chaletgirl block party mailout 4.

I posted my block picutres to flickr a little while ago.

I use flickr  but I don’t really get involved the group discussions much. It is just one of those things that I have had to say no to, to reduce my online time. I have cut back on ravelry too.

Anyway here are the blocks I made for 3 of the lovely girls as part of Chaletgirl’s block party.

for Lisa

for helen

for lara



This is one of my current favourite stash fabrics. I am really pleased that I could put a bit of it towards Lara’s quilt.

thankyou Mr Woolworths

Just for buying some Chocolate I won a new quilting bed for my sewing machine. Well … sort of.

I won a $100 woolworths gift card for entering a Cadbury promotion that I was totally unaware of.

So, I figure I put the $100 towards my next weekly grocery shop. Then that gives me $100 to spend. Are you following so far.

Then I buy myself a quilting table attachment for my machine – worth approx $100.



So a new toy just because I wanted to make some caramel slice. Not too shabby.

I haven’t even made the slice yet. Must do that tonight.  My visitors tomorrow might appreciate it.

thankyou Mr Woolworths

DSC02371.JPG

Originally uploaded by craftjunk

Just for buying some Chocolate I won a new quilting bed for my sewing machine. Well … sort of.

I won a $100 woolworths gift card for entering a Cadbury promotion that I was totally unaware of.

So, I figure I put the $100 towards my next weekly grocery shop. Then that gives me $100 to spend. Are you following so far.

Then I buy myself a quilting table attachment for my machine – worth approx $100.

So a new toy just because I wanted to make some caramel slice. Not too shabby.

I haven’t even made the slice yet. Must do that today.

BWM factory shopping

While in Melbourne I made a special effort to drive out to Bendigo just to go to the Bendigo Woollen Mills factory shop.

It took almost 2 hours to get there and the weather was shocking for driving. It was 9 degrees when we left Melbourne and almost 5 when we got to Bendigo at 10am.

It is a well laid out shop and I really would have enjoyed myself if I didn’t bring the kids with me. My little boy also thought he was in heaven walking into a room filled with squishy “balls”. So once strapped into the pram, he didn’t stop screaming to get out. And my little girl was overly helpful. So even with the distractions I managed to buy a “shitload”.

This photo is from the bargain room looking out into the main store. I was too embarrassed to get my camera out in front of the assistant.

I bought

3 balls of 5ply colonial in Brown



3 balls of 5ply classic in Smoke (for a new milobo)



1 ball of 8ply rustic cedar fleck to take my total to 4



1 ball of 8ply cotton in latte to round out my collection of BWM cotton

then 4 balls of luxury (2 pink,2 white) for my sister

1 ball of red 8ply for Alison (we must catch up for dinner soon, at least to give you this wool)

and a ball from the bargain room 8ply blue/red for my dad – cause he wants an ear flap hat.

Not too bad. 2.8kg of wool for just shy of $130. I also needed to buy a vacuum space bag to fit it all home in my suitcase.

The colonial brown and the blue/red where the only things that I managed to get from the bargain room. And they weren’t significantly cheaper. I guess like all factory outlets you have to be there at the right time.  I probably would have found and bought a lot more from in there if I had the time and the patience (sans children).





Regardless of my lack of bargains, going was a highlight of my trip. It was awesome just to see all of the wools together and compare colours and to squish the balls.

The kids ended up having a good day as I took them to an indoor play centre (Bendigo Fun Factory)  to let off some steam for a couple of hours before the drive home.

my girl … glasses!!

My little girl turned 4 not so long ago. Turning 4 means a visit to the GP for a check up and some more immunisations. The needles went fine and the drama wasn’t from the needle itself but having to wear band-aids – she hates them.

The other problem of the morning was that she didn’t do so well in the eye test. It was pretty rough test and just highlighted that there may be a problem.

So off to the optometrist to find out that she is longsighted – more so in her right eye.

I was a little shocked by it all and took a while for it to sink in. My little girl needs glasses!!!

She has to wear them full time at the moment and after a month or so start eye patching the good eye to strengthen the weaker one. I remember thornberry going through the same thing with her little girl.

