Tuesday 28 June 2011

Work Room



Creative Space


I love when other people give you an insight into their workspace. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a room or corner of a room to leave their sewing machine and fabric set up permanently. I have a lot of space in our guest room. And the bed is a great place to display the quilts too!




Sewing Machine


This is my sewing machine. It's a Janome DC2101 and is about 9 months old. It's my first machine...so happy about computerised settings otherwise I would have steered clear of sewing! I have named her Florence in honour of both my maternal and paternal grandmothers.


It's not the right height for long bouts of sewing though. The box to the right holds all the tools, greaseproof paper and scissors for easy access. The cross stitch was made by my mum. I love teapot tea.
Finished Quilts


As you can see, I have a few quilts. Not all are for sale. A few are mone but most were done by my mum, Audrey. She keeps making more and more, so I needed better storage. The Expedit shelving unit by IKEA is ideal. Hopefully the quilt stash won't grow and take over my paperwork section in the top half!
My Fabric Stash


It started off so small...just a bunch of Fat Quarters. Now look at it! I did get a substantial injection when my mum de-stashed all of her kiddies and Liberty fabrics...but the rest is my purchasing...thanks to online shopping.


I have always like stackable see-through crates and I had a bunch already. Some like to sort fabrics according to colour, but I tend to sort by theme...girls, boys, babies, fairies, solids, patchwork pieces  etc. I also have a box for bags, dresses, repairs, t-shirts, fleece/jersey. I also have a blue crate for my current project to be housed in. After months of feeling frustrated looking in the wrong crate, my gift to myself was a Dymo labelmaker. 


This and That


It's amazing how many little things that you can accumulate as a sewist. This was a handy little shelf unit I found at ALDI. The boxes are mostly from IKEA but thankfully not all are full. They house buttons, iron-on patches, hand-sewing kit, selvedges, rotary cutters, scissors and rulers. There's a special box for my 3 year old daughter. It is filled with plastic buttons and cotton reels and brightly coloured cord so that she can thread while I work.




Workstation Zero


This is a great 5 legged table I picked up at IKEA for only $99...I think the legs were separately priced. It's not the right height for sewing but long enough that I can cut and stack as well. The draw unit was from IKEA a few years ago and houses my pin cushions, bobbins, business and order books. My ironing board sits to the right of this for easy access. If I am organised I have room for my laptop or a portable dvd player. I watch mostly documentaries, crime or period dramas. My favourite this year has been 'The Wire' with all 5 series loaned to me by a friend. If you haven't seen this crime drama, do yourself a favour. It's screens on ABC1 late on Friday nights.

Monday 20 June 2011

Fabric Give-Away

'500 IS the Charm'. 

When Grandma Macs Quilts reaches 500, some random liker will win this colourful charm pack. Contains 42 x precut pinked 5" charm squares, plus 2 (6" and 10") small remnants to match. Free postage too. Spread the word.

Make a comment below to be in the running...tell me' who is your favourite quilting fabric designer?'


Find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=049f28ebd8de3e45460b658701d576ca&eu=FhWZoZIisCvmqMmrzdPQcA#!/pages/Grandma-Macs-Quilts/159851144030544

W/Heatbag Giveaway

'Help Florrie & Stan get to 200' and the random number generator will pick a lucky person to win a girls or boys W/Heat Bag in time for winter. 


To enter, tell me what you would use a w/heat bag for, in the comments below. 
ONE comment EACH please. 


Your choice of girls or boys design. Postage free.






And the winner is.....#2 HannahLea who said 


great little heat bag...my girls will be happy to snuggle with this one as well!!









<iframe src="http://www.random.org/widgets/integers/iframe.php title=True+Random+Integer+Generator&amp;buttontxt=Generate&amp;width=160&amp;height=200&amp;border=on&amp;bgcolor=%23FFFFFF&amp;txtcolor=%23777777&amp;altbgcolor=%23CCCCFF&amp;alttxtcolor=%23000000&amp;defaultmin=&amp;defaultmax=&amp;fixed=off" frameborder="0" width="160" height="200" scrolling="no" longdesc="http://www.random.org/integers/">
The numbers generated by this widget come from RANDOM.ORG's true random number generator.
</iframe>


For some reason this won't appear as a widget on the page.


Anyway trust me when I tell you that the random number was 2!

Facebook Give-aways

Thanks to www.buildalittlebiz.com I have been alerted to the new strict FB rules regarding sweepstakes, competitions and give-aways for my 2 little businesses. I don't want to face a ban so I have decided to use a Blog to run my give-aways instead. Thanks fro understanding and using the link.