Bargain hunting, Swooning and FMQ

It's been a pretty busy fortnight here on the home front.. Mum and I took the kids up to see my grandparents for a week so we spent our time beating the heat down at the beach! And really, it was HOT. The first 3 days were hot, humid and crazy and the water was a welcome relief.. then came the thunderstorm which finally brought in the sea breeze for the next 3 days.. until it got hot and horrible again the day before we left! But overall it was a lovely holiday. Of course while I was "away"  Spotlight decided to have a VIP sale where you got a $10 voucher to spend for each day of the sale  so mum and I made sure that we managed to fit in a few visits to make sure we got our money's worth ;) I managed to come out of it with some fabric that has been catching my eye for months..... at the bargain clearance price of $4/m!

Even better, when I got home I managed to find a couple of the other fabrics in the same range at my local Spotlight store so I think I ended up with about 9 different fabrics in the range overall. I also managed to pick up a June Tailor 12.5" square ruler & some of her plastic shape templates (star, heart, circle, flower, leaf) at 50% off, some Christmas quilting fabric & panels cheap on clearance and some other random fabrics that I'd had my eye on. Now I just need to find the perfect project for my pretty yellow/grey "Sunny" fabric!

I've also joined in on Katy's Swoonalong, so at yesterday's craft morning playdate I cut pieces for my first block and today I completed it! These blocks will be for one side of the quilt that I've been planning to make as part of a marriage quilt for my husband and I. I purchased the fabrics back in October specifically for my quilt but with no real design idea in mind.. I had picked out a couple of star blocks that I'd been thinking over but once I saw that Swoon block it was just a case of deciding whether to use these fabrics or the fabrics I'd chosen for the other side of my quilt.

I've been working on my project for the Quilters with Modern Tools "GO! Ahead and Show a Little LOVE" AccuQuilt Blog Hop.. the blog hop will run from 13th - 18th February. The line up includes some of my favourite bloggers - I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone comes up with! And I hear rumors that there will be giveaways - yay!

Feb. 13 Marjorie from Marjorie Busby Quilts
Feb. 13 Ariane from Ariane's Crafts

Feb. 14 Connie from Quilting by the River
Feb. 14 Linda from Living 4 Quilting

Feb. 15 Lisa Marie from Scraps of Life
Feb. 15 Marilyn from North Hill Quilter

Feb. 16 Alicia from Heirloom Quilting
Feb. 16 Marjorie from Marjorie's Busy Corner

Feb. 17 Sharon from Craizee Corners
Feb. 17 Snoodles from Lily Pad Quilting

Feb. 18 Stacey from Driving Miss Stacey
Feb. 18 Tracey from The Peony Teacup (me!)
Feb. 18 Paulette from Sweet P Quilting and Creations

Do you want a sneak peek?

I decided to join Samelia's Mum's Name Game Swap at the last minute, so stay tuned for sneak peeks of the mini quilt I'll be making for my swap partner!

And last but not least, I finally got around to having a go at SewCalGal's 2012 FMQ challenge..  I read somewhere that felt made an excellent practice fabric, so I thought I'd give it a go before moving on to quilt sandwiches.. Here's my first attempt:

Front side

Back side

I boxed myself in a couple of times, and then my bobbin ran out and I decided that seemed like a good time to finish for the day. With a little more practice I think I  might even be able to turn out something that looks like leaves!

Telline, Patchwork Fair & the end of holidays...

I can hear you thinking "What on earth are Telline?" (pronounced Te-lean-ay) Well, they're little shellfish that live in the sand at the beach - very easy to find if you know what you're looking for - and they taste delightful simply sauteed in a little garlic & olive oil! (And I'm sure also cooked in a multitude of other ways..) They're one of the things that I LOVE to go digging for when I'm on holidays.. it used to be something that my Nonno (grandfather) used to take us to do, but he's not able to make it down to the beach anymore so it's even nicer to be able to bring some home for him..

I think this is the first time that Blossom & Bean have really been able to join in successfully and they went crazy for it! They wanted to go down EVERY DAY! We only ended up going "Telline-ing" twice, but the second time was so successful that we had enough to leave some for my Aunt & cousins as well as bring some home to share with my brother & sister (and us of course!).

Our 2nd day haul - we'd already eaten the first lot!

 One of the really special things about going "Telline-ing" with the kids was being able to tangibly demonstrate to them the whole ocean to table experience, including the sustainability side of things (eg. "grading" the Telline & returning the small ones so they can grow bigger for "next time").. it's nice to be able to show them that not all food comes from the supermarket!

Up close and personal - aren't they cute?

On Sunday (which was also the day we were heading home) I managed to sneak in a (kid-free!) trip to the local Patchwork & Craft Fair.. rather brilliant timing, I must say! I went with the intention to NOT SPEND ANY MORE MONEY, and incredibly I managed to stick to my resolution. Sadly, I must say that I'm regretting my self control now because I really, really want one of the adorable cupcake pincushions..

Here are some of the things that caught my eye:

Hand beaded Christening dress & bonnet (~$250!)

Embroidered singlet with tulle tutu (~$14) - how easy would that be!

Quilts on display

 

The local quilting guild ran an "Ugly Fabric Challenge" where members were give a fat quarter of "ugly" fabric and had to turn it into something beautiful. The only requirement was to use atleast half the piece of fabric. Ugly has never been so beautiful! All of the entries were fabulous, and you never would have guessed that they all used the same piece of fabric in the designs..

The local quilt guild "Ugly Fabric Challenge" fabric

Ugly Fabric Challenge entries

More Ugly Fabric Challenge entries

And even more Ugly Fabric Challenge entries

Pincushions

The cupcake pincushion that I wish I'd bought

Isn't this table centre gorgeous? It's made up of fussy cut equilateral triangles.

Incase you can't tell, that's a cruise ship in the distance. Le sigh.

On the day we leave, a cruise ship docks on a day trip. What a way to remind me that while my holiday is over, someone else is enjoying my dream vacation.. one day it will be me on that cruise ship!