Stash Books and City Quilts

I've just been over to the Stash Books website, where they've got a craft book giveaway on. I've thrown my hat in the ring for a copy of City Quilts by Cherri House, and there are three other books to choose from. Giveaway closes very soon, so go over there now!

Hexy Madness

At first I thought it was just my friend Jo at Sparkly Green Knickers, with her hexy crochet and Grandmother's Garden hexy quilt. Then I noticed my quilt guru Taccolina is doing it too. And now  Clutterpunk has just confirmed it's true: the crafting  world has gone hexy mad!

Approach hexies with caution: as with Azolla or duckweed, one spore in your environment will reproduce madly and smother your fishpond in days.

Got the hex?

Start Small:

• See My Three Sons' tutorial for these darling hexagon needle books: I followed this excellent tutorial and made these ones in the photo
• Mel's Own Place has a needle case tutorial as well

Think Big:

• Follow Texas Freckles' Hexagon Charm Quilt Piece-Along:  Melanie has compiled a super resource list of tips, short-cuts and tutorials for quilters of all levels 

Think Even Bigger, like these applique enthusiasts:

• TASA are hoping to create the hoping to create the World’s Biggest Hexagon Quilt

Or join a self-help Hexy Madness group (or is it a Hexy cult?):

• The Great Hexagon Quilt-Along!
• The Great Hexagon Quilt-Along Too!

Here's a resource list from Angela of My Three Sons

My lucky day # 2!

It's not every day a pretty parcel like this arrives at Camp Bellgirl. It's my my giveaway from Cat Taylor Designs in New Zealand!

Cat sent me a package of her Where The Wild Things Are envelopes and this cute sewing-themed zip purse, accompanied by a little handmade birdie card. The packaging was so lovely, it's a shame it didn't turn out in the photo. I have squirrelled away the embroidery floss tie for a future project!

Cat's blog is full of crafty goodness, with some wonderful tutorials like this one, for making kids' pyjama pants without a pattern;

and recipes for good things to eat, including these lemon and poppyseed muffins! It's all beautifully photographed too.

One of my favorite features of this blog is Cat's reading list on the sidebar. It's a great collection that includes lots of new and beautiful craft books, some gardening books and some novels.

Cat produces gorgeous craft for markets, retailers and her online shops on etsy and felt NZ.Her shops include many upcycled items including sketch books and envelopes, as well as her lovely sewing.

Thank you Cat! I love my giveaways, and it's been great to discover your blog- I've added it to my own sidebar 'reading list'.

I'm in Clover!

I'm a very lucky Bellgirl this week!

Not only did I win two lovely giveaways, from Cat Taylor Designs and Deb from Works in Progress...

I also took the Bug's Avalon quilt down to my local Spotlight store's quilting night (he didn't want me to take it, but I assured him I would be bringing it back). I've posted about the quilt here; the pattern is Avalon by Kathy Doughty, from a library copy of Material Obsession, the very book I won in Deb's giveaway last week.  I entered it in the quilt competition...and won second prize!

I was particularly lucky because there wasn't actually a second second or third prize. But- Bill from Birch was there with a stand demonstrating Clover sewing products, including the very desirable new Clover Mini Iron II, and decided to offer some more prizes for the entrants. And can you guess what the second prize was? Yes It Was!!

It couldn't have come at a better time, because this week I have been making some small and fiddly thank yous for Cat and Deb, and have been thinking, "I could really use a Clover Mini Iron". Thank you very much to the Quilting Night team at Spotlight Carnegie, and to Bill from Birch and Clover Products!

DIY: Sewing Kit for a Pre-Schooler

Here's a sewing kit which I made as a gift for a four-year-old friend's birthday. Because her mum's a graphic designer, they do a lot of art and craft at home. Her mum doesn't sew though. Now they can add sewing to their skills-set!

I like to make gifts so that my son can see that it's possible to make things rather than buying, and to show him that I value homemade items. The Bug helps where possible, cutting threads and holding pins, and he makes the cards and wrapping paper.

