All go round here!

Honestly, I don't know if I am coming or going at the moment; I still have the giant star quilt to bind, as my evenings this week have been taken over plotting and planning a surprise and short turn-around commission, along with sorting a weekend away (woop woop!) and organising even more school bags and washing than ever with the start of the swimming season.  My temperamental MacBook has consumed more than its fair share of time and swear words, but it's playing nice right now, so on we go.

I have bumped my parents from Saturday to Sunday, so that I should be finished with the quilt by then, and have time to get some pics and enter it into the Bloggers Quilt Festival; I am also hoping that I can put the house back into some sort of order too - something will have to give!

I am guest posting over at Ellison Lane today too - Jennifer trusted me to start getting you in the mood for some simple patchwork action...

It seems a while since I made this happy pouch...

So please pop over and show some love!

And as for the Sew Mama Sew Giveaways - I whizzed through those that appeared in my reading list and maybe entered 2 or 3 others, but you don't want to hear about that... you want to know who won my offering, which, I can confirm, has had the lining gap stitched closed (this afternoon!)...

Woo hoo!  I'll email you in a minute!  I met Sarah at FQR13, she was suffering from crazy-pregnant-lady-brain at the time, as you may deduce from her bag contents, she's having fun now!

Thank you to everyone who entered, I loved reading what old crap you all drag around in your bags too, I had planned to show you the contents of mine, but time got the better of me, that's my excuse and I am sticking to it.

Right now I have the perpetual 24 clock going off in my head, see yesterday's post, so come back this time tomorrow, to see if I have managed to save the world, well my little bit of it anyway!

xxx

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!!

***The Giveaway Is Now Closed***

Well it's that day again, so even though I am feeling a bit under the cosh, I rustled up a little something to add to the fun and games of the wonderful Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day.

This little tote has been made using Svetlana's wonder tutorial using some Joel Dewberry home dec, dark grey upholstery fabric, that feels so nice, and lined with a grey solid and a handy patch pocket...

If truth be told I haven't sewn up the turning gap yet, but I will do, promise!

I am not going to hold you up, I know there are so many giveaways, and so little time; and you all know the score that if you are a first time here, welcome, have a look around, blah-di-blah - I know you won't, well you might, no obligation!

This giveaway is open internationally, will close at 9pm UK time on Friday 16th May, and the winner will be chosen by Mr Random.   If a No-Reply blogger, who has not left their email address in the body of their comment, is selected, I will re-draw, sorry.

All you have to do is leave me one comment, (additionals will be deleted!).  So, tell me, other than keys, wallet, phone, what else do you always carry about in your bag of choice?

Thank you for stopping by - I will not be responding to individual comments this time, but I will read and no doubt chuckle at them all.

Good luck xxx

Winner!!

I have consulted with Mr Random, and he has declared that...

Joanne you are my winner!  The scarf is all yours, the daughter is optional!  I will email you shortly.

Thank you to everyone who entered, and for making me feel like I am not alone in my last minute making panic, in fact some of you have made me wonder what I have to worry about!!

Happy weekend everyone xxx

It's Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

***The Giveaway Is Now Closed***

It was touch and go there for a while if I was going to have to sit out Giveaway Day this time around, both as a giver and as a hopeful winner, but here I am, and I have a little something that I hope you may like to win!

As regular readers will know, I went a bit panic-sewing crazy last week, trying to get as much done as possible in good time for Christmas gifting, and one of the makes on my list was a new lightweight infinity scarf.  OK, not strictly gifting, as it was for me, and I already have about 8, but I had bought some Valori Wells voile specifically for that reason, and didn't want winter passing me by without getting it made.  So I made two!

What I am offering up is a pink/orange dandelion voile infinity scarf, backed with pink Anna Maria Horner.

From memory it was made using c. 18" by 60" cuts, but don't hold me to that!

As modelled by my glamorous assistant.

If you would like to be in with the chance of winning, please leave a comment telling me how many handmade things you still have to finish before Christmas, just to make me feel better; I have 5, including a set of 8 table mats!  Obviously if you don't celebrate Christmas, or make handmade presents, you are not excluded, just make something up, or tell me what you really want to get finished by the end of the month.

Followers get a second bite at the cherry, leave a separate comment telling me how... obviously I like the followers that I can count in my sidebar best, but bloglovin or whatever takes your fancy, is fine too!

This giveaway is open internationally;  I will draw a winner, using Random.org at 9pm GMT on Friday 13th December (lucky for one!), I will be asleep at the official closing time, and out for all of Saturday, so it's then or never.

Good luck peeps; as with these (hopefully) popular events, I will not be responding to individual comments; please make sure you are not a No Reply Blogger (or leave your email address in your comment), otherwise I will have to redraw, and I reserve the right to delete duplicate comments, just to keep things nice and tidy.

If this is your first time visiting, 'hello' please have a look around.  It is probably best to skip back a month or so at least, because things have been a little slow in the health, computer and making departments of late, but I am hoping to turn that all around in the New Year.

Right, time for me to have a pootle round the giveaways, I may be some time.  Good luck everyone xxx

Sew Mama Sew Winner!

