Zero calorie cupcakes

Now you can have your cake and ......... well, actually, you can't eat these ones!

A couple of weeks ago, a friend and I attended a fabric cup cake making class. We liked the idea of these, and thought they may be an interesting and enjoyable project for our younger Textiles students. They are quick to make, and reasonably easy to 'ice', although I managed to get myself in a bit of a mess! They use silicone cupcake moulds and beads, buttons or ribbon for icing decorations. The ideas are only limited by your imagination!

Could this be a new weight loss fad, do you think?

More woodwork

I thought I'd show you some more of Steven's wood work - he is such a talented person, and an absolutely beautiful partner as well! (Not that I'm biased, of course!). Here is a picture of the entertainment unit he designed and created for us recently - it's made of Victorian Ash and the drawers extend out fully to try and contain our ever growing DVD collection...

He then had to make us a matching coffee table.....

As if that wasn't enough, a person (who shall remain nameless!) suggested we needed some new coasters....... the idea THAT person had was for him to just slice some burls he had and coat them with Danish oil, but Steven, being as meticulous as he is (see where Lana gets it from!!) had to make us these beautiful round ones with the burl slice set in....

I love watching him create such beautiful items, and enjoy using them all!

Little Macca's Farm Quilt (In Progress!)

Hello Bloggers!
I'm Alana, Al's daughter. (I'm 12!)

Last year I decided to make my very first quilt. Once I saw the quilt in a shop I decided to make it but with brighter colours.

About a week later, I saw the "Spring Fling" range. I immediatly fell in love with all the vibrant colours and patterns, so Mum and I bought them!


After that we traced the first pattern "Missy Moo". I decided to do her in pink and blue. It took me awhile to finish her because I always seemed to be busy! After about 6 months I FINALLY picked it up again and I finished it on Saturday!

Because I completed the first block, Mum decided to take me out with her friend yesterday to look for more fabrics.

After coming home at the end of the day with some great fabrics, we traced up the next two patterns- "Clara the Chook" and "Charlie the Cat". That night I stitched away and I am already about half way there!

So here are some photos of the progress so far, and there should be some more in a couple of months to keep you updated!

Thank You! From Alana.

It's finished!

I thought you might like to see my completed Angel's story quilt.... I am rapt that I've actually managed to complete some quilts that have been languishing in the UFO pile for a long time. Here is the full photo.....

At the time I took the photo above, I hadn't had a chance to sew on the buttons I'd bought for the garden block, so here is what it really looks like.......

This quilt was a landmark in many ways - it was the first one where I actually decided on the border first. I was attracted to the green for some reason, so decided to 'go for it'!
It was also the first time I had used a range of fabrics predominately, rather than bits and pieces.
Another achievement was that I organised the applique on all the blocks and completed them together - I chose one thread colour and sewed all the blocks that needed it and then changed to another colour. The end result was that, all of a sudden. I had many blocks suddenly finished!
After attending a wonderful colorque workshop with Helen Stubbings, I added colour to some blocks with both pencil and paint.
I love the applique and embroidery components of quilts and look forward to playing more on this style in the future - there are several lined up in the 'to do' list!

Ideas needed please.

I have decided I want to try and machine quilt the geisha wallhanging quilt I made late last year...... I want to use my new Janome 6500P and see what it (and I!) can do, but I'm unsure what would be the best way to do it... any ideas or suggestions would be gratefully received!

Two down....

countless more to go! I've managed to finish two quilt that have been languishing for far too long. Both contain 'firsts' for me, even though I've been making quilts for about 14 years.

Quilt 1

The "Scrapbag Whirl" quilt was sewn during a class at Needles and Pins in Warrandyte. It is the first time I'd used autumn toned fabric in a whole quilt, and I was really pleased with the end result. I became adventurous and managed to machine quilt it, also. It was the first time I'd quilted such a large quilt, but the straight lines made it quite manageable.

Quilt 2

I fell in love with the hydrangea fabric in the kaleidoscope quilt, and so HAD to make one of these. Once I sorted out the repeats and layers, it was a reasonably quick quilt to make, but then I also attempted to machine quilt this one and gave up in disgust. It sat folded away until I decided to get Chris from Sandlyn House to quilt it for me - she did a lovely job!

I now only need to add a label and it is officially finished! I love the way you end up with 12 totally different blocks from the same fabric - I'll have to make a different one, some day.

Quilt 3
I'm now sewing the binding on my Angels quilt, custom quilted by Chris. Here's a sneak peek at a couple of the blocks. Check back in about a week - I should have it ticked off the list too!