 The kit includes:

• A drawstring bag: I used Nicole Mallalieu's excellent tutorial here. I embroidered our friend's name on a patch, using the hessian/ burlap and yarn I'm putting in the kit. 

• an embroidery hoop with a square of hessian/ burlap in her favorite colour. I pre-threaded and knotted the plastic yarn needle with yarn, doubling the thread so the yarn doesn't slip off the needle.

• -some more pre-cut squares of hessian/ burlap

• a needle book: the outside is felt, and the inside is a remnant of hessian/ burlap. I cut a rectangle out of the felt, and a slightly smaller rectangle of the hessian/ burlap. I then placed the hessian on the felt and folded them both in half like a book. After that I just sewed a seam up the 'spine', and embroidered her name on the front. For a really pretty needlebook, see this tutorial by Jo's Place.

•  two plastic needles- the large, blunt type used for sewing up knitted garments
• a selection of coloured yarns

I didn't include scissors because I prefer to leave scissor choices to the parents as they know their kids best. Also, I can't be blamed for any impromptu haircuts.


My Bug has been sewing like this since he was two, but at three he's really ready for it and finds it more achieveable and fun.

What Inspired You to Quilt?

Sleepy BearsSleepy Bears

The Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy's Creative Side  is well under way, with over 470 quilts from all around the world. With so many quilters, there are hundreds of sources of inspiration. I'll share one of mine, and I'd love to hear yours.

[For the Bloggers Quilt Festival quilt, see my previous post]

When my Bug was tiny, each night I would read him Mem Fox's Sleepy Bears. This lovely lilting rhyme about a bear family's bedtime stories is brought to life by Kerry Argent's illustrations. They all snuggle into their soft feather bed under a beautiful patchwork quilt. You can see it here, draped over the moon on the book's cover.

The quilt is almost a character in its own right, appearing on nearly every page. It is composed of simple squares of clear, bright colours, with plains and patterns falling into soft, organic folds. It looked so soft and inviting that it made me want to make a patchwork quilt for my son.

Kerry Argent's illustration also inspired the Denton Quilt Guild, who made this quilt (left). This is one of over twenty quilts inspired by quilt-themed children's books which the Guild's talented quilters have made to lend to schools, libraries, museums and children's groups. The full list of storybook quilts can be found here.

Kerry's quilt illustrations appear in at least one of her other works, Margaret Wild and Kerry Argent's Ruby Roars, about a little Tasmanian Devil finding her voice.

So...what inspired you to start quilting?

My quilt for the Bloggers Quilt Festival is here, and the full list of exhibitors is here at Amy's Creative Side.

Bloggers Quilt Festival: the Inky Blocky Quilt!

It's already the 21st May here in eastern Australia, and that means the Bloggers Quilt Festival has begun! Our host is the lovely Amy from Amy's Creative Side. I'm showing a work in progress, with a little commentary on the steps to this point. So without further ado- my next quilt!

To me, what makes this quilt special is the beautiful fabrics. It's a mix of intensely coloured shot cottons from Reece Scannell and some eco-friendly hand-printed fabric by Tegan Rose of Ink And Spindle in Melbourne, Australia. The shot cottons have a vitality and an understated shimmer. There are five different colours, but I've changed the direction of the grain in some blocks, giving a different impression, as you can see in this picture.

Tegan's fabric has Australian blue wrens printed in an inky blue on an off-white hemp blend basecloth. I've mixed in some plain pieces of basecloth too, which seems to make the whole effect more relaxing.

The quilt is for Mister Bell to snooze under on the living room couch. I wanted something quite masculine, and not too bedroomy.For the quilt, that is! My colour inspiration came from the artwork in the room.

I took the fabrics to my crafting group Perle8s and asked the quilters for simple pattern ideas for a new quilter. Patch Andi said "blocky", so I whipped out a  free pattern from Spotlight. I drew it up before cutting into my fabrics in case the measurements were incorrect, which they were. Take precautions with free patterns, folks! "Measure twice, cut once", as Mister Bell says.

