Snip it Good

Now Snip it...into shape...I am actually early to make April's 'And Sew On' paper piecing block. So I can post early to the Quiet Play collection finally.

This was a less complicated block than March's 'Spoolin' Around' block. I wanted to have a funky background and I found it in a vintage sheet fat quarter. 

I did detour from the pattern slightly when making the handles of the scissors. I hope Kristy does not mind. But I managed to cut the piecing by half.

I do wish that I had used a darker grey for the blades of the scissors now that I see it altogether.

But the four blocks look good together.

Sew Mid Century

Alyce's sideboard block arrived in the mail yesterday. She has used a clever brown fabric with what looks like coffee beans and also some text prints. She totally got the mid century colours brief.

And these three blocks look good together too.

Retro Clock

A nice retro finish this week. I was Wombat Stew-ard for the month of March and my theme was Modern Mid Century  (MCM) for the girls. This clock pattern comes from the Quiet Play 'Sew Retro' series found on Craftsy. You can click through to this $2.95 pattern through the 'I'm a Craftsy Designer' button on her blog.

So far I have Kristy's 'Front Door' block to match with mine but the other wombats are sure to sew and post theirs soon. I love Mid Century colours too. Most of my 'And Sew On' blocks are from this palette.

You can see Gemma's MCM TV block here. She just made it this week. She's getting very clever with her paper piecing designs and may even come up with a fab retro sofa pattern for me to make to go with my blocks. 

Lara is making a block of her own Mid Century house! It should be pretty cool. I would love to have a MCM house. I just love the clean lines of the flat or skillion roof, floor to ceiling glazing and the high windows. (I am starting to sound like Kevin McCloud off Grand Designs UK). 

Anyone else out there a Mid Century Modern fan? You can find my favourites here on Pinterest.

Linking up to TGIFF.

Sunday Stash #55

Scrap Love

The QCA Bee that I am in has this lovely practice of sending a bunch of scraps along with your blocks.

These are some treats that were sent to me by Kristy of Quiet Play.

And these are from Gemma of Pretty Bobbins.

Gemma is hosting the Sunday Stash Linky Party today, so please pop over to her blog and give her some encouraging comments, and perhaps link up as well.

What is Sunday Stash?

Essentially it is a weekly linky party where you can show off your latest purchases, swaps, thrifts, gifts and wins that are sewing related. You can find more info here.

You can feature fabric, notions, books and patterns.

It has been open to other bloggers for almost a year (May 2012) when I got a bit sick of just my own company each Sunday. It is not a huge linky party, I think the most we've had link up with 13 folks in 2013. Nothing compared to the WiP Linky and Clever Chicks Linky that stretches on for pages and pages. 

I like things to grow organically (a bit like my followers list) and so I don't really go all out to promote Sunday Stash. I do have give-aways every now and then for linking up. The last one was in February and I will be having one in May when SS Linky turns 1.

I would like to see other blogs grow by hosting Sunday Stash though. It can bring new folks to your blog that might not necessarily pop by or even know that you are out there.

Hosting Sunday Stash

Thank you to Kristy, Melissa and Audrey who have signed up to host Sunday Stash later in the year. I appreciate the support. There are still another 3 spots available so please add your name to the link below if you would like to host in late 2013.

Sew Retro Give Away

Thank you for all who entered the Sew Retro Pattern Give Away in the past week. This was in conjuction with Quilting Bloggers. I didn't make following my blog a requirement but I think my followers list grew by about 8 lovely people. That's nice. It means that they must have found something a bit more interesting to stick around for in the future. Thank you to those folks and the 170 other regulars who follow along.

Book Suggestions

I know that the other girls in Wombat Stew have been visiting to read some of the great suggestions for our Book Club titles. A couple of you suggested books that I have read already or  plan to read. It's nice for us non-fiction booky types to feel connected.

I am still reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood and it is getting easier to read - provided that I read earlier in the day and not last thing before falling asleep. Who knows I may even like this book by the end!

The Winner

Mr Random has done his clever thing  and selected #42 Tammy from Tammy's Sew N Life. Please excuse me for not posting a pic of the number generator but I have a new laptop and it runs off Windows 8 and I cannot find my Menu, programs or even Notepad. (I Don;t think that I even have a version of Microsoft Office installed yet!)

Congratulations. I will be in contact with you via email and then send your the PDF version of Kristy's great Sew Retro Pattern Bundle. Thank you to all the folks who entered the give away - may you have some luck in some of the other ones in blogland. I think I entered about 20 of them myself.

Enjoy your weekend. Ours is busy housing our closest friends and their 3 kids as they pack up, clean and move 4 hours away. 

Do stop by Pretty Bobbins and check out Sunday Stash.

Sew Retro Give Away

As some of you may know I am part of an online Australian paper piecing group called Wombat Stew. There are seven of us who take it in turns to choose a  theme for our month and then we ask one another to come up with a paper pieced block on that theme.

Alyce chose Japanese cuisine
Jane chose houses
Lara chose teapots
Kristy chose sewing (you can join her BoM sew along for these patterns)
and Marieka chose retro kitchen 
Gemma is yet to choose in April

March is my month and I have chosen Mid Century furniture and architecture. I am excited to see what the girls will come up with. 

Bookclub

But recently we introduced the idea of a Wombat Stew Book Club. To encourage us to expand our reading menu and then have the bonus of discussing the book of the month. Not all the wombats are joining in.

This month the book is called 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Attwood. It is fiction and classed as a Utopia/Dystopia. After reading the blurb on the back cover, I said to my lovely local bookstore lady "I would never choose to read this kind of book." And I am finding it very heavy going. The writing style is very different to anything I have read before and the content is very jarring.

I am more of a non-fiction kind of girl - biographies and history are my faves. Just visit my booklist on Goodreads to find out.

The Give Away

On Offer:  Win the very funky Sew Retro paper pieced bundle of patterns from Quiet Play. These will be sent as a PDF file via email.

Your Entry:  Suggest a good book title for our Book Club in the comments section below.


Who Can Enter: This give away is open to both Australian and International readers. You must have an email address to be contacted on IF you are a NO-REPLY blogger.

Finishes: Friday 15th March 9am (Australian Eastern Daylight Time).
Competition now closed

The Winner: Mr Random will choose one of YOU and I will announce the winner on Sunday 17th March during my Sunday Stash post.

'Sew Retro' Crockery

This month Chief Wombat is Marieka of Bespoke Bites. Being an amazing farmhouse cook, she has requested retro kitchen as her paper pieced theme. Kristy of Quiet Play whipped up about 6 different patterns over one day. So I chose to make the groovy crockery stack. You can purchase her patterns individually or as a Retro bundle (only $15 for 7 patterns) over at her Craftsy store.

As always Kristy's pattern came together quite easily. I wanted to use my retro 'Dream On' wallpaper fabric that Lara sent me but I did not even bother to line in up. It turned out quite well though. 

I had to include mustard and teal as pot colours - I mean how retro can you get? My favourite two pieces of tupperware are mustard (small scoop) and khakhi (measuring cups). And that red and white enamelware design keeps cropping up in a few Wombat blocks - see Lara's and Kristy's. And you can never have enough orange in a retro kitchen!

So this block is heading Marieka's way with a snippet of Amy Butler for a RASK.

I am in love with that clock!
I am linking up with TGIFF which is growing a healthier following every week.