Marg Low Designs

Believe!

It's always so good once a pattern is finished and ready for release. It feels like the end of a school term.

The pattern Believe! is AUD$10.00 plus P&H. Please contact me for your nearest stockist or to purchase it directly.

This week I've been working on another Christmas project. Yes, you'd think at some point I would be all Christmassed out!

A glimpse of the new project.

And again, but this time with one of Barb's Santa tags.

The pattern will be available towards the end of September.

a birthday gift

How lucky am I! Sue made me this lovely coat hanger for my birthday. This is the exact fabric combination I would have chosen for myself. Love the little row of buttons Sue has added. Now I won't be using it immediately as it's much too pretty to hide away.

A birthday gift

This past month has been all about birthdays. The last one is this coming Saturday for a non-sewing friend who truly appreciates all things hand-made. I'd been thinking about what to make and even considered creating something new until I sat next to Sue at quilting last Saturday.

Sue did the Dressy Hangers class with me at Avonleigh. Sue always makes multiples for her daughters; a tradition she may wish she never started. 

Seeing Sue's, was like having a light switch on inside my head. Guess you can work out what I've been making!

  Both Sue and Rhonda used fabrics from the Robyn Pandolph Flirt range to make their hangers in class. They looked so gorgeous I wanted to go home and try the fabrics myself.

Realising there were other priorities, I put the urge on hold. But now with a birthday present to make I  had  the perfect opportunity to indulge this whim.

And here they are finished, with two days to spare! How good does that feel, not to be still sewing five minutes before the party.

Personally I think they look to beautiful to hide away in the wardrobe. My favourite is the white one. Which is yours?

Thank you for your birthday wishes.

a birthday

 It was my turn for a birthday on Friday.

All birthdays should be celebrated but this year mine was one of those special ones ending in a zero. 

And to help me celebrate half a century the Friday Girls gave me this beautiful book by Annette Gero on Australia's Quilt Heritage.

As soon as I opened the present, and I glimpsed the quilt on the cover I knew it was going to be a book to treasure.

  But how truly special to find it signed by Annette herself.

Home-made preserves, a large box of Maltesers (I didn't know you could fit so many in one box) and a scrumptious lunch with birthday cake capped off a wonderful day.

Thank you!

back on track

This week I got back into the swing of things and started playing around with needle, thread and my favourite coloured fabrics. A good thing really as Jenny (The Stitchery) has asked me to design a project for her retreat on 17 & 18 October. As you can see it's not finished, and could quite easily be changed. I keep changing my mind; I just need to make a decision and stick to it. 

And I've almost finalised this new Christmas pattern. I'm sure the girls I meet at The Patchwork Apple will be happy to hear this. They've already placed their orders!

birthdays & making a start

There is a drawback to being the last Friday Girl to receive a birthday gift from me this year. You already know what you're going to get. It was OK for Jan and Michelle, they opened theirs together back in March. But once Helen received hers in May it was fairly obvious to both Nicole and Sue-Anne what I would be making for them.

I did have some reservations about going down this path, as it does take away the element of surprise; part of the joy of opening a gift. However Sue-Anne was very excited when she saw Nicole's a couple of weeks ago. So much so we joked about wrapping something entirely different! So nice to know the gift will be appreciated in advance!

I've suddenly realised by the end of next week we will be half way through August and with a number of deadlines looming for the end of the month I really need to make a start. There are so many ideas floating around inside my head it can be difficult to zero in on one. Once I get started it all becomes clearer, but the problem is starting.

Here's a peek of what I've started. Yes it does involve one of Barb's gorgeous new buttons that arrived in the mail last week.

Simple Pleasures pattern pack

As you know I am (just a tad) addicted to Barb's buttons. Gorgeous and oh so simple to use.

Perhaps you've had trouble sourcing the pattern and buttons or weren't sure how to go about it.

To make it easy for you I've put together a couple of pattern packs. Retailing for AUD$27.50 (plus P&H) the pack includes the pattern 'Simple Pleasures', 1 oval and 2 round tags.

There is a Christmas and Everyday pack.  Tags and colours may vary.

The everday pack is suitable for well, 'everyday'. I love decorations that can be made all year round for any occassion.

To make a purchase simply email me your order and you will receive a Paypal payment request. Once paid, the goods will be in the mail within a couple of days.

Overseas orders are welcome.

announcing the winners

And the winners of the Christmas pattern giveaway are:

Beverly (posted July 26 at 12.11 pm) - Simple Pleasures

Sue (posted July 25 at 5.03pm) - Stitched Blessings

Julz at Simple Stitches - Tree of Love

Lee-Ann (posted July 25 at 3.16pm) - Tied with Love

Congratulations! Please email me your addresses and I'll pop the patterns in the post.

Very little sewing has been happening at my place these past two weeks. Hopefully I'll find the time to rectify this later today.

This was a must do - Nicole's birthday present. Can you guess what her favourite colour is?

I've had lots of fun making the needle & thread roll for the Friday Girl's birthdays. You might think I would be over it by now, but no I'm still enjoying playing with the different fabric and colour combinations.

This is Michelle's hexagon quilt. Machine pieced using fabrics from Patchwork on Stonleighs fabric club.

This is what I plan to do this afternoon, make myself a hexagon quilt. First I have to decide what size to make the hexagons and quilt (only an afternoon - perhaps I'd better aim for a tablerunner or cushion), then which fabrics to use. Will I make it scrappy out of my fabric club fabrics or maybe red and white?? I just know I need to make a decision quickly, otherwise the afternoon will be gone and I'll have nothing to show for it.