Mrs Martin's Quilt Shop in Emerald, Victoria, Australia | Business service

Mrs Martin's Quilt Shop

Locality: Emerald, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 5968 3360

Address: 133 Emerald Monbulk Rd 3782 Emerald, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.mrsmartinsquiltshop.com

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25.01.2022 Dear Friends Apparently l dozed off in front of the TV tonight. Ray told me to go to bed, told him l couldn’t, l had one last job to do, and so here l am. Always start Thursday with a walk with a mate in Monbulk. It’s a mad dash to get home, have a shower and be open by 9.00am, but l manage it. After the coffees and teas are made l get to sit and sew with the ladies. Today l worked on my block. Finished the stitchery part and started on the wool appliqué. Don’t think this blo...ck is going to take too long to do. I decided to take the polyfuse off each piece of wool before l stitched it on. Be careful when you are removing it, pull it away from the wool a little at a time so you don’t distort your shape. It’s amazing how quickly the block comes along if you take time to prepare it properly. I think l’ve learned a valuable lesson. Had a rep in today. Over the next couple of months there will be some lovely fabric arriving. There’s some Tilda on the list, a couple of nice florals, some good greys. I’ll share them as they arrive. I am putting together some little packs l am calling Fabulous Fives. They are a pack of 5 fat eighths. The first lot l put together are some that you may have seen before. I love the prints and the colours, of course l would, l chose them. Figured fat 1/8th packs would be a good size to start with. I am also considering packs of fat 1/16ths too. I always have a basket of these when l do shows. They are very popular with the ladies, they buy a bag of these, similar to how l remember buying a bag of mixed lollies when l was a kid. Always happy to trial something new. We caught up with a dear friend straight after work tonight. When we got home l had planned on doing my walk around the garden, there’s always some changes if you take a close look. But instead we got a good dump of rain. The garden is happy. One less job for me to do, did however miss my nightly ritual, but will never complain about rain. I have a couple of appointments tomorrow, including my monthly visit to the Ophthalmologist. Once those 2 things are done we are catching up with our eldest son Tom. I have a few emails and messages to answer. I will make a start on them tomorrow. Thank you for your patience. Good night from me. I am off to bed with my book. Kxx

24.01.2022 Dear Friends Today was a perfect day to stay inside and work my way through my never ending list. It was cold here for most of the day so wasn’t tempted to go out in the garden. The rest of the bulbs will just have to wait, surely we will have one more clear day . Meant l was able to get a lot done in the office. Have been able to keep up with the orders for the Soirée l am working at in a couple of weeks. Pre selling the kits has been great, will make things a lot calmer on ...the day. The Tilda Club is either ready to be posted or picked up. I have just increased my order, it’s great value for money. Also did a bit of a tidy up on the website. I am trying to get more fabric online, think l added half a dozen bolts today. Finally worked out the best way of taking pics of fabric to put online. My new method shows the true colours. I have tried scanning it and taking photos of it. The colour and the pattern never look right. Much happier with today’s pics. And as a reward l got to do some CGT stitching. This is Block 3 from Month 16, will share 1 and 2 tomorrow, they are in the shop. Started my last block tonight. Not sure that l am happy with what l’ve stitched so far. Hope it looks better in daylight. I have a couple of small quilts that just need the bindings done. Hoping to get them ready for Wednesday, my dear friend in the Wednesday arvo group is going to show me how to join them properly. It’s about time l learned a better way. We normally go and see Nina on a Sunday but we didn’t today. We have booked her for next Sunday. And that will be here before l know it, the weeks fly by. Hope you have enjoyed your weekend. A few things to do then it’s off to bed to read a chapter or two. Kxx

24.01.2022 Short and sweet tonight. We have just arrived home, Saints lost. The upside, l bought a new coat. It could have been worse, may not have found the coat.

