I swear there is just not enough "usable time" in the day for me atm. But here I am posting after another long dry spell.
I have been busy making dollies and have even sold a few on www.facebook.com/misspollysdollhouse

here are some of my new ones.

triplets waiting at the hairdressers



Beautiful ballerina with my new style of gorgous long hair which takes 3 hours to put in!

such a little cutie- this is one of my new tuttus with glimmer and sparkle tulle and a ribbon tie up , so you get a lovely bow at the back

So many people want skulls but I want my dolls to be pretty- so pretty and skully :)

Lara is my first doll to have long loose hair(takes a long time to do but so worth it!) she is not even close to finished as she will be a "Look at me" but this is a new dress pattern that I have created "Indian Princess meets Pinup girl" I have ordered the fabric in several colours that will arrive in a few weeks so look forward to a few of these dresses.

I love Abby- she was inspired by Abby on NCIS and she is a groovy "Look at me"

Luc just looks like she is going to run up and hug you! Just a cutie pie!

This is Sid the first of my new boy doll range. I hope to have a few for sale at my next market night.
I wanted to make a masculine looking boy doll as I just felt that most looked a bit girly. So I hope he is cool to boys too!

Heidi is a cute little "Play with me" doll with hair made from Australian hand spun Merino wool. Her hair can be worn up as in this picture or in pigtails. She has lovely hazel eyes and a cute smile.

Things have been a bit quiet on www.facebook.com/craftwerxsales too as I got a bit disheartened after the last sale when over 50% of the buyers didn't pay- it's such a waste of time when that happens. I don't understand why people buy things if they know that they can't pay for them and it stops other people who can pay being able to buy. But anyways, I plan to have another sale in the next few weeks to clear out some fabir cbefore we move the craftroom to the new studio room(can't wait) which has a great view, sun most of the day and a slow combustion stove too!

I have also found a wonderful friend in Sarah who started off as a customer of www.facebook.com/craftwerxfabrics only a couple of months ago and lives in Snowtown which is really the closest town to us here in Lochiel. Sarah now visits at least once a week and love to help out with orders(she thinks it's great fun playing in all the fabric). We really are a great influence on each other too- she stimulates my creative flair and I have encouraged her to make a range of different things for her store www.facebook.com/misfits she make sParrot Tents- she is a parrot nut! Loves them to pieces and her house is full of cheecky birds! plus she has now started her own range of character dolls which are too groovy!

Anyways, enough for me, time to go have a rest- silly body is not my friend right now!
Hope you are all well!
Cheers, Teesha

Such a bad blogger but here is why:) Miss Polly's Doll House my new FB page!

Just a few of the dolls that have been taking up my time! All hand sewn and decorated in Country SA to buy one or have a look at more please go to www.facebook.com/misspollysdollhouse

Latest Love products

Yes, I have been a slack blogger again but in my defence I have been in the process of huge clearance sales on my FaceBoo page www.facebook.com/craftwerxsales and opening my new dolls page www.facebook.com/misspollysdollhouse

Anyway this post is about some AWSOME products that I have found lately - I wonder how I managed to make anything good with out them!

The first is curved needles! You know the ones that you see them use to stitch up people- well now I know why. They are amazing for quilting and doll making. If you want to give it a try, I have  3 packs of 4 needles in various sizes in stock for $1.50 each plus postage- so give be an email craftwerxstudio@gmail.com and I will invoice you.

The second one is Fray Stop - OMG you can cut and clip you seems so short! add a little dab of this stuff - runs like water so is really easy to apply if you just stick a pin in the nozzle rather than cutting it. I swear you can cut right up to your sewing put on some Fray Stop and you don't need to worry about the seem popping. I have 5 bottles in stock for $5.85 plus postage so shoot me an email if you want one.

