Carnival Challenge Finished! - and with time to spare!

Yes it's true!  I have finished a challenge quilt with time to spare!

This is a challenge from the art quilters around the world group and the theme for Feb/March was "Carnival"

This quilt had been up on my design wall half finished for a couple of weeks and I just wasn't getting anywhere.  On Friday a group of my quilting friends from ANZA Quilters got together to do some sewing and their advice (kick up the butt)  was great and enabled me to finally finish the piece - and with time to spare.

"Carnival 2013"

Quilting detail

quilting detail

I know that some people are well organised and plan everything months in advance and that works well for them -  but when it comes to quilting, pressure and deadlines work wonders for me!

These pieces are quite manageable at A4 size and there is a new challenge every two months.  The next challenge for April/May is "Out of Asia"  Hmm think I will have plenty of inspiration living in Singapore!

Don't forget to have a look at all the fabrics at my online store!

Happy Quilting!

Basting disaster!

Yesterday I spent the day working on my quilt.  I had been to Spotlight last Friday and bought a can of basting spray.

I have used basting spray for many years and think it is a great product - JUST NOT THIS ONE!

Lots of smell and mess and not a lot of sticking!

This will have to go in the "rubbish" pile right next to the birch sewing machine needles!  Lesson learnt!

But there is an up side - I put the quilt on the table, aircon on full blast and basted by hand.  Much better!

Then up to the sewing room and started machine quilting:

Sneak preview

I felt GREAT at the end of the day with how much I had done!

Today is a "rest" day e.g ibuprofen and tiger balm.  Oh the things we endure for the love of quilting!

And.....this morning I woke up to a message that I had sold more of my yummy ice dyes online.

Yeah!

Jokamamo Textiles

Happy Quilting!

And the winners are........

Thank you to all who participated in the Blog Hop and left comments on my blog.  It was great to meet you all and see what you are all doing in the Quilting World!  Thank you for all the encouraging comments about my hand dyed fabrics!

A HUGE BIG THANK YOU to The Quilting Gallery for organising this Blog Hop.  This is the first time I have participated and I had a blast!

The "officials" overseeing the drawing of two names

But..... there can only be one  two winners and they are........(drum roll)

Vicki H (posted 10-3)

and 

The Quilted Dog (posted 13-3)

Congratulations to you both!

I will send you an email letting you know that you have won.  If you can please email me your postal address and I will get these ice dyes in the mail  first thing on Monday morning!

Jokamamo Textiles - Hand-dyed and Unique fabrics

My shop is still open, so come and check out the fabrics!

Happy Quilting!

Marianne

Blog Hop Party!

This week I am participating in the "Beat the Winter Blues - Quilters Blog Hop Party!"

I will be giving away, to two lucky winners, two metric fat quarters of beautiful ice dyed fabric (one of each colour):

Turquoise, Cobalt and Cerulean Blue

Red, Yellow and Orange

These are great fabrics to use in applique or as backgrounds.  They will brighten up any quilting project!

To enter, all you have to do is check out my new website and leave a comment on my blog.

Jokamamo Textiles

This will be open until next Friday - March 14th and the two lucky winners will be notified via email.

Don't Forget to check out all the other great offers in the Blog Hop too!

http://quiltinggallery.com/quilters-fun/quilters-blog-hop-party/

Happy Hopping!

My busy Dyeing day! Batik

Today I have a really busy day - dyeing 25+ metres of fabric.

I started with 12 meter lengths in Light Muted Colours

Then 12 meter lengths in Clear bright colours

Then,  it was time to play!  I had been thinking about doing some batik for a while and yesterday I borrowed a large crock pot full of wax from the school art teacher.

With my very hi tech "stamps"

First I used some fabrics that I had marbled a while back and wasn't sure what to do with them. I stamped them with my really hi tech stamps e.g a potatoe and a carrot!

Marbled fabric

Green fabric stamped with potatoes and carrots

The marbled fabric I put into a red dye bath and the green fabric in a dye bath of red and blue.  These are batching and I will wash these out tomorrow.  Can't wait to see how these turn out!

I will have to make some more ice dyes and tie dyes as well as these are selling like hotcakes!

www.jokamamotextiles.com

Happy Quilting!

Humming along!

This post is just to prove that I have actually been productive over the last couple of days. Friday afternoon I spent with my friends Jesse and Kate and worked on my quilt.

  I did have great intentions of doing lots today but for some reason I am feeling really sleepy and can't manage to get going. O well....Maybe tomorrow!

If you haven't done so already you can check out my new website:

www.jokamamotextiles.com

Happy Quilting!