Rosalie Quinlan Designs

Dudley

I wore my "Melly and Me" hat today, and created Dudley the Dodo. Cute, ain't he?

Lovely mail!

I received the most beautiful suprise in the post today. Kim sent me this gorgeous Tilda book!

  It was such a treat... the package was full of glittery stars and a gorgeous Mary Engelbreit needle card. Just the pick-me-up I needed! Thank you so much, Kim!

Melly and I have been very busy working on our secret projects for this club. Make sure you sign up in time to receive six never-before-seen projects from Melly and myself!

I was also speaking with Kirsten from "Prints Charming" today, and am so excited to tell you that they have joined the blogosphere here! Melly and I are currently making some of our designs in their gorgeous, funky fabrics. Why don't you visit and leave them a "Welcome" comment?

On the book front, all is proceeding nicely. I have had a "sneak peek" at the work that Anthea (my graphic designer) is producing. I am very excited! I am on the homeward stretch now. I can't wait to open the first box of books... that will definitely be a champagne moment!

I hope you are all enjoying your creations.

--Rosalie xx

Nundle Fun!

Hello everyone! I have just come back from teaching in Nundle for Kerry from Cottage on the Hill. Both Leanne and myself headed off from Melbourne to Sydney last Friday morning and then from Sydney to Tamworth (on a plane that was too small for our liking - lol!). Kerry picked us up from Tamworth airport and drove us through the magnificent countryside to Nundle. Kerry put us up in a gorgeous guest house in town and spoilt us tremendously. On Saturday morning we arrived to a beautifully decorated hall and over one hundred eager sewers from all over the country.  

The day was a huge success and we feel like we have made so many new friends and also met so many of our lovely fellow bloggers (wish you could all have been there). 

Catching up with Janelle was a highlight of our weekend. Look how many scrappy cabins she has made! (more than us!)

We were lucky enough to see Janelle's brand new block of the month quilt - "Little Bluebirds".  It is gorgeous! Saturday night was a hoot as many of us shared dinner at the pub on the balcony wrapped in blankets. As the night progressed we found ourselves down in the pub where we found a juke box! Jody was Juke box queen and led us all in a crazy night of singing and playing pool. The other group in Nundle for the weekend was a biker group so I am sure you can imagine how surreal the night was with Biker men and quilt women all together singing 70's and 80's hits with the juke box! 

On Sunday morning, Jody and Donna picked us up at the guest house and drove us to Kerry's shop. It was packed to the rafters with eager ladies from the girls day out in the country. Kerry's shop is a real treat and you must visit it if you are in the area! At midday Kerry drove two contented, exhausted and totally inspired designers back to Tamworth airport, eagerly anticipating next years visit!

Enjoy your creation!

Rosalie. xx

My Super-Clean Tidy Studio!!!

Here are the promised photos of my freshly-cleaned workspace. Melly's post about her new studio inspired a cleaning frenzy of my own! I had to take photos quickly as I know I'm not good at maintaining a tidy studio for long. I tend to work in a messy whirlwind and think about cleaning later. You know...threads and scraps on the floor, templates strewn all over the place and fabric storage order decimated! It has been amazing, having my own space for the first time in my life. Many of you have asked to see my studio, so here are some shots I took this morning.

Yes, I too am a big fan of the Ikea storage!

Melly and Leanne told me I had to categorise my fabric by colour... wonder how long that'll last!

I've recently hung a few bits and pieces to make it feel more like home. Now that you've had the "virtual tour", I'm off to make a creative mess!

studio envy

Hi everyone! I'm so happy to announce that I am nearly finished writing my book! I have written 14 out of 15 projects and hope to get the last one done today. I still have thank yous to write and a few days of proof reading etc, but I am feeling much relieved. I have a wee extension of my deadline as I will bring everything to my graphic designer on Tuesday instead of tomorrow. Some of you have asked when the book will be ready, I am hoping it will be ready by the beginning of June. This would be great as I originally thought it would be July. Anyway, thought Id give you another photo or two.... 

 

On another note, I am having some serious studio envy... Melly has just finished her studio and it is totally delicious!!! 

I really need to clean mine so I can show you some pictures of where I create! When all is done and Ive handed the book over, my next priority is a huge studio clean out so my brain can be clear again for more creativity. Maybe Ill have some photos to show next week????

I am thinking of having a lovely book launch at Glen Harrow when I am finally holding my book. Maybe some of you who are close would like to come?? More details later. The name of the book is "Gift" by the way. There are three reasons why I have named it "Gift" but you will have to wait a bit to hear about that. I have been granted permission to display the pink ribbon symbol and donate an amount from each book to pink ribbon day!! I am really excited about that. I have been speaking to some of the gorgeous women at Maroondah Breast Clinic who are keen to come to the book launch and do a bit of a talk. They do such amazing work. I am thankful to them all for the support they showed me and so many other women along the way.

