Renovation Drool - The Home of Amy Butler

Look who was featured on Apartment Therapy this morning.  I love seeing how our talented fabric designers live.  What a great house, so much space and such an awesome view.  The garden is lovely but looks like hard work - those who know me (us) know I (we) am definitely not into gardening and would have to pay someone to maintain it to look like that.  Click through to Enter House Tour.

Image via Apartment Therapy

My Creative Space

So I sat in front of the TV the other night and unpicked all my rows in the quilt I started last Friday.  There was something about it I wasn't completely happy with... and after looking at my inspiration over at Cluck Cluck Sew a zillion times, I finally saw what I had done wrong.  I had pieced together the blocks completely at random but realised that there was actually a pattern to how the blocks were supposed to be pieced!  It nows looks a little less busy and more cohesive.  Taking it apart also gave me the opportunity to trim down the blocks, I thought I could get away without it but when they were sewn some of the seams idn't line up.   I have moved a couple of the blocks since taking this photo, I find looking at it on screen helps me to take it in better. Dumb hey, the real thing is sitting on the table but I need to see it on screen!!

Head over to Kirst's for more inspiration....

A new baby boy quilt

This quilt, blogged here and here and here, has been sitting on my To Do List for a couple of months now.  I finally set aside some time over the last couple of days, I was clearly over-ambitious thinking I could actually finish it in two days!!  I have still to piece together the rows of the quilt top.  I'm giving myself another week or two to get the whole thing quilted and bound and sent off to it's new home, there's a little baby boy waiting on it.  It has morphed somewhat from what I had originally planned but I'm glad I waited because some of these fabrics are recent additions to my stash which complement the original set.  I just hope it's not too busy!

House Reorganisation

Hello!

I am still here.  Just been very preoccupied with more sick children, a bit of sewing and trying to get on top of reorganising the house.  The latter is a mammoth task which involves every room in this house being decluttered and reorganised and possibly purchasing better storage.  You see, our plans to renovate have not progressed because life has been too busy.  Better organising the house is an interim solution which should make our lives a bit easier to handle (I hope).   I feel like I have finally got the headspace after 2 huge years to get in and tackle it plus Scarlett is getting old enough that we can now get rid of a lot of that baby stuff (YAY!!).

I have made a small start, and I really wanted to post about it last week, the draft post started getting really, really long and detailed so I never go around to finishing it and I think it would've made for boring reading in one hit.  I think a better approach would be to chunk the info down into several posts.  Even that seems overwhelming but I will give it a go.

In the last week we have shifted a large bookcase from Scarlett's bedroom into the lounge room, started making plans for reorganising the dining room/sewing nook, made plans for the boys' bedroom and I have been scouring our local op shops (charity shops) and eBay for a new vintage desk and sewing storage solution.  I already missed out on one piece which I will tell you about in another post.

Cleaning walls and moving furniture is calling me....

Not much creating going on around here

I was hoping to have a WIP to show you but I've been finding it hard to make time for sewing, my massive To Do List is weighing heavily on my mind so I really want to make some progress.  I was all psyched to cut into this pile of fabrics today but I woke up with a cold!  I'm still waiting on this Ingrid Slyder but I thought I would make a head start without it.  It's my first attempt at a proper softie.  I love the Neo Geo fabric (far right), it screams robot to me but it seems too much combined with the nuts & bolts.  I'm toying with the idea of making a cape out of it for our robot so that he can be a super-robot (super heroes are HUGE in our house at the moment).   Otherwise I'll just add it to the stash and wait until I'm going to make another robot.  It's also a perfect match for the Katie Jump Rope next to it.

 

I don't get sick very often and it feels like the kids have been constantly sick with something since Max started preschool this year.  The last two weeks though I've had my fair share of the illnesses and with little people to look after it's impossible to have a decent rest and with the end of daylight savings playing havoc with all our body clocks I feel like I can't get on top of it.  Anyway, life is just so hectic in our world making time for sewing is such a challenge.  I am determined though since I get so much enjoyment out of it.

Click over for others who might have more to show.

Sweet Sweetwater - Red Quilting Fabric to Love

I love the colour red!  But it's gotta be the right red, know what I mean?  My red has got to be cool, a blue-base not yellow-base.  Up until now I haven't been happy with the choice of red quilting fabric available. 

Images via: Kitchenaid, Dress, Lipstick, Toy Car, Shoes

Thanks to A Sewing Journal, I discovered Hometown by Sweetwater and am so excited that the lovely Sweetwater people have recognised a need for a great shade of red.  The rest of their range is stunning too, a lovely pale shade of blue and wonderful greys, the yellow pallete is handsome too if that's more your thing.  Not me, I'm definitely the blue, grey & red palette.

Hometown Red Fabrics

Hometown the whole range

I love this range.  It's sophisticated and not flowery and would be equally stunning for any gender.  There's also going to be some prints in canvas, I can see bags... especially the newspaper print.  This range is high on my WANT/MUST HAVE list. 

Sew It Together Sydney - A Craft Bloggers Day

Last Saturday I spent the day in a conference room at The Menzies with 50+ other craft bloggers.  It was a belated Xmas present from The Man, in lieu of a quilting course (since I have already learnt enough to get me going from online tutorials).  I haven't been part of the crafting circle for very long so I wasn't sure if I was going to be a fraud at this event since the only people I knew there were Christy & Rachel who are professionals (literally).  In fact I was quite surprised to meet people from various different skill levels. 

The highlight of the day was a Wedge Ruler workshop with Kathy Doughty from Material Obsession.  What a bundle of energy and a fountain of so much knowledge.  Since being a self-taught quilter I learnt some valuable things from Kathy, like you actually don't need to prewash your fabrics (it help's cutting straight since the fabric has a nice starchiness).   One less step in this busy household is very welcomed.  I am going to visit Material Obsession the next time I have "Day Release".  Now, on to Show & Tell...

The Showbag (AKA the freebies):

From L-R: Chasing Cottons, Clares Place, Pink Chalk Studios, Clares Craftroom,
Ric Rac, The Red Thread, Handmade Canberra, Earthgirl Fabrics

Fabrics Clockwise From top: RetroMummy, Saffron Craig and
the big generous bundle from Hawthorne Threads

 

The Name Tag Swap

I had a go at free-motion embroidery & raw edge applique

Hand-embroidered by Peta

The Group Swap

Here's my five items - sunglasses cases

View of the inside

This is what I got back! Aren't they awesome!!
Clockwise from L: Sewing pouch, Covered Notebook+IOU, Project Bag,
Toadstool Pin Cushion, Crochet Hook Roll (maker TBA)

A big thank you to all the Sponsors and Sheridan.