22.01.2022 Dear friends This is the only pic l have to share with you tonight. Today we headed down to Brunswick to spend the afternoon with Nina. You know on past visits we have managed to lose things because she throws them out of the pusher. Today l was prepared. I took some thick string and tied her bunny and her hat to the pusher. Worked a treat. She took a shoe off and handed it to me. I was thinking that we had it nailed. Well, l was wrong. Came... time to offer her a drink of water and somewhere along the way she had thrown her sippy cup out. There was no noise, she did it silently. So bought a bottle of water and straws. She was fascinated by both. The two of us were saturated by the time she’d finished. Next week the cup will be tied to the pusher. Tonight l am giving you the night off, just haven’t had time to prep a block for you. Caught the tail end of the sunset tonight so thought l’d share it with you. It was more impressive when l first noticed it, by the time l got my phone and went back outside it had dropped, so this was the tail end. Didn’t even have a block prepped for my diary quilt. That’s my first job tomorrow, it will be about the lost bottle. Lisa from Max and Louise mentioned something about cleaning her bobbin race and asked how often people cleaned theirs. I am owning up, l had to look up my machines manual, that will be a job when sewing circles are back. I do not trust myself to do it on my own. So l will ask the question, how often do you clean yours? Mrs Martin’s Market is still on the website. Please feel free to use it. Just provide me with a pic, a description and a price. If it’s sewing related this is the perfect way to advertise it. I am leaving you now, l have just started a new MB book. See more

22.01.2022 Another printed panel from Natalie at the Birdhouse. 30 very cute little pics for you to stitch. $11 per panel plus postage. https://mrsmartinsquiltshop.com//heartstrings-stitchery-p/

21.01.2022 Dear Friends Mucked up tonight and posted the short version written for Instagram on the FB page, don’t know how to change it so will add more to this and do the Insta page once l have finished here. Slow and steady wins the race. Compare this pic with last nights pic. I sewed with the girls for 2 hours this morning, not much progress! I did retrieve the block l was whinging about the other night, undid the girls faces and redid them, pleased to say l am happy with them.... Today l have been working on kits for Fig n Berry Creations Soirée. Had to order on more DMC packs, they should arrive here next week. Kits have been selling well, thankyou to those who have placed orders, they are all bagged up and ready to hand over to you. For the first time in a long while, Ray and l went out for dinner. Our local Indian Restaurant has recently changed hands. New owner is a lovely young bloke, his brother is the chef. The menu has only been changed slightly. Food was delicious and we have enough for another meal. Bonus, it gives Ray a night off cooking. Don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow night. We are off to the footy. It will either be a late post or l will be writing from the game. We are playing Geelong, l expect we’ll get whipped. Might take my sewing. Nice night for sleeping, l can hear the rain on the roof. Kxx

19.01.2022 Dear Friends Happy Friday to you. My Friday has flown. Two appointments which took up a good part of my day. First one in and out. Home for an hour then off to the second appointment. A long wait, in fact a very long wait. I never go to a medical appointment without a book or some stitching. Today l took my book. To be honest l can’t complain. A couple of times l have had problems and have never been rushed just because there are other people waiting their turn. I appreciate ...the extra time spent with me. In fact it’s nice to just sit and relax. Good news my eye continues to improve, my next visit has been pushed out to 6 weeks. Yay! I’ve done a little bit more on B5 and l have learned something. I mentioned l was photocopying the pattern onto Polyfuse, then cut the pieces out, remove the polyfuse and stitch the shape onto the background.That’s perfect when you are doing a big shape, like the orange plant pot. The stars are tricky. I took the Polyfuse off the star and blanket stitched it to the background. It looked crappy, it’s hard to do a neat blanket stitch on such a small piece of wool. So thought l would have another go, this time l left the Polyfuse on the wool and it was much easier to stitch and looks quite neat. So my new rule for me, small shape, leave the Polyfuse on. Worth a try if you are having the same problem l had. I love an old chocolate tin. l was lucky enough to be gifted these two beauties on Wednesday. I don’t think l have stopped smiling since my friend gave them to me. I haven’t got a favourite, but love the one with the yellow background and the Hydrangeas. There is a small amount of rust inside the tins. I used a bit of Steele wool to try to get rid of rust. If you have a rust hint l would love to hear from you. We’ve just heard a sound on the back deck. Ray checked to see what it was. And there in front of the bedroom window was a little Ringtail Possum. The possum looked through the window at us and we looked back at the little possum. Beautiful little critter. He’s headed off doing whatever possums do on a Friday night. Saturday tomorrow, no rush. My plan is to work in the morning and garden in the afternoon. I am going to rip out the tomato plants that have almost finished and dig a bit of compost into them. Have no clue what can be planted at this time of the year. Any ideas l’d love to hear from you. Also putting our hard rubbish out. That’s almost as good as Christmas! Goodnight from me, l am off to do a bit of reading. And a special goodnight to Shona, we had a lovely chat this morning. Kxx

