Christmas present No 3 - ribbon hair clips

My daughter Miss J is a very girly girl and lives wearing clips in her hair. So I decided to make her an assortment of clips with bows on them. I got the basic instructions from a website called theribbonretreat.com which had a great number of FREE tutorials. And I got the hair clips from jackobindi.com.au which has a great range of findings. And here they are.... Hope she likes them!!
Cheers Janeene

Christmas presents No 2 - key fobs

As I have said in a previous post, I love making handmade Christmas presents. So I decided to use some more of my scraps and make some key fobs.... They were very easy to make. I promise I will put the tutorial together... I have already given away some to the girls I work with at My Patch at our Christmas party..... They love them... Phew I must admit it is always a bit stressful giving sewn presents to fellow sewers ...
Cheers Janeene

Christmas presents No 1 - fabric pot holders

I have always made Christmas presents for friends and family since I can remember. This year I have been very productive and quite proud of myself.
So over the next few days I will show you what I have made.
For two of my close friends Rachel and Val we have exchanged sewn presents for each other.
I found this pattern out of the book "Zakka Style" I just love the whole linen / fabric thing. So I made three sets of these funky pot holders. It's a great way to use your scraps. And I machine quilted the phrase "love eat live" in the middle. Hope they like them. He he I also made a set for me, I just couldn't resist them!!

PS025 my fabric flower - free pattern

I made a pattern for a fabric flower to use on "my little handbag" pattern... I thought it needed something extra.... I love it... and now I have made them for my daughter Miss J for headbands, hair clips... and for presents for Christmas.... but dont tell her!!!

Click here and you go to my website where you can download my free PDF flower pattern. Hope you like it as much as I do... It is very easy to make... and once you make one you can make ten.

 

PS020 my kimono girls quilt

At the Melbourne AQM I showcased 3 new quilt patterns that I had been working hard on. I wanted to share one of them with you..... PS020 my kimono girls quilt.
I love oriental fabrics and over the years have made a number of quilts and projects using them. I love the colours and vibrancy of the fabric. So of course it was a no brainer to make a quilt using oriental fabrics. Although the pattern does lend itself to any fabrics you wish to substitute.

There are three panels to my kimono girls the first panel is the appliqued kimono girls, with different kimonos and hair. The girls are large so it makes them easy to put together ie.. no fiddly pieces. It also allows you to see your beautiful fabric. I do think they a very cute, I hope you like them too. They are appliqued using fast to fuse techniques and machine blanket stitched but you could zigzag on your sewing machine or if you like you could hand blanket stitch. I have included how to do this in the pattern for this quilt.

The top panel is a pieced panel using gold oriental fabric in different tones from light to dark. I have then appliqued a cherry blossom branch and flowers in this pieced section. The branch is machine appliqued and very easy to do.

The bottom panel is a pieced panel, again using different oriental fabrics and with the flower blossoms floating through the panel.

Finally a put a gold border around the outside to frame the quilt. I really enjoyed designing and making this quilt I hope you do too.

cheers
Janeene

 

The winner of free patterns at the AQM

If you attended my stand at the AQM in Melbourne on the weekend I had a draw for customers to win five FREE patterns.

And the winner is...

Congratulations the girls from Patchwork on Pallas I will contact you shortly...

Cheers Janeene

Passionately Sewn at the Melbourne AQM

Who would think six months ago that I would be at my first Australian Quilt Market on the 24th & 25th of November? I have just returned from the AQM which is a trade show for wholesale businesses to sell their wares to quilt shops etc. I decided to attend the market in hopes to market and sell my patterns. My main aim was to get there, look professional and if I was lucky sell a few patterns. Here are some before and after pictures of my booth. My good friends Rachel and Val came to help me which was absolute fantastic.
And do you know what the best news is, I almost sold out of my patterns and had heaps of positive feedback. It was fantastic!!!! Thanks to all those people and shops who purchased my patterns your support is appreciated!!!
Cheers Janeene

My Booth at the AQM

Here we are at the AQM.. dont you love the vests!!!

At the end of the show.... this is what I had left. Thankyou to all who purchased my patterns!!

I love Marimekko fabric

I happen to be going to Sydney Sydney and stubbled across that there was a Marimekko store there which had opened at the beginning of November. I love the bright colours of the fabric and I couldn't resist but to buy some... Here are some picks of the store

PS010 - My Owl Quilt

My owl quilt, is the first quilt I have designed and marketed, as part of my designing enterprise of "Passionately Sewn". I just wanted to tell you a little bit about it.

