Public Service Announcements...

I feel it is my duty to share the love from time to time, plus I have a blogiversary coming up, so if you keep coming back, more good things could happen!

Today I have been stitching up something festive and secret, but I can give you the sneakiest of peaks of something else…

I have a quilt hiding on the cover of this soon to be released magazine and I am so excited.  I am keeping the best company, and can't wait to get my hands on a real-life copy.

If you have not subscribed in eager anticipation, what are you waiting for!?  You need to take advantage of the most excellent offer - 3 issues of Quilt Now for £5, yes only five pounds; but you only have until Monday to make the most of this deal.   So get to it, you know you will regret it if you don't, and I will say I told you so!

One magazine that I have been subscribed to for many a year is good old Mollie Makes.  Just as I was pondering cancelling said subscription, too much wool, not enough fabric; they win me back! 

Now I usually chuck re-cycle all the junk mail as soon as I have opened the the plastic cover, you know all that crap no-one wants, never alone reads, but one piece of paper caught my eye - a free pom pom maker, (worth a whole £6.50 - more than the cost of the magazine!)…

So I stopped by Hobbycraft on the way home from work on Tuesday, and by the time I came back from after-school swimming, I had made 3!

All I can say is check out your junk people; sometimes there's a pearl, or rather pom pom in there waiting to be picked!!

What the Fox say?

First finish linking up with Lucy...

And just because...

Happy Sunday everyone xxx

Thank you Daniel...

Daniel is our postman.  He knocked on the door and told us his name on his first day.

Today whilst I was at work he managed to wedge this lot through the door.  I like it when I can't just swing the front door wide open when I get back, and that he didn't wimp out and leave a red card!

We have a Mollie Makes on subscription, and a 100 Blocks magazine that I won from Lindsey a while back.  The girls and I got new passports, they took less than a fortnight to process, I am impressed!  And the fabric and perle?  Lovely Annie sent me a voucher for The Village Haberdashery which I just had to add to, rude not to, obviously, and I have a plan that I will reveal when I have few more 'must dos' under my belt.

Anyway, must dash, Mad Dogs needs my full attention xxx

Hoopla...

I have been taking it easy; sadly enforced, but my arm really does need rest, so embroidery to the rescue.

I didn't get round to attempting the second pattern at Retreat, I was talking, so thanks to Aneela, I got my mitts on her suggested stitches and spent a lovely evening stitching up the little stocking.  I also pulled out an old Mollie Makes and my first Mandy Shaw book and have already stitched up a couple of others...

I am totally smitten with embroidery.  I used to stitch little flowers on things when I was young, but backstitch was the most fancy stitch I mastered.   I am going to have to go back over all the magazines and books I own, and take a look at all those pages that I had previously just skipped over.

You know the simplest thing, getting the pattern to the fabric gave me a mental block and it's so damn easy and obvious, now there'll be no stopping me.

I have Aneela's London pattern ready and waiting; a red bus, phone box and more, which I think I will start this evening - I'm not going to let the weekend's London-love fade away just yet!

Typical...

Woke up this morning and my throat felt like razor blades and I have developed a lovely cold to go with it.  Only ever happens at the weekend eh!

But all is not lost, the postman managed to put a smile on my face, bringing fabric from Kat...

Glorious Denyse Schmidt, and a new Mollie Makes...

I have resolved my Mother's Day dilemma, thanks to Leila, and hopefully I will get a little bit of sewing in later.  If I can drag my butt off the sofa.

Sniff, cough, achoo x

Monster!

Well I promised you 'bigger than owls', so may I present this fella...

Made using the Mollie Makes (issue7) tutorial, and downloadable pattern; with the children in charge of the colour combo, he had to resemble the picture in the magazine as closely as possible!

I didn't quite finish him last night, but he probably only took a couple of hours to sew together, a little longer for cutting out all the pattern pieces and felt.

Hairy shoulders!

He measures about 7" tall, and has been a big hit with my young critics.

He will be heading to my parents' on Saturday, as a birthday gift for my Dad, where I will also have to measure their dining table, again, so I can complete their Dead Simple table cloth in time for Christmas.

I am hoping for a quieter night than the last, as one poorly twin in the bed with mummy and daddy, full of cold and unable to get comfy, did not make for a refreshing rest!  'Tis the season xxx