Melly & me

One WIP finished!!

I am in the best mood in the world - I have finished a WIP!!!! HORRAY!!!  I can hardly believe it!  It seems like I have so many projects stuck somewhere in limbo but now I can cross one off my list - does that mean there is room for one more to start??!! 

Some of you may remember this WIP from late Feb - a new quilt for baby Floss' big girl bed, well it is DONE!

Apologies for the not-so-great photo, but with today's weather the lighting is horrid. 

Now I need to decide - to be a pattern or not to be a pattern?

I am sneaking off now in the hopes of completing yet another WIP while the going is good! - Melly

Introducing...

Introducing Clancy and Clarabel the cross-eyed frogs! She has a skin condition but he loves her anyway...

Pattern to follow soon.

May the floss be with you,

Rosie

Class of March '07

YES - we do have blisters on our fingers!!!!

Bon voyage!

Lovely things

Thank-you to everyone who left a fantastic response to the "Scrappy Cabin Challenge"!  We are so excited that some of you are going to join us on the journey and are bursting to see some of your blocks!

Over the past couple of days I have been putting together this new wallet and wristlet set (pattern to follow soon)

Rosie and I will be teaching these sweeties at Patchwork on Central Park on Sunday the 6th of May from 10:00am - 3:00pm.  We will also be teaching the Sangsangs on Sunday May the 20th 10:00am - 3:00pm.  Central Park will be taking bookings next week so ring promptly if you are interested as there is a maximum of 8 people per class.  We would love to see you!

Of course this weeks sewing left me with lots of yummy scraps which resulted in a few of these - YAY!

We may be a little quiet for the next 4 or 5 days as we have a very large order of Little Kitties and Silly Bunnies to make for Anna at Black & Spiro.  We will be using our loveliest fabrics and can already see all those delicious scrappy cabins that will follow!

As always, may the floss be with you! - Melly

PS from Rosie - Thank-you so much Jocelyn for the amazingly beautiful hanging heart that you sent me through Leanne.  She brought it around yesterday and I am thrilled with it!  How thoughtful of you.

Scrappy Cabin Challenge

Have you ever fallen in love with your scrap pile after working on several special projects?  Do you store up your scraps because they are too good to throw away?  The potential is overwhelming!

Melanie and I have challenged each other to what we like to call our "Scrappy Cabin Challenge"

The aim of this challenge is to create a gorgeous scrappy log cabin quilt (hopefully queen size) by the end of the year.  The one rule is that we can ONLY use our fabric scraps.  For the purposes of this challenge, a scrap is any piece of left over fabric smaller than a fat sixteenth.  The wonderful thing about using up all those scraps is that we feel more justified buying more fabric for new projects!

Every time we complete a project we look down at the fresh pile of scraps and cannot throw them away.  Now they serve a purpose.  We plan on whipping up several scrappy cabins after every sewing project.  The beauty of this plan is that the quilt will become a "journal" of our years crafting.  Every time we look at our beautiful quilts they will be full of memories of the things we have made.  Here are some we have started this weekend.

We have challenged each other, but we are really hoping that some of you will join in the fun!  To help begin this project, we have created a foundation piecing tutorial which is located in the right side bar.  From this you will learn the dimensions of each block.  We have also created a flickr group so we can all share our WIPs and hopefully one day our completed scrappy cabin quilts! 

We plan on sharing other ideas for your scrappy cabin blocks as we go.  Another idea we had for the challenge is to co-ordinate a scrap bag swap to add interest to the project and perhaps even a block swap somewhere down the track. 

Please send us an email or post a comment to let us know if you'd like to join the fun.  We would also love to share some photos of your finished work on here so we hope for plenty of progress snaps.  You may also come up with some other ideas to incorporate your scrappy cabin blocks.  We would love to hear about them over the next few months.

We are so excited!!

May the floss be with you! - Rosie and Melly 

A creative life

This week I have been spending a lot of time pondering my current lifestyle and my journey over the past four years.  It is amazing how satisfying this has been as I have realised that I am living the life that I could have only ever dreamed of in the past. 

It was just over four years ago that DH and I found out that we were so lucky and privileged to be able to become parents to our most precious little floss.  The change from that time to now is staggering.  After years of infertility I had entrenched myself in a career that passed the time but was so empty to me - my heart was not in it and I was not pursuing any of my dreams.  Finally I left my employer and started the whirlwind journey of mothering.  I would be lying if I said that this transition was all roses, as the first months were quite daunting and difficult but over time I have learned to value myself as a stay at home mum and have been given the freedom to become myself. 

As Rosie has mentioned before it was over a year ago now that she suggested I start designing but my self doubt was just too strong so we started the journey together.  I was envisaging a partnership where Rosie designed and I did the paperwork!  One day I sat down to create my first design, in my mind I was saying that no one would see it, that I couldn't show it to anyone in case they didn't like it, my confidence was very low.  But in the end I loved the bag and wanted to wear it, so I took the risk and showed it to Rosie.  After a couple of pointers and minor alteration we had the Latte bag.  I was so thrilled by this little victory and it started me sewing everything - all the time.  I had not sewn for well over 10 years and now it is what I breathe.  I just love creating things!!  It is almost like a drug and it is so fabulous and satisfying that I can do something that I love and call it a job!  Rather than being cooped up in an office I now spend my days with two miracle children that I adore more than life, and a job that I take so much pleasure in and can't get enough of - what more could a girl want? 

Thank-you so much Rosie for bringing colour into my world! - Melly

A bucket full of Sangsangs

As I was wondering around blogland last week I came across this "Made for China" drive on Carol's website.

This cause is so worthy and one that is very close to my heart,  I had to act and volunteer some Sangsangs to brighten up some Chinese orphans' days.   

Five of these little cuties are going to be starting their journey to a foreign land and bundles of cuddles tomorrow, while another five have made their way to our etsy store.   

I think I may have overdosed on Sangsang crafting for now and hope that this week will bring some new creativity to share with you all.  Hope you all had a great weekend and may the floss be with you! - Melly.