Emma and I went to the Beanie Festival today. My dear husband stayed home with the boys and perfected his chili recipe for the Chili cook off tonight.

Emma has about $1000 worth of hots in her arms. She clearly has her grandmother's blood coursing through her veins. Emma, like me, can walk into a store and select the most expensive thing without even trying.

We had a great time trying on hats and admiring the artistry of the ladies in Australia. The Beanie Festival used to be a way for the Aborigine weavers to make money for their community. Now I think allot of the Beanies are made by a group of Aussie ladies here in town. But, with that said, the money raised during this 3 day festival supports several Aborigine communities for the rest of the year.

There were some really beautiful hats...I think at one point I had almost as many as Emma in my arms. I have one on right now...really great, Wool with Emu feathers sprouting out the top. We had a blast, I wish you could have been there with us!

West Hill by Heather Ross

I received my "West Hill" by Heather Ross today! Wow...it feels so nice. I like it...I don't LOVE it...the colors are a little Avocado and Mustard...but that means I will use it sooner. In the past I have horded Heather Ross's fabric like a fiend...but this is very usable! I think I am going to use that cream and do something like Denyse Schmidt's '"Drunk to Love", or "Bunch of Squares"...My mind will change a zillion times between now and then...I have no sewing machine now so I really could take this time to cut, but I am just not a pattern or template lady. I want to sew as I cut...I don't know there are so many possibilities with this fabric.

I think Heather and I shared the same childhood on some sort of parallel reality... I was soooooo horse crazy as a kid. My first boyfriend in fact was a tremendous grey Dutch Warm blood in Honduras. I was so, not into the young men in my high school (my dad was a "contractor" with the embassy after he retired from the army and we got to go spend 3 years in Tegucigalpa). I loved my horse back lessons, and seeing that giant horse gallop across the pasture to nibble my ears is one of my fondest memories of Honduras.

My mother was a tour guide when we lived in Germany (as really little kiddos) and she brought us back stack dolls from Prague. She also smuggled out a crystal chandelier in her boots and luggage!

I can't even remember how many frogs and spiders I had as pets (secret pets, I am sure mom wouldn't really want to help me raise tarantulas. A little too Hagrid for my family) so I LOVE the frog pond and tadpole prints she has with this new collection...Maybe I will go ahead and cut fabric tomorrow, then I will be forced to sew it up.

After I do some bags, of course! I have cut alot of uniforms today and I have more to work on tomorrow!

Camel Farm

Here we are at the Camel Farm. Strange beasts, camels. Neat, but strange. These were very friendly. The lady at the desk said to make ourselves at home, so I did. I led my sweet family right into the restricted area and we made sure each big old camel got his nose patted.

We approached the restricted area from the wrong angle, so I didn't see the sign. I don't always thwart rules...only sometimes. Anyway we are going to have to do the "Take a Camel to Dinner Tour" you go for a camel ride then have a cook out. Sounds like fun! The menu didn't mention eating camels, so at least you don't have to kill your mount.

Ohhhh the ideas!

This is fabric I hav been looking at for sometime now. I take it out of the closet and hold it, lay it out in different positions, just to see how it will look. Then I have to put it back because I am too busy with bags for other ladies....but now I have the time to play a bit...like a vacation but just with my fabric.

The Stripe is an old French ticking I found at Marburger Falls, the other two are Lecien prints. I just love them all together!

New Bag Design

This is a new design I was playing with before I become Machineless.

Leanne wanted me to make her a little bag with the reds from Amy Butler's Forrest collection...I have not used Amy's heavier weight fabric yet, so I want to do a test run before I cut and batted that wonderful stuff. SO I did a simple deep bag design. I am happy I gave it a test run, because it sews up much different than the regular quilting weight I normally use.

The little bumble bees around the bag are from LFN textiles. I just love her ribbon, each one is like a tiny tapestry. The straps are Herringbone tape doubled up and quilted with the flight path of a bumble bee. I am going to name this the Busy Bag. I have been testing it out around the house...if you want to test it out too, let me know. I think I may sell it on my Hyena Cart store as soon as Karen works the kinks out! I think I am also going to list a big quilt....it is one I was commissioned to do 18 months ago, but the lady was not able to come up with the last payment. While it is a great quilt it is really big. I like smaller quilts so I can layer them up on the bed and kick them off as I get hot. Anyway that is just something I will have to do soon....

I am also going to list and sell a quilt made my mother and quilted by me. This quilt has about 60 years of sewing and quilting experience in it...so it is going to be great. I am very excited to do it, but again I need my machines!

latest bags

These are the latest bags I have made. I was very happy with how they turned out. I hope Nikki and Jennifer are too!

Since I do not have sewing machines for the next two weeks I am going to concentrate on updating my sites and cutting the uniforms that are waiting so patiently in the closet. I will publish an order of march for the bags I will be making as soon as I get my machines back all happy and ready to sew again.

