Boy Quilt.

We've had a sick week this week. A lazy week. A watch-too-much-tv week. A 'buy too much fabric online because you spent too much time on the computer and none doing the dishes' type week. We have those here sometimes. But this photo above makes me feel calm. Does it do the same to you? In a quick 5 minutes without rain, I ran out the back with my camera and a sheet to lay over the wet grass and got some quick photos before it started again.

This was going to be a tutorial about how I pieced this quilt together. But the photos of my sewing are half-dark and half-left on Tim's computer at work. Maybe another day. For this has been a week of letting go, letting the rain come as it will, of leaving some boxes un-checked, of wearing the same clothes 3 days in a row.

And then, coming inside to look at the photos, and forgetting the storm clouds and wet grass soaking the bottom of my last pair of pants. You would never know there was that whole world outside these calm, cheery colours. I hope they make the brand new little boy they're going to feel the same.

Today is my stop for the "Lets Get Acquainted" Blog Hop hosted by Plum and June. So normally I'd sign off there and go to bed (It's 11pm here) but I'll add a little extra for Hoppers. :)
Thank you for dropping in! I'm Jodi, I've been blogging for a year, making quilts for maybe a year or so longer than that. I love to chop and change between clothes and quilts, often feel like I could settle on one forever and then get restless. I'm slowly letting myself just make what I want and not feel like I have to specialise or fit in a box. 
I live in a little two bedroom cottage with my nerd husband, two young kids and eight chooks (actually, the chickens are outside). If my fabric addiction ever wears off, I'll go do academic history on 1950s America. 
This quilt is one of my drawstring play mats. I used Sarah Jane's Children at Play (I'm hanging out for her new Out to Sea line!), some some bits by Oliver & s, and pure linen sashing. I sell a pattern for the quilt in my Etsy shop. I was inspired for this quilt by the Zakka Style sew-along by LRStitched. 
Also blogging today on the Hop is Libby at Miss Beau Jangles. Head over to her blog for a great Bead Bag Tute!

Jodi. xx

A Winner, a Sale and a Weekend Survival Kit!

 

It's a cold, windy Saturday morning here in Newcastle. Tim's away for the weekend and Saturday cartoons aren't quite doing their job; Evie is trying very hard to wedge herself between me and the laptop! So I'll write quickly and then get back to our tea party.

I've been thinking a bit this week about surviving the weekend without Tim or the car, especially with rain forecast for tomorrow. Tully and I sat down yesterday and wrote a list of things we'd like to do. Here's what we decided:

- do puzzles
- make a racetrack town out of playdough
- write to Pop with postcards we picked up and decorated, from our local art gallery
- play memory and bingo with these tiles from MollydagMade
- sleep so mummy can get some quilts finished and photographed.  (Ok, maybe that was just mine.)
 

Then, as we were getting dressed this morning, the electricity man came and turned off the power and replaced the lines. Yay for free Saturday morning entertainment!

I left Tully by the window while I dressed Eve, and came back to find him abseiling his toys down the front of our house using the curtain cords! Little boys will always find something to do beyond the set 'task'! At least he wasn't abseiling himself!

Alrighty! A winner!
Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who joined in! Over 600 entries! Well, I'm flabergasted!
Random.org chose:

 Congratulations Tanya! I'll email you now!

Tania said...

I am really loving the Summersville print right now.

24 May 2012 03:35

To celebrate the wonderful response to my pattern, I'm offering it for only $5 in my Etsy Shop THIS WEEKEND ONLY! (Ok, maybe also because I want to buy some fabric in the sales! ;)) You can buy it here!

What are you up to this weekend? Hope it's a lovely one. I need to go rescue a Mrs Potato Head!

Jodi. xx

Attack of the unfinished quilts.

This week my world has been overtaken by quilts in waiting. It's so unlike me. I usually work on one at a time. But I needed one I could hand-stitch while watching Iron Lady and one to machine quilt while the kids were out. And then a friend came around and offered to help so I got this woven lap quilt (a bigger version of my mini) cut out so one could sew and the other could press.

On a happier note, I sent of 5 parcels yesterday all around the world, including Spain, Sweden and Sydney! And I've had an amazing response to my SMS giveaway HERE!

 

How about you? Do you work on several things at once? One at a time? Do you dive into a quilt and not come up for air? Or do you you work on something for months?

Quick! It's Giveaway Day!

So I'm chilling out with my coffee last night after all our guests left, scrolling through blogs  when suddenly, popping up all over the place, is the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day Button. That's right! I was going to remember that this year!

So this morning, after walking to the Post Office, coming home and spilling coffee all over myself, narrowly missing the quilt I was basting, I decided I would in fact rush to join in. I took a break from basting, and cleaned myself up while cooking up a giveaway for you. And this is what I've come up with! (Hehe! And it's not the baby! :))

Earlier this year, I released the pattern for my Drawstring Quilt, a beautiful play mat and funky carry bag in one! Today I'm offering the chance to win a PDF copy of the pattern and a Jelly Roll of fabric specially picked by me!

