~~~~ WONKY HOUSES Block 4!!! ~~~~~

Ladies....drumroll please....

May I present the last in our four month BOM, Wonky Houses Block 4!!

Isn't he gorgeous!!???

And here is the finished wallhanging.
It's bright and cheerful, a very happy piece of artwork which now lives on the wall of our loungeroom, complete with Bottlebrush branch for hanging.
How very Australian of me! :-)


You can download the pattern for Block 4 HERE...
and the Assembly Tutorial HERE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now, don't forget, the Wonky Houses giveaway is still running, so if you have made at least ONE Wonky Houses block you can enter the draw! The entries close on Monday May 11th, and I will draw the winner on May 12th.
You just need to put a photo of your block (or blocks) on your blog, then leave a comment on this post.

If you don't have a blog but have made a Wonky Houses block you can email me a photo and I'll put your name in the draw.

Happy stitching!!
Jenny

WONKY HOUSES giveaway!!

I've finally come up for air again after the Shabby Roses giveaway last week - wow, you ladies were amazing in spreading the word - thank you! Hundreds of stitchers all over the world are doing the Shabby Roses BOM so I hope we see lots of lovely photos of your blocks between now and Christmas. :-) It's so much fun for me as the designer to see how you put your own special touch to these blocks!

Soooooooooooooooooooo.....are you ready for ANOTHER giveaway???
You are!?
~~~Yay!!~~~

Well, here's the deal.
Remember that alternative colourway I made of Block 2? I decided to stitch it into a cute wallhanging using the same fabrics I've used on the completed Wonky Houses BOM - those fabrics just sing with these blocks!

To be in the draw for this giveaway you'll need to do three things:

1. You must have made at least one Wonky Houses block.
2. You must put a photo of it on your blog, and link back to this post.
3. You must leave a comment on this post telling me you've done it so I can go have a look (and so can everyone else!)

On Monday, May 11th, I'll randomly pick a winner. :-)

Don't forget - Block 4 (the last block) will be shared here on Saturday, May 9th, and you're going to love it!
I'll also share a tutorial on assembling the 4 blocks into a wallhanging.

Good luck, and happy stitching!
Jenny

WONKY HOUSES update - new site for uploading the patterns!

A number of bloggers have contacted me to say they are having problems uploading the Wonky Houses patterns.
To make it easier I have now put them all on one web page allowing simple download. :-)
You can go HERE, and download blocks 1,2 and 3 with ease.

The final 4th block will be shared on May 9th, along with the pattern for assembly of the wallhanging.

And don't forget, there will be a Wonky Houses giveaway announced in the next few days....but only those who have completed at least one Wonky House block are eligible to enter. I will need to see that block photographed and on your blog.

Also, thank you to everyone who offered to help in finding me a copy of last month's Homespun magazine. Deb was successful in purchasing it for me (and refused to let me pay! - I will say it again, the generosity and kindness of heart of crafting bloggers is just astounding!) and has popped it in the post, so I should be flicking through those pages and planning another Breast of Friends block before this week has passed.
I've made a little something for Deb, but I won't show you until she receives it.

Today I am cleaning the house, top to bottom, so no stitching for at least the next 8 hours. How will I cope!??

Have a GREAT day!
Hugs
Jenny

More news on Shabby Roses and Wonky Houses!

What did you decide to make with your free "Mother" embroidery? I finally decided to sew mine into a heat sack cushion - do you have one of those?

Just fill a calico bag, about 4" x 8" with grains of wheat (some people use rice I think), stitch the end closed, then heat in a microwave oven for about 90 seconds. This is where the pretty "Mother" heat sack cushion comes in handy.
* Put the heated calico wheat bag inside the "Mother" cushion,
* button it up,
* and lay it across your weary neck (all that quilting and sewing can give you an aching neck, can't it!?),
* or across the bottom of your back (all that cutting of fabric and bending over can bring that on),
* or under your feet in bed on a cold winter's night....mmmmm...perfect. :-)

And if you keep watch on my blog I'll be having a giveaway for this sweet heat sack in the next week....I might even add in something extra from my Shabby Roses designs stash. ;-)

Did you choose your fabrics for the Shabby Roses quilt BOM yet?
I add a couple more to my pile - what do you think of them? Blossom (who left me with very teary eyes after writing this) doesn't like the bright pink paisley print but I do. I think it adds some depth, and the colours match perfectly with the threads I chose - DMC 92, 99, 471 and 3865.

