Sheena Chapman Quilt Show

 I had the most fantastic day yesterday. My Patch Fabrics was once again holding a workshop with the awseome Sheena Chapman.

Sheena has a really fantastic style and so I thought I would take some pictures so I could share a mini quilt show with you.

We had 8 girls in the class. This is a 3 part workshop with 1 class being held each month for the next 3 months. If you would like to see the pictures bigger just click on the pictures.

 We made a heap of string piecing and will then cut them up. Every quilt will be different and will combine Sheenas style and techniques and the makers own ideas mixed in.

Here is Sheenas Argyle Cut quilt. I'm sorry but I have forgotten most of the names of Sheenas Quilts, but they sure are eye candy :)

 And a close up of some of the details.

 This circle quilt is the inspiration for my quilt which I did in Sheenas last class. My quilt is nearly finished and I'm hoping to enter it in my local quilt show next weekend, so I need to get busy and finish it :)

 A few of the girls were also working on the circle quilt. This is a really fun technique where you make curves and circles without pins!

 Dianne was a part of the 'My Patch Sarah Fielke Workshop' a few months ago and she brought along the quilt that was inspired by that workshop. I think its gorgeous!

 This is the design wall that Dianne and Sheena put together at the end of the day. Dianne had this beautiful fabric that was made for Japanese Obe's... Just gorgeous!!!

 Heres another of my favourite Sheena quilts. This one is called Fandango. Isn't the use of a good solid fabric just stunning!

 This is Sheenas Ferris Wheel Quilt. She started with the purple ferris wheel fabric and designed her quilt around that.

It is really fascinating to me that the really busy cream spot fabric actually reads as a neutral in this quilt, so cool!!

Heres another quilt that is mainly based on string piecing. Just lovely!

This is quite a soft quilt for Sheena, but I love it!

Again more pin free curves, so much fun and really quite easy when you see it demonstrated.

Sheena uses Grey as a neutral alot too. A girl after my own heart... I just LOVE grey!

This quilt is one of my favourites! It has amazing details everywhere you look. The tulips are my favourite.

Heres a close up of the tulips. Again pieced in the same way as the pin free curves, they are just gorgeous!

Heres a simple tumbler block made special by the use of light and dark tones.

So cute!

And last but not least my absolute favourite! This is a wallhanging and is totally free piecing. No templates or pins, just a bit of string piecing and an idea. I am definatey going to recreate this one!

Sheenas hand quilting is just so inspiring!

I hope you enjoyed a look at the amazing work of Sheena Chapman. A truely gifted quilter and teacher!

I'll be back in a few days to share my version of Sheenas circle quilt, (just as soon as I finish the hand quilting)

Hugs Paula

My New Pattern - The Charm Square Bed Quilt

I'm so excited to have another new pattern being released this week! This time its another quilt that is really beginner friendly.

The idea behind this quilt is to give you one pattern that will suit every bed in your house.

Basically this pattern includes instructions to make every size quilt you will ever need from a cot size quilt right up to a King!

This quilt can be made even easier by using precut 5" Charm square packs.

 Heres my Chloe being a supermodel :)

 My girls had so much fun tickling each other so they could keep smiling while Mummy took a thousand pictures hehehe.

So here it is the cover of my new pattern. Remember to ask your local Patchwork shop to order it in for you from Pattern Press or visit one of my retail stockists on the left side of this page.

I hope you like it!

Hugs Paula

Score!!!

Wow 2 blog posts in 2 days, I'm on a roll :)

When I started work at My Patch Fabrics in Milton Val had these gorgeous chairs that she had recovered. I just loved them and was devestated when they sold a few weeks ago.

But when they sold it inspiredme to go searching for a restoration project of my own. So we packed the babys into the car and went for a drive out to the local rubbish dump Shop, I had never heard of the tip having a shop, but boy was I glad I took that drive!

Apart from the interesting smell that wafted through every now and then, I had an absolute ball looking through all the stuff that had been salvaged from the land fill.

I spotted these awesome chairs and apart from needing a good sand they are in excellent shape!

 There was 6 dining chairs and I knew I had to have them before I even got a close look at them. I asked the guy how much they would be and guess what they were $2 each!!!! So for $12 I have a beautiful set of 6 dining chairs that I absolutely LOVE!