 The Jelly Roll will consist of 25 strips from 11 designs including Saffron Craig, Sarah Jane, Anna Maria Horner, Aneela Hooey and Heather Ross! You'll get 2 strips of most of the designs and 3 strips of the rest. You only need 21 strips to complete the quilt, so you can pick and choose the colours you include!

(Example only)

To enter, simply leave a comment! Maybe you could tell me your very favourite print at the moment!
Followers of my blog or Facebook page get an extra entry, just leave a 2nd comment to let me know!

International entries welcome! And don't forget to include your email if you're a no-reply blogger.
Giveaways close 25th May, 5pm PST. I have no idea what time that is here! (Australia!) I'll announce the winner on Saturday.

Thanks for stopping by Tickle & Hide! Feel free to hang around a while, I'm just about to make another coffee if you'd like to join me! :)

Jodi. x

Joining in Giveaway Day!

Entries are now closed. Congratulations Tanya! I've emailed you! Thank you so much for joining in! To celebrate such a wonderful response, I'm offering my pattern for only $5 this weekend only! That's half price! You can buy it here. Thank you!

Lists, Linny Pinny and a Winner!

Good Morning! How are you? It's a sunny, sewing Monday morning here in Newcastle and Tim's taken Tully and Eve to Daycare. The coffee has got my fingers typing a little faster than my brain and I'm ready to tick things off my list! These triangles are for another Little Folks Chevron Quilt for a custom order, ready to iron flat and start piecing together.

Some funky boy fabric laid out, ready to show a customer for some custom shorts. I just these prints together, what do you think?
And this photo below (I've just got my phone for photos this week!) absolutely does not do justice to this stunning velveteen and flannel jacket! I'll try to get some better ones to show you before it gets posted to its new little owner. Today is Buttonhole Day. Oooh, I get butterflies thinking about it! I haven't ruined one jacket yet, though!

 

Last night I had lots of fun launching my new Linny Pinny line on my Facebook Page. This is the technical skill I've been lacking and finally convinced Tim to give me some lessons.  The top photo I edited on Picmonkey, but they don't yet have collage-making tools, so I needed help using Gimp, a free, completely unintuitive program we already had on our computer. I think I won in the end, don't you?

Now for a winner of the Fugly Party Giveaway! Thank you so much to everyone that entered. In a week of new baby teeth and other challenges, your thankful comments were a constant encouragement to me!
Now, because Tim's out, I can't do a screen grab (one thing at a time!), but I'm happy to announce that random.org chose number 40! Congratulations Pippa! I hope you find some treasures in my stash!

Pippa Parsons said...

I tweeted it https://twitter.com/#!/me0wp00/status/200309073340674048

Have a lovely week! And go check out the rest of my Linny Pinnies on Facebook or Flickr! I'm pretty chuffed with them!
Jodi. xx

The Things of Life and Giveaways!

Today we are celebrating and grieving. It's what makes up much of life, isn't it? Finding joy in the grief and being free to grieve even when blessed.


Last night I hit 500 fans on Facebook. WOO! I'm trying to overcome some technical glitches (actually, not glitches, just complete ignorance!) to help the celebrations as we speak. I have convinced my techy Tim to help me out. Hit 'like' at the top of my blog page so you can join in the fun too! It includes releasing my new line of linen pinnies!

We're grieving for our friends who lost their daughter last week. Grieving with friends who are waiting, who are sick, who long for relief or answers.
Evie spent the last weekend (while we were away visiting friends and family) teething, with raging temperatures and vomiting and no sleep. And while we spent lots of time just snuggling together, comforting her, I felt comforted too.

I got an email today from a lovely customer, thanking me for my Drawstring Quilt Pattern, and letting me know she was going to make as many as she could for the emergency disaster shelter where she volunteers. Oh, this made my heart glad! I'm so thankful someone saw my pattern and thought it would fit just perfectly for such a great cause.

And, I'm joining in the lovely Lucy's Fugly Fabric de-stash party. I had so much fun last time, and I made some new friends! I'm giving away this pile of goodies. Some designer (Tanya Wheelan, and the like), some from my local craft shop. ranging from around 1/4yd to a metre (a bit longer than a yd). All given as is.
- Just leave a comment below telling me what you're thankful for this week.
- Followers here and/or on Facebook get another entry. Leave a second comment letting me know.
- Get a third entry by sharing! Let your friends know on Facebook, Twitter, etc, and leave a third comment to say so.
- Then, let the people you love know it. This won't get you another entry, but you should do it anyway. :)

Random.org will choose a winner Monday 14th May, sometime in the morning once the coffee's taken effect. Please make sure I have a way of contacting you! Thanks!

Peace and hope to you this week whether you're in grief or joy,
Jodi. xx

All the things you leave till later...

This week I've ticked (checked?) boxes, kicked goals, cross off the list all those things you leave till later. I've had my cousin Naomi coming over on my sewing days to help me with custom order while I do all those fiddly bits. Gosh I work well with company!

Elastic, buttonholes and buttons, top-stitching and snipping threads. And then, miraculously, a sunny day, perfect for photos.

And then a nice long sleep time after our visitors came to play yesterday to edit, crop and put up in the shop.

And then about 5 loads of washing, hung out, brought in, folded and away. YES!