Head Down And Sew

It's been cut, sew, press, trim, repeat around here. Unexpected events threw the schedule out at the beginning of the week so I've been playing catch up. 

The light is at the end of the tunnel, which is good as the deadline looms as well. Then March begins and I can do bee blocks, and play about with my fabric some - with no plans in place. I'm rather looking forward to that. 

Susan 

Nice Stuff

While I was away post arrived. Lovely pretty post of the best kind. 

First up was a wonderfully huge open wide pouch from my best friend, using her precious HR stash (I may have had a hand in getting her hooked on HR). She could have given it to me in person in five weeks time but thought I might find it useful whilst packing for our trip. Too right! It will be a well travelled pouch before this year is out.

Another of the parcels had lovely fabrics from Heidi's (@fabricmutt) that I won in an IG giveaway she had. Heidi chose the fabrics so well for me, and it was so kind of her to part with such beauties. Some may be too beautiful to cut, though I have to get over this obsession of mine to not use my favourites. It is very counter productive! 

Finally, there was a wee parcel from Emily (Strawberry Patch) that I bought in a destash she did when I was away. Wifi was infrequent but well timed in this case as both fabrics have been on my list of needing more. The FMF brown is probably my favourite