Don't look now!

Ta daa!

As promised a new pattern ... I hope you like it ...

The pattern is called Pretty 'n Pink ... and contains the complete instructions for a collection of 4 pillows;

My Sweet Heart ...

... this pillow suits a European pillow insert. It is based on the swap quilt I made last year for ErinK. Although I have made this design into a pillow it doesn't mean that you are locked into this. You could simply bind the top and use it as a small wall hanging or you could even use it as a center of a medallion quilt. I've used raw edge applique & trapunto to achieve this jigsaw puzzle design.

Sweet Little Garden ...

... this is a simple little pillow that would be a good starting point for a beginner to try out the raw edge technique that I use before launching into the more complex Sweet Heart pattern.

Sugar Candy ...

...is a sweet little cushion completely filled with my jigsaw puzzle styled applique. This would also be a good place to start if you haven't used raw edge applique before. It is also a very simple design that would be a great gift as it looks quite impressive but really is as simple as can be to make.

Finally Just for me ...

... is a small monogram pillow design. I just love this particular cushion as it looks great on any little girls bed and can be whipped up in no time at all. This pillow would also be a perfect gift for a special little friend.

This pattern will be released herenext Tuesday the 7th of April, however, you can place a pre-order by emailing me here (please make sure you title your email preorder) and I will send you an email request for the payment (paypal). All orders that are made using this process will be sent off on Tuesday the 7th of April.

Edit: Sorry I forgot to include the price ... each pattern is $18.00 AUD plus postage & GST where applicable.

Now I think that I did mention a give away didn't I? Of course I did! I am going to actually have two giveaways that will work a little differently to my previous give aways so make sure you read carefully ...

Give Away 1

This giveaway will be for all of the pre-order people... if you place a preorder and prepay for the pattern before midnight Australian EST on the 6th of April your name will go into a draw for another Don't Look Now! pattern of your choice ... and just as a little bonus if the person who wins this giveaway has previously bought one of my patterns, before this post was published, they will also receive an extra little bit of love in the form of sweet little Lilly.... 

Give Away 2

The second giveaway is open to everyone including those who place a pre-order. You can be included in this giveaway by;

• leaving a comment here between now and 12MN Australian EST on Tuesday the 6th of April which will give you one entry

• mentioning the giveaway and linking to it on your blog - this will give you three extra entries BUT make sure that if you do this that you email me here and include the link so I can check it - please label your email giveaway link. 

• finally as always if you have left a comment here in any of my last ten posts I will give you an additional entry for each comment you have left

The second giveaway has two prizes the first is this pillow .... and Amy.

The second prize is this pillow ... obviously I will make you one with the initial of you choice on it ... & Tina.

...OK so you can't actually see Tina ... because I haven't actually made her yet ... but she will be included in this prize!!!! I promise!!! You also probably noticed that Amy looks a lot like Lilly ... well that's because Lilly is kindly standing in for Amy as she is looking a little worse for wear ... she is still with out arms and a mouth! ... but again she'll be fighting fit by next week!

Good luck!

Kellie 

PS. Just before you go you must jump over here and lake a look at what Lynn has been up to!!!!! It is looking pretty fantastic! Well done! I have a few more photos to add to the album but I have run out of time for this post so they will have to wait until next time! 

Meg's Garden ...

As always I have no grasp of time and my new pattern is sadly not finished but it's not far away ... so hopefully it will be good to go by this time next week... sorry for the false alarm. 

 

I have, however, been given permission to finally show you Meg's Garden ...

photo courtesy of Australian Homespun Magazine

This is the quilt that I made way back here before we went to the US last year. You will find it in the April edition of Australian Homespun Magazine.

Meg's Garden has been displayed on the Universal Magazines Stand at the Australasian Quilt Convention ..

... & the Stitches & Craft Show that was held here in Melbourne this past week. Speaking about the Stitches & Craft Show ... I went on Thursday and met up with Sharon and just had such a nice social day! Sharon has given an excellent roundup of all of the highlights here & here so make sure you jump across & take a look. You should also take a look here for a little more Stitches & Craft love ... I feel like such an under achiever because all I really did was gossip all day and buy some fabric!

This bright and shimmery collection (can you see that glittery goodness?) was snapped up from the girls at Hot Possum... you should go and take a look at their delightful designs if you aren't familiar with them as it is truly a treat. They work magic with fabric! 

I also bought Megan a Kinder Girls pattern from the ever so delightful Jodie for her to have a little play with ... if I don't get to it first!

