Craft = Community

We had our local school fete last weekend and we decided to have a craft stall this year with lots of gorgeous handmade items. I put my hand up to coordinate the stall together with Maddy, another mum without a lot of crafty experience but with heaps of enthusiasm and a whole lot of style!

I knew this would be a lot of work but what I didn't expect was a wonderful community experience.

We decided to have a couple of "making days" at school where mums came along to help make items for the stall.

Some people were experienced crafters and others had never threaded a needle before.

People brought along donated materials and also donated finished items that they had knitted/crocheted/sewn/etc.

We made hair clips, hair ties, library bags, door stops, bunting, tissue cozies, wands, tooth fairy bags, button jewellery and HEAPS more gorgeous items.

But more than that, we had a lovely time, we met people we hadn't met before and we connected over the wonderful creative process!!

The day came and after a very rainy week in Melbourne, the sun gods shone on us and the weather was glorious!

The stall looked great (with a couple of PatchAndi quilts for decoration) and it was a beautiful day.

We sold most of our stock and raised lots of money for the school.

While I'm not in a hurry to get stuck into more making for the school at this stage .... come next year, I look forward to another stall with more beautiful community "making days".

How good is craft?!?

Andi xx
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I wanted to add a note to thank everyone for all your well wishes after my last post. It was so amazing to have such support from you all. I can't tell you how much I appreciated it.

The latest update is that Jake is happily back at school, my Dad is cantankerous as ever and I saw my surgeon today to get my stitches out and get the official all clear!!! 

Much relief! Moving on ....  xxx

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The one in which there are no crafty pics. Just a bit of my news.

Hey there! If you are hoping for any crafty news or pretty pictures, turn away now.

I don't usually put lots of personal stuff in this space but I have had such an eventful time recently that I feel the need to document the experience here.

So, last month we had a big family passover dinner at my parents place. My 84 year old Dad had been feeling pretty unwell and had a terrible pain in his back. Within a couple of days, he became quite confused and developed a fever. We got him quickly to hospital.

It turned out that a bacteria that lives normally in the gut had made its way into his blood stream and his spinal column. The infection was causing lots of pain as well as the confusion which manifested as aggression and agitation+++. My Mum was at the receiving end of most of the aggression so my siblings and I were spending lots of time at the hospital to try to give her a break.

After loads of intravenous antibiotics and an operation on his back, followed by a stint in rehab, he is home again. Still having the IV antibiotics and still fairly agitated but seems to be on the mend.

While all this was going on, I was having a fairly routine procedure at my doctors and a nasty looking cyst was found on my left ovary. Although it was likely a benign cyst, it (and the ovary) would have to be removed. Only a post-op pathology inspection would be able to tell us for sure whether I had ovarian cancer.

My surgery was booked for yesterday. Naturally, I have been extremely anxious and worried about the outcome of the surgery.

To take my mind off it all, my 7 year old son kindly provided a perfect distraction by breaking both his arms at school on Tuesday. A friend dared him to jump off some play equipment and, being a 7 year old boy, he did!! Landed on both his hands. Crack!

Not only have we been dealing with doctors and x-rays and plaster casts, we have discovered that without the use of his hands, he needs to be spoon-fed, dressed and taken to the toilet. It's just like having a baby again.

We have also had to work quickly to find him a carer to help with his personal care at school. Otherwise, he'd potentially be at home for 6 weeks until the casts are taken off. That would drive everyone crazy and simply isn't an option. He'll be back at school next Tuesday and we hope we have found a suitable person. We are meeting her on Monday. Fingers crossed.

Wednesday night came along and we got the news that Dan's grandmother was in hospital after having on of her 'turns'. She's home now and doing much better.

In other family news my 15 year old niece has had to have some dental surgery which has left her very sore and sorry for herself. I wish I'd had the chance to give her a bit more support but my hands have been fairly full.

And so, I had my surgery yesterday and was in hospital overnight. The fantastic news is that surgeon feels it is almost certainly a benign cyst and he was able to save most of my ovary. Relief doesn't even begin to describe my emotions.

I'm home now and feeling pretty sore. But at least I'll be able to spend a couple of hours at the school fete tomorrow. Did I forget to mention that I am coordinating the craft stall? Of course there has been lots of making going on for that and hopefully I'll have some good crafty shots to show you after tomorrow.

I haven't told many people about all this stuff going on for me, until now. But to those of you who have known and sent messages, meals and been so very supportive in other ways, thank you!!
I feel so blessed to be surrounded by caring people ... a wonderful community ... and incredible friends.

Love to you all and I promise the next post will be much cheerier and more colourful.

Andi xxx

Vintage yumminess!!

The delightful Kel has organised a Vintage Sheet Swap and today I got my LOOT!!!

I hacked into my stash and sent 83 fat quarters (which I neglected to photograph).

