Melly & me

Freebie time!

I have been playing around with the idea of loading a "gift" pattern onto this blog for quite a while, but you know how sometimes all the things you plan to do never come about?!  This morning I saw my cute little Kokeshi Stuffie sitting on my studio desk and decided it was just the thing!!  I have used this pattern at a retreat as well as it being used by Living Creatively and I figured it was now time to let you all share the fun too!  

These stuffies are a bit of a companion pattern to two of the designs in my book, Kaleidoscope.  I think she is really cute and I hope you will all enjoy making your own!

Go to the right side bar and you will see the above image listed under "free download".  Simply click on the image and the PDF should appear, ready to print.

I hope you like my little freebie and that lots of Kokeshi stuffies will soon be born!

Enjoy your weekend,  Melly. 

Lantern strings

There is nothing like the feeling of completing a new quilt.  I love it when the last stitch of the binding has been stitched and you lay out the quilt for the grand reveal!  It is always so satisfying and brings so much joy and pride. How can people not make quilts??!!

Some of you may remember this photo from my recent family trip to Korea

We happened to time our visit in with their spring festival and there were beautiful strings of lanterns everywhere in the city of Seoul.  They were so pretty and I loved gazing up at them everywhere we went.

When we returned home I decided to make a new quilt inspired by these strings of lanterns, I enjoyed them so much and had to incorporate them in a fabric project.  Of course the book came out, other design ideas came along and my poor quilt was forgotten.  But a couple of weeks ago I saw my sketches again and the time was right to start!

I picked her up from the Quilters and yesterday sat down to bind!

And so I now have my beautiful momento and reminder of a special trip!!  I am going to try and make something little to go along with this pattern which I can hopefully share with you soon.  So here in full is my new single bed quilt, "Lantern Strings".  I hope you like it!

Melly.

Quiet......

I have been very quiet, haven't I??  I only just realised that it has been over a week since my last post! This is because I have been so distracted lately in a good way!  I have been living with my head in the clouds for the last week or so, enjoying my family and people around me, enjoying the simple things and trying not to clutter up my time with so much "stuff".  You know one of those "re-evaluate your life" moments where you do a bit of internal spring cleaning.  It has been great.  Amongst this time I have been enjoying watching these bloom in the garden...

What is there NOT to love about blossoms??!!  They are all over Melbourne at the moment and I enjoy this time so much....the sun is shining more and spring is in the air.

Another thing that I have enjoyed since I last wrote, is playing with Rosie's plastic coat fabric which arrived last week.  I decided to do a modified/simplified version of my sleepover bag with it, which was a bit of a challenge as I have not played with plastic coat before, but I am so pleased with the result.  It is now the perfect beach or pool bag too as it is water proof!!

I can see a whole collection of sturdy shopping bags out of this fabric.  Oh how cute, going to Coles with a collection of Rosalie Quinlan Designs shopping bags!!  I have to do it!

I hope that I will post sooner with something new to show, in the mean time I am gonna keep smelling the roses (and try to come back down to earth every now and again to do some work!!)

Have a great week,

Melly

Quilts for Orphans

I was incredibly thankful to have been able to have spend the day with an amazing bunch of women on Saturday.  I first became aware of the "Quilts for Orphans" gang in February when there was an advert in the school newsletter asking for donations.  I really wanted to find a way to somehow help these fabulous ladies but my best intentions to attend one of their quilting days were quickly dashed due to some other weekend commitments!!  I had almost forgotten about it all when on Friday I thought to quickly look up when their next get together was and of all coincidences - it was the next day! I was so excited as I had no plans for Saturday but quickly decided to show up at Gaynor's door to join in the fun. I had such an amazing day meeting all of these beautiful women who give so much of their time and energy in creating stunning quilts for the most beautiful children in India.  I really recommend that you have a look at the great work that they do on their blog.

I also really want to put out the call to anyone who would like to help the group in their work.  Their main need at the moment is for quilt batting as there are a number of quilt tops ready to go but the batting has all run out.  There is always the need for donations of fabric, bed sheets or fabric for backing, ready made quilt tops (45" x 60") as well as your time and involvement if you happen to live in the area. So please, if there are anyone out there with batting, fabric, quilt tops or time to spare please let me know or contact Gaynor directly through the details on the blog.  We really hope to become a regular part of this group doing what we can, when we can and I hope that some of you might decide to join us.

On the home front I have been having a bit of a quieter time lately.  I guess you can say that I am trying to take the time to smell the roses and trying not to work too hard.  So at a leisurely pace last week (rather than always trying to finish in a day) I started on a new quilt which is ready to send to the quilters.  I am really happy with it and will show you a full pic when it has come home and been bound.

Later this week I hope to play with some of Rosie's plastic coat fabric to make my own "Sleepover" bags which should be a lot of fun.

Other than that there is not much news or excitement to share..... trying to get around to some Houston prep but still pretending it isn't only 8 weeks away!  How much longer do you think we can deceive ourselves?

Melly

Signs of Spring...

In between the rain and storms we have been having some of the most beautiful weather these past two weeks.  The sun seems to be coming out more and more and there is that feeling in the air.... the feeling of Spring!  The garden is also showing signs that Spring is not so far away, I always get so excited when these colorful signs begin to sprout all around me...

Of course the fact that it is nearly Spring also make me a little nervous... as that means it is nearly Fall in the US... which means only 9 weeks until we head to Fall Quilt Market in Houston - we really need to start getting a bit organised as it is creeping up on us!

Today I sat down a wrote the pattern for "Sleepover" so that will be ready to go tomorrow - hooray! Finishing one project always means beginning a new one and I am itching to get onto that newly serviced machine tomorrow.  Here is a look at the cover photo for Sleepover.  Why feathers you may wonder????  Well every time I think of sleepovers I think of pillow fights so it made sense to me!

Now usually a new pattern would mean a giveaway post, but we had one so recently with Bon-bon that I thought I would mix it up a bit!  Instead of asking you to comment on this post I have drawn 3 lucky winners from my last post about "Sleepover"  so all of you commenters were entering unawares!  The three lucky winners according to the random number generator are...

Florence

Lisa Pate

and Sarah

So please girls email me your addresses and I will post out your patterns!!!  I hope that is a nice surprise!

Melly