The winner of my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway is...

Lindsey!!  I have sent you an email already my friend.

Thank you everyone for entering and telling me your favourite fabric combos.  It seems that I should be getting some more purple in my life! 

And to all of those who mentioned the 'B' word, you will be either shocked or pleased that I have been making plans for my F8ths of Echo, and there are many (good) browns in there!

Have a great Saturday everyone xxx

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

*** The Giveaway is now closed ***

Hello, hello, hello!

I am going to cut to the chase, you have so many places to go, so many giveaways to enter, I am not going to keep you here for too long; I know you just want to know the what, and the how eh!?

The what is a small (8" square-ish) zippy purse made of Liberty Lifestyle and Essex Linen, my current favourite combo...

There is also a key fob in matching Liberty; you can never have too many purses and keyrings nor too much Liberty in my humble opinion!

If this is your first time visiting, it would be nice if you came back again; I know today is all about the goodies, not going to kid myself about that one, but if you are liking my style, (stop sniggering at the back), please think about coming back and clicking the follow button.

So anyway, the how...

Leave me one comment, (any additionals will be deleted), telling me your current favourite combination of fabrics; things that were born to be together, or others that probably shouldn't work, but actually do; it would be nice to try something new.

The giveaway is open internationally; Random.org will be used to select the winner; and I will say it again, if you are a 'No Reply' blogger, please leave your email address in the body of your comment - if I cannot contact you, I will click the generate button again.  I will not be responding to individual comments, but may well give credit for fab combos in my Winner post.

I will close the giveaway as soon as I wake up on Saturday (11th May), because 5pm PST, or DST or whatever Friday, is the middle of the night in the UK, and I'd rather give you a couple of extra hours than disturb my beauty sleep.

Thank you Sew Mama Sew for the hosting, and thank you for stopping by.  Good luck everyone xxx

And the Winner is...

Dah, dah, dah...

Congratulations Catherine, I will email you in a second xxx

Thank you to everyone who took the time to enter my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway, I am completely blown away by the number entries and all the lovely, and also barking mad comments.  Welcome to all my new followers too - it has not gone unnoticed that I have raced over the 500 mark, so I think another giveaway in the New Year may be in order, but only if you want one, obviously!

I am recovering from the school Christmas Bazaar right now, so please excuse me whilst I try to get the ringing of Christmas bells out of my ears.  Here's to a good weekend everyone xxx

Giveaway Day!

*** The Giveaway is now closed - Winner to be announced shortly***

Hello hello hello and welcome as always to the regulars, irregulars and stalkers who frequent these parts, and thank you too for stopping by if you are purely here to take a look at the loot, I won't hold it against you.

It's Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day and I am ready!

After a shocking failure to get finished yesterday, I came in from work this afternoon, stitched a bit, did the school run, then stitched a bit more.  Took some slightly dodgy photos, fed the family and here I am.  If this is your first time here, that pretty much sums up most of my days.

So what do I have on offer for you this time... one of Jeni, In Color Order's drawstring bags, the first I have actually completed, 5 more are all cut and ready to go for Christmas, and I don't think I will be stopping after those; it's a brilliant pattern.

And what do you need to go inside a cute bag?  Well hexies, that's what!  I have cut 100+ 1" hexie papers to get you started, and just because I want to spread the hexie love to one and all, I've cut a rainbow of 100 scrappy 1.25" hexies, so you can make yourself something fun straight away with no time-consuming chopping required.  I did use my Sizzix in case you are wondering, I am not kind enough to have cut them all by hand!

So what do you have to do to be in with a chance of winning this bag o' fun?

Two chances, with one separate comment for each... any additional comments will be deleted, and if you answer both in one comment, you'll only get one chance...

1. Tell me what you would pop in the bag after you have stitched up all those hexies; and
2. Followers get a second chance, just leave a comment saying that you are; you can even start following right now if you feel so inclined; I will then tick you off the class register!

International entrants are more than welcome; I will use Random.org to draw a winner on Friday 7th at 9pm GMT (which I think is only 1pm PST, but I will be asleep at 1am/5pm PST, sorry).

No Reply Bloggers must leave an email address in your comment(s), otherwise I will re-draw, sorry.

Good luck chaps - as with previous giveaway posts, I will not be replying to all the individual comments, but I will read everything xxx

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Winner Time

I am blown away by the response I have had to my little giveaway!  Your thoughts on what you think of as typically British were great!  I am sitting here with a cup of tea, apologies, it's actually a mug, not a delicate teacup and saucer, and I am not wearing a hat of any shape or size. 

Today though, in typically British-style I must tell you that the weather was beautiful, and I went to visit a 900 year old castle...

I want to officially welcome all the new followers who chose to sign up during the giveaway, hope you will stick around for my daily witterings - I've topped 400, that's amazing!  Thank you.

So without further ado, Mr Random Number Generator has plucked lucky number 188...

(Please note, in the interest of fairness I have just done a bit of housekeeping and had to remove 3 or 4 comments that were duplicates before drawing, so your comment number may have shifted about a bit in the last hour!).

