Winner of the September Sewing Mat Challenge

It's certainly been a big day on my blog for giving things away! First there was the Gum Tree Designers launch giveaway that Denise won, then there was the sharing of block 10 of my Shabby Roses BOM, and now to draw the winner from the September Sewing Machine Mat Challenge!

Thank you to the 17 lovely ladies who accepted the challenge and made their mats! But who will be the winner of my giveaway???

17 names thrown into my box....

...Blossom is chosen to draw the lucky name...

...and it's CAROL!

Congratulations Carol!!!
I'm sure you're going to LOVE your prize! :-)

Carol does not have a blog, but she emailed me a photo - now, I'm sorry but I can't show it to you because it's a surprise present she has made for someone special, but believe me it was really lovely and she also made the matching sewing machine cover!
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Today I used my Wild Thing for the first time...what a beautiful machine it is! I did some straight stitching and then some quilting, nothing fancy yet. Maybe I'll do a little bit each day until I get my confidence up.

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So I guess you'd like a challenge for November? Or maybe not? I have an idea for one but if will all depend on how many people would like to join in.
Think about the challenge, and let me know. I'll give you a hint on what it would be shall I?
It has NOTHING to do with sewing machines, although you'd still need to use one probably, and it uses something that many of us have lying around after buying fabrics...can you guess?

Hugs
Jenny
xxx

Bits and pieces....

Remember our nightly dinner guest, Maggie? And her wee baby, Charli?
Well Charli is not so *wee* anymore! He still arrives clinging to Maggie's back but I have no idea how she carries him - he's quite a big lad now! One thing about Charli though, he is camera shy, unlike his mother. You can see him scooting off last night after I lifted the camera to my eye....

...and he went and hid between the corrugated iron roof and the shadecloth over the outside laundry area, WITH his apple of course. So now we're feeding the two of them.

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Do you use a thimble? I can't stand them, but early this year I came across this wonderful little contraption!

It's very easy to use, and adheres to the tip of your finger. It's been wonderful not to have a bleeding hole in my right index finger anymore!
What is your favourite sewing *helper*?
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Do you love to stitch BOMs?
Val Laird is a lovely Aussie designer whose projects I have loved since I first picked up the needle just 4 years ago. Did you know she has a free BOM? Five of the blocks are already up, but the project won't finish until February - just in time for Valentine's Day - so you have time to stitch them all before then. I love the colours and the sentiments. Thank you for sharing such a pretty BOM, Val!

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It's only a couple of days now until all 9 Gum Tree Designers giveaways are drawn! I can't wait!! (And if you've been reading our combined blog you'll be getting excited about the sneak peeks we're sharing of the free Christmas Stitcheries that begin in just one week!)

Have you seen Dawn's parcel of goodies for her giveaway winner? Just click on her button below and you can see for yourself! She also has a new free stitchery to download....it's especially nice if you love cake of the chocolate kind. ;-)

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Tomorrow we're off to the big city because I am picking up something very special...a surprise from my darling husband. Can you guess what it is??

Hugs
Jenny
xxx

PS: In just 24 hours we've gone from 2 entries in the Sewing Machine Mat Challenge to 12!! Way to go girls!! Now come on everyone else...you've got 3 sewing days to make one and go in the draw for that gorgeous book!! You can do it!! Check the links in the sidebar and see what the other ladies have made. :-) You'll be inspired!

Finished garden pillow, a swim for the family, and the giveaway prize you're going to love!

We had some reprieve from the constant heat today - it was still hot, but we had a lovely cool breeze at last!
After a trip to the local markets for some morning tea, a call to OOO about a local fire beginning to blaze up the road, and a good 20 minutes spent browsing the local newsagents for magazines each family member could 'chill out' with, I settled down to finish the "IN MY GARDEN" pillow, a larger companion block to my "IN MY GARDEN" stitcheries ....

I'm sorry I can't show you any more but it's going to be packed off to the magazine next week to be published next year. I do realise that a lot of overseas readers don't get the Australian craft magazines, so I'm going to do the stitchery design up for sale next week in my Etsy store - just for my far-away friends! :-) It won't be a pattern for the pillow, just the stitchery itself.
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Living on the school grounds affords us a few bonuses, one of them being access to the school pool each day. Here we are relaxing after a swim this afternoon...hubby, Slicer, me, and Bob-the-dog.

Blossom rarely leaves the water once we arrive...she's a true water-baby from way back!

Walking home...that's our house in the distance behind Blossom's head. Only takes us 4 minutes to get to the pool from there. By the way, hubby does not like having his photo taken so he's poking his tongue out at me. ;-)
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How are you going with your sewing machine mat challenge??!
You still have 3 more days to make one!!
I think you REALLY should....because this is the prize if your name is drawn from all those who enter!!

To read more about this GORGEOUS book/pattern go HERE. I wanted to offer something really inspiring to push you to give this challenge a go. Today I ordered 2 copies of this book/pattern - one for me and one for YOU if you win this challenge giveaway!

Come on...it only took me an hour to make mine! You CAN do it!!

Happy stitching days,
Hugs
Jenny
xxx

Can you spare an hour? A bit of a tutorial if you can!

