from yesterday's Social Tote class with the fabulous Lorena!  I just need to stitch down my binding and then take a hundred pics, and I'll be ready to share!  xoxo cat

.: Social Tote prep :.

Following on from my awesome fortune in being part of Camille's class a couple of weeks ago, this weekend I am taking part in a Social Tote class, being taught by the very-talented Lorena!!

I've been slowly prepping all the different pieces, carefully following the cutting instructions Lorena shared with us all on the Facebook group (as an aside, these closed Facebook groups are gradually turning me into a Facebook convert.  How great are they!?  Who knew?!), quilting the side panels and steam-ironing interface to all the pieces that need it.  And using my brand new Frixion pen to label all the pieces - it's so good, I can't believe I didn't have one before - I bought it at my local newsagent.  

The Social Tote is a very detailed pattern, but if you break it down, it's not too scary.  And of course, it helps having Lorena guiding us all through it! - she's been so kind and helpful on Facebook, and I know she will be a fabulous teacher this weekend.

The Aunty Cookie Cookies up there are the tiny pockets - I love them and am so happy they are the perfect size!  I cut out a plastic template for the pockets, so I could be sure to get my fussy-cutting of the Cookies right - I didn't want any heads to be cut off when I sewed the curve!  And the awesome chalk letter fabric is by Amy, from her Spoonflower shop, PennyCandy.  I'm using three of Amy's fabrics for my Social Tote, love her designs so much. 

That's it for today, just one pic.  I'll share more pics once I've finished my prep - just the handles and the pin-cushion to go, and I'm ready to roll.  Happy Monday to you all.  xoxo cat

(edited to link in to Angie GnomeAngel's first Fussy Cutters' Club Link Party!)

.: Red Letter Day - Camille's class! - and a finished quilt-top! :.

Well, well, what do we have here?!  Oh yes, a finished quilt-top!  Thought I'd share it up front, and then go back to the beginning of the Red Letter Day block-sew-a-thon, which started in Camille's class and continued over these last few days.

After the fabulous experience of Camille's trunk show last week, I was fortunate enough to be one of 28 quilty-ladies to take part in Camille's Red Letter Day class at The Quilters' and Embroiders' Store (well, our class was actually held at the Greenslopes Bowls Club - an awesome venue!).

I precut all my blocks ready for the class - all Bonnie and Camille fabrics, with fussy-cut centres, and Pam Kitty Morning's 'Recipe for Success' white on white text print as the background.  I'm not the world's best cutter and wanted to get that done slowly and in my own time, and so I was determined to finish one and maybe even two blocks during Camille's class.   This is the first block I made!

[Lizzy House's 'Red Letter Day' ducks in the middle ... I really just had to use Red Letter Day fabric in my Red Letter Day quilt!]

And oh look! - thanks to Kirsty, here's a pic of Kirsten, Camille and me during the class, wahoo!

Tracy and I shared a table with Kirsty and Margaret, and they were lovely company for the day.  Camille is an excellent teacher - as well as being an excellent pattern-creator-and-writer - and she shared lots of little cutting, sewing and ironing tips with us all during the day.  There were also lots of little giveaways throughout the day - pre-cuts of Camille's fabrics, Camille's patterns and Aurifil thread!  I was lucky enough to win a mini 'Dwell' pattern (at the trunk show) and a little set of Aurifil thread, for somehow knowing that Boise is the capital of Camille's home-state of Idaho! 

We all shared in a great lunch, and then got cracking with more sewing.  Here's my second block from the class.

[Aunty Cookie's Cookies in the middle]

Our group of 28 ladies made 40 blocks during our class time.

a

[my two blocks are second and third up from the bottom on the right hand side - yep, one of them is hiding behind the hedge!]

There was a bit of a photo-taking-frenzy going on at this point, as we all tried to take our own snaps of the blocks!  I spy Pauline, Noelene and Kirsty ... and Camille!  

It was such a wonderful day, just such a treat to spend the day sewing with fabric-and-quilt-loving-ladies, and getting to know Camille and Holly.  We had so much fun, I absolutely loved it.  Here's one last pic from the class - Tracy, me, Camille and Holly!  

I came home completely determined to sew up all my blocks as soon as I could, so that I could actually finish the quilt!  Everything came together pretty quickly, since I'd pre-cut everything.  I broke everything down into steps, and made the HST's one day, the strip sets another day - and then Tracy and I had a mini-sewing-day on Monday, which really helped with finishing everything.  So - one by one, here are my next seven blocks!

[Tula Pink raccoon in the middle]

[Centre block - the red is a Bonnie + Camille I swapped with Kirsten, it's just perfect!  For my first-ever following-a-quilt-pattern experience, I had to use Aunty Cookie's 'you clever thing you' for the very middle!]

[another Tula Pink raccoon]

[Umbrella Prints hearts]

[Happy Zombie gnomas!]

