oh wow....

has it really been over a  month since I last posted? Time really does fly.

Where do I start?

  *First of all, I finished my laptop sleeve...Tada!

 Which I'm really happy about as I can take my laptop to Uni  now. I love how it turned out and my laptop fits perfectly, which is a bit of a miracle!

 As I was sewing it together I realised that something looked a bit odd. And something did- The flap was wider than the sleeve part...not sure how that happened. It probably comes from making the calculations and templates late at night. But after a bit of unpicking, cutting and resewing, you would never know! Although, unpicking Velcro is not on my list of favourite things to do.

I also sewed it together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance rather than 1/2 inch as the tutorial suggests, as I was a bit paranoid that my laptop wouldn't fit.

If you would like to make a laptop sleeve I used this Tutorial from Oh, Fransson! as Inspiration.

*I haven't made any progress on binding my Just Dreaming Summer Quilt, but I have started a  new quilt using the fabric Boutique by Chez Moi for Moda.

When I bought it, which was quite a while ago now, I loved the simplicity of a quilt that was on display and when I asked about it, they had a drawn up layout guide for it! 

 It uses a Layercake and a charm pack, so the only cutting you need to do is the sashing! which is great because cutting the fabric is probably my least favourite part of the process.  I'll be sure to share it when its finished :)

 What else have I been up to?.....

 *I have discovered my second home! 

A friend of mine, Adele, posted about a fabric store not long ago called GJ's Discount Fabrics. I had never  been there before so after checking out their website, I headed down there a few weekends ago and....Oh my goodness! I cannot believe I haven't been there before! They have the most amazing and humungous range of fabrics I have ever seen! and fabrics I didnt even know you could buy over here anymore. To make things even better, their fabric is pretty well priced.  

Fabric is quite as expensive here in Oz. About double or more the price it is in America.

To say I was in heaven is a bit of an understatement.

These are the goodies I brought home...

1/2 metre of Alexander Henry "Spotted Owl". I have admired this fabric ever since I started quilting and as I have an owl obsession, it was necessary to get some.  I think it might become a cushion.

    a 25cm x 112com roll of blue and green owls to add to my Owl Stash. I don't know who designed it but its very cute.

 a 45cm x 112cm of  Quite Contrary by Riley Blake. This is probably going to become a diary cover and a pouch for a friend of mine.

  I also got 3m of cream fabric to use as sashing in the Boutique quilt. 

and I found the perfect backing fabric for my "From Chicago with love" quilt but...

Has this happened to you before? You get all excited because you find the perfect fabric and you've been searching for ages for just the right one and then you get to the counter and there's not enough of it left :(
Very annoying. So now I'm on the hunt for this fabric from "The birds and the bees" by Keri Beyer and this fabric, particularly this colour, does not seem to be very common....so if you have seen it anywhere, please please let me know! 

I'm on Easter break at the moment and haven't done much sewing in ages, so I'm off to do some sewing now!

Hope you have a lovely and Happy Easter

Miranda & Charlie