Link Love: Day Tripping to Sydney

Today I’m in Sydney teaching at QuiltNSW. I always have a love/hate relationship with traveling. I love it once I’m doing it, but the lead up to it sucks. It’s like it’s looming there in the future just waiting for me to catch up to it. Once I’m doing it though I love it. There’s something so transfixing about watching the world go by through the windows of planes, trains and automobiles. I love the sound, the colour, the noise of being in a big city. But only for a day. By the end of the day I’m ready to retreat into the comfort and quiet of being at home.

I had a marvellous week last week. Thank you to those that sent birthday wishes. I had a perfect week of being at home with my boys, talking with friends and family and just doing my own thing. I feel like the older I get the more I appreciate the simple daily things. There’s a certain joy that comes from being a part of a home and going through the daily motions; like floating in the ocean and being rocked gently by the waves. Every week there’s something different, but we still all work together as a family.

With my birthday out of the way the next birthday on the calendar is the Little Man’s. He’s going to be 6. I cannot fathom that we’re about to have a 6 year old in the house. He’s tall, he’s funny, he’s confident, he’s loving, he’s the light of our lives and he’s half way to being a teenager. Each day he reveals a little more of his personality and it’s so funny to witness. He says crazy things, he has an active imagination and he’s obsessed with dinosaurs. I still marvel at the fact that he’s something that I grew inside of me. On top of all of that I have no idea what we’ll do to celebrate his birthday this year. With his birthday being in winter it’s hard to plan a party in an outdoor space and I don’t want to have people in our house, so I’m looking for cheap ways to give him some fun on the day with his friends. Hopefully inspiration will strike soon, I need to get invitations out!

Speaking of getting things out, I need to be making my way to the airport and getting on with having a fun day talking fabric, making and creativity. Wishing you a fabulous week filled with love, laughter and much fabric fondling!

CLOSES 31 MAY! #100Days100Blocks2018 is less than 100 days away and this year I’d like to use the event to help those that are starting out in our creative industry. If you’re a small business owner, pattern designer, author, podcaster, blogger in the creative industries then this is the opportunity for you. I’m offering free daily sponsorship spots (sponsorship of this event is normally something you’d have to purchase) to help promote those that are helping our industry stay alive and grow by going into business. If you’ve got something you’d like to promote then register your interest by clicking here. If you have any questions about being involved in this event simply drop me an email and we can talk it through. I want to use this platform to help give you a voice and see our industry flourish.

Positively Sweet {Marion} is a tutorial from April Rosenthal on Moda Bake Shop. Click here to read more.

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Check out this free foundation paper pieced block from Canoe Ridge Creations if you’re looking to make an impactful quilt. Click here to read more.

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Looking for a Jelly Roll friendly quilt tutorial? Then check out Definitely Positive from The Cloth Parcel over at Moda Bake Shop. Click here to read more.

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Here’s a block that could be a little challenging, check out Alice’s Tulips block tutorial from Art Gallery Fabrics. Click here to read more.

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I love a graphic quilt and this black and white plus baby quilt from Simple Simon and Company is brilliant. Click here to read more.

Have you seen the prizes on offer for the #100Days100BlocksFinishalong? There’s not a massive amount of people participating and there’s still time to join in so you stand a pretty good chance of winning one of these!

$200 Voucher for Quilting Services from Driftwood Quilting, and
$30 Gift Certificate to The Modern Sewist.

To be eligible for these prizes you must follow @DriftwoodQuilting and @TheModernSewist on instagram, tag your photos with the event hashtag (#100Days100BlocksFinishalong) and post the three required photos within the event timeframe. To find out more click here.

Click here to shop with Driftwood Quilting.

Click here to shop at The Modern Sewist.

I love to share the cool things that I find during my week of surfing the internet window-shopping and splurging. Here’s my top 4 from this week:

A. I’m loving: I love the Sewology from Pen + Paper Patterns and this kit is fabulous for those of you that want to make it in solids. Click here to purchase this on Etsy.

B. I’m carolling: It’s never too early to start preparing for Christmas. Loving this ornament inspired quilt kit. Click here to purchase this on Etsy.

C. I’m dreaming: One day I will hand sew a quilt pattern by Jen Kingwell. Loving the Delilah pattern. Click here to purchase this on Etsy.

D. I’m obsessing: Unicorns. That’s all I need to say. Click here to purchase this on Etsy.

In 2018 I’m going to be travelling around Australia teaching people how to fussy cut and I can’t wait. If you’d like to take a class with me I have the follow classes currently available:

Fussy Cutting FUNdamentals @ Hobbysew Belconnen – Sunday 20 May 10:30am to 3:30pm. Learn everything you need to know about how to fussy cut for patchwork and English Paper Piecing. We’ll cover Improvisational Fussy Cutting, Traditional Fussy Cutting and Fussy Cutting for Colour. I’ll talk about fabric selection (including how to work out exactly how much to buy), colour theory and where to find those unusual prints to make your work pop. To book click here or call the store on (02) 6253 0011.
Amazeballs Tote Bag @ Hobbysew Belconnen – Sunday 10 June 10:30am to 3:30pm. Using the Amazeballs Tote pattern from my book, Fussy Cutters Club, we’ll learn all about improvisational fussy cutting to make unique and one-of-a-kind projects. Participants will learn basic bag construction and techniques for adding fussy cutting to all their projects. To book click here or call the store on (02) 6253 0011.

Have you got an event, a charity drive, a pattern release, a class schedule or something else that you think my community would be interested in hearing about? Why not drop me a line and let me know – I’d love to share it with my readers. Click here to email me.

The fabulous Lucy from Charm About You has released a new mini quilt pattern, Trenton Block. It’s an old school quilt block which I love and is perfect for hand stitching. You can purchase it on Etsy by clicking here.
A Note About the Elizabeth Hartman Sew-along: I have closed my Elizabeth Hartman event (you can find the final details and winners by clicking here) and Anne of Said With Love has kicked off her event. The good news is Anne’s using the same hashtag and honouring all the entries from my event in her’s so you can still win big. Click here to find out the details about the new Elizabeth Hartman event.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase those items through my links I will earn a very small commission. You will not pay more when buying a product through my link, in fact in some cases I can offer you a better price via an affiliate link. I will not recommend something that I do not use myself. These commissions help me keep being able to provide you with great content for free. Thank you, in advance for your support!