The quilt that inspired me to try. A quick history of my sewing experience

Christmas time for adults means a lot more family hours than throughout the year, and I like that.
I was concerned that putting my boy to sleep in a house full of people was going to be Mission: impossible, but thankfully Nan's double brick house is perfect for such occasions and he slept as well as he would have at home.

I call her Nan, but she's my husband's Nan, really. Since I've known her since I was 16 it seems out of place to call her Jean! She was the guiding light for me and my family into quilting. I want to share with you the quilt that finally made me ask Nan "just how *do* you patchwork?" I mean, I learnt paper piecing in high school, but I'm pretty sure I took all year to half-finish a cushion that I never wanted. It was so slow and boring!

[side note] I am totally a sucker for ALL THINGS SPARKLY (as I found out when I planned my wedding. Between "yes" and "I do" I got the reputation for saying "ooh sparkly!!") I've always been a little bit attracted to the Japanese fabrics with gold in them and never had the balls to use some (I think we've all been there).

Anyway here's the quilt:

I just love the blues and fuschias doing their thing!

Nan often does "sampler" style quilts.

Look for gold in all hearts is embroidered in gold. Sorry I couldn't get a better picture. If you've read this far you're already more interested than my husband who was enlisted to hold up the quilt for me to take pictures.

That is probably my favourite block of all. I am not interested in replicating the design, I just LURVE the fabrics & the appeal.


So she lent me her age-old mat, cutter, and ruler and from there I've learnt via youtube, rekindled one of the best friendships I've ever had, and taught my sisters and Mum how to patchwork!


And here I am upgrading my sewing machine 2 years later. A cup of tea and the manual in hand I'm ready to take my new Singer to the next level!!

Until next time, wishing you many stitches in your family

The Christmas Blog. HoHoHo

A total Christmas update in the one blog...
The Christmas party for my other circle of sewing ladies was at Ripple Patch headquarters. Samantha has just launched this online store and lessons on site business and kindly offered her premises to host our Christmas celebrations.





I had to take along a gift to the value of about $10. So did Mum, so we both took Qwash quilt wash and I wrapped them both in the following ways...



And speaking of gifts, my gal pal gave me this AWESOME keyring which just screams "CASSTHECOOLEST"!!!!
I LOVE it!!


I made a Christmas tree with lollies as inspired by this lollipop tree
which is the same site I got those candy cane mice from.


I decorated my first ever gingerbread house! My local Coles sold a kit with completed cookies ready to be erected and decorated and I had a ball. No cleaning up happened on this day. My baby did get breakfast and lunch though, so it's not all bad LOL.








I recently saw Ashley's post on treat jars using baby food jars & knew I'd use it soon. I just love www.makeit-loveit.com I'm a true fan!

I made some up for my friends Dani & Kelly with Christmas candies (Red & Green M&Ms and chocolate santas) & Christmas fabrics.

They came over with their gorgeous kiddies for a get together at my place ...connecting with friends, family, and connecting with friends' families. What Christmas is all about!

Name game quilt swap - join by 15 January 2012 [CLOSED]

I just signed up for this as seen on Ally's blog. Exciting, I've always seen these swap things but never in time to be a part of it. I can get a mini quilt with cassthecoolest on it :-D

Sign up by clicking here SORRY FOLKS THIS IS CLOSED NOW
Here are some of the swap basics:

It will be an international swap and is based on the idea of making a mini quilt for your swap partner, using their name / blog name in the quilt.

The size is up to you, but it should be bigger than a mug rug. Work on a minimum of 9” x 12”

It will be a blind swap which means that you won’t know how will make your mini quilt, until it’s delivered by your lovely postal service.

Leave a comment over at the blog post or send her an email if you would like to join too!

Sign up WAS open until 15 January 2012.

I love upcycling. Using make up freebie bags for kids

It's been so long since I've posted, I've done so many projects but not loaded the pics. For now I'll share the gift I made for my nephew.

You may have accumulated some free make up toiletry bags when you bought cosmetics. I thought this orange one might be a good Nintendo DS carry bag to go with the other items I bought my nephew who turned 10.

Here's what the "before" shot looks like:


I appliqued the green initials *under* the green and blue fabric, using fusible thread. This is the first time I've used fusible thread this way, I have previously only used it for sewing binding, but after seeing these video tutorials from Punch with Judy where I bought the thread, I thought I'd stretch my skills once more. I love learning new sewing skills!

Then to get the nice square edges, I sewed interfacing over the top of my design and turned it through as she demonstrates in this video.

Then stitched around the edges with my twin needle for looks, and ironed it to the bag for hand sewing around the outside.

Then add an Itunes voucher and some sour iceblocks for what I hope is an ideal gift for a 10 year old!