Bathroom Reno

Hi I know its nothing to do with Patchwork or Quilting, but Christine reminded me that I hadn't mentioned my ensuite renovation. Well it was completed about 10days ago and I am thrilled with it. Hubby finished putting the lovely light fittings in yesterday. So what do you think???????????
 I have spent many years dreaming about this ensuite and looking though Magazines and when staying in hotels picking what Mark and love about each piece. I love a bath so my Bath tub will be going outside the glass door and a surrounding wall will be built Bali style so when Mark com's in from the yard there is an outside shower to wash off the dirt  and grass before coming in..... 
                                                        Warning  photo overload

 The toilet is behind the wall, nice and discreet.

 This is a large double shower that could easily hold a party of 6 and everyone still get wet, we have not put in the glass panel yet, as we thought we would find out how much splash there would be. At this stage I would not bother putting in the glass, less to clean and it's not a problem... winter may change this though.

My lovely lights came from wait for it...... pillow talk. They are table lamps and are made of a lovely white stone that is unglazed. My darling hubby said no problem hunny we can change the fitting to make it work.

Look at the chook thru the door, even she wants a shower in here, and they hate getting wet

Ahhh my favourite photo. My lovely cupboard.
Love to read your comments.
Cheers Stacey

Dont Look Now...

Kellie's finished cushion. look at the quilting.

 Well last post I told you all that my Sista Sue and I had a wonderful weekend doing a workshop at the Patchwork Angel with the most delightful Kellie from Dont look now. 12 months ago I was busy sewing up at the Retreat ran out of Rasant mid quilting project and rushed down to Penny 's Patchwork Angel to buy a much needed supply of thread, I asked Penny to pop Sista Sue and I on the list for 2012. wow the time flew and what a great weekend we had.

Andy- aka Sista Sue, Kellie and Me

Kellie and some of the girls, trying to capture all Kellie's Tips.

My cushion, no Quilting has been attempted yet!

I really enjoyed learning Kellies technique for Raw edge appliqué, and all her wonderful knowledge of free motion quilting and trapunto. practice makes perfect they say.

Happy sewing Stacey

Sister Sue

Coffee in a Bowl at French Twist.

Andy and I at Coolum

Andrea with her sewing headlight glasses.

Sisters are a Blessing

My sister and I have just had a lovely weekend together up on the Sunshine Coast. More on that later. But i just wanted to share these photos of us from this weekend. Mum sent Andy these glasses as a joke, they have a small led globe to the sides of the glass on each side. Mum has bought us all a pair. Classic, but they were worn a lot so Mum I think you have helped in the needle threading and reverse sewing..................
Andrea and I speak every Tuesday but haven't seen each other since July last year. We call each other Sista Sue hence the title. Anyway we spent the weekend at the Patchwork Angel doing a two day workshop with Kellie from Dont Look Now. It was fab and we had lots of laughs and learnt so much the Retreat was booked so we stayed at this lovely place in Coolum. We sewed wilst having the odd glass of wine mixed in while we were doing our Saturday night homework. We were still doing some sewing in our Pj's on Sunday morning.

I will post the  sewing pics tomorrow.

Cheers Stacey

The Gentle Art of Quilt Making

I have just found this lovely book............Actually my friend Jilly found it and of course I really wanted my own copy, which I found in a gift shop in Country NSW. Inverell of all places. So look out for it, written by Jane Brocket, it is beautifully illustrated and has wonderful content.

 So I have started this lovely quilt and using a range of Fat quarters from my stash.....finally.
I bought these well over a year ago amd am thrilled with the way it is coming together.

 So here it layed out, cut but not yet sewn.

One of the lovely pages from the book.

Written by Jane Brocket

The cover is actually the quilt I am making. I have sewn together quite a few rows but the light is no good so late to show you. pop by tomorrow to see more.

Cheers and happy sewing.

Hectic Hexies

 Well I have been busy and hectic doing life really. I have been so into My Kitchen Rules this season that getting of the couch to sew has been a non event. Oh well such is life, ohh but I have been busy making a few hexies......whilst sitting. That stack has grown up in the last little while. 2012 maybe the year to finish this sucker. I will be like a lost soul it has been with me since 2007, like a child really and ready to go off to school. I will need to start another. I would love to use a jelly roll of all coordinating fabrics and not so scrappy as this one. how are your hexies going?

