Craft & Quilt Fair x 2

I must confess, I actually started writing this blog post last week right after the fair, but didn't manage to finish it and hit 'publish' until now! I hope you enjoy this somewhat belated account of the Craft & Quilt Fair!

Last weekend I made it to the Craft and Quilt Fair not once, but twice! What a lucky girl I am. On Saturday I spent the entire day admiring the beautiful quilts, making one or two small purchases (!) and being inspired by all the talented crafty peeps at the show. I spent the day alone, but before you start to feel sorry for me you must remember that I am the mother of 3 very busy little people and time alone is an extremely rare commodity in my life. So I absolutely relished the thought of spending hours and hours, by myself, wandering through the craft fair. (I did try to make Jodie's meet, just to say hi, not realising it had been cancelled, hope you're feeling better soon Jodie).

And it certainly was a great day. I stopped to admire the beautiful free motion quilting of a very talented lady who turned out to be Kate of Kate's Sewing Centre, who invited me to sit down with her and proceeded to give me a half hour tutorial in the art of FMQ. Kate was so lovely, not to mention generous with her time and sharing her knowledge, I learned so much, thank you Kate!

I was particularly taken with this beautiful whole cloth quilt "Hearts of Love" by Wendy Arnold. I am very new to quilting, and to be honest, it had never occured to me not to have a colourful pieced quilt top. This has opened up a whole new world of ideas for me. Although this quilt is actually pieced from three pieces of white cloth, it was still referred to as a 'whole cloth quilt' by the 'quilt angel' who was chatting to me about it. It is huge, measuring 216cm x 260cm and is machine quilted.
Andi has lots more photos of the amazing quilts that were on display, including another of my favourites, Crop Circles.

On Sunday, I made it back to the Fair with the Junior Crafter and her Crafty Sidekick in tow. We met up with Karen and Liesl (with Argy and Bargy in tow) and had a wonderful afternoon wandering around the fair.  Argy and Bargy were particularly well behaved and ever so cute, despite dire forecasts to the contrary!

The Junior Crafter was very interested in purchasing some 'horse fabric', so Karen kindly took her to a stall over in the next aisle to find some. The Junior Crafter carefully perused the fabric and informed Karen that although it was lovely, she didn't think she would buy it as it wasn't great value for money. She had already purchased a fat quarter for half the price this merchant was asking for a 30cm cut, she knowingly informed Karen. (She's 8 years old, and was ever so careful with her $20 spending money!)

The girls and Argy and Bargy had a wonderful time felting at the Sewing Art Studio. The kids were able to use the Pfaff Embellisher machine to make some amazing pieces of fabric art. I love this machine, it uses no thread at all but instead has 5 needles which punch through the layers of fabric, creating a felted effect.

The Junior Crafter using the embellisher (and wearing the pinny I made her)

Bargy discovering his artistic side on the embellishing machine

I also had fun playing with fibres and free motion stitching in the Sewing Art Studio:

I'm not yet sure what I'm going to do with it, but I really like it. I think it would be nice inset into a panel on a bag, or maybe just hung on the wall in my sewing room?

Of course, the afternoon was somewhat hampered by my painful foot, but I soldiered on and eventually made it home where The Bloke Who Lives At My Place administered ice, bandages, rest and a healthy dose of medicinal chocolate. Just what the doctor ordered.

Update: xrays showed no fracture and the foot's only bothering me slightly now, thanks for all the concern lovely readers.

Sewjourn

Last weekend Liesl, Cathy, Bec, Melanie, Caitlin, day tripper Cam and I went to Sewjourn.

There was lots of sewing and making, a bit of painting, loads of wonderful food, a little wine of course, and lots and lots of talking, getting to know new friends, and catching up with wonderful creative peeps I don't get to see enough of in the real world.

Apologies in advance for the photo heavy post, but I was the (un)official photographer for the weekend.

Tinniegirl art in progress

Caitlin and some of her stunning Pippijoe fabrics

Many hands make light work - basting Liesl's quilt.

More stunning Pippijoe fabrics

Caitlin's paper flowers, an elegant addition to the dining table

My quilt, started at Sew It Together in May, still a work in progress!

Melanie's gorgeous quilt top (particularly nice sashing there Mel!)

The view from Sewjourn - what's not to love?

Thanks girls for a beautiful weekend.

My Creative Space

1 awesome quilty friend

1 oversized quilt top*

3 layers of quilt sandwich

361 basting pins

1 walking foot

1 rather large blueberry danish & a packet of Twisties

Making progress on my very first quilt? Priceless.

*I added a border. A rather large border. This quilt started out as a baby quilt. It almost fits my queen size bed. Ambitious? Deluded? You decide.

Do you know what this is?