[Spoonflower print - for my older daughter]

[Sarah Jane mermaid, for my younger daughter]

Tracy and I of course did our little sew-in while wearing our awesome Stately Type Australia t-shirts, that were a pressie from Holly!  Do you see she is wearing hers in the pic above?  Stately Type is a fab company owned by Holly and her husband David (who creates all the designs) - I really especially love the California bear shirt! 

And now - the last pic, to top and tail with the very first pic way up there - Vee and I got together today to do a little cat&vee talking and tea-drinking, and she very kindly snapped some pics of my FINISHED quilt top! 

I'm so happy with it, it's just so fun and awesome, I love it!  And it's such a fabulous reminder of the wonderful experience of meeting Camille, Holly and Di Mill, and sharing in the trunk show and class with lots of great ladies.  It's really been an absolute treat.  Thanks so much to Camille and Holly for flying out here to see us all, we've loved meeting you, and thanks so much too to Di for organising such a fabulous trip!

There are lots of gorgeous blocks and quilt-tops popping up on #redletteraustralia on instagram - and you'll find lots of Camille, Holly's and Di's pics if you look at #quiltabout.  I'll be back as soon as I can, to share FINISHED QUILT pics - though that could take a little while.  

Hope your week has been a good one - winter has finally arrived in Brisbane, it's been a gorgeous week!  xoxo cat

.: Red Letter Australia - Camille's trunk show! :.

So I had the fabulous fortune last Wednesday night to go along to Camille Roskelley's trunk show at The Quilters' and Embroiders' Store.  I can't even tell you how awesome it was - to meet Camille, her great friend Holly, and lovely Di Mill, who has coordinated and organised the whole trip for Camille and Holly.  AND it was such a great treat too, to see all Camille's quilts, and to share in the night with all the lovely quilting-ladies we met.  I went along with my friend Tracy, and met up with Kirsten, and lots of ladies from the Brisbane Modern Quilt Guild and instagram!  

All these pics - and there are many - are from my iPhone - the light's not great, some pics are blurry, but I thought I'd share them with you all the same.  

[Swoon! - and how cute is Camille's pineapple shirt!]

[Round and Round]

[Spools]

[Dwell]

[On a Whim]

[aren't the minis fabulous! They've being held up by Holly and Di]

[Red Letter Day!]

[of all the gorgeous quilts, I think this is my absolute favourite - it's made from test-blocks from lots of Camille's quilts]

[the awesome bag! - made from a friend of Camille's as a surprise]

Aren't they just all so gorgeous?!  I really should have double checked all the quilt-names and shared that with you too, but it's already taken me a week to upload the pics from my phone, and I didn't want to wait longer!

I was so excited about meeting Camille and Holly, that I thought I'd make them a little something as a pressie - and couldn't go past Kristy's fabulous koala pattern!  All the greens and the binding are Camille's fabrics, and so is the grey spot on the koala.  His ears are Pam Kitty Morning's white on white 'Recipes for Success'. 

[gah!!]

And here's a pic of the koalas by themselves.

Camille, Holly and Di are are so lovely and gorgeous, and it was an absolutely wonderful experience to meet them.  I'll be back tomorrow to share pics of all my Red Letter Day blocks and the finished quilt front! - because, yes, it's finished!   xoxo cat

Vee gets reacquainted with her sewing machine

Can't leave Cat to have all the fun now can I!?  

After 2 1/2 years of Graphic Design Studies over I now have time to get reacquainted 

with my lovely Singer sewing machine.  

Had a lovely weekend spent (nearly all of it in my jammies) 

gardening, sewing and designing.  

These two little gems have gone across to our etsy shop for as my husband says

"NOT another bloody cushion……"

…..sound familiar?

Happy Monday and have a lovely week. xxx vee

Pineapple cushion with deluxe feather insert

Priscilla Cockatoo Cushion with deluxe feather insert….yummy!

Went to the Fish and Chip shop today in my Nightie….

Yes, that's right ….went to the Fish and Chip shop today in my nightie…

Had a very fruitful Sunday today.  

Managed a sleep in, finished sewing a lovely cockatoo cushion, weeded and tidied all the gardens, washed my car (all this before 1pm) and then this afternoon designed two cushion panels for my outdoor lounge (inspiration came from weeding amongst the river rocks in my garden whilst belting out garden-style Karaoke. Dog next door. Not. Impressed.)

Oh! and did I mention that I went to the Fish and Chip shop in my nightie. 

  

Got up this morning and whilst sewing thought 'Must get dressed….did the gardens and thought 'Must get dressed'…..washed my car and thought 'Must get dressed'…..

In the meantime got SO hungry, telephoned our local chippie, jumped in my car and realised when standing at the counter that I was still in my nightie…….

Kept my sunnies on. Perhaps they will not recognise me next time.

Anyways….pretty pleased with my outdoor cushion panels. 

I'm still in my nightie and having a wine…'Must get dressed in clean nightie'

xoxo vee

Designed this panel the other day after Cat came home elated from
a sewing day with Camille and Holly

Rolling Stones…..literally whilst I was gardening today

One of my fav songs at the moment by Milky Chance - Stolen dance
(Stoned in Paradise)