Show off!

I love winning things, and I really love winning things that I love!

When I saw that there was going to be one specific FAL prize, made and donated by my lovely friend Sheila, and seeing that I had asked and she had sent me the pattern ages ago, and I never got round to making it - I had my fingers crossed!

So how happy am I!?

My girls couldn't congratulate me enough for obviously being so brilliant that I won the best thing they have ever seen!!!  I am in total agreement.

Mega-pinnie by name, mega-pinnie indeed!  It was loaded up with my must-haves within minutes of opening the box, all I need now are new pins, mine are way too shabby and bent up for this awesome new home.

Thank you again Sheila, and Leanne, you made a dismally wet Friday way better!

And if that isn't showing off enough - look what I got in the mail today...

DS-love!  Cindy you are such a superstar, mwah x

Now I've stirred up a little jealousy, I'll be off; see you on the 'morrow xxx

Sew Fluffy Sew!

If you took my advice, and the computer Gods did what they are paid to do, some time about now you should be receiving the brilliant October Fluffy Sheep Quilting Newsletter.

I saw a sneak preview, and it's a goodie!

And you may well find a little something in there that I made in the summer.

Lets just say that when my MacBook took a little vacation with the not-so-clever-tech guys in August, the only thing that wasn't backed up was destined for Cindy - gah!  Blood, sweat and tears for this one!

If you are not signed up, do not fear, have a look on Cindy's blog, there's a tab at the top for Shop Newsletters, if you click on any that are shown, then 'Past Issues' (top left) you will see a list, including this month's, so you will be able to catch up on previous editions too, but promise me you will sign up properly!

Scale...

I was wondering, do you always check the scale of prints when you order fabric, or do you just love a print and not care?

I sometimes check, Fat Quarter Shop is pretty good with its 8" swatch pics, but most of the time I assume.

When I was filling my basket with some Kona Snow from Cindy's Fluffy Sheep Quilting, I just had to have those Oh Deer deer!  I didn't even think to check the scale, which in this case was probably a good thing, (for my wallet), otherwise I would have ended up ordering miles of it!!!

Look how cute these deer are...

I honestly thought they were going to be at least twice the size.  I don't remember ever having been caught out in a bad way, but I am now thinking that has been more luck than judgement.

Another print I am currently playing with, one of Aneela's Cherry Christmas prints, has robins which are tiny; I was expecting them to be the same size as the ones we embroidered at FQ Retreat, they are so not! 

These are 1" hexies...

So go ahead, tell me I am a divvy, and that you always double check!  Some of you I might believe, others, not so much!

Oh dear, oh deer...

As much as I love you guys coming round, today I am packing you straight off to Cindy's.  You need to check out her giveaway, honestly you do.

Oh Deer! is now available in the Fluffy Sheep Quilting shop, so Cindy is celebrating by running a giveaway of 4 FQs from the collection on her blog.

OK, there may be some brown in there, but you don't have to choose those if you don't want to!
xxx

Fabric Mail - Spoonflower edition

Armed with a Spoonflower discount code a couple of weeks ago, I headed straight for the Heather Ross I had been frequently 'visiting', and ordered myself a FQ for less than £2 delivered...

Thank you missus, you know who you are xxx

Catch Up...

I am still trying to play catch up with blogs and emails and presents and all sorts, whilst trying NOT to spend every minute on the iPad, honestly!

So here's a little mosaic of some of the things I received yesterday, including the lovely Melody Miller Reels notebook made by Terri...

The box of polystyrene chips contained a non-birthday, but perfectly-timed parcel that I am so looking forward to showing you all very soon; I am VERY excited indeed!

And if you haven't joined in yet, please nip over to Cindy's for the full details of her Kona-picking challenge - choose a combo of 8/35 Kona solids from Cindy's shop Fluffy Sheep Quilting, and you could win 2 yards of the Kona(s) of your choice. 

Make a mosaic and link a separate post or flickr pic for each entry, name your bundle and bobs your uncle, more or less.

