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  • Confidence

    Happy Wednesday StitchyMites, wherever you are! I often wonder where you are all when you read your weekly burble from me. Do you sit in a comfy chair with a cup of tea, and take a moment for yourself? Do you read it on your phone, while you’re waiting to pick the kids up from soccer? Or on your work computer? On your iPad, sitting up in bed with your glasses on the end of your nose? Pop where you are in the comments, I’d love to know! Yesterday I taught a lovely class in Mittagong, which is about 2 hours from home, for the Southern Highland Quilters. The Southern Highlands is an area of NSW around 80 mins from the city centre. I actually spent a lot of my childhood there, so I know it very well. It’s a beautiful place that reminds me a lot of England - lots of rolling hills and farmland, horses and cows. Except that the hills are more often brown than lush green, and dotted with gum trees :) There are some cute little towns but Bowral is the main one - when I was a kid it was a country town but these days it’s full of swish shops, antiquing and fantastic cafes. If you’re ever looking for somewhere to visit from Sydney (or Canberra!), its a great option. The class yesterday was in my Tiny Town quilt - if you’ve been a StitchyMite since day one, then you know it well! There were quite a few very new quilters in the group so it was a good solid project for them - easy EPP, nice sharp returned appliqué edges (due to the EPP houses and my Perfect Circles technique!), and we all learned how hide our stitches and glue the papers in. In every class I teach, there is always (ALWAYS, without fail), at least one person who says to me, “I’m not good with colour” and yesterday was no exception! I used to always be quite stumped on what to say when someone said that, because it really isn’t true. These days I just say so! It’s NOT true. Everyone is “good with colour” - but not everyone has colour CONFIDENCE and that is a very different thing. Yes, some people have a talent with colours and shade, I flatter myself that its one of my talents. I haven’t ever had hesitation in that department. But I do think that a lot of people have decided that they aren’t any good (or worse, been told that they aren’t), and that holds them back with being decisive about what they like. In the end really, thats what being “good with colour” is all about - knowing what you like, what gives you pleasure to look at - and then not being afraid to implement it. I said in my design posts a few weeks back that I didn’t know how to lecture about using colours, and I don’t really, mainly because I think things like colour wheels and formulas are a load of tripe. But yesterday’s conversation and today’s musings for this post have made me think that perhaps there’s a way to help people unlock their indecision that isn’t some kind of hard and fast RULE. Shall I set you some homework in the coming weeks? It won’t start until probably mid-April, because I have to get through Tula’s visit (she will be here next week! Woot woot!), and when she leaves I have to have some surgery that has a bit of a recovery period. After that though - maybe some colour exercises, some little ways to play with colour and see if you enjoy the ride. What do you think? In the meantime, if seeing Tiny Town again has made you long to make rows and rows of little housies and trees, here is a discount code for 10% off the printed pattern and templates, valid until next Tuesday, March 19 at 5pm Sydney time - just enter TINYTOWN at checkout. Happy sewing peeps Sarah xx

