Melly & me

Sleepover

There is nothing more fun from the time you are a little girl to when you are a grown-up than having a sleepover! Whether it be a sleepover at your girlfriend's house or your favorite weekend getaway, there is always something so exciting about packing that overnight bag in preparation.  Some people say that they hate packing for a trip, but I find it so much fun dreaming about what I might wear and what I might need to take.

I don't know about you, but I feel very uninspired by my collection of overnight bags.  They range from the plain black leather duffel to the hand-luggage style case, all entirely boring!  So I figured it was time to add some more fun into that packing experience, I needed to design an overnight bag!

Well it did take some doing, and then undoing and then doing again but I finally came up with this new overnight bag which I am calling "Sleepover". 

I am struggling to get a good photo today through lack of light and lack of location but I wanted to give you a little look for now!  I will take a better photo when I get to writing the pattern which will hopefully give you some perspective also. This is a great, huge bag that will fit everything you could need for your favorite sleepover.  

I almost want to plan a sleepover now so I can use it!!  

Melly

Stash overload

They say that to all things in life there are seasons, well I have to say on the crafting front I am certainly in stash building season!!  I have added over 30 meters of fabric to my stash in the last 10 days!  And how much have I used in that same time????  Not much, maybe 2 meters.  This really is becoming a sickness and soon we will be moving out of our home to make way for fabric!

I just love adding it all though and I dream of all the things that I will make out of it, unfortunately a lot of it never gets used (by my hands anyway!)

There is one especially special bundle that I added to the stash in the last few days.....

Rosie has given me my very own bundle of "Grandmother's Flower Garden"!!!  How exciting!!  She received her bolts last week and if you haven't gone and put your name down for her giveaway yet, then I suggest you go and visit.

Speaking of giveaways, here are the winners of the Bon-bon pattern giveaway (drawn late again - I know!)

Pennie - 21/7 6:15pm

SueSue

Mary on Lake Pulaski

You three girls are the lucky winners, so please email me your addresses so I can get those patterns posted as I did manage to finish pattern writing last night - phew!

Now I am going to head down to my LPS to get some supplies for the new designs I intend to start tomorrow...I think I may have to clean out that studio too, drat!

Melly.

Bon-bon Giveaway

It has been a while since I last posted, hasn't it???  I will be honest in saying that I thoroughly enjoyed the last week of the school holidays being completely slack!  I enjoyed doing no work at all as well as a couple of overnight trips!  How nice.  One of my trips was to Albury with Mr Floss while he went there for work.  While I was in Albury I decided to go and pop into one of the shops there that stocks our patterns.  I like to do this whenever I travel to other towns and states and it's always lovely to meet customers and see new shops with different fabric ranges.  I went in to Avonleigh Country Craft not expecting to spend too much money on fabric as my stash is out of control.....but you can guess what happened, can't you?

There were just too many yummies there, including quite a few that were fresh in the plastic having just been delivered (and yes, I DID make them open the plastic!!).  I think I got a nice collection of old and new, but all new to me which is always fun.  The girls there are so lovely and so much fun - you really must check out their store if you are ever in the area.

I did spend one morning sewing before we headed to Albury to make myself a new bag!  I was so delighted with the new bag design, "Bon-bon", that I made out of Rosie's fabrics that I just HAD to make one for myself as my everyday bag.  Isn't it cute?

Yesterday morning saw school starting again so I have officially switched back into work mode (shame!). I managed to write a pattern for my last sneak peek right on deadline and today I did the taxes.  

I am hoping to also write the pattern for "Bon-bon" this week so I have decided to do the giveaway now - that way I will have a forced deadline to have it all ready to go for the winners.  Sometimes I need to be forced!!

So if you would like to go in the running to win a copy of the pattern for "Bon-bon" please leave a comment on this post.  I will draw three lucky winners over the weekend!!  

Thank you also guys for all of your supportive comments and emails about my last post, each and every one is a breath of fresh air and so appreciated! Take care,  Melly.

Spot the difference.....

I used to love playing "spot the difference" when I was a little child!!  It was one of those games I could spend hours doing and I always felt I was pretty good at it.  

Actually, I found myself playing this game again on the weekend and now I wanted to let you all join in on the fun!!

Of course it could just be me but these two toys below; "Hooty" from my "Hooty & Tweet" pattern designed by me in 2007 and this new plush toy by "Russ" that hit the shops recently look awfully similar....

Or is it just me???

Melly

It worked

It worked!!  I think I needed the pressure of saying I was going to do it!  And the inspiration that Rosie's fabric gave was priceless too.

So I would like to show you the first project in existence to be made out of "Grandmother's Flower Garden"....

I think it is really sweet!!  I am yet to name it and I am not sure when I will get to writing the pattern, but I am super excited that I have created something new again! I rushed over like an excited little school girl to show Rosie what I had made out of her amazing fabric and it was just so much fun.  She is already whipping up a gorgeous new quilt and I cant wait to see all that she will create from her stash of stunning fabrics!  I may have to do a stealthy fabric snatch again to create some more......

Melly

What a bundle of joy!!

Ok, so maybe it is going a bit far to equate fabric to a new baby, but it was a bundle that brought lots of joy today!!!

Rosie got the first pre-release pieces of her new fabric range from Japan today!!   She still has to wait a while longer for her bolts but she got 2 meters of each today so that she can start creating with them.

We sat at my coffee table making a millionty combinations in fondle heaven....just look at all of this yummy fabric goodness...

Maybe this is just the kick start that I need.  I have been being soooooo slack design wise and enjoying it!  I have so many ideas in my head but I just don't seem to be getting to the studio at all, I keep making up excuses to do other things like painting walls, getting addicted to facebook (big mistake!), socializing and just generally being a slacker.  I think maybe I just needed a post-book rest and have been waiting for that splurge of creative energy to return.

So I stole this selection of fabrics from Rosie with the ideas of turning them into a beautiful new bag before the week is out.

I am hoping that now that I have declared it here, I may actually do it!!  Here's hoping!

Melly.

Being a little bit lazy!

Yes, I feel like I am being a little bit lazy at the moment.  I have been doing a bit of work here and there but I have mostly been feeling so relaxed and lazy this week enjoying the school holidays much too much! It is amazing how much more time there is in a day when you don't have to drive to school and kinder twice a day each at different times not to mention extra-curricular commitments as well.  I am loving doing my morning emailing in my PJs and not getting dressed until much later than usual.  It is easy to do in this winter cold.

I did finish this new little friend this week but alas, I cannot show you him in full!!  He is heading to the US to be part of a bird themed book..... more news to follow in the future I am sure.

I also started on a new scrappy project!  Some of you may remember this beautiful Scrappy Cabin quilt that I finally finished last year made out of all of my scraps...

Well I love this quilt sooooo much that I decided that I had to start a new scrappy quilt!!  Inspired by Rosie's new fabric that will be arriving soon (can't wait!!) "Grandmother's Flower Garden", I have decided to make a Scrappy Flower Garden quilt!  This quilt will be my first fully hand sewn and quilted quilt and I am already enjoying it so much!!  I wonder if this quilt will take me as long as my Scrappy Cabin did!

I want to start on my next two flowers now!!  So see you later, off to relax some more with some hand sewing and a movie.

Melly