Shop update....

Newly listed in my shop are kits with instructions to make your very own heirloom sewing box. I know it's taken a very long time for me to get around to doing these kits but this was a bit of learning curve for me and I wanted to be sure  my instructions were easy to follow and full of good detailed photos of each step for those of you that need visuals as well as written instructions. Making your own sewing box up means you can choose specific fabrics of your choice and you also get sense of accomplishment at the end of having done it yourself. These boxes are fairly easy to make but do take a bit of time and patience. Of course I do have a couple made up and ready for instant purchase if you're time poor.

My creative space this week. Yes due to a custom order of a flower brooch I did manage to squeeze in some relaxing hand sewing creativity.

I'm loving the colour combo of this brooch and might have to replicate in other projects some time. Hope the recipient likes it!

Have just listed 3 different styles of these brooches in my shop.

Winging their way home.....

 

As much as I'd love to keep them, these sweet winged pin cushions will be flying to new homes soon. I have made them as gifts and I'm sure their cute little faces will bring a smile to their new owners. They are the other two pin cushions from this Heather Bailey pattern and were lots of fun to make just like their ladybird friend. I love all the details Heather puts in her patterns.

The bee was the easiest of all. I made her yesterday including choosing fabrics and cutting out. The detail on the wings is all done on the machine which of course is a lot quicker than by hand.

The butterfly was a different story just because of all the hand embroidery detail on the wings. I even did some embroidery while watching the girls take their first summer swim on Saturday at the local pool.

On the back of both of them is a little place between the middle of the wings and the body to hold a small pair of embroidery scissors. The wings are a handy place for needles and of course the body is the pin cushion.

And because I used quite a bit of felt for these projects I thought it was a good opportunity to show the latest addition to my felt stash. These lovely colourful bundles were purchased from Heather Bailey's online store and bought back from the States by my DH. I can get felt here in NZ but not always the right colour I want and the quality varies a lot as well. I often have to resort to buying acrylic and I hate the way acrylic feels and 'squeaks' when your rub it. You just can't beat natural fibres.

Her service  is great and I just love the way they're packaged as well!

Quilt Eye Candy

On Friday my Mother and I went to the Hamilton Quilt and Craft Fair. We look forward to this annual event every year! There are lots of exhibitors showing the latest in crafting tools, techniques and of course supplies so for someone like myself it is a feast for the eyes. There are free mini workshops and craft circles plus there are displays from the local embroidery, cake icing, weaving/fibre artists, and quilting guilds. There was a beautiful display of quilts from Quilts Aotearoa 2009 hosted by the National Quilting Association of New Zealand which I've often thought of belonging to but for some reason never seem to join. This is a link to their website. I'm not sure why I haven't joined before. I used to belong to the local Quilting group but stopped going when my husband and I opened up a cafe at the same time as I fell pregnant with our eldest daughter 'Amelia'. As you can imagine things got a little busy in our house and I haven't been back since. Also most of the ladies that belonged to this group were all retired with a lot more time on their hands than I have but they did have a wealth of quilting knowledge and experience to share.

Anyhow let's get on with showing you some of the quilts that took my eye. I'm not sure what the etiquette is with regards to taking photos at these shows but there were no signs saying not to take photos and there were others taking photos so I took my cue from them.

I liked this quilt because of the beautiful rich fabrics used. The centre squares were made up of various 'oriental looking fabrics' and the 'leaves' and border from richly coloured batik fabrics. It reminded me of a quilt that is on my 'to do' list from a book called " More Quilts from "The Quiltmakers Gift".

I admired this quilts beautiful and intricate detailed machine quilting and embroidery. It must have taken hours or maybe weeks but was simply stunning.

The kaleidoscope quilt below caught my eye I think because of the simplicity of colours used. The quilting was simple but effective by enhancing the kaleidoscope effect.

This circle quilt was eye catching with the quilted circles sewn with a variety of machine embroidery stitches and again enhancing the pieced circles

This machine appliqued wall hanging was beautifully machine quilted and embroidered with the 3D flowers being fused with thin batting and hand embroidered and beaded.

There was also an exhibition put on by the "Creative Fibre Association". This rag rug was impressive with it use of very tiny scraps of fabric. Now I know what to do with all those tiny

scraps I have accumulated!

A beautifully crafted felt bowl and balls. Not sure what to call these felt spheres but they definitely caught my eye.

And last but not least this exquisite "felt/fibre sculpture of a lady and tree. I definitely could've bought her home!