Melly & me

Done..... at last!

Hey everybody!!!  Good news, the patterns are written!!!!  I cannot tell you what a relief this news is!!  I had left my pattern writing too long and had too many to write at once, but they are finished!! Woo-Hoo!  I feel like a new woman with a clean slate this morning.

In usual Melly & me style, pattern releases mean giveaways!  So we would love for your to leave us a comment on this post to be in the running for a copy of our new patterns: Fido, Bambino and Meadow.

As for me, I am going to enjoy a few days of being a regular SAHM!!!  Just catching up on things around the house and enjoying the Flossies......only after I send off my swap package today, of course!  I hope you have all gotten your swap packages in the post and that a few of you are already enjoying your beautiful new scraps!!!

Enjoy your week and make sure you leave a comment to be in the running for our giveaway!!  we will announce the winners on Saturday! May the floss be with you!!  Melly & Rosie.

Swap underway & a new bag!

Wow, what a big swap!!  We have to admit that it did take a good chunk of yesterday pairing you all up and sending out the emails!  Firstly we need to apologise to those of you who had a bit of a cryptic bracketed message in your email that you couldn't figure out.  That is called copying and pasting from the wrong email - oops!! =)

So all of you should have received your email with your partner details and if you haven't please let us know ASAP, it is a guarantee that someone will have fallen through the cracks.  We need Onlinelesley, Sarah in Houston and Amanda (10/3 8:23pm) to contact us due to incorrect email addresses.

So now for a few guidelines for the swap......

* Fabric scraps should be 100% cotton or linen.

* You should include no less than 250gm (1/2 pound) of fabric scraps.

* Scraps should be no smaller than approx 2.5" x 2.5" (usable for the scrappy cabin challenge.)  and should be no larger than approx 12" x 12" to allow for plenty of variety.

*All swap packages are to be sent on or before the 1st of April.  Please let your partner know when you have posted your package or arrange differing dates if required.

* If for some reason you are no longer able to participate, please email us so that we can ensure no one misses out.

* We think it is a lovely idea to include a little extra treat for your partner, although this is not a requirement of the swap.  A card would also be a lovely touch and have fun with your packaging!  Who knows you may make a swapping buddy or pen-pal for life!

* If anyone does not receive a package or has a non-responding partner please let us know!  We don't want anyone to miss out and we have more than enough scraps here to send packages to all of those that have any issues.

* Last but most importantly, HAVE FUN!!

Our hot spell here in Melbourne is supposed to ease today - phew!  We are greatly looking forward to some cool air and a few showers - maybe a decent nights sleep?  It is always so hard to get the energy to spend a day sewing and designing when it is this warm so the cooler weather will make for a much more productive few days!

Here is Melly's new bag that we mentioned in our last post - finally with handles!!  Not the greatest of photos but a fab bag!  I have already made myself one up and am really enjoying it - there is so much room in this one!!

Enjoy the cool change Melbournians and enjoy your swapping!!

Melly & Rosie

 

Ho Ho Ho

Last week it felt like Santa had visited us but this week it is time for us to play Santa with another giveaway!! 

It is getting harder and harder to have any pretty sewing project pictures to show you as all of our current sewing is for Christmas presents.  Our families do look at the blog regularly so it is a "no Christmas present posting zone". 

I have not taken the handmade pledge but I have been trying my hardest to either make all of my presents or buy handmade.  I am pleased to say that so far in December I have not entered a shopping centre and hope to continue this way.  I think I have managed to achieve about 90% of my presents as "handmade" but there are a few that will need a visit to the shops - I am hoping to convince my husband to grab these last few things!!

I have spent last night and this morning finishing off "The owl & the pussycat" pattern so at least I can find something to post about in the form of a new giveaway.

As usual we ask that you leave a comment to be in the running and we will draw some luck winners this Friday.

We hope that your week is not too hectic as the silly season continues and that you are finding time to craft and celebrate.  -Melly & Rosie

Intermission

Just a quick post to let you know that we have not disappeared or flown back to Houston - we are just very busy!!!  After only being home a week we have another Trade Fair here in Melbourne this weekend and we have been madly getting ready.  Apologies also to all those emails we have not replied to yet - we will get here, I promise!  Life should be pretty much back to normal come Monday.  Rosie has been insanely busy writing up her new block of the month, there has been some tandem sewing of samples and I have designed a new bag using some of that gorgeous "sample spree" booty.

