Go West 3 (QT)

(Go West) Life is peaceful there
(Go West) In the open air
(Go West) Where the skies are blue
(Go West) This is what we're gonna do

"Go West dada-da-dada....go west" Yep, still singing it!!

With lunch over, we were back on the road again and after a short trip back to the western suburbs of Brisbane and Patches in Indooroopilly.  Indooroopilly is an Aboriginal name and possible meanings are either "gully of leeches" UGH! or "Gully of Running Water". Surely, it must mean the 2nd one!

This is another of my favourite shops in the region.  It is really tricky to get here unless you are familiar with the roads in this area as it is on a little service road which is easy to miss. I remember once going there with friends and we missed the turn off, not once, but twice! By this time we were laughing so much, I am suprised we didn't miss it again.

We walked into the shop decorated in aqua blues with lanterns hanging here and there from the ceiling and the smell of new fabrics was just delicous.  I wonder if that comes in a spray bottle or scent sticks? 'cos I love that smell.

There are lots of fabrics in this store that are just my cup of tea but what excited me most was finding a copy of the latest Vignette Magazine.  You may have seen this magazine, possibly even be doing the mystery quilt that is being published.  That is my interest and I purchased issue 10 and put my name down to purchase the next 3 that will be published for this year.  Who knows, I may become totally addicted and never stop wanting them.

I also caved and bought a little quilt kit.  Very easy but I just loved the fabrics and the pattern. AND, who can resist fabric with writing on it.....well I can't so I got myself whatever was left on the bolt (not much left)

A terrible photo, but you get the idea of the kit I bought.

 The free pattern here was for an iPad cover but the girls had a super idea for all the little charm squares we have been given along the way and did a demo on how to make a little twister quilt.  Theirs looks super and since I have a little twister tool, I think I will someday get around to doing just that.

Ready for the last stop on the Quilters Trail?  You won't believe what I bought there!! Really, make sure you drop by tomorrow.  I am so excited!
 

Go West 2 (QT)

Gatton is out West in the Lockyer Valley where all our local fruit & veggies are grown. We drove past fields and fields of veggie crops and played a guessing game as to what they might be. I spotted green and coral oakleaf lettuce, cabbages and carrots. I only wish we could have stopped for a photo but as we were keeping a tight schedule and there were plenty of roadworks to delay our trip, I dare not ask for a photo op!

Even with the roadworks, we arrived at our next destination in Ipswich with plenty of time to have a good look around which was just as well as I had never been to this shop before.

What a sweet little shop located in an old little house.  It was like making your way from one Aladdins cave to the next as you came across yet another little room filled with yummy fabric, threads, haberdashery and even everything Christmas.  And Patterns? My word, there were certainly plenty of them.

The colour theme was light green at this shop but I was way tooooooo busy drooling to take much notice of the balloons around the ceiling.  I purchased  a metre of some very interesting fabric, 4 Christmas fat 1/4s, a stitchery pattern and a book of mini quilts as I fell in love with one on display, from the book, which took pride of place near the cash register

If you have been taking notice of my blog, it is remotely possible that you know that I have wanted to make a schoolhouse quilt forever.....this is my chance to do it! Isn't it absolutely gorgeous!!

Leaving this shop, I was relieved to know we were heading for an early lunch at the local League's club.  To say I was starving was an understatement and the reason I was so hungry was because I had to skip breakfast. Here's why..........The bus was leaving Quiltessentials at 7:30 so I set my alarm (on my smart phone) for 6:30 and another alarm for 7:10 (to remind me it was time to get to the shop).  I checked and re-checked (3 times infact) and I went to sleep happy that I would wake up in time.  Imagine my panic when the alarm went off AT 7:00..........WHAT THE!  I dashed around like Flash Gordon.....showered, washed and dried my hair, slapped on some make-up, got dressed in unironed jeans, grabbed essentials like purse, phone, shopping bag.  Believe me, I have never moved so fast in my whole life and I got to the shop at 7:25, just in time to not get left behind, but I didn't have time for breakfast.  It was only when I was on the bus and had a moment to take a breath that I started to think why my alarm, that I checked 3 times, had failed me.  DUH moment! I had set it to go off on Wednesday when it was in actual fact a Thursday. Well I gave everyone a good laugh with that story.

