Paper Piecing, New Quilt & Frosts

I am really enjoying paper piecing at the moment - It makes a nice change to sit in my chair at night and whip stitch away mindlessly.  I have made another 5 hexagons for my "This Goes With That Quilt"

 So that makes 8 all up this month.  A number of friends are doing this quilt too - How would you feel about a "This Goes With That" Stitchalong ?  If there are enough interested girls out there I would be happy to start a blog for a paper piecing Stichalong - Sounds like fun doesn't it?

Remember all of thise cut pieces for my new Strawberry Fields Brick Quilt? Here they are sewn into partner blocks sunbaking in the afternoon sun.

They looked so pretty with the dappled sun on them that I just had to take some pics...

All up there are over 380 of them......  Well over 750 pieces to this quilt

And I am loving it with white.  Do you sometimes look at fabric and the inspiration comes to you immediately?  Mine was - "Gee that would look lovely with white on our bed......"

A Pattern was decided on and then the process of cutting away for hours

And then stitching together for hours began......

Until the first few rows started to come together only for Miss K to say - "Gee that would look lovely on MY bed - Can I have it when you're done? 

Hmmmmm - Am I ever going to get a quilt on my bed???  In all fairness to her she has a lap quilt and a single bed quilt that I have made for her in the past but she now has a queen sized bed so Santa will be bringing her a new quilt once I get it finished !!

My time is never lonely in the studio - Toby lays on the mat and keeps me company the whole time.

The tomato's that I have in our breeze through are growing really well.

They now have flowers so fruit will not be too far away.

Luckily I have kept them in their pots under cover along with some other seedlings that I am nursing along.  Not so the last batch I put in the garden on Sunday - A big frost landed on Monday night and wiped them out !!  Ho hum now I have to start some more off - That will teach me to be impatient.

I hope you are having a lovely week - I'll chat to you on Friday when the next newsletter comes out.

Hugs - Fee XX

It's All About Me .....

A friend e-mailed me a little quiz and I thought it might be fun to do it on my blog.  Do you want to play too?  If so leave a comment and I will pop by for a visit to find out all about you.

a. age : 41



b. bed size : Queen


c. chore that you hate : Ironing – Unless it is Fabric in the Studio


d. dogs : 15 Year Old Trousers (Heeler/Shepherd Cross) and 3 Year old Toby (Shitzu/Maltese Cross)


f. favorite color : Always Soft Pink……….


g. gold or silver : Gold


h. height : 5 Foot 6 Inches


i. instruments you play : I play the Janome ……..


j. job title : Function Centre Manager (Day Job) + Chief Cook, Bottle Washer & Chauffer


k. kids : Four – Sam (22), Josh (20), Kaitlin (17) & Amy (12)


l. live : Beautiful rural Brighton in Tasmania


m. mother’s name : Carlyne


n. nicknames : Fee


o. overnight hospital stays : 4 Births, Appendix, Gall Bladder & Women’s Bits


p. pet peeves : drivers who think I own a crystal ball…..


q. quote from a movie : Life Is Like A Box of Chocolates ……….


r. right or left handed : Right


s. siblings : 2 sisters and a brother – I am the oldest


t. time you wake up : 6.20am


u. underwear : What’s that ???? Only Joshin – Of Course !!! I am a lady .....


v. vegetable you hate : The Green Ones – Love the Orange ones though


w. what makes you run late : My hubby…....


x. x-rays you’ve had : Lots…..


y. yummy food that you make : Anything sweet – I make a mean Pavlova….


z. zoo animal : The Monkeys – I could stand and watch them for hours…..




Hugs - Fee XX

Weekend Catch Up

Gosh it's been a busy weekend.  I thought I'd pop in before I head out into the garden to pot up some seedlings.  The sun is shining and all is beautiful in our little world here in Brighton.

So I have gone and done it again - Signed up for another BOM - This time it is paper piecing - Something that I love......  It is Sue Daley's - This Goes With That and the first parcel arrived this week from Sarah at Patchworks Plus.

The clincher was when Sarah offered it in "Ruby" - How could I resist?

And I have been making some already - Can't wait to see what comes next month.

I have been doing a little stitching too for a few different projects

And I decided on a quilt using my Strawberry Fields stash.

It's all cut out and sitting beside the sewing machine just waiting for the mood to strike for it to be stitched together.

