Bliss by Bonnie and Camille for Moda

Bliss has arrived and it is gorgeous! We have jelly rolls, charm packs and layer cakes, and meterage/yardage of most of the range.

Pop on over to Bella's Patchwork to check it out.

We Have a Winner!

Thank you for all the comments regarding my 200th post. The winner of my giveaway is...

Sasha!

Please email me your address and I'll get the charm packs in the post.

200th Post Giveaway

It's taken a little over two years, but I've finally made it to 200 posts! To say thank you for being with me through the journey so far, a little giveaway is in order. Up for grabs are two Whimsy charm packs, which I'm happy to post anywhere in the world.

To enter, please leave a comment by Friday 5pm Australian EST.

The Washing Debate

A few people have blogged about this in the past, but a little 'whoops' last night bought the issue back to mind. Quilt washing; do you do it? how do you do it?

You see, I've never washed one of my quilts. Besides the fact that they aren't used heavily enough to need washing, I find the whole idea a bit scary. Who would want to spend weeks/months on a quilt, only to have the colours run, ruining all that hard work?

Usually I would pre-wash all my fabrics, but with the invention of charm packs and jelly rolls, this isn't really possible anymore. I'm also told that the quality of dyes these days is good enough that dye-run should be minimal.

My whoops? I was getting ready for bed last night when some water sloshed out of my glass and onto my Verna/Wild Thing quilt. I quickly yanked the quilt off the bed to shake off the excess water, but I wasn't quick enough. Immediately, there were a few small patches of pink clearly visible on the white fabric. In the light of day, the water has dried and it's not so bad; a few tiny pink spots that you wouldn't notice unless you put your face right up to it.

The culprit is the whirly-gig second from the bottom on the left side.

If I get dye run from the tiniest amount of cold water, am I right in not wanting to wash any of my quilts? I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Made It!

After four hectic weeks, I've come to the end of my first placement. In that time I've taught year 9s, 10s and 11s, come across some fantastic students, and some who are very entertaining but don't seem to get much done. I'm going to miss seeing all those faces every day!

But now, with a week till I go back to uni, there is finally some time for me to get reaquainted with the Janome (and just in time for the bobbin to start playing up again; how that happens after sitting idle for 4 weeks I have no idea!). I've started quilting A La Mode, with the aim of getting it done in the next 6 days. Easy!

Hopefully I'll have a bit of spare time to maybe play around with my Bliss candy bar, but we shall see...I do have assignments due the first day back...

Getting Older

I still love having a birthday, but I'm not quite so keen on getting older each year. It turned out to be a pretty good day, despite some not-so-sunny weather.

It started with a little pressie snuck out to the kitchen during the night.


Then I had a whole class of year 9 students sing 'happy birthday' to me.

The first of my ranunculus finally bloomed.


And I finished off the day with dinner with friends, and a very yummy croquembouche made by a friend.


Only three days of school to go!