BQS Summer...

Summer is here at long long last, we have just had our first BBQ of the year and I have finished my BQS - a great day!

Now I don't generally name my quilts, other than with the pattern name and maybe, if I am feeling a little adventurous, a colour or fact to make it a bit more special, Brit Bee Constellation, Rainbow Cherry Star for example; but whilst making my Brit Quilt Swap mini, two images kept coming to mind, from the iconic Clockwork Orange film and the Pink Floyd record cover.

Although Clockwork Frog did seem quite amusing, to the young and innocent, it conjured up something more Harry Potter than I wanted, or at the other extreme, would perhaps give my partner nightmares, what with those googly eyes, scissors n'all!

And so was born, The Dark Side of The Pond!

If you had asked me to embroider a label a couple of months ago, I would have laughed my socks off.  I loved stitching this - it's not perfect, but that's more due to my handwriting, but I think it is a nice finishing touch.

The mini measures up at 19.5" square.  I quilted using my walking foot as the guide and then hand finished the binding and label.

Is it wrong to love your own makes?  I am pleased with every step of this, from the Y-seams to the embroidery, now I just hope my partner feels the same way.

Right, I'm off to soak up some rays before someone realises we have stolen their great weather and asks for it back, and a quick final reminder for the giveaway xxx

Mad Hadder's Tea Bag!

When I was putting together my Mum's birthday Grace Kelly Bag last night, the thought of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party kept popping into my head.

Not sure if it was just the teacup fabric, the pale Alice-blue outer, or the glue, but if the hat fits...

The photos are making the blue look a little psychedelic, it really isn't.

The spots are Clarke & Clarke home deco weight, so I skipped the interfacing and just used fusible fleece; it could possibly do with a little more structure, but as it is, I think it makes a lovely summer-weight handbag.  (All together now... "A haaaandbag?")

I will deliver it next weekend, and in the meantime I need to start ticking off the oodles of projects that need to be finished in the next couple of weeks, including a couple of annoying-for-you 'top secret' ones.

***There's still time to enter the giveaway to win my blogiversary Walk In The Woods frame purse and a copy of Fat Quarterly's Shape Workshop For Quilters***

Woo Hoo for the Holidays!

Yep, that's me and the kids done for another 61/2 weeks!

Presents given and 'thank you for helping' card received, work pass hung up, dear son's rock-pool sewing project brought home and a big old pile of washing...

... so happy for now; even though by Tuesday we will probably be driving each other potty!

*** Don't forget, the Giveaway closes on Monday ***

Some things from today...

Just trying to finish up all the work and school stuff, so not a lot to show today, although I have just cut and interfaced all the pieces for my Mum's Grace Kelly bag, hopefully that should be all done in the next couple of days.

So here are a few of the things coming in and going out the door round here...

Who could resist a Cath Kidston enamel cowboy teapot, in the sale? 

Not me!  I was only meant to be ordering the free catalogue.

Look at the selvedge on this...

Lakehouse Dry Goods Penelope Teacups from Mandy - Simply Solids, the lining for aforementioned bag.

And the teacher's presents all wrapped, Thank You cards written, (yeah that was fun!), and ready for tomorrow...

Don't forget the Giveaway.
xxx

The End is Nigh...

The end of term that is.

So today, I made 7 zippy purses for the teachers and teaching assistants who have had the pleasure of educating the FB brood this year...

It appears that this is the 2012 gift of choice - have you been over to Jo or Susan's today?

I'll pop a bit of Green & Blacks in to make up for not being from Marks & Spencer!

2 more days of work and school... not that I have been counting down the hours or anything, then, if someone could arrange some sunshine, I would be most grateful.

PS.  If you haven't entered my blogiversary giveaway yet,  click here.

iCosy

Firstly thank you all so much for all your lovely giveaway comments and some down-right crazy choices for Olympic crafts so far; some of you have really thought long and hard about it - excellent!

So what have I been doing whilst you have racked your brains on how to score knitting or win at crochet...  Finally getting a case made for my iPad, that's what.

