Quilt Mania

So I've got a few things going on this week. Rather than actually finishing what I should be doing, I've been making a quilt. It started at 10pm on Sunday night and finished up today. I know quilts are supposed to take a lot longer, but I'm a manic crafter and machine stitched it all. I know the die-hard quilters out there may scoff, but I'm just too impatient to hand-stitch. This is my first ever attempt at a quilt. I'd been putting off making a quilt for so long because it just seemed so involved and I could never decide what colours and fabrics to use. The quilting mania hit me on Sunday night and I just went with it and I'm super happy with how it turned out. It's a cot quilt and I made a little pillow to go with it. I've thrown in a few linocut prints of mine in the mix which gives it the uniqueness I was after. How do you photograph a quilt though? This is my attempt.

Paper Chain Doll - New Design

I know it's only October, but many shops have had Christmas decorations out since the beginning of September. I think the cashing in on Christmas just gets a bit much sometimes. Where's the magic peoples? Seeing all the decorations though gets me thinking about the different traditions that I have going in my family. In December we start our annual cutting out of the snowflakes which we paste on our windows to create great shadows around the room. Bit sad that we don't get snow down here at Christmas, but I'm just in love with snowflakes. As I sit in the sweltering heat cutting each intricate design after another, I can't help but think about how truly amazing snowflakes are. There are some great books about snowflakes out there - I know I've salivated over many over at amazon. If you're ever stuck for inspiration go look at some snowflake pictures and see some true magic. And because I'm holding out on cutting the snowflakes, I've turned my attention to paper chain dolls instead. What do you think? I was thinking this design would look fab on the front of some little girly handbags.

Girls Night In - ipod/camera/phone Offer

Being busy is such a boring excuse for neglecting my blog - I know - but I am knackered with all the markets and who-ha that I've been up to lately. But I'm back and on a mission. So the Cancer Council of Australia, in the month of October, is encouraging people around Australia to raise money for women's cancers by having a 'Girls Night In'. Which means rather than going out with your girl mates you stay in and watch a movie or participate in some high jinks and donate the money you usually spend on a night out with the girls to the cancer council.

Our night is going to be particularly good as Kylie, our No.1 hostess with the mostest, will be hosting a shindig at her pad which will include a private viewing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show (singing compulsory) in an outdoor rigged up cinema in her backyard. Us Australians love anything in the backyard so should be a top girl's night in or out in the backyard. As part of the fundraising efforts I'm offering anyone who donates $30 to Kylie's 'Girl's Night In' with an ipod/camera/phone cover like the ones pictured above. These covers are handmade using linocut and screenprinted patches and are lined with a soft double fleece padding inside to protect your ipod, camera or phone. All you have to do is go here and donate an amount of $30 and over and send me an email that you are one top chick/bloke who donated and I'll post you an ipod/camera/phone cover of your choice from the covers above. (I can make your cover to order and to size) The ipod/camera/phone cover offer is unfortunately only available to Australian readers as postage gets mighty pricey from the antipodes. However, if you would still like to help Kylie reach her goal of $2,500 please donate here, every bit however big or small counts. Thanks

Olive Tree Markets

Here are some cards that are proving quite popular with the market crowd.

Yay for the Olive Tree Markets. What a great day! Finally a decent market in Newcastle. I couldn't believe the turn out and best of all sales!!!!! I took chairs to sit in, but hardly had a chance to sit until the end of the day. Naomi was the star seller of the day. Everytime I went to cruise the other stalls she would sell something, which was a bit fun to check the increasing sales figures everytime I came back. Now I have to burn rubber on the Janome for this weekend as I'm doing the Darby Street Festival with the lovely Susi from Three Little Birds.