Sewing For Sydney - Team Blue!

You may have heard about a wonderful quilting collaboration - Sewing For Sydney - happening at the moment?  The delightful Molli Sparkles came up with a wonderful idea - to make quilts for the families of the two people who were sadly killed during the Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney before Christmas.  I was totally on board the day I saw the call out, and whipped up five blocks and sent them off.

A few days later, I noted just how many blocks Molli was receiving, which meant his goal of making a "couple" of quilts was going to be very quickly blown out of the water, and he may just need a little help?  I sent him a quick message, telling him I'd be more than happy to put a quilt top together if need be.  It was a resounding yes, and a couple of weeks later, 168 lovely little hashtag blocks arrived on my doorstep.

And a couple of hours later, I had a layout, ready to sew together.  It was a very random layout, as requested by Molli, and I loved the way the colours all looked!

The quilt top was reasonably quick and easy to put together - it helped that I was directed not to worry about lining up the hashtag seams - cos that wasn't going to happen!!!

 

Yesterday was our Melbourne Modern Quilt Guild's sit n sew day.  I took the quilt top along, as the Blue Team's baton was being handed over to Andrea - a fellow Melbourne quilter who had offered to put the backing and binding together.  We showed the guild members - some of whom had contributed blocks to the cause.  It was a really lovely way to demonstrate how a community of quilters, from ALL over the world, can come together to hopefully bring some cheer to families who have lost such a dear loved one.

So, this lovely quilt top will soon be off to our Team Blue's long arm quilter, for some magic to happen, before it is bound and sent back to Molli for distribution!

So - I just want to send out a big THANK YOU to Molli, for allowing me to be a part of this bigger picture.  You've done a good thing girlfriend. xxx

Sunday Stash & Dash - Finders Keepers

Tonight's stash & dash is brought to you by:

 

A little bundle of Hollywood Sparkle by Riley Blake.  This parcel arrived thanks to Fabricdirect.com.au and will be made in to a couple of yummy cushions as part of my collaboration for the annual "Collaborate For A Cause" Auction on Facebook!

This year, I've teamed up with Lil' Miss, Bubby and Me & Chlothes Line.  We are aiming for a super sparkly and fantabulous collaboration that will hopefully raise lots of money for our chosen charity - St Kilda Mums.

Found this week - a random charm park of Vintage Modern! WHATTTTT?????  See, part of this week's dash is discussing what we don't know we have in our stashes.  In this case, it was not unused for long, and was swiftly made in to 84 HST's.......

 

And today, became this......

Oh my gosh.  I am SOOO in love with this little quilt top!  I rang my trusty Mum for instructions to make the little "peep" border between the white borders.  I'd seen her use them on numerous quilts, and thought it would be perfect for this one.  CORRECT!  I'll share with you this week some time exactly how it's done.

The other great find I didn't know I had.....

In preparation for the Modern Medallion quilt along, I started stewing last night that I wouldn't have enough low volume fabrics, and started trawling online fabric stores for bundles.  But this morning, I decided to shuffle through my stash.  And out popped these 37 - THIRTY FREAKIN SEVEN - fat quarters of low volume perfection!  Who knew?  Not me - obviously!  A good deal of them are from my much coveted Architextures and Botanics bundles.  This is going to be one very special quilt!  

Lastly - THERE IS ONE SPOT LEFT IN THE KATE SPAIN AUSSIE CHARM SWAP!  I REPEAT - ONE SPOT LEFT!  Feel free to contact me if you want it!

And that's it.  I've just returned from serving dinner to a million people at the footy club, and now need to sit on my butt and watch "The Voice" to recover.  Peace out.

I'm linking up - You can too!

The Little Phone That Swam. And The Crazy Woman Who Sunk.....

Last Wednesday afternoon, I went and picked up Lochie from school - something that is out of my routine, because he usually catches the bus - got him home and ran inside to quickly use the loo before I had to head out again to get Chelsea and Cadyn.  So in I run, pull down my dacks in a hurry, and then I hear it - Splash.  I recognise the sound immediately and turn around to find my beloved iPhone5 at the bottom of the toilet bowl.  Thankfully it was pre-wee, so I plunged my hand in and rescued thy phone and went about rapidly drying it in a towel and pulling the case off it!  All this whilst my pants were still around my knees - too much information I know!

Less than five minutes later, this is what my phone looked like....

Ms Midge on Instagram

And this is what I looked like.....

Source

What followed this little "incident" can only be described as panic, fretting, fear, loss, grief.....well, you get it?  Within the hour, I had jumped up and down, emailed and rung my husband (he was in a meeting godammit) and then absconded to the shopping centre with Lochie's old Nokia phone to get myself a new sim card.

Within a couple of hours, I realised I had no idea how to use a Nokia anymore, and retrieved my ollllldddddd iPhone3 from a friend who had been borrowing it.  I then exhaled.