Lunch was delicious even though the service was not as good as we would of expected since we had booked a table and only had an hour to order and eat.

Next stop..........Indooroopilly..... (say it like this:  "In-doo-roo-pilly" try it slow and then speed it up. Does is sound like you originally read it?). I love this next shop!

Oh...Oh...Oh, by the way before I go, Kaye from Kitten Stitching is having a giveaway to celebrate her Blogoversary.  Gorgeous little prizes (don't know why I am telling you all this as now there is less chance for me to win) so head on over and visit Kaye, say hi and tell her I sent you (gotta earn brownie points)

As for my own giveaway, I will be doing the draw on Monday so keep your comments coming in. No idea what I am on about......check it out HERE!

 

Go West (QT)

Now tell the truth.....who of you started singing the Village People song "Go West" when you read my post title? I can't get that damn song outta my head now!

As you may realise my Quilters Trail Shop Hop continued on Thursday and this time we headed west out of Brisbane.  First Stop....Gatton.

 What a friendly atmosphere in this shop.  It is always a joy to visit as it is such a lovely space filled with natural light and plenty of shop quilts to look at. A nice touch was being greeted as we got off the bus by the shop owner and all handed a lollipop.

Sew Creative is the home of the longest hexigon quilt. I was honoured to see it (rolled up) a couple of years ago and there is a collage of photos in the shop as a reminder.

So many people contributed to this quilt by making hexigon flower blocks and sending them in to the shop and then the whole thing was quilted in stages and joined together to form

Isn't that an incredible achievement? I would have loved to have made a block for this quilt but it was all over and done with by the time I found out about it. Here are a couple of photos (of photos) of the quilt to get an idea of its size

After the Quilters Trail gathering it was cut up again into regular quilt size quilts and the individual quilts were donated to people who needed them most.  What a terrific idea.

Anyway, back to my shopping trip.  The ladies had dressed up the shop with purple balloons, swags and lanterns. I love purple so I bought some purple fabric on the "purple table" and some very cute buttons, a "quilt diva" Amy Bradley pattern and some special embroidery needles. I am posting photos of what I bought on my fb page.....link on sidebar.

There was also a quick tutorial of the snappy bag which the girls had made up as the free pattern.  They came up with a very clever idea on this one and when I eventually make this gem I will let you in on this secret.

Lots of fabrics and patterns and other goodies to drool over but before long it was time to make our way back onto the bus and make our way to the next stop.
 

FQSwap - June

It doesn't seem that long since I was posting about the May FQSwap but June is here and I do like to at least organise myself early although I won't be able to post this until after the two birthdays mid June.  The theme this month is Travel/Destination.  My swap partner is Barb at barbscreations. I contacted Barb and found out that she is collecting red/white fabrics and would prefer something on these lines. 

I found these fabrics for Barb that fit her preference (I guess the Starfish could show - Destination: Beach) but to keep with the theme, I included some London buttons together with some red embroidery thread and a sachet of White Chocolate Mocha Coffee for her to enjoy.

Barb sent me these very unusual fabrics and some embroidery threads.  Great choice Barb. The fabrics are terrific and I love them.

I also got to send FQs to two other members who celebrate their birthdays this month. Firstly Helen who's likes include modern designers and modern colours so I hope she liked my choice for her.

I also included a reel of sewing thread, one of my Needle Nanny designs and a white choc mocha coffee sachet.

*Update* - Helen sent me a message to my facebook page to say she loved her birthday parcel!


Next comes Sharon.  One of Sharon's "likes" is Japanese fabrics and I found these two japanese inspired designs.

I sent these to her along with a reel of sewing thread, white choc mocha coffee sachet and I also sent Sharon a Needle Nanny.

I made Sharon's Needle Nanny with a wooden button. I made a slight change to my original design by adding a button to the top and an extra magnet underneath means they can attach the Needle Nanny to whatever top they are wearing and the Needle Nanny can travel to the ironing board etc!

This photo is me testing out the magnetic action on my t-shirt. Yep.....Needle Nanny secure on my top and needle secure on Needle Nanny.

Ladies, I have had an enjoyable time shopping for your FQs and putting all the little extras together, I hope you enjoy!

