.: so not watching the State of Origin :.

The first State of Origin game is on tonight in Brisbane.  For those of you lucky enough not to know what that means - it's an annual series of three rugby league games played between representative teams from NSW and Queensland.  Queensland has won the series for the last eight years in a row.  So much media hype, so many endless newspaper pages devoted to it, so much air time on TV, and I just couldn't care less.  (Do I fess up now and say I'm from NSW, living in a house-hold of Queenslanders?)  And I'm not ready to commit to 'Offspring' yet - still not over Patrick dying - well, not really - so I'm ignoring all TV tonight and am online instead! 

I'm sewing up a super-sized tote bag to take along to Camille's upcoming class at TQES.  I've used two of our panels - one for each side - and a whole heap of Thimbleblossom/Bonnie+Camille fabrics, plus some other favourites - PamKittyMorning, Aunty Cookie, Umbrella Prints, Lizzy House, Prints Charming, Tula Pink, Alison Glass, Carrie Bloomston, Happy Zombie.  

Very happy with how they're looking.  And now I'm off to catch up on some Bloglovin'!  Happy not-watching-the-State-of-Origin-Wednesday to you all.  xoxo cat

.: hello sunshine! :.

Oh hi, what's been happening, how have you been, what have we missed?  We've been here all along, really, just not online much at all these last couple weeks.  

Big news to share - Brisbane finally has its very own Modern Quilt Guild!  I went along to the first meeting last Sunday, with a group of fabulous ladies, and we'll very soon be up and running and have a blog button and everything!  So very exciting.  Vee is very kindly creating the designs for our social media headers - wahooo!! 

A couple of sewn-things to share this week.  First up - Vee's cushion made from our 'hello sunshine' pineapple panel, which we've submitted to be considered for QAGOMA's upcoming Harvest/Fallen Fruit exhibition.  Doesn't it look fantastic with the pom-pom trim?  We did a bit of backyard styling this morning with the ever-handy felt-ball garlands, just to fun things up a bit. 

And here's a behind-the scenes pic!  I kept having to duck inside to grab another couple of books to prop the cushion up, and move the cushion to a safe spot each time so it didn't topple over onto the wet grass ... or dog poo - gah!!  All good though, no scary incidents to report, oh the relief.  

And now, my May blocks for Leanne, for our Care Circle of doGoodStitches.  I LOVE these blocks.  the pattern is Nested Churn Dash by the very clever + lovely Jane - who is kicking off a quilt-a-long with this block on the 1st of June.  Jane's full block is 24 inches - which is another whole churn dash beyond the biggest size here.  Leanne asked for a 16.5 inch and a 8.5 inch block.  Jane's pattern is excellent - all the cutting instructions are there, along with great sew-together graphics, so it's really quick to chain-piece and sew together.  

I had a bit of a rabbity theme going on for the middle squares ... not sure why, I just had them both handy and had to use them.  The red one is so sweet, and I just love this little green one, which I just received from the lovely Frances. 

Hope your weekend is a good one.  My oldest daughter's netball team had its first win of the season today - wahooo!! - and now it's finally time to do some quiet pottering about after a really busy week.  'til next time.  xoxo cat

Wowsers! We are now offering custom-made cushions.

Overdue we know!  

We've discriminated against those who can't be naffed sewing for long enough.

We are now offering a custom made cushion cover service using our

digitally printed panels from our etsy shop.

Some kind of wonderful?  Yep….we think so.

So here's how it goes….

ONE Choose a 45cm cushion panel design in stock from our store

TWO Add to cart and we will custom make you a zipped back cushion cover

And whilst you are waiting for your little masterpiece to arrive you can pop yourself off

down to the shops and pick up a cushion insert or two.

Easy as Bro. (said in Vee's kiwiana accent).

xoxo 

Feel Good Friday….not for Vee!

Lovely Cat is off having a 'feel good Friday'.  She has been industriously helping out at our kids' school today on the Mothers' Day stand, had a chicken burger from tuckshop and managed to get herself down to the netball courts to cheer on our daughters' team in the inter-school sports comp.

