Lucky lucky me!!!

My #IGminiswap parcel arrived today!!!

How thrilled am I!??

Not only a beautiful mini quilt, but some lovely extras too…

Chocs, a cute pouch and even some puzzles for the kids.

My partner Kristy did a fantastic job of making me do an impromptu happy dance, curtailed only by having to go off to the school Christmas fayre this afternoon!

I really want to gush and gush, and thank Kristy for such a beautiful package; I really am going to try and work it into my Christmas decorating, and then maybe forget to put it away in the New Year ;)

#IGminiswap Extra...

I have bought a couple of extras for my #IGminiswap partner, but won't show you until they have received the parcel on the off chance that they are looking in.  However I have just stitched up the last bit of the bundle…

I used my boxy pouch pattern from Love P&Q, and am rather taken with the grey home dec bottom and patchwork top.

As mailing has now begun, I will be off to the post office at the weekend, and then my side of the deal will be done.

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2014

Hello there!  Welcome to my humble abode, maybe for the thousandth time, maybe the first, it's lovely to see you all.

This evening I am linking up with awesome Amy and her Blogger's Quilt Festival.  I love taking part, love seeing so many inspiring and wonderful creations all in one place; so many quilts, so little time, it's great to not have to do the leg work.  We may not be at market, but it's not the end of the world!

I scanned through my photos for the last six months; there are a few quilts in there, not as many as I would have hoped, I think 5 or 6, and this time I have plumped for my last quilt finish.

My #IGminiswap quilt.

I finished this up at the Brit Bee Weekender a few weeks back, but I was so damn productive that weekend, the finish didn't get an all bells and whistles post to itself, so now is its time shine.

My partner in this swap has a liking for improv, and her likes mosaic was pleasingly scrappy.  Improv does not come easily to me.  I like a straight line and a perfect point (not to obsession, but near enough, oh the irony!), so I had to keep us both happy.

Wonky Drunkard's Path blocks.  Cut with a Sizzix, pieced and then squared off to 3.5" with no particular alignment.

I hope this ticks my partner's box, so to speak.  I love how it turned out, sometimes those sketches on the back of an office memo really do make it all worthwhile.

I pondered the ROYGBIV category, but have decided to pop this in with the Scrappy Quilts.

A few more details for those who like them:

Finished size 24" square;
60 different coloured scraps; duplicates in the LV background;
Pieced & quilted with Aurifil 2021 50wt;
Bound with black & white Flurry and a few coloured scraps for luck;
Off-centre spiral quilting.

Thank you for taking the time to have a look, I am certainly looking forward to seeing what everyone else has been up to x

Brit Bee Weekender pt.2

There was much laughter, chatting and eating, you get that, but by golly there was stitching!

I was actually quite unprepared for the productivity that can be mustered when you are not having to clear away all sewing in order to eat, do home work or keep the family happy.  I took, what I thought was ample to fill the weekend, and popped in my trusty hexies, just in case, but I ended up making way more than I had hoped.

Top of my To Do list was quilting and binding my #IGminiswap; success!

An off-centre spiral and semi-scrappy binding, hope my partner loves it as much as I do.

Next on my list were Bee blocks for Stitch Tease; this month for Jen, Re-mixed Geese, using the no-waste method; so quick, even with all the nattering!

Then a pair for Jude and Sarah's Bee Blessed; I used Sarah's bright idea of creating the two blocks by my usual HST method, and it worked a treat.  I was able to pop these straight into her hands, which was an added bonus…

An unscheduled tick, Susan had handed me the next Brit Bee Medallion to work on, and luckily the package contained most of the fabric needed, with some additions of mine and Ange's, I was able to get my geese border and 4-patch completed and handed straight to Sarah, woo hoo!  As these are secret, here's the highly doctored proof…

On Sunday we got printing!  Dear hubby had turned my vision into an image, I then emailed it to Thermofax to create a printing screen.

I had trialled it at home beforehand, and am the proud and happy owner of a navy hoody and grey slouchy Tee emblazoned on the back, as well as a nice piece of Cotton & Steel.

Anyway, we gave the pool table a break from being our cutting surface to become our printing area.  Mass production ensued, everyone who wanted had a go, and the lounge became a drying room…

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone makes with all their panels.  I screened a little tote bag, just because, and when the screen comes home, afters doing the rounds at Troods' and Katy's, I am definitely going to get a few more printed.

