Friendly Friday- Marg from Sunshine? Paradise?
"I'm late, I'm late for a very important date!!!".
I feel like The White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland this week, running around looking at my watch.
Well, better late than never , so here we are with Friendly Friday!!! Yay!!
This week our quilter extraordinaire ( and crochet carrot creator) is a fellow Aussie, Marg from Sunshine?Paradise?. Her blog is a real journey of sewing exploits, she tells it as it is with progess peeks, mistakes and successes. Marg has some very cute fur babies who get up to funny things, and she makes us jealous with her photos of sunshine because she lives in paradise.
I live in Queensland Australia. I moved here 13 years ago. I'm originally from Melbourne and I've been lucky enough to live in lots of beautiful places, including New Zealand and Singapore. I learnt to sew at school, and quite often sewed my own clothes. Living In NZ I found it cheaper to make my clothes than to buy them. When I lived in Singapore I bought my first really good sewing machine, an electronic Pfaff and I learnt how to draft clothing patterns, which was very helpful for when I was living in NZ.
How long have you been quilting?I started quilting about 10 years ago. My daughter went to school across the road from a quilting shop owned by Lynette Anderson. I loved her whimsical patterns and the girls that worked there were so helpful in getting me started. It was hard to find nice modern fabric back then and after making a couple of quilts I decided quilting wasn't really my thing.
What enticed you to start quilting?
I was drawn back into quilting in 2010 after finding lots and lots of fabulous blogs that offered simple and very helpful tutorials. I loved seeing all the amazing fabrics that were now available, and thus was born my ever expanding stash and a need to use some of it before it took over my house.
What do you love about quilting?Oh my most favourite thing of all about quilting, is the fabric. I love looking at and fondling my fabric. I love the process of choosing which fabrics to use in a project. I could do that all day every day.
Is there any part of the process that you don't like?Hmmm, I don't like basting, although using basting spray has made the task a little less horrible. I'm also not that great with the actual quilting part. I tend to forget about the quilting when I'm making a quilt, so when I've finished a quilt top it can take me months to decide how to quilt it.Do you have a favourite sewing saying or motto?
Measure twice, cut once.
What model sewing machine do you use?I have a Janome Horizon, and I love it. I miss the ITD on my Pfaff but the Janome is a fantastic machine.
Do you listen to music while you sew? What is your favourite type or cd?I do listen to music. I have a good selection on my iPad. Having a teenage daughter I get to listen to a lot of contemporary music. On my iPad you will find anything from LMFAO, The Black Keys, Gotye through to Jamiroquai, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Tears For Fears, Simple Minds and Michael Buble. (I'm still kind of a disco chick reliving the 80s, musically at least.) At the moment I really like listening to some of David Guetta's tracks.
What is your favourite food?Chocolate without a doubt!I'm lucky enough to live in an area that has beautiful fresh ingredients and access to lots of international ingredients too. (except for some particularly yummy stuff from the USA) I love to cook Thai, Greek or Italian. We have some great local restaurants too, so I can choose from Indian, Thai, Italian, French, Mexican or contemporary Australian. In a nutshell, I love food!
Do you have any furry friends that keep you company while you sew?
Oh yes I have three furry friends. Two cats, Bailey and Lulu and a dog, a Lhasa Apso named Karma. The cats are especially helpful at testing out the quilts while I'm trying to hand sew the binding.
Tell us about the house block you've made?I wanted to try making a paper pieced house. I spent a long time, a very long time searching for THE pattern, I finally found this one and it's by Leila at Where The Orchids Grow. I loved looking through my stash to find some fabrics that I thought would have a meaning for Rachael and would represent me too. I had too put some Sis Boom in and although I didn't have any blue daisy fabric, the fabric for the house was blue and looked like little daisies. I wanted lots of bright colour in the block and I just had to have hearts on the chimneys, a "yellow brick road" front path and a red front door. I couldn't do a house without including fussy cut prints in the windows. I was over the moon when I found the fabric in my stash that had a girl with dark hair. Rachael's having a fun time in her house, so much fun that the painting is doing a happy dance too!
Marg has very exciting news this week - she sold her house ( her real life house), Yay!! so pop over to her blog Sunshine? Paradise? to congratulate her!! Maybe when things settle down a bit she'll get on with this wonderful Starflower quilt...
Wishing everyone a super fun weekend!!!
14 Comments
Better late than never!! Marg's house block is fabulous! She must have an incredible stash! And she is a great gal too..we met up again last week!
ReplyDeleteI'm heading over to her blog now! What fun quilts....I especially love the grey and yellow one! Nice!
ReplyDeleteRD! Another adorable cottage!
ReplyDeleteI'm off to meet Marg & check out some the music she listens to!
Love Marg's house block!! It's so cute with you dancing in the window =D Oh and I love the embroidered cherries and the Christmas quilt...and the gray and yellow one too!!! Oh my!! so many lovely things to look at :)
ReplyDeleteHi Rachaeldaisy I can see you behind the window there partying! Another lovely interview...going over now!
ReplyDeleteWonderful house block. And what a wild party !
ReplyDelete'Rachaeldaisy' looks like she is having a lovely time in her house. How fantastic is that fussy cutting. I love the hearts in the chimneys and of course the spotty door. Imagine if you painted your own house door red with spots?
ReplyDeleteLove Marg, and I wish I'd been lucky enough to buy her paradise, the new owners are very lucky!
ReplyDeleteThanks Rachael for introducing us to another talented and creative friend! I love her yellow and grey quilt and the veggie quilt - ok, I love all her quilts. And what sweet cats too.
ReplyDeleteI'm off to check out her blog.
The house she made for you is absolutely wonderful.
I can't wait to see all these houses together
p.s. cute carrots! whew, what fun
Rachael,
ReplyDeleteYou are lucky to have so many wonderful quilty friends! Beautiful quilts and the block she made is yet another perfect addition to your houses.
I am going to go check out her blog right now.
You know some wonderfully creative people and Marg has a great colour sense. Another wonderful house block, I love hearing about the resons for the special touches.
ReplyDeleteMarg is an amazingly creative and talented quilter . The vegie quilt lives at my house now and I laugh every time I see it.
ReplyDeleteMarg's house is so you. The quilt will be something amazing when you get it together. Popped over to Marg's her quilts are a touch of whimsy. So nice thanks for Friday posts.
ReplyDeleteLove her quilts, and her block is perfect for you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for leaving me a comment. Your kind words encourage me to keep sharing my work and stories.