Why am I telling you all of this?  Well, after 24 hours of using my uber slow old iPhone, I realised just how much I depend on my mobile phone.  I realised that I do not know my husband's phone number, nor the majority of my friends and family.  I realised my life is entered in to my iCalendar.  I realised I needed to get a life outside of my phone.....

So, where to from here?  Well, I'm very happy to report that after three days buried in rice, thinking my phone was long gone and never to be used again, my darling husband suggested the battery may be flat?  So I plugged it in.....

Flash! Ahhh-ahhhhhhh.......

The old gal (ok, so it's less than a year old) has life in her yet!  She still has a little condensation under the screen, but my friends around the world Google tells me this should dissipate eventually.

What have I learnt from this exercise?

I have learnt that I don't need to check my phone every ten minutes - because when you're using an old phone that is as slow as a freakin elephant, you can't be bothered checking it.  And I have learnt that I should not wander from my normal routines, because when I do, I forget shit and phones fall in toilets!  Yes - I'm blaming my 14 year old son for this whole thing!*

In all seriousness, I am almost embarrassed at how much I depend on this little device.  The fact that it basically lives on one side of my arse most days is a little worrying.  And on that note - where do I store my phone in Summer when I'm donning frocks?  Yes, it's been a long Winter.....

The moral of my story?

Don't keep your phone in your back pocket.  And memorise important phone numbers.  Note to self: take note of these.....

Tell me - where do you keep your mobile phone?  Ever had a "toilet incident"?  Did your phone live to tell the tale?  Spill.....

* Ok, maybe not the whole thing.  Just a little bit.

Collaborate For A Cause 2013 - A Handmade Love Fest!

A few weeks ago, I shared a work in progress with you all, and mentioned Collaborate For A Cause.  Well, the time is almost here for the biggest Facebook auction of the year to start!  If you haven't heard of C4AC before, then here's a very quick intro - The wonderful Jen Kennedy from Ainslee Fox Handmade started it three years ago, pulling together the handmade community, to collaborate with one another and raise money for charity!  Last year over $40,000 was raised!  You can learn more about C4AC HERE.

Tonight, I'm sharing with you my finished collaboration with Danielle over at Cottonberry Kids!

 

I had never actually heard of Cottonberry before, but put my hand up looking for someone to collaborate with, and Danielle was brave enough to approach me (I don't know about you, but approaching people I don't know is hard, for fear of rejection!) and of course I said a big YES!  We got to brainstorming about what we wanted to create, and a few days later I received The Intrepid Thread newsletter via email and the Riley Blake "Hipster" range jumped out at me!  I messaged Danielle and suggested the range - and it all went from there!  Julie from The Intrepid Thread kindly gave us a discount on the fabric when she found out it was for charity - so thanks Julie!!!

For my half of the collaboration I used THIS pattern/tutorial for a little pinwheel doll's quilt.  I made a few little changes, just by adding extra borders, and the finished size is 19.5".  And the backing fabric is a gorgeous Riley Blake polka dot in the same bold colours!

I sent the little quilt over to Danielle, and she did a fabulous job photographing it - especially considering the horrible weather she had to deal with!  Her beautiful doll - named Rylee-Kate - is so utterly divine and just screams Happiness!

Our collaboration is raising money for Red Kite - a national cancer charity that offers support to children, young people and their families while they undergo their cancer journey.

If you love Rylee-Kate, her quilt and little pillow, you can bid on them from the 26th of July, at 8pm HERE.  The auction finishes on the 28th of July at 8pm.  There are HUNDREDS of collaborations in the album - and they are all absolutely, positively AMAZING!  You NEED to check it out, and you NEED to tell everyone you know about it!  There is something there for everyone - and it's a great time to grab some awesome handmade goods to put aside for Christmas!

So go on - what are you waiting for?


PS - Last chance to enter my GIVEAWAY tonight! Free fabric anyone? xx

W.I.P. Wednesday #21 - Pinwheeling

In the post cushion cover apocalypse, I have begun to see the light again!  I finished my 7th quilt for the year on the weekend, and was able to start a new project yesterday.  It's very, very satisfying to get the creative juices going again!

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was joining in with Collaborate For A Cause this year.  Well, this is the beginning of my half of the collaboration.....

My first ever pinwheels!  I think it could be the start of another addiction.....

Aren't they cute!?

And the very cute polka dot backing.

I won't tell you what it actually is, or what the other half of the collaboration is until it's all finished!  Gotta build the suspense yes?

Oh, and please PLEASE tell me you can tell the difference in the photo quality of the top 3 pictures?!?!  I bought myself this new little big mother trucking camera, and am eagerly trying to learn how to use it properly!  I'm pretty sure my friend Molli Sparkles will be very pleased to know I am yet to use it on Auto!

I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced - you can too!