All things Essential

Today there’s a great deal on all things essential over here at Buck Books that I just HAD to share with you

As the picture says, you can find 10 informative e-books for only 99c each.  I buy quite a few ebooks from them and I must say, I’ve always enjoyed them.  You can read them on your kindle, on your computer, on your Ipad or tablet, on the go or in bed, it’s such a great way to get into e-books if you’re not already.

I think there’s a few there I’m going to be buying. 

But be quick….it’s 7.11am here AEST and as you can see, there’s 9 hours 49 minutes left of the sale.  If you miss out though, don’t worry….if you link up HERE you can sign up to be reminded of their daily deals…..and there’s a freebie EVERY day!

So, which one’s are you going to buy?

xox Sugary hugs :o)

**Don’t forget, this Friday is the 3rd block in my free ‘Best of Friends’ Block of the Fortnight……remember to pop back to get the link

The power of a blog post

I was wrong on Anzac Day regarding the 5000 poppies………there were FAR more than 5000 poppies, although that was the project’s name.

 

The woman who initiated the call for poppies to be made,  Lynn Berry initially asked that people help her make 120 poppies to honour her father who served in WW2.  After quickly reaching her goal, she went online and wrote a blog asking for help to reach her goal of 5000 poppies….hence the name of the project!

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She set her goal for this year, two years ago, to commemorate the Centenary of the Anzacs. (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps)  She was quickly over-run with poppies from people all over the world with their own personal stories to tell of love, loss and gratitude. Approximately  50,000 people were involved - Children, people in retirement villages, CWAs, RSLs, each poppy had it’s own story to tell.

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There were dozens of volunteers who worked to connect the poppies to a wire carpet which was  laid over the steps of Federation Square, Melbourne in several panels.  These panels were then moved to the Princes Street Bridge for the Anzac Day parade, to line the path of the veterans as they marched between the city centre and the war memorial.

Now it’s their turn to tour Australia for the centenary and be admired by all.  They will then find a permanent home which the organiser hopes will be at the National War Memorial in Canberra.

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The concept has taken on a life of its own, with regional towns beginning their own knitted poppy tributes, while New Zealand is believed to have created more than 50,000 for their own Anzac commemorations.

It floors me how powerful our blogging can be and how one person’s dream can become reality simply by asking like-minded people with a purpose. 

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LEST WE FORGET……..with bloggers and our craft, our diggers will never be forgotten.  Go HERE to see many more of the images of our Centenary celebrated by our craft.

xox Sugary hugs :o)

We WILL remember them….

In every way, shape and form….We WILL remember them.

Federation Square, Melbourne, Victoria

5000 crocheted poppies

Our crafts can show our love and respect, EVERYWHERE.

Never forgotten

xox Sugary hugs :o)

A surprise is revealed–Mini Quilt Mania

I was over the moon when Lindsey from Fort Worth Fabric Studio asked me if I would like to be a part of their April Mini Quilt Mania.  It would mean I would make a mini quilt and do a tute for it on their blog AND choose ANY fabric I liked from their store to make it with……. of course my reply was….”Well…… YES!”  Remember I gave you hints about it back HERE?  It’s been really tough keeping it a surprise.

So I am officially one of the 9 bloggers doing a tute for this….

So, what did I make, you might be thinking……and what fabric did I choose? 

Fabric choice  was a difficult one as I’ve been buying fabrics from Fort Worth Fabric Studio for years…..and I love it ALL! I especially love their Friday Bundle batches and their Pocket Packs….an excellent way to grab an affordable themed pack of fabrics, ready for any project.

I  reeeeeally love the quality of fabrics they have, the price AND the service.  They always package up my goodies in such a pretty way, and they always throw an extra little something in….and it gets to Australia pretty quickly and reasonably, considering it’s coming from the other side of the world.

But because I had a bit of an idea in mind of what I was making, I ended up choosing some of the fabrics from this gorgeous range called Rhapsody Bop by Adornit Fabrics.  It’s really cute with little birdies all over, and the fabric is such good quality, I was sooo happy I chose some of this range…..I really like all of it, especially the Rhapsody Bop Chatter…..(we all know how much I love words).  You’ll understand why I chose it when you see my project.