 

Quilters Trail (North) 3

I am pleased to report that the next stage of our trip on the Freeway up to Cooroy was more relaxing. We did not stop at the Patchwork shop first though. Our first stop was at the Cooroy RSL for a lovely lunch. They did a really good lunch time service and glancing down the table at the meals, all looked really yummy. Some ladies had wine or beer with their lunches but I opted for a Latte. Unfortunately, or maybe, as far as my hips are concerned, fortunately, we did not have time for dessert.

some rustic artwork also functioning as seats in the wide main street near the RSL

 A short stroll down the main street of this lovely little country town and we found ourselves at the Cooroy Patchwork/Drapery Shop.

Orange was the colour option chosen in this shop and we walked in the door through an arbour covered in orange butterflies.

 In the past this shop has been my least favourite and I was not expecting to find much to interest me but there was a new array of patterns and I had trouble deciding which one I wanted to make the most so ended up buying two!

The pattern asks for some jumbo ricrac which I also found available and a 50cm piece of fabric that would look so sweet in the cushion (middle of bottom samples in photo above). I am loving this little shop again.  I found a cute pattern which some of my Cat loving followers would love but there were no patterns left *insert sad face here*

no patterns left for Nutmeg

I was not really pleased to have an altercation with one of the other ladies at our stop here.  It seems she wanted Jumbo ric rac too and indicated that she was waiting in line to buy some.  I graciously handed it over to her and then she declared she wanted 4m of it which annoyed me as there was clearly not much more, if that,  available.  As I only needed 45cm and my friend also wanted 45cm, I asked her to make sure they cut ours first as we were the ones that found it first but she seemed to not be agreeable to this. It annoyed me more that she was in actual fact NOT waiting in line and I eventually got to the counter before she had even finished her shopping.  I asked the tour leader to ask her to join me in line as I needed my piece cut and she was still reluctant to hand it back to me. While we were stood there she suddenly decided it was not what she wanted and just about threw it back at me.  Grrrrrrr! There is one in every situation, isn't there?

Anyway, I spent plenty to get my passport stamped and get another pattern.  This time it was a little dilly bag and a paper pieced coaster.  I also bought a kit for this pattern, in pink.  I may make it as a raffle for our Pink Week at work which raises money for breast cancer.

Back to the bus for our trip back down the freeway and a visit to Stitch This and That at Morayfield.

Click on the links to read about the other stops:
Quilters Trail (North)
Quilters Trail (North) 2
Quilters Trail (North) 4

Quilters Trail (North) 4

Oh dear I think my hormones got me a little hot under the collar on my last post.  Rant over now though and the last leg of our drive back south was much quieter and shop four today was Sew This and That at Morayfield near the shopping mall.

 

 I do love the array of fabrics at this shop and was not disappointed but what I looked at first was the haberdashery shelves. There was quite a large selection and since I know that Miss M is looking for some self covering buttons with metal backs, not available at Spotlight, I decided I would get her some if available. I was so pleased to find some and bought her two packets. She is making some earings with them and I hope she will make me some for finding them!! :) *ulterior motive much?*

rather a hasty photo so it is a bit blurred.

I spent so long looking at the haberdashery and deciding which fabric to get (just had to face the fact, I couldn't get all of it!) and making several trips to the back of the store to get "another" matching bolt of fabric that I ended up being the very last person to get served.

This meant I did not have many photos of our visit here.  While waiting in line I snapped a photo of one the many paper pineapples hanging from the ceiling much to the bemusement of the young girl serving me.

And if you guessed that this store was all about YELLOW, you would be right.  Their free pattern was for a machine needle case.  After I got my passport stamped it was a quick step back to the bus before I got left behind.

So back to the point of origin, Quiltessentials.  This is my local so I JUST had to buy something here to get my passport stamped before I gathered my belongings for the quick drive home.

Quiltessentials is decked out in red at the moment and shop owner, Claudia has got some stunning red fabrics but I actually don't need any red at the moment so I ended up buying a kit for a lap quilt. The fabric is big dots in a blue ombre design.  It caught my eye the minute I walked into the store to collect our passports and after a very quick decision, it was all mine.

Back home for a cup of coffee and a chance to drool over my purchases for the day.  I just can't wait for next week and our bus trip heading West.

If you missed the installments of this story, here they are:

Quilters Trail (North)
Quilters Trail (North) 2
Quilters Trail (North) 3

I will be posting pictures of my purchases on my facebook page . Click HERE or the facebook link on my side bar.