We will continue with installment 2 of the "we're home" post next week, but for now - more work to get done for tomorrow!

May the floss be with you. - Melly

Sew little time...

We have been very quiet, haven't we???  Yet, ask that same question to our families and you would get a resounding NO!  Last night we had a great night getting together for the first BBQ of the season and a bit of a get together before the trip.  Rosie and I have definitely got into the excited "sillies" now as we tortured those present with our lovely voices singing 80's karaoke.  There were many groans and the worst part is that I think some of it may have been captured by video on one of the Flossie's mobile phones!  I am sure that this will come back to haunt us one day, but it is worth it - because we had so much fun!

Last week I made up this new version of "Black Forest" and I am still deciding whether this is my travel bag (since it has so much room for extra hand luggage) or whether I am going to keep it nice and new as a sample at Quilt Market. I do love it and am thinking the former may eventuate. 

After this was finished Friday morning I decided to pack away the sewing machine, this was such a relief and I have to say I was quite excited to put it away for it's little holiday and to be able to focus on other tasks.  Then on Saturday we decided to round up all of the samples and it turned out that we could not find "Wally & Wristy"!!  I tried to convince myself that I didn't need to make a new one but then I realised we have already sent some of these patterns to Houston so I kind of had to!!  I am so glad that I did in the end as I think I love my new Wally & Wristy even more than the original. 

But I AM packing the machine away today!!!

Also I thought we should let you know all about where we will be and when for those that are going to come to visit us on our travels!!  On the 27th, 28th and 29th October we will be at stand 1405 at Quilt Market Houston.  We are right near the central entrance and right next to the new product preview - please come and see us!! 

On Saturday the 3rd of November we will be going along to the KreaDoe fair in Utrecht, Netherlands.  We will be visiting one of our customers, Hip Handwerk who is going to be vending at stall 1420.  We will not be at the stall the whole day (as we will be like kids is a lolly shop and want to have a good dose of retail therapy!!) so have decided to say that we will meet anyone at Hip Handwerk at 11:00am and 2:00pm.  We hope that we will move on from there for a nice cuppa and a chat if you have the time.

3 more sleeps to go and I hope we will have the chance to do another quick post before we leave bright and early on Thursday!!  Today I am going to start packing!!  How exciting, it makes it feel so real!

May the floss be with you!  - Melly & Rosie   

Bag makeovers

Today I realised that we have been a bit slack and a lot of days have gone by between posts!  Sometimes we forget to blog when there isn't a lot of craftiness going on as it feels like there isn't much to show and we love having a nice photo on every post.  This last week we have run two Monster workshops at a Melbourne Secondary College, created a new pattern catalogue and Rosie has been working on a gorgeous new "Rosalie Quinlan Designs" block of the month quilt.  Rosie is off to Sunny Queensland this weekend for a retreat that I am sure we will hear all about next week and I have decided to update a few of our patterns - to give them a little bit of a makeover.

When Rosie and I started with Melly & me we were not exactly sure where it would all lead.  We had a style in mind and our first 10 patterns really reflected this style.  It is funny how with time your style may change or go in different directions!  In the 16 months that we have been working on Melly & me our choices of fabrics have really changed and we find ourselves more drawn to a fresh, bright and fun palette.  Now when we look back at our initial 10 designs we start imagining them in different fabric combos and wish for the time to remake them.  So that is what I have decided to do with a few of our first designs.  Today I decided to remake our Keiko bag which was one of our very first designs. 

We have always loved this bag, it is a really cute little bag that is perfect for when you are travelling light or for the younger girls in your life.  The even better thing about this bag is that it uses very small pieces of fabric so it is great for using up left overs and scraps - that is what I did today with a few of my favourite left over fabric pieces!!  I love the way that this new Keiko has come together - so bright and fun!  It makes me very eager to get started on a few more makeovers.  I think I need to go fabric shopping - any excuse will do!!!!! - Melly.