I've almost finished Block 3 for the May 1st release, but I am re-doing blocks 1 & 2 as well - so that my quilt blocks all make sense. You can see I've chosen the small print from the Flirt fabrics as my applique choice.

And what else have I been doing????

Putting together the Wonky Houses wall-hanging of course! I'm showing you how I will be laying it out in the final month's pattern download (May 9th) but I decided you might like to see a preview now, perhaps helping you choose your colours.
Every fabric used in each border is from a 2.5" strip - so raid all those scraps you've been saving and choose lots of lovely 2.5" pieces and strips. I got to use some bright and cheery Mary Englebreit fabrics with mine, as well as a few snippets of scraps I had that matched.
This afternoon I'll be stitching the words "Home Sweet Home", then quilting and binding in the next day or so.
Now keep watching my blog because I am going to have a surprise Wonky Houses giveaway very soon!

Oh, have a pop over to Jane's blog - she made the first Shabby Roses embroidery for her sweet grand-daughter - it's very pretty!

Have a wonderful day!
Jenny

PS: Oops, forgot to say, you cut your background fabrics for blocks 1 & 2 of Shabby Roses 8" x 10.5"

Wonky Houses and Shabby Roses updates!

It's only 3 weeks until I reveal the final block in the Wonky Houses BOM (are you excited? I am!), so I thought perhaps you'd like to see the layout for the final wallhanging - perhaps this will help you with visualising how each block will be placed and whether or not you'd like to use your blocks in the same way.

And as a bit of a teaser I am giving you a tiny sneak peek of Block 4.

I am so excited by how enthusiastically you have embraced my Shabby Roses blocks!! THANK YOU ladies!!!
It's a privilege for me to see you make the stitcheries your own, and today I am sharing with you Mila's...

and Amanda's!
Aren't they lovely!!

Now...a Shabby Roses quilt.
I've spent a lot of hours thinking this through and working out the best way I can grant your wishes. ;-)
It seems to me that the best way is to make it a Block of the Month (BOM), and to begin it on the 1st May, then each month on the 1st I will add another block for you to download. I'm not sure how many months yet, but I'll let you know next week when I finish the pattern planning.

Because the original two blocks will now be a part of this quilt I am going to re-stitch mine in fabrics, threads and colours that I want to use in such a quilt. In the first versions of my Shabby Roses blocks I used silk threads (which are so elegant!) but I don't think they are best for a quilt that will be used and washed (as all our quilts are), so I'm going to use DMC threads this time.

For my fabric choice I will be using more of the Michael Miller "Crystal" as the background for the embroideries, and for the applique and other areas where I'll need fabric I will use fabrics from the "Flirt" range by Robyn Pandolph. I've long loved this range and now I can use it for something big.

I used one of the "Flirt" fabrics to re-cover the cushion in this bedroom chair (Blossom painted it white for me) so a quilt to match will be wonderful!


The quilt will be a lap size, but there will be a few smaller embroideries repeated through the quilt, as well as pieced blocks, that you could use again in more rows or borders if you're after a bed sized quilt. Really, you should be able to tweak it to suit your own needs.

Are you excited? I am nervous!

Have a lovely weekend,
Jenny

Wonky Houses Block 3!

It's April 9th here in South Western Australia, and I think the last of summer's intense heat has finally subsided. We've had some lovely Autumn days recently, and the nights are cool enough to sleep under a soft, fluffy doona at last.
What I like about the impending winter season is being able to quilt once more...in summer it's just too hot to hand quilt, but winter? Bring it on!
Over the next month I'll be assembling all 4 Wonky Houses blocks into a cute, but wonky, wallhanging - then quilting it before unveiling it to my fellow Wonky Housers with the final 4th block on May 9th. :-)
I just hope me hand improves as it's sure been hurting these last few days.

