Remember this quilt? I pieced it last year ... and then promptly added it to the UFO pile.

Yesterday morning I thought of an interesting (and easy) pattern for machine-quilting it so I carefully pinned and basted it and got stuck into sewing it.

Long story short ... 8 hours later I gave up on the machine-quilting.

I'm now hand-stitching a simple running stitch around each flower and I really like how it's turning out. I can't wait to show you once I've finished.

Who's coming to Sew It Together Canberra 2012?

Life has been a bit full-on lately so I haven't been feeling my usual self and haven't been crafting much.

Or maybe it's because I haven't been crafting that I haven't been feeling my usual self! Hmmmm. That's something to think about.

But I've just spent the whole weekend crafting and I'm feeling normal again. Firstly I made a batch of pendants, then a batch of earrings (and then I got a bit side-tracked browsing on YouTube).

Then I started making some Possum Blossom products to go in the goodie bags for the upcoming Sew It Together craft bloggers weekend. I can't tell you what they are (but I'm sure you can guess). I've just finished a whole batch. All cut and sorted and packed up all nice and neat. So satisfying.

Next job on the list ... read all the Aussie blogs listed here at Who's Coming to SIT 2012 and maybe get tempted to try something new when I'm there.

Lots of hexie flowers done

I have caught up on my hexie flower swaps: Bek (Feb Inchy Swap), Maggie (Mar Inchy Swap), Suzzie (Feb/Mar Forum Swap) and Jeanette (Mar/Apr Forum Swap).

Coincidentally, everyone wanted either red, aqua or lime green so I opened one of my few remaining packs of pre-cut Ruby hexagons. Such a gorgeous fabric range! I should have hoarded some more.

Sorry I didn't take any photos before I sealed the envelopes.

Already planning my next trip away

Another weekend away from the Sydney crush has really lifted my spirits. Fresh air, wide open spaces, and a little time with family has reminded me of the good things in life.

I am already planning my next trip away ... to the annual Sew It Together weekend for craft bloggers. This year it will be held in Canberra and I think it's on the June long weekend.

Registrations opened a few days ago and you can find the details on Facebook here. I can't wait to find out more about the craft sessions planned for the weekend, but I do know that some craft shopping is scheduled so that automatically makes it a great weekend in my opinion.

But this Easter long weekend isn't finished just yet so tonight I'm going to kick back and relax and catch up on sewing hexie flowers for my swap partners. I am soooo far behind!

Not much crafting happening here

What's going on Jo? You haven't blogged for 17 days!

I've never been a prolific blogger but I am a busy crafter, and I like to blog about my craft. What's going on, what have I been doing with my time?

Well last weekend I had a mini-getaway to Queensland to go to a friend's wedding. Three days off work - tick. A trip to Noosa - tick. Perfect weather - tick. Perfect perfect wedding - tick tick.

And why didn't I do any craft the weekend before? I blame that on Game of Thrones.

Have you heard about Game of Thrones? It's the Emmy-award winning TV series based on the Song of Fire and Ice by George R R Martin. I'm not a fantasy geek, and I've never even finished a chapter of Tolkien, but I'd heard great things about Season 1 so I wanted to see it.

I loved it, I wasn't disappointed. Well I was a little bit disappointed when I got to the end of the Episode 10 late on the Saturday night, so I started again at Episode 1 on the Sunday. Action-packed script, top-notch acting, filmed on location in Croatia and Northern Island, looks fantastic.

So that's what I did with the weekend before last.

Season 1 turned out to be the Book 1 of a series, so I picked up a copy at Sydney Airport on my way to Noosa. I bought the rest of the series on the way home, and am halfway through Book 2, The Clash of Kings.

Season 2 begins in the US on 1 April. I can't wait till it gets here.  (Warning - there's lots of explicit sex scenes and full-on swearing in Season 1, which are not in the original book. Lots of violence too, but that's in the book.)

That's why there hasn't been much crafting done around here lately.  I have a stockpile of brand new fabric just waiting to be hexagon-ised, triangle-ised and diamond-ised for my store, but it's just going to have to wait until the Easter break.

I might be tempted to do a little sewing tomorrow though. We'll see.

Other things I make - websites

I love it when I can solve a problem for someone, especially when I find a solution that is easy for them to use and saves them time.

A friend mentioned to me last week that he needed a better way to process payments for his business. He was really just thinking out loud, but I had a few bright ideas on Saturday morning and by the end of the day I had set up a website, shopping cart and payment system for him. From scratch. Using software I had never used before.

(I don't mean to boast, but I really was pleased with my efforts, and that doesn't happen very often.)

The website template was cluttered and old-fashioned though, not his style at all and not suitable for his business, so on Sunday night I spent a few hours (ok, more than a few hours) redesigning it.

I came up with a clean, clear design using pomegranate-red and marine-blue graphics on a white background. (Yes I made them too. Sometimes I'm a stickler for getting things exactly the way I want them.) I'm sorry I can't show you the website here but maybe the colour-scheme will show up in a quilt soon!

The best part is that I've streamlined the website so that it only takes 4 mouse-clicks to select, order and checkout your item. And it's mobile phone friendly. (My very own app!) I can't wait to hear how it works for him. Fingers crossed!

Which reminds me ... a while ago I stumbled across a fantastic product, a perfectly simple solution ...

In my craft room, I have quite a few things plugged into a power board. That's not the problem, the power board is fine, the problem is that I don't like leaving items on stand-by, especially ones that I don't use very often.  (I don't count every penny, but there's no need to throw away money is there.)

And the only power socket in the room is hard to get to as it's behind a table. But I found this product a while ago and I absolutely love it.

It's just an ordinary power board ... but with a 'pod' attached. The pod is a footswitch so you can turn all your equipment on or off with just one tap. It's on the end of a metre-long extension cord so you can hide your power boards and messy cords but have the footswitch within easy reach. 

I got mine on eBay but a few electricity suppliers and green groups are selling them too. The brand name is "Efergy".

It's not a sexy item to blog about, but it turns me on. (Bad pun, baaaaad pun, but it's late and I'm tired.) I think it's cool in its simplicity. I love simple. I love easy.

New Stock - Hello Luscious and Domestic Bliss Hexagons - and a finished project

I've made something for me and something for you.

This is for me ...

You can't really tell from the picture but it ended up about 140 cm by 140 cm (because that's all the fabric I had in that range). The curves were surprisingly easy to machine-piece and of course I die-cut all the fabric so it was quick too. I've used a thin wool batting in the middle because I find it's just the right temperature for me.

And I've made these for you ...

Hexagon Charm Packs and Hexagon Multi Packs in the brand new Domestic Bliss and Hello Luscious ranges.

I've only made limited stock so far but if you need more packs just email me and I will make you more. And I definitely have to make LOTS more of the Hello Luscious Charm Packs because I'm tempted to make a queen-size quilt from it, now that I've got the hang of machine-piecing the hexagons.

I love the soft colours of my new apple-core quilt and I like the mid-weight colours in the Hello Luscious, much better than that stronger bolder colours I've been using lately, e.g. for my Rose Star Quilt.

The new Charm Packs and Multi Packs are now in my store. And don't forget the Free Offer is still on for a few more days - a free pack of paper or card 1" hexagons with each Hexagon Multi Pack purchased.