Me, however.  My kids woke up with 'sickness' pouring from both ends…eeeew,  we had no food in the house so I had to drag them off down to the supermarket for an emergency shop where they both had mini-melt downs AND promptly decided to be on their worst EVER behaviour. This comical scene was only enhanced by me 'losing my sh!t' and just when things could NOT get any better - it was all witnessed by my sister-in-law and her lovely, calm, happy 3 year old.

So, not feeling too good on Friday right about now I've decided to post our new cat and vee cushion panel sized fabric designs (which, luckily for my children, are not big enough to strangle them with!!)

Two new ranges. 

'I love to love you' which is in our etsy store right now and our 'Welcome to Crazytown' range 

which will be in store at the end of next week. 

Wahoo.

I Love to Love you. 45 cm cushion panel $20 bucks. Bargain!

I love to love you spotty cushion Panel. 45 cm. $20

I love to love you. Hugs and Kisses 45cm cushion panel. $20

Crazytown. Love you like crazy. 45cm cushion panel. Here next week.

Crazytown. Manny Hoot. 45cm cushion panel. Here next week.

Crazytown. Bear Grools. 45cm cushion panel. Here next week.

Crazytown. Teddy Fox. 45cm cushion panel. Here next week.

So to all of you lovely ladies, have a very happy mother's day on Sunday. 

My hubby asked me "what do you want for mother's day"……I replied "no husband, no kids, day to myself"……"ha" he said "what do you really want?"……I know, just kidding right??

NO menopause, no husband, no kids, day to myself!!!!

xoxo vanita

.: Finn McTrickster + Pandamonium say hi :.

Just popping in to share a couple more cushions I've made recently as pressies.  

Finn McTrickster and Pandamonium have already gone to live with the Bela Hoo cushion I made over the hols.  Fun times to be had, with a fox, panda and owl joining forces ...

[I do so love Mo Beddell's seahorses!]

That's all for now - I'm off to join the rest of my little family for our weekly 'dinner + movie night' - which is really dinner on the lounge in front of the telly, watching a movie chosen by one of us in turn.  It's my youngest's turn tonight, and she's refusing to tell us what the movie is ... oh the anticipation ... Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  xoxo cat

.: we've been sewing ... just not blogging much :.

Happy school holidays to you!  We are coming to an end of our wonderful school hols - the kids go back to school the day after Easter Monday.  We've had a very relaxing, pottering-around kind of holiday, which is exactly what we needed after a crazy-busy first term.  

It's ages since I've shared some pics of sewing - so here's what I've been making over the past few weeks.  If you follow me on instagram (I'm @hellofromcat and Vee is @hellofromvee - you can click through to our pics using the button in the right-hand sidebar) - you'll have seen all these pics before ... just so you know ... :-)

First up - a trio of Easter Bunnies, sewn from a sweet pattern by Rosalie Quinlan.  I love faffing about choosing fabrics to fussy-cut for the ears and tummies.   

Next is a birthday pressie for our friend Tracy - a pair of personalised undies, from Penny's awesome undies pattern - Penny's #sewtakeahikeundies tag on instagram is so fun to look through!  I sewed the undies into a project-sized lined drawstring bag, using In Color Order Jeni's excellent pattern. 

And now, a couple of pressies using our Bela Hoo screen-printed panels - first up, a pretty massive tote-bag for an owl-loving girl:

And last for today - a Bela Hoo cushion - I haven't made a 'boy' cushion for such a long time!

I took the cushion-pics with the cushion sitting on my ironing-board, which is oh-so-well located under this fun print, a constant reminder of my domestic Queen-dom ... if you look hard, you can even see me in the reflection in the print, but I'm not wearing my crown:

I've got even MORE sewing to share, but figure that's enough to catch you up on for one day!  I'm aiming to be back over the weekend with more pics.  Here's to a great Easter weekend, whatever it is you are doing.  We are off to church tomorrow for Good Friday, and again on Easter Sunday (we're missing tonight's Maundy Thursday service though ...).  My husband is on keyboard-and-singing duties for both services.  On Sunday we're having a family lunch, as it's also my sister's birthday.  Take care xoxo cat

.: sharing a little cushion-y love :.

