Creation Station Shuffle

 *I am linking the post up with Tuesday Archives on 18/11/15 and just to update that this is no longer my Creation Station because I have moved house but this one was a good one*

With the arrival of the HQ18 quilter and frame, it was obvious that I had to find an area long enough to accommodate my super beast who has now been dubbed "AVA". In some respects, it was good timing as the creation station definitely needed a tidy up.

 To the left of this panoramic picture is where I need to put Ava.

No wonder I was avoiding doing any sewing in here........looking at these before photos.....it is such a mess!

This is now what you see as you walk into the creation station

I have created 5 new zones.

Zone 1: I Ava's zone. She is to the right as I walk into the creation station, in front of the big window.

I have a few display ladders here aswell with quilt flimsies that are ready to meet Ava.

Zone 2: To the left of the entrance is my cutting station and work station - I have put my cutting counter and a table back to back to serve as my cutting station on one side (behind me at my cutting station is a storage bookshelf which is not ready to be photographed just yet).....

....and a desk/computer set down and printer spot on the other side. I am sat here right now, writing my blog and since my laptop now has a designated spot, I am determined not to spend any more time on it than is necessary. My spare fold out table is also kept here providing extra working room if and when neccessary.

Zone 3: Storage. I have left this in the same place as it originally was......it is way to heavy to move and works well left right were it is.

Zone 4: The sewing nook. The two general sewing machines have moved into the adjoining space and placed in an L shape in the corner.

This zone is still a little messy at the moment as all those fq fabrics behind the sewing machine (now dubbed Hattie) need to be put back on the shelf near my cutting table. Because there is another window here, I have lots of lovely light to sew.

Also in this area is my NewFO and WIP storage.  And most exciting of all is my light box has a new home on it's very own table which is also in front of a window.

Zone 5 - Scrapbooking Station:  This has been my scrapbooking station for a very long time although I have not done a lot of scrapbooking of late, mostly because whenever I opened the cupboard, I was faced with an overwhelming pile of paper, mags, boxes of buttons/ribbon/brads....the list goes on. So a little tidy up was done and it is a much more organised space.

There are still some messy spots as I am taking the opportunity to sort and organise EVERYTHING so I don't waste time looking for something so simple as a quick unpick or that certain daisy trim (which I still haven't found btw!)

I am loving my new Creation Station so much and I know that I am a very, very lucky girl to have such an awesome space filled with all these things
 

July FQ Swap

My swap partner this month was Narelle at Rells Place. The theme this month was "BRIGHT AND FUN" to warm us up during the colder months.

Narelle sent me these very cheery brights which will certainly warm my creative side.

And I sent Narelle this little combo

I hope it reminds her of summer holidays......not too far around the corner.

There were also three birthday swaps this month

Lyndel, on the 6th, is collecting blues

Lyn, on the 8th, was happy to get anything and she sent me a little message to say that she loved her fq's, embroidery thread and the star buttons.

And Kylie, whose birthday is on the 23rd says she likes plain coloured swirls and cute novelty prints.  I couldn't find any cupcakes that I really liked so I do hope she is a choccie lover too.

Roses are NOT Red....

Not in this Yorkshire lass' garden........

My hubby has been in the throes of fixing up our front garden for the last three years but we could not agree what to plant. I wanted palms and easy plants, he wanted flowering shrubs. I want mass planting, he wants a variety of individual shrubs

This weekend we had another chat and agreed that we would both like to see roses in the garden so we drove down to the garden centre and picked out five rose bushes.

Now I am rather fond of pink roses and being originally from Yorkshire, I absolutely love the purity of white roses and we decided to get a couple of yellow to mix it up......but red? Mmmmmm?

Hubby should of known better than to bring it up. "Shall we get a red one?". No red roses In my garden. The nearest I will go is deep pink!

Really, the truth is, It is not about the War of the Roses between Tudors and Yorkists, it is mostly personal preference....I just love Softer shades.

Once back home, hubby got busy digging and planting the new bushes. A couple of them were shrubs already with some blooms and buds but I will have to wait until Summer. Before any signs of life on the other shrubs. Can't wait!
 
 ps.....this post is based on a private family joke and I can assure you that no red roses were harmed in the writing of this post and no offence intended to the House of Tudor.(Please do not chop off my head)

Big Day today!

Today is a big and exciting day! My big quilting machine and frame has arrived and is being installed RIGHT NOW!!

 I am so excited I can only take wobbley photos at the moment. ooooh!


The front door is wide open today while all the bits and pieces are being brought in and suddenly a stranger was at the door with .......a squishy parcel.....! How popular am I today?

Excited much? Oh yes! Can't wait to see what is inside but the note on top of the photo warns me not to open until the 25th July.

I got mine posted off yesterday so it should be in my secret partners hot little hands very, very soon!

Did you get yours posted off yesterday?
 

All ready for the postie

It is all done....... wrapped, ribboned and ready to put in a post pack tomorrow to be posted off to their new home.

The contents of this tube has something that starts with the letter "T" and was so much fun to make.

 The one with the silver ribbon has something that starts with "S" and......oh, so does the other one at the back!

I added another couple of pressies into the mix for some more surprises.....

 and a little Christmas chocolate to sweeten things up

So if you see this choccie in your mail box and this label on the back of your pressies, then you are my secret swap partner.

