To Do

This weeks to do list

1 - Start Lone Star Quilt along (as promised in flickr)

2 - do invoices so I can get paid!

3 - write pattern for a quilt going into a mag

4 - do some sampler blocks for my class as examples for students

5 - put something interesting on my blog!

including this lovely simple large pillow with lots of stitching!

Back on track 

Fingers crossed

whats on your to-do list?

post a link in your comment and I'll have a sneaky peak

Xx Siobhan

much better this week

Nice bright winter skies and sun, perfect for a trip on Sydney Harbour :)

Monday 25th July 2011

On another note, my daughter Miss nearly 5 needed a bag for pre school to keep her towel for Yoga (I know thats funny !)

I had some scraps from making my Amy Butler bag back in this post. For the applique I went the lazy way and used fusible webbing and raw edges with a bit of hand stitching.

bit of ribbon for a draw string and bobs your uncle!

bag 1

bag 2

I also made this little lined tote bag for miss 9 to carry her important stuff, apparently miss nearly 5 cant have something made for "only" her - apparently that would imply I only love miss nearly 5 and not miss 9. 

Who knew thats how love was measured?

obviously not by all the home made food/ time I spend reading or positive encouragement I give :)

I've had a few emails about my fabric - you can get them at Spoonflower. 

Its mostly text fabric. I like to mix the text fabric in with the patterned fabric I buy and grey always goes with everything.

I'm teaching my first beginners class at Hobby Sew tonight!

and dont forget to sign up for the one day workshops at Calico & Ivy

XxSiobhan

Crafternoon Blog Party

Hi All 

Welcome to Bea Spoke Quilts

I have a thing for books & magazines, I have neat stacks all over the house (I seriously mean everywhere)and book shelves filled to the brim.

I like the look of them the feel of them and of course the content!

I use books for inspiration, they can help when I'm in a glut and stuck. I like to mix ideas, find new material to use and techniques.

I like books that revise simple techniques, they remind me to go back to basics. 

Not long ago Hardy Grant asked me to review two of the upcoming Crafternoon books that have been Edited by Kathreen Ricketson from Whip up.

Kids Crafternoon - Sewing

&

Kids Crafternoon - Paper

Kathreen has sourced specialist crafters from around the globe & given us 25 projects to choose from in each book.

These books are aimed at 7-12 year olds & will retail at $29.00 Australian Dollars each.

With the idea of going back to basics and looking at simple ideas, I'd argue that these books aren't just for kids! 

It has me thinking about a few of the projects and what I'll make next.

For this little review I made the

Cloudy Day Pillow by Claire Dollan

This is a perfect quick project and as Claire suggests you can hand draw your own shape.

I had these rectangles cut and hanging around, so I decided to join them and use it as my pillow front

for this type of project I wasn't to fastidious  about the joining process. 

I wanted my pillow large so I used Baking paper as my template and free hand drew my cloud.

for the back I used a piece of material I had been using as an example for a kids workshop in tie dying.

For stuffing I used two old Ikea pillows that had gone a bit flat and for a nice little touch I added some dried Lavender from our garden - If this was smell-a-net you could smell the lovely Lavender Cloudy Day Pillow :)
Perfect for a nice snooze.

The projects in these books are great for all ages like I said above. 


My 4yr old Daughter is wanting another cloud pillow and my boys aged 7 & 11 are eyeing off the ipod creature cosy by Holly Keller, If like me you have accidentally felted a good woollen jumper this is a perfect project! 

If you would like to buy the books check out Booktopia who deliver internationally or ask your local little book shop (I do like supporting local shops)

Check out what every one else is doing and saying on the Crafternoon Blog Party

1. 22 July Poppytalk
2. 23 July Picklebums
3. 24 July Little Eco Footprints
4. 25 July Beaspoke quilts
5. 26 July Maya Made
6. 27 July Checkout girl
7. 28 July The red thread
8. 29 July We Wilsons
9. 30 July Maggie Makes
10. 31 July Mmm Crafts
11. 1 August Domesticali
12. 2 August Floating Ink
13. 3 August Elizabeth Abernathy
14. 4 August Mommy Coddle
15. 5 August The Long Thread
16. 6 August Hannah Fletcher
17. 7 August Between the lines
18. 8 August Go Make Me

Thanks to Hardy Grant & Kathreen for the 


books and opportunity to review :)

Xx Siobhan

Sunday Session

Sunday here and so far no Rain!

we have the house opened up - windows door everything - trying to get some fresh air and sunlight in :)

Just a few pics of what has been going on

A project with the local school - I photographed 52 11/12 year old kids (all in year 6) the theme was "If I could be....." and it will be auctioned as a fundraiser

and more baking.......



Hope your Sunday is great

Xx Siobhan

Skip to it

CLOTH Fabric is having a sale this weekend in Sydney

If your in town check it out

CLOTH Fabric

35 buckingham st

surry hills nsw 2010 australia

p:+61 2 9699 2266

f:+61 2 9699 1047

cloth@clothfabric.com

Some of my quilts are on display & for sale

Xx Siobhan

cure for the winter blues (sale time)

Sydney has been awful the last three days, It has rained and rained and rained some more, I really pity those who have to be outside. The noise on our roof is so loud you have to yell to talk to each other - and we have a tiled roof, imagine a tin roof!

Today I ventured out further than my own suburb and travelled into Surry Hills to deliver some Quilt samples to CLOTH FABRIC.

doesn't it look miserable.

Anyway onto the interesting bit :)

At the start of the year I approached the Cloth Team and wanted to do some quilts for them, what came out of that you can see.

I really enjoyed using the material - its a good medium weight linen with bright colours and large scale prints. 

 The CLOTH FABRIC sale is starting this weekend in Sydney.

If you have been looking and wondering about CLOTH Fabric then now is your chance. 

It was all hustle and bustle today and lots of fantastic looking things being set up for the sale. Usually I get a really good chat with the CLOTH Ladies (I do like a chat)not today - way to busy working.I was promised a beverage later in the week once all the work was done and the stock sorted.

Of course the sky is the limit with these fabrics, but I do like a improv scrappy quilt.

Hopefully the rain will ease and Sydney can get back to business and dry up a bit.......

also

Dont forget the class list is out for Calico & Ivy, I'm running some workshops on Zig Zag Quilts :)

&

For those of you have bought some of my fabric on Spoonflower - I'd love to see it! or if you have made one of my projects email me :)

Xx Siobhan

about time :)

Remember this quilt?

I'm finally getting around to listing quilts that I don't need anymore - these quilts are mostly for mapping out my patterns or samples to show fabric designers.

So they are mostly one offs - never to be made again!

check out my etsy store & I'll also tweet when I make a new listing

Xx Siobhan