Far out, the weeks are rolling by like a fast train to Crazy Town - that's not even a saying, but let's go with it.  We're back now to share a few cushions we've made recently - all to be given away as raffle prizes.

First up - cushions using our Awesome Dad and Big Hearted Girl panels, for a Father-Daughter breakfast at school.  

We added matching-y borders so the cushions will sit nicely together on a lounge - or happily apart, depending on what their new owner's cushion-y plan is.  It's always good to have a cushion-y plan, we think. 

And these gorgeous cushions are for an upcoming school-music-department fundraiser.  The musical notes are from a pattern-bundle by the very-clever Kristy - available from her Craftsy shop. 

Kristy's pattern are so fun and easy to follow. I used a mix of low-volume fabrics to surround the musical notes, and then kind-of-matching, more colourful fabrics for the outer borders.  There's a bit of a musical theme going on with some of the fabrics - mainly Amy's awesome designs from her Spoonflower shop and also her Geekly Chic line with Riley Blake (the records, mix-tapes, juke-box and the fortune cookies are all by Amy!).

I'm a little sad that all these happy cushions have walked out the door - but I'm very happy that they'll be sharing a little cat&vee cushion-y love elsewhere.  

Hope you've had a good few weeks - we've only got a couple of weeks til school hols, wahooo!  xoxo cat

Well look who's joined us

Lovely BIG new 'awesomeville' fabric panels listed in our cat and vee etsy store.  

Measuring 45cm x 45cm.  Just waiting to be framed or add your own 

Pom Pom trim for a super cute cushion.

Have a lovely Thursday.

xxxx

Big Hearted Girl

Pink Cockatoo

Sunny Fox

Hello Sunshine

.: Fathers' Day ideas :.

We are nothing if not helpful.  Fathers' Day is Sunday, 1 September here in Australia - so why not make your husband/partner/father/significant other a cushion?! - surely that's all they've ever wanted, and it's waaaaaay better than soap-on-a-rope. 

We have two panel designs to choose from - both in the shop now.  

{{just what every husband ever wanted}}

{{who needs a set of golf clubs when they can have a cushion instead?}}

{{TWO cushions for Fathers' Day?!  Score!!}}

Happy end-of-weekend to everyone.  xoxo cat

.: Mad Quilting :.

Mad Quilters was held over this past weekend, at the RNA Showgrounds (see this post for Mad Quilters and RNA links).  I had a lovely time helping out on the Patches stall with Sharon and Donna yesterday.  How fab did Sharon make it look?!

{{I probably should have moved that brown blanket for the pic ... }}

 It took me a while to notice that Sharon didn't put baby in the corner.

Bec - who is only 19!! and who works part-time at Patches - made the gorgeous 'Hopscotch' quilt up there, from the Happy Go Lucky fabric line.  The quilt is just gorgeous, and Bec won two ribbons for it  at the Brookfield Show last weekend.  I was so inspired that I bought a Happy Go Lucky jelly roll, and the Hopscotch pattern, to have a go at making it too!  

Kirsten and Jess from the AusModBee came along to Mad Quilters - it was so lovely to see Kirsten again, and to meet Jess - and very happily, they were there at the same time, so met each other too.  It's so great that more and more of us AusModBee-ers have been able to meet up in person.  

Today was all about church, jujitsu grading (wa-hooo orange belts!!) and ironing and cutting more panels, ready for me and Vee to print again tomorrow.  Check out that pile.  And the dusty looking rotary cutter, which in fact is sporting a brand new blade. 

Hope your weekend has been a fun one, and that you're gearing up for a great week.  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.

.

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. 

.

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