In case you can't tell (due to the very poor picture quality) it's a walking foot. Installed in anticipation of a rather exciting crafternoon tomorrow. And despite the fact that Janome provides virtually no instructions regarding how to attach this foot to one's machine, I managed to attach it in less than 2 minutes, thanks to this excellent post which can be found at Hoppo Bumpo.

Incidentally, Liesl's post contains much better pictures of the walking foot, probably using a fancy camera with a flash instead of an iphone ...and yes, it's actually the same one, thanks for the loan Liesl!

Giveaway Winner!

The winner of my first giveaway according to random.org is Jo. Jo, drop me an email thecraftgypsy(at)iprimus(dot)com(dot)au with your postal details and a little parcel of goodies will be heading your way!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to leave wonderful suggestions to help me on my way to making my first quilt. I'm inspired by all the ideas, and will hopefully be making a decision sometime soon - I'll keep you posted.

Apologies for the tardiness of my giveaway draw, this week has seen me bravely fighting my way out from under the MOUNTAIN of washing created by our camping trip last weekend, my efforts handicapped somewhat by a teething baby (ie NO SLEEP).

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.

Busy Bee - Blogtober day 28

Firstly, a giveaway update. Thank you to all those who have entered my giveaway so far, the suggestions are great, keep them coming! I have some vintage treasures to add to the giveaway prize - I will update with pics tomorrow as I'm currently flitting around organising our camping trip Done!

If you haven't yet, click here to enter the giveaway. Please enter, I'm still looking for more quilt suggestions!

Vintage knitting patterns, crochet patterns, Vintage Simplicity tracing paper (in three colours!), and a vintage edition of Woman's Day Handicrafts magazine!

Also, due to the long weekend, I will be extending the giveaway until 11pm on 4th November AEDST. I will draw a winner on 5th November. Don't forget to mention the giveaway in your blog for an extra entry 3 extra entries!

In other news, I visited a lovely store today, Mrs Martins Quilt Shop, in Monbulk. The shop is very full, I could have wandered around there for hours (if I didn't have two little 'uns with me and a tent awaiting my attention at home), and Karen (Mrs Martin!) was the most lovely, helpful and welcoming lady you will ever meet. She immediately got out a basket of toys for Mr Jumping Bean which kept him happy whilst I looked for a new embroidery hoop. Karen was full of helpful advice, nothing was too much trouble, and the prices were very reasonable. She runs a number of classes throughout the year, including a sewing circle which I would love to join. It was great discovering this little shop today, and to know that it's not far from my home! Definitely worth a visit if you're in the area, but there is also an online shop if you are far far away.

Giveaway! Blogtober day 24

Due to the long weekend, I will be extending the giveaway until 11pm on 4th November AEDST. I will draw a winner on 5th November. Don't forget to mention the giveaway in your blog for an extra entry 3 extra entries!





I need help. If you are a regular reader then you probably know this already. However, I need your help specifically to solve a problem. And if you can help me, I'll give you a prize!

I want to make a quilt. Queen size. For my bed. I bought fabric. I am only missing one thing: a pattern.(Well, two things if you count actual quilt making experience).

Here is the fabric I bought:

It's Black and White and Red All Over by Windham Fabrics. I'm a huge fan of red stuff, and when I saw this line of fabrics I fell in love with it, ordered it, and swooned over it when it arrived at my door.

However, now I'm really concerned about finding the right pattern to make a modern looking quilt for my bed.

Originally I thought I might try a Bento Box after I saw this quilt by AmandaJean at CrazyMomQuilts.

But I think that pattern lends itself to less busy fabrics.

I'm actually really worried now that I will not be able to find a pattern I like for this fabrc. I stumbled across a quilt made from this fabric that looks way too busy and bitty for my tastes - here's an example of what I don't want .

I want something bold and modern, with big pieces or big strips. I dont want little pieces as I think with this fabric it will just look messy and bitty (see example above!).

Any suggestions?

I'll make it worth your while! To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment with a suggestion for a pattern or a style of quilt, and a link to a picture so I know what you're talking about. Sometime shortly after the end of Blogtober I will randomly draw a winner. The first part of the prize is this brand new copy of waste not want not which is full of 200 ideas for recycling, thrifting, and re-using, and has some great crafty ideas and projects as well. When we reach 10 entries I will add another prize! If the suggestions keep coming, I will add more to the bounty. I am happy to post anywhere.

As a bonus, I will give an extra mystery prize to anyone who comes up with a pattern I actually use for my quilt!

EDITED TO ADD: To get another entry 3 extra entries into the draw, mention my giveaway on your blog :) Leave a comment to let me know if you have.

Added to giveaway prize after 10 comments:

Can't wait to read some suggestions :)