  • Rushing Past

    Oh my goodness StitchyMites I nearly forgot you this week!! Things have been a little bananas  - well a whole bunch of bananas actually! I will get there in the end but at the moment I feel like every time I pick up one thing there’s something else demanding to be done immediately. Its tricky because its still the time of year that all I really want to do is read a book and swim, and say goodbye to the last dregs of summer before winter starts. As we discussed last week I have very little mojo for The Things That Need to Be Done, however I am pushing through and its getting there. Onwards! There was no time for sewing owls this week, despite that fact that we had another Tawny sighting from our balcony. These little guys are usually very difficult to spot and also not seen usually during the day. We have lived here over four years and I’ve never seen one (although I hear them all the time at night), and then we’ve had two in two weeks! I know this was a different bird because he’s much, much smaller than the Big Boy feasting on half the turkey last week. The owls are certainly out and about at the moment… I wonder if its a change of season thing? One of The Things on the Long List is the retreat I’m organising in August. I want to open the bookings asap so that people can plan, but theres a few things I needed to get in place first. One was the speaker for the Friday night event - there will be classes on Friday, then a Friday night drink and speaker, then classes on Saturday. I’m thinking of putting a welcome thing on Thursday night too, but I need to find out how many people would want that first. I don’t know how many people are coming from Sydney, and how many from away… having never done this on my own before (I planned and organised the Material Obsession retreats for years, and I’ve obviously taught at a slew of different events all over the place) I need a little more info. Anyway, I have finally locked in the speaker, and I really excited about it - you can all have the scoop because I haven’t told anyone yet. Annette Gero is going to come and talk to us about her antique quilt collection, and bring some quilts to show. If you don’t know about Annette, she is not a quilter but rather a quilt historian. She has the most incredible collection of old quilts, ranging from early Australian quilts to military quilts made by men from their wool uniforms during the war. She has written three excellent books, one about Australian quilts and two about wartime quilts, that are some of the favourite books in my collection. They can be hard to find but if you google around a bit they’re available, although the Australian quilts ones you will probably only find second hand. Historic Australian Quilts The Fabric of Society - Australia’s Quilt Heritage Quilts: The Fabric of War - https://www.candobooks.com.au/product/14693-quilts-the-fabric-of-war-1760-1900 Wartime Quilts - https://shop.nationaltrust.org.au/products/wartime-quilts-dr-annette-gero She actually has a large exhibition in Adelaide at the moment of her military quilts and the associated research, that I’m hoping to get down to - they have never been shown before. You can find the info here, and also a great audio clip to hear Annette talking about some of the quilts in the exhibition. https://www.rochefoundation.com.au/exhibitions/war-and-pieced-the-annette-gero-collection-of-quilts-and-military-fabrics/ She is an incredibly knowledgable and interesting speaker, and also just a really nice person. I’m so excited she is coming to speak for us! A ticket for the lecture will be included in the class price of the retreat, but tickets will also be available to anyone who wants to come and hear Annette, and not do classes. I’m also getting the projects finished up so that I can reveal what we will be making each day. I can’t show you too much, but here’s a little sneak peek of the Day 2 project…. It’s a hand pieced sewing caddy, to sit next to where you like to stitch at home. The coffee table, or your special chair. It’s called Tidy Town, which is a play on my Tiny Town quilt as it uses the same shaped pieced (but not the same template set as the card etc is way too flimsy). The set will include this little felt birdie pincushion friend (he has a weighted bottom so that he stands nice and straight and doesn’t topple over) and something to pop your scissors into (still planning that bit!) and a tiny little rose that holds your thimble which is in pieces at present. What do you think? I’m pretty happy with it so far. The other project is a drawstring rice bag thats for carrying your hand project around. It will fit your sewing bits and bobs  - it actually fits the Liberty cubes right in the bottom, with pockets for your scissors and things around the sides - but would also easily hold knitting etc if that was your game. Each side is appliquéd and embroidered, and theres a needle book and scissor keep in the set as well. I can’t show you those yet, stay tuned. OK peeps I hope you have a fab week and I promise not to forget about you next Wednesday! I’m off to teach for the Southern Highland Quilters next Tuesday so I will give you class news too, which is always fun. Happy sewing! Sarah x

  • The Rapid Passage of Time

    How is is the last day of February today?? I saw a meme on Instagram yesterday that spoke of the 31years of January, and then the 29 hours of February. It’s so true. January stretches out before us endlessly… the weeks of post holiday stupor and summer or winter excuses for eating treats and reading books. Especially here in Australia, where January is so often about long days at the beach, muggy days and summer torpor. And then February everyone is back at school, and at work, and suddenly its gone in the blink of an eye and the summer is done. I know that overseas lots of you will be thrilled to the thought of Spring springing, the snow melting and warmer days approaching. Here I’m thrilling to the end of one of the most humid summers I an remember, and looking forward to the idea that I might not sweat all day and that the cupboards might stop growing mushrooms. Unfortunately though, February was supposed to mean I had finished a lot of the things on the pesky three page to-do list I mentioned last week. Whilst I can report the satisfying tick off of a few bits and pieces, the majority of the list remains stubbornly un-done. I have a real lack of mojo about it that will very soon start causing the kind of panicky midnight sewing that I dread around Market. Note that there are no Market deadlines to blame here, just lack of motivation and procrastination. I’ve done plenty of sewing mind you. It’s just that none of it was for work. With that in mind, here is the latest progress on my Tawny. Is this a work project? Well….. as I plan to enter it in shows, maybe? OK thats stretching the friendship with work somewhat. I have used the excuse that I needed to keep you guys up to date with his progress, so I gave myself an hour or two to play with the first bit of piecing. I’m using freezer paper to make the templates. For something this complex, the piecing needs to be accurate to a point… I say to a point because some of this I plan to applique. I am going to hand stitch everything though, partly for accuracy and partly for convenience and partly for satisfaction. Having made the full sized owl I showed you last week, I’m now using it to make the template sections from freezer paper. Each small section will be transferred, reversed, to freezer paper, then  cut apart, fused to fabric, cut out with a seam allowance and stitched back together. It might sound laborious, but I made this section of owl in around two hours. And he isn’t that large. Unlike my friend here…. A real live Tawny! Damian and I were playing cards on the balcony with a glass of wine on Sunday afternoon when Damo spotted him, sitting in the trees below (we are on a very steep hillside), munching on half a bush turkey for his supper. He is a HUGE bird, he’s obviously very healthy and well fed. It was lovely to see him there, when his fabric companion was sitting on the table inside, just on the other side of the window. Happy Stitching peeps, I hope your Wednesday is grand Sarah xx

