Winner

We have a winner in the "Christmas Treasure Hunt".
"Debbie C" from Newcastle is that lucky winner. Thankyou to everyone who took part. It was fun.
Best wishes to everyone for Christmas.
 

Carol

 

Christmas Treasure Hunt

"Christmas Treasure Hunt"
Santa will soon be here...that's if you have been good of course!
So I thought I would help Santa with an extra special present for you.

 One person only can be the lucky winner!

 In order to be in the draw to win ...1m (or 2 x 50cm pieces) of fabric of your choice (excluding Yuwa and Linen fabrics) then all you have to do is find my special St Nick on the pages within the website and contact me with the page category Numbers St Nick is on.
There are 6 St Nicks in all.
You have 24 hours to find him and tell me where he is.
So the "Christmas Treasure Hunt" will end tomorrow morning at 8am and I will notify the winner via this page and email.
Please reply your answer through my "contacts page" with your fabric choice and postal address. 
http://www.cherrypiedesigns.com/contact.php
 The winner will be chosen at random and is available only to residents living in Australia.
 

 Good hunting....

Carol

Two beautiful new ranges of fabric have just arrived....
Vin Du Jour by 3 Sisters is lovely in creams, yellow and plum colours
and Amelia by Jo Morton offers two great fabrics for fussy cutting.

Click here to purchase.
 
 

Straight out of the box to you

The delivery truck arrived yesterday with some beautiful fabrics.
 

Sixteen stunning fabrics by Judy Rothermel.....Civil War Peace and Unity
 
 
and one absolutely gorgeous 100% linen fabric from Yuwa.
 
My mind is just boggling as to what to do with them.
Got any ideas?

Carol

Tocal Retreat November 2013

What a great weekend we all had.
Lots of laughing, a few tears, great company and some sewing was all done over the weekend.
The weather was a bit daunting driving up the M1 (was F3...why do they do name changes?) with the rain sounding like rocks hitting the windscreen, but by Sunday afternoon it was a perfect day.

As usual the machines were working overtime from the time everyone arrived after lunch at the local pub right up until Sunday afternoon. Much was achieved by  everybody whether it be in tangible items to take home or in making big decisions over quilts yet to come.

There was a quiet corner of hand sewers and Lynette was one of those ladies. Lynette does the finest needlework embroidery as well as lovely quilts.
This lovely sample is hand pieced and she is now embroidering the top before tying the layers together. Just beautiful work.


Of course there was  the Friday Night Mud Map Mystery Project. This year it was a simple table runner......with some complications! They didn't all turn out the correct size, but hey they sure look good.

Thanks also to my friend Kim who comes along each retreat and takes care of the food. Making sure that we are looked after with yummy goodies to consume.

To see all of the images including the great show and tell, hop on over to FB and take a peek.

Carol

Catherine Butterworth

Last Wednesday Catherine Butterworth, a leading Sydney quilter came along to our group (Caroline Bay Quilters) with her many, many quilts.
The room was full and buzzing with anticipation as Catherine began telling us the story of her stitching and quilting journey.
She just uses the most amazing fabrics to create the beautiful designs.

 

Catherine is a demonstrator for the Marti Michelle templates, and she uses these to make her quilts.
I have used these templates myself and find them to be so precise that I was inspired to drag them out of their box and with some luck will start a project with them very soon...LOL!

Oh and of course we had the best lunch with sweet things as well. All prepared by our army of good cooks.

You can view more of Catherine's quilt images on my Face Book page.

I have been stuck in my office all day (days really) and just sat back and realized what a beautiful day it is outside my window.....so I thought I would let you see my view through that window.

 
Just heard the delivery truck arrive......so that can only mean one thing!
Lots of new goodies have just arrived.
 
Carol



 
This morning we have had lots of much welcomed rain....along with some very LOUD thunder.
The grass is suddenly greener and the flowers so much brighter. How nice to have the dust and bushfire feeling washed away.
My four legged baby does not like the thunder (just like many of his kind) and spends the duration of the storm under the dining table or tucked away in some far dark recess of the house.

