assorted good bits

just a little evidence to prove that there is still a bit of quilting going on around these parts. i actually have about three (maybe four?) single size quilt tops finished and ready for basting, just waiting for the time to get them done. i quilted this one last week and now all it needs is binding... since i want to print fabric to make the binding it could be awhile...

congrats to all the better homes & gardens ticket recipients! cheeky monkey, Incoknito and Amanda corica, i haven't been able to track down an email address for you, can you please contact me at leslie.keating@gmail.com and i'll give you the details on how to claim you double guest pass.

and the buy 3 get 1 free valentine's day sale ends tomorrow, thanks to everyone who has added some maze & vale goodness to their stash this week and happy valentine's day to you all! xox

better homes & gardens ticket giveaway

"Enjoy a great family day out at Better Homes and Gardens LIVE 24th - 26th February 2012 at the Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton.

This fabulous LIVE event brings to life the pages of Australia’s favourite magazine, providing
home makers, DIY enthusiasts, keen gardeners and aspiring cooks with inspiring new ideas
for their home and garden.

Don’t miss live stage shows from your favourite TV presenters, inspiring ideas, workshops
and products for you to try and sensational shopping from over 250 exhibitors. Plus, with
plenty of entertainment for the children, this is an unbeatable day out for the whole family!

All your favourite Better Homes and Gardens TV experts will be there and you can see them
LIVE! Graham Ross, Tara Dennis, 'Fast' Ed, Karen Martini, Jason Hodges, Rob Palmer
and Johanna Griggs will take to the stage to share their creative and original ideas to help
you make yours a better home and garden!"

the nice folk who put on the better homes & gardens show have offered up ten double guest passes for my readers to their big event on the weekend of february 24-26. leave a comment here if you're keen to check it out with a friend and i will draw ten winners on sunday, february 12th. a bit sad i can't take advantage of the free ticket offer myself but i have craft camp in lancefield that weekend. the show looks pretty great and god knows, i could use a bit of gardening inspiration. next year.

updated to add: i'm changing the rules so that the first ten people who comment get the tickets, go forth and comment!

valentine's sale

a happy little valentine's gift for you, choose the four fabric panels you like best and only pay for three! but hurry, this listing is only available until february 15th. buy yourself a little something, you deserve it : )

lately

we've been off to 3 year old kinder orientation, which everyone is more than ready for! it's only five hours a week, spread over two afternoons but i'm looking forward to having those hours to spend with my sophster and mae is thrilled to have the extra play time with some old and new buddies.





testing out patterns for a skirt kit i'm cooking up. i think the bottom one with the less bulky waistband is the final winner (in my mind, mae doesn't seem to care and loves them both. i'm going to keep sewing as much as i can for her while she's going through this very appreciative phase) so look out for these in the shop later this week.



grabbing a full frontage shot of my XOX quilt for modern day quilts where it was featured the other day (hooray!)





and just watching my kids be goofballs, which they excel at : )

by the meter

i have finally added three listing in my shop for custom handprinted fabric by the meter. you can choose 100% cotton (quilting weight), 55% linen 45% cotton (on the light side of mid-weight) or 100% linen (heavyweight), then choose one of my designs and your ink colour. they aren't particularly cheap but they take me quite a long while to print and will be done with extreme love and care : )  i have had quite a few inquiries about yardage in the last couple of weeks, including my first "big" order of two meters of stormy weather, shown above, which was super exciting for me. hopefully these listings will make it a bit easier for people to consider all their options for a project and free up a bit of the time i spend answering inquiries (not that i mind, people! ask away!).

as i was printing this fabric on sunday night i realised it was exactly 90 days since i officially launched my handprinted fabric business. i call it a business but really, it is still a complete hobby at this point, every penny i make goes back into buying fabric and ink and screens and i can only work about 12 hours a week. but i had a good long ponder and a smile over how far i've come in 90 days, how AWESOME everything is going with maze & vale so far, how happy i am with pretty much every little thing in my life right now. i started this venture as a way to explore the things i am most passionate about (fabric, design, colour, handmade), i want to stay small but busy for the next couple of years while my kids are at home and hopefully by the time sophie enters primary school (still four years away), i'll be ready for some big steps forward. i want a business i can be proud of, that i can run from home or more likely, a local studio, in the hours that my kids are in school and still be able to drop them off and pick them up, make their breakfast, lunches, dinners, spend time with them. hopefully, these 90 days have been the start to that. thank you to everyone who is helping me get there, sincerely.

treasured

i've been getting some serious treasury love over on etsy the past couple of days, including the australia day one (shown first) which made it to the front page - so nice! : )

op shop tip offs

i've been dragging the kids around* to plenty of our local op shops lately, in search of frames for both screen printing and for a photo feature wall i want to create in our hallway. of course, i also have to peruse all the other goodies on offer. i scored big time today by finding the sugar bowl for this bendigo pottery design award set that i bought at the salvos on glenferrie rd about 6 years ago. it came with a sugar bowl but was missing the lid, i loved it too much to leave it and have been keeping an eye out ever since. and today there is was for $2.99, just the sugar bowl with lid, finally waiting for me.




and i found this hand turned wooden bowl last week for $1. seriously, does it get much better??

anyway, while hitting all these op shops, i keep finding amazing things that i can't use for whatever reason and totally want to share the news so someone can snap these things up. like the gorgeous, size 37, camper boots i saw at savers footscray last week for $9.99. i'm a size 38 and it physically hurt to leave them there. or the AMAZING, huge, hand pieced hexagon quilt top that i saw at the salvos in newport (kororoit creek rd) this morning for $14.99. so i'll be posting random op shop alerts (mostly for the western suburbs as that's where we are) on my maze & vale facebook page. go on over if you want the heads up!


*they love it anyway. mae actually asked if we could go to the op shop this morning, so we could "look at the toys".

oh and excuse the last post of NOTHING. i have no idea why it is there but suspect that sophie and the ipod have something to do with it : )

sunki dress by figgy's patterns

when shelley from figgy's patterns asked if i'd be interested in reviewing one of their children's sewing patterns, i jumped at the chance. i haven't been sewing clothes much lately and if i was going to spend the time, i wanted something that i could learn from. they have a few to choose from (and more on the way) but the sunki dress* looked perfect. mae is suddenly all about dresses and i've never quite been brave enough to tackle a zipper on a garment before or made anything with interior pockets. and yes, this pattern was indeed perfect. i had such a good time working on this that i lost track of time, enjoying puzzling over construction and details and making sure i followed the instructions properly. because it's a bit challenging, this one. but the end result is oh so satisfying. the pattern is concise and well written. luckily i'd read amy's review of the same pattern so i knew to look for the online pocket tutorial on the figgy's website, which helped enormously. the zipper went in perfectly and i'm excited to have this skill to now expand my view of possible patterns for myself. i totally recommend this pattern and will be making another one for mae in corduroy with long sleeves for winter, maybe even one for soph too as the pattern runs from 18 months to 8/9 years (that's value, folks!). and now i'm eyeing off their jacket pattern, too...

the fabric is 55% linen/ 45% cotton, screenprinted with my torus design (the same O from my XOX quilt - thanks for all the lovely comments, by the way!!) in mustard with an overprint of confetti in light pink and a couple of quill feathers stamped on with my original, hand carved stamp. the side panels are created using a screen i made last month, just small dots on the mesh so i can print an almost solid colour. VERY, VERY satisfying to sew with your own fabric, let me tell you : )


*the dress pattern also comes with one for leggings which i haven't had a chance to make yet but definitely will be soon.

dreamy

a little hipstamatic fun at the royal botanical gardens : )