 

Some other exciting news on the Don't Look Now! front is that there is another retailer who now is stocking all of my current patterns. Make sure you go and take a look at Tania's shop I'm sure you will find something that will take your fancy!!! I am offering the same deal as I did with the other two retailers that I mentioned last week ... I will send a little gift to the first person who purchases one of my patterns from Tania and emails me the details  -  obviously the purchase has to be able to be confirmed.

I have been fiddling around with monkeys again and was pleased to see the winter supply of socks are now in the shops to replenish my dwindling stash ... one good thing about the rapidly approaching winter months I guess!

I have done a little more house keeping on the blog this past week and found a photo stashed away in my archives of a smock that Cee made a while back. Make sure you have a look because she has done an outstanding job. You will also find new to the album a smock that Sharon made for her beautiful niece Taylor! Sharon I want to know where you got that beautiful butterfly fabric!

Over the last few months I have had a couple of my very favorite Quilt Shops discuss with me the possibility of running some classes and it looks like this might actually happen later in the the year ... which is both quite exciting and horrifically terrifying for me.  So now I have to come up with what I would actually like teach and I thought who better to ask than you guys so ... I would really like to know what you would like to do in a class with me if one was available?

The new edition of Quilters Companion arrived in my mail box yesterday. There are some very beautiful quilts again in this months edition ...

and you will also find the final part of my quilt Rainbow Lollipops.

I also wanted to share with you a book that I picked up from the Australasian Quilt Convention ...

 

This book is by Helen Stubbing of Hugs n Kissesand various other ventures. I have mauled this book to pieces and can't wait to have a go at this technique! Amazingly beautiful!

Other than this there has been a lot of the usual day to day life stuff happening here ... a lot of running the kids around, a lot of sewing but nota lot of housework! Sadly my house has slipped into a state of total disarray ... and this was confirmed so eloquently by Mr DLN last Wednesday when he had a momentary lapse into insanity ... sadly he thought it would be a good idea to give me a few pointers on how I could better manage my time so as to better clean the house! Somehow I don't think he will attempt to provide such advice again in a hurry!!!!  Poor Mr DLN he is normally so very clever ...

Anyway I had better run ... Mr DLN is still at work (or at least he was when I drafted this post) so if I run around and quickly sweep all the dust under the mat & shove all the junk around the house in the already overflowing cupboards then I'll look like an absolute star when he returns! ;)

Have a great week

Kellie

PS Guess where I will be spending my time and money on Friday .... woooo hooooo!!!!  

Cut flowers ....

How did it get to be over a week since my last post??? I have been busy though!

I've been cutting big pieces of fabric into little pieces of fabric ...

and the result just makes my heart sing ... but you will have to wait until next week for the big reveal which will be in the form of a new pattern ... and what the heck maybe even another give away!

Talking about my patterns ... well if you happen to live in Brisbane you can now buy them from this very beautiful shop OR if you happen to be way over the other side of the world in Sweeden then you can get them from this lovely lady! If you happen to buy one or two from either of these girls then drop me an email  and I'll send the first person who contacts me (with proof of purchase that can be confirmed) from each shop a little Don't Look Now love! :)

I've made a heap more of these ... 

... trust me it will be good once I've finished!

I've given my new love a run for her money!

And isn't she just amazing ... you know she warns me when her bobbin is running out and when if finally does ... she stops and wont sew any further ... how cool is she really???

We had a long weekend here in Melbourne this past weekend ... so what do you do on a beautiful Autumn work free / school free Monday?

You pack up the family and go to Luna Park!

Ben, Megan & a dear friend of Meg's literally screamed around all of the thrill rides ...

Can you see that operator standing on the roller coaster ... how can that be safe??? 

And my two littlest chickens ... chicken as always ... spent their time on the Carousel ...

 

Dumbo & the Aeroplanes!

If you're in Melbourne and looking for something to do Luna Park is a great day out and providing you have kids like mine that just hammer the rides it's great value for money. 

I have also done a little, long over due, house work around the old blog ... there is now a search widget at the top of my side bar. I have included a photo album of things that you guys have made using my designs. If you have a photo that you would like to include here please drop me an email.

Tomorrow is the first of five days of Craft & Stitching heaven here in Melbourne! I am going to make my way down there on Thursday to catch up with this lovely lady and look at all of the lovely things that these amazing women have been doing ... and of course you will be able to spy my circles quilt on the Living Creatively stand!

I have been meaning to show you all for a while now my AmitieBlogVIP mail out fabric love ...

...mmm ....do you think they are telling me I use too much pink??? Seriously though if you aren't a BlogVIP then really what have you been doing with your life??? There are some pretty cool benefits but most of all you get 10% off all of your purchases ...

I've also forgotten to show you these two great projects that you can find in the February edition of Homespun.The first one is by this lovely girl who I have sung the praises of many times before!