My third discovery is Wonderfil thread- I am so in love with this stuff! I do a lot of hand embroidery on my quilts and dolls and just around the house and I hate having to pull apart stranded cotton. Well Wonderfil has these great threads that are 2 7 3 ply that can be used by hand or machine for embroidery and are wonderful to use!
I love the dazzle as it has a twist of metaclic through it. I have found that it doesn't tangle and runs super smooth so you can use longer lengths without  worrying about it getting ratty.

Unfortunately I have to buy a box of 5 of each colour and they are expensive threads- but I am happy to order in colours as needed. Just email me for a PDF colour chart and price per spool (varies by type and colour)

Here are the specs of each.

Accent
2 ply, 12wt rayon. 40 solid colours. Exquisitely finished with great sheen & softness. Strong & easy to sew in any machine. Perfect weight for decorative stitching. Adds dimension & accent. Use #90 embroidery needle. Home sew and long arm machines.

Thread Accent Multi 400mt2 ply, 12wt rayon. 20 multi colours. Exquisitely finished with great sheen & softness. Strong & easy to sew in any machine. Perfect weight for decorative stitching. Adds dimension & accent. Use #90 embroidery needle. Home sew and long arm machines.
Razzle & Dazzle
Heavy rayon thread. 3 ply - 250 yard spools (razzle), 200 yard spools (dazzle). 46 rayon colors. High natural sheen. Silky hand feel. Comparable to no. 8 crochet cotton. Home sew and long arm machines.
Suggested Uses:
Razzle is rayon only. Use through bobbin for bobbin sewing, couch on top of projects. Use for knitting, crochet, tassels, fringes.
Dazzle is rayon and has a twist of glitzy metallic.
Sizzle
4 ply heavy metallic. 13 brilliant colors. 180yds/spool. Runs well in bobbin. Home sew and long arm machines

I hope that you have fun sewing this week! I am having another clearance sale on www.facebook.com/craftwerxsales which runs until the 21st Feb with new items daily so I will be busy.

I will have some ready to buy dolls very soon - so keep checking to have a look.
Cheers for now,
Teesha

competition update

I forgot to add in the competition information that it is only open to Australian residents as international postage is just too expensive.
Cheers,
Teesha

Competition- What did you make for Christmas gifts?

Ok so I have been thinking about a competition and as I was up until 5am Christmas morning finishing off my handmade gifts- I guess a lot of other people were doing the same- so I thought that it would be a good topic for a competition!
So here is how to enter-
1. Like the Craftwerx Studio Fabric Funhouse page on Facebook www.facebook.com/CraftwerxStudio
2. Upload a picture of your handmade gift to the page with your name and the name of the project.
3.Share a link to the competition on your profile.
4. Email your picture to craftwerxstudio@gmail.com with your name, address and the details of your project and the person it was made for ie I made this quilt for my Aunt Dora as she really loves purple.
5. Follow this blog to find out winners etc.
6. Sorry Australian resident only.

The competition will run for 1 month and you can entre as many projects as you like but each time you must share a link to www.facebook.com/CraftwerxStudio
The 5 best entries as decided by me will be chosen at the end of the month and posted on the wall and this blog for you all to vote for. At the end of 1 week, the winner will be the person who's project gets the most votes.

Now what is the prize I hear you ask?
First prize will be a 10 pack of FQs as chosen by me personally for the winner
Second prize will be a 5 pack of FQs as chosen by me personally for the winner
Third prize will be a 5 pack of Eigths as chosen by me personally for the winner
There will also be a prize for the most entries and the most interesting project.

So I look forward to seeing your entries soon!
Happy quilting!

Here are some of the goodies that I made :

A table runner for my MIL

A table mat for Daniels favourite Aunt

A giant cushion for our georgous cousin!

Windmills in the Garden Quilt- the next step.

The next step in my Windmills in the Garden quilt was to add the die cut shapes. Before sewing them onto the block, I added som embroidery and as I wanted a slightly 3d effect, I also put some batting on the back of them before embroidering.  I use pre cut die cut pieces but you can also make your own by prining out clip art and then cutting the fabric with it to make a shape.  Once I was happy with the die cuts, I then used the sewing machine on zig zag stitch to sew them onto the blocks. I also varied the thread and intensity or width of the zig zag depending on the die cut size.  The next step is to add sashing, I wasn't going to originally but as part of the organic quilting process, it became apparent that it would look good as the quilt progressed.  Until next time..