So my 3 entries are these...

Calm Sea...

Tequila Sunrise...

Batgirl...

Full deets of my selected Konas are shown in my flick photostream.

There has been a little sewing today and a lot of cutting up, so I am not completely lost to the charms of the iPad just yet (but only because I don't really know what I am capable of doing with it!), so I will have some stuff to show you tomorrow, promise x

It's Fabric Friday!

Well this week I have received a few squidgy packages, some I shopped for and others were gifts and I am over the moon with them all!

Firstly some long awaited yardage of Summersville from Brenda at Pink Castle - I did have plans, then I changed my plans, now I think I will wait until I have finished off a few other things first... probably!

With specific plans, I ordered the backing for the twin quilts.  You know when you just order with your fingers-crossed and hope that the online photo really is what you will receive, and when it arrives you are so totally thrilled that the plan came together?  Well these Essential Stripes from Seamstar so perfectly match the Reunion colours, and were on offer too, so I did a little happy dance when I ripped off the lovely tissue paper!

I also ordered 1/2m of Domestic Bliss to assist in making my Spring Carnival cushion - I know I won't need it for ages, but why pay two lots of postage and not take advantage of 10% off?

And then onto real treats...

A generous benefactor, who may have a lovely online shop in Galway, sent me an amazing sample pack of the full Mama Said Sew line to play with!!!  It's so gorgeous, I thought I was really going to have to think long and hard about what to make, but Lynne's ET Phone Home block is obviously a strong contender.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right?

And finally today - the mail to end all mail!

I got home to find that 'popping a few bits of Denyse Schmidt fabric in the post' actually meant 'sending a dream parcel of wonderful fabric that will make you giddy'!

My lovely friend Deborah, you may know her as Simply Miss Luella, spotted my persistent moaning around blogland about how we are so hard-done-by in the UK having neither Joann's nor Spotlight to satisfy our DS cravings and so she asked (asked!!!) if she could send me some.  Guess what I said!

I also received a smashing parcel from the one and only Terri - I asked if she could pick me up some DS fabric on her recent trip, (having found out where she was); and she also enclosed was a beautifully wrapped birthday present which I will, (if my resolve remains strong), save for Tuesday, and show you all then...

I have already gushed my thanks by email - but I need to say it again, online quilting friends are the most generous wonderful group of ladies and gents anywhere.

Now I am going to sit back and let my long weekend begin - I am not back to work until next Thursday, which is probably for the best, as I think I need to go and clear some space for all these new additions! xxx

My Fluffy Winner

It's time to announce the winner of this week's giveaway, in proud conjunction with Cindy and her new beautiful online store FluffySheepQuilting.com.

Well new-format Blogger has been a beast and hidden my comment numbering, despite trying a couple of hacks, I have given up for now and resorted to actually counting the comments myself...  Thankfully it wasn't a 'big' number!

So the lucky lady (sorry Richard, not you this time!), is...

... and trust me... or count them if you want to ... the winner of their choice of 1.5yds of Kona from Fluffy Sheep Quilting is...

Well done!! Start pondering and I will give Cindy your details so you can create your ideal combination.

Sorry to those who didn't win, but don't forget there's 10% off any order of 20 Euros or more, using coupon code Launch10% valid until Monday, when, coincidentally it's Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!!  I might just be able to rustle something up to offer!!

Tomorrow I will be joining in the Blogger 's Quilt Festival... now what to enter?

Happy Friday everyone xxx

Always the sun...

Remember the sun?  I have passed down stories of it to my children, you know, the sun you see when you break through the clouds in an airplane, the sun that, according to legend, used to shine in these parts in something called 'the summer'... in the days before the rain came.

So this weeks Zakka Style sew-along project, the Rain Cloud Mug Rug needed a pick me up... there was no way I was sewing rain!  I have had e-bloody-nough of the real thing!

So may I present my take on this project...

