A Blog Giveaway

This blog is quiet - mainly because I have started another one.  My I Spy Quilt blog is giving away free fat quarters, so you better hurry over and leave a comment!

http://ispyquilts.blogspot.com/2011/11/time-for-give-away.html

Dinosaur Uproar

I made this quilt top last weekend while I was waiting for my new walking foot to arrive. I used the last of my Moda Dinosaur Uproar fabric and added some green with a leafy print .... in case the dinosaurs got hungry. The pattern is a nice easy one called Baby Bali.

Green and White Randoms Quilt

Playing Games with Random Orphans

I've been unhappy with the amount of random orphan blocks in my sewing
room. My stash is under control, especially now that I don't buy
backing fabric but use ugly fat quarters instead. But it seems as if
every container I open there are more blocks that don't belong to any
project. Sometimes I think, so that's where they are; but more often
it's, what was I thinking when I made those?

I have been rounding these randoms up into a big box labeled Coulda
Beens. Every now and then I tip them out but there doesn't seem to be
anyway to get them to cooperate.

I decided just to start somewhere. I had a stack of 9 patch blocks from
an online swap with a food theme. I added some Cobblestone 9 patch blocks
from another swap and a few other blocks that all finished as 6 inch.
Then I googled 'settings for 9 patch blocks' and found a picture that
used flying geese sashing strips. Green was in most of the randoms, so
I found some ugly green in my stash from an abandoned mystery quilt and
a off white end of bolt special. I was on my way.

My only working sewing machine in the last twelve months was my 1950s
Singer featherweight so I decide to use Quilt As You Go so I could make
the whole quilt on my little machine. Found more (ugly) greens for the
back and made the back chequerboard. QAYG was really good, so nice to
finish the top and have the whole quilt done.

It was quite hard to give this one away but it went to the ABC radio winter blanket appeal.
I hope all the randoms are happy at their new home.

Queensland Flood Auction Quilt

I Spy a Baby Quilt

from Two Bits Patches

This I Spy baby quilt is being auctioned on behalf of the Queensland Flood Appeal. The quilt measures 63 x 85 cm (25 x 32 inches) so it's just right for baby's cot or in the pram on chilly mornings. The 100% cotton fabric features lots of animals - cats and cows, fish and frogs, kangaroos and cockatoos. The quilt is machine pieced and quilted, and machine washable. Retail value is $80.

Here's how the auction works: The bidding starts at $A10. Leave a comment on the blog with the amount of your bid. It makes sense to bid higher than the previous post. You'll need to leave an email address so you can be contacted, too.

The auction finishes on Monday 24th January at midnight Australian Eastern Daylight time. The highest bidder is the winner.

The winner then sends the amount of their winning bid to the Premier's Flood Appeal. Email me with your receipt number and I will post the quilt straight to your home. I will pay postage to anyware in Australia; if posting overseas I will get a quote for postage and we'll split the amount 50/50.

There are many, many more auctions: you can find the whole list here.

I Spy The Talking Quilt

I bought a stack of old quilt magazines at a secondhand book sale a few weeks ago. I was browsing through 'Country Quilts - Fall 1995' when I came across an article on 'The Talking Quilt'. It was an I Spy quilt made with 98 different novelty print charm squares. The author made square in a square blocks with each charm square, sashed with navy blue, and put the blocks on point with a wide border. It looked very nice, but the best part of the article was two pages of ideas for using charm squares. Eureka, I said, just what I need for the market stall this week; I'll photocopy the pages and give them to customers when they buy a pack of charm squares.

Then I thought a little more; instead of photocopying the pages, I'll make the blocks and add them to my display. I used 6.5 inch charm squares that I sell at Two Bits Patches and made them up to 12 inch blocks. Here's the six blocks that I made - and I haven't used up all the suggestions yet.

Cobblestones / 9 patch

Log Cabin / Pieced Star

Square in a Square / Antique Tile.

Do you have a favourite pattern for a child's quilt? I'd love to hear your suggestions.