I pinned and Googled and went round in circles until it came to me... scale up the Zakka Style pencil case!!!

So I did...

If it had ended up a few millimetres narrower, it would have been too small, but through complete fluke and wishful thinking, it turned out perfectly!

I used some of my awesome So Happy Scribble, lined it with AMH Folksy flannel, and used fusible fleece on both with a piece of medium interfacing in the middle for good measure.

iSnuggly.

Give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now...

***The Giveaway is now closed***

Guess what folks, I have been blogging for two whole years!  733 posts, over 93,500 page views and 11,000 comments - I can't quite believe it!

Some days it feels like I have been doing this for 20 years, other times those first few faltering steps seem like yesterday.

I have made such a bunch of terrific friends through these here ramblings, I wouldn't be without any of you.

I have been inspired to make, and have made to blog.  Even when my Inbox has been exploding with comments and I've had dozens of posts to catch up reading, I have blogged... everyday!

I guess that means I deserve a prize?  OK you do, for putting up with me, coming back time and again; sticking by me when I have the hump, and humouring me when I am getting too big for my boots.  Thank you one and all!

So what can I give you for your trouble?  A big internet hug and a great big fuzzy thank you?

Hows about the Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters book, I won a copy at Retreat but had already bought it, so I saved it especially for the occasion, its really good...

...and what about a cute little frame purse; Walk In The Woods, Essex linen, gridded interfacing technique and a little bit of swearing...

...and since you are all so nice, in the main, I will probably pop in a few other bits and bobs.

Is that enough to keep you interested?  I hope so, 'cause that's what you could be getting!

I know there are loads of giveaways running right now, so if you don't want this little offering I won't be offended!

But if you want in, no humongous hoops to jump through, two chances, two comments...

1. Leave a comment telling me, for fun, which craft really should be an Olympic sport and;
2. Be a follower (new or established, all welcome) and leave a second, separate comment telling me so.

If Blogger duplicates your comments, I will delete the erroneous ones, to be fair.  I will read all your replies, but for this one I won't be replying to individual comments.

Please don't be a 'no reply' blogger, leave your email address in your comment if you are - if I have no way of contacting you, you won't win.

International entrants more than welcome and I will close the comments, and draw a winner with the assistance of Mr RNG, next Monday (23rd July) at about 8pm BST.

I think that's everything.  Good luck and thank you xxx

Star, that's what they call you...

...how long you've waited to get where you are?  Ooh Kiki Dee!

Did you see this post?  I did, it made me happy and sad in equal parts.

I don't want to embarrass my dear friend Marguerite, well maybe just a little blush; but she is one of those wonderful people I spent the whole of Retreat saying 'we must speak properly later' to, and later became time to leave, dammit!

Next year my friend!

In the meantime, this one's for you...

I hope you get the super star quilt you really deserve xxx

Wiggle it...

Last week the wonderful Emily of Strawberry Patch Ramblings put up a blog post asking for help making Wiggly bags for a local charity and children's hospital.

I have seen these little pouches mentioned online before, so I am guessing that these useful little bags are used by children all over the world to carry their hickman lines whilst receiving treatment for cancer.

Emily posted a super tutorial, and some background info on this particular call for help.

I made these 2 within an hour, including choosing the fabrics and popping out to the shops for more tape midway through; they really are not complicated, and now I know how to do French seams, bonus!

These can be made with a couple of 5" or 6" charm squares, 2m of cotton tape, (which I think holds far better than ribbon) and a tiny bit of velcro.

What are you waiting for?

Sewing the blues...

What better way to try to rid myself of this week's gloom than a bit of simple sewing for others.

A couple of blocks for Bee Blessed...

They don't really have curved corners, I just got carried away with PicMonkey!

These were super easy, so if you feel like giving the blues away, pop over to Judith or Sarah's for the how-to.

My To Do list is a real whopper right now, so ticking something off has lightened the load, and my mood a little.

