Up, Up and Away at A White Dragon Papercraft

Today I ran a workshop called Up, Up and Away – the theme was balloons, both large and small – but all very beautiful. It was about using basic Paper Quilting techniques, mixing them together and adding trims and embellishments to create one of a kind Paper Quilts. Thank you to the nine delightfully talented ladies who took part in the great day at A White Dragon Papercraft Store in Phillip. Hope you had a fun time and enjoy creating some more balloons for yourselves and as gifts for others.

Here are some photos of the fantastic work created today. One pattern - so many magical possibilities.

By Karen C

By Tracey

By Patricia

By Milly

By Milly

By Liz

By Heather

By Heather

By Crystal



By Karen M

By Crystal



by Karen M

By Kay

 

Custom Made for You

I am very pleased to be creating custom made Paper Quilts again. These quilts are often ordered for special occassions and make a truely beautiful, thoughtful, unique and special gift.

 "The Day You Were Born " has long been a popular choice for customers who are looking for a Christening or celebration birth gift. This quilt can be created in any combination of colours you wish, includes lots of information and can include beautiful embellishments such as shell buttons, wooden shapes, metal charms (such as Susan Clarke heirloom charms - http://www.susanclarkeoriginals.com ), your own heirloom embellishments and buttons along with genuine Swaroski crystals.

This quilt is available unframed for custom framing by you or framed in a white box frame.

This Paper Quilt measures approx 30cm/12inches square.

 

Contact michaela@paperquiltcreations.com for details.

See my Custom Made for You page on this blog for more titles.

Paperific Expo

How lucky were Bill and I to be visiting Melbourne for the third time this year! Paperific Expo is one of my favourite events and it was very exciting to be taking part for I think the 4th year. Boy does time go quickly and how things have changed.

Here is my stand back in 2010 when I was Wren's Nest Studio. I had 4 patterns to sell and quite a small display of finished Paper Quilts. I am very fortunate to still meet women who have followed my journey since these early days - and long before.

We had a wonderful space this year where I could create a gallery of Paper Quilts and a table for Make and Takes. I can’t remember being quite so busy – ever! During the three days of the show we had over 150 crafters creating 150 beautiful gift tags.  Young, older and wiser, girls and boys, men and women – they all took part.  Here are some pictures of our space at the show including some hanging decorative Paper Quilts and Paper Quilts displayed in embroidery hoops. These are great fun to create and I look forward to making some more soon.

Paperific Expo Stand

Paper Quilts displayed in Embroidery Hoops.  



Paper Quilts set free to hang as decorations

 

The 9th Australasian Quilt Convention

The Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne was an incredible experience. The location, the atmosphere, the beautiful quilts on display, the fabric and quilt patterns – everything! And boy was it busy. Visitors who love quilts from all over Australia and beyond descended upon Melbourne for the 9^th annual AQC Show. Many visitors came to the show each one of the 4 days to look at displays and stores, to take classes and attend seminars. It was lovely to see some ladies visit us every day of the show.

Bill and I set up our Make and Take space within the McCall’s Creates stand where we showed the McCall’s Collection of patterns and a display of how our patterns could be used with paper or fabric – or both. Throughout the show we offered visitors the chance to create a simple but beautiful gift tag using the 1 inch punch, paper, luggage tag, ribbon – and of course some bling. It is one of my great joys to see people use a sewing machine for the first time and see the sewing spark ignite. I always hope it is the start of a life-long love of creating with one of the greatest of all inventions – the magical sewing machine.

Here are a few pictures from the show.

Yes - it was pretty busy at the show

Having fun

One of my favourite stands L'uccello http://luccello.blogspot.com.au/ Must visit next time in Melbourne!

Our lovely stand neighbours Mai Misaki http://maimisaki.com/ (beautiful Japanese quilting) and Prudence Mapstone http://www.knotjustknitting.com/ Enough to make me take up knitting or crochet. Gorgeous!!
 

Make and Takes are always popular

The magnificence of The Royal Exhibition Building

Having a talk about using the patterns with fabric instead of paper.

 

Next post I will show some pictures of the absolutely beautiful quilts on display.

Experimenting with Washi craft tape.