Here is your 3rd Wonky Houses block! I hope you like it. :-)



To upload the pattern go HERE.

Have a blessed Easter dear friends!
Jenny

It's ready! WONKY HOUSES Block 2!

You've all been so patient waiting for Block 2, and here it is!

You can download it here and you shouldn't have any problems this time round. :-) I think I've worked out Scribd at last!

As an addition, I was inspired by the way other crafters have been adding their own style to Block 1, so I decided to make an alternate colour-way with block 2 for my own enjoyment....actually I made both and then chose the block above as THE one for the pattern! Hope you like it.

If you do something different please email me a pic...I love to see other's interpretations of any patterns.


I'll share the layout for the finished hanging with Block 3 on April 9th.
Happy sewing,
Jenny

More Wonky Houses

Sheila's son has been fighting the fires here in Australia. It seems that everyone in OZ has in some way made a personal connection to this disaster, but we are so grateful for those volunteers and firefighters who have manned the front-lines at personal risk to bring these fires under control. Thankyou Richard.

This is Sheila's first Wonky Houses block. Isn't it great?! I love how she has made it her own, adding and changing a few things to bring her own special mark to it!

I'm sooooo tempted to show you block 2....but I won't. ;-)

Hugs,
Jenny

Having trouble downloading Wonky Houses?

If you are having trouble downloading Block 1 of WONKY HOUSES perhaps you may have success with it as a Word Doc? Here is the link to download Block 1 in that format.

You may also find that you need to join Scribd before you can download.

Stitch with love,
Jenny

Making it your own...

Something I loved from the start with quilting and embroidery were the endless possibilities that could be created from one original design.
Yesterday I showed you a photo of Sabine's Wonky Houses block, how she'd added crayon colours to highlight the thread outline.
Today I want to show you Jane's block - she has chosen to use just one colour thread, a rich chocolate, and her sweet husband has already chosen the fabrics. I love what you have done, Jane!

Vickie from Humpty Doo also chose one colour and it stands out beautifully from the lovely background fabric she chose.


So far almost 500 people have downloaded the 1st Wonky Houses block - wow! I am touched that it would be so popular.
Thank you for choosing to make my first ever BOM design such fun!

Can I see a photo of your block soon?

Happy sewing,
Jenny

PS: Remember, if you have trouble downloading the pdf from Scribd just let me know and I'll email it to you.

Another WONKY HOUSE stitcher, a sneak peek, and a published letter...

Sabine, from Germany, has done beautiful work on her first Wonky House block! I love that she coloured around the stitches - it adds a new dimension.
Go have a look!

How is your block going?
Here is a sneak peak of the next block for March 9th -


Another surprise yesterday - I bought a copy of Homespun, my absolute favourite quilting and stitching magazine. I wrote in last year about a project I'd made from a previous issue and they had printed my letter and a photo of my Christmas Sack!
Blossom immediately said, "Mum, you've been published!"
Ha ha ha!!

Today Blossom and I are off to our sewing group - she to finish the trauma teddy and perhaps a stitchery, and I to sew the binding on the Noah's Ark lap quilt.

Whatever you do today, do it with a smile. You never know how that may lift a weary heart.

Hugs,
Jenny

Anett's block!

Wow! Anett wasted no time stitching the first Wonky House block!



She did such beautiful work, too!
Just click on the photo for a better look.

Happy sewing,
Jenny

WONKY HOUSES - free BOM

My grandfather called anything 'off centre' wonky, so you can thank him for the inspiration I found to create WONKY HOUSES, my mini Block of the Month wall-hanging, a gift to you.

This BOM will run for 4 months, something short and sweet, but wonky. A new block will be uploaded on the 9th of each month.


The first Wonky House pdf can be downloaded here.

If you have a problem downloading the pdf file please email me and I'll email the file to you as a Word doc.

Please let me know when you've completed yours so I can link to you in a sidebar, that way everyone can have a look! Feel free to add the banner to your blog, but make sure it links back to me.

I'll share the final instructions for the wall-hanging with the 4th block in May.

Happy sewing,
Jenny

EDITED: If the link does not work for you, try this one.