How do I design a quilt? A very common question

As promised, another post although a bit later than I hoped- we have had an awsome heatwave that has knocked the wind out of my sales. But not to winge, I thought that this post I would talk about a question that a lot of new customers and quliting newbies ask me.
How do I go about designing a quilt or project?
I thought that my current mega project would be a good example to  use.
I know that a lot of people have a grand design that they work out on paper first but for me it is a more organic experience. I do all of my patchwork by hand while I relax in front of the TV.
Firstly I had some left over pack of 2.5" squares that I really liked and some great new white on white fabrics and just started making my little triangle blocks with 2 2.5" squares and sewing 2 paralell diagonal lines just off centre and then cutting down between the lines to make one square made of 2 triangles. I use coloured and white and cut the white by eye as I am a huge fan of liberated quilting.
They looked great, so I spent a few nights making those while I was watching TV and relaxing, until I had a big pile.
Then I thought- hmm what if I was to do the same thing but across the square- so I did this and made rectangel ones that were cute too- another couple of nights and I had a pile of those too!
I ironed them all and then played with the different shaped blocks that I could make with them. I made lots of windmills which made me think of how much I loved those kids coloured foil windmils that you blow on when I was a kid. So I spend some time sewin together groovy windmill blocks. and then wondered what to do with the rectangle so basically did the same thing with them and this gave me a sort of plus sign(probably has a quilting name but I don't know it)
I also made some other groovy shapes and then wondered how to put them together, so I kind of layed them all out on the floor and tried some different fabric strips between 4 blocks and then chose the 2 fabrics that I like best and started sewing them together.
That took a while!
I layed them all out on the floor again and thought now it looks like someone has put a whole heap of windmills in the ground, so I thought "Windmills in the garden" it needs some flowers and so the name came about and by adding some 10" funky floral blocks I got my base quilt.

So now I thought that some cute bird and butterfly applique would be a good addition and I am in the process of adding them to the plain blocks. Once that is done I will add sashing between the blocks in a dark colour and then see how it looks.
I will keep you posted on the progress, but I hope that this rambling will help some of our new quilters understand that a quilt doesn't need to be a major production, it can be easy fun and organic in it's design.
Sew until next time! Have fun quilting and don't let it be a drag!

I am a bad bad blogger :)

Hi Everyone,
I have just logged into my blog and realised how long it has been since I last posted! WOW- so I will try to make sure to blog at least once a week again.
So to catch up:
We have moved from Farrell Flat to Lochiel which is AWSOME! We are on a property that is 35acres which we have the use of but we only have to take care of the small garden around the house and the LL does the rest! The house, well it is MASSIVE with 5 bedrooms, 3 lounge rooms, 2 full bathrooms, 2 toilets and a large country eat in kitchen.
So we have 2 bedrooms as offices, one for the PC and postage and one for the cutting and fabric. Once summer is over, we will be having one of the lounge rooms as a studio for teaching which is going to be great- the view from the glass double doors is magic.

We have closed our eBay store becuase it was just costing us too much in fees but we have been running our sales on FaceBook which are doing great . We have regular almost weekly auctions on our Sales Page and our new products are released on our fabrics page- the funhouse is for other things like buttons and threads.
www.facebook.com/craftwerxstudio
www.facebook.com/craftwerxsales
www.facebook.com/craftwerxfabrics

Now that Summer is upon us, my medical issues really kick in, so I will be around less of FB but be assured that I am making lots of cute new kits while I am resting.
So, a big catch up and I hope that I will remember to come back and blog next week.
Cheers,
Teesha

Birch Habby Products soon to be in stock at Craftwerx

Just got approved for an account with Birch Haberdashery and am looking at their huge range to make an order. Is there anything particular that you would like me to look at stocking? I would really appreciate some input.

