.: Sewing Buddies :.

I heard about Whipstitch Deborah's Sewing Buddies Project on instagram -- I think -- instagram tends to be where I mostly hang out, in an online sense, so I figure it must have been instagram.

This is the sixth time that Deborah has run the Sewing Buddies project.  She matches up sew-ers from all over the world, to buddy up and share sewing-related ideas and projects over the course of a year.  Read all about it here.  My sewing buddy for the year is Johanna, who lives in Sweden! 

The first Sewing Buddies project for the year was to make an artist trading card to swap.  I'd never really come across them before, so had a little stickybeak around Pinterest, having literally typed in 'artist trading cards' - take a look.

I toyed with a few different ideas for the cards, but then decided on really simple patchwork, and little stitched names.  And I very happily found the little thread-bobbins and sewing machines in my button jar.  The thread bobbins were yellow, red and navy, so I just wound new colours around them, to match the patchwork. 

I think they are officially a little big, as I'd cut them with a quarter-inch seam allowance, and intended to  sew them with back and front pieces wrong-sides-together and then turn out.  But Plan A switched to Plan B, as the little patchworky bits were unravelling with the turning-out.  And I was possibly a little distracted with watching the Real Housewives of Melbourne.  So I just went with an organic, natural ( ah, that would be ... messy...) zig-zag finish instead.

Orange + pink is my current favourite colour-combo, and I'd noticed on Johanna's blog that she had a  pink + green mini in her sewing space, so I went with that colour-combo for her. 

As soon as I get Johanna's postal address, this little one will be winging its way to Sweden! 

Hope your week has been a good one.  Once the weekend arrives, we are officially halfway through the school term, wahooo!!  Is it too terrible that I am counting down the weeks til the school hols already, I can't wait ...  xoxo cat

.: swap goodies :.

Will this steamy, humid weather ever end?  I know it's February, I know it's summer, I know we live in Brisbane.  But come ON.  Enough already.

In happier, weather-irrelevant news, I'm here to share a couple of gorgeous swap packages I've received.

First up is this beautiful mini-quilt made for me by Rebecca in round 4 of the Down Under Doll Quilt swap (last year!  I posted about the mini I made here).

I really love this little mini - it has my favourite colour combo of pink and orange, and the flowers in the vase are so bright and happy.  The pattern is the Flower Pot from Stitched in Color-Rachel's Penny Sampler quilt. 

And here's a pic of the back, just to show you Rebecca's perfect quilting!

Just today, I picked up this package of gorgeous from the post office.  It's from Jennie of Clover and Violet, and was part of the Sweet Pouch Swap (I blogged about my swap package, made for Jennie, here).

Isn't it fabulous? - I love the sweet pouch, the low volumes are (I think) all from Sweetwater, and the little aqua accent goes perfectly with them.  All the sweet treats are just perfect.  The Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark is the most exciting - I got a little addicted to it when we were staying at the Fairmont in Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco last month - there are three different Ghirardelli chocolate shops right on site ... 

Jennie has included a super-fancy recessed zipper.  So impressed, I have never quite managed to sew one.  

That little tube of handcream is inside my handbag already.

So, that's me caught up on my gorgeous swapping news.  Very happy.  Here's to a cooler weekend - maybe even a little rain, our crunchy grass would love that.  'til next time xoxo cat

.: bee blocks :.

Helloooo from hot, humid, hiding-in-air-con Brisbane!

Popping in to share a couple of bee blocks with you.  I'm pretty sure that my blogging-slackness over the past few months has meant that there are a few blocks I haven't yet shared ... but these blocks hit the post on Friday and just this morning, so I know I definitely haven't shared them yet!

First up is Jodi's block for our Care Circle of doGoodStitches.  The pattern is Anna Maria Horner's Spinning Stars.  Jodi requested that the middle of the block be scrappy green/teal/aqua, the ring be low volume whites, and the outside bit be alternating yellow and orange.  The block is huge - about 18 1/2 inches.  I love it, and can't wait to see the finished quilt - all the yellows and oranges will come together to make a great secondary pattern.  

And in a fabulous segue into Danielle's blocks for the AusModBee - here are some of them together with Jodi's star! 

Danielle created her own butterfly paper-pieced pattern, inspired by both Kumiko Fujita, and Rita from Red Pepper Quilts.  Each little butterfly is 5 inches square.  

Love them, they are so sweet and will look so fun flying all over the black background on the quilt.