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Other Pages (18)

  • Sarah Fielke | quilting patterns

    STOP, THIEF! BOM Now Open Join Now The woods are lovely, dark and deep. Many stitches before we sleep. BIG WOODS BOM Learn the fine art of hand appliqué from the extraordinary quilter, teacher, designer, and author Sarah Fielke as you stitch along with Tula Pink. Learn more and register Sew Surfside Retreat Date - August 23 and 24, 2024 Location - Recreation Centre Annex, Avalon Beach, NSW, Australia Learn More Here Where to Quilt Gallery Quilt Eye Candy Inspiring Customer Quilts To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key. Customer Award Winning Quilts To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

  • Sew Surfside Retreat | Sarah Fielke

    Sew Surfside Retreat A few weeks ago I posted some exciting news on social medias I’m planning a little sewing retreat! Lots of you who saw the posts have been asking for more details - thank you!! I’m just sorting out a few last details before I can release all the info. In the next few weeks, I will post all the information, the projects, and the costs, and a few days after that open the classes for bookings. For now, I can tell you: Sew Surfside Retreat Date - August 23 and 24, 2024 Location - Avalon Beach NSW, Recreation Centre Annex Classes - 30 people in each class. There will be a full day class, 10am - 4pm, for a small project (not a quilt) on each of the two days, with an hour break for lunch. A different project will be taught on each day- these are brand new designs and not seen or taught anywhere before. Both classes designed and taught by me (and they’re so so cute! I can’t wait to show you 😍) Lecture - there will be a lecture on the Friday night, 6pm, in the same location. The lecture will be open to booking for anyone, not only those taking the day classes. Ticket price will include a drink and snacks. Speaker to be confirmed. Shopping - there will be a shop of all my books, patterns, threads etc. and I also have @tamborinetotilba coming with their shop! Inclusions - the price will include the class fee, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea, goodie bag, and a kit for class including the pattern and templates/hardware/stabilizers etc for the project. Payment - Th ere will be an option to include fabric in your kit. If you book both days and the lecture, there will be a discount. There will be an option to pay in installments. Not included (but we will give suggestions) - accommodation, breakfast, dinner. Optional - airport transfers, transfer from accommodation (only in local) to Rec Centre and back after class. Fee to be worked out once we see how many people need it! If you have other questions (that aren’t related to the price or seeing the projects) please ask by return email. I hope to see lots of you there! 😊 🪡 🏄‍♀️ Register for more information First name Last name Email Message Submit

  • Cookie Policy | Sarah Fielke

    Cookie Policy Document last updated 4 November 2023 This policy applies to www.sarahfielke.com and any subdomains. ​ Third-Party Website Tools and Cookies 1. We use technologies and third-party services that use Google Analytics, pixels, tags and web beacons (code snippets) on our Website to improve user experience, the supply of our products and services and to analyse how our Website is used. 2. The information collected is mostly anonymous traffic data aside from the approximate location (IP address) and may include browser type, device information, and language. The information collection is in aggregate form so that it cannot identify any individual user and provides an overview of how people use our Website. It is not used for any additional purpose. 3. We may use cookies on our Website. Cookies are very small files which a Website uses to identify you when you come back to the Website and to store details about your use of the Website. In addition, cookies may be used to serve relevant ads to Website visitors through third party services such as Google AdWords.

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