New Patterns from Melly & me

Thanks to your overwhelming requests for it, Fat Quarter Shop now has Melly & me quilt and project patterns available in our store! We got to meet these two bubbly sisters, Rosie and Melanie, at Market this fall, and what a treasure their booth was! Rosie and Melanie join us on the Jolly Jabber today to talk about their pattern designs and some exciting new projects on the horizon!

Thank you so much for inviting us to be a part of your blog, we are thrilled!

We are Aussie sisters living in the foothills of the Dandengong ranges outside of Melbourne Australia. Rosalie, the eldest of the two of us, has been designing patchwork and doll patterns under the label “Rosalie Quinlan Designs” since 1998, and as sisters together we have been designing under the label “Melly & me” for the past three years. We adore what we do for a living as it means we can work from home, which gives us a lifestyle we really appreciate.

We both live within minutes of each other with our beautiful supportive families. Rosie has three teenage children, and Melly has two pre-schoolers. Despite their age differences, all of the children love to spend time together and are often in the background laughing while we get together to create and brainstorm.

We are inspired by so many things in life including paint charts, cartoons, yummy fabrics, nature and our children. The main thing about our “Melly & me” designs is that they are happy and make us laugh. Each little creature that we make has a personality of its own and likes to come on excursions with us.

We love to work with bright and outrageous fabrics and incorporate them into most of our projects. When we began designing together under “Melly & me” our goal was to reach a new generation of sewers but it has been exciting for us to see that our designs have reached across all generations.

We are very involved in Blog Land and are very excited about all of the independent craft work that we view on clever crafter’s blogs. We strive to make it possible for anyone to create their own fabulous projects using our patterns. We often have people send us photos of their finished work and these are the times we love the most, especially when they are sent to us by young or beginner sewers.

Within the last year we have both been lucky enough to find space for our very own studios. We have really enjoyed creating our own inspiring environments in which to dream and create. Here is a peek at where we work.

One of the things we have enjoyed most over the last two years has been traveling to Houston to take part in the International Quilt Market. These trips have been full of new experiences, new relationships and just a whirlwind of fun and adventure. We are hooked and hope to travel back to the States many more times, it really is quilters’ heaven!

2009 will see us working on our first “Melly & me” book. It is just in the planning stages but we are really excited about it. Rosalie is planning her second “Rosalie Quinlan Designs” book as a follow up to her first book “Gift” released in July this year. We both anticipate designing fabrics in the not too distant future. We have a number of new bag and softie pattern on the drawing board as we always have more ideas than hours to make them!

Combining our creative talents together to work as “Melly & me” has been one of the most rewarding moves we have made in our designing careers. Working with your sister and best friend while doing what you love from your home must be the best job in the world! To see more of what we do please visit our blogs, Melly & me and Rosie Quinlan Designs.

Rosie and Melanie
Melly & me
Rosie Quinlan Designs