18.01.2022 Something new, have just started putting together some of my favourite fabrics into fat 1/ 8ths. You will find the in my new My Favourite Fives Album on the website.

18.01.2022 It's time to own up, l have had a stack of interest in the large Hexagon Templates, l have filled all the orders l had, but l know that some ladies have missed out, they got in touch with me when l first talked about having a template made. I do believe l have accidentally shredded it. If you haven't heard from me about the template then you may well have been on that list. Would love to hear from you if you are still interested, my apologies. K

18.01.2022 Tilda Club is ready to go out, l have a note to self telling me Lyn on FB has signed up. Obviously l should have taken more notice which Lyn this is. Could the real Lyn please touch base with me.

16.01.2022 Dear Friends It’s been a busy day today. Have a morning and an afternoon group in without much of a break in between. I don’t mind at all, but at the end of Wednesday l am knackered. I am approaching B5 of my Christmas block in an orderly fashion, I was a bit haphazard in the way l did B4. I reckon it took me twice as long as it should have because of it. Gave myself a good talking to and decided to change my ways. So far it’s working. You saw the other night all the wool p...ieces had been cut out. Yesterday the background was cut, drew the borders in and ironed on the stabiliser. Didn’t get much done today, but l started the embroidery on the block tonight. Amazing how quickly it comes together if you prepare it properly. Last week l mentioned that one of the gardening tips l picked up on Gardening Australia was to water your indoors plants with a bit of Seasol added in. I don’t know if l am imagining things, but l swear the plants have had a growth spurt. The one in the pic is sitting in the kitchen. It gets plenty of light but not direct light. I can see 4 or 5 new shoots. And there’s new growth on a couple of others too. I have always watered them, but that’s all the attention they got, well that’s about to change! They’ll be trees by Christmas. My Thursday ladies are in tomorrow morning and l have a rep visiting in the afternoon. My plan is to get some work done on Quilt Camp somewhere in between. There are only a few more spaces left which is exciting. There is also another COVID block ready to go on the website. I am getting close to having 40 blocks which was my aim. It’s funny, while l was making my COVID quilt l didn’t notice I’d doubled up on a few blocks. I did a couple of 9 patch blocks because l wanted to highlight some of the nice blues that were in my scrap box and l also made a 9 patch red and green block as a tribute to Christmas. But l did notice there are 2 or 3 other double ups, they look totally different because of the fabrics l chose. Now that’s got me thinking, what about making some blocks similar to the crocheted Granny Squares, a couple of colours and some black. If l choose just a simple block, it just might work. That will give me something to play with over the weekend. I am going to sneak off to bed and read a page or two of my book. Have no clue if the people on Insta will see what l have written tonight. My friend Chris mentioned that last night all she got was the pic and not my words of wisdom. Kxx

