3rd Blogoversary!

I missed it by 1 day but I couldn't let my Blogoversary go past unremembered for a 3rd time!

How time flies. It certainly doesn't feel like 3 years since I took the very scary step of starting my blog. So much has happened since then! We've had a baby, moved house, I've gone back to work twice, learned so much on the quilting front & met some fantastic bloggers (both virtually and in person).

This was the first picture I posted...

There were several projects I started back then that are still in the UFO basket too...

...but plenty more that have been completed.

Do you ever look back at your blog and see how far you've come? Do you still love the items you were making back then? Has your style changed dramatically? Walking down memory lane can be lots of fun.

To celebrate my 3rd Blogoversary I've decided to have a giveaway. I haven't picked the prize yet but I'm sure it will be something you'll love. If you would like a chance to win just leave me a comment below about your blogging journey. I will draw a winner on Sunday afternoon at 4pm.

photo credit: present 1 via photopin (license)

Hope you have a great week!

Cheers,
Tracy

Inspiration and FNSI

Hi Everyone,

Sorry that there are such big gaps between my blog posts at the moment. We are finally starting to settle into the new routine of full time work but are heading off on holiday shortly so things are quite frantic on the weekends at present. I hope you can forgive me.

I have managed to squeeze in a little time to watch a bit of 'TV'. I recently bought a workshop video produced by Kay Haerland, a very talented Australian quilt artist, called 'Textile Adventures with Kay D. Haerland'. I had been waiting for it to come out for a long time and it was definitely worth the wait!

I haven't watched all of the video yet but I was extremely inspired by what I have managed to watch. And now I can't wait to start painting fabric! I really want to learn how to create landscape and pictorial quilts and this is a great resource to learn from.

Kay has done some incredible work and won some major events. If you would like to see her work or order your own copy of the video you can check out her website here. I particularly like her pictorial quilt 'Under the Canopy' made in 2010. And no...I'm not receiving a commission :).

Another place to get inspiration is, of course, Friday Night Sew In (FNSI). Wendy is hosting this monthly virtual get-together again tomorrow night but unfortunately won't be joining us this month. If you would like to join in you can click on the link above or the picture below to go to the sign-up page. Then visit again over the weekend to see what everyone got up to.

I'm hoping not to be too tired to join in. We'll see how the day progresses.

Happy stitching everyone.

Cheers,
Tracy

The (Quilting and Blogging) Drought Has Broken

Finally! I have done absolutely no stitching since returning to full time work 5 weeks ago. Yes, it has been 5 weeks already. Unbelievable huh?

I have been desperately missing  doing something creative but have been so tired in the evenings, and had so much to do on weekends, that I just haven't had the time or energy to do anything.

That all changed today when I attended a 'Feathers and Fillers' free motion quilting workshop hosted by WAQA and facilitated by Sheila Pye. What a fantastic day! It was lots of fun and Sheila was soooo inspirational.

First we did a warm up ...

Don't look too closely. I didn't do a very good job here.

From there we progressed through the day trying different feather and filler patterns. I did get better over the course of the day but I still need a LOT of practice.

L-R: Hills and valleys, Wide feather stitch with circles, Feather stitch

A closed space filled with Feathers and Hills and Valleys

 

My pebbles got better as the day progressed

Stitching feathers around the outside of a shape was much more difficult

I quite liked the 'Puddle with Fish' design

Finally, by the last session of the day, I was feeling more relaxed and confident. We had a challenge to try and incorporate a range of things we had learned during the day. I was really happy with my end result, especially given I didn't follow a pattern.

I started with Hills and Valleys then let my imagination run wild.

It was a great day but quite exhausting. I admit to looking forward to going to bed shortly. Hopefully I will get a chance to do some more stitching tomorrow.

If you would like to see some of Sheila's work you can visit her blog, Pieces of Pye - A machine quilter's passion.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to participate in Friday Night With Friends this week but if you would like to see what everyone else got up to you can visit Cheryl's blog here.