And I so want Carla and what's his face to go home.oh well maybe next time.

Happy sewing Stacey

Craft Retreat 2012

These are some photos from the lovely ladies who came to Circle Retreat last weekend. The ladies told me that some of them are friends from Mothers and Babies 30 years ago, how lovely. Now these ladies have a vast array of crafts going on. I saw beading, cross stitch, knitting, tapestry, even balloon covers to make a ball...patchwork, hand quilting........wow these girls really have a lot of knowledge and shared wisdom. So thank you girls for sharing a cuppa and homemade cake with me. I hope you will be back to stay next year, at Circle Retreat

Love the detail.

Ready for christmas 2012

Antique Japanese fabrics in this fab quilt.

This lady is holding up 2 little toy balls yet to be stuffed.

Retreat Cake

                                                     How awesome is this Cake?

 These are the Ladies from the Pendicup Patches and one of the ladies daughter made this wondeful cake for their Retreat Weekend. So if you live in and around the Brisbane, Sunshine Coast area and have a special occation needing a lovely cake contact Peta on  0411447382. I love the little buttons that peta has made too.
I have been rather slow to post this week as our builder has cut the internet line by accident........Sorry Peta as I did say I was going to post this at the begining of the week. Just on the Retreat side of things if you and your sewing buddies would like to come on retreat with us in 2012 please book soon as I have only a few dates between now and August.  With a few weekends left for the last few months of the year. I am thrilled with the response I have had from all the lovely ladies who come and stay at Circle Retreat. They all rebook and tell there friends so thank you for all your support.

The Bathroom reno is looking messy but getting there. Tiles and fitting all selected, which is really such a task I would hate to have to choose for a whole house. Hubby is away now for 7 days so that = sewing time for me.....
have an awesome week

Stacey

Bathroom Reno

 Ok so not much sewing has been going on over the weekend. Hmmm well I hemmed a school dress but ah that so doesn't count. We have been talking and dreaming about our bathroom/bedroom renovation for at least 5 years and whilst i was in Houston things started happening. I came home to new door ways and old wardrobes out and new framework up for a new walk-in through to double the size bathroom. We have been blessed with an amazingly large bedroom. Imagine two large rooms put together and then an en suite and walk in at the end. Well that's what we have, and a 40 yr old bathroom. We spent a few days over Christmas ripping up carpet and painting. I spent this weekend cleaning out my walk-in robe.****** Note to my mother and sister. DO NOT BUY ME ANY CLOTHES OR BAGS. Please.
I have 7 large bags for Vinnies and still have way to many clothes. I am a hoarder of shoes and bags ............Imelda should be my middle name. But how does a girl resist?

Oh the stuff - Hubby did whip up temporary hanging.

 Ah this is only one side of the room the opposite side looks much the same.

New doorway to the great outdoors.

And so Frank our builder Arrived yesterday and things have started. Yes we are going to have a door from the inside bathroom to outside. For our outside shower and tub of course, I cant wait it is going to be so great. When you live in the tropics why not get the wow factor if possible.
I will keep you up to date. And tonight I have a great post re Cakes?

Raw edge circle applique Quilt

I couldn't resist showing you this photo with the Duckies.

 Well 2 weeks ago today I started this quilt, For Miss Megan's 18th Birthday. This was totally un planned and by just jumping in feet first I didn't have time to fret over fabric choices or saving that special piece of fabric for the special quilt.....which ah never seems to happen.10 yr's later it still sits uncut , with matching fabric etc. So watch this space. I loved making this quilt i enjoyed every step, well almost. I cheated............ I know its the first time i have ever machine stitched the binding. Megans 18th Birthday Party is tonight and it would take me hours to do by hand. So I machined it down. I must admit I am not thrilled with the result as some of the stitches can be seen on the topside. Will Megan care? ah no. Will I be the only one who really notice's except my mother? probably

I have machine quilted this with a swirl through the circles and then in the ditch between the blocks. On the last border I have free motioned random circles.

 The Backside view of Meg's Quilt. I used up some of the scraps from the left over fabrics.

