two: friday favourites

Howdy Stitchers...so here is the second instalment of Friday Favourites for you. I think everyone has been so busy getting the quilt show up and running for this weekend that they haven't had time to email me any of their favourites to share. I've managed to find a few bits and pieces for you that I hope you'll like.

First up is the Classic Blocks series by Caroline on the Sew Can She website. If you've never taken a peek at the Sew Can She site, you really should. Caroline has lots of fantastic tutorials you can follow along with, from quilts, softies, pillows, bags, clothing and much, much more.

source: Sew Can She

The Classic Blocks series is a very interesting concept, where Caroline is making one quilt block each month, using "classic" patterns and fresh, modern fabrics. In March there was a Friendship Star block, in April a Churn Dash block and in May the Dutchman's Puzzle block. There are two blocks for June, a Nine Patch and a Snowball block.

Everyone who makes at least one of that month's block in the two weeks following the blog post has a chance to win a bundle of 10 fat quarters, yay! All you have to do is join their facebook group the SewCanShe Sewcialites and put a picture of your block in their Classic Blocks: Fresh Fabrics photo album to enter. You'd can check the actual posts for more specifics, but for June, you have until the 16th, at 10pm Eastern Standard Time to enter.

Next up are just a big pile of cuteness...

source: Little White Whale

For the cat lovers among you... Gloria of Little White Whale made these floss holders from business card sized pieces of cardboard. She has a tutorial over here that you can take a look at if you want to try making some for yourself. I know I'll be making one tomorrow, because my five year old spotted me looking at this site!

Although Gloria doesn't appear to use her floss for embroidery, she does some other very interesting things like a modern twist on the traditional friendship bracelets some of us made in high school.

And lastly, more stitching and embroidery fun with a lovely lady named Sonia over at Dandelyne. Sonia stitches custom portraits in floss, from her customer's photographs. The portraits are tiny, wee things that are framed by equally tiny embroidery hoops custom made by Sonia and her husband. They can also be made into pendants or brooches.

source: Dandelyne

Sonia not only stitches up portraits, but also sells DIY kits in her etsy store here. A woman after my own heart, Sonia enthuses, "embroidery is the new black!"

So... That's it from me. Remember, I'd LOVE some input from the group to post here, so please send some things my way. There's a link to my email address in this post, if you don't know it. Don't be shy. Share with us...

Happy stitching!

Kylie x

one: friday favourites

Hi Sunbury Stitchers!

I mentioned the other day that I would start a regular post on Fridays called Friday Favourites, where I'd post some of my {and your} favourite things, stories, tips, blogs, sites, products, recipes or what evers from around the web.

Evelyn and I were chatting last Tuesday night about those "magical" Frixion pens...you know the ones that you can write with on your fabric and then when you iron the fabric, the marks magically disappear?? Well, after that conversation, Evelyn sent me through this very interesting link from a quilter called Lee on her blog Freshly Pieced. It's a great post, particularly if you use these pens to mark your quilts for quilting. Well worth a read and the results might shock you a little! Don't miss the link early on in the post to another blogger, Angela who tests the pens and shows you some interesting tidbits. On the upside though, Lee's blog has a lot of other, very lovely posts to read and lots of quilty eye-candy.

source: got the knack

Here's a little something from me. I've been a bit of a long time fan of the work of Australian quilter Sarah Fielke and her book with Amy Lobsiger, Little Quilts is no exception. I have some of Sarah's other quilt books and this one looks like it would be a very sweet addition to any quilter's library, particularly for those of you who like adorable, little projects. You can pre-order this one from Amazon here.

source: the last piece

Lastly, something super girly...and also one of my favourite things when I have nothing else to do and just want to spend some time pampering myself. I love nailpolish and was stunned to find... over at the Soak website, some lovely fabric designers {who have their own ranges of fabric} also have ranges of nailpolish! You may have heard of Soak via their lovely quilt washing and pressing products, Soak and Flatter, but did you know about their nailpolish? Well, now you do.

You might have seen the Pearl Bracelet fabric by designer Lizzy House around and about in quilt stores? See here...

source: Red Pepper Quilts

It's super pretty, comes in loads of colours with cute names like cosmonaut, verbena and cotton candy... and if you have a look around the aforementioned Lee's blog, you might come across a quilt-along project she did using this range. It was called Bloom, Bloom, Pow and is pretty gorgeous. I digress however... here is Lizzy House's nailpolish range from Soak... {sigh}

source: Soak

Anyhoo! That's enough from me. Remember, I'd LOVE some input from the group to post here, so please send some things my way. There's a link to my email address in this post, if you don't know it. Don't be shy. Share with us... otherwise you'll have to put up with all of my favourite drivel every week. :)

Tootaloo.

