.: My QuiltCon finish! - the Love Machine Sewing Organiser :.

So I went to QuiltCon last month - there are five posts in our March archives if you'd like to go take a look.  :-) There's one last post I've still to write - about all the people I met - I have high hopes for that to happen during the school hols.

But for today! - today, with much excitement, I'm sharing the Sewing Machine Organiser I started during Penny Layman's wonderful workshop - the only workshop I took while in Austin.

How fun is it!?  I had such trouble choosing fabrics for it - since I had to choose them and actually commit to them, then pack them in my suitcase and stay committed to them!  Usually when I'm sewing, I'm constantly back and forth to my fabric cupboard, swapping and changing as I keep thinking of 'just the right fabric'.  But - I wouldn't have changed a single fabric for my organiser, I can't tell you how much I love love love it!

I'm calling it the 'Love Machine' - since I've used Amy's 'Letters of L-O-V-E' fabric for the machine itself.  The pink is a Timeless Treasures sketch, and the grey is from Emma Jean Jansen's 'Terra Australis'.  The orange and white control panels are from Carolyn Friedlander's 'Botanics'.  The background is Pam Kitty Morning's white on white 'Picnic'. And the spool?

The spool would be a fussy-cut from Monica Solorio-Snow's 'Sew Yummy' - I took a big piece with me, so I could fussy-cut just the right spool.  I met fabulous Monica in the lift at our hotel in Austin, and saw her a few times at QuiltCon - and so wish I had more time to talk with her and take a pic too, but it didn't happen!

The pockets are Aunty Cookie - I am going to be so very sad when my stash of Aunty Cookie finally runs out!  Penny's pattern calls for a 'scissor plaque', where I've instead made a little pocket for teeny things (with the Clover clip up there) - and I also didn't do the sweet sashiko-stitching to label all the little pockets - but I figured the busyness of the Cookies meant I didn't need to do any extra stitching.  The little scissor-strip is Prints Charming - a print I picked up from Danielle in a destash.   The binding is also Prints Charming - lime starburst - and the blue/white background is a Lu Summers cross-hatch from her 'Summersville' line with Moda.

For the back I used a selvedge print from Spotlight.

Here is Penny's organiser from her book - she had it hanging in the class, and it was awesome to see it in person.

And here is Penny's book - it's truly wonderful- there are so many cute and fun projects in it.

And oh! - here are me and Penny!  I can't tell you what a treat it was to meet Penny. I've long admired her paper-piecing patterns and blog, and through our little chats on instagram and email, thought she seemed like a really lovely person.  Well, let me tell you, she's absolutely gorgeous in person - it was such a huge treat to met her and get to chat with her a bit.  Her husband Lenny was at QuiltCon too, so it was lovely to meet him too.

Looking at that photo makes me a little teary, as it reminds me of just how amazing QuiltCon was.  It also reminds me that I was sewing that sewing-machine block right up til the very last second of the workshop - I was so determined to get it finished!  Penny's class was really awesome - she is a fantastic teacher and made sure each person knew what they were doing and stayed on track - there were a few ladies who had never paper-pieced before, and I think each of them finished their sewing-machine block during the class - amazing!  Here's a pic of our class (that I took from Penny's blog post).

It was so fun.  Hope you all have a great 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

.: ho ho ho pressies :.

You may have noticed our new blog-look - all thanks to the magic-ery of Vee.  There's more to come, once Vee has finished her graphic-design course and can carve out a little more creative time.  Did you love the awesomeness of her program design for our recent school graduation?

After a prolonged blog-absence on my part, I'm popping in to share a few pressies I've made and given recently.

First up - a fun cushion featuring the awesome Tula Pink raccoons and Melody Miller telephone - it's actually an enormous x+ block, but you can't see it too clearly in the pics. 

And next - my first ever make from Pinterest!  I pinned this fab little tutorial by Erin from Dog Under My Desk months ago, and finally sewed one up for a friend's birthday - a little circle zip pouch to hold ear-buds for the gym!  I want to make one for me too ... though I need to increase my time-spent-at-the-gym first ... 