Called, “You Are Tweet”, I designed a sweet little 18 1/2 x 16 1/2 inch mini quilt with a touch of linen, some trademark stitchery (of course), a little bit of ric rac , some easy needleturn and some fussy cutting but nothing you wouldn’t be able to master quite easily. 

If you head on over to the FWFS blog now, you’ll be able to see the tutorial and if you download the PrintFriendly button, you can even download the PDF of the tutorial easily and for FREE!

Don’t forget to check out what the other 7 bloggers have designed for the Mini Quilt Mania…..

Here is the schedule:

• April 1st : Lindsey - FWFS
• April 2: Melissa - My Fabric Relish
• April 6: Nettie - FWFS pattern tester
• April 8: Afton  - Quilting Mod
• April 13: Amanda - The Cozy Pumpkin
• April 14: Trina - Will Cook For Shoes
• April 21: Heather - Quilts Actually
• April 22: Wendy - Sugarlane Quilts
• April 27: Paula - The Sassy Quilter

you’ll find all the tutorials if you scroll back through FWFS’s blog posts in April….and you can read even more about the Mini Quilt Mania HERE .

Hope you have lots of fun with it. Let me know what you think?

xox Sugary hugs :o)

FWFS April Mini Quilt Mania #8: You Are Tweet

Well helloooooo! I’m Wendy , the owner and designer behind Sugarlane Designs. I’m a wife and mother to one nearly-21 year old and two fur-children, one moodle named Ralph and one moggy named Charlie. We live in a tropical North Queensland sugar cane district (hence the name) in the northern part of Australia, where temperatures rarely go below 23 degrees Celsius and often hover in the low 30s. I’m a former teacher turned quilter/stitcher/designer and always blogger, who just loves to share so I was over the moon when I was asked to participate in Fort Worth Fabric Studio’s Mini Quilt Mania.
Now, with my love of stitching, I just HAD to incorporate a stitchery into my mini.

I chose four fabrics from the AdornIt range of fabrics….. aren’t they just adorable? Tweet little birdies all over the place…..therefore…”You Are Tweet!” was born.
Finished Mini Quilt size is 18 ½ x 16 ½
The requirements for this mini are:

• ½ yard Rhapsody Bob Birdie Perch Adornit


• ¼ yard Pink Burnish Adornit


• ¼ yard Rhapsody Bop Song Floral Adornit


• ¼ yard Rhapsody Bop Ecstatic Dots Adornit


• 9in x 11in rectangle white linen


• Weaveline to back linen


• DMC stranded embroidery threads as follows: 304, 321, 327, 472, 597, 603, 725, 745, 800, 817, 963, 3326, 3781, 3835,


• Size 9 crewel needle


• 25” x 3/4in wide white/off white ric rac


• 20in square wadding


• 0.1 brown pigma pen


• Lightbox is optional


• Embroidery hoop is optional


• General sewing supplies


• Stitchery Instructions

Follow stitchery instructions as given in the download. Once complete, trim back to approximately 1 inch around the outside of the heart outline (1). Cut a notch ½ inch into the centre top of the heart, so you can turn easily (2). Turn edge under ½ inch and sew a running stitch to hold .
Take your ric rac and needleturn your heart to the ric rac, starting at the centre top of the heart (3). Once attached, remove running stitches.

Cut a 12 ½ x 9 ½ rectangle of the Pink Burnish fabric. Centre your heart onto it and pin in place. (4) Needleturn applique to the pink background. Trim this block back to 10 ½ x 8 ½ in .

Cut two 2 ½ in strips from each of the grey floral and dots fabric. Using a ¼ in seam, sew one strip of each, right sides together along the long side. Press seams to the dark fabric. Repeat with other two strips. Crosscut into eighteen 2 ½ in sets.

Sew two lots of 4 sets, alternating colours and nesting seams, to create both side borders and two lots of 5 sets for top and bottom borders, as shown in the picture.
With right sides together, stitch bottom border strip to bottom edge of centre panel. Press towards the centre. Repeat for top border strip.

Fussy cut four 4 ½ in squares from the Birdie Perch fabric, so that you ‘capture’ the birds in their bird cages.

