.: 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.

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[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