.: Bloggers' Quilt Festival - True North Mini :.

Amy Ellis is very kindly spreading the virtual quilting love once again, by hosting the first of her two annual online quilt festivals.  It's just been Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis, and so Amy's Creative Side Bloggers' Quilt Festival has been running all week, so that we can all celebrate quilting everywhere, not just in Minneapolis! - super lucky for me, since Brisbane and Minneapolis are thousands of kilometres apart, plus a very long time on a couple of planes.

I'm entering my True North mini into the Mini Quilts category.  The patten is by Peta from She Quilts a Lot - there's a full-size version in Peta's shop as well.  There are some gorgeous True North quilts on instagram, if you take a look through #truenorthquilt.

My mini has mix of gorgeous Moda fabrics from fat-quarter bundles.  I normally sew much more scrappily - so it was a different experience to sew from just three different fabric lines.  I think the world may stop turning if I ever sewed from just one!

The fussy-cut animals and all the blues are from Urban Chiks' Nomad.  The citron yellows are from Amy Ellis' Chic Neutrals, and the backgrounds are from Modern Background - Paper by Zen Chic.  I think they all play really well together, and I absolutely love how my mini has turned out.

The quilting is my very favourite organic lines - it's my all-time quilting favourite because by adding 'organic' to 'lines', there can be no mistakes ever!

Peta has written a great pattern, it sews together really quickly.  I love the nifty little faux nine-patches for the star corners.

The Nomad animals are so sweet - I think it's my favourite print in the range - though I also love the navy flowers and the pale blue feathers in the pic below.

For the back, I've used a favourite print from Moda - Erin Michael's Lush Uptown - have you seen Erin's new line Purebred, which was released at Quilt Market over the weekend? Love it already.

This little mini is headed to my little desk in the corner, to be a mat for my laptop.  It measures 18" x 18", so it's the perfect size.

Happy Spring Bloggers' Festival everyone.  There are some really gorgeous entries already, please go check them out over a cup of tea.  Have a great day.  xoxo cat

.: Craft for the Soul :.

When you write a blog that pretty much includes only sewing + other makery-related goodness, the blog can be a little desolate and tumble-weedy when you don't have much time to sew.

So - I thought I'd share a little book-review with you - I've toyed with the idea of crafty-book reviews in the past, but have never put the dream into action (did that make you think of Howard Jones' song from the 80s? - did I just show my age there? - click here for a look-see - and also click here if you'd rather see my favourite Howard song, 'Life in One Day').

OK enough of Howard, let's talk about the wonderful Pip Lincolne's 'Craft for the Soul'!

I knew I'd buy Pip's new book as soon as I could - I have all her other books and love them - and in fact, it was Pip's first book, "Meet Me at Mike's" that was one of the things to start me off on my crafty path. 

This 'Craft for the Soul' book however is a little different - I was hunting for it in the Craft section at my local bookstore, but it was actually in their Motivation section! - I thought 'huh, interesting, what's it doing there'.  But now that I have read it cover to cover, I can tell you that it totally belongs in both Craft and Motivation sections - and there are some great recipes as well (so maybe there should also be a few copies in the Food section too).

I've been in a bit of a creative doldrums these past few months - perhaps the wonderful high of QuiltCon has sent me veering off track a little and I've been having trouble finding my feet and making plans - there's so very much I would like to make and do, but I have trouble prioritising time for it while the rest of life bubbles away and rolls on.

Pip's book has helped me turn the corner at last, it really has.  She talks about setting goals, making time to exercise, doing new stuff, getting ideas, writing your own mission statement, being yourself and lots of other inspiring and also practical things that really make so much sense.  

Pip gives great practical suggestions for working out what's holding you back in your creative life, and also for moving onwards in your own awesome way - I don't want to quote any bits of the book as I haven't asked Pip's permission to do that - but I promise you, it's such a positive, helpful, inspiring read, PLUS it has recipes and crafty things - so please pop to your local bookstore and check the Motivation and Craft sections (and maybe even Food too) to see if they have it.  Our local shop sold out, so had to order more in, wahoo!

Thanks Pip, for writing such a wonderful book that encompasses so many important things.  You are the best.

And in Mothers' Day news, I thought I'd sign off with a pic of Ted enjoying our Mothers' Day picnic in the backyard.  Hope you have all had a lovely Mothers' Day and weekend, and are looking forward to a fun week.

xoxo cat