Bag in a day!

2 Saturdays ago (I know ... I'm a rotten blogger these days ....sorry for the delayed update) I spent a fabulous day with a bunch of ladies eager to learn all about bag making from the master herself.

I have made a few bags before but knew that I had A LOT to learn about finishing things off nicely, using interfacing and other tools of the trade.

Nikki's studio was literally dripping with gorgeous samples and inspiration ..

Nikki is an excellent teacher. Always encouraging and always with a clever little trick to teach.

Here we are busily working away ....

 

   

   

Hi Cathy!!

Here's my work area .... do you detect a bit of a colour theme? (I'm so predictable!!) 

 

Nikki was also a very patient and calm teacher ... even when I accidentally steamed up her cutting mat causing it to buckle. QUICK .... get the weights on to it!!!! (Coolest weights ever!) 

 

And here are some of our finished products: 

 

   

Can you guess who this belongs to? He he!

 Thanks Nikki for a gorgeous day. I learned so much and had a lovely time doing it.

 

Nikki and Cathy have more shots in their blog posts. (You MUST check out Cathy's gorgeous bag. Somehow I managed not to get a shot of her gorgeous fabric).

Have a lovely Tuesday and try to drop by again tomorrow for a book review and GIVEAWAY!!

Andi xx

My local

Those of you outside the US will be familiar with the struggle to buy local while online fabric prices from US based shops are so very much lower.

I also struggle with this and I do buy some fabric online.

But what the online shops fail to provide is the creative atmosphere, the friendly welcome, the fabric touchability.
I am lucky enough that my local patchwork shop is Amitie. Compared to many other shops I have been into, Amitie staff always have a friendly smile and are always happy to help you put together a project no matter how large or small. And I have noticed that recently they are working their bums off to keep prices down.
And they have some awesome classes coming up. Ever wanted to meet the mad-capped Madame Ricrac in person and learn to make one of her wonderful softies? Well you can here!! (Incidentally, you can also come along on a Thursday afternoon and take a patchwork class with me! Just saying...)

Anyway, I thought I'd show off some of my recent Amitie purchases.

Beautiful variegated Perle 8 thread and stunning new ribbons. (Yes, that IS Kaffe Fassett ribbon!!)

Pretty Liberty fabrics in my favourite colours.

Home dec fabric from the half price shelves.

And an amazing new tool that helps create HSTs without having to rule a line!!!

I hope you have a lovely local bricks 'n' mortar shop like I do. And I hope you give them your support so we get to keep these wonderful shops in business.
I know the lure of online shopping is great. But maybe just put aside a percentage of your crafting budget for local shopping.

What do you say?
Andi xx

Term 3 classes

It's been a while since I've blogged. Temporarily lost my blogging mojo!
But I'm back with lots of stitchery to show!!

Thought I'd start by showing you a gorgeous quilt top made by the lovely Simone in my Scraptacular Class at Amitie:

Simone loves autumnal colours and has used them to wonderful effect in this scrapalicious quilt top.

We are having a break over the school holidays and will be back next term but this time on Thursday afternoons. 12:30 til 3:00pm so there's still time to make it to school pick-up!!

Want to make a quilt as gorgeous as Simone's? Come on over and have a play with us next term.

I'll be back soon with more of my stitching to show.

Have a great day wherever you are.
Andi x

My day with Kaffe and Brandon (and 30 other squealing women!)

Get ready for a long post with LOADS of photos ....

Kaffe and Brandon are in town and I was lucky enough to get into a workshop they ran today at Amitie, the happiest land of them all!

This image above is of the original bordered diamonds quilt from the book Simple Shapes, Spectacular Quilts. It was our focus for the day.

There were so many lovely people there today:

That's me with Jenny, owner of Amitie

Miriam, Me (and my chins) and Cathy

Melissa, Cathy and Me

Blogless Sue and Judy

And so many other awesome women........

..... who brought with them LOADS of delicious fabric:

Lisa was obscenely neat and organized.

We ate well:

And drank well ...

But mainly we worked hard!!
There were design walls everywhere:

Here are some of the wonderful designs that were created today:

Here I am hard at work:

Check out the progression of my design wall:

It eventually became this:

After all the designing (and eating and drinking and singing and laughing and chatting) was done, Kaffe went from design wall to design wall offering insights and lashings of praise and encouragement.

Here he is critiquing my design:

During the day, Kaffe was generally quiet, measured and a bit serious.

The only real 'smiley' shot I got of him was standing in front of Linda's quilt ... my favourite of the day:

Brandon on the other hand ...

What an amazing day!!
Thank you to EVERYONE who made it possible.

Andi xx

Another sample for class

This time, the actual size students will be making.

Thought I'd make it work on my couches at home so it can be loved after the classes have finished.

 Have a stitchin' day.

Andi :-)

More info on the Craft Room classes

I've just had a heavenly time at Amitie selecting fabrics for the 'Quilt-as-you-go Cushion' classes.

Lots of choices with brights and neutrals included.

Tempting?

Andi  :-)

The Craft Room ... wanna come??

Notebook Magazine has finally brought the Craft Room to Melbourne .... a great selection of crafty classes for beginner and experienced crafters alike.

Come along and learn basic sewing, English paper piecing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, pattern making (or even a bit of quilting with me!!) There's a great selection of teachers taking classes at one of Melbourne's best quilt fabric shops so you can get your fill of eye candy too!!

Read more about it here.

Sign up for August classes here.

Come along and have a giggle and make something new.

Andi :-)