Welcome to Shiralee Stitches. I live on a cattle farm in Australia with my family.
I am passionate about all things fabric so much so I started my own online and mobile store. Link is on the sidebar to my store. I teach patchwork classes and take my shop to quilting and patchwork groups and also attend various craft markets.
I love English Paper Piecing, applique, machine quilting, working with woven wools. I have started making my own designs which I love.

Monday 22 August 2011

A start on Paper Piecing......

You may remember that I kind-of brought home everything (and I mean everything!! lol), that a girl needs to start some English paper piecing when I was at the craft fair in Sydney in June...

Well I had purchased a pattern, and decided recently to embark into these unknown waters.
As the hexxie bug hit the sewing world, everyone warned me I'd get hooked, and I have only one thing to say to all those well-meaning ladies..."you jinxed me" !!!!....'cause I am DEFINITELY hooked, but not on hexagons....I'm hooked on thimbles, and here's the proof......


....aren't they sweet????.....
.........I just so love fabric, and this is really a lovely relaxing way to play with fabric yumminess........
I'll show you what these circles will become in a little while, although anyone into paper piecing will already have guessed I'm sure!!!

Well all new projects need a way to transport and store them, so I had a play with some lovely linen-like fabrics I picked up in Sydney, and created a project bag from Anni's newest book, Some Kind of Wonderful.


........and then I quickly filled it with all the paper piecing necessities...........



.........Just perfect.......


I hope you have all been busy with your crafty projects.........

Saturday 13 August 2011

Sewing Room Makeover

I am so very blessed this last week to have had a few lovely cupboards fitted in my sewing room (also used for scrapbooking, and the household office).
...........Here are the before and after piccies....
..............................BEFORE...................................



How messy is that! Really just a mish-mash of whatever furniture was left over from the rest of the house.....
...............................NOW...............Ta-Da..................... THE AFTER...............................

....................and after a little bit of 'playing' the insides of the cupboards look like THIS....................


.............well for a day or so, until I actually use them!!!!! Ha Ha................

Now I have a place for all my 'stuff' and it is a real dream..........and I have plenty of workable workspace too. I will have my sewing machine on a table on the other side of the room.......I'l have piccies of that when I finally get around to making some sense out or the sheer mess on the other side of the room!!!!
So I have been a busy girl, emptying out the room in readiness for the kitchen man. Now I still have stuff in piles around the house that I don't want to clutter my new room with!!!! Aarghh....there's always too much gear when you're a hoarder like me!!!!   So, I now need to sort out other cupboards in the house to fit the overflow.....it's like the domino effect; one job leads to another......so I'd better keep moving on it, so I can find the time to use my new room for some creativity.......

Oh, and I think I need some curtains and pretty things around, so that's a new project to add to the list...
I hope you're having a lovely weekend........