New download patterns...

Hi...It's Emma here.  Today I have been busy turning some of Lynette's earlier patterns into downloadable ones. The best thing about download patterns is that there is no waiting for the postman .... you can start stitching right away!

Strawberries and Cream...

Saltbox Sampler... 

Hens Nest Tablerunner... 

Gardening Bear Pillow...

Love to Stitch Pillow...

Visit our online shop to see more of Lynette's downloadable patterns.

Ps. there are also some new goodies in our sale section in our online store

 

Gathering stuff...

This weekend was spent visiting family and gathering more stuff props for the photo shoot for my next book which is scheduled for Thursday this week.....will I be ready? This large white painted dresser which we picked up from a gorgeous store  Classic Country Living in Maleny on the weekend is still squashed in the back of my car.

Helen who owns the store has the most wonderful selection of vintage furniture, she also does custom soft furnishing and is very knowledgable about the use of Porters paints which she also sells. I cant wait to get the cupboard out of the car and re assemble it so you can see what it looks like...its perfect.

I have a jumble of collected other things that I think/hope will work in the photos...its been alot of fun trying to plan what each photo will look like and then finding just the right things to make the picture.

Right, I had better get back to stitching or the projects wont be ready for the photgrapher!

bye for now

My new book...

My new book is arriving in stores and some lovely ladies have been emailing me to say theres has arrived and that they love it....thank you x. It feels like forever ago that I was busy stitching the samples and writing the instructions and finally today the samples from my 'Country Cottage Quilting' are back from the publishers... it is great being able to hold and touch them again. I wanted to show you a close up of the inside of the needledcase (see the stitched wheelbarrow)... 

Originally it was a sweet bit of stitchery (see picture below) but I had forgotten that I am not allowed to put words on my work as it makes it hard for translation so I had to replace the words with the sweet wheelbarrow. Here is the original stitched piece with some very sweet words...if you would like to use this on your needlecase instead of the wheelbarrow stitchery you can download the design below.

Download Stitchery Design for Needlecase.

The next project I want to give you a closer peek at is this great sewing case, the case is ready made all you have to do is make the cover for the front and back and stitch it on..simple... 

Inside the case there are lots of compartments, perfect to hold your scissors, rotary cutter, threads, matching needlecase and of course a small piece of stitching in progress! I will have the sewing cases in my online store in the next couple of weeks so keep watching this space.

There are shops around the globe with my book in store and some of the lovely shops have let me know that they have got or are going to stock my new book and orders are welcome.

AUSTRALIA

The Quilted Crow - Tas

Tranquility Crafts - VIC

The Patchwork Angel - QLD

Cookies and Cream - online

Candleberry Cottage - VIC 

NEW ZEALAND

Katipatch

Grandmother's Garden

Patchwork Passion

Patch and Quilt

The Cloth Shop

UNITED KINGDOM

Sew and So's

Cowslip Workshops

The Fat Quarters

Patchwork Chicks

Coast & Country Crafts & Quilts Ltd

Quilters Haven

The Homework Patch

Fobbles

USA

Creative Patches and Sewing

Fat Quarter Shop

GERMANY

Quiltshop Kaleidoskop

THE NETHERLANDS

Aztec Rose Crea & Hobby

Kwibbels

De Lapjesgaard

BRAZIL

Arte Costura

SPAIN

Mi Casita de Patch

Pina Lapina

Showing off....

This picture is purely showing off.. showing off the selvage from my 2012 Christmas fabric collection, 'Christmas Fun'.

I am busy stitching new projects using this fabric collection for a small booklet that will feature 7 quick (ish) projects using fabrics from this collection. I am loving everything about this range, the colours are just the way I wanted them and its such fun to look at the fabrics and think 'I drew that'....

We are asos busy collecting props ready for the photography that is scheduled for thursday next week...I supose that means that all the projects will need to be finished by then... I think some midnight stitching is on the agenda for me! I love these old buttons and hope they will work in one of the photos in the book.

see you soon 

Your free gift...