16.01.2022 Dear Friends I got an early start on tonight’s post. Had more orders for the 11 hexie template. Sold all 15 of them, l have reordered and there’s another lot on their way. If you have organised to pick yours up, don’t worry, its under the counter. I know l should be sewing, but l need to trace a bit on the block l am working on so thought l’d take the night off. Sitting here with the Australian Open on the TV. Aussie Ash Barty has just won her match, 6-0, 6-0. Good win Ash,... you’ve got the whole country behind you, no pressure at all! The next pic is a little gift l have put together for my FB friend Nan. Nan and l have been FB friends for a couple of years. We were suppose to meet last year, but sadly our trip was postponed due to COVID. Nan recently sent me a parcel full of surprises, l think l shared a pic with you. I was like a kid in a candy shop, love surprises. So l have been collecting bits to send off to Nan. Can’t tell you what l’ve sent, l don’t want to ruin the surprise. Ok, l’ll tell you one thing that’s in the parcel .... a packet of Tim Tams. I doubt Nan will know what they are, but l think she’ll like them. Don’t know if you remember, but last year someone donated a sewing machine. Turned it into a raffle. Mandy, the lucky winner called in with her mum today to pick it up. Lovely to finally meet her. Mandy if you are reading this post, enjoy. Need you to send a pic of the first thing you make on it. My to do list in between groups tomorrow is to get in touch with the ladies who were interested in doing the latest Petals’ and Patches Block of the Month called Garden Secrets. Your patterns arrived today. But that is something to worry about tomorrow. I will say good night, l am going to go and do a bit of reading.

15.01.2022 Dear Friends I didn’t mention it last night, but just before we went to the footy l had 2 deliveries. Both Cottage Garden Thread Club and Tilda Club arrived within minutes of each other. I didn’t open CGT Club until this morning. Takes a little over 2 hours just sorting out which ones get posted and which ones get picked up. Those going in the mail have all been addressed and have the stamps put on. I have started sending out Pay Pal invoices to those who pay that way, they ...will be posted as soon as they have been paid for. Still have a couple of invoices to send. There are a box full under the counter waiting to be picked up. If you pay by Credit Card l will process yours on Tuesday and post Tuesday after work. I have made a start on one of the blocks tonight. Will share when it’s finished. This afternoon l started planting my bulbs. Before l planted l tidied up the beds. Lots of gumtree debris around. I bought a big bag of mixed bulbs from Van Berkel’s in Monbulk, so planted 8 bulbs together. Hope at least some of them survive. Apart from a few Daffodils and some Iris l haven’t dabbled much with bulbs. Hope to finish the job tomorrow. It was quite mild outside, was expecting rain but we didn’t get that much. In fact we have had a smidge less that 2 inches in the last 24 hours and l know that because l picked up a rain gauge last Friday when l visited the nursery. For those who have signed up for Tilda Club you are very lucky. You have a Charm pack of their latest fabric. I actually ordered 4 of the packs and we were asked not to put them on display until now. I understand why now , they obviously wanted the Club members to see them first. It’s a lovely range, it will be processed and posted on Monday. I do have 4 of the Charm Packs that will be on the website on Monday for those who’d like to see them. Tomorrow l would like to get a couple of bindings on quilts, then l can do the hand stitching during sewing circles on Wednesday. Have had more Soirée orders, l will let you know when l bundle them up, l will have them ready for you to pick up on whichever day you are attending. That’s a Monday job too. It’s my bedtime, goodnight, sleep well. Kxx