Visit Amy's Creative Side: Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2010 to see a host of wonderful quilts and the stories behind them.

**UPDATE: I've finished the piecing, see this post.

Who's a lucky girl then?

Here I am, sitting at my desk reading about mythological blacksmiths as usual, and I've just received two emails from two bloggers in New Zealand! I like to see what other crafters are doing in my region, so when I saw the long lists on giveaway day I honed in on my fellow ANZACs. And not only have I discoved some lovely new blogs to follow, I have also won two giveaways! I'm too lucky, tee hee!

The first message to arrive was from Cat of Cat Taylor Designs. Cat produces gorgeous craft for markets, retailers and her online shops on etsy and felt NZ. I know the shops have been busy this week, because I spied these lovely envelopes on Tuesday, saw them in the shop and thought "I'll go and buy some, but I'll wait in case I win them in the giveaway".  You fool, you say. And sure enough, they've been sold. But wait- I did win them in the giveaway! Yay! And also this cool sewing-themed pop-art coin purse, very appropriate!

I'd like to tell you about some of my favorite things on Cat's blog, and I will do that when the giveaways  arrive, because I'll take a picture of them here.

I'll also be blogging more about Deb's blog Works in Progress- a topic with great resonance here at Camp Bellgirl as I have so many WIPs myself. Deb did two giveaways, one for all and one just for her followers- and I won that one! I'm delighted to be the winner of a copy of Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke's book Material Obsession. I'm a big fan of the book since I got it from the library to make the Bug's Avalon Quilt.

Deb is quite a quilter, and is taking part in the Bloggers Quilt Festival, so follow the link to see her quilts. Deb is also a dab hand with a vintage sheet or pillowcase, and has several tutorials on crafty, thrify ideas with vintage linens. I'll blog more about them in a forthcoming post. But be sure to keep an eye out, because to celebrate her 600th post, Deb is doing another giveaway- a vintage sheet quilt! you won't want to miss this. Thank you Deb, I'm chuffed to bits!

The Simplest Quick-Mix Chocolate Cake

Here's a cake that's ideal for making with kids, or even just when you're in a hurry for chocolate. One bowl, two steps. You don't even need to get out the scales. Ready? Let's go!

Ingredients:

• 1 x 250ml* cup of self-raising flour
• 1 x 250ml* cup of caster sugar
• 2 x 20ml* tablespoons cocoa
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 a cup (125 ml*) milk
• 3 x 20ml* tablespoons of melted butter (let it cool down a little before pouring it in)

Method:

1. Preheat  oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).
2. Put all ingredients except butter into a bowl and mix to combine.
3. Add butter and beat with electric mixer for 2 minutes, or use hand whisk for about 4 mins. The mixture should start to lighten in colour. 
4. Pour into lined, greased baking tin and bake for 35-40 minutes.
5. Test with a skewer: if the skewer comes out clean, it's ready to take out and cool on a wire rack. If there is some mixture on the skewer, leave for a few minutes and try again. 

It's very good eaten warm with vanilla ice cream. Hide it from yourself if you don't want to spoil your dinner.  If there's any left by the time it cools, add icing and hundreds-and-thousands.

* This recipe uses Australian standard size cups and tablespoons, which are larger than those used in other countries. If you do not have these cups you will need to measure the quantities by volume. I must confess, I'm not terribly precise with the measuring, and this recipe has always been very forgiving.

Felt Fantastic!

I've finished my first softie from Karin Neuschutz's Sew Soft Toys from Winterwood Steiner Inspired Toys. I visited the stand at the Stitches and Craft Show and got the book and this pure wool felt. 

This elephant is a present for baby Nora, who turns one next month. Cindy from Perle8's showed me how to do a french knot for baby-safe eyes.

I first saw the softies from the book on Truj's blog- check out her family of piggies! I'm heading out to the Winterwood shop on Saturday to get some hand-dyed felt to make this foxie from the book, which supervised from a shelf at the Stitches and Craft show.