Yep! That's our new air conditioning unit, all fixed into the wall where the window used to be!


My husband has worked hard to get it ready for the electrician to come and connect it, and I'm so proud of him! Bad news is that we are in a little country town and the electrician has a lot of jobs to do before ours...so he's hoping early next week he'll have a couple of hours free to bring an end to the hot house saga at last. In the meantime the town is still swathed in dust, and we cannot see the mountains just near us. So what is a girl to do?
SEW, of course!

And what have I been making? Well, I need to confess something to you. After the fantastic response to the August Sewing Machine Cover Challenge, I threw you another challenge for September - to make a mat for your sewing machines to sit on, by September 30th, and again I will give a prize to the lucky name drawn from those who blog a photo of their completed sewing machine mat (or email me a photo if they have no blog), and let me know.
So far only TWO of you have done this (check the side bar to the left).
And the worst thing is that even *I* hadn't made one!! Life has been so busy with the new Gum Trees Designers launch, and other sewing commitments that I just couldn't seem to find the time to follow through with my own challenge.
Now what sort of example is that? A bad one, and I apologise. I have not allowed myself a single jam-filled lamington today as punishment.

Today I decided that after the morning chores I was going to make that sewing machine mat, and I would challenge myself even further and place a 60 minute time limit in which to make it! Now, girls, if I can do this - so can you! Here's how it happened....

...I chose a piece of fabric I've had for ages, waiting for the *right* project. It's from Tanya Whelan's Barefoot Roses and it's sooooo beautiful - too beautiful to cut up in my opinion, so this way I didn't have to.

I found some smaller print backing fabric, and some satin ribbon that had once been part of the wrapping on a pair of pyjamas from Target (yes, I keep all sorts of things for trimming!)...

I made an extra strip of the large green floral to be the set of pockets along the bottom of the mat, sewed a strip of the small green floral backing fabric to the back of it, and top-stitched the satin ribbon across the top.
I lay that onto the bottom of the mat front, and stitched seams down to give me 4 pockets.
Then I lay the mat front onto some scrap batting and did a few wandering rows of quilting horizontally to secure the top and the batting.

Next step was to trim the front/batting piece. Once I had lain the mat back (small green floral fabric) right sides together with the quilted mat front, I sewed a 1/4 inch seam all around, leaving a 3 inch opening to pull the mat through - making it all right sides out. I pressed the mat, slipstitched the opening closed, then did 3 vertical lines of quilting down the front to secure and also to reinforce those pockets on the bottom. Last thing was to top-stitch a 1/4 in seam all the way around and press. Done! With about 20 seconds to spare!

And in one of the pockets I have finally gotten what I needed most in a sewing machine mat - a place to hold a pair of small snips, needed to cut random threads when I'm at the machine. I even secured them with a sweet scissor keeper, hand beaded by the lovely Kaaren who sent me a bag of lovely handmade goodies in a little private swap we arranged a while back.


All finished inside an hour. What do you think? Pretty gorgeous I say!

Now what about YOU???
Do you have an hour to spare...
Have a go, and enter the September Sewing Machine Mat Challenge!! I'll promise you, you'll love the prize I'm giving. :-)

Happy days with hugs,
Jenny
xxxx

PS: And if you haven't entered fellow Gum Tree Designer Cheryl's giveaway you'd best hurry over and do so - only 4 days left!! She has a STASH of the yummiest presents for the winner!!

~~ IN MY GARDEN ~~ my new designs unveiled!

I hope you will all forgive me for my absence of late...but I was so busy playing with my new designs and I completely forgot about nearly everything else! Today I can reveal to you...

~~ In My Garden~~

Lollipops...

Beetles...
Sunshine...
Butterflies...
and Tree.
Do you like them?
I hope so. :-) The colours are so fresh and bright, and I had such fun bringing the beetles, butterfly, sun, tree, lollipops and rainbow to life with buttons and stitching!
The patterns are available as a set to purchase in Etsy Store. They are a pdf download so no matter where you live in the world you can have them within 24 hours!! I have included colour photos of each block, highly detailed design templates, as well as the fabrics and threads used throughout. The tree block is 8 1/2 in x 6 1/4 in, but the other four blocks are all 5 in x 6 1/4 in in size. You could use them in so many wonderful projects or put them together in a quilt or wall hanging.

NOTE: These designs are also now available for purchase in Australian dollars HERE through my new shop front blog! ELEFANTZ DESIGNS

And of course, I always like to give a gift when I feel guilty for enjoying myself away from you!
So to get your started on these lovely designs, I am giving you...

"Rainbows" as a free download.

You will find it HERE.

Let me know if you like them. :-)
I am working on one more, but it's quite a large one that incorporates all these designs and flowers as well.
I'll take my time with it though, because there is so much to see IN MY GARDEN.

Hugs
Jenny
xxx

PS: Don't forget that we're still having the September Sewing Machine Mat Challenge this month! Have you made yours? You can see Jane and Barb's if you follow the links on the left hand side-bar of my blog!
If you make yours by September 30th, put a photo on your blog and leave a comment HERE to let me know, and you'll go in the draw to win "Sew Pretty Christmas Homestyle" by Tone Finnanger!!