Quilters Trail (North) 2

It was quite an eventful drive up the freeway to our next stop, The Patchwork Angel at Forest Glen. There was quite a delay of stop, start driving for about 2 kilometres and we were all speculating what the hold up could be. Some said roadworks and others felt sure it could only be an accident to cause such a traffic jam. They were all wrong and it turned out to be nothing but a car broken down on the side of the road being attended to by a road patrol with flashing lights. Once past it all, and glad that no-one was hurt, we were off again.

 Not much further down the road, we had a caravan suddenly pull in front of our mini bus with only inches to spare and our vigilant bus driver (with the help of 20+ backseat drivers all yelling things like "look out", "oh sugar", "oh dear" but suprisingly nothing much more expletive - oh sugar made me giggle afterwards.) was able to avoid a really bad accident. I saw it all happening from my up front seat, in what felt like slow motion, and heard myself call out "careful" just as the busdriver noticed himself and put on the brakes rather severly. It was a close call and left us all a little shaken. We were glad to get off at the patchwork shop but I was ironically perturbed to be greeted at the door by an "angel"

can you see her pink wings?

 Anyway we were here and this was the shop that I was looking forward to the most so I didn't dilly dally too much and rushed inside.  One of the reasons I was so looking forward to coming here was that Lynette Anderson designs were often well stocked but I was disappointed to learn that her line has been discontinued at the Patchwork Angel and there wasn't much in stock.  There were lovely fabrics as always and great patterns but none of them screamed that they wanted to come home with me today.  In the end I did find a sweet stitchery which was enough to get my passport stamped and get me a store pattern which was a cute owl pincushion which also holds scissors and thread. There was also a demo on using coloured pencils to colour in your stitcheries but I missed that.

The Patchwork "Angels" all dressed up in those lovely pink wings had also done a great job in decorating the shop in pink. The shop does have a lovely selection of Tilda fabrics, patterns and various gift products.  So prettily displayed in this little corner as you enter the shop.

I also loved this display of hearts

Next stop - Cooroy Drapery.

The other installments of this mini adventure can be found here:
Quilters Trail (North)
Quilters Trail (North) 3 
Quilters Trail (North) 4


 

Quilters Trail (North)

The week finally arrived for my Quilters Trail.  I have been so excited about this and even shuffled my working week around it. Fortunately my Manager is quite happy for me to do this.

The Quilters Trail Shop Hop runs for the whole of June but I was booked on the bus trip which is broken up over two days, first running North and next week we will head West out of Brisbane. We all met up at Quiltessentials on Thursday.  It was part one which ran North.

 
We set off at 8:45 and first stop was Heavenly Patchwork on the Redcliffe peninsula. From past experience, this shop always has something interesting to offer but this year, I was overwhelmed by the beautiful fabrics in store and stunning patterns.  Was hard not to blow quite a good part of my budget here.

All the stores had a colour theme this year and when you spend $10 or more, you get your Quilters Trail passport stamped and given a free pattern with fabric squares.  Heavenly Patchwork was decorated in blue and their pattern was a super easy pillowcase.  One of the ladies did a quick demonstration of the technique and let me tell you, you really don't need a pattern.  So quick, so simple, so clever! They added a strip of  'glow in the dark' fabric to their pillow slips.  I didn't even know you could get 'glow in the dark' fabric....wow, the things you learn.

I almost bought the pillowcase kit (including glow in the dark strip) with the monsters seen bottom left, above, but later decided against it and just came home with a couple of patterns instead.

Then there was time for some to have a tea or coffee with a biscuit and have a dash to the loo before we were back on the road to the next destination.

All in all, I rated Heavenly Patchwork quite high on my list and as it is not too far from home, I may even make a special trip out here when it is not so crowded.  After all I do need to get some of that glow in the dark fabric!

view from the front door of Heavenly Patchwork looking out across the bay....aaaahhhhh!

Next stop, The Patchwork Angel, Forest Glen which I will post about tomorrow.

Just a note to say a big thank you to you all for your continued comments on my blog.  I don't always get around to answering each one but I do love reading your comments and appreciate all your sweet thoughts.

Here are the other installments to this adventure:
Quilters Trail (North) 2
Quilters Trail (North) 3
Quilters Trail (North) 4