And now a little pixelated heart mini quilt - made for a wedding pressie - a mix of fun fabrics for the heart, and sweet low volumes for the background.  And the gorgeous Violet Craft breeze print on the back. 

Ted's always lurking out of frame for pretty much every pic I take, so every now and then I make sure to snap one of him.  It's pretty hard to get him to look at the camera - the secret trick is to say "are you hungry?" - works every time. 

Last one for today - little tote bags made for my oldest daughter's two buddies.  My oldest has just finished primary school.  At the start of grade 7, they are paired up with a buddy or two from grade 1.  Ruby was her buddy right from the start, and then Isla came into the buddy-hood when her grade 7 buddy changed schools half-way through the year. 

The sweet 'Ruby Ruby Ruby' panel is by Karen of Blueberry Park - I saw it on instagram, and Karen very kindly printed one up for me to use. 

The cute Queen stamps are from Spotlight, and the zebras are a Michael Miller print, I think.

I'm hoping to share some more projects in the next few days, before taking an actual, planned blogging-break for a couple of weeks.  Hope all your Christmas plans are coming together nicely.  'til next time, cat xoxo

.: Liberty Love pincushion, some cute coasters + a little blog-holiday :.

My love of Liberty fabric is well and truly up and running.  Unsurprisingly, I hadn't put away my little Liberty pile after finishing my spools mini-quilt - so I thought I'd whip up the log-cabin pincushion, as a second project from the fabulous Liberty Love by Alexia Marcelle Abegg. 

My original plan was to use mini-black-pom-poms for the trim - but I didn't have enough, and of course couldn't possibly wait to order/track down any more - so I thought I'd push out the colour-boat-to-crazy and use four different colours of not-mini pom-pom trim.  I was a little worried the pom-poms would detract from the gorgeous fabrics, but I love the whole chaos-of-colour effect that's going on.  And I haven't even added any pins to it yet! 

For the bottom, I used a gorgeous PamKittyMorning fabric from the box-of-gorgeous - I only realised how fluff-covered the fabric is once the photo uploaded, sorry.  My sewing-space is pretty chaotic, so there's plenty of fluff'n'threads everywhere - notice how all the pics I've taken lately are super-close-up ... hmmm, there's a reason for that.  

Love the fabric.  Love the pom-poms.  Love the pincushion.  Love the book.  It's a quadruple-win.

And next - I whipped up a set of coasters for a quick pressie - they're not quite all the same size, but they're all very sweet!  The centre fabric is a very cute one - but I can't remember exactly what it is.  All the borders are Denyse Schmidt, except for the orange Violet Craft/Madrona Road sprouts and the orange 'xoxo', which I think is Anna Maria Horner. 

It's the last day of term 3 tomorrow here in Queensland.  Free dress day, a spot of school work and 'Despicable Me 2' for my youngest and Vee's oldest - they're in the same class.  Free dress day, a spot of school work and no movie for my oldest and Vee's youngest ... though I'm sure there'll be plenty of last-day fun going on.  

We'll take a little blog-break over the school hols - but please don't forget our Etsy shop giveaway - details here.   Hope your week has been a good one.  See you soon.  cat xoxo

.: giveaway countdown - post #198 :.

So somehow Vee and I have made it to 198 posts.  Which means that after post #199 tomorrow, we will hit post #200! 

Crazy times, I know. 

To celebrate, we thought we'd do a little giveway.  And here is the giveaway-goodie.

Oh yes indeed, I have sewn up another Prettified Pincushion from Ayumi's fabulous book, Patchwork Please!  (that link is to Booktopia Australia - Ayumi's book is of course available elsewhere online ... and in good bookshops). 

The pincushion top features Heather Ross fussy-cut peg-doll girls from her Macaroni Love Story line (which I think I bought when it was available on Spoonflower), and also teeny Heather Ross gnomes, which are from a little scrap that lovely Amber from OneShabbyChick included in a package, when I bought something from her lovely shop a while ago. 

The fab orange/pink/yellow checks are by the gorgeous Cam from Curly Pops.

And the yellow button is a vintage one I found in the button tin.  