International Women's Day SALE 20% OFF

To celebrate the 100th International Womens Day, what better than a FABRIC SALE! So pop over to my store www.craftwerxstudio.com and treat yourself because you deserve it! So take 20% off from Me but only until Midnight tonight!

PS: Discount will automatically be calculated at checkout.
PPS: Payments must be received within 5 days for discount to apply
PPPS: No other discount apply duing this sale.

We own so much to those heroic women who marched and stood up for Women's right to vote, to work, to have careers and yes even get bank loans. It is easy to forget in todays society of mostly equality, just what it was like.

Just imagine, having to get permission from your Dad, Brother or Husband to do just about anything, no matter how old you were?

So be proud that you are a woman today! and remember those who stood up to make it possible!
Have a fantastic Women's Day ladies!

Cheers,
Teesha

 Beautiful Quilts from one of my favourite designers. I just love looking through these books! The colours are specitacular!

Name that Cushion and win a Cushion Kit valued at $18

 

This is my latest cushion pack and it needs a groovy name.

I will be choosing my favourite 3 names on March 10th and making them a poll for you to vote on from March 11th-15th.

The person who's name idea is finally used will receive one of these great cushion kits as a reward valued at $18 plus postage!

Last time we had some great names and it was really hard to choose the final three so I am hoping for some great names to choose from.
Cheers,
Teesha

PS. You can comment here, on Facebook or email me at craftwerxstudio@gmail.com

300 Likers 20% off Sale ON NOW

Woo hoo ! In a few short months on FaceBook we have reached 300 likers on our Craftwerx Fabrics page and to celebrate we are having a 20% off storewide sale!

Craftwerx Fabrics

300

people like this

To claim your discount go to www.craftwerxstudio.com at the items that you want to buy to your cart and then use the code FB300sale05y7 at the checkout to receive 20% the total value of your order until 11.59pm this Saturday 5th March.

You don't have to pay immediately, I am happy to wait up to 10 days for payment by Paypal, Direct Deposit or Mail Order.

All of our huge range of product are available from our store, but things are selling fast!

So if there is something that you can't find, just email me sales@craftwerxstudio.com or message me Teesha Morgan on Facebook and I will check stock and relist or backorder it for you -with your discount!

Happy Shopping Everyone and thank you again for your support!

Lot's of new Weekend project patterns and packs are in the works so keep checking the blog for the latest free patterns

New Air Dry Marking Pens

I used to use a chalk pen for all of my marking (which is a lot) and I just kept having to buy more and more chalk and it was annoying having to sharpen the chalk all of the time.
I finally bit the bullet and bought one of these pens that disapear after 24hrs or so and now I am kicking myself that I didn't buy it sooner!
Not only is it great for marking lines to cut but I have also used it to draw out designes to quilt along! My free hand quilting is much better looking now as I can follow line perfectly!
I recommend that every quilter get one of these! It iwll change your quilting life!

Only 11 more new likers needed until we hit 300 and have a 20% of store wide sale!

Be sure to tell you friends to like Craftwerx Fabrics so that we can have a 20% off sale!
The new store is open http://www.craftwerxstudio.com/ and as soon as we hit 300 likers I will release the 20% off coupon to use in the store for your discounts.
Our entrie range of Squares, Fat Quarters, Kits & Stash packs will be included in the sale and the code will be valid for 1 week only. So hop on over and make your wish list, so you can grab up your bargains when you get the code!

 

 

Central Park by Kate Spain for MODA now in our eBay store

 BUY IT NOW or Try your luck in our AUCTION

Central Park 

  Beautiful new designs from Kate Spain.

Inspired by the sights and sounds Kate encountered while walking through New Yorks Central Park, these hand painted images come together to make one of my favourite collections for the year.

This pack contains a beautiful mixture of the five colour ways in the line, each inspired by a different part of the park.