Today I decided to have a Summer sale...it is a perfect Summers day here on the Sunshine Coast...not a cloud in the sky.

I have some great sale items in my store, I have books, fabrics, note pads and more.

Visit my online store if you would like to check out my sale.

Spend $25.00 or more and you will receive a free Lynette Anderson pen and one of my note pads (while stocks last)...perfect for your handbag or even for beside the phone.  offer ended on the 27th of February 2012

ps. if you are in my project club don't forget to use your 10% discount code.

Things I loved this week..

My best friend Hugo with the biggest grin wearing his favourite quilt x This picture is my current desktop picture and I love it, Hugo is smiling at me all day.

A glass of water and a bar of chocolate, what better combination is there.... (maybe, two bars of chocolate??)

Well, it was hot today so what better way to keep cool than to lie on your back!

It was fun waving to myself in the mirror at Mum and Dads!

I love how mum has put her bird houses on the garden fence...

This glorious pot of flowers were outside a store in Tokyo.

This amazing lampshade was in a resturant we went to last week, its made from silk worm cocoons...truly brilliant although I see I need to go back during daylight to take a better photo so you can see how its constructed.

This is the wonderful tea called 'Hidden Blossom' that we had after our meal, the brown coccons (thats what they looked like) when put in boiling water opened to reveal these flowers and a very nice tea was drunk by all.

I love that my animals love me this much....

I hope that your all doing something nice, I am busy stitching projects that I cant show you yet....and moving into a new studio which is exciting and a bit scary...now dear Vince will see just how much 'stuff' I really do have in all the cupboards!

New Button Club

Well today is the day to announce that the new button club is ready, I have called it 'Fernhill' in memory of some wondeful hazelnut woods that my brother and I used to play in when we were young. 

If I close my eyes I can see the carpet of bluebells that apperared in late Spring, hang on here is a picture to help you with what I can see in my minds eye.

I can remember the noise of a startled pheasant, the quiet flap of an owls wings, the punguent aroma of deer. Living in the country meant fox hunts.....the trill of the fox hunters trumpet and the stampeed of horses, the clever fox knew if he hid in our garden that my mum would never let the huntsmen get him!

My new button club gathers together some of the animals and fauna from that sweet hazelnut wood from my childhood called 'Fernhill'.

The mystery 9 part pattern for the quilt is my gift to you with the purchase of one of my gorgeous (thanks to Lyn and Katie) handpainted wooden buttons from a registered store (all the store places are taken so this is the final listing). This is a limited edition collection of buttons so dont delay book in with one of these stores.

Atelier Patchwork et Point Compte - Belgium

Button Tree Quilts - Australia, QLD

Calico Crossroads  -  Australia, TAS

Cinnamon's Quilt Shoppe - USA

Coast and Country Crafts - UK

Cotton & Color  - Switzerland

Country Pieces - Australia, NSW

Creative Patches and Sewing - USA

Cross Patch - UK

Daisy Cottage Quilting - USA

De Lapjesgaard - The Netherlands

Dragonfly Quilt Studio - Canada

Esmes - Australia, TAS

Europe Quilt - Belgium

Fobbles - UK

Hettie's Patch - Australia, SA

Isabel Granados - Spain

Katipatch - New Zealand

Kwibbels - The Netherlands

La Tieta Rosa - Canary Islands

L’atelier du Patchwork - France

La Maison Du Patchwork - Belgium 

La Petite Echelle - France

Marcelle's Patchwork Cottage - Australia, NSW

Mi Casita De Patch - Spain

Paprika Cotton - Belgium

Patch & Quilt - New Zealand

Patchworks Plus - Australia, TAS

Petra Prins Patchwork and Quilting - Netherlands

Quilt Fabric Delights - Australia, SA

Quiltegaarden - Norway

Quilter's Haven - UK

Quiltshop Kaleidoskop - Germany

Red Rooster Quilts - USA

Sew Bright Alpine Quilting - Australia, VIC

Simply Stitches - Australia, NSW

The Christmas Shoppe - USA

The Country Yard - New Zealand

The Oz Material Girls - Australia, NSW

The Patchwork Angel - Australia, QLD

The Patchwork Pear - Australia, SA

The Patchwork Teahouse - Australia, VIC

The Rabbit's Lair - USA

The Stitching Post - Australia, NSW

Traditional Pastimes - Canada

Tranquility Crafts 'n' Supplies - Australia, VIC

If you would like this cute button on your blog or website please copy the code below.

