Merry Christmas

We are having our first family Aussie Christmas tomorrow. It doesn't feel at all Christmassy because its summer but it should be a good one.
I've decorated a bit differently this year. Our tree is not a real one


Although we do have a real one with just white lights on our front porch.
We've decorated sparsely


Instead of asking for slippers and pjs and warm socks, we are asking for sunglasses, flip flops and sun hats.
I will miss my family but we will have fun.
Merry Christmas everyone, hope yours is wonderful xxx

Broken Arrows

Sorry I've been absent again, what with my hol and then a very difficult journey back to Oz (fill you in on that another time) I have been rubbish at getting time to blog.
Anyway I've got some really exciting news. My first published Quilt, broken arrows is in this months Quilters Companion special magazine, Modern Quilts





And here it is in use on my bed


The full pattern is in the magazine, it's so cool to see it printed. There are some amazing quilters in there too, Cathy from Cabbage Quilts is on the front cover with a gorgeous quilt and Siobhan from Bea Spoke Quilts has a lovely one in there too. I can't believe I'm in there sharing space with them.
Anyway I'm going to be a geek and go buy copies for all my family.
I have been sewing since back in Oz so will show you some bits soon, promise xxx

Texty Charms

Woohoo they are all here and ready for me to open, sort, organise and post


So this is what I will be doing for the rest of this afternoon :-)

I love the Internet

I love how the Internet brings our fab community together and its because of this that I've had such a great morning.
Through Instagram and blogging and reading blogs I came across Claire at Patch Fabrics and Leanne Fanny from The Little House Martin. They are only 30mins drive from my mums house so off we went today to meet them!




They were so lovely and welcoming and the shop was gorgeous. Leanne works in the shop and has her screen printing studio upstairs. She was so kind to show us around and give me some great tips about getting started with screen printing.
Her work is so good, she designs beautiful patterns and then prints them in gorgeous colours. I couldn't leave without buying some!




I bought 4 of her panels and she gave me the cutest little packet that she had put together for me. It has the sweetest little print, a fabric covered button and some gorgeous little squares, all printed by her. She really was the absolute sweetest! You should definitely check out her Etsy shop.
Claire was lovely too, we all stood round and had a lovely natter, there was a group sewing upstairs and it was such a happy, creative space. Claire stocks a gorgeous range of fabrics as well as some really funky other bits and pieces. I couldn't resist buying these lovely bits




To top off a lovely morning, I came home to find my PTS9 parcel waiting for me! The lovely Lara from Lara's Theme had made me the most beautiful cushion, as well as including some super cute extras.




I love it so much, love Trip round the World and she chose such a brilliant colour scheme. The back is perfect too, how cool is this fabric?




I'm feeling so lucky today, the online craft community really is pretty amazing

A little hand stitching

Well as I've yet to get the sewing machine out I thought I'd keep myself busy with a small embroidery project. I drew this rough sketch



Hopefully it will translate to fabric how I'm envisioning it in my head!
I've started but its slow work

No sewing but a bit of Shopping!

I may have ordered a few bits to arrive while I was away, to pick up when I got here, whoops!


Texty loveliness from Sew Me A Song


Pretties including Hello Kitty Liberty! from LilyMeru on Etsy


Essex Linens, Kokka and Woodgrain from Anna at Pink Castle Fabrics


I also won this lovely layer cake from the lovely Justine at Simply Solids


And I got a £25 voucher from my local LQS which I'm very excited to spend ASAP (I did have to buy a few bits in order to receive my voucher!)


Laura Gunn Painters Canvas, a Sarah Jane Panel and a charm pack of Quilt Blocks. I'm planning a baby quilt for the charm pack and something for the boys room with the panel.

Home

Yay so good to be back for a few weeks, lovely to see everyone. No sewing so far but I forgot to share this baby blanket I made for a gorgeous new baby boy my friend had before I left Oz


It was such a quick one, cutting to binding done in 24 hrs! I've never made a quilt that quickly before





I used the boat stitch on my Horizon as it fitted so well with the nautical theme


I also did some straight line quilting


And some fmq fish! Basically every type of quilting under the fun hahaha


Backed and bound with Sharks I found in Spotlight for $1 a metre!


Briefly enjoyed by Buddy before being packed up for the lovely little Obi

Sew Seasonal Blog Hop - Christmas Wreath

I was recently asked by the lovely Kirsty of Quiet Play and Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts to join in their Sew Seasonal Blog Hop and I have to say that I jumped at the chance. They have produced a range of gorgeous Christmas blocks, some for regular piecing and some paper pieced and they are currently free! As soon as I saw the wreath block I knew what I wanted to do with it and which fabric I wanted to use, so I was over the moon when Kirsty said I could indeed do the wreath block.

Now before I show you, let me just tell you that there are sponsors and prizes and you can enter to win them! Go check out Kirsty and Alyces posts for full details on how to enter and win! But put simply, you make one of their free blocks and enter it into their linky party! So simple and you get to use their great blocks for free, but hurry, after this blog hop the patterns will stop being free and will be available to buy instead

Fat Quarter Shop

Awesome Launch Day giveaways at Blossom Heart Quilts and Quiet Play - check back November 1st!