Stop peeking

Oh ok, just one more little look before they are wrapped up! This one has a fair bit of hand quilting.

Just a peek

I have been finishing up my secret sewing. It is now ready to post on the 15th

Photoaday Snaps

This is my Photoaday roundup for June 24th to 30th. I missed a few days between my quilters trail bus trip. Yet to figure out how to fit everything into a week,

Day 24 - Negative Space....... Photoaday creater, Chantelle did a post on Negative Space and I am glad she did otherwise I would have been totally stumped.   I played around abit and here is my NEGATIVE SPACE shot. Normally, I would have deleted this shot as being a dud, never to have realised it was creative license! Does your eye get drawn to the eye in the peacock feather? If so then I have used negative space effectively.

Day 25 - Sharp.......These are just one pair of scissors that I own. Very sharp embroidery scissors.  Oops, the fabric is from some secret sewing!

Day 26 - Empty......My favourite coffee cup is empty.....can remedy that very quickly!

Day 27 - Into the sun.  No sun here for the last few days so here is a shot from a little while ago.  Looking up into the sun at Sky City in Auckland, NZ.

Day 28 - Red.............Delicious red, red cherries found at a farmers market on our first day in Paris (2011) We bought a paperbag full and ate them in a nearby park. Bliss!

Day 29 - In my bag...............The view in my bag after my shopping yesterday.  The strawberries were the best I have ever eaten......EVER! Infact, I am going to eat some more now.

Day 30 - Handwriting..............I think I have the worst handwriting. It is never the same. Mostly I print but sometimes I print in capitals, sometimes I cursive and sometimes I combine them all. This list of To-Do's from my cork board is one on my neater versions.

I will not be partaking in Photoaday for July and probably not August either as I will have a very busy time in August which I have not told you about yet.  How did I go? Any favourites from this week?



. 

Winners are Grinners

Is it your turn to grin? It is July 1st today which means I have to pick a winner for my Monthly Giveaway!

I cannot figure out how to cut and paste Random Number Selector (I have done it before but just cannot make it work) so you will have to trust in me.....so let's get to it.  Yet again, RNS picked out my favourite post for the month and one that many of you left comments about......

"SPREADING A LITTLE SUNSHINE"

Infact, 13 of you left a comment for me and RNS picked out the number................. 4!   Who is it................?

ROSE from THREE SHEEP STUDIO

Rose, I will be contacting you for snail mail details and will get the parcel off to you asap.

Quilters Trail Final Chapter

Last stop for this years Quilters Trail was Pleasure Sew at Capalaba (say it like this: Ca-pal-a-bah)

This was another first time shop for me and as you can see in the photo above there were lots of lovely fabrics. The shelves were bursting with bolts to the point where the floor was also covered in plastic crates filled with fabrics.....in every shade imaginable.  I picked up a couple of bolts of fabric but decided not to get anymore fabric and instead I picked up a "much talked about" quick unpick, a new water soluble blue pen and some pretty buttons (will show these items on my fb page - see link in side bar).  If you read my post yesterday, you are possibly feeling a little let down about now because I promised you something BIG!!! and let's face it, a much-talked-about quick unpick is not BIG.

The colour at this shop was green and they had a free pattern for a sweet tea cosy partly seen in photo on left

While I was waiting to pay for my minimal purchases, I saw a man just within my peripheral vision but took no notice of him until the lady next to me asked him a question. When I heard his voice, I suddenly realised who it was.  I have spoken to Greg on numerous occassions over the last year about  quilting machines.  Oh, it suddenly became quite clear which shop I was in.  I have been meaning to visit for quite awhile as I am really interested in buying a HQ Sweet 16 Quilting Machine.  Hubby has given me the money to buy one but I have just not found the courage to go out and buy it (such a lot of money to buy something without proper research). Greg showed me around the show room next to the fabric shop and made an offer that I just couldn't refuse.  Before I knew it I was swiping my credit card and I am now the VERY PROUD owner of a HQ18 with quilting frame (thats right, I upgraded) which he will be installing for me a week on Tuesday.  

Now is that BIG or what! If there was a prize for spending the most money on a Quilters Trail, I would definitely have won that.  I was certainly the talk of the bus and everyone was very excited for me. Before I got off the bus at the end of the trip, Claudia, from Quiltessentials, already knew of my purchase!!

So that was the 10th Anniversary of the Quilters Trail.  All that is left to do is fill in my contact details on my stamped passport at put it in the raffle box.  At the end of the month there will be several passports drawn out of the raffle boxes (from all the shops) and great prizes to be won. It has been tremendous fun and I have met some lovely like minded people along the way.

PS....We had some raffles on the bus too and I won a little packet of  5x10in batik squares and also scored a little stitchery that one of my friends initially won but she doesn't stitch so she gave it to me.  Lucky much??!

Can't wait for NEXT YEAR!!

Thank you for taking this journey with me by following my blog. It has been so much fun reliving the experience when posting.
Other chapters in this story:
Quilters Trail (North)
Quilters Trail (North) 2
Quilters Trail (North) 3
Quilters Trail (North) 4
Go West (QT)
Go West 2 (QT)
Go West 3 (QT)