Bon Bon by Jen Kingwell

I made a new start last week.  Back in January I bought one of Jen Kingwell's Tempter block patterns when I was at the Amitie shop in Torquay, Australia.

The Tempters are a set of acrylic templates designed for hand piecing.  Each of the designs is very intricate and that's why Jen recommends hand piecing.

The blocks are 10" finished.  I'm only intending to make 5 and then turn them into a table runner for the top of the book case in my dining room.

The shapes are all irregular, and it's easy to get confused.  I now refer to the plan I drew out on paper and make sure I have the pieces round the right way before I sew them together.

I'm using Alison Glass fabrics, mixed in with some other fabrics I already had.  The end result might be a bit crazy, but it's better than the blue and green table runner currently on the book case.

I've made 2.5 blocks already and like how it's looking.


Blogger have finally fixed the comments problem - Yay! So I'm now back to getting sent your comments by email. 
However, many with Google+ profiles don't have visible email addresses.  That includes Sue from Raumati. So, sorry Sue - I couldn't email you directly.  I paid $40 in Wellington, but everyone charges differently so ask around.

Amitie Textiles - Jen Kingwell's shop in Australia

Last week we went to Australia for my son's cricket tournament.  This year it was held at The Geelong College, just 1 hour's drive from Melbourne.  Even better, the college is just a 30 minute drive from Jen Kingwell's shop, Amitie Textiles, in Torquay. Win, win!!
 

 

I was fortunate enough to visit Amitie twice during our stay.  On the first day I was a bit rushed because my husband was waiting outside in the car, but on the second visit I was by myself and could look at everything!

If you're a fabric lover it really does take more than an hour to look at everything in the shop.  There are so many bolts of fabric, all sorted nicely by colour.  Then there are all the patterns and templates to peruse.  Amitie make their own acrylic templates, so there was a huge variety of templates to look at.

Some of Jen's quilts are hung up high to admire, but others are left on long tables for customers to pick up and study closely.  I particularly enjoyed looking at the hand quilting, and the subtle background fabrics Jen uses to bring out the other fabrics in her quilts.

On Thursday morning a group of ladies were settling in to enjoy a few hours of quiet hand sewing.  The on site cafe was churning out coffees as most people picked one up one on the way past.

My purchases from my first visit

I enjoyed a coffee as one of the very helpful shop ladies cut some fat 16ths of the very latest Liberty for me.

My purchases from the second day

I couldn't stay and sew because the temperature was expected to climb to 41C that day (106F).  And it did.  I have never been so hot!!!  Fortunately our apartment had air conditioning.

And a lovely view from the balcony.

Here's some photos of The Geelong College where the cricket tournament was held.  It was founded in 1861 and has amazing grounds and buildings.