A fussy-cut Heather Ross sunshine, looking a bit bemused by all the clouds in the way, but trying to shine none-the-less...

You can just about make out the detail on the clouds; fancy eh?  Bondaweb, not needle-turned appliqué is my friend, if it's good enough for John, aka Quilt Dad, it's good enough for me.

On the reverse I even went a bit wild, having broken open the variegated yellow Aurifil for the rays, I machine embroidered the words to the song that has been going round and round in my head...

It was all made with scraps, and it may not be my best or favourite project so far, but it's growing on me.

In case you are in need of a pick me up or a bit of teenage/80s reminiscing too, this one's for you...

Finally, a huge thank you for all the comments left so far on the Fluffy Sheep Quilting giveaway post yesterday... there's still time to enter or take advantage of Cindy's discount code, so if you haven't already, please take a look... there will be further reminders... and what could possibly make a cold miserable day feel better than a bit of online fabric shopping eh!?

Fluffy Sheep Shopping... and a Giveaway!

I am so pleased, proud and honoured to announce that my friend and sometimes collaborator Cindy of Fluffy Sheep Quilting, has today opened her online fabric store.  Lets hear a 'whoop whoop' please!

Cindy's aim is to provide fresh, crisp modern fabric locally; for the geographically-challenged, Galway is a lot nearer than the US, and all at a reasonable cost.

Over the last couple of months there has been a lot of behind the scenes action all preparing for today.

Some of the gorgeous ranges already in stock include Patti Sloniger's Backyard Baby and Circa 52 by Monaluna, and there are previews of some future collections when you take a look.

The store has a great range of Kona solids, working out at less than £6.50/yard and a collection of Aurifil thread that will grow by leaps and bounds in the next few weeks.

To stay ahead of the game and to know what's what, you can sign up for the newsletter, follow on twitter, pinterest and FB or keep tabs on Cindy's lovely blog for regular shop updates.

There's even a customer loyalty program that will give you redeemable points on all your purchases, and a refer-a-friend program to boot.  The girl's thought of everything.

OK, so it's in Euros, but only by default, don't worry, at the click of the £ symbol, or even $ if you are that way inclined, you can see the conversion, and for us UK folks, we are talking 'Europe' here, so no frustrating import restrictions!

Postage is determined by the weight of your order too, so no paying over the odds when you only want a small amount.

Cindy is eager to receive your comments and suggestions, so please email her with anything you are looking for that you didn’t find, or maybe a Kona solid colour suggestion or two.

To celebrate the grand opening, Cindy is offering you 10% off any order of 20 Euros or more, (that's about £16.10), using coupon code Launch10%.  The code is good from today 14 May to Monday 21 May on anything in the shop.  You can use it as many times as you like within the week.  You don't have to login to use the coupon, but why not create an account and be eligible for the customer rewards program straight away.

And what would a store opening be without a Giveaway?

Cindy is offering one of you lovely people the chance to win 1.5 yards of Kona Solids from her store in your choice of colour(s) and combo, maybe 1.5 yards of one colour, 3 half yard cuts or maybe even 6FQs, the choice is yours.

So how about 3 chances?  Leave a separate comment for each of the following...

1.  Pop over to Fluffy Sheep Quilting and sign up for the Newsletter and leave a comment here to say you have.
2.  Tell us in a separate comment which future fabric line you are looking forward to, (for market research purposes!) - I am longing for Lucy's Crab Shack by Sweetwater.
3.   Be a follower of my blog - well honestly, you don't think I'd miss an opportunity like this do you!?  Leave a comment to tell me so.

The giveaway is open to all, no matter where you are in the world.  You have until 8pm (British Summer Time) on Friday 18th May, when I will get Mr Random Number Generator to pick a lucky winner.

Oh, and if one giveaway isn't enough for you, then you may want to pop over to Susan's, Sarah's or Cindy's for the chance to win some other goodies.

Good luck Cindy, I wish you all the success there is, and good luck everyone x

*** The Giveaway is now closed***