 Can you imagine, a bit of a sand, a coat of white paint some super cute cushions! I'm so excited about them :)

Heres the detail on the backs of the chairs. So gorgeous! I can't wait to get started!

Hugs Paula

My Creative Space

I just discovered that this is my first blog post since Christmas Eve, wow I didn't think it was that long, but I am really trying to think of interesting things that I can tell you about more often, so I'm trying to get back here I promise.

Anyway I thought I would start by showing you a few little areas in my Sewing Room. Have you seen the Quilting Gallerys website? Pat Sloan has started a Learning Centre over there and is doing a feature on Organising your creative space.

This inspired me so I got busy last month and started organising. I wanted one of those peg boards you can get at the hardware, but I saw this shelving system at Aldi and thought that it would do nicely, oh and I wouldn't have to rely on hubby the build a frame ;)

Its fantastic, I have a place for my scissors, Stencils, Headphones (great for blocking out screaming kids hehehe, and of course all the little bits and pieces like basting pins, screw drivers, Marking pens and everything else that I have collected.

Heres just a few of my scissors and rotary cutters that fit perfectly in the screw driver rack.

Over the other side of the room is these super cute tins that I got for half price.. Score!

The purple tin on my storage rack is perfect for my Pearle 8 quilting threads.

And the tidy section of my Fat Quarter collection ;)

People laugh at me when I say I have a massive basket for my scraps, but here it is, all of these pieces are a lot smaller than a fat quarter, tehehe I have trouble throwing fabric away. Can you tell?

This is my design wall. The Cathedral window blocks are a cheats technique I've been working on for years and then I discover that someone else has just published a book using the same technique (google the 10 minute block to see what I mean), ohh well I guess no idea is a new idea :) I'm still going to teach some workshops using this technique.
The other projects are a portrait of my eldest daughter that I started about 3 or 4 years ago, a christmas stocking that I embroidered on some ticking and a little garden embroidery.

My design wall is a product from Floriani, it is tacki on both sides of a batting type material and is supposed to stick to the wall and then your projects are supposed to just stick to it. I had to actually staple it to my wall because it just wouldn't stay up, but my projects seem to stay up ok, as long as they have a wadding on the back of them.

Oops heres a pic I meant to put up the top of this post, but it is basically all my Sewline pens, fabric pens and basically all my pens for using on fabric in one side, then all my normal pens, pencils, erasers and sharpeners in the other.

I thought I throw this in to show that my sewing room is still a work in progress with big piles of stuff everywhere hehehe. Oh well its a start at least :) See the Blue vase, In made that years ago when I was in my Pottery phase :) Actually those vases I painted on it would work on a block I think. Oh dear there I go again wanting to start a new project when I already have 20 on the go.

I haven't shown my table yet as there was secret stuff on there when I took these pics, but I will show you soon I promise.

Whats you best organisation tip?

Hope you have a great weekend!

Hugs Paula

From my family to yours, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and heres to a wonderful New Year!

Cheers and big hugs Paula

The year that was 2011

Wow What a Year!

Thats got to be the understatement of the century!

I have gone from being on a disability pension and in a wheelchair (I thought for the rest of my life) to starting my own business, having one last surgery and getting out of my chair, and then working a few days a week at an awesome fabric shop!

It not all been good though, I have had too many deaths in the family and many ups and downs in my marriage, but all in all, I think that this year has been one of my best ever!

I have 4 amazing children who make me smile everyday and a job/hobby that has gotten me through some tough times! I hope your year has been a good one and that the next is a winner for all of us!

Anyway, onto the show and tell. I have had a fantastic few days in my sewing room, I have made sooo many gorgeous gifts for my babys and just couldn't help but try a few on my baby girl.

 I fell in love with the Bubikini from Little Bird Designs and so I am making them for all 3 of my girls and my neice as well, sooo cute! Unfortunately I had run out of the polka dot fabric, so the ruffle on the top was a bit too thin, but still cute.

 Sorry about the flash, but this is one of my favourite pics of the year. My Hubby and Bubby watching telly last night, the only way it would be more realistic would be if Daddy has his bottle next to him too ;)

 Heres my baby boy, his favourite thing is to put a sock on his hand and put on a funny voice, the cheapest puppet you've ever seen tehe. It's funny how the Sit Me Up Donut has taken a major roll in our house this year. All the kids love it and somehow the insert just never stays in it, they love sitting in the middle or reading in it, or Emmas favourite new thing is doing Belly Flops onto it :)

 But a great way to finish the year is with, I think my best work yet! This one has been months in the making from tiny little sketches to a full single bed sized sensory quilt.