Here are some more of my lovely new vintage fat quarters.

And these are my favourites. Earmarked for a quilt for Ella's next birthday.

Thanks lovely Kel for enhancing my stash so beautifully.

Andi xx

Bloggers Quilt Festival

It's Blogger's Quilt Festival time again!! A lovely time when we get to enjoy a fantastic quilty display from bloggers all over the world!!

Here's my entry. A quilt for a brand new baby, Joshua.

This is a small quilt, measuring 28.5 inches x 36.5 inches. Perfect size for a bassinet or pram or just for having a kick and a play.

In this quilt I've used some of the red and grey designs from Aneela Hoey's Sherbet Pips range and I've added in some Kei Honeycomb in red and grey and some Robert Kaufman 'Ring Toss' in pewter.

The binding is a simple black and white stripe.

And the backing is a Michael Miller red and white dot.

And finished off with a Patch Andi label in red.

Baby Joshua's big brother needed a present too. He has become quite the little car enthusiast. (Well as much as you can be at age nearly-two!)

These gifts have been given and much appreciated! (Big brother's eyes lit up and he said "kah!!!")

I hope you have enjoyed my entry into the quilt festival.

Go and check out all the other wonderful entries. But make sure you have PLENTY of time and a good strong cuppa!! (Just click on the button below)

Thanks to Amy for being the hostess with the mostess!!!
Andi xx

Long overdue

I have been remiss in posting about some recent purchases, winnings and lovely gifts!!
Apologies to all for putting them in one big photo filled post.

Way back in February, I won this delicious pile of fabrics (stunningly folded) over at the lovely Malka's.

I haven't been able to even remove the ribbon yet, they look so very pretty!!

Some of you may be aware that I have been collecting Flea Market Fancy fabrics for this quilt (having been a bit late hopping on to that particular bandwagon).

So I found an EBAY listing of Jeanette's for an FMF charm pack which I quickly snapped up.
I was so delighted with my purchase that I asked her to whip up a couple more for me which she very kindly did!!

Yep!! That's the WHOLE collection!!!!

Still on the FMF front, the lovely Amy sent me this little collection of FMF scraps .... just because she thought it would make me smile.

And it DID Amy!!! Thank you so much for being a thoughtful and lovely bloggy friend!!

For that same quilt, I have decided to use some fabrics from Denyse Schmidt's other ranges. Specifically Katie Jump Rope and her newest offerings "Picnics and Fairgrounds" available at Joann's in the states (and soon to be released in Australia via Spotlight).

I snapped mine up at this lovely ETSY shop. (Thanks Rita for the heads up!!)
Unfortunately, when it arrived, one of the prints was missing but Amanda was so sweet about sending me the missing fabric (with a few shnippets of FMF in the parcel too).  :-)

Another recent purchase was this awesome book by the lovely Nikki.

Tanya is doing an awesome sew-along, stitching every single project in the book. Want to join her? Check it out here!!

Next purchase is a divine brooch from the fabulous Ms Curlypops herself!!

I have worn it on bags, jumpers, jackets and even in my hair (there is a hair clip bit on the back as well as the usual brooch pin). Thanks Cam. I LOVE it!!!!

"More?" I hear you ask!!! "Surely not!!!!"

Oh yes there is!!

The lovely Judy (bestest yarn wrapper in town) has been doing a bit of stash busting, pulled out this amazing Alexander Henry print and thought of me!!

Thank you so much Judy. I have challah covers being planned in my head as I type!!!

Also .... Jenny has given me a new product to try. (Still haven't yet but I have plans Jenny. I have plans!!!)

For those of you who are already Steam-A-Seam fans, you can get yours at Amitie!!!!

And last ... but certainly not least .... I won some more fabric!!
I'm a very lucky girl. I know!!!!

Leanne of Mount Vincent Quilts was a guest blogger over at Chasing Cottons (where Bec is doing the most wonderful Quilt Class 101. You should go and check it out!!!)

As part of the guest blog post, there was a giveaway of  a Fat 1/4 pack of the new range from Melly and Me called Where the Wind Blows. It is a lovely fabric range and I am looking forward to slicing into it!!!

Phew!!! What a long post full of so many wonderful links to wonderful people!!

Thank you again to everyone.

Andi xx

Scraps by Denyse!!

I have been looking for a scrappy looking quilt design to use for my "FMF-and-other-DS-fabrics" stash, and I came across this stunning quilt on flickr.

My version will be 6 x 6 blocks, but as I have only made 6 blocks so far, I've used an online mosaic maker to mock up a possible end result.

 

It will need a bit of tweaking but I think I'm going to LOVE this quilt.

(Ella has already laid claim to it too).

Another scrapalicious quilt!!
Have you heard I'm going to be teaching all about scrappy quilt making? Check it out here!!

Andi xx