Take each of your fussy cut blocks and place them in the four corners so that they are visually pleasing to you. Stitch each fussy cut block to both top and bottom of the side borders using a ¼ in seam and pressing to the corner blocks. Pin these right sides together along the side borders, nesting the seams and stitch. Press.

Cut a 20 in square of the Birdie Perch fabric to use as your backing. Layer, pin and quilt your mini as preferred. I chose to cross-hatch the 4 patches and stitch ¼ in inside the seam lines of the corner blocks and central panel and stitch all the way around the heart, using my walking foot.

 
Trim back to 18 ¼ x 16 ¼ in. I added a 4 “ x 17” hanging sleeve to the back using the grey floral, folding the short ends under 1/8 in twice and topstitching, before folding in half, raw edges together with right sides out and placing flush against the top edge of the mini quilt. Add the binding and then whipstitch the folded edge down to create a hanging ‘tube’.

The binding is made with the pink burnish Adornit fabric, using three 2 ½ in strips, mitred together as usual.  Hang and enjoy!

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial….if you have any questions, pop on over to my blog Sugarlane Designs or visit me on Pinterest or Instagram @wendybert to see what else I get up to.
Don’t forget to visit all the other amazing mini quilt designers and see what they’ve prepared for you for FWFS Mini Quilt Mania. You can find their links HERE.
Sugary hugs :o)

The FNSI winner is……..

so who is the winner??? 

Mr RNG says……..  “THE WINNER IS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

…..the person who created these poppets of gorgeousness! “

Aren’t they just beautiful.  And this person creates LOTS of lovely things on her blog….she’s very creative and if you haven’t had the chance, I’m sure you’d like to visit here HERE for some  inspiration and an instant mojo-shakeup.  She just gets me wanting to create, create, create!

Congratulations from MR RNG and myself to….

CHRIS from UK CITY CRAFTER

Can’t wait to see what special little touches you add to these little princesses-all-in-a-row.  They will be winging their way to you very shortly…

Thanks to all who joined in on Friday night, I had a blast and hope you did too.  Don’t forget to pop on back here to click on the links from everyone’s blog to see what they got up to…..it’s so nice to have some lovely comments and really ‘feel’ like you were in a big room altogether stitching and chatting away!

I’m off for a quick visit with my stitching buddies tomorrow, ‘in the flesh’ so I’ll have to post about that tomorrow night…..I’m sure it will be full of catching up and giggles galore.

xox Sugary hugs :o)

FNSI–what can you win?

Before I tell you that, I need to show you what I got up to on Friday Night!  I know, I’m a tease…..

I started my needlecase by Annie Downs from Hatched and Patched from my first month’s Tilda Club instalment.  Now that’s a big thing for me…..my long time followers know what I”m like with kits and UFOs…..two and even three-digit numbers are not far from my vocabulary! So seeing as this is a January 2015 one, I think it has to be an all-time K..A.R.T.S. record!  (Kitted And Ready To Start)

Mind you, I probably should be getting on with some of the UFO’s I’ve already started, but this one was just too stinkin’ cute to not start, don’t you think?  And you can never have too many needlecases.  I’m planning on finishing this one during the coming week.  We’ll see how that goes, shall we?

So what did you get up to?  I’ll go visiting blogs on Monday to see, and if you’ve remembered to blog about your Friday night events, you might be the lucky winner of……

 

It’s a Rosalie Quinlan ‘Simply Stuffies’ kit of Matroyshkas, with the printed linen panel and contrasting fabric…just so sweet!   I’ll have to make sure Mr RNG is free on Monday to help me with the draw.  Keep your fingers crossed…..it may just be you!

I’m off to write a speech now…..it’s our official opening of the Artspace tomorrow so I best be ready.

Have a wonderful Sunday…enjoy whatever you do.

xox Sugary hugs :o)

FREE Friends BOF - Block 2: Happiness is live and it’s countdown to FNSI

Yep, it’s time!

Block 2 is ready for you to download.    You can get your free copy from my Craftsy store, where you’ll also find Block 1, and lots of my other patterns.  I just love this one…..

It just about sums it up for me….Friends just complete me….they bring such joy and happiness to my life, filling it to the brim….it always feels like sunshine when my friends are around me…or just knowing they’re in my heart gives me strength, just like the flower, growing stronger each day because the sunlight shines upon it……do you feel the same way too?

