.: We Are Family + a sale! :.

Just popping in to share our latest panel design - the super gorgeous We Are Family penguin sisters that Vee designed to enter into a recent Spoonflower competition.

The twill-cotton panels arrived in the mail today and they are sliced up and ready in the shop now.

And while you're in the shop - all our 2014 panels (except for two!) are on sale til 27 February - so click through, look for 'SALE FABRIC PANEL' in the item listings and pop a bargain in your cart!  We haven't created a separate 'sale' tab, since nearly all our panels are on sale - and we thought it would leave the full-priced Penguin sisters, Priscilla and Finn a little lonely! :-)

We're nearly to the weekend - hope yours is a happy one.  xoxo cat

.: sewtakeahikeundies-a-thon :

The very lovely + talented Penny from Sewtakeahike shared her undies pattern with us all.  There have been so many fun + funny undies popping up everywhere - if you are on instagram, take a look at #sewtakeahikeundies.

I copied the undies-template into a couple different sizes, then made little plastic templates so I could work out some fun fussy-cuts for all my undies.  Originally, I was going to make some zip-pouches for travelling, but then I decided I wanted to sew all the undies into just a couple of bags which I can use more often ... oh, the possibilities ... 

Once again, I turned to Jeni's fabulous lined-drawstring-bag tutorial.  I've made two undies-bags for me - one with two undies, and one with four.  Let the undies-a-thon begin.

['hairstyle lady' is from "Good Intentions" by Cerigwen on Spoonflower]

['daily reminder undies' are also from 'Good Intentions']

[undies for those bah humbug! days ... wish I had more of this fabric, it was a scrap-pressie from someone, I just can't remember who!]

[I LOVE this cat!  So wish I'd bought more of this fabric]

[for those days where you are feeling secretly superior ... ]

[time to spruce up ... ]

And here are way too many pics of the bags ... I followed Jeni's instructions, except for a specific size - I sewed a 'front piece' and then worked out my lining measurements based on that. 

[mug + pencils for size-reference ... how much are you loving the Kate Spade mug ... yep, me too]

[the lining for this one is a gorgeous Tula Pink, and the drawstrings are fab Prints Charming for Spotlight]

[the back - Violet Craft Waterfront Park on top, Denyse Schmidt Chicopee on the bottom - love them both] 

[my favourite Prints Charming lime green starbursts for the lining, and Tula Pink for the drawstrings]

I don't even think my undies-obsession is over ... I have the templates stashed away ready to make some more, once I've ticked a few other things off my to-do list.  Hope you all have a very happy weekend.  xoxo cat

.: a coupla pressies to share :.

A couple of pressies to share with you today.

First up, a library bag (+ books!) for Vee's gorgeous son, whose birthday is next week.  I KNOW that a library bag + books are not the most exciting of pressies for a small boy, but we figure the baby-Star Wars fabric + the lovely time to be had reading the books together, will make up for it ... hmmmm ....  yep, no bright lights, loud noises, or Skylandery type gear going on here. 

Here's a close-up of the fab fabric - click here if you would like to click through and buy some for yourself.  It comes in blue and pink colourways too! 

And next - and last - it's not like it's been a pressie-making-frenzy around here, there's just the two - a project-sized lined drawstring bag, from the excellent pattern by Jeni from In Color Order. 

This is for my sister-in-law, who is a fairly recent knitter - she took a series of classes, and then took off like a rocket.  She doesn't crochet, so I thought that using the crochet-square fabric from Spotlight would be kind of funny.  The blue fabric is Lizzy House's pearl bracelets, and the pink drawstrings are from the fabulous Prints Charming collection for Spotlight.  

And the lining is a Suzuko Koseki print.  The wool is just for the photos - the bag is such a great size, it comfortably holds 5, 6, 7 balls of wool.  Plus, I guess, knitting needles, or crochet-hooks, and other woolly-project needs ... all of which shall forever remain a mystery to me. 

That's it from me for the weekend.  Gosh the weekends seem even more precious, now that our oldest has started high school.  Life is so much busier and crazier during the week, so each weekend provides some greatly needed down-time for all of us.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend too.  xoxo cat

.: show time for the home-ies :.

