Wednesday 23 April 2014

Catching up

It was a lovely three week break and although no sewing was done, I didn't completely forget about quilting.

Just a twenty minute walk from my sister's house was Material Obsession. I have long been a follower of Kathy's blog and a huge admirer of the quilting style that seems to emanate from her shop so on Day Two off I went and it didn't disappoint.


The place is a riot of bright, quirky quilts and I loved it.



Kathy has her own line of fabric out (as well as another book 'Adding Layers').



And is not averse to having her photo taken.




The whole shop is brimming with creativity. I came away with the bits and bobs to make a felt cushion and have slowly been plugging away at it. I put a photo on Instagram (@littleislandquilting) if you want to see the progress I have made.

I also bought some of her first fabric line, including the large scale bird print above.


Kathy only has distribution for it in Oz at the moment but said she was speaking to a European distributor so hopefully it will become more widely available which would be great as I think the designs are a bit different to what is out there at the moment.

And if you do make it to the shop, just a five minute walk away is a Spotlight where I stocked up on some Juliana Horner fabrics.



And these, just because I liked the simplicity of them.


Oh and I may have squeezed in a trip to Ikea too which had the best restaurant views - of the planes landing and taking off at the airport.


And then in between this...


...this...


...this...


...this...


...and this...


...we came across a town called Berry and there was a quilt shop there too. Each to his own but for me it was chocked full to the gunnels with Moda pre-cuts and I think I'd been spoilt by the creativity at Material Obsession to really fall in love with it.

Things I loved about Oz:


  • Tim Tams - all varieties
  • Material Obsession
  • Double 'de-merit' points on your driving licence over the Easter Period for traffic offences such as drink driving. What a brilliant idea
  • Tim Tams
  • Any shop that claimed to sell 'Australia's best pie, 'patisserie of the year' etc. We just had to call in and try
  • Spotlight
  • Tim Tams
Things I didn't like
  • the price of fabric. I knew it was expensive in the UK but in some cases it was even more expensive and it really does make you think twice before buying. Does Tony Abbott know?
  • just how far away it is...it took us four flights to get there and another four to get back
  • the service in Spotlight. Unlike a quilt shop where (I think) the staff have a genuine passion for what they do, I think in Spotlight it's just a job. As much as I enjoyed listening to Julie telling her colleague she wanted to go home, it would have been nice if Julie had served me or indeed any one of the other cheesed off customers waiting in line before she decided to go home and leave the fabric cutting desk unmanned
And then when we got back home there was quite literally a mountain of quilt blocks awaiting. Since picking up packages from the post office today, I now have over 300 QAYG blocks ready and waiting. 
Another delivery of quilts went last week to the home in Mexico City so I need to get cracking on these.

Thanks for continuing to send them to me - it is much appreciated.


Give me a week and hopefully I'll have another Soy Amado quilt to show you :-)

32 comments:

  1. Thanks for your fun update Alison. And thanks for subtlely letting me know my box had arrived. One of my ugliest blocks, an orphan from my first quilt class (sampler - ick) is on the very top. Good to know they got there.
    Loved hearing about your trip and so glad you got to go to Material Obsession and to meet Kathy. I've done neither, but that would be cool!

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  2. Great fabric finds too. Love the tiny HST print and the Ikea prints too. That Nummer fabric is one of my faves but I live no where near a store, but just placed an order and have some coming to me.

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  3. I'm in Oz, and bought some of those HST prints at Spotlight. Although I dread going in there- the staff lack any interest in their job as you say, and I'm in Melbourne! Must be a job requirement when applying! And yes, the price of fabric here is extortion!

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  4. Wow. What a fun trip you had. Thanks for sharing some pictures as I don't know that I will ever make it there. Can't wait to see how your Soy Amado quilts shape up.

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  5. Haha! Sounds like you had a very true Aussie experience!! Yep, Spotlight has a lot of good product, not so much staff...

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  6. You can see why I order most my fabric from the US - even after shipping costs it's still much cheaper - plus we only have one very small fabric/quilt shop in our country town. The internet and international post is a huge bonus! Tim Tams - they are quite a favourite i our family too!

