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.Back!.

It always takes me awhile to get back into the swing of things after being away.  My time in Melbourne at the Craft and Quilt Fair over the weekend was great.  I did miss the little ones back at home, but had a lovely time surrounded by fabric and other crafty goodness and I had the privilege of meeting so many wonderful women going crazy about sewing, knitting, crochet, stamping and more!  I also got to meet two of my beautiful pattern testers in real life, which was a treat – hi Karen and Rachel!! 
Thanks to everyone who came to listen to my presentations and to those of you who said hi and introduced yourself to me while I was working at Kelani 🙂
As fun as they were, I feel as though I can finally breathe a sigh of relief now that the Sydney and Melbourne Fairs are over and get back into a better routine at home and with my pattern writing.  
The minute I returned home, I packed up a heap of my samples and sent them off to Louise at the Oz Material Girls.  They are going to be helping decorate the Oz Material Girls stand at the Mad Quilters Gathering in Penrith this weekend.  If you are in Sydney, I recommend heading out to Penrith for a look.  Admission is cheap as chips and you’re bound to find something crafty to keep you happy.  The Oz Material Girls are on Stand 20 and will be selling my patterns so go along for a fun day out!
August 3, 2011
Other

.A rainbow of knits.

My desk…this is what work looks like.  Finishing up the last bits and pieces of a new pattern to send out to my testers.  It’s been a slow and steady process with lots of interruptions over the last few weeks but I’m happy to almost be there!

And while I plod along with the boring computer side of things, I keep looking to a MASSIVE rainbow of sensational knit fabrics sitting along side me.  This is my motivation to get all of the computer stuff done – cutting into this rainbow and creating a whole array of beautiful garments.  Yay!

The new pattern is using knit fabrics and is an absolute basic wardrobe staple.  I guarantee that anyone with kids to sew for will get a lot of use out of it.  The amazing fabrics on my desk are from Crafty Mamas (thanks Lisa!)  

Super cool Hilco Campan stripes below…

 And loads of my favourite Stella solids…

 I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to visualise what solids are going to look like in real life from a colour swatch online…hopefully these pics will help give you an indication of the colours and I’ll be sure to list colour names next to finished samples when they are done!

July 24, 2011
Other

.From Rob Ryan.

I was shopping with the kids a few weeks ago during school holidays when I spotted an enchanting ceramic vase in our travels.  I have been on the look out for unique items to decorate our home with…there are a few bare spots that I still need to fill but I want it to happen naturally, as I see bits and pieces that call out to me and slowly build a collection of beautiful things.

The vase…I fell in love.  It is big, a little quirky and features the artwork of Rob Ryan – an extremely talented paper cutter and print maker.  As much as I wanted to buy the vase then and there, it was a little pricey and I REALLY wanted it to come in red or green as I didn’t think that blue really went with anything in our house.  So I ummed and aahed and decided to leave it for now.

After we got home I searched online for the vase and found it on sale at Lark (sale has finished now).  I couldn’t help myself and popped it into my virtual shopping cart and made the purchase 🙂  

It has been sitting in our lounge room for a few days and makes me smile every time I look at it.  Sometimes a girl’s just gotta have a little splurge!

 If you are not familiar with Rob Ryan, check out his website and some of his paper cuts below…most of these can be purchased on his Etsy store.

 

July 20, 2011
Other

.A broken needle changes my plans.

I had great plans yesterday afternoon to settle down and work on a new pattern that I’m really excited about but haven’t found the time to get stuck into yet…only to sit down and break my one and only twin needle within 3 seconds of sewing!  Lucky for me, my husband came to the rescue and headed to town and bought me another needle – which I also broke within 3 seconds of sewing again!  
Talk about frustration!!!  
Those baby’s aren’t cheap and I was sure I’d only make the same mistake once but obviously yesterday just wasn’t my day to spend sewing on that project.  So, I’ve ordered another THREE twin needles online (saved myself a trip to the shops and surely I won’t be going through three of them in a short frame of time!) There goes my productive sewing weekend and blog post about sewing with twin needles.
So instead, I started a new project…nothing for Make It Perfect, all for fun.  But I can’t show you much more than this at the moment because it is a gift for someone special and I don’t want to be giving away too much information…lots of mellow yellows, mustards and cool greys to play with – much more fun than breaking twin needles!
July 15, 2011