To go to the bathroom on my own is a mission in itself!
 
I thought this morning whilst the storm was doing its thing outside that I would take an hour and do some quilting.....rotating between this joyful past time and some other mundane job so my elbow doesn't hurt so much.
 
3 lovely ladies from my sewing group arrived to do some shopping and as soon as my back was turned some one thought he might like to have a good old chew on the lovely perle thread I am using!
The mess on the left is headed for the bin and the piece on the right is what I think I can save!
 
Just as well it wasn't the quilt!
 
Roll on adult hood and leave the puppy stage behind.


 I do love him though!

Carol

Congratulations to Dasha who has won the Romantic Olde Charleston fat 1/4 pack......its in the post.

Carol

lots of stitching

Tuesday is the day that the ladies like to come and sew. Of course I am there to lend a hand with my patterns.
The two Lyns, Pam and Marjory spent a pleasant day chatting, sewing and choosing lots of fabrics.
One of the Lyns had some problems with her quilt (Beth) but we managed to solve that with no reverse sewing......we just changed the pattern to fit!

This is Lynns "Japanese Windmills" quilt but she used American Reproduction fabric where as I used Japanese. It looked just wonderful up close.

So on Friday night I was off again to the Novocastrian Quilters Friday night group, and what a wonderful time I had. All of the ladies are so welcoming and friendly.
I caught up with Robyn and Helen who are making "Miss Elizabeth". They have both finished the centre of the quilt and are now adding the next round of borders.....cant wait to see them finished.
And here are more "Miss Elizabeth" tops in various stages of .....dare I say....undress!

I particularly like Linda's idea of having different coloured diamonds....I love that idea...wished I had thought of it!
Well the dinner is on cooking and I have made a cake so I think its time  time for me to do some of my own sewing this afternoon.

Carol





 

Fab Feb shop Hop 2014


For those of you who attended the Shop Hop last year, you will be happy to know that this event is alive and well for 2014......and bigger and better.

This time the event will take place for the whole of the month of February! This means lots of time to shop and if you want, you might like to undertake a road trip weekend away.

As well as myself, there will also be Blueberries, Pieces to Treasure and we would like to welcome aboard Karen Kirk from the Stitching Post in Katoomba and Anni Downs from Hatched and Patched (AKA... The Home Patch) in Bathurst.

We are all so excited about this event and can't wait for February to roll around. There will be lots and lots of prizes with first prize being a Bernette Model 66 sewing machine. Wow how good is that!

To take part in the shop hop and be eligible for the prize pool, you will need to pick up a passport (online or at your first place of business), make a purchase from each store and when your shopping is finished leave your passport at your last shop....its that easy.

Don't worry if you can't get to each business in person....you can shop online, in person, by phone or a combination of all 3. Just remember to have proof of purchase from each of us.

Hop on over to our official website or face book pages to keep updated. Alternately you can register your interest at Cherry Pie Designs.

Passports will be available online by the end of October.

Hope to see you in February

Carol

Cherrybrook Quilters Exhibition

I know that I am late in posting these images but time has slipped away from me.
These ladies at Cherrybrook Quilters just put on such an amazing show, all the way from their amazing quilts (so much talent in this group) right down to their wonderful morning teas.
The floral arrangements are always just perfect too.
If you missed this exhibition then I am sorry you will have a few years to wait for the next one. And you can see why with the work that goes into these quilts. Hand piecing and hand quilting feature in this group which is lovely to see. But along with these techniques there are also wonderful machine piecing and awesome quilting.
In the mean time I hope you enjoy these.
 






 




 The hand quilting in Nola's quilt (above) is just wonderful.
 


 Over 100 hours of custom machine quilting in this Dear Jane quilt.
The top is all hand pieced.
This is Margaret's version of the Sundial Quilt.
This amazing quilt is all pieced by hand over papers.
I think the best version I have seen.





 Karen Mathews amazing wedding quilt!
 




And of course this is my stand with two new quilts in progress (on the back wall) which will be available in 2014.
 
Carol