<a href=" http://www.lynetteandersondesigns.typepad.com/"><img src="http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk69/lynetteorourke/imstitchingfernhill.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

Canadian Silk Farmer...

I promised I would introduce you to the Canadian who farms silk outside of Tokyo in the mountains. Bryan arrived at my booth in Tokyo and introdued himself to me, he was bursting with excitement about a Japanese Textile Study Tour he is hosting in April, most of the people booked for the tour are also quilters.

Talking to Byran took me back many years in my memories to when I used to do spinning, weaving and natural dying. Here I am threading up my big old loom (its a long time since I looked like that!).

Anyhow I am sidetracking....Bryan told me about his lovely old farmhouse, his silkworms, weaving, tea fields (see picture below) and most exciting that he is orgnaising a trip where people from around the world are going to stay on his farm, try thier hands at indigo dying, silk thread making, weaving etc.

Bryans blog is worth a visit for the lovely stories and pictures of where he lives, please stop by and tell him that I sent you to visit. I have to say I am tempted to go on the workshop (April 15th to 25th 2012), maybe next year and who knows perhpas some quilting will be on the agenda too. I know that most of the places are already booked but if you want more info for either this year or to go on a waiting list for furture events visit here.

Now to continue my trip down memory lane.....these photos are rather aged (1982'ish), we gathered in a friends barn to have a weekend of dying using dyes from plants.

The colours have faded in this picture but it was a pretty sight seeing all the skeins of handspun/handdyed wool hanging to dry in the winter sunshine. can you see the baby in the pushchair...hard to belive but thats my eldest son (I have to say that I had a very funky pushchair)!

Not wanting to waste anything after we had used the plants as a source of dye we then planned to make it into paper. Here my Auntie June (front right) is preparing some of  bracken ready to make paper. 

So what happened to all that dyed wool, well my very clever mum knitted a very nice jumper for me which I still own (but cant fit into, yes its me in the photo!). This sheet even has samples of all the wool with labels so we can still see which dyes gave us those colours!

Well I could go on forever with my stories but my stitching is calling me....

Tilda stitching...

The vibrant colours are not 'my' colours but I am really enjoying working with them. In any case I could not resist saying yes when I was asked to be a part of a collaborative magazine using Tilda fabrics... so here I am frantically stitching as the deadline is....here....already...eeek

Backstitching away, I seem to have miles still to go! 

Hmm, maybe a break for a cup of tea will help, lets hope I dont get side tracked with the other project I am working on!

 

Fish and Melon

I had wanted to visit the Tsukiji fish markets on my last rip to Tokyo, this time Vince and I managed to go early Saturday morning. However to visit the wholesale tuna auctions we need to be there to apply for a ticket by 5am so thats on next years agenda!

all sort of differnet octopus....dead and alive...

every type of caviar/roe you could imagine

The ice making machine was wonderful...

Look at the size of the ice blocks it makes, they were about 1m square!

I loved these hand barrows although I didnt see anyone using them.

This is the mst popular mode of transport and goodness did the men drive them fast, we needed eyes in the back our heads to avoid being hit.

After all that fish how about some lovely refeshing fruit. We spotted this lovely fruit basket (¥15,750) in one of the big department stores. Visit here to check the price in your currency and be ready for a surprise!

I hope that you are enjoying a snap shot of Tokyo, tomorrow (Monday) I really do need to get back into stitching! Although I do have more pictures to share and I want  to introduce you to an interesting Canadian silk farmer who lives in the mountains outside of Tokyo that I met at the quilt show.