What I made next was a zippy pouch.  Total fluke that it fits my iPad; I do love an added bonus…

I used up a couple of Karen/Blueberry Park's scrap bags, bought at FQR when she got me into this screen printing lark, so it seemed totally right to pair it with my Weekender print.  I was running low on fabric at this point, so the lining is pieced, and I love it.

My final finish of the weekend was an impromptu sewalong with Ange and Fiona.  Using Svetlana's excellent tutorial, we all made little drawstring bags...

A little Jungle Avenue with Cotton & Steel, a sweet little combo I reckon.

And that was me!  My mojo was definitely back at full strength.  I wish I had taken photos of everyone else's makes, because there was so much gorgeousness about, but honestly, if I wasn't sewing, I was too busy eating!

Back home, I just need to get the binding on my commission quilt, then I am going to dive straight into a Sew Together Bag.  Ange made one over the weekend, and what more inspiration could I need?

#IGminiswap Full Frontal

Time is short today - work, dentist, school Meet The Teacher session, pick up, home, back to school for a 2nd post-Chess club pick up, home again, showers for the girls, dinner, Cubs (although hubby had the pleasure of helping with the pack litter pick!), shower for the boy, and then, only then, time for a cup of tea!

So here's a full on pic of my #IGmini…

I am seriously thinking of a nice bit of spiral quilting, a little off-centre, in-keeping with the wonk; as much as I would love to get my hand quilting action on again, the number of seams in this beauty would totally scupper my rhythm!

Day off tomorrow though - woo hoo, 'nough said!

#IGminiswap progress...

I was able to stitch up all my drunkard's path 'quarters' yesterday in the end, and I trimmed them all this afternoon.

They were trimmed in a wonky fashion, on purpose.  My partner loves a bit of improv, but that doesn't come naturally to me as much as I would love it to.  So this was my best attempt; there are still nice matching points in the centres, and each block fits together like proper quilt blocks, but it has the look of the carefree and easy going, so everyone's a winner!

I snapped a few pics as I went, and the Instagram likes are a real confidence boost…

The top is now complete, but here I will stall for a while, as I am currently wadding-free, so I need to rectify that.  But, how the bugger am I going to quilt it!!???

Back on the Home Front..

Those who follow me on instagram may have spotted the point in last night's proceedings when we resorted to selfies and silliness…

It was an evening of sublime and ridiculous, seeing some old friends and colleagues, false moustaches and cream teas.  We managed to stay out until about 10.15pm, by then the kids were full of cake and getting restless, and I was happy to swap my heels for flip flops and come home for a cup of tea.

Up bright and early-ish today, I Sizzix cut all my #IGminiswap DP pieces whilst helping dear son with his homework, multi-tasking at its best…

So all set for another week, a relatively normal week at that, but I have a couple of corker weeks coming up, so I am happy to just go with the flow for a bit.

#IGmini prep...

Having all three kids in after-school choir today meant I had a little extra time before pick-up to pull and sort fabrics.  You could be forgiven for thinking that there may have been an ulterior motive last term when sign ups opened!

So it's currently all about the #IGminiswap, so the plotting continued today.

64 scrappy squares…

… and all the LV fabric have been picked out too, all ready for an almighty Sizzix session over the weekend, c'mon xxx

#IGminiswap Mosaic...

One of the first techie things I did on return from holiday, (a whole week ago, sob), was to make up a quick mosaic for my #IGminiswap partner, you know, just in case my long and detailed 'Likes/Dislikes'  lists on the sign up form weren't enough.

Trying sooooo hard not to be a complete control freak, but it really only consisted of the usual 'No brown, primary colours, batik, kiddy or funny'.  OK, there may have been more, but I forget!

So dear partner, here's my mosaic again, in a more eye-friendly size, (I pity the phone-only instagrammers, trying to see what the heck are in those mosaics!)…

I think it sums up my current loves, don't you?  Scrappy, low volume and a bit of Jen!

I have started stalking my partner too, she has posted a great mosaic, (so if you haven't, it's not you then, but more importantly, why the heck haven't you!?); I think I have a plan.  Watch this space.

In other news, I have now managed a whole 2 days back at work, and am well and truly ready for the weekend xxx

#IGminiswap

Are you on Instagram, are you in?

I haven't been in a swap for ages, but it appears that every quilty instagrammer and their wife are up for this.

If you are on Instagram but have missed all the buzz, check out Sandy's blog for the details.  He has mustered enough swap-mamas and papas to cover 1000 swappers.  Yes, 1000!!!

Follow curly_boy1 for tips and pics.  Sign ups close on August 23rd, just saying.

Here's to the biggest mini-swap ever!