2 x $10 vouchers

Intrepid Thread

Joy by Kate Spain - full fat quarter bundle + panel

Fabric Worm

2 x $25 vouchers

Sew Lux Fabric and Gifts

1 x $25 voucher

Stash Modern Fabric

$30 gift voucher

Blossom Heart Quilts

Japanese Christmas fabric - fat eighth bundle

Quiet Play

Charm pack

Plus, are you needing some Christmas fabric supplies for the hop? Well, Chrissy from Sew Lux Fabrics has set up a special discount code on Christmas fabrics in her shop! So if you need supplies, be sure to check it out. The code is "sewseasonal10" and is for 10% off all Christmas fabric (Joy, Blitzen, and Sentiments) through November 18th. A charm pack or layer cake will work perfectly for Ornamental!

<a href=" http://blossomheartquilts.blogspot.com/2012/10/sew-seasonal-blog-hop.html" target="_blank"><img alt="Sew Seasonal Blog Hop" src=" http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8335/8099939082_c5b8b338d2_m.jpg" height="125" width="125" /></a>

So do you want to finally see what I made, its an alternative to a traditional wreath, a mini quilt for the front door!

This was so fun to make, I cant wait to make up more of the blocks. Here is a list of all the other bloggers in this blog hop if you want to check them out and join in the fun

1st November: Kristy from Quiet Play & Alyce from Blossom Heart Quilts

2nd November: TBA & Jane from Where Jane Creates

3rd November: Susan from Patchwork N Play & Kelsey from Kelsey Sews

4th November: Janice from Better Off Thread & Erin from Missy Mac Creations

5th November: Lucy from Charm About You & Rebecca from Making Rebecca Lynn

6th November: Charlotte from Lawson and Lotti & Amy from Amy's Crafty Shenanigans

7th November: Jess from the Elven Garden & Cindy from Live a Colorful Life

8th November: Elaine from Dashasel Sews & Kelly from Jeliquilts

9th November: Beth from Plum and June & Fiona from Finding Fifth

10th November: Juliet from Tartan Kiwi & Fiona from Celtic Thistle Stitches

11th November: Taryn from Pixels to Patchwork & Anorina from Samelia's Mum

12th November: Megan from Jaffa Quilts & Jane from QuiltJane 

13th November: Gemma from Pretty Bobbins

Thanks to Kirsty and Alyce for inviting me to take part

Catching Up

I seem to be permanently behind on bee blocks at the mo, but I have finally complete this block which was for July! The theme was camera related and it is for Piece Bee With You

This was totally inspired by a block by the lovely Lynne of Lilys Quilts. Sorry its so late Dorrylu!

Bloggers Quilt Festival

Well it's that time of year again and I love this festival, its so much fun seeing so many amazing quilts. So much inspiration! Thanks so much to Amy for hosting and if you're new here then thanks so much for popping by.
My entry is this baby quilt that my sis and brother in law commissioned for their new nephew. They gave me completely free rein but asked that it reflected them. Well as brother in law is a DJ and sound engineer then I immediately knew it had to be music based so I give you SoundWaves





It measures 30" by 40"
I backed it with flannelette as I'm taking it back to England next week to hand over to my sis and its the start of winter over there so I wanted it to be cosy


I was channeling Dan Rouse for this quilt, I love his unicorn stencil quilt and so I thought I'd go down the reverse appliqué route. I did a layer of HSTs, 2" finished


And then covered them with this lovely bright red. I fmq'd my design over the top and then started cutting away the red to reveal the HSTs


Hopefully it will last long past the baby years!

I will leave you with a few other recent makes in the hope of tempting you back when you've finished checking out all the other quilts











And if like me you like a piped edging then head back next week for a piping tutorial x

Pillow Talk Swap

I'm loving the pillow talk swap, I've watched a few from the sidelines but this time I knew I could make time to join in. The talent over there is amazing!
I pulled some fabrics that I thought my partner would like and I'm pretty sure that this fits their taste perfectly but I'm just not sure I like what I've made with them


Excuse my sticky out tummy!
I like the block and I like the fabrics individually but I'm just not sure about the overall thing! I think it fits my partner but I'm having such a hard time with it, maybe its because if it was for me I'd have chosen more scrappy or more neutral??? I'm just not feeling it. I'm going to try a neutral border but as its already 18" I can't go much larger!
Have you ever made a swap partner something that you're just not sure about or do you scrap it and make something you love?

A not so traditional baby quilt

This is what I'm working on at the moment (among about 100 other things!)


This baby quilt isn't going to be very traditional (its a commission) but hopefully when it's finished it will be a lot less goth. It still has a bit of work in order to transform it into my vision, fingers crossed it works

Getting ready for NayNay

Well I had my 20 week scan last week and all seems to be well thank goodness. Scans in Oz are very different to in England. I was in there for an hour, everything was looked at really thoroughly including my ovaries and kidneys! In England it only ever took about 15 mins. Not that I'm complaining, the NHS is a great service, especially when you leave the UK and realise what it's like to have to pay for everything! Any way enough about that, I'm starting to think about baby sewing for NayNay, now that is not what we will call the baby I promise but its what Lawson has decided to call the baby while its in my tummy (named after his hobby horse!)
We didn't find out the sex, it does seem that in my family you tend to just have children all of the same sex though so its probably a boy, but while I don't know I thought I'd get some girly sewing done as well as some boy stuff and then whichever lot I don't need I can put on Etsy! A genius way of finally sewing some girls things.
So I've started with a couple of quilts obviously. I wanted to do simple but pretty so a couple of + quilts have been started


Red and Aqua



Hot Pink and Lime Green

I actually have lots more important urgent sewing to do so shouldn't really be distracting myself with these! Oh well I'll just sew up the tops then put them to one side for a while, until I whittle down the WIP list a bit.