I did take today off work though just to keep my sanity intact.  This meant I could go to the 'Thank You' assembly first thing, for the mums and others who help out with classes, trips and events, which was sweet; and after school was the postponed summer fete, held indoors to avoid the unavoidable!

I also crammed in all the boring usual weekend stuff - food shop and cleaning etc to give me a 'free' Saturday.  Just to have a day, when I don't have to do anything, other than show you a couple of other little makes from today, will be bliss xxx

60 minutes of sanity...

I have managed a whole hour of stitching and gluing so far this week.

Last week, I cut and interfaced all the pieces for a U-Handbag Grace Kelly purse; that's purse in the American sense of the word, as this is a proper big-girl's handbag size affair.

On Tuesday a parcel of frames arrived and in the briefest moment of relative calm and me time yesterday afternoon, I managed to finish it, all bar the glue picking from the frame.

The fact that whilst the glue on the second side was 'curing', I had another call to collect a poorly child plus siblings from school, an hour early, did not make me smile.

This is all mine, FMF, Momo Scissors and some bright pink lining; I will make another for my Mum's birthday, I had to be the guinea-pig, that was only fair right? 

Following Lisa's pattern, I can honestly say there is nothing I would do differently, it worked just as it should have done, even with interruptions, brain half-distracted by a husband unexpectedly in hospital overnight, (all OK now), and a thunder storm flashing outside.

I haven't had the chance to test it yet; I'm guessing a family-size pack of Maltesers will be OK.

And just because I am feeling the Lisa Lam love right now, I got this with my latest TopCashback Amazon voucher...

Bags of fun xxx

One of those days, or maybe weeks...

If I told you that going to ballet was pretty much the highlight of the last 36 hours, I guess you will understand why I am just going to love you and leave you with my ballet girl...

I will catch up with comments and emails in the next day or so, although I might go blog-hopping on my iPad in bed later, but don't wait up xxx

In the box!

Remember on my birthday, the big mystery box?

Well I can finally let you see the contents, now that I have had a proper go of what was inside!

But first I want to tell you the story - feel free to skip down and just look inside!

A couple of months ago, I was chatting with Lynne about her theyoutube quilt, and whether, as I had heard, Sizzix cutters were better than the Go!  Now you know the number of times I tried and failed in my attempt to win one of those Babies; having heard mixed stories of their build quality, I wasn't prepared to pay for one!

So as Sizzix had started producing quilting dies, I put my thinking cap on, and did a bit of investigating, ending up in contact with a lovely lady in Marketing and began chatting. 

I think it must have been just before Retreat that I was offered some dies to play with.

Over the moon, but only one problem - no cutter!

A few weeks later, and feeling that my cheeky-charm had only got me so far, I was asked for my address and a couple of days later... ta da!

It is big, it is not sleek, there are pink highlight and diamantés, so I am taking the view that this is a Steampunk Go!

Man, it works like a dream though!

I had investigatied Sizzix cutters when hubby had offered to buy me a Go Baby!  They are cheaper than their white box counterpart (in the UK), but at that time, the variety of dies suitable for quilting, (as opposed to fabric, which I think most are), was severely limited.  So I passed.

But now they are expanding their range and the dies I am really waiting for, hexies, are due for release at the end of the month - can you imagine the fun cranking hundreds of those out!

So I have tumblers, drunkard's path, apple core and mini-dresden dies!  My first make?  A tooth fairy pillow!

I have had Nova's wonderful pattern for the Petal Pocket cushion for a while, and the dresdens were asking to be made into a mini-version!

So here is my first Sizzix-assisted project...

It's not perfect, but that was due to the urgency of an extremely wobbly tooth, but the now-gappy 5 year old loves it - it finishes as a 7" little cushion, perfect for swapping teeth for coins!

The great thing, I obviously need to make another one, so I will take a few pics and review the cutter and die properly as I do so.

xxx

Ding Ding Round 3 in the FAL...

Well it's my turn to lay my virtual cards on the virtual sewing table and tell you what I hope to achieve in the third quarter of 2012.