She complains about wearing them and we struggle to keep them on for most of the day. Yesterday I asked her to put them and her response was ” I’m too busy right now”.

She has two sets and now prefers her more simpler wire frame pair (that I picked). The other set (pic below) was chosen because they were pink and had bows on them – and would you believe Disney princess branded. I think they make her look grandma’ish.

i heart melbourne

I have been hiding away, busy with work and family and not much crafting.

Last week the kids and I went to Melbourne for a week to have some much needed family time.

We did all of the touristy things and I got the chance to catch up with a couple of old friends and spend some time with my Husband.

Victoria markets was fun and we came home with a bumble bee and a dragon. Both of which now have UGG boots.



Time in Melbourne for a little boy is just the best thing ever. One day was just spent with a met card catching trams and trains in and around the city.

While there we visited St Kilda sampling some yummy cakes on Acland Street and then a few rides at Luna Park.

We also spent a day at the snow at Lake Mountain

and went to the Melbourne Zoo. It was fantastic and probably one of the best zoos that I have been too.

I won’t say that I am glad to be home. I loved it down there and could have stayed a lot longer.

sheets galore

My very large package of vintage sheet fat quarters arrived this week. They are just fantastic.

Chaletgirl did a fantastic job of organising and sorting. I also know that she went above and beyond what was required in organsing this swap.  I am sure that every single person that was involved appreciates it. Thanks Sheridan “You’re tops!!”



Just like yarnplanner I spent ages organising them into different bundles, by colour … by print. And when put with my own little treasures it has turned into a great little collection.

Blues/greens,

browns/yellows,

pinks/purples.

Now – what do I do with them all?

done the next lot

I wasn’t going to do anything else tonight until I finished mailout 3 for Chaletgirls block party. OK, so it is only 9pm, but it is almost my bedtime …. and I am finding it hard to tear myself away from my new Lee Child novel – Gone Tomorrow.

I had lots of fun this round.

I have met Bianca before and when I got her fabric I knew I could use some of my fun scraps.



And finding matches for Bekkas fabric in my stash was a dream.

I am really enjoying this little swap.

free motion machine quilting workshop

I have been stalking Kim Bradley trying to do one of her classes. Luckly I managed to get into a free motion workshop at Patches of Indoorpilly.

It was a pretty full on day. And it was a little shock to the system, I was absolutely stuffed by the end of the day. Basically Kim would show us a design on a white board, we would draw it on paper – then she would say – now quilt it. Then we would move on to the next pattern.

I used brown thread on the top and blue on the bobbin, just so I could make sure tension was right.




It was really not that diffiuclt to get a hang of – though it was a little imtidating. The only way to learn is to keep practicing. I was definitely improving as the day went on.



I made 12 quilt sandwiches for the class and got through about half of them. But they are sitting by my machine ready to grab when I have 10 minutes to spare to practice.

I also noted that out of all the patterns that we did learn, stippling was not one of them. When I asked about it I was told that it is quite difficult to master as a beginner and there are a lot of other patterns that are just as suitable.

sewing elephants

My little boy’s favourite Disney movie has been Dumbo for quite a while.

So I recently set about finding some elephant patterns.

I started with the Audrey and Maude Edward pattern and some fabric from Amite that I picked up at the latest Brisbane Creative Living craft fair.

He turned out very cute. Susie played a big role in the fabric choice.



But even before I made him, I ran into Pauline from Funky Friends Factory (at the craft show too). Now I have made a heap of her patterns. And all of them have been great.  I still have a few more dinosaurs to make that have been on the “to do” list for years.



So I got one of her elephant patterns – Ellie. Ellie was going to be perfect for my little boy.

So Edward turned into Ella and is now owned by my little girl.

The thing that I like about the funky friends factory toys is that they are designed to be made with polar fleece. It is such a forgiving fabric and I am always happy with the results.

This is “elphun”.

He is so soft and cuddly.
I won’t say that he was difficult to make, but I think that having a basic idea about toy construction definitely helps.

So this was my evening/afternoon of sewing elephants.