What's out the window today?

The leaves are starting to change colour outside our kitchen window. Some years, the grapevine is a deep red, but at the moment it's a mix pale red, apricot and pale green. Beyond the vine, the pear trees are still a deep green.

Five years ago, this north-facing garden was a concrete twin-strip driveway, and the only plants were weeds. Now it's the most beautiful part of our garden.

The garden is planted with decidious trees and vines, which provide shade in summer and allow light in winter. It changes by season, and even by week at this time of year.

The understorey is native Australian plants, some indigenous to our area, others from other parts of the country. Maisy buries bones beneath the shrubs, and the Bug scoots up and down the narrow path and makes nests in the mulch.

Miss Brown enjoys the view.

Here's what it looked like last year: http://bellgirl.com.au/2009/09/eye-spyseasons-change.html

Starting Solids - a mosaic of inpiring quilts

Starting Solids - a mosaic of inpiring quilts
Originally uploaded by Bellgirl

I'm planning to make a quilt using mainly solids. It will be for the living room couch, so I don't want anything too bedroomy. I've chosen a palette of inky blue, rusty browns, tea stains and bricky red.

I'm new to quilting, and although I love the look of the improvised quilts, I'm not sure how to get started.

For this quilt I'd probably prefer a pattern, some sort of random squares. Can anyone suggest a pattern?

My colour inspiration comes from this mosaic of Marrakesh by J. Ruchel.

1. City Green, 2. City Lights, 3. Elements #28, 4. Squares quilt, 5. Elements #28, 6. Quiltlet #5, 7. Quiltlet #2, 8. Quiltlet #19, 9. Quiltlet #6, 10. Portfolio Review, 11. House top, 12. The Kite Festival, 13. Shirts from the Goodwill Store, 14. Unfinished, 15. Menemsha Quilt (for Baby Miles), 16. Work Quilt #2

Two for Tea Towels

At the Stitches and Craft show I did a printing workshop taught by Lara of Harvest Textiles for Ink and Spindle. We made tea towels using stencils we cut from contact adhesive, the stuff you use to cover school books.

It was an excellent workshop, and it's nice to bring home a project I can be proud of,  made with good quality materials.  Will I dry the dishes with them, as intended, or will I hang them on the wall?

To the left you see Miss Maisy Brown stalking her Arch-Nemesis, the possum, which is sitting on our back fence. To the right, the giraffe (G- raffe), a great graphic animal and a favorite of mine.

Lara and Harvest Textiles run courses at Ink and Spindle. My friend Sparkly Green Knickers, who I saw at the show, is booked in to one, and I'd like to too.

I also made this Turbo Hedgehog at the makedo stand.  These are cool reuseable connectors with safe pieces and tools, great for making creatures out of boxes, one of our favorite passtimes here at Camp Bellgirl.

Stay tuned, there's more to report from Stitches and Craft!

Disappearing nine patch and disappearing cake!

Before the Bug was born I planned to decorate his room in navy blue and yellow. I found a lovely 30s-inspired seaside fabric for a quilt, and made some curtain tie-backs. I found cot sheets and blankets in soft yellow. I was all set to quilt.

Then I realised that blue and yellow was the colour of the school uniform of the local primary school where the Bug will go. I thought it might be a bit embarrassing and nerdy to have a room in school colours! So I switched the decor to bright blue and green. But what to do with this lovely blue and yellow fabric?

I'm loving this simple disappearing nine patch pattern, so I decided to make one for my shop. But as soon as my mum saw it she claimed it for her forthcoming birthday. That meant (dramatic chords)- a deadline!

Team Bellgirl got to work, and the Bug and I produced bith the quilt and the cake by mum's birthday on Wednesday. The quilt still exists but the cake didn't last long!

This is the simplest, fastest chocolate cake recipe in the world, easy for kids to make. There's no creaming of butter and sugar. I've posted the recipe here.