Now as this spans the summer holidays, I am going to average my time out as just a little less productive than usual, as despite being off work, I will have constant 'companions', time away and who knows, maybe the chance to crack on with the 4 novels, (to read, not write), I have sat on my bedside table!

So I am going to go with my big three...

The Mystery Quilt, which has gone a bit more mysterious - I want this one DONE!!!

My Retro Flowers - I love everything about this too much to let it fester in pieces...

...and my Spring Carnival mega-cushion...

I also have my In The Frame Purse package and Brit Quilt Swap mini to complete this quarter.  But as I have to finish these, they don't really count; I only have myself to answer to for the 3 above unless I commit to the FAL, and my days of being lenient are over!

Linking up with Rhonda and the gang, how about you?

Stuck on you!

With all the shenanigans going on round here, I forgot to show you these...

Another discount code, free postage and cashback, sucker that I am, I turned a few of my snaps into stickers!

Moo again!

I think these are rather fun.

Right, time to go write my FAL list for the 3rd Quarter  xxx

Highs and Lows...

Story of my week really!

I have spent the best part of today in the car, sewing, whilst dear son was on a school enrichment course; thank goodness for Spring Carnival!

As promised a couple of days ago, I have Bee blocks to show you. 

For the second round of Brit Bee, Fiona requested low volume blocks, to resemble an old and well-loved quilt, with inset, predominately FMF, traditional blocks.

My first block had to be a Constellation star - not 100% traditional, but Fiona loved it!  The HSTs finished up at 3/4" each, or thereabouts.



For my second block I went a bit bolder, and to be honest, simpler with a green seed Whirlwind block.

Both blocks measure 12.5" square.

The low value fabrics are all from Fiona's collection of favourites, oldies and most precious, which she entrusted to us to fulfil her vision.

I think Fiona is going to end up with a smashing quilt xxx

Best laid plans...again!

Having spent an hour with my manager making plans for the day, I immediately received a 'come and get her' call from school.

A turning blue-fainting funny turn after swimming meant a mad dash back, to find a more rosy and happy child, but getting the OK from the doctor, who gave her £1 to buy a cake, put my mind at rest. Skinny-minny children, outdoor swimming and cold rainy days don't go well!

Rainy days and school fayres don't go well either, guess I'll be doing the cleaning after school then x

Going round in circles...

I feel like I am chasing my tail a bit at the moment; I am glad I have been able to make progress on both my current swaps, and have got a couple of bee blocks under my belt this week; more on those tomorrow, but I don't feel I am getting enough things ticked off my mental to do list, (read that whichever way you like!).

I have been spending way too much time chatting rather than sewing whilst at ballet and swimming, and so my Spring Carnival EPP is going very slowly...

And today I received even more inspiration of the paper variety...

Having seen, and maybe even stroked Tacha's awesome Union Jack quilt at Retreat, and spotting last Thursday night, mid-FQly Twitter-chatter, that languishing on my Amazon Wish List, Hexa-Go-Go still had a release date for a few weeks time, Book Depository however said 'in stock' and it was cheaper - so in went my order, and today I received the book!

At rushed first glance it sure is lovely!

I really am hoping to be able to spend a lot of the summer holidays in the park with the kids, so between the hexing and embroidery I should be all set to sew-on-the-go; we just need a bit of actual summer to make leaving the confines of the house a posibility!

To add to my optimism, I have just ordered some 4" hoops from eBay too, so bring on the sunshine xxx

BQS3 - Y not!?

I have made the central block for my Brit Quilt Swap 3.

To say that I am chuffed to bits with the result would be a complete and utter understatement.

Now being the good partner that I am, I had a long old ponder on my secret partner's mosaic, and pulled a load of fabric which fitted the bill then toyed with replicating one of the blocks in said mosaic.

Then I had a flick through my 99 Modern Blocks, just to be sure.

One jumped right out, the Arrowhead by Wendy Hill. 

You cannot fail to see that the sample block is, quite frankly, a brown horror!  If you ever want to see the epitome of 'bad brown', sorry Wendy, but this is it.  But I saw through it, I have selective vision.

