colourful crafty hijinks

weeks have sailed by

and i haven't mentioned

some crafty hijinks

hosted by Jodie & Gilly

in the sweet victorian country town

of ballarat ....

day trip with Karen & Bron

met up with a host of bloggers

lots of whom are quickly becoming great friends

that's the thing about blogging & reading blogs

there may not be a lot of time spent face to face

but when you do catch up you feel like

you're 'up with' what's been going on

most especially what's been in the 'making'
it feels a bit odd at first actually
but its good, very good

was the most excellent adventure

for a spot of indoor picnic-ing ....

chatted with Lara & Bec & Nicole & Breanna & Cam

& Cathie & met lots of lovely new faces

& we missed you Anna!

there were door prizes & raffles 

& all the performance of a stage-full of pass-it-on-crafty-goodies

took stuff

came home with new stuff

good stuff too!

thank you for sharing people

oh & there were some quick little workshops too

Jodie chatted about rag rug making

Bec ran us through hexies

& me .... little hands on workshop & chat

about using colour 

& being
brave
with colour on colour

tried to encourage everyone to choose the interesting road

suggested 3 colour combo 'recipes'

1 - choose any three colours all in a row 

from the colour wheel

2 - choose opposite colour on the colour wheel

complementary colours

3 - look at nature

the world we live in just never gets it 'wrong'

.... and of course

i always like to 'tweak it' 

.... add a little colour on a small scale that's subtle 

yet powerful to contrast it all

some
other
crafty
hijink-sters

thanks for a fabulous day everyone
looking forward to another

always a great day when you connect with other crafty/arty types
speaking of connecting
if you're reading here
i always love your comments
its just 'nice' to know who you are & ...
well .... connect! xo

7 RED Things ...

I was 'tagged' by Care ...

2 Rules:
* Post photos of 7 RED things from about your home
&
*'Tag' 7 people to do the same!

Above: Pin board in my sewing room ...
inc: pre-made RED spotty bias binding red ready to go!

Above: Hand made by me!
A long sleeved RED T shirt for Oscar ...
Would you like to buy one similar!
Tell me so ...
then I might get my act together
& put them in the Etsy shop that I still haven't 'stocked'!!!!

Above: Cute present that was given to Oscar not long after he was born!
Counting wooden cup cakes
that he now loves to play with! Including one in RED...

Above: Hand made by me!
Our family tree tied together with RED polka-dot backing felt & ribbons .... & of course every little boy's bedroom needs a few RED wooden toy cars hey!

Above: Got to love this!! In RED !

Above: I am a huge puppet fan & Sesame Street
just wouldn't be the same without these characters
(amazing thrifty find!)
Got to cuddle that RED fur!

Above: My new yet old, freshly painted RED computer table!
This tag couldn't have been more timely as I have only just 'moved it in' this week!
I had to take the door off the hinge to do so, which now I like not being there ...
its not quite all organised yet...

I tag:
Bloggers I've met/admire/read lots ...
Bronwyn, Rita, Karen, Jane, Andi, Jean, and Betz

Soule sought after!

Do you remember back in August
I mentioned about a wonderful blog I check regularly?
Well,
since then I have acquired Amanda's
second book "Handmade Home"
which I adore & will over the years ahead
make many of these great ideas!
I've been slowly changing our 'study'
into a work & play space!
It will be an evolving space . . .
. . working in with current needs!
Well now I'd love to own her first book
........ I've entered a give-away put on by
Rachel of Euphoria
(thanks for the tip off Rachel!)
& she is offering to gift someone
Amanda's book "The Creative Family"You can enter too ....!
I would be so excited to win this!
I've never really won anything!
Edit - Well actually a few years ago I won the Australian section
of a Tupperware Art competition
& my work went on show in NYC & traveled around the USA!
But that wasn't having my named pulled out of a hat kind of thing!
Please Please Please ....
Enjoy your day

Living on the Raw Edge

I've been 'experimenting'
with the idea of not always having a
'neat' finish to some of my pieces!
These works above & below are by:
Amanda at "Crazy Mom Quilts"
I love her blog & regularly check it!
I just had to share these favourites with you!
Above is a quilt she finished in Sept
which she's titled "Ticker Tape"
Quite an appropriate name don't you think!?I love the colour & the 3 dimension . .
Its constructed with a base fabric
& then all small pieces layered
& appliqued on top leaving the
raw edges to fray & wear.
I like that sense of story!
The other she has only just put up a post about!
Its obviously a dolls size & is just lovely!
So she's motivated me to make
my own version at some point!
Seems like a great way to use every last tiny piece of fabric up!
(Not right now as you'll know I have plenty happening for the moment!)

The "inside-out" mini Quilt
below has been constructed sewing the wrong sides together!
Its made by Malka at "A Stitch in Dye"I also often check out what she's been up to!
I like her quirky sense of design &
her ability to put great colour together!
I like how in this quilt the raw edges are exposed!
She is just about to release her own book titled
"Color Your Cloth"
I am hoping to have a look at this sometime!
or add it to my collection maybe . . .
(Although us Aussies will note that the spelling of Colour is not the English way!)

114 & Spring Roses!

I have a long term project happening:
I'm aiming to make a value quilt
using half square triangles just like the lovely
Katie from Willy Nilly . . .
She is doing a quilt-a-long
& I'm planning on making a quilt
using this method in King size!
My goal is to have every triangle
a different fabric!So far I have 114 cut squares
from my stash
& am going to swap some about
with a few friends!
I've worked out I have a
1/4 of the fabrics I'll need!

On Friday morning I met with some
great Aussie talent, blog-land girls:
Andi, Rita, Karen & Kate
Great catchup & some info shared on all sorts of subjects!
Thanks girls!

Hope you have had a great weekend . . .
In Melbourne we've had a couple of glorious spring days!
Yesterday was just perfect for
attending a Wedding don't you think!
Hence the gorgeous roses in the 2nd shot!
So much fun as we danced the night away!

Trees

One of my favourite artistic subjects is the tree!
This is a painting I did not so long ago . . .
I need to paint some more . . .
It is hanging at our front door!

Amazing quilts designed by Kellie over at
"Don't Look Now"

Kellie has a special gift giveaway for her
100th blog post Celebration
. . . these things in life must be celebrated!
Unbelievably
she is going to give this quilt
to some very lucky person!
I hope it's me!!!!
It would be so treasured . . .
I'm really inspired . . .
We have lots of hot Aussie talent you know!
Check it out!

Crochet Crazy

I grew up with a giant rainbow granny square blanket
that my mum made!
"Hey Mum where is that blanket?"
I've been busy making my own
giant granny square blanket
. . . & here's an up date!I have 1 & a 1/2 balls of yarn to go
- so that's as big as I will make it!
I might add an edge in another colour
. . . yet to work that out!
But got to tell you all
about an Aussie blog I've found . . .
Sarah London - she's a crochet queen!Sarah has a fabulous bright style
& her instructions are so clear!
So Sam & Katherine
. . . here you go, get your hooks out!
She's doing a 'block' of the month . . . so fun!
Thanks Sarah

Amanda Soule

I blog I love to checkup on time to time . . ."Soul Mama" aka - Amanda
I thought you too might like to look?She's written these fab books which one day I will have my own little paws on!
I like her style, her philosophies & her get up & go!