My Owl Quilt

Val, from My Patch version

 My owl quilt, features a large panel of an owl family and an applique tree. This delightful single bed sized quilt, will delight anyone small or tall who loves owls, by changing the colours you can make this quilt for a bor or girl. Or you could make your family of owls into a wonderful wall hanging. It is a great project for the beginner crafter, or one that is be perfect for those with more experience too. The pieces are large and easy to piece together using fast to fuse applique methods.

I quilted allover the background with a swirl pattern

I quilted down the border in a easy feather.

The pattern is in full colour and provides step by step instructions. A technique section is also included to provide further advice if needed. The templates in the pattern are full sized and already reveresed for ease of tracing. Instructions are provided for fusible web app;lique stitched by machine, but the design also lends itself to a variety of applique techniques. Adapt the instructions to suit the method of your choice.

To purchase the pattern: Click here



A red and white Wall hanging





My quilting, no longer just a stippler

I always felt that my quilting was purely about my fabric and cutting and sewing it back together. I will admit that I never really enjoyed the quilting aspect.

Although I did like my quilts to be well quilted, I always quilted them by stippling. Yes my quilting was the means to end.

Anyway.... My beautiful husband bought me a Sweet Sixteen quilting machine... The aim was to enjoy the "art" of quilting and to enhance my quilts. So, with my beautiful new machine, I thought I was well on my way... So from that, two things happened... I had a weekend away with my girlfriends and we attended a Kelley Wolfenson workshop, ( Don't Look Now) and I became more confident with my free motion quilting. Then I was lucky enough also to attend a Helen Godden workshop and & woo hoo. I am a bit chuffed with my quilting and I wanted to share.

This is the reverse side of a table runner..... I quite liked it...

I had a go at a new quilting pattern... like sashiko clams.... this for a new quilt design..... Asian inspired.... your first peek.

Feather quilting... Kelley Wolfenson style... very easy..

More Sashiko Clams.... reverese side this time....

One of my favourite patterns.... swrils and swirls.... love the look of this......

Sashiko Clams with swirls and Swirls.... I liked the contrast... he he

cheers Janeene

Lavender Flow, Nadene's 40th Birthday Quilt

I have always loved to make presents for friends and family. So it is my sister in law Nadene's 40th birthday so of course I thought I would make her a quilt..... I didnt want a traditional quilt for Nadene. I had the book Layered Waves, by Karen Eckmeier and have wanted  to make a quilt from it, for a very long time... it was in my to do list.... as we all have them....

This was my inspiration for the quilt I made.

  

So I found out Nadene's favourite colour was lavender.... so the quilt was started... I bought 9 half yards of various purple batik fabrics... and started cutting using karen's layering and topstitchng techniques.

 

And once I got the hang of how to cut, fold and sew, I made 11 different waves... I then placed them on my white background.to work out the best way.... I made a few extra small waves to fill in the big white spaces.....

I then decided to make a curved border..... easier then you think, with Karen's methods... and Tadah.... Nadene;s quilt is ready ready for quilting.... Cosidering this is not the type of quilt I would usually make.... I ma pretty happy.... I hope Nadene likes it..... that is the main thing.... he he

cheers Janeene

My Hooterville Wall Hanging

I attended a Wendy Williams Workshop at my local quilt store My Patch Fabrics and she taught us some of the techniques for her quilt design called Hooterville, which is a wool felt applique. The one to the right is Wendy's...... Love It!!!!!!

After the workshop... yes I was a bit slack and hadn't completed any more of the quilt.... But woohoo got my act together in the last couple of weeks and made the leaves and flower heads. So last night I started to  embroider the pieces onto the background.... I did change my background colour to Dark Blue and Sky Blue.......... and I was a little bit excited with how it was looking.... so the progress so far.....

Quilters Block Swap No.3

I am up to my third block swap... This was was going to Kathy in Victoria..... She wanted me to make a Twisted Block in

greens, like muted limes with highlight of aqua  or Burnt Orange/ Rust / Brown with a highlight of cream or ivory. So I chose to do a burnt orange twisted Block in Batik Fabric.... I do have a collection of them... he he.. TadAh.....I hope Kathy LIkes it...

cheers janeene

Post & Rail Fence Building

I know.... this is not about sewing but...... Who knew how crafty my beautiful husband Mr D could be... and I wanted to share with you..........

 

He decided a couple of weeks ago to rebuild the fence to the rear of our yard.... We live on seven wonderful acres and have been over the last few years... upgrading and improving our piece of paradise....So Mr D decided to take the plunge.....

Using his trusty chainsaw.... and no loss of limbs thank goodness.... only hurting his back.... bugger

  

   ......he built a great post and rail fence.... TADAH......