1) J. Boyd

2) T. Cahill

3) S. Acquistapace

I am mostly finished with your bags, I just need to do a bit more to them. I was not able to get them finished before the repairman come to town....sorry. Yours will be the first to be completed as soon as I get my machines back

These are the ladies whose uniforms I am cutting and getting ready to work on. This will be the order of March as soon as I have completed the above bags.

1) J. Davis

2) A. Stine

3) T. Walsh (quilt)

4) R. Sargent

5) M. Weinburgh

6) K. York

7) E. Melton

8) M. Ocampo

9) J. Roupp

10) M. Green

11) K. Fuller

That is the list for now, if you do not see your name on it yet, I do not have your uniform yet. See the list is not too long, maybe I can get your bags ready before my estimated 6 to 8 weeks....I will keep my fingers crossed!

Anyway, I just wanted to thank you all for your business! I love sewing for you....you are keeping me sane in the middle of Alice!

Little Miss Muffett

This is the spider at the Airport....for those of you who had trouble visualizing this monster, here he is. Those bolts are about 2" in Diameter.

Granted, he did look bigger in my memory, but that is still a really big spider. Can you imagine him crawling over your shoulder? Yuck.

I turned in my Sewing machines to be cleaned and oiled, and the big one needs some love. The old standby is doing great, but needs to be oiled and cleaned.

If it matters to anyone who is about to invest in a new Bernina...I do not think the BSR is worth it's $1000 price tag. I have read and read about how wonderful it is and all it does is beep at me for going too fast or too slow.....crabby Swiss machine. But I do love Beatrice when she is happy.

And I will never for a second regret the price of the first Bernina I bought. Worth every penny. I love Bernina! I miss them...I would be sewing, but instead I am blogging. I made a big chocolate cake too...maybe tomorrow I will clean the house. If I am not sewing every spare minute of the day I may actually be able to fold and put the laundry away....I will keep all posted.

I did mail out Nikki's bags today. They are lovely. I wanted to keep her mother-in-law's for myself. I just am a sucker for the DCU... I like to pair it up with pinks and blues.

Good Morning, we are here for Breakfast!

So....last night we stayed up late watching the Last Cursade (Indiana Jones) and I was enjoying a great sleep in this morning. I heard pounding on the front windows. Well, for those of you who know where I live know there is quite and Aboriginie problem. So Immediately that is what I though was happening. They were trying to get in and look for alcohol (all I have is half a bottle of blush....not really worth it, I already drank the good stuff!). So I grab the baseball bat beside my bed and stalk off to the front of the house where the pounding was continuing at regular intervals along with terrible screaming....As I peek around the corner into the dining room I see it is only the Galas.....they have found my bird food, eaten it all and are demanding more by waking me up and dive bombing the front windows.

It was so funny I went out to give them more....they didn't even fly off, just clucked around my feet like chickens. I will have to go out and get more food later. While the pinks and grays of the galas is lovely, I think I prefer the nobility and dignity of the Green Ring Necks that normally eat at our house. Much More gracious and far less demanding! But I will take birds over spiders ANY DAY! That is a story for later...

I am mailing Deb's and Terri's bags today! I hope you love them. They look great!

Quilting it up on a rainy Father's Day

Well here it is getting quilted up. It was a wonderful rainy day today....and since Daddy is not around for Father's day, I decided to just sew. I think I might get it finished today! That will be nice.I am quilting it with King Tut Egyptsy Rose....I just love that verigation. It really gives it such a nice subtle glow.

Detail of the Tea in Alice

This is a little bit of the detail on the fabric, There are many different prints in this quilt, but the colors are so much like Alice Springs, that I decided they all went together very well. The sage of the ghost gums out my kitchen window, the red of the earth on the West Mcdonald Range, the browns of the rocks and plants...this is a very Alice quilt.

The back of my Tea in Alice Quilt

So this is the back I improvised...I debated making it more contemporary by putting a big flower growing off center of the back, but I decided against it. The middle square is a newspaper print in French, English and Spanish. I am really pleased with how this is turning out!

The Creation of a Quilt...

I have been collecting Lecien Fabric ever since I visited on of my favorite Fabric stores "Cabbage Rose" in FT Worth, TX. This wonderfully detailed fabric was over by itself on a table and despite it's high price I left with a small stash all for me to use. Finally I have decided to delve into the stash and this is what I have been creating.

It is inspired by Jane Stickle's Dear Jane masterpiece. By no means does it come close to her magnum opus, but I think it is wonderful. I have loved having this quilt evolve beneath my rotary cutter and edge. It turned out bigger than I intended so I
had to improvise a bit on the back. I am still in the process of quilting it up. Between 3 kids, my husband on TDY and a stack of bags to make I have not had much time for myself to just sit and sew.

Blog Spot Beginning

This is my newest set of fabric from my favorite fabric shop Purl Patchwork. I have never used Anna Griffin, but I think she will be a welcome additon ot my gang of designers.

Now the big question is "will this be a quilt or a bag???" I guess it will be bits of both. I would like to make another childs quilt to peddle on Hyenacart.com but the trick is finding he time to do it.