15.01.2022 Dear Friends Can’t complain about my day. Started with a walk at Emerald Lake. If you’ve never been there you should put it on your list. If you are lucky you might get a chance to see Puffing Billy. There’s a pool there for the kids, some playgrounds, you can pack a few slices of bread and feed the ducks. Plenty of places to have a picnic. Place is always clean, even the public toilets! We are lucky it’s only 5 minutes away. Often take a picnic lunch in the summer. Had a la...te start on the sewing tonight, back working on Block 4, need to do some serious work on it over the next few days. One of the things l like about the summer, l think l mentioned it the other night, the cricket on TV, nice just to walk past and see how the Aussies are doing. Great days cricket today, ended in a draw. Then the big bash tonight which was also a good game to have on while you’re doing a bit of stitching. Made sure l had some blocks ready to write on tonight. You will notice the sippy cup has been found. All the searching we did and the retracing our walk looking for the thing. It was at Nina’s place, we didn’t loose it, we didn’t even take it with us. Speaking of Nina, we got a beautiful video of her having her bath. Annie gave her a mirror. I don’t know how old kids are when they realise that they are the person they are looking at. Hope that makes sense. Little Nina loved looking at herself. Started a new hand piecing project today. I found a 10 hexagon template in my stuff. I will often keep a piece of floral when it arrives and up till now what l have collected is just sitting waiting to be used. Cut out some today. Will add some of the greens l have kept, love a nice green! Will do some more cutting and hopefully start it on Saturday. Why Saturday? I am packing up the shop and taking it to a small stitching day in Pakenham. Seems like forever since l have been able to take Mrs Martin’s on the road. Looking forward to spending time with the ladies. Grab your diaries, find October 9th, l want you to pencil in The Monbulk Quilt Show. Hope you think about putting some of the quilts you have been working on during the last 12 months on display. Every cent we make is donated to the Monbulk Fire Brigade. I will be in touch with traders from past years to invite them. A reminder if you want to sell anything related to quilting/ sewing you are more than welcome to send me a pic and some details including price. I’m sorry, but l won’t be putting fabric on. Anything else is welcome. Added some interesting looking books last night. I have put tonight’s COVID block on the website, it was hard to explain the centre part of the block. Hope you can understand it. I added a few extra pics for this one, they will either help you through it or confuse you more! Well dear friends, l will love you and leave you, Maeve is calling.

15.01.2022 Dear Friends A nice slow start to the day, no alarm on Mondays. 50 Shades (My knick name for Ray as in 50 Shades of Ray) and l did a lovely walk out the back of Monbulk this morning. It’s a great walk, a few hills but nothing that’s too challenging. We start in town and in 15 minutes we are on the back roads, small farms and nurseries and the most magnificent views. Not a bad way of starting your day. Got home the other day and there was a gift in the letterbox with a beau...tiful card. The gift was this book called Hobo Quilts, it has 55 plus original blocks based on the secret language of riding the rails. The blurb explains that that these signs tell the story of what it was like to survive as a hobo. Each page has a quilt block pattern, the completed block and a story. It’s my next read. Thankyou to Eden, Scarlet and Piper, l will treasure this gift. Thought l’d better do a bit on my block, back in the swing of it now, should have it finished by the end of Thursday’s Sewing Circle. These blocks seem to take a while, then in a blink, they come together and you’re finished. I’d just like to say a big thankyou to the ladies who have put their names down for Quilt Camp. It will be nice to catch up with you all. Will spend some time tomorrow checking off names and calling for a deposit. The nice thing about camp is that there are lots of familiar faces, we’re just catching up with old friends. It’s a great weekend and it will be here before we know it. And last thing for the night, thanks to all the lovely ladies who have purchased the large hexagon. I will get around to the rest of the orders tomorrow. If you don’t hear from me you can order it from the website. Thanks for stopping by, l’ll catch you tomorrow. Kxx

14.01.2022 No text again, if anyone has any idea what l might be doing wrong would love to hear from you. Meanwhile enjoy one of Sam’s pieces.

13.01.2022 Yippee, new Tilda fabric is on its way. There's a bolt and Charm Packs, nice to have something new, it's been a long time. Will share the minute it arrives.