The lovely Elissa from Kelani Fabric Obsession is taking our home-ies panels, as well as our Step Aside Coffee panel, to the Craft and Quilt Fair in Sydney and Melbourne. 

Vee and I have been busy printing, packaging and sewing up sample cushions - and we are headed to the post office tomorrow to send it all to Sydney for the show (it's on 12 - 16 June). 

I wanted to take some pics of the cushions all together before they fly south - so I drove to Pillow Talk this morning - waited 20 minutes for it to open (I did have a takeaway coffee and instagram to distract me) - to buy a few size 18 cushion inserts.

Shame that Pillow Talk didn't have any size 18 cushion inserts.  Lucky that I had one at home.  So instead of a couple of pics showing you all the cushions ... start scrolling for 11 pics ... yes, 11 ... 

{{Priscilla, Queen of the 'Burbs - black on flax}}

{{Step Aside Coffee, loving the pom pom trim}}

{{Bela Hoo, purple on flax}}

{{Millie Mischief, blue on flax}}

{{Millie Mischief, pink on white}}

{{Finn McTrickster - our new colourway, red on flax}}

{{Finn McTrickster, orange on white}}

{{Pipsqueak, red on white}}

{{Lisey Meow Meow, blue on white}}

{{Bela Hoo, navy on white}}

{{Pipsqueak, red on flax}}

And here they are - dodgy night time lighting and a little blurry - all packed and ready to post.  Vee has all the panels at her house - she has been on a packaging frenzy.

Very happy to be sending a rather hefty package off tomorrow - and hope that Elissa and all the stall holders (and shoppers!) have an awesome few days at the Fair.     xoxo cat

.: Mad Quilters :.

{{my favourite folded panel}}

So it's been a little quiet on the blog-front these last few days.

Vee and I have been printing, ironing, cutting, folding, stickering (are you loving our new stickers?) and packaging.

This morning, we dropped off all these panels to the lovely Sharon and Jenny at Patches, ready for their trip into Mad Quilters tomorrow afternoon.

Mad Quilters is on at the RNA showgrounds this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  I will be there on Saturday, helping out on the Patches stall - so please stop by and say hello if are Mad Quilting. 

Time to catch up on some sewing.  Hope your week has been a good one.  xoxo cat

.: pack your bags :.

As luck would have it, Vee and I live only one street apart.

Close enough to trot back and forth between houses when it's time to screen print, to discuss and share design + sewing ideas over a coffee, to race around and pick up or drop off packages for the post office, to share the school run, and of course .... .... ....  for champagne + playdates.  Champagne for us, playdate for the kids.

With all this trotting and visiting, a bag comes in handy, since there is always stuff to carry - swimmers + towels, printed panels, sewn-goodies, magazines, toys, books, left-behind-toys-and-books and, often, happily, champagne and snacks.

It's not like we're lacking in bags.  But here's another for a bit of fun.

As you can see, it's handily big enough for at least two bottles of wine and a bag of popcorn (mental note ... work on having fancier props in the pantry).  

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The front panel is one of our designs and is in our shop now.  The back and straps are an Echino print, and the lining is a cute Heather Ross / Crafty Chloe print.  And for complete disclosure, the wine is Oyster Bay sav blanc, and the sweet and salty popcorn is a Woolies homebrand.   Just so you know. 

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Packed and ready to trot.      xoxo cat

.: 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

:: Spoonflower contest!! ::

{{no crackers for me, thanks}}

Just popping in to share that Vee has entered Hello Gorgeous into Spoonflower's weekly fabric contest!! 

We would love it if you would pop across to Spoonflower and vote for Vee's fabulous Hello Gorgeous design.

It's a really straightforward process - click to go to Spoonflower's home page. Then click on the 'connect' tab and then the 'weekly contest' hyperlink.  Once you're on the weekly contest page, you click on the 'Australian Animals' link.

To vote, you just click on each design that you like {or only Hello Gorgeous, if you want to ;-) }.  In the Australian Animals contest, there are 11 pages of designs, so just click through all the pages and designs, voting as you go.  At the bottom of the last page, you write in the verifying text, and that's it.  A box saying something like 'I'm done voting' will come up, so you click that too.  

That's it - super easy - you don't have to enter in an email address or register with Spoonflower or anything like that.  

Thanks so much, fingers crossed!!        xoxo cat