Washi tape is created in so many beautiful colours and designs and seems to be one of “the” craft products at the moment. I have been wondering how I can use it in Paper Quilting. I was a bit concerned about the self- adhesive backing on the Washi tape because double-sided craft tape plays absolute havoc with the needle on your sewing machine. Well, I’ve now used Washi tape on a couple of quilt pattern designs – and so far so good. The adhesive on the back of the Washi tape is not as sticky and doesn’t seem to be attaching itself to the sewing machine needle. I’ll keep experimenting – but in the meantime – why not have a go at adapting your Paper Quilt Patterns with strips of Washi tape. Use the pattern piece to trace around onto a plain piece of 180-200gsm paper first as any line or words will show through the Washi tape as it is very transparent. Sew the tape together as you would with other projects. There is no need to retrace the image design onto the Washi tape as the first tracing line will show through. With all the beautiful designs out there – you will be sure to get a great result. And it’s really quick too.

The Autumn Papercrafts Festival - Penrith, Sydney

I am just back from the wonderful Paper Crafts Festival at Penrith. What a week-end! It was great to catch up with the other store owners and customers (many who have followed my journey since the Sydney Stitches and Craft Show back in 2007). So many happy people enjoying the latest crafting products. I don’t have too many pictures – as we were SOOO busy which was fabulous. We set up a Make and Take table again and we were so happy that everyone, (women, men and children) 

We had a great space at the show. Here is Bill setting up the booth.

of any age, realised just how very easy and how much fun Paper Quilting is. We’ll be doing it all again next week at The Australasian Quilt Convention in Melbourne.

Make and Take table on the first day of the show.

It was lovely to see a family creating gift tags together.

Sunday was VERY busy

Canberra Arboretum

The National Arboretum has not been long open and I have been longing to visit it. So yesterday, after going to the movies, Bill and I headed up to take a look in the late afternoon light. It is a magical place with old and newly created forests full of bird song. The views into Canberra and out across to the Brindabella Mountain Range are incredible and you really feel as though you are sitting on a cloud looking out at the scene stretching out. Canberra is often called the place of the big skies and any visit to the National Aboretum will enforce this idea. I can't wait to go back again and again to see how the forests grow and expand.
http://www.nationalarboretum.act.gov.au/

The local Cockatoo flock enjoying Autumn seeds

Where we live in Australia we are lucky to enjoy large flocks of cockatoos which are large birds with even larger voices (not the prettiest many would say - infact they would be quite at home in a horror film!). Here is a small group enjoying some Autumn seed pods in our backyard and making a huge mess while they're at it.

The Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo in Melbourne



Paper Quilt Creations booth in the Royal Exhibition Builing Carlton

A couple of weeks ago Bill and I drove to Melbourne to take part in the inaugural Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo in Melbourne. It was held in the beautiful Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton Gardens which is now a world heritage site. (can you believe that it was almost demolished!)

We had a fantastic time over the three days of the show and saw many people we had met before and many new ones. One of the joys of doing a show like this is when I can set up an area for visitors to have a try at Paper Quilting. They can experience just what fun and how simple it is to create something really beautiful from everyday materials – paper, glue and a simple zigzag stitch. Sunday was a very busy day with a real production line and a queue of people waiting for a try.

An added bonus was that we were staying in Carlton. Little did I know when I booked that it was just one street away from famous Lygon Street where there would have to over a hundred restaurants, bars and cafes with tables set up on the street under colourful awnings. D.O.C was incredible – the pasta, the Italian wine, the beautiful window display of massive cheeses. And Brunetti for Breakfast – all those pastries, bread and coffee. We’ll be back in April for Australasian Quilt Convention so better go on a diet till then!



Teaching the next generation of crafters

Busy demonstrating Paper Quilting



Showing Hoott and Hootee



The beautiful dome at the Royal Exhibition Building

Exterior of the Royal Exhibition Builing

An Afternoon at the Canberra Show

Every year at this time the show comes to Canberra. And because Canberra is sometimes known as the bush capital it is a very rural focused with many farm exhibits, animals and agriculture. But the part I love is of course the Craft Pavilion where there are exhibits ranging from knitting, lace, embroidery, crochet and quilting  to quilling, card making – and now Paper Quilting.

Two of my students from A White Dragon entered the Paper Quilting category and I was very proud that Harriet was awarded first place and Patricia won both second and third. It was fantastic to walk into the pavilion and see their work displayed in the glass cabinets set up to showcase all the work. Congratulations girls.

Harriet's award winning Paper Quilt entry

Patricia's second place entry

Local vegetable competition

Proud Dahlia growers getting ready for judging

Display of antique garments

Spinners and weavers at the show

I am writing a new book about techniques and a booklet about Alphabet letters at the moment. All of a sudden it struck me that one of the techniques could be used with all the Paper Quilt Greeting Card patterns. Turn your greeting card into a gift tag. I can be a bit slow sometimes - why didn't I think of this before? It's such a fun idea and would make any gift stand out and be one of those gifts that is almost just too pretty to open.