Tassie Tales by Tracee...... (Part 2)

Wednesday in Launceston was the day to go visiting & see some quilty goodness.

First stop was to see the lovely Leanne from Lizzie The Quilter Blog. If you haven't checked out Leanne's blog do so. She is prolific & a lover of gorgeous happy fabrics like Flower Sugar, florals & white etc. Every quilt she makes gives me a case of the ahhhhssssss. As an added bonus, I popped in to see Leanne at Esmes where Leanne is the resident machine quilter. Believe me, she is as lovely as her quilts too.

Her latest quilting job was the new Quiltaid quilt that starts this month & is in the irresistable Ruby by Moda. The quilt has applique & stitchery blocks by 12 of our cleverest Aussie designers then a choice of 6 finishing kits. Quiltaid supports the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital dedicated to the treatment and care of women who suffer horrendous childbirth injuries, known as obstetric fistula. A worthy cause & another great reason to join in this BOM. The quilt looks even more spectacular when you see it made up. This is all organised by the very caring & hard working Helen Stubbings of Hugs & Kisses so make sure you visit the website or the Facebook page. This is Helen's block below.

Next it was a drive out of the city North-East to Lilydale to see Deb at The Village Sampler. I hadn't met Deb before but like all quilters she was friendly, with lots of quilts to share so we spent a great hour together. Her little wooden shop is gorgeous & a trip upstairs (by special invite) leads to a cosy workroom filled with many delights. Deb offers a lot of Mckenna Ryan's BOMs & has some great samples to show. These are gorgeous & as I have the patterns & fabric kit for Faith, Hope, Love in my 'to do' pile I was excited to see some of Mckenna's quilts & blocks made up.

At every quilt shop I stopped at I brought background fabrics for the next Stitch A Long, Some Kind of Wonderful by Anni Downs. I was being optimistic as I hadn't finished Tis the season, the last SAL yet & wasn't allowed to join the new one until I did. (Yah, I have now!) Below is those fabrics & a set of fat quarters I brought from Deb. I have a passion for yellow at the moment so this yellowy, greeny, creamy, pinky goodness was too good to pass up. I also got a couple of patterns that I just had to have.

After a futher romp through the country & drive across the impressive Batman bridge I was in Exeter to see the infamous Pauline from Calico Crossroads & to see how she was travelling after all that fame she & Ray fell in to in the USA. Unfortunately I didn't get there until about 4pm & Pauline was just closing up the shop to go to the hairdressers. So what can you do - go too! The hairdresser didn't mind a spectator & we had an hour to catch up. Three colours later & it was back to the shop for more catch up & look at the latest goodies. Alas, the till was bear so my buying power was kaput but I will make up for it next time Pauline.

The above pic of Pauline's shop is stolen from Pauline's blog. I seemed to forget my camera existed while in Launie. So if you ever get up Exeter way make a visit to Pauline a must do. She is most welcoming, lets us travellers join in on her usual groups & has a shop that's like a fabricy candy store. If like me, you are usually many miles away then check out the website & online shop.

After a walk around the city that night and a good nights sleep it was back in the little car & a drive back down the island to Hobart again. No, I didn't stop for scallop pie. I did check out Evandale as Pauline told me it is beautiful. A gorgeous village, something you would expect a Midsummer Murder to occur in at any moment. Karen was being bossy again & said 'Go Straight' so about an hour later & a few dirt roads I ended up back on the highway again. She is not a good travel buddy! Next was a stop at the wool shop in Ross - can't resist that one. Those lovely fibres just make me want to purr & knit like my furboys do.

In Hobart later that afternoon I caught up with Helen Stubbing from Hugs & Kisses & her girls at Mures on the wharf. It was lovely to finally meet Helen after years of following her blog & Facebook pages. Thanks for taking the time Helen. Young Tess has the most glorious smile, she could get around me for anything.

I am also in Helen's Snugglybug group that makes blocks for quilts for all kids that go into hospital for terminal or long term treatment in Tasmania. The kids or parents say what colour or subject they like & we makes blocks to make a snuggle quilt especially for that child. See one of my blocks below. As you can see, an easy block & a worthwhile cause. Check it out & join up.

From there it was off down the Huon Valley, but that's a story for another day....

Happy stitching
Tracee xx