Two Bits Goes Live

I've been selling fabric online for nearly 5 years now. I started on eBay and moved to the Australian Oztion site. Two and a half years ago I took the plunge and launched my own website designed by Christine Abela from Gecko Gully. I enjoy selling almost as much as sewing; I get to buy heaps of fabric, sort it by colour and design and post it all over Australia. It's still just a hobby but I hope that my baby business will grow and help to keep me in retirement.

Up until now my online commerce and my real life quilting companions have existed in parallel universes. Only one friend in my patchwork group knows I have an online shop. I'm not too sure why I have kept quiet about my online presence, but that's how it is.

However, that will all change on Thursday week. I have applied to have a stall at the Sale Country Women's Association Craft Exhibition and Two Bits Patches will be coming out of the (fabric) closet.

I'm excited about my first market but also a little nervous. Will I have enough stock to make a good display? Will I have too much? Will I sell anything? Will I bring the things that people want to buy? Will my friends laugh at me? Of course not, but you never know...

I have been told by the CWA organisers that every one is looking forward to seeing what I bring. Wish me luck!

Hawaiian Applique 101

I'm actually learning something new. I've always wanted to try needle turn applique but was convinced that it would be too hard and the end result would be a disappointment. However I bravely enrolled myself in Quilt University's Hawaiian applique course to see if I could get the basics.

So far so good. As you can see I've cut out the breadfruit pattern and it is now basted to the background. Next week is the needleturn, the tutor says that's easy too, I certainly hope so!

What's Your Favourite Colour?

I have always loved colours. When I was in primary school my mother made all our clothes as well as sewing a wardrobe for herself. I always enjoyed the trip to the department store when it was time for a new outfit. I wasn't that interested in patterns or even fabric. My favourite part of the store was the display of knitting yarns on the wall behind the counter. The balls of wool were sorted by colour and the resulting rainbow always impressed me. When I started knitting I always chose wool with as many colours as possible.

This list on The Phrontistery is fascinating. 168 definitions of obscure colour terms. I was familiar with argent, goldenrod, heliotrope and saffron; I could guess at rufous (reddish brown) and nigrine (black); but what about niveous, puccoon and minium? Did you know lurid is red-yellow, pavonated is peacock blue, and smaragdine is emerald green? Well, you do now. Try using solferino (purplish red) and smalt (deep blue) in a conversation this week.

The centre to the chocolate heart quilt is finished and I'm adding the borders. I've made some changes to the original pattern, measured across the center and finished the border on one side. I am very pleased with the result. I think the shades of badious, castory and brunneous look very well together.

2010 Year of the Signature Quilt

Over the New Year weekend I got my antique signature quilt out to get some photos. The Criswell quilt was made in Chester County Pennsylvania in 1852 by my g-g-grandmother Mary Criswell. The quilt was made for Mary's parents Andrew and Alice Criswell. Each of the 60 quilt blocks was made by a family member or friend; each block has a name and most have a location. The fabric is very worn as you can see in the photo, but the writing is still legible.

Jennie took a photo of each block and I'm putting them up on Flickr. My first research area is the people who made the quilt. My family tree is online at Ancestry.com and I'm putting together the jigsaw of the Criswell family. I've discovered that the Chester County Historical Society has a quilt collection so I hope they can help me research this one.

Next job is to research the patterns used in the album blocks. I got Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Applique for Christmas so that will come in handy.

One day I'd like to have a go at reproducing the quilt. I guess I'd have to learn to hand applique first, so I'm registered in Hawaiian Quilting 101 at Quilt University. The unit starts next week, I promise to blog my progress.

My Sewing Room Window

This is the view from my south facing sewing room in the summer. This part of the garden is badly in need of a refit. The garden is best in spring, lots of bulbs and enough rainfall to keep things green. As soon as the hot weather hits in November everything dries off and brown replaces green. I need to pull everything out and start over but it doesn't rank highly on the to do list.

The big eucalypt trees in the photo are between our property and a gravel road which leads to the neighbour's house. We take the dog for a walk each morning along this track; we occasionally see wallabies, kangaroos and koalas.

What sewing am I doing? I'm doing a sample for a mystery quilt I'm presenting to our patchwork group and I'm in the middle of a semi-major clean-up. The chocolate hearts are all in one tub now and are top of the UFO list.

