Come, frolic with me!

Have you been participating in this years Fabric Frolic? The Frolic is a fun annual shop hop... an event anticipated and enjoyed by many a passionate quilter/fabric collector/avid stitcher!
The Frolic has been running since January 17th and finishes on the 26th... so just a few days left to join in!

If you'd like to come along...
come and frolic with me tomorrow!
I'll be at The Patchwork Tea House tomorrow,
(January 24th) between 11:00 and 3:00,
demonstrating the techniques used to create the dimensional leaves and flowers, featured in my new quilt Hannah's Garden.

The same techniques can be used to embellish a FREE stitchery design, that I'll also be giving away instore!

So, if you're free this Friday... do come and say hello.
You can find The Patchwork Tea House at 3305 Warburton Highway, Warburton, Victoria.

If you're free over the weekend, why not pick up a few friends and have a weekend frolic! Stores involved are Ringwood Sewing Centre, Lilly Patches, The Patchwork Tea House, Patchwork Passion, The Quilters' Patch, Palm Beach Quilting and Textile Off Cuts. For all store details, event specifics, maps and to download a flyer, please visit the Fabric Frolic website.

Happy frolicking!

Giveaway Time & A Feast of Colour!

(Giveaway winners posted at bottom of post.)

Each year at Australian Quilt Market, I relish the opportunity to catch up with friends and to see what wonderful new delights they have for us to create with!
Meet Katie, of Cottage Garden Threads.

Cottage Garden Threads hand dye such an incredible colour pallette of variegated cotton and woolen thread, felts and trims... just to cast your eyes across the range of colour is a treat!
Looking, however, is never enough... heehee! Don't you wish you had all of these in your collection at home?

In addition to this amazing wall of colour, there are now NEW Colour Collections to enjoy.
There are 12 Colour Collection packs available. Each has 6 limited edtion skeins of variegated, stranded cotton and a gorgeous stitchery design included.

Here are some of the packs available.

Keep an eye out for the new Colour Collection packs in your local store. They are beautifully packaged sets and make a wonderful treat for yourself or gift for someone special.

Well, today there is more excitement!
Pam and Katie of Cottage Garden Threads have given me THREE variegated sets to giveaway!
Ric-rac, Wool Felt Trim and Daisy Cotton Felt, each with a coordinating skein of thread. Which would you choose?

To win one of these sets, leave me a comment regarding which one you'd like to add to your sewing box.
Three lucky winners will be randomly selected on Monday, January 27th, 9pm AEST. Good Luck!!

(Entry only available to Australian and New Zealand residents this time, sorry.)

You can find Cottage Garden Threads products in your local patchwork store.
To keep up with their latest news and view their range, visit Cottage Garden Threads on Facebook and on their blog.

For those that have signed up for the CGT Thread Collectors Club recently, I'm delighted to be designing for you mid-year. 

 Don't worry if you've missed out for the beginning of the year, as there will be another club intake in August. For more information, visit here. To find a participating store, visit here. Some stores are still finalising their numbers for this month's intake, if you get in quick!

Happy stitching,

Melissa  x

AND THE WINNERS ARE

Thank you everyone for entering my Cottage Garden Threads giveaway!

Congratulations Tracee! You've won a skein of "Flax" perle thread and a bundle of "Rainbow" Daisy Cotton Felt.

Congratulations Cate! You've won a skein of "Fushia" Perle 12 and the pink Wool Felt Trim.

Congratulations Andrea! You've won a skein of "Peacock: stranded cotton and the spool of ric-rac.

I'll email you shortly for your address. Thank you all again for entering.

Just an average Friday night... (in Venice!)

Well, here I was thinking I was in for an ordinary Friday evening in Upper Ferntree Gully... dinner and tidying done, babe settled and asleep, me on the couch playing with a spot of designing.

Well surprise! Instead I've been delighted to find myself window shopping in and around St Mark's Square, VENICE!!! (I know what you're thinking... she's entirely lost the plot now!)

To clarify... I'm living vicariously through my elder daughter these past weeks. She and a friend are travelling at the moment to celebrate the end of Year 12. They've both worked so very hard to fund this trip and I'm so proud of them for tackling such a huge adventure. (Thank goodness for Facebook and Viber! The frequent messaging has played a big part in putting this Mum's mind as ease.)

Back to my window shopping...

Lydia has sent through some truly magnificent photos, as you can imagine... museums, cathedrals, canals... but these take the cake for me!

Shops specialising in lace... and even some in handmade lace!!!!!  around St Mark's Square (apparantly there are many). Yes I'm excited.... these are exactly the kind of places I would hunt down on my travels. Lydia knows this of course.

Thank you for indulging my excitement... I wanted to share these with you tonight, as it means so much that they were shared with me.

And... now you've been window shopping in Venice too!
Wishing you a lovely weekend,