The orange and yellow colurs are from Meadow, The Green for Lawn, the Pink and mauve from Plaza and finally the blues from Pond.

If you want to make something truely Pretty

this is definately the line to choose!

Now available in our eBay store in 2.5" & 5" Squares packs and 5x9" Stash packs

Big Block Quilt Pattern - What to do with your beautiful Fat Quarter Pack

So your beautiful Fat Quarter pack has arrived in the mail, what do you do with it?

Some of you have a project in mind, but some of you just put it in your stash until you work out what to do with it.

Easy Big Block Quilt

This is a quick and easy quilt for you to make.

Pick 3 fabrics for your blocks and 1 for a border you will also need one of your stash fabrics for the backing or another set of 4 FQs to repeat the quilt top for the backing.

Cut the border FQ into 2" strips.

Cut each of your 3 block FQs into 4 blocks, do this by folding your FQ in half and iron it, now fold your piece in half again and then iron. Now open up your FQ and cut along the creases. Voila! you have your blocks. Repeat this with each of your 3 blocks.

Now arrange your blocks in a pleasing pattern.
I used
1 2 3
2 3 1
3 1 2
1 2 3
Sew your blocks together one row at a time using a .5cm seam allowance and finger press the seams out.

Sew your rows together.
Iron your sewing,

Now place your borders around the edges until you are satisfied with the pacement of joins. Join the fabric strip to make 4 large strips that match the quilt ie top, bottom, left, right.

Begin with the top and pin your border strip to your quilt right sides together, leaving 3" each side of the quilt. Sew.
Repeat with the bottom.
Now do the same for each side.
Finger press out your seams and then iron your work.

Fold back your top and bottom border and pin it across your side borders at right angles.
Pin both sides and make sure that they line up BEFORE you sew(or you will be doing some un-picking)
Once they are lined up, sew them together carefully.
Now iron your quilt top and you have finished the piecing.......... isn't it quick and easy!

Decide what you are going to use for batting whether it be bought or upcycled batting and
cut it to size and either bast or pin it to your top.

If you are a quilt before binder, now it the time to do your quilting.
This simple pattern means that you can do just about any quilting that you like, it will look great with simple in or beside the ditch, stripes or the most complicated quilting pattern that you can imagine!

If you are a bind then quilt then here is the no bind method that we are using for this quilt.

Put your quilt top with the batting attached down face up and then lay your backing piece on top, right sides together.Pin around the edge leaving a 1cm seam allowance but leave the middle of the bottom open about 15cm.

Sew the two sides together securely, you may want to use a double stitch line or an overlocker. REMEMBER to leave that gap at the bottom to turn your quilt through!
Now once you are done, reach inside the gap and very carefully pull your quilt through to turn the whole thing the right side out.
Now all you have to do is carefully sew up the gap, just like a cushion!

Remove and pins and Voila!

Your quilt is done or.... now you can do your quilting depending of whether you did it before or not.

I have some great Fat Quarter bundle in store http://www.craftwerxstudio.com/
in the Fat Quarter Bundles section at the moment that work brilliantly with this pattern, so I have added a few pics of them below.

It seams to be raining over the entire of Australia this weekend, so now you have something to do!

Happy Studio E





Chou Butterflies by Kona Bay



Fandango from Henry Glass and CO

Acorn for Timeless Treasures

Quilting for Queensland- more quilter & knitters needed!

What is Quilting for Queensland?

I started Quilting for Queensland the day after I saw Pictures on the News of the Lokyer Valley.

For me, it was the kids that I saw who have been through so much trauma and who are going to be traumatised again when they finally get home to find everything that is special to them, all their kid stuff- gone or ruined beyond repair.

After some thinking, I started making a kids quilt that I will be sending to Grantham so that at least one child who has lost so much, has something special when they get back home.

I hope that this is the first of many that I will be making.

It is a very simple pattern that I have written and made for my own family made with nice bright fabrics which can be made with or without a name on it.