And this lovely tree is by Judy Newman who, despite the fact that she is blogless, is an amazing local designer. You can also find her at Amitie! If you want one of this issue you will have to get your skates on though because I think this months edition will be out this week ...

Before I go look where I found myself today! Thank you so much Kim for the feature ... you made my day! This is a great site make sure you go and take a look!

Have a great week!

Kellie 

PS. Remember last week I told you all about a blog meet dinner that Mr DLN & I went to ... well I can now include a photo & the links ... courtesy of Stomper Girl! So here goes left to right Pea Soup, Craftymum, Stomper Girl , Peppermint Patcher, Fairlie, Frogdancer, Matching Pegs, & me.

This very cheeky girlwho I loved getting to know at the dinner ... tagged me!!!! Poor Lisa obviously doesn't realise how crap I am at tags! One day I will put together a post that answers all of the tags I have waiting on my desk ...

Sweet good byes ...

Before I jump into this weeks happenings I just want to say an enormous thank you to all of you for the absolutely amazing response to my last post. Your kindness means a lot to me. Thank you to those of you who also shared with me pieces of your past. This blogging community is a compassionate one filled with so many amazing and generous women. I am pleased to be a part of it. After reading Kirsten's beautiful I am from I felt compelled to write my own and I am very pleased that I did, it is quite a cathartic process and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

Yesterday I sadly cleaned, oiled and packaged up a dear old friend .... she has been so very good to me! We have spent many a long hour together. She has served me well! Good bye my sweet 440 :( ....

 

And hello 820!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   

Woooo Hooooo ... this has to make the transition to 40 a whole lot easier!!! She has only just made it outside the box as all the usual Sunday night rituals had to be attended to first ... but you can be sure that it will be unlikely that I will get any sleep tonight!!!! For those of you in Melbourne I got her from the lovely Kate from Kate's Sewing Centre in Bundoora and did she do me a deal... well she actually did Mr Don't Look Now a deal but you know what I mean! She also gave me an unbeatable trade in for my 440 as well! So if anyone is interested in a 3yo well cared for and well loved 440 you will find one on her shelves today.

So other than this pretty amazing machine what did I else did I get for my birthday ...

From my dear friend Lisa I got this beautiful package ....

 

Thanks Lisa you are so sweet to have thought of me! I am sad that you live so far away! 

I bought myself a copy of Photoshop Elements after getting quite excited by this post which lead me to this post ... . I may never actually work out how to use it ... or more to the point I may never actually get the time to work out how to use it, but I would like to!

I was also pretty excited to find out that my circles quilt will be displayed on the Living Creatively stand at the Stitches & Craft Show here in Melbourne later in the month ...

 

I've called the quilt Circue des Cercles which is French for Circus of Circles.

 

My quilt that I have been working on for the past few weeks finally made it's trip to Sydney & you will hopefully get to see it in August this Year. I called it Love Birdsand it is eventually going to belong to my Jessica. It will be her 7th Birthday present ... sadly she wont actually get to snuggle in it on her birthday but hopefully she wont mind too much.

 

We are very lucky here in Melbourne to play host to the Australiasn Quilt Convention which started on Thursday and finished up yesterday. I made the trip in on Thursday and had a great day visiting all the stands and checking out all of the quilts. I was pretty excited by what I found on the Homespun / Quilters Companion stand ....

I don't think that I am meant to actually show you all yet ... but honestly that little bit of a quilt that you can see there is my quilt!!!! You will get to see the whole thing next month in the April edition of Homespun!

I was meant to meet this girlat the convention but forgot to write down which stand she was going to be on so I just wandered around all day madly reading eveyone's name badges like some weird stalker. Next time Jan!

But guess who I did get to meet last night ....... the Peppermint Patcher herself ... oh and her Pete! It was lovely to meet you Tracey and I'm looking forward to our trip to the my fabric mecca tomorrow! 

I also got to meet some other lovely ladies including Claire, Lisa, Fairlie& some other lovely ladies who I will link to in my next post (I was hoping that someone else would have already done the links so that I could have stolen them ... dam it!!!). Anyway it was a lovely evening even if Mr Don't Look Now did stretch my tolerance levels when it comes to innovative parking!!!! (long story)

Before I go I will leave you all with a couple more pretty gorgeous versions of my designs. Firstly, Norma from Petit Debutant has made one of the Flower Garden pillows & Jen from Quilting Sisters made a pretty lovely quilt using the applique design from the Art Smocks.

There are so many more things that I wanted to share but I really need to get back to my new machine!! And a new project ... plus a couple of old ones that need finishing (Sue this week I promise!!!!) ...

 

Have a great week!

Kellie