Star Runner for Christmas

Two weeks ago I had a fabric give away in conjunction with Sew Mama Sew Give Away Day and Sunday Stash #92. I had mismatched cheater stars left over ( 2 matching and two not) and decided to make Tristan's teacher a Christmas table runner.

It turns out that she is leaving to study her doctorate in Education and I only found out about a week before school finished. So it was a bit of a rush to get it done.

I did a tiny bit of free motion quilting in the corners but mostly it was straight line quilting.

This gorgeous fabric was perfect for the back.

A Chinese Story

One of my closest friends, Goldie, comes from north eastern China. Tomorrow she will become an Australian citizen. It must be a huge deal to give up the country of your birth and identify yourself with one that you adopted. I am so proud of her.

I told her that I would be there to witness it nomatter where or when. She lives about 4 hours away in the lovely New England town of Armidale. So tomorrow Frances and I are heading off to get to the ceremony by 2pm and then spend the weekend there.

I wanted to make Goldie something special for her to use. I used my Notebook cover and zip pouch tutorials to make her two practical items.

The 2.5" squares start with the colours of the Chinese flags and then transition to the colours of the Australian flag on the back. 

I enjoyed doing some free motion quilting on the pouch.

Linking up with I Quilt at Pretty Bobbins.

A Barossa Story

Marieka and I have been friends since we met at Breastfeeding Group in late 2007. We had both just moved our families to the town of Tumut. We both had infants and preschoolers. Both of our husbands were engineers on a bridge project in Gundagai. 

Then both of our husbands took jobs elsewhere at the start of 2009. Marieka's family moved to the gorgeous Barossa Valley in South Australia. My toddler daughter and I went for a week long visit in early 2010. 

Then Marieka's family moved to Coffs Harbour in 2011. But the love of the Barossa stayed with them. They have just moved back to the Barossa permanently. They are restoring an old bluestone cottage on acreage and planning on raising fruit trees, grape vines and chickens. 

I cannot wait to visit them again.

Marieka loves the colour purple and Kate Spain. So her pouch was easy for me to put together.

So the Free Motion Quilting on the back of this pouch was my most ambitious yet. But I had such fun. You can see the grapes of the Barossa, the waves of Coffs Harbour and the sweep of the Tumut River between the Snowy Mountains. 

And who can resist purple polkadots?

Linking up to TGIFF and I Quilt.

A Creative Story

Wombat Stew gal Jane is a practical girl. She lives in the coastal town of Coffs Harbour and somehow manages to to have kids around her at work and at home.

So creating with paper and fabric is her outlet. 

Coffs Harbour has beautiful sandy beaches and I wanted to reflect that with the yellow colour palette of this pouch. Their harbour beaches also have a lot of pebbles and so my Free Motion Quilting reflected these with the loops. And all of the Wombats know that Jane has a thang for selvedges.

I am linking up with IQuilt at Pretty Bobbins and TGIFF.

A South Pacfic Story

My gorgeous sewing friend Gemma lives in the French colony of New Caledonia. Nearly a year ago I had the opportunity to meet up with her and her family when our family took a cruise that stopped in Noumea.

Now Gemma is Australian, but she speaks about four languages on account of being posted overseas with her husband a few times. She can find the best French patisserie on the island and is very clever with free motion quilting.

She has just started up a weekly linky party where you can feel brave enough to share your own FMQ ing. It's called I Quilt.

So here is my effort for today. This is the little ATC pouch I made for Gemma recently. On the back I FMQed the French phrase, 'A friend like you is worth having."

And that's Gemma sitting there doing some hand quilting, hehehe!


Linking up to  I Quilt  and TGIFF!

Artist Trading Pouches

Ooo I had fun.

But I can only show you the one that I made for myself.

The rest are under wraps as a surprise to the Wombat Stew Girls.


Well here's a sneaky peak of their zippers.

I am posting Gina's and Alyce's directly and the rest are heading off to Kristy for a corral first.

Linking up to TGIFF and Sew Cute Tuesday.

ATC WiP

I actually had most of this sewn last Wednesday but was too busy to post about it.

I have been working hard on my Artist Trading Cards these past 10 days. 

I was struggling with the whole concept of a card that does nothing but form a piece of art (sorry folks I am a practical kind of gal!). 

So I asked the Wombat Stew recipients if they would not mind if I turned my card into a useful zip pouch.

They were all gracious enough to say yes. I have been buzzing ever since. 

Each pouch now has a back, an inner and some quilting to match each of the Wombats and their personality.

Loving this project.

Linking up to WiP Wednesday.