I know that there are many, many crafty people out there who will feel better about themselves and their contribution simply by sitting in front of the TV sewing a gift for an Aussie Kid who has had a really bad Christmas this year.

So get quilting! Use your favourite bright fabrics and pattern to make the first of many quilts for Queensland! They don't need to be huge full bed size year long projects, just a simple travel or lap quilt of about a meter. Something to say that you care! If you don't have kids fabrics, buy some!

 

Currently we have distribution points for the 100+ people in Grantham and the Lokyer Valley area affected by the floods & Mission Beach for 60+ people in the Tully area affected by Cyclone Yasi.
There are also people in Victoria, Western Australia & South Australia who are also flood affected who we would like to help but as very do not have the quilters.
Currently we have 16 quilters and 2 knitters but we need lots more!

If you don't have any ideas yourself but would like to make a kids quilt for Queensland, send me an email and I will send you details of the "Quilt for Queensland" pack that I have put together for $30.

Profits from the sales of my Quilt for Queensland packs are donated to the Grantham flood appeal and you will have a wonderful simple quilting project to work on that will make a difference!

So I am sending out a challenge-
Make a Quilt for Queensland!

Who can join Quilting for Queensland?Anyone who would like to join our group is welcome, you can participate by
a) becoming a liker
b) making quilts or blankets to send to people in Qld who need them
c) purchasing fabric for one of the quilters to make a quilt
d) making a donation for one of the quilters to make a quilt
Currently we have distribution points for the 100+ people in Grantham and the Lokyer Valley area affected by the floods & Mission Beach for 60+ people in the Tully area affected by Cyclone Yasi.

There are also people in Victoria, Western Australia & South Australia who are also flood affected who we would like to help but as very do not have the quilters.
Currently we have 16 quilters and 2 knitters but we need lots more!

I look forward to meeting you and seeing your quilts!

 

PS: We now have been asked to make quilts for elderly residents of the Lokyer Valley as they are suffering and having a hard time coming to terms with their losses.

 

PPS- If you have ready made quilts that you can send please email me craftwerxstudio@gmail.com for the address to send them to.

So if you can sew, knitt, crochet, macrame, applique or tatt please join our group!

Great Quilt Binding Tips- thanks Laura & Marieka!

Laura from the Quilting for Queensland group posted this link to All People Quilt's Binding tutorial.
Binding Tutorial thanks to All People Quilt
It is easy to follow and has a few trick of the trade to make binding that little bit easier.

Marieka also a QFQ member from Bespoke Bites has also given me a great "No Bind" way of finishing quilts that still looks AWSOME.
It is basically to sew the wrong sides together like you would a cushion and leave a gap to turn your quilt through and then just sew up the gap.
The quilt look great and you get away with hours less work.

And for those who don't know what Quilting for Queensland is, we are a group of quilters, knitters & crochetters who are making beautiful quilts for kids and older people from Grantham & the greater Lokyer valley in Queensland who have lost everything in the floods. We have now added Tully and other towns greatly affected by the cyclone.
The quilts are currenlt going directly to Grantham to be distributed by a local volunteer in the town.
If you would like to join in please go to
Quilting for Queensland Group on Facebook
if you are not on Facebook, please let me know and I will create an area here on the blog too.

Cheers for now,
Happy Quilting
Teesha

Join our new FQ Clubs now !

If you love fabric, we have a FQ club for you!
There is nothing like checking your mail to find a parcel just for you.

The feeling is wonderful and even better when you open it up to find beautiful fabric in the latest colours and designs, coordinated and ready for you to get on with sewing!

When you join our Rockstar FQ clubs not only do you receive a parcel full of FQs each and every month for 12 months with the cost billed to your Paypal account but you also get a 10% discount in the store, a monthly tips and trick newsletter and regular discount vouchers!

Our first bundles will be going out on March 18th so you have plenty of time to join and enjoy the anticipation of your parcel!

Cheers,
Teesha