I have got to the stage where I won't even throw out my tiniest of scraps....  Do you do that too?  I am especially bad when it is one of my favourite ranges - I often wish that the off cuts where like dough and that you could squeeze it altogether and make something else which got me to thinking........

What could I do with theses tiny scraps and then an idea struck.  A new Club in 2012 called "Scrapbusters" will be launched on 1st January 2012.

Each month I will provide you with a "free" scrapbusters challenge pattern using your tiny scraps.  Each month all of the participants that make the previous month's challenge pattern will go into a prize draw.  Sounds like fun doesn't it?

And the best part is that you won't have to go out and buy anything to play - Just start keeping those tiny scraps between now and the 1st January.

I love the sound of no waste - Don't you?

Anyway the sunshine is beckoning me out so I am going to do some potting.

Hugs - Fee XX

Want to come to Tassie ????

Do you want to ?

The Tassie Blog is now up - Become A Follower so you don't miss out on any news.  HERE

Hugs - Fee



Every Now and Again

Every now and again something happens in your life to change it forever and making the decision almost 3 years ago to blog was one of those for me.

I was a "lurker" for almost a year and then finally took the plunge.

Why ??

I wanted to surround myself with like minded people, I wanted to meet new friends and I wanted to be creative and to share my creativity in an on-line journal and hopefully inspire others to create.

One thing in life usually leads to another and now 3 years down the track I am a designer, I am also a published designer and I feel very blessed to of achieved both.  Blogging has opened up many doors for me and many lasting strong friendships have evolved . 

But the dreams.......  Oh the dreams of where I could take my creative pursuits.....  Wondering if I could make it in a fully fledged business of my own and for it to be sustainable ????  and the fear..... the fear of the unknown and knowing what to do next.....

Well a very dear blogging buddy of mine has taken away all of the wondering and has answered all of my questions ....

The gorgeous creative and very talented Kerryanne of Shabby Art Boutique and Woodberry Designs has written a book.......  Not just any book BUT a book which covers everything you need to know to make a successful creative business called "The Creative Mumpreneur".

I feel truly honoured to have been asked to review it and I am ecstatic that it is everything I hoped it would be - I couldn't stop reading.

It covers such things as :-

Business Basics - Including legalities, business names and copyright.

Brand, Logo & Product - Including Photography, Logo, Pricing etc

All Types of Selling - Including Online, At Markets and even Party Plan

Marketing - Including Social Media, Publishing, Publicity and Much much more.... 

For just a $29 investment the e-book is yours to read and refer to forever.  Not much of an investment in your dreams is it?

You can purchase it at Kerry's lovely web-site Woodberry Designs

Whilst you are there take a look at all of her gorgeous "stuff" too.

Hugs - Fee XX

To Juice or Not To Juice

Like most Australians these days I one day dream of being self sufficient in many ways - We grow fruit and vegetables in our home garden, I bake from scratch and I do my best to feed my family good wholesome meals and healthy food.  Little did I know that the expensive "Pure Orange Juice" that I buy for my family is not what it is made out to be......  Did you see Today Tonight's article on so called Australian Juice ???  If not you can see it HERE.

I feel very ripped off - Even the 2 litre bottle of Orange Juice that is made by a local company here in Tasmania is from "Imported and Local Products"  If you believe the local growers they say that the only local component is the bottle and the water.  Well they have lost me !!  I am disgusted that yet another food product that we feed our children is not all it is cracked up to be. !!

So off I went and bought myself an electric citrus juicer. - I cannot seem to get all of the juice out with my manual version so for an investment of $29 I now have a machine which gets all of the juice out.

And it is delicious !!  For just a little bit of effort every second day we now have "fresh" juice and I know exactly what's in it and where it came from. 

In January of this year I promised myself that I would eat healthy, lose weight and excercise - You know one of those new year's resolutions that went haywire after the second week.  Instead I have comfort ate my way through the year.  I have had a very emotional year with sickness, my son's amputation and illness and much much more ... so much so that my motivation levels hit rock bottom and my wardrobe become increasingly boring as I grew out of clothes.  Last week I decided to give it another go.  So far so good - But I am not promising anything just trying extra hard.

I am a huge fan of Annette Sym's books - Symply Too Good To Be True.  The recipes are delicious and you really don't think that you are dieting - Just making a few better choices and baking from scratch all of the time - This of course takes time and effort but I am determined to try harder this time.  This is a Semi Sun Dried Tomato and Olive Loaf.  Very tasty and very nice.