I have thrown it in the Machine for the mandatory wash with a few colour catcher's. So fingers crossed it will come out lovely. I showed Megan her quilt yesterday when she dropped in and she was thrilled,when i told her it was for her. Ahhh That makes it all worth while.
Here  is the previous post with the Tutorial link.

Enjoy and happy sewing

Stacey

Inspired bloggy goodness

The lovely Marg,  over at Sunshine and Paradise has been very inspirational over this last year, and late in the year she produced a second raw edge appliqué quilt. So I decided then and there I was going to make this lovely quilt. I started this quilt last weekend and have to have it finished by this one....eeekkk. My daughters best friend is 18 on Australia day, and i thought that i would love to give this to her and with her party on the weekend I better get my skates on. So I have been busy sewing up a storm, and raiding  my friends stash. ( I happened to sneak up to the Retreat for a few nights with some girlfriends so didnt have my own stash handy.....)  and I popped into see Penny at the Patchwork Angel and she had a great deal on some Fat quarters she was clearing out. So I picked up some Kate Spain, and others and voila. It just needs some more borders and then some quick quilting.
The tutorial is from Cluck Cluck Sew go here.
I hope maybe I have inspired you to try this great pattern too.
Hope you have all been busy.


Cheers Stacey

Retreat issue Homespun 2012

Well I am happy to say we are in this months issue of Homespun with a feature on Retreats. Now I am bias of course, but thought that we scrubbed up pretty fine. So if you have been talking about going on Retreat with your friends but still haven't got around to it, now is the time for you. I spent this weekend just gone sewing up a storm with a few girl friends, a few wines on the deck and a lovely morning at Eumundi Markets on Saturday. We had the chick flicks on and the sewing machines humming.
Believe it or not I still have June long weekend free and you can stay for 3 nights for $150.00 per person and have a champers for the Queen to help her celebrate, I will even throw in the 2 bottles of bubbles to kick start your weekend. So being the sales person I am contact me  and call your sewing girls to book in for 2012.
Well enough of all that, I did get loads  of sewing done on the weekend so I will get some pics of all of the works in progress.

I just wanted to show you my ducks on parade, considering they lost there off spring a few weeks back they are back in fine form roaming all over our property...........hmmm I  did wonder if they were going to hop on the couch for a rest?

happy days

Stacey

a little gift

Well I am a lucky girl and won a give away.  This lovely Pattern for notebook covers by Indigo Junction from Christine arrived in my mail box this week. I work in my other life as a sales rep so notebooks are the go for me, perfect. So a big thank you Christine...........who is off to the US later in the year and will have a great time visiting the Baltimore area and spend some lovely time learning some new skills and sharing time with like minded women who love to craft. I am back at work now after 3 delightful week's away and home and then we stayed a few nights at Buderim. It's a delightful thing being able to stay up there when there are no guests................

These guys showed up at Buderim one evening when we were having a BBq one night. So for all my overseas friends kookaburras are one of the our many friendly visitors to our Quilt Retreat on the Queensland Sunshine Coast.
So now I am off to work in the summer heat tops of 36 degrees today here hope you have a great day

Stacey

Phuket Christmas

A Christmas Tree Quilt in Buderim  made by my Mum

Merry  Christmas to you all. I hope you all had a wonderful festive day. Ours was rather an  un orthodox and definitely non traditional. We went to Phuket this Christmas, had a top time and celebrated our 17yr old graduating high school and being accepted into 'Uni for 2012.  We couldn't be more proud or happy for her.

So off we went to Thailand and had a great time, shopped till we dropped all came home with a top tan and had loads of facials and Massages. Even Hubby, poor guy stuck with all these females, who love to shop etc.

 Here is Miss 14 with a Pineapple fruit cocktail for like $5.00........ sooo cool. Oh and i cut her hair off whilst we there.... her request and its now 6" shorter.

We went Elephant trekking and had the best morning ever the elephants were so loved and well treated by there handlers, we all got to sit up front and ride........... more pics to come. I just love this photo of them. I have taken a pic of the original hence the large white spot. But I figured you would all forgive me.
So I hope you are all relaxed and looking toward 2012 with happy hearts and a lovely list of to do's for the coming year.
so sending all my love and hugs to you all.
xx
Stacey