neenies garden update

This may be my last post before leaving on Sunday as I finish the packing, printing, pricing and preparing for our big trip to HMQS and Quilt market. It is all very exciting but as always a little scary and nerve wracking.... Thankyou for all the lovely messages of support and good luck you have been sending.
I resigned myself to the fact a couple of weeks ago that my new BOM was not going to be ready for release in the USA but as I still want it ready for release in June in Sydney I have been stiching in the wee hours and am getting close. I will have just enough stitching left to do on the plane trip there and back. It is coming together nicely and I am really loving the softer fabrics again.
a few more peeks for you to keep you drooling.... start collecting those pretty fabrics girls...and I just looove the pink spot... hugs, Helen

busy busy

Sorry for my absence from blogland, I am still preparing for the big trip, leaving in 5 days time. I feel very unprepared but I am sure everything will turn out okay in the end. I have had so many people sending me photos and emails so I am going to mention just a few here to say a big thankyou to them all. It is so nice to get photos and emails regarding patterns that people have finished, it doesnt happen that often and I can understand why but I think blogland is making things easier for people to share. So please feel free to brag and send in your pics. You are very clever and special to finish a project and we all love to see your efforts.

So Jenny from Country Blossom Patchwork in Queensland has used every Huggette in this gorgeous wallhanging. She has made up a pattern for it and has the fabric kits in her store. It is so cute, don't you think?

Wendy from Iddy Biddy has finished her version of Nice People Nice Things. I just looove the soft colours, just my style..

And Aldona from Germany who recently won one of my new patterns quickly made up the little extra suprise I put in her packet. She has many more pics on her blog, I wish I could read German but I am sure she has said 'nice' things. Her work looks beautiful. And she is obviously a big fan of Aussie patterns.Thankyou so much for sharing,

hugs to all

Helen

Boobie Buttons is it!

Hermione, you win the prize... I am going with the Boobie Buttons after a resounding yes from all who were surveyed (which means my family and friends:) ) So I have chosen some other names at random also:

Cate

Janet Rice Bredin - you can pick yours up at market :)

Karen C

please send me your snail mails....

Much of the printing is done and the packaging has begun. I had some help from some wonderful friends and Miss Tessie all day yesterday to get me organised - well start to - for the big trip to market in just two weeks. The buttons are not back from the assembler yet but will go into these little bags at the front here. The stacks you can see at the back are sets of cards for the Nice People Nice Things BOW which I just cannot keep up with! It is so satisfying to know that so many of you are enjoying this project. I have put more pics over at the NPNT blog.

I had a lovely day at the Quilted Crow gathering on Saturday, some time out for myself sort of. I spent the day finishing the binding on the Diametrically Deduced quilt ready to ship it to the show. Not completely happy with it but out of time now. Hopefully after getting all of this stock packed to ship I can finally get back to some work on Neenies Garden.... You can see more pics of the great Autumn gathering here, here, here and I am sure soon will be here and here. A lovely day with likeminded passionate stitchers - what lovely sharing women stitcher's are.

hugs, Helen

brooch vs badge vs something completely new??

Keep them coming girls, brooches seems to be the favourite but Hermione I just Loooooovee Booby buttons! Do you think I could use that or would some take offence... KarenC says think outside the square mmmm yes I was planning on doing some other projects that would 'house' the brooches so maybe its not the best way to go. The first 16 designs are a mixture, some very traditional, some a little more modern and fresh.... I will pop a pic of some in here that I have been fun colouring on with different mediums....

thinking, thinking..... Booby Buttons....mmm I really do like it! :)

Giveway winners - and another one

A quick one's a good one..... I have used the random number generator to get the following winners:

11 24 29 9

So sbonetsue , alda, Sharon-NZ and Sylvia please send me your snail mail addies so I can send you a yummy package...

Back to finishing my 'Diametrically Deduced' quilt binding, and spend hours with the tweezers picking batting from the back where my needle became blunt and pushed it through the black backing fabric.... arrgghhh

one more thing you may be able to help me out with. I have almost finished a new product which involves printed designs on fabric made into brooches or badges which you can colour in on using my Colourque method for a bit of fun.... my question is - do you think 'brooches' or 'badges' sounds better, more fun, fresh, appealing??? Okay, I'll send two out to two lucky people who help me out on this one... I'd show you a pic but I don't have any here....they are all at the badge makers.

hugs, Helen

Pattern Giveaway

New patterns released so now that I have two minutes to spare I have two of each to giveaway to all of my lovely blog stitching friends. Just leave a comment before Monday and I'll choose four lucky recipients...

The lovely Tracy who hosted me in Townsville recently has phoned to say she has many fabric kits left over from her stitching day for the Tickled Pink project. The kits include the fabric (3 colourway choices but the same fabric range as I used), the full pattern with transfers, and the pencil kit for all three cushions in the pattern. You can phone the girls on 0747552336 or email Tracey to secure one before they are all gone.

Get those comments in, I love to hear from you all across the world.

Back to colouring now

hugs Helen

Where have I been?

I have been knuckling down trying to get some things done here. Only 3 weeks to go before leaving for the USA and I dont have a single pattern packed! arrrgghh, panic is starting to set in. As promised I have included some peeks at the two main projects I have been working on. The first is my Diametrically Deduced quilt using the inktense pencils. It is not finished but enough to send my entry in today. Not sure if I am completely happy with the end result but no time to start again....

Next is a peek at the blocks for Neenie's Garden. This is a new Hugs 'n Kisses Block of the month project supposedly ready to take to Quilt Market in 4 weeks and then to Sydney in June. A long way to go so watch this space for updates....it uses the lovely 'Sweet Escape' range so if you have some in your stash, hold onto it, its going fast from the stores...

Of course both projects although very different in style use a coloured pencil on fabric which makes the 'applique' very quick and fun to do...

back to it then...

hugs for today

Helen

The Daily Quizzler!

hi blogland, sorry I have been absent but two big projects being juggled this week. I will get pics to you I promise, soon.

As I am about to shut down and head up to the lovely Lake Barrington again for our last rowing regatta for the season my last job is to add a link to another new blog - the Daily Quizzler. The lovely Erica Spinks whom many of you would remember as the recent editor of Down Under Quilts has taken over marketing of Quizzles and has started this blog to chat to you all and share colour secrets, quilting ideas and a Quizzle Community. Go say hi to her, she is missing all of her old magazine friends and readers...

So til next week, all have a lovely stitching weekend - I have nothing ready to take so a manual on the Adobe Creative Suite - about 3" thick is my weekend pasttime...

hugs,
Helen