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  7. looks like you had a wonderful time in Aus. So fabric is even pricier than here in the UK wow that takes some beating! When I was last over in 2001 found it cheaper. Interested in the above comment as I have been told that if we order from USA the import duty is very high unless the order is lees than £15 so have resisted so far

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  8. That is an enormous pile of blocks! How wonderful!
    Thank you for sharing all of the other pictures: fabulous fabric and serene scenery.... Fantastic vacation!!!
    By the way, my quilt has arrived at the address in the Netherlands. I received a touching card back! So thankful that I could help out!
    Esther
    esthersipatchandquilt at yahoo com
    ipatchandquilt dot wordpress dot com

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  9. I was in Aus too but I didn't see Material Obsession. Too bad - it looks like a wonderful store. And I loved the signs that said "today targeting...." One day I saw one that said "Canadians". Ha ha.

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  10. I was in Sydney 2yrs ago but didn't know about MO, however I have recently bought Kathy's new book and love it. Enjoyed your travel report but have to ask, did you not try Tim Tams when you were Down Under??

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  11. Bloody hell! What a pile of blocks! Well done Liz and everyone else who has sent them. Looks like you had a great time and I'm looking forward to seeing you make a dent in your huge piles :)

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    1. Thanks, Jo Jo! What a brilliant idea Alison had. I love that she didn't stop at the idea, she made it happen and invited us along for the ride! And I love the blocks you made for her, especially the jumbo donkey block! Fabulous!

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  12. Tim tams - probably what we miss most about Australia! Loving all the blocks - you have quite a task before you :-)

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  13. I would be insanely jealous were it not for the fact that you completely deserved everything you experienced. Actually I'm still ridiculously jealous :-)

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  14. So I should include a packet of tim tams when I send you my soy amado blocks?

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  15. Wat an awesome trip you had and it must have been a thrill to meet Katy Doughty at Material Obsession!
    We pay even more for quilt fabrics here than the Australians do :-(

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  16. I'm glad you liked Australia. My grandparents came from Berry, and moved a little way up the coast in the 1920s, to where my mother still lives in their house, which is in your beach picture ... that was a nice surprise. Jill in Sydney

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    1. Another example of what a small, interconnected world it really is. Cool!

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  17. Glad you enjoyed your trip to Australia :) I buy most of my fabrics online and fill up the package and it's way cheaper than our Australian prices but I too did buy those same fabrics from spotlight in just about every colour way!. The staff at my local store are nice to me as I am a bit of a fabric junkie and call in every week so they know me. Fantastic job you are doing on those quilts for Mexico! You can have my Tim Tams I must be the only person doesn't like them!

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  18. Looks like a wonderful trip and M.O. looks as fabulous as I thought it would!! Have fun with all those QAYG blocks - I'm holding off posting mine in case any people from my friend's studio make any. I don't think they will but I'm going to give it another couple of weeks...

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  19. So glad you had fun here in Oz. I have my own mini mountain of blocks waiting to wing their way to you, so if you could send me your address that would be great.

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    1. That's awesome Jo! I would love it if you and the others who have made blocks for Soy Amado would upload them to Alison's Soy Amado Flickr page. It would be fun to see them up close before we see them sewn into quilts. I had set up a Flickr account a very long time and never used it. It was pretty straightforward once I set my mind to it.

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  20. Looks like a wonderful trip, I don't envy all of those flights though!

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  21. Sounds like a fab trip! And, goodness me, that's a LOT of blocks!

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  22. Oh my goodness Alison what a wonderful trip you had!! I'm desperate to go to Oz, I have a friend there, it all looks wonderful. And you went to the MO shop, wow, wow wow!! It looks amazing! And what a wonderful pile of quilt blocks you came back to, now you really will need me to come and help you!!

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  23. I had to look up "tim tams" as you used it so much,lol. I remember those :) Nice pics and whoe what a pile of blocks! Have fun!

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  24. Looks like a fab trip. Love that over sized bird print. Hope it comes out over here.

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  25. Oh my 300? Just as well you had a break - you will need lots of energy to get on top of this lot! Great photos of Oz!

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  26. Fabulous photos. Visiting Material Onsession is on my bucket list too. Love Kathy's style and energy and her shop always looks amazing in photos. You have just confirmed all of that. And yes, fabric is VERY expensive on Australia ( books and greetings cards too!). Same in New Zealand where we live part of the year. I visit a Spotlight store on NZ and you always have to wait to get served but sometimes there are bargains to be had. What exciting mail to come home to, all those luscious blocks! More interesting than bills and junk mail! Enjoy playing with the blocks and creating new quilts. Your style of putting colours together matches Kathy's style very well.

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  27. Sounds like quite the adventure! Pretty much the opposite end of the earth for you. Didn't realize you have a sister there! Welcome home and get sewing- the Canadian Contingent will be forwarding their

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