Her latest Book - No 6 is full of diet tips along with a 28 menu plan which is fantastic - It is real food for real women cooking for a family. 

Her books are at most newsagents - Next time you are there pick one up and have a browse - You will see how lovely her recipes are and how simple they are to cook.

 On the sewing front I have been working on a few different projects and recently finished this little baby quilt - This one is for new niece.  I also have to make a similar one by Saturday night for a charity quiz night I am going to - I offered to donate one to auction off. 

The Go Baby makes the applique super easy.

Luckily tomorrow is a public holiday in Southern Tasmania so I will be able to work on the second one.

I have a bit of reading to do too and then I will be back to show you something special that a friend of mine has written - Believe me you are going to love it.

Until then,

Love and Hugs - Fee XX

Paper Crafting

We are supposed to be 6 weeks into spring but the weather here in Southern Tasmania has been very winter like.  We have had to light a fire 3 nights in a row and the mountain (Wellington) had a big layer of snow on it yesterday morning.  Despite the cold snap the garden is still looking very pretty and when the sun does shine the bees are going about their spring time work.  I am very pleased that I still have my tomato's under cover as Sunday we experienced a massive hail storm at Brighton.  Fingers crossed that we get some more spring weather soon.



One of our favourite weekend treats is fresh bread from our local bakery.  An extra special treat is curried egg and chive sandwiches which is what we had last weekend.



Have you ever tried them?  I use fresh chives, butter, curry powder and a small squirt of mayonnaise in mine.

It is delicious - Especially on freshly baked bread.

With the weather so bad over the weekend I decided that it was time that I had another play with my paper craft supplies.  They usually live packed away in these 6 striped boxes so when I get them all out I usually like to leave them out for a week or so to make the most of it.  They are still out but I can assure you that my work space does not look this tidy anymore.

I have collected lots of nice supplies over the years - I have some nice stamps and some lovely punches.

I have never taken a paper crafting class but prefer just to dabble away in a decoupage type of way....  My best friend is Modge Podge - I use it on just about everything.....

My notebook supplies in my gift box were very low so I had fun putting some more together - I think I have finally mastered the art of making it all stick properly to the plastic notebook fronts.  I like to have lots of little gifts like these on hand all of the time to pop into gift parcels.

If you get my newsletter I have shared some lovely sites to download these types of images free over the past few issues - You can just print them out as you need them.  I have also just about finished some large note books which look really cool - I am just waiting for the modge podge to dry.  I will be giving one away in my newsletter this week as well as some more free sites to download some gorgeous images.

I have a lovely collection of old music paper which I have found on my treasure hunting days - It is great for paper crafting and I am even covering an old frame with some at the moment.

It is my current work in progress.  What about you, Do you dabble in paper crafting too?

Hugs - Fee XX

Blog Name, Stitchery Needlebook & Tassie Stitching Weekend

Plans are progressing very well for "Let's Get Stitched" in Tassie in March next year.  Over the weekend I will be developing a seperate blog with all of the details so keep an eye out for it if you are interested in coming.  I know that a few of the New Zealand girls have started packing their bags already.  

The 3 day programme includes a shop hop, stitching day with "Live" tutorials from 5 designers, Trip to Cadbury Chocolate Factory and a trip to Salamanca Market.  The tour bus has been booked, the accomodation found so all we need now is for you girls to pack your bags and join us.

If you are a newsletter subscriber you would have received this week's newsletter already which gives you this "free" stitchery to go with yesterday's tutorial.  Last night I stitched this lovely pastel version

And I also did this version using my friend Helen's Colorque Technique.  She has a special at the moment on her Faux Applique book which tells you everyhting you need to know about this technique.  Go HERE if you are interested in taking a look at it.

My friend Dawn is having a little competition on her blog about how your blog got it's name. 

 Mine is pretty simple really my darling dad (who passed away a number of years ago) always called me "Fee" as does my hubby.  My grandchildren now call me "Nanny Fee", so "Designs by Fee" was a natural progression I suppose.  I designed my own Logo as I love swirly romantic Fonts and pink flowers so that too was pretty easy.  I have loved hopping around blog land hearing about how everyone got their name - One of my favourites so far is Peg's - Such a sweet little story.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Hugs - Fee XX