Happy stitching,
Tracy

Winner! - Grow Your Blog Party Giveaway

Wow, didn't that 3 weeks go fast?! Thank you so much to everyone who dropped by my blog and left such lovely comments. It's been wonderful making some new friends and so inspirational visiting other people's blogs.

Mr R randomly chose a number for me this afternoon - number 23. So the winner is ... drum roll please ... Christine M from MacDonald's Patch. Congratulations Christine! If you send me your snail mail address I will pop your pattern in the post for you asap.

Christine's prize

Thanks again to Vicki at Two Bags Full for organising this annual blog party. It was a lot of fun. If, like me, you have not had a chance to check out all the participating blogs yet don't worry. They will stay up on Vicki's blog all year so you can peruse them at your leisure.

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend. I managed to get a bit more sorting and organising done, plus a little bit of prep for an upcoming machine quilting workshop with the WA Quilters' Association. Looking forward to that! Now I just need to colour sort my fabrics before putting them back upstairs.

Happy stitching everyone!

Cheers,
Tracy

A Fun Day Out With Some Blogging Friends

(If you're visiting from the GYB party you can see my post here. Thanks for stopping by.)

On Saturday I took my Mum with me to a WA Bloggers meet-up organised by Anthea at Hibiscus Stitches.

We had a great time shopping and lunching together, making new friends and catching up with old ones. Mum has been wanting to start a blog for a while and this get-together has only increased her enthusiasm.

Clockwise from L-R - Mum (Helen), Dianne, Tracee, Julia, Anthea, Maria, Sandra and Jeneta

We met at Southlands Fabric and Sewing Centre - a treasure trove of fabric, patterns, buttons, quilts on display and sewing machines. We were very well treated by the lovely ladies working there and most (if not all) of us bought a little something.

My purchases - including 2 more projects to add to my quilts to do (QTD) list

I had to buy some buttons for Miss M - she has a real fetish for them!

Then we popped into Textile Traders before heading to Mom Dumpling House in Willeton for a yummy lunch.

All in all, a great day out. Thanks Anthea for organising everything. Looking forward to catching up with everyone at the May Craft & Quilt Fair!

Have a great week.
Cheers,
Tracy

The Time Has Come The Walrus Said ...

... for me to go back to full time work.

I don't really mind working, and I enjoy the company of my colleagues (I have worked with them before), but it leaves so much less time for everything else! And with Miss M back in day care we are going to have an onslaught of germs and bugs at home until her immune system adjusts again. Thus my Friday Night With Friends (FNFW) did not go quite as planned.

But before I bring you up to speed, if you are visiting from the Grow Your Blog (GYB) party hosted by Vicki at 2 Bags Full, thanks for stopping by. You can view my GYB post here.

So, I've actually been back at work for 1 week. It all happened rather quickly. With 1 spare day before I started I decided it would be a good idea to get my sewing room in order.

I took everything downstairs and started organising...

... then got side-tracked - baking with Miss M & making jam.

FNFW looked like a great opportunity to finish sorting and organising, followed by some relaxing stitching. But Miss M had a mild bout of gastro and neither of us got much sleep Thurs night.

I did manage to finish sorting and organising most of my UFO projects (22 & counting) ...

... which included some planning for my first design (still in the very early stages).

 

Then a bit more cuddling of Miss M and off to dinner for my nephew's 18th birthday. After that I was exhausted so no actual sewing occurred for FNWF. I haven't finished organising and sorting but have made some reasonable progress. Hopefully I can finish it off next weekend and put my sewing room back together.

I'm sure everyone else who participated in FNWF with Cheryl had a much more productive evening than I did. If you would like to see what my 50 fellow sewers got up to you can visit Cheryl's blog, Gone Stitching.

Have a great week everyone!
Cheers, Tracy.

FNWF is on again!

Good Morning Everyone,

If you are visiting for the Grow Your Blog (GYB) party please have a look at my post here.

The lovely Cheryl has put up the sign-up list for this month's Friday Night With Friends (FNWF). If you would like to join us for a fun filled night of stitching you can go to her blog or click on the image below.

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Cheers,
Tracy