Made a quick trip to the new twilight market and had a chat to Lara from Chocolate Coated. Bought a Sewline fabric pencil, I've heard good things about these fabric markers. I'm always too nervous to mark a quilt top, I usually stitch in the ditch but now I have no excuse to try something more adventurous.

New Year's Clean Up

Our business has been closed for 4 days over the Christmas break. Christmas Day was a wonderful visit with offspring, in-laws, grandkids and turkey; and then we had three days at home. Three days in a row. If you've ever owned a family business or a shop you'll know how precious time at home is.

So I've been having a clean-up. I need more room for the stash so I emptied the top of my sewing room wardrobe. This is where I stored my botanicals when I was making potpourri from my garden plants. Some of the containers are dated and were squirreled away in 2003 and 2004, although the record was 1998.

I emptied everything into the compost and now I have the biggest potpourri container in the country.

I try to avoid New Year resolutions but it's hard not to think and plan for the new year. I have the chocolate heart quilt to finish for the April wedding. I have a pile of fat quarters to upload to Two Bits Patches. And then I have my Big Project.

And the winner is...

Finally I have some time to choose the giveaway winner. I was going organise something clever to choose the winner but in the end I went for the tried and true method of name on slip of paper and get hubby to pull one out of the ice cream container.

I am pleased to say that Anne A was the winner. Well done Anne, the squares will be sent ASAP. Thanks to everyone that posted a comment, and big thanks to my new blog followers.

Anne's favourite colours are rosy pink, burgundy and green. My favourite colour scheme is, without a doubt, autumn tones. I grew up in Ohio and the autumn trees are just gorgeous.

When I see orange, yellows and rust colours I just have to spend.

My choice for our patchwork groups' 2007 Round Robin was autumn shades. I've been quilting the finished result this month, I'll have to get organised and finish the quilt so I can show you all.

Northside Makers Market

Just in case you don't read the Northcote Leader newspaper (local paper in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), here's an article about the market on Saturday (my daughter Jennie is on the right).

Am I proud? Not half!

NORTHSIDE Makers Collective will give a stronger identity to the growing handmade scene in Melbourne’s north, say its crafty founders.
Northcote’s Margaret Lawson, Jennie Barnes and Jay Falkner from Reservoir recently set up the non-profit craft collective and markets as well as branding to distinguish work from Melbourne’s north.
Ms Lawson said market stall prices were often prohibitively high - between $60-$180 a day - but the collective could offer affordable rates to those starting out.
“We wanted the market to be non-profit so that we can support crafters to get their businesses up,” she said.
“It’s a challenge for craftspeople to find an affordable way to share their products with the public.”
The collective also offers a crafts club, including coffee and crochet afternoons, and a Northside Makers Mums Group.
“People can try new crafts for the first time and socialise with other people who share a passion for craft,” Ms Lawson said.
Northside Makers Collective’s coffee and craft meeting is next Sunday, September 13. There’s a meet and greet for market stallholders on October 2 before the first market at Northcote Uniting Church on October 10. For more information, go to northsidemakers.com

I Spy Blue Borders

I've finished the borders on the blue I Spy. I did the sides first - dark blue, random novelty prints, then another dark blue. When the sides were finished I did the same borders on each end. It's the first time I've sewn borders properly - you know, measure across the centre of the quilt, average the results, blah, blah, blah. I usually attach a border and cut off the excess. I did it properly because I was added three borders, I don't know if I will bother next time.

I'm very excited with the blog giveaway, 15 entries so far. It's not too late, you have until Sunday night to write a comment.

This Saturday is the first Northside Makers' Market in Northcote, Melbourne. I wish I was attending. If you are attending, you'll find my daughter Christine selling my charm square packs alongside of her Teddy Buggs furry boots for babies; and my daughter Jennie will be racing around organising the market as well as showing her W Class Tram cushions and postcards. The weather will be perfect and the stalls will be marvelous. Put it in your diary!

Competition Time

I thought I'd be brave and offer a competition on my blog. I've seen it done on other blogs but I'm not sure if there is a blog comp etiquette - feel free to correct me if I get it wrong.