Shopping Bags

Now, I have a confession to make....

I have been a little too slow getting on the reusable shopping bag band wagon.   Yes, I have bought them, but neglect to remember to bring them with me when doing my groceries.  I can feel the stares and my face reddens in shame!  Yesterday I was in the queue at my local supermarket where the people in front of me didn't even use bags for their vegetable purchases.  I waited as the register assistant sorted out their vegetables one at a time to weigh them on the scales. The people in front of me were doing the right thing and yes, I had forgotten my reusable shopping (canvas) bags again!!  I think this may be the last time I forget.  A song popped into my head from one of my favourite Australian comedians - Tim Minchin.  He sang this song as the grand finale of the 2006 Melbourne Comedy Gala.  I laughed so hard at the time but the message has certainly stayed with me.  We thought we would share Tim's wit and environmental consciousness with you!  Unfortunately, there is a small amount of bad language in this clip but it is well worth it! (please don't open around children)

As a result of my new "Canvas Bag" awareness, I have been browsing through Etsy and wanted to share some of the gorgeous bags I have seen. Don't forget about all the beautiful handmade products available to us all through Etsy.  If I don't get around to sewing any shopping bags I will definitely be shopping here.  

   

In order, these shopping bags can be found here, here and here.

Off to sew some shopping bags!  Rosie. x x

It wouldn't be another giveaway!!??

Yes, the "pattern writing" fires have been burning and we have another 5 pattern being released - woo-hoo!

Here are two new bag designs that we haven't shown you already...

This one is called "Candy"....

and this one is "Poppy".

And joining those two patterns are these three which have already featured:  "Hopscotch", "Dolcetto" and "Mrs Perkins"

So as always, this exciting news heralds a new giveaway!!  You know how much we love doing our giveaways, so here goes........Leave a comment on this post and we will draw the names of 3 lucky winners who can each select one of the 5 new patterns as their prize.  We will close this giveaway and select the lucky winners on Tuesday 24th July. 

Thank you for everyone's beautiful birthday wishes for Rosie and we hope that you will all have a spectacular weekend!  Melly & Rosie.

Activity galore

When we found out that we would be going to Quilt Market in Houston we decided amongst ourselves that we would use July to concentrate on a few new designs before starting preparations for our big adventure.  As a result there is a bit of design fever going on as we try and come up with some cute new items to add to our catalogue.  The next goal will be to make a bundle of samples for "sample spree" and organise a gorgeous display for our stand.

Rosie headed off today to enjoy teaching at a fabulous "Christmas in July" retreat in Nundle - I am very jealous of the crafty weekend she will have but will make sure I use my time at home wisely!! 

I think I may have a bit of a "Christmas in July" at home myself as the time seems right (after a little prompting - thank-you Emma) to start working on some Christmas designs for Melly & me.  So back to the pencil and paper I go to wait for inspiration. - Melly.   

Katie Jump Rope creations

After our post about our fabulous new collection of Denyse Schmidt fabrics, we can now happily show you that we have put it all to good use!!!

Rosie has made this very cool version of her "Rebekah Amy's" quilt in one colour way...

And I made this new bag in another...

The colours really are so much fun to work with!!

Some other news for any of you who are based in Melbourne - we have a few class dates coming up at for term 3 at Patchwork on Central Park

- "Black Forest" bag class on Sunday 29th July from 10am - 3pm.

- A softie class where you can choose to make either "Lottie & Little Lady" or "Hooty & Tweet" on Friday the 10th August from 10am - 2pm.

- "Sherbet" class on Saturday the 8th September from 10am - 3pm where teens (12+) are also welcome.

If you are interested in joining us for a day of fun or know of any teens who would be interested in the younger class, please contact Patchwork on Central Park to book in. 

And are any of you heading out to the Melbourne Craft & Quilt Show this month?? We will be there on Thursday the 26th July at the "Patchwork on Central Park" stand. We would really love to meet some of you, so please come and say Hi!!!

There are a few more new bags on their way, so back to work we go and hopefully they will be ready for release at the show.  May the floss be with you!!! - Melly.