Head on over and print off your copy so we can all stitch together in our monthly, worldwide friendship sew-in and have a ‘happiness overload’ night ……. have you signed up yet?  You can do that HERE if you haven’t had the chance yet.  You know you want to, and I’ve even made it easy for you with something ready to stitch! (or you could be like me and choose something from the UFO pile?)

 

See you tonight.

xox Sugary hugs with happiness galore :o)

FNSI deliciousness and some reminders….

I was thinking, “What sort of treat could we make this Friday night?  Something sweet…..savoury?  Something that suits the northern hemisphere’s heading into summery weather, as well as the southern’s beginnings of wintery temps?”   ….and here in the tropics, well our temps are staying in the low 30’s (celsius) by day so really, anything will suit me! (and I’m a great lover of just about ANY food type!)

And then I got to thinking…..why not make an easy-peasy-yummy-liquidy-pick-me-uppy-type drink?  I’d noticed on Kelley’s blog, she had a delicious looking ice-creamy, desserty treat so I asked her if I could share it with you.

Her gorgeous looking creation is the Frozen Chai Tea Latte.   I am a great fan of Chai tea….isn’t everyone?  a hint of cloves, a touch of cinnamon…..yummo…..very exotic, (that makes it healthy, right??)  AND just like being at a posh teahouse.  Adding an ice-creamy touch to it makes it a cross between dessert and ‘l'heure du thé’…this one will give you the energy to stitch for hours….*perfect*.

And it’s so simple to make….. just click on the picture to take you to the recipe. Even if you’re not into chai, Kelley has some other delectable treats…there’s so much to drool over….pop on over and take a look.

While you’re at it, have you signed up for Friday night’s FNSI yet?  The sign ups are back HERE so don’t forget to add your name to the list…we always have a blast.  If you haven’t heard about it, read all about our virtual Friday night get togethers here.

Another reminder, tomorrow is the release of Block 2 of my free B.O.F. B.O.F. aka Best Of Friends Block of the Fortnight.  If you’re new to it, you can read all about it in this previous post and this one too.

xox sugary sweet hugs :o)

FNSI sign ups

Where has this past week gone?
I guess preparing for the opening of the Artspace and generally catching up on life has taken over (that tends to happen a lot, doesn't it?)
Nevertheless,  this Friday is our April Friday Night Sew In.......YES already! Hard to believe it's rocked around again isn't it....but it has and I can't wait!

 Mind you, I've been stitching heaps lately .... I have lots to share.....and a special something I"ll be sharing with you that's coming up in the next couple of weeks that I'll tell you more about later on this week.....but a hint........it involves THIS......

Subtle as a sledgehammer, I am?!

As always, there'll be something spesh I'll choose as our prize for FNSI this month but right now it's time to invite your online friends, remind your online buddies, choose what you're going to be working on, sign up below, jot it down in your diary, log it in your Outlook Calendar, tie a ribbon in a bow around your finger,  do whatever you have to do to remember that ....

FRIDAY NIGHT IS FNSI NIGHT!!!!!!!!!

....and you definitely don't want to miss out!

I'll be releasing the next block in our 'Friends'  BOF on Friday too, so maybe that is something you want to have ready for Friday night?  

Sign ups are open......let's get ready to part-ay!

xox Sugary hugs :o)

Challenging

Not like me to be behind the 8 ball (*guffaw*) but I am getting back on track now that my BOM is finished and out there.  So that means I can start back on APQ’s UFO challenge which I talked about here.

I missed out on March’s Challenge which was number 3 on my list

…my Birdie Stitches quilt which just has to be quilted and bound.  Perhaps I’ll find some time this month or catch up during the year???  That’s the plan anyway.

April’s challenge is to work on number 8, a project I started quite a number of years ago – a Japanese Kaleidoscope quilt.  Not my ‘normal’ style, as I’m not one for Japanese style, however this one caught my eye, but did go by the wayside for whatever reason.   I don’t have any photos of it’s progress as yet, but I’ll show you as I go.

What plans have you got for the rest of this month?

xox Sugary hugs :o)