The prize is novelty charm squares; 20 in all and measuring 3.5 inches/9 cm. You can see the squares on the right of screen (waves towards picture). To win this little prize you need to leave a comment on this blog post. I even have a question for you to answer:

"What's your favourite colour scheme for a quilt/craft project?"

You have until midnight on Sunday 11th October to leave your comment, then the winner will be chosen at random.

Looking forward to your comments. Good luck!

Two Blues

On the cover of the latest Down Under Quilts was a lovely pink and yellow quilt by Erica Spinks called Sunshine on Roses. I thought the pattern would work well with my I Spy scraps. I used two blues as you can see and with some quick strip piecing and lots of prints I put this top together. Everything was from the stash, so it's a free quilt .
I'm putting some borders on it now. I was going to go around the center with light blue and then dark blue because that was easy. Fortunately some other ideas popped into my head before I cut the border and I'm trying something a little different. Photo next posting.

It's Official

I finally got around to registering my business name. Last time I googled "Two Bits Patches" I got 183 hits and they were all mine. Very pleasing, I thought smugly, until I realised that if someone else wanted my name it was free for the taking.

So I went online to register the name. What name would you like, the site asked politely, and make sure the spelling is correct. No worries. Now, list three more possible names if your first choice is not available. Not Available!? It's my name, I don't want something different! I courageously left the Three More Options blank, and clicked Submit.

Two Bits Patches could not be approved online, because one of the words was suspect. Which one?

"Two".

How could the word "two" cause any problems? You don't read "two" and think, terrorist plot, do you? Perhaps the grammar police thought I meant "too" or "to" and I would be responsible for misleading the public with the incorrect homonym. Perhaps two has a secret meaning that I'm unaware of and my blog will now be followed anonymously.

Anyway, the certificate arrived in today's mail, so now Two Bits Patches is legitimate.

Hopefully.

New site ecraftpatterns

For a long time I've admired the products and presentation of Christine Abela's Gecko Gully. Christine is a web designer too so when I wanted to take the plunge last year I got in contact with Christine and she designed Two Bits Patches for me.
Christine has a brand new website which is quite exciting. ecraftpatterns is a site to buy or sell downloadable craft patterns. There are 10 different designers on board with patterns for quilting, embroidery, bags, stitcheries and so on. You chose you pattern, make payment and the pattern downloads straight to your computer.
If you are a craft designer you can add your patterns to the site and Christine handles all the technical side for you.
I've been looking for some patterns for I Spy quilts to add to my website; now I reckon I'll design my own and put them on ecraftpatterns!

A Round of Stash-Busting

My favourite book at the moment is Bonnie Hunter's "Scraps & Shirttails: Reuse, Re-purpose, Recycle! The Art of Quilting Green". The book has loads of ideas for making scrap quilts.

Bonnie recommends pre-cutting fabric into useful sizes, so when you need, say, 2.5 inch strips you already have a box full.

My I Spy remnants are overflowing from all corners of my sewing room so I thought I would do some scrap busting. I'm trying out a pattern that uses 4.5 inch and 2.5 inch pieces, so I started cutting those first. I added 2 inch strips as well. Then some pieces were still too nice to cut into strips so I fussy cut 3.5 inch squares as well.

Ideally I would cut useful sizes from the fabric when it was new and not after it had been jammed into tubs six months before. But I am pleased with the morning's work. Now to get my swap blocks finished before tonight's patchwork meeting.

I Spy In the Pinks

This is a new I Spy quilt I've made, In the Pinks. It's a really easy pattern. I used 24 6.5 inch I Spy prints for the centre of the blocks. The border for each block is 2.5 inch strips, 8 fat quarters are enough to do all the blocks. I often quilt with diagonal lines, it's easier to ease the 'crossings' on the bias than on the straight.

Do you use metric or imperial measures? My brain still thinks in inches but I'm happy to work with centimetres too. I was in our local discount fabric shop waiting to be served when a customer asked the staff, how much is a yard? After three different staff members didn't know how to answer, I volunteered the information that if she bought one metre she would have a bit left over. I proceeded to explain the conversion from yards to metric but no one was listening.

Why don't I shop in my local quilting shop? There isn't one in our country town, the closest one is 20 kilometres away.