Around the sides are the fabulous glasses on purple from the new Riley Blake Geekly Chic line - these glasses are Dorothy Tsang's design (our gorgeous friend Amy from PennyCandy designed the fab records and mixtapes, which are part of Geekly Chic).

And I really need to find out who designed this fab word print that I love so much - I only have a small piece with no selvedge. 

Next up are some cute pink spots - again, from a lovely scrap with no selvedge. 

And last - with a slightly sunburned glow to the photo - is I think Denyse Schmidt.  If you know any of the fabric details I've missed out, please let me know via comment.

To complete the photo-a-thon, the bottom of the pincushion is Essex linen in flax, with a cute button from the button tin. 

And so - for your chance to win this super-sweet pincushion, sewn by me (and please do remember I am not an expert-sewist) - you have three different ways to be in the running.  

Vee and I are really interested to know how people find us - whether it's here via the blog (or Bloglovin'), on Facebook, or on instagram.  We love instagram like crazy but are only slowly coming to grips with Facebook, and we still have so much to learn about good blogging. 

So either (or do them all!):

1. leave a comment on this post #198, or yet to be posted #199 and #200 - and tell us how you found us.

2. 'like' us on Facebook - our page is here - we are cat & vee.   I have never in my life typed those words before.  And no, we do not have a Facebook button here on the blog, because we haven't figured out how to do that yet .... 

3. comment on the instagram pics I'll post of the pincushion (I am @hellofromcat).

We're aiming to upload post #200 by the end of this weekend, so the giveaway will close midnight, Australian EST on Sunday 5 May.  We'll announce the winner on Monday, 6 May.  If we get lots of comments and 'likes', we will grab some panels from the shop and choose some more lucky ducks.  

When I say 'choose' - I should make clear - winner/s will be chosen totally at random - I'm going to write down everyone's name on slips of paper, and where they commented (here, instagram or FB - just for our own interest's sake), put them into a big salad bowl, and get the girls to draw one name out of the bowl.

As simple, and embarrassingly basic, as that.  

Good luck!  Let the comments ... and 'likes' (oh I struggle with the neediness of social media language!) begin!!  Happy Thursday.     xoxo cat  

.: Patchwork Please :.

How was your weekend?  Brisbane has been just beautiful these last few days - anyone who snuck away for an ANZAC Day long weekend was in luck - gorgeous blue skies and the perfect temperature.    My favourite time of year.

I have been quite obsessed these last few days, with flicking endlessly through the fabulous Patchwork Please by Ayumi Takahashi.  I've mentioned in an earlier post, my long-time love of Ayumi's projects and ideas.

So I really wanted to actually make something from the book, from start to finish.  And the Prettified Pincushion was the smallest, quickest thing - so here we go.  

I had a fussy-cut-a-thon with the gorgeous Pam Kitty Morning button-card fabric, and then figured I'd cut into even more of my 'precious stash' - so out came the gorgeous Leanne Fanny handprinted fabric.  

 And then for the sides - more of the good stuff.  First of Infinity ... and ...

 ... I'm actually not sure who this print is from but I love it ... I only have a few precious scraps left ...

 ... and a Suzuko Koseki print ...

 ... and some Yuwa Live Life.  So wish I'd snipped off that bit of fluff before I took the photo.  By the time I saw it on my computer screen, there was no way I was back-tracking and taking more pics.

The gorgeous pink flowers on the button are another Leanne Fanny print.  And here comes a true confession. 

Covering buttons is NOT part of my crafty-skill-set.  It took me an age to put the button together.  An absolute age.  It kept popping apart, or I'd hammer the back down (using the handles of a pair of scissors ... there's probably something more appropriate I could have used) only to find it was skewed to the side and I'd have to pry it off and start again.  Anyway - finally got the button sorted, and then the top popped off while I was sewing it onto the pin cushion.  Hello hot glue gun.  

And a little tip - because I do love a fussy-cut - I made little template-plastic templates for the quadrant pieces on the top of the pincushion, and also for the sides.

OK.  I'm off to check for hot glue strands.   Enjoy the rest of your Monday.  xoxo cat