And in case you haven't skipped straight to this bit anyway, that's you Amy of Amy's Crafty Shenanegans...

Congratulations Amy - I will email you in a mo'.

Thankfully Amy was not a No Reply blogger, because then I would of had to pick again.  Please make sure you aren't, or if you are, always, always add your email address to your comment.  Check here if you are unsure.

I will leave you with just a few more pictures of my day...

Tomorrow I will be Jubilant!

Time for a Quickie...

I have been busy plotting and planning again, so nothing of substance to show just yet...

However I have been chuckling over all your typically British comments, some are really brilliant but I am so confused about the 'hat' thing!  Mind you, I could have done with a sun hat today, hottest day of the year, c'mon!

If you missed yesterday's post and my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day offering, please have a look.

Right, I have a million blog posts to read, more giveaways to enter, nominations to make over at Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival, oh, and maybe some sewing and a cup of tea xxx

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

*** The giveaway is now closed***
***Winner post here***

Well if I said I was ready from the get-go to join in with the fantastically awesome giveaway spectacular that is the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day, then that would be a fib; but on Saturday I knuckled down and got making.

My 'inspiration' if I could be that bold, was to make something a bit British!  Surrounded by Jubilee and Olympic preparations, how could I not at least tip my hat in that direction?

So my contribution to the Giveaway madness is this collection of Cath Kidston-inspired makings...

I have been pulling out, stroking, the folding away a lovely piece of the CK print for too long, (a prize, probably my first EVER from my dear friend Annabelle), so what better time to use a small piece of it and share the love.

The pouch measures about 8" x 6.5" and had to combine with my current love of Essex Linen...

The big pocket on the back will comfortably hold a 6" hoop, if a bit of embroidery is your current stitch-craft of choice.

The purse is lined with some pink and white star fabric of unknown origin, but it keeps with the CK theme rather nicely.

I had to make a matching needle book and pincushion.  A word of warning on the pincusion though; having interfaced and added a piece of batting as well as the (poly) wadding, you may have problems actually getting your pins and needles in - the linen side is the better option; but it looks pretty anyway!

I also have these that came with a newspaper...

I already have all the books, which include all the lovely patterns they contain, so maybe they can inspire you too.

So what do you need to do to get your hands on this little piece of Brit-ness?

Well you could follow me, that would be polite, but you don't have to, honestly; so one comment only please telling me 'what you think of as typically British'?

Whether you are Brit, or maybe looking in from overseas, it matters not - I will mail internationally.  However, if you are a 'no-reply blogger' without a means of me tracking you down, I will re-draw.  Mr Random will do the deed.

The giveaway will remain open until Friday 25th May - 9pm British Summer Time.  NB. This is a little earlier than 5pm BST, but that's the middle of the night, and I'd like to pick a winner before I go to bed.

Jolly good luck to you all xxx

Feelgood Friday...

I have so many Thank You emails and replies to send, so I have to make this quick!  (2 Explores in a week - has the world gone crazy?).

Today's mail included these...

Do you want my twisted logic?  Goldfish - stupid money (but I love them too much), doggies - not so much; 2 FQs, add them together, a good price for a 1/2 yard (well, sort of!).  And I have used way more than a 1/2 yard of stash so far this year!  I got mine here.

This evening I turned these...

... into HSTs for my Mouthy Stitches partner; they still need to be trimmed, but that's a job for tomorrow, after a trip to Bluewater.

I started cutting the background fabric for the Cherry Star... but more on that over the weekend.

I also got my first Fat Quarterly on Subscription - thank you Mum & Dad (if you knew I had a blog!),  there are so many awesome things to make, and Kerry has made me so want a teapot!

And finally, check this out!  Be chuffed Bee ladies xxx

More Plays and Purses...

I got to see the Christmas play again this morning, my reward for putting about 15 little girls' pairs of tights back round the right way and pulling big heads through tiny sweatshirt head-holes!

These phone snaps sum it all up for me...

I also went Christmas food shopping; all bought, bar the fresh veggies and the small matter of a turkey (ie. we have enough chocolate, coke, cheese and cake for a month!).  We are meant to be dining with my parents, but I am stocking up just in case it snows or some other mishap keeps us 70 miles apart - have you seen the forecast?  Blimey!

I haven't managed any sewing yet today but I only have one felt ornament left to make for the school presents, how I forgot 'Nanny Jean' I will never know.  Then all the deadlines move forward to the big day.  Phew!

Last night I put together the last of the production line purses... although I am officially addicted and may just keep on making...

This one is for Ballet Twin...

The measurements are again based on Ayumi's tute, and I have finally memorised the zip layering mantra, thanks Kat.

This one is for me... 

I know, I don't need it, but since when did that matter!?  The fabric is another upholstery sample, and still requires an additional detachable section of strap to be put on when I get more split rings; I am rather in love with it already.

There's still time to enter the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway if you haven't already.  I have been literally overwhelmed with the number of responses so far, so please forgive that I can't reply to all the comments, otherwise there'll be no time for making - and that just wouldn't do!