I've been busy being creative ...

The last two weeks have just flown by.  Last week I finally got back to my sewing machine and made really good progress on some new quilts including a beautiful 3D Mariners Compass quilt.  I have to say that making the quilt blocks using this technique was the most hassle free method I've ever used, and the result is so beautiful!

This week I took a break from the sewing, and decided I needed to get some class instructions written before our youngest child finishes school for the year on Friday!  He is a darling boy, but you need eyes in the back of your head when he is at home, so digitising a complex whole cloth quilt design is not something to be contemplated!  I have enjoyed sitting with the radio on working at the kitchen table, until I realised that I had shut down my computer last night without saving my design.  Thankfully the student notes are fine, but I've had to re-create a fair hunk of the quilt today.  It isn't as bad as it seems, because the design is really lovely and I'm enjoying working on it. 

This is the line drawing of the whole cloth quilt design.

I've borrowed inspiration from a couple of sources for this quilt. I have started by using Ricky Tims' Rhapsody design technique, and will use Sherry Rogers-Hamilton's Inklique technique when I finally finish it and get it stitched!  I'm planning on painting/inking it when it is done, with inspiration coming from this picture of Sherry's quilt ... I can hardly wait!

I've committed myself to teaching more classes next year than I have been able to mange for a couple of years now.  After two years of suffering from pain, and being misdiagnosed (and then given horrid medication I didn't need) I feel like a caterpillar that has turned into a butterfly, leaving the ugly chrysalis behind.  I developed Fibromyalgia somewhere along the way, and I am pleased to say that I am managing it well.

Years ago I taught some classes on colour, helping quilters to learn how to coordinate fabrics for a quilt.  The classes were always booked out, because quilters really need to know this stuff.

As you know I have not been teaching myself as much as I used to, but I did find this excellent video to show you all how to coordinate your quilt!

Click here to view the video.

My Kingdom for more time ...

I've got that horrible "rushed" kind of feeling, you know the sort.  It's the feeling you get when the shear volume of work is so overwhelming that you don't know quite where to start.

As a retailer (my darling man Jim and I own Michelle's Sewing Basket), we never really get down to unwinding and enjoying Christmas, simply because on the other side of the till, we are frantically trying to make sure everyone gets their Christmas shopping orders before our suppliers close down for the Christmas and New Year holidays here in Australia. Actually it is a double whammy because we also have our annual Summer shut down at the same time!

No wonder we feel like we are on the "fast spin" cycle!

Between now and February is quite possibly our busiest time of year.  After Christmas are the New Year sales, then I start teaching again almost immediately at the shop.  On the 18th January our brilliant shop hop, known as The Fabric Frolic starts.  I think you get the idea.

I had a whole load of lovely Santa Pales half sewn ready to finish for my gift giving this year, and they are still sitting unfinished.  But it isn't  total disaster as I did get some of my planned Christmas sewing done, and I am part way finished on two shop samples.

The shop is looking brilliant, with the new sewing machine pods that Jim designed and built giving us lots more room, and avoiding the need for us to shift to larger premises (although a neighbouring business owner is doing his best to drive us batty making a shift quite attractive).

If you have never lived in the Southern Hemisphere, I can guess that it would be difficult to imagine a Christmas with blistering heat.  The Australian Summer in Victoria where I live can be harsh indeed with temps soaring into the 40's Celsius.  We've already had some days like that, while we had 43 degrees my daughter living in London was enjoying a rather cooler -2 degrees.  (sorry no idea what that is in Fahrenheit).  The weather is a topic everyone in Melbourne talks about and no matter how long we have lived here it is still amazing how hot it gets.  Our Christmas celebrations are unique, and we will sit down to a meal of seafood and salads!

Thankfully our son Kevin (who has an intellectual disability) is off to learn to surf this weekend, which will give me some much needed sewing time. 

That is enough blogging from me for today, I must get on and do some more work.

If you are interested in the 2013 Fabric Frolic just go to the web site I created to learn more www.fabric-frolic.moonfruit.com.