Big is not always best

Sometimes it's nice to do a little project

I can get carried away with my giant quilts, often when I think of patterns and designing quilts I think of big beds. Which is all well and good but not everyones cup of tea.

When I was finishing off my girls bedrooms I felt they needed just a little more on the walls, bright girly colour, nice quick simple projects.

off to stitch n sew

Xx Siobhan 

New Ventures

I've had a fun few days - busy but fun.

Today I was at the Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair again, I came back to have a good look at the Quilts on display and also to do Louise Snook's screen printing workshop. So much fun, 1.5hrs and it went by so quickly. 

for the class we drew & cut a paper stencil, I went with a simple rose kind of shape - I'm not the best drawer - so it needed to be abstract :)

and then mixing the colours and printing

me in action

Voila - Finished

Great workshop and well worth doing. Very unimpressed Louise is based in Western Australia! If only she was based in Sydney :)

I think I've found a new thing.

Xx Siobhan

Excitement

One of my sunset roses from my garden :)

This is a very eclectic post.

I've just come home from the Sydney Quilt & Craft Fair at Darling Harbour. Lots to see and do and I got to meet a few people in the flesh which was really nice, I'll be back on Friday to have a look at the exhibition of Quilts.

My pink Pride & Prejudice fabric available through spoonflower, great for tea towels as well as quilting etc

Spoonflower has free shipping even to Australia, so have a look and take advantage 

Kim Bradley rang yesterday saying that my two King Size Union Jack Quilts are ready to be picked up. As usual she has added the final perfect finishing touches to my quilt - I love her Machine Quilting. Kim is currently at the Sydney Quilt & Craft fair, pop in and say hello to her and Kate.

Fabric of Life - Art Work

Extra extra excitingly and lucky last - My art work I entered into the Victorian Cancer Council Art Awards has been accepted as a submission to exhibit !!!

I'll be heading down to Melbourne for the ceremony and opening exhibition on the 10th July.

Not only am I very excited about being selected but also looking forward to checking out some great Melbourne fabric/ design people and of course shopping.

Any hints of where to go or what to see?

So there we go lots of bits of info

Xx Siobhan

guess again

 I do still sew - I promise :) 

and I don't usually cook so much but these days, I think the chilly winter days are attracting me to the oven. 

I'm heading off to the Quilt & Craft show in Sydney on Wednesday - If you see me say hello.

I'll probably be stalking my fave shops and designers :)

Today we had one of those perfect winter days - cool crisp and a beautiful clear sky, perfect for a cuppa tea & warm out of the oven banana loaf - yummo

Xx Siobhan

Whats cooking

I've been cooking just a bit longer than I have been sewing. 

I cooked a lot as a kid - in retrospect it must have been a good way of keeping me occupied, no DVD/ computer games back in the late 70's early 80's in our house. 

I remember owning a video copy of the 'Life of Brian" and watching it over and over again then a few years later down the track it was "Pretty in Pink" "Sweet Sixteen" "Breakfast Club" and The big blue, Im sure there are many others but they stuck in my mind. 

My Kids own every DVD under the sun as well as PSP/PS3/DSi/Wii/Ipod Touch/digital kids TV and the computer. Bring back the good old days.

I went through fads with cooking - my poor family had months of choux pastry and lemon delicious pudding. I generally don't bake so much anymore, I have learnt not to - basically because I'm the one that eats it. Today with the cold and rain I went into baking mode and whipped up some choc hazelnut brownies, I haven't made them in years, the smell was sooo good - It also feels good to bake something - a bit like sewing or making anything I presume. Watching others enjoy it is a double pleasure.

I was very impatient and shot the pics at night in my kitchen with fluro lights - hence the yellow hue :)

Over the years I have sort of combined a few recipes together, I have it scralled on the back of some junk mail and safely in my recipe file, This recipe is gluten free.

Chocolate Hazelnut Brownie

(gluten free)

380g Dark eating chocolate

180g Butter

1cup Brown Sugar

3eggs

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/ cup Hazelnuts

150g Hazelnut meal

1tsp Baking powder

Heat the oven to 180C fan forced, and line a 

20 X 30cm tin with baking paper.

Melt butter and chocolate in a bowl, leave for ten minutes to cool. Beat sugar and eggs until pale in colour and creamy, fold through the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture add vanilla and mix through hazelnuts. 

Add in hazelnut meal and baking powder mix gently. 

pour into tin and bake in the oven for 35 - 40 minutes. Its ready when the skewer comes out moist but not wet. Leave the brownie to cool completely in the tin (it will continue to cook once out of oven), then cut into squares and sift icing sugar over the top.

any nuts can go into these brownies, Macadamia nuts or walnuts make a nice change - what ever is on hand, Also the hazelnut meal can be changed to almond meal.

I like my Brownies crusty on the outside and gooey on the inside 

and with a nice warm milky coffee

Xx Siobhan

freshen up

I've been ploughing away on two quilts for two different magazines and another project with a magazine that has a set colour story for a feature - which two weeks ago was very exciting, but now I feel I'm in a bit of a creative rut.

 Sooo I rummaged through my stash and broke out some new colour, It's done me the world of good, different colours different patterns and some fabric I have been waiting to use.

 All refreshed and ready to go back and finish the important works and meet my deadlines.

hopefully then Everyone will be happy.

Helps if the camera is set to colour

I went with half triangles in two fabrics.The linen and smiley is Heather Ross and the circle dots I bought recently at Calico & Ivy in the Balmain Sydney store, I also bought the same fabric in a purple and yellow - very nice :)

It's nice and gentle yet has a  bit of colour

I'll keep going with this one over the weekend and see how big it gets

on another note here is more of my Spoonflower designed fabrics. This one is printed on a white cotton canvas and has a dark grey repeated pattern, great at matching in.

I'm off to revel in my productive mood

Xx Siobhan

I've no Idea

Whats been going on !

I have Been very busy - apart from the usual mayhem I have been finishing off a few magazine jobs and preparing for a big family birthday party which we had last weekend. 

I should be back on Line now!!

These are some images of a quilt I did some months back (still no binding.....)

Its a Quilt made from my Yes/No thesaurus material I designed & printed on spoonflower

My kids find it hard to get a straight answer out of me, but the older they get the smarter they get - and now I'm getting it back. 

*Parenting note for any new parents - what ever trickery you cleverly use when they are young, comes back to haunt you :)

I really really like the loopy machine Quilting, Kim Bradley very patiently listened to my gabbling about running writing loops and not wanting to free motion quilt (cause it takes too long and I'm impatient). Finally Kim came up with the idea of drawing it and we discussed the size of the loops etc - voila! her clever husband scanned it and now it's a long arm machine pattern and I think she is the best ever! again that could be a technique my kids have learnt from me - pester long enough and it will happen :)

Having been busy I am yet to email the lucky winner of the scrap bag - I'm onto it now - I promise

Hope all is well & Catch up soon

Xx Siobhan