Now that I've posted both sets of blocks, I'm officially caught up on all my bee-sewing!  I really want to now make a few more blocks for the girls' quilts, before I start on anything else.   ' til next time - hope you are avoiding any extreme heat or cold that's going on outside your house!  xoxo cat

.: my Sweet Pouch Swap for Jennie :.

Morning everyone, I'm popping in before the school run to share the pouch I made for Jennie in the latest round of the Sweet Pouch Swap, which has been coordinated by the gorgeous Ros.

I did a little stalking of Jennie's blog and instagram, and found she has three beautiful children, so I made a pouch with a little porthole for each of them - using the porthole how-to in Lu Summers' excellent Quilt Improv book.

It's only right this minute, in uploading the pics, that I've realised I forgot to make a little tab for the end of the zipper!  Oh good grief, look at that awful long end-y bit of the zipper dangling down!  I'm so sorry Jennie, I can't even believe I didn't notice that before ... life's been a little chaotic these last few weeks since getting home from the US and getting sorted for school and catching up on life ... but evenstill ... gah!

Are you loving all the treats, there are so many of our favourites! - Natural Confectionary Company lollies, Cadbury creme eggs, Marvellous Creations (my girls' favourites!), mini eggs and Furry Friends.  And I made a couple of quick trips to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary for some little koala-y goodies for Jennie's children. 

I added the babushka doll tab, as I noticed Jennie had recently-ish made a gorgeous big churn dash quilt, using lots of babushka doll fabric ... oh the things you notice with a bit of blog stalking!

The gorgeous fabric on the back is from a little swap with the lovely Frances from Miss Matatabi.   And the lining fabrics are the fab PamKittyMorning and Lu Summers' Summersville (link to Lu's blog above).

The pouch + goodies are on their way to the USA - I was a little late in posting them, but they should hopefully arrive in the next week or so.  I love the Sweet Pouch Swap, it's a fun thing to be part of, I've met some really great sewing buddies through it, and it's really well coordinated by Ros and Alyce (they take it in turns). 

Hope you have a happy Wednesday!  'til next time, xoxo cat

.: The Wee Bee :.

I've joined a new bee this year!  I'm feeling very blessed + fortunate to be a part of it, as it's full of some completely awesome + amazing sewists from around the world.

Kristi from Schnitzel & Boo brought us all together.  Our little Flickr group is here.  We'll add a button to the side-bar very soon.

I'm first-up in the bee, and after much thought and leafing through quilty-books over cups of tea and glasses of wine, I thought that I'd most love each bee-lady to make me a house - any pattern or design, in their favourite colours, with a sweet something peeking out of the door or window, and all with low volume fabrics for the background.

These are the houses I sewed up as examples:

I think I'll turn these little houses into a mini for one of the girls.

Already, two gorgeous bee-ladies have sewn their houses for me!  Click here to take a look at Synnove's super sweet wonky, tall house (the little panda!), and here to see Kristy's sweet little house and her gorgeous blog post about it! - she's included our dog Teddy, my brother's dog Harold, a wee bee, and our house number - completely awesome, I love all the details.  I can't even believe it, I love both houses so much and I can't wait to see what everyone else sews.  Thank you so much Synnove and Kristy!  I'm thinking I'll be making a Wee Bee Village from all the houses - and I'll sew a little church and a shop to add to it.  

Happy Monday everyone.    xoxo cat

.: the catch-up post about the DUDQS :.

So I haven't written a blog post since before Christmas ... we flew out to the USA on December 27th, and had an awesome three weeks over there.  I'll post about that soon.  Since getting home, we've been busy catching up on all the to-do things, getting back to work, to school - including starting high school, gah! - and just generally getting stuff done.  

There's so much to catch up on and share here, but in looking back through recent posts, I realised I haven't yet shared the mini I made for round 4 of the Down Under Doll Quilt Swap! - this is what I made for the lovely Kirsten (who is a fellow bee in our AusModBee - I was very happy when I saw she was my partner!).  The pattern is 'Starburst Spools' by ChariseCreates.  Get ready for lots of pics. 

Of course, I've now realised I don't have a pic of the gorgeous mini I received from Rebecca - I will include it as part of my next post, but in the meantime, please click through and take a look at Rebecca's pic on Flickr.  It's really gorgeous - I love the design, fabrics + colours.  Rebecca included a few Bonnie + Camille fat quarters too! 

Happy weekend to you all, and happy 2014 ... a little late in saying that.  We saw in the new year at Disney World in Orlando! - gosh that seems like ages ago now.  'til next time, xoxo cat