Tummy Time is my newest pattern and is heading to shops as I type (thanks to Pattern Press of course). Tummy Time recieved a huge reaction at the Australian Quilt Market and I'm just so proud of it.

 As most parents will know, we are encouraged to lay our babys on their Tummys for a little while each day so they can strengthen their necks. To make this more interesting for little ones, the 'Tummy Time' quilt has lots of different textures for them to play with.

Buttercup the Kitten has a faux fur chest and tail, Madeliene the Sheep is made from chenille. Mr Toucan has a flappy 3D wool felt tail. Ralphie the Elephant has suede feet and ears, as well as a flappy ear, Ted the turtle has metalic spots while Denis the Duck has a minky wing and a squeaky toy and finally Pickles the Puppy has a 3D tongue that is also crinkly.

I hope you like my newest pattern! Wow who would have thought on the 1st of Feb this year that by the end of the year I would have released 9 patterns!

The kids are screaming so I best go, but I hope that you have an amazing holiday season and whatever you do I hope you are safe and happy!

Hugs Paula xxx

AQM and a trip to Tocumwal

I have had a crazy few months! As well as working on a new pattern (pictures soon) I took a quick trip to Tocumwal to visit my dear old Dad. Dad has Leukemia and has had a tough few months with Chemo so we thought a visit with his girls would be the best medicine.

Heres Poppa with his best girl, my Molly.

 We had a great time in Toc, we went Koala spotting and got so close to them it was fantastic! Chloe also had a ball in Nannas garden, she loves picking flowers and putting them in her hair.

 Another reason for the trip was to head down to the Australian Quilt Market in Melbourne.
I had a fantastic time even though I had no kids with me for the first time in 7 years, I missed them terribly! The Pattern Press Stand that Helen and Melissa set up was so fantastic! I had so much fun talking to everyone, new and old friends, a fantastic weekend!

Heres my section of the stand, almost all my samples made the trip and they looked fantastic I think.

 One of the highlights of the weekend was heading out for dinner on the Saturday night with some of my favourite designers. The cameras all got pulled out when it was desert time. Natalie Ross was there, a big fan of chocolate as you can see ;)

 Helen was a good girl and settled for a wafer from her daughters desert :)

 Melissa Grant and Gail Pan shared their chocolatey Orange yummyness.

And me, well I just had a Hot chocolate, so no pictures of that :)

After having trouble getting my car started tehe I finally got back to Tocumwal on Sunday night and remembered oops the girls had been invited to a birthday party for their new friend Alice. So I whipped up a cute little party dress for here from some of my favourite new fabric that I had scored at the AQM. The lovely designer is Tammie from 'Buddies Coirner'

The dress I sort of made up as I went along, but I got the bodice pattern from here.

 The Fabric has such a high thread count that I raw edge appliqued the flower without even using any fusible webbing... I'm in love with Tammies fabric, can you tell :)

Finally I decided, no more work and we had a great time, we went sight seeing and visited some more new friends on their property, they had this massive tree on their property, which takes about 12 people stretched with their arms out to reach around it!! My Dad is over 6 foot tall, so can you imagine how big this tree is!!

What a fantastic week we had! Hope you have a great one too!

Hugs Paula xxx

Winners

Oh dear, I have been feeling soooo guilty, It has been forever since I mentioned my new pattern giveaways and I haven't had 2 seconds to get organised to announce the winners.

I have finally drawn the winners though and congratulations go to:

rosewendy said...

I am a follower. I love the Kids sewing book. It looks bright and fun- a great way to interest young people.
wendyhatton(at)yahoo.com.au

Quiltin' Sandy said...

Hi Paula I am a follower. Your patterns are really lovely. :0

So Ladies send me an email and let me know which of my patterns you would like (You can choose from any of my patterns not just the new ones) and I will post them out ASAP.

I will hopefully find 5 minutes to get back here to fill you in on the excitement of the Australian Quilt Market in Melbourne last weekend. OMG it was awesome!