It really does fell like things are coming together nicely. It will be great to cross number two off my "bucket list". I had decided that there were three things I still really wanted to do in my career life. These were: Go to Houston to do the International Quilt Market, write and produce a book and design a range of fabric! I have no idea about the third one yet but where there's a will there's a way! It is very important to set new goals so I better think of some new ones soon!

enjoy your creation

Rosalie xx

Lots of News

Wow, time flies when you're having fun! The last two weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind. Didn't get a chance to blog at all so this is very overdue. Melly and me were very busy coordinating the scrap swap which was a huge success. I think that everyone had heaps of fun and lots of scrappy inspiration flew all over the world. I was very excited to get my swap in the mail this morning! My swap was from the lovely Louise. Her parcel was beautiful with delicious scraps and the most beautiful apron she made from Amy Butler fabric! It is gorgeous and I want to wear it out not at home in the kitchen.  Thank you so much Louise.

Another very exciting thing happened in the last few days and that was the ruby anniversary of Melly's and my parents Jacques and Nel. Here is a photo of the happy couple. We wish them every congratulations on achieving such a wonderful milestone of being married for 40 years. Their love and example to us is a treasure beyond gold.

I spent this last weekend in Yarragon at Candleberry Country with other gorgeous designers and nearly 200 beautiful stitching enthusiasts. A wonderful time was had by all. If you have never been, make sure you visit this gorgeous shop one day!

I am still locked away in book writing isolation which is a bit boring and I do come up with every excuse to postpone another writing session. Nothing like last minute pressure! The completed text needs to be delivered to the graphic artist next Wednesday so I don't think you will hear from me until then. On a more exciting note, one of my delay tactics resulted in designing a large number of Christmas stitcheries which I am very happy with. I have asked a wonderful friend, Bev, to sew these stitcheries for me as my arm really needs a rest. She is such a beautiful stitcher and will sew them much better than me! I look forward to showing these to you also.

enjoy your creation!

Rosalie xx

Photos - Day 1.

Had a fabulous day today setting up for photography tomorrow at the gorgeous Glen Harrow Gardens in Belgrave.  This is the beautiful venue where Leanne Beasley and I host our Spring Stitch-ins.  When I heard that there will be rain tomorrow, I rang Leanne in panic and asked her to bring her camera and her fabulous photographic skills with her for some afternoon shots.  She took over 300 shots and I thought I would share some here with you.   

This is Melly and me and our Mummy.

Fancy a cup of tea?? 

Girly goodness.

Yes, it makes the world go round!

Just because it's red!!

Yes, I know, I haven't really shown you very much!  Just teasing really.  More in the next few days!  Then I am locking myself into writing hibernation with my beautiful "buddy" who helps me write all my patterns.  Everybody should have one, but I am the lucky girl who does. 

Enjoy your creations,  Rosalie.

New Stuff!

Guess what everyone???  I begin photography for the book on Wednesday next week which is a bit scary as everything will need to be done by then.  Yes, I managed to hand quilt that whole quilt through the numbness and pain (must look into that one day!!).  I have so many exciting things I want to show you but will need to keep them under wraps for a bit longer.  So what better to distract you than a photo of my new hair!!!

I think I love it!!! 

Also, here are some gorgeous Matryoshkas I bought at the "Stitches & Craft Show" a couple of weeks ago.  I think they are the loveliest ones I have seen so I had to buy them.

They may make a guest appearance as a background prop in Wednesday's photographic shoot.  I promise to show you some photos of the day.

Until next time, enjoy your creation.  Rosie x x

Pinky Floss is here!!!

She is only little, but she is pink!!

I wish you all a very productive Easter break with heaps of stitching time.

Pinky floss!

Melly and Me are in the middle of organising our second international scrap swap. We had such fun last year and are looking forward to running it again. If you want to take part, check out our blog here and leave your details by Monday. This is what I'm doing with my scraps...

We are experiencing a late heat wave here in Melbourne though not nearly as bad as the poor people in Adelaide! I love the warmth but this is a bit crazy! The garden is dying and we are not allowed to water. ( I would love to do a stealthy water but the fines and the guilt factor are a bit too high!)

I am a silly girl as I decided I just HAVE to hand quilt the final quilt in my book! I cant help myself- I love hand quilted quilts! You can imagine how horrendous it is to hand quilt a quilt in 40 degrees! To add to the challenge, I have about 10 days in which to quilt it before I go to photography for the book! The worst part is I am having a lot of pain in my arm as I quilt. (not sure if this is RSI, carpel tunnel or something to do with the fact that I had all the lymph nodes taken out during my surgery) I can quilt or stitch for about 15 minutes before my whole arm goes numb. I have a little break and do some exercises with my arm and then another 15 Min's sewing. This does slow things down a bit! Anyway, do you think these things could be enough to make me send the quilt off to be quilted????  of course not! I love working for myself but really I am the hardest taskmaster- a boss would not tell me to hand quilt under these conditions! To all our friends in Adelaide, be kind to yourself in this heat - I hope you have air conditioning!

I have some exciting news. I bought a new car! Not just any car - a PINK car! Yes, I did say pink! Ever since I was 15 years old I have dreamed about having a pink vw beetle. A little out of my price range unfortunately but then I saw this - a cute pink Nissan micra! it looks a little like a beetle don't you think! Anyway, I think I shall name her Pinky floss. I pick her up on Tuesday......