My idea was to use 4 of the 6" blocks to make a larger triangle.

Initial feedback from flickr was so great, I just set right to it!

It is a Y-seam dream/nightmare depending on the way you swing.  Having previously only sewn a few, and not perfectly, it has to be said, I followed the block instructions, making a small tailor's tack on each piece where the pattern calls for a 'mark'.  I think using a vanishing pen would not have worked so well as the way the seams are pressed you would have lost the 'point' many times over.

It worked like a bloody miracle!

Gratuitous shots of my Y-fronts, and backs!

Now I am not going to say if my partner has already commented or not, but I am hoping they love the finished block as much as I do.

Finally, a Happy 4th July to my friends of the US persuasion x

Baby, Baby, Baby oh!

I am pleased to tell you that the twins were delivered yesterday lunchtime, weighing in at a whopping 6lb 6oz and 6lb 8oz!  Everyone is doing well.  No names yet, and my mum will drop off the quilts at their Grandma's later in the week.

In other news, whilst my parents had the joy of looking after our brood on Saturday whilst hubby and I escaped to Chichester to spend a birthday voucher from my sister at Eternal Maker...

... followed by Prometheus (brilliant) and Pizza Express, I received another birthday parcel c/o a very late-in-the-day postie.

The giftcard read " Feel free to make us anything you like the look of in this book - you have until 4 January!"

I guessed before I had unwrapped it...

My sister is pregnant!!

So you can be sure I will have lots of little makes to show you in the coming months.

Soooooooo excited xxx

All Together Now...

Today I am proud to be linking up with Lynne over at Lily's Quilts and with all the other contributors who responded to the call for help in the name of Siblings Together.

Lynne's post today goes into the background of this wonderful cause, and the reason a bunch of merry quilters got together to do something to hopefully make the lives of a group of youngsters just that little bit more cosy.  Please go read all about it and visit some of the other bloggers who are linking up the quilts they made or contributed to, for the cause too.

How many times have I shouted at my kids "Well if you don't like it, go and find yourselves another Mummy and Daddy"?  I don't mean it, obviously; and it's OK, they don't read my blog!

But what if something so awful did happen, and they had to, would the 3 of them stay together?  I can't bring myself to think that one through.

They, indeed we, are the lucky ones; they get pretty much everything they ask for, and definitely everything they need, all within a 'traditional family unit'.  But you don't need me to tell you that not everyone has that stable security, and even when they do, having a quilt of your own can be more than just a blanket.

I hope I have made something for most-likely a teenage girl; (I am not afraid to stereotype that a big pink and black quilt is most likely destined to end up with a 14 year old female!), who will be able to cart it about, snuggle in front of the TV with it, or maybe even get to lay out in the sun on it, whilst knowing that somewhere some batty old woman, (well, we are all old to teenagers!), thought it would be a great idea, and cared enough to sew up something so pink, without wanting anything in return, just because.

I posted about my contribution when I first made the quilt, and I have since been able to take it to Retreat, sew a label on and have it collected with so many others after the Jubilee weekend.

Thank you again to Trudi for providing me with the wadding so that I could get it all finished and looking splendid, and thank you to Lynne for co-ordinating this worthwhile bit of stitchery.

Please check out the 100 Quilts for Kids blog hop if you want to get involved in making something too, it looks like there will be lots of great ideas coming out of that one.

Right then, I am off to cuddle the kids, before I start barking at them to tidy up and stop fighting... again. xxx

The June the doctor ordered!

It's Fresh Sewing Day, so I'm doing the linky thing as per usual!

OK, so my start to June was not ideal, what with that shocking burn n'all, but thank goodness for the adrenalin that got me through FQ Retreat weekend - I can't believe that was a month ago already!

The rest of June was spent distracting myself from the blot on my arm, until this week, when my birthday and other great things ended the month on a high.

So here's what I got up to...

There were other projects started, and plans, swaps and terrific things to look forward to, so it looks likely that I will continue to have lots to show you for the foreseeable!