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.

Bambino

We hope you all had a beautiful Easter break and that you are all having a great time chatting with your swap partners!

During the Easter break I have had a lovely relaxing time with the family and have also created another new design, "Bambino"....

A cute little cuddle blanket (or "ruggy" as it is known by in the flossy house) and a cloth animal book.

Here is a closer look at one of the pages inside the book...

I had so much fun making this set and it is in perfect timing for a new niece expected in a few months time!

So now it is time to spend the rest of the week with my head down writing the three new patterns as well as my mystery patterns for the Country Thyme retreat.  I think I am going to be busy and may get a decent case of square eyes!!??

Also, do you remember Ayden, the 14 year old boy who won a prize in our latest giveaway?  You must go and have a look here to see the spectacular job he did with his winning pattern - just amazing!   - Melly.

Elephant Stampede

We have had a very productive week and have new things to show you!  Unbeknownst to Melly, I set off to design an elephant last Friday as I thought it was time we had one.  I called Melly excitedly to tell her about my new elephant and she giggled and said "did you get my text message?"  I said, "No" and she said "I think you better go and look at your phone!"  When I retrieved my phone I read an excited text message about a new elephant Melly had designed that same day.  We spent the weekend trying to convince each other that we would sacrifice our design for each other's because we thought it would be silly to bring out two different elephants at the same time.  In the end we decided "Hey, we ARE silly, and silly is good so lets just bring them both out as patterns!!!"  So here they are.  This is Ellie......

And here is Phoebe.....

Of course you will all have to be very diplomatic with your comments! LOL!!

We also have the final photos for "Under the Sea" (formerly Fab Fishy + new friend)

And "Acute" who was not intended for patterndom, but due to the fact that we have already taken orders for him, I guess we better do one!

Of course this all means a boring week of pattern writing - YUCK!  However, we also get to plan a fun giveaway for later in the week.  Stay tuned. 

Rosie x x

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

Monday Madness!

You can tell we only arrived home about 2 weeks ago, cant you?!  It seems that we still haven't got into the swing of posting as regularly as we used to!!  Too many design ideas, things to catch up on and too much fun in the Melbourne sun!   Today we thought we should get back onto the blog and brighten up your Monday with a new GIVEAWAY!!

Yes, we are thrilled to let you all know that Rosie's new Block of the Month "Home is where my Heart Resides".... 

...and my new bag that I shared with you last week, "Toffee Apple" have now been completed and released!!

Leave a comment on this post and you will be in the running to win the first prize, which is a full set of the 9 patterns for Rosie's Block of the Month, or to be one of the runners up who will win a copy each of "Toffee Apple"!

We will draw the winners on Friday - Good Luck!!!

Melly & Rosie x x

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   

Pulling our hair out!!

Yes, we are still here, just madly preparing for Houston!  Here is the result of the last six days sewing efforts.

All these guys will be taking the journey with us in a few weeks time, but there are still so many more to make!!  No rest in sight!

In other breaking news, the "Home is where my heart resides" quilt has returned from the wonderfully talented machine quilter, Melinda.  Rosie spent all night binding it and it is now looking gorgeous!  

Unfortunately now comes the yucky part - 9 patterns to write :-b

The patterns should be ready to hit your local patchwork shop in mid November, stay tuned!!

Melly & Rosie.

PS. A few of you mentioned that you would like to be able to find a copy of the September Homespun and Country Threads magazines that we and our projects were featured in.  Well, good news!  A limited number are now available on-line at Honeysuckle Cottage.

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.

You know the drill, new patterns = giveaway!!

The pattern are written, so here goes!!  Please leave a comment on this post and 3 lucky commenters will be chosen on Saturday morning to pick their choice of pattern from the three new designs.  Good luck!

Magoo......

Dilbert......

Sarah.....

I have been having the most awesome week settling into our first home!!  It is so great finally being "home".  One of the most exciting things is that I finally have a studio all to myself.  This is a first as I have been running my business out of half of a room for the last 10 years!  As you can imagine the studio was the first room unpacked and I felt in a "Rosalie Quinlan Designs" mood.  I started sewing and a sweet little angel named "Sarah" materialised (pardon the pun, LOL!!)   

Sometimes I feel a little bonkers as I try to create for both labels but I genuinely have two very different styles I like to express. Sarah definitely says "Rosalie Quinlan Designs" and not "Melly & me"... lucky Melly has been so busy on the Melly & me front.  Stay tuned for our giveaway post any day now.

Until next time, Ive got more boxes to unpack - yuck!!  Rosie x x