13.01.2022 Dear Friends I hope your Tuesday has been a good one. I can’t complain. No groups in on Tuesdays so it gives me a chance to get some jobs done. Check and answer email and FB messages Make sure that l have all those wanting to come to camp are on the list Help 3 customers with fabric for quilts they were working on. Happens often, they’ll come in not completely happy with the way the project they are working on looks. Sometimes it just takes fresh eyes, suggest something t...hat they haven’t considered, you know it’s right the minute you grab it off the shelf and so do they. That’s one of the best things about my day. Thought l’d share a pic of the little quilt l worked on during lockdown, it was a Christmas preprint by Natalie from the Birdhouse. I did the stitching in what l consider Vintage colours, reds, a couple of different greens etc. Always intended that the borders would be simple reds and greens from my scraps. Just a small quilt, 4x4 blocks. It’s off to the quilters this week. The reason l am sharing it again is that another bolt arrived. Each panel is 30cm. If you need one, they’ll be on the website by the end of the week. Can’t promise anything for tomorrow because l have ladies in all day. But you are welcome to shoot me an email if you want me to put one aside for you, happy to send a Pal Pal invoice. Wanted to share a pic of The Sopwell Ladies. Had an order that is going out tomorrow, wanted to share with you before l posted it. It’s a design by Gail Pan. There’s a bit of hand piecing and appliqué and it uses your scraps. The perfect quilt. I have been prepping B5 of my Annie Downs Christmas quilt, background fabric has been cut and the stabiliser has been ironed on. The wool bits were cut out last night and tomorrow l will trace the rest of the block. I stuffed up B4, want to make sure this one is right. Have 2 groups in tomorrow so hope l will get to do a bit of stitching. Happy to say l added a couple of blocks to Kaz’s Garden. It’s for Nina, a smaller version of my Hexie Flowers Quilt. Well dear friends, l am going to say good night, QI is on and l love Sandi Toksvig. Before l go, the Scissor Man is calling in tomorrow. So if you need scissors or knives sharpened you need to drop them off here by lunchtime. Kxx Kxx

12.01.2022 Still looking for Susan Spencer, Susan if you read this can you get in touch, l have a question. Cheers Karen

10.01.2022 If you go to Mrs Martin's Market Place on my website l have just added 4 second hand books that you may well need.

10.01.2022 Dear Friends A busy day, so l’ll start from the start. Had my two groups in, both full groups which makes it a lovely chaotic day. Just enough time to tidy up after the first group before the second group arrives. Love it because l can sit down once all the teas and coffees are made and stitch. I think l shared the pic of the mouse last night. I am not a fan of mice, so to make her more attractive to me l embroidered her feet pink so it looks like she’s wearing slippers. Enj...oyed doing the next one, am happy with the way the flower turned out. I played around and trimmed a bit more off some of the blocks. I prefer it with less of the cream fabric. Won’t do any more cutting until l have finished stitching the rest of the stitcheries. Am definitely going to go with the dark repro fabrics between the stitcheries. By the way, today l went back to the girls l was stitching the other day and put aside because l couldn’t get the faces right. Well today l fixed one and finished the other and l am pleased with the result. Beetons’s Book of Needlework is sitting on my lap. I have just flicked through the embroidery patterns. Each one is beautiful. There is a pic of each project, looks like it’s been drawn. 139 - Embroidery Pattern for Ornamenting Collars and cuffs. Materials required: Muslin, Cambria or linen; Messrs. Walter Evans and Co.s embroidery cotton No. 40. The pattern is worked in satin stitch on muslin, cambric or linen; it is suitable for collars, or cravat ends, or handkerchief corners. It’s going to be a fun book to look through. Had full groups in both this morning and this afternoon, so the day was spent doing the things l enjoy most, stitching and chatting. Had to rush off at the end of the day. Another massage to try to get my back sorted. It feels so much better tonight. Am expecting to be a bit sore tomorrow but it will be worth it, usually takes a couple of days to calm down. Thanks to the ladies who have been ordering kits online for the Soirée in a couple of weeks. Don’t know why l haven’t thought of doing this before. I have been doing a bit of a website tidy up. I still have some books that l bought last week to go on. Added a couple of fabrics that came in recently. Will add more tomorrow. Will also set aside time to work on Quilt Camp. I know there will be messages l need to answer and payments to tick off. Will let you know how l go. It’s coming together nicely. Best get some sleep, looks like tomorrow is going to be a productive day. Kxx

06.01.2022 Sorry folks l pressed the wrong button, my post has only gone to Instagram tonight. Shared this pic, sun set in Emerald. To see the rest of the post you’ll have to look on Insta. Sorry about that.

04.01.2022 I have a favour, to the ladies who receive wool packs from me for the Annie Downs BOM, can you please check I have sent you the correct numbered pack? Kxx