Kylie x

The Quilt Show 2014 is Almost Here!!

The Quilt show planning group have been very busy getting ready for the great event at the Memorial Hall, Sunbury, on the weekend of June 14-15.  So much work is involved but it will all fall into place especially if as many members as possible share the tasks involved.  The planning group have been meticulous in their preparation.

Our raffle quilt has been very popular and we are pleased with ticket sales but you still have the chance to buy one!  Debbie and others did a great job honing their sales pitch at  Gisborne and Target, Sunbury.

There will be several shops displaying their wares each day - Patch 'n' Quilt from Gisborne, A Piece of Cloth from Geelong and Joy's Fabric Warehouse from Geelong. The ladies from St Mary's Church are doing the catering with morning and afternoon tea and a light lunch  available. I am aware of some of the marvellous quilts that are going on display so the public won't be disappointed.  It is not only quilts on display but various projects and challenges the group has completed over the past two years.

Encourage friends and family to come along and join us!  There will be lots of news to post after the show!

Glo x

A few of our favourite things...

Hello again, Sunbury Stitchers! So, I know you're all very talented, crafty ladies, but do any of you have your own blog? Do any of you like to write and share your wonderful stitched up exploits with the rest of the patchwork and quilting world? Don't be shy! We'd love to hear from you.

source: CraftBlogUK

We do have several members who write and post for our group blog here, but I thought it might be nice to include a link to anyone's personal blog if they're interested in sharing with us. It's fun to read the blogs of all the wonderful quilters out there...and there are so many. If you have any ideas you'd like to write about yourself, but aren't interested in the technical stuff, please email them to us and we'll post them up for you...you could be our next guest blogger! Alternately, if you would like us to investigate a particular topic of interest {preferably quilt related} and write a post about it, please comment below, email us or mention it to either Glo, Evelyn, Heather or myself in person at sit and sew. We'll be happy to oblige...won't we ladies? ;)

source: Class Teaching

Contributing to a blog is also a way to extend your own resource bank of tips, hints, tutorials, patterns and fabulous ideas. Sometimes it's the blogs of everyday people like you and I {not just the quilt and fabric designers} where you might come across interesting and different ways of doing things or new techniques being shared. So even if you don't have a blog of your own, but have found something you think would be great to share with the group, I'd like to hear from you. I'm going to post a regular list every Friday of favourite things found on the web and I'd LOVE some input from the group. It might be a photo or a link, a blog, a product, a recipe, a shop, whatever you want to share, please send it through to me kylielindstrom@gmail.com. Look out for Friday Favourites in upcoming posts!

source: Edudemic

I thought it might also be fun to post some tips on how to set up and look after your own blog or tips on blogging in general if you feel like you might want to contribute with us, here on in stitches, so if anyone has any suggestions on things they might like to know...ask away and I'll do my best to answer your technical questions.


Happy stitching, Kylie x

Book review: Patchwork Loves Embroidery

Hello quilty peeps! It's been an age since I posted on this lovely blog, so when I came across this new embroidery book by Gail Pan, I thought it must be time for another book review.

source: Martingale

Gail's newest book, Patchwork Loves Embroidery is absolutely gorgeous and if you love stitchery/embroidery projects like I do, you'll love it too. Packed with 15 little patchwork and hand-embroidery projects to suit all levels of stitchers among us, you're sure to find something to appeal. There are table runners, bags (my fave), books covers and pincushions (ok I love these too) just to name a few.

source: Martingale

For the beginners among us, there is a fabulous section at the front of the book that walks you through the basics of transferring designs, choosing the right needle for the job as well as general stitching advice and instructions.

Gail includes full-sized instruction sheets with this book, which make everyone's life easier and I have to say, that if you like stitcheries even half as much as I do, you'll find lots of ways to use the ones in this book for other projects. I can just see that little house on some linen in a washi tape covered hoop, hanging on my wall with a little phrase like, "There's no place like it!"

Ooh...and for those of you who enjoy a twist on the more traditional or subdued colours, take a look at the following image of the little birdy pincushion created from Gail's book, I found on Pinterest.

Sameliasmum on Pinterest

To finish off, I will mention that while the link on the book title at the top of this post takes you to the Book Depository, I thought it might be nice to know that in this case you can also buy directly from the publisher, Martingale who offer both a physical and eBook option, for those of you who are tech savvy and prefer this format.

By the way, if you need some embroidery inspiration and these images aren't quite enough for you, take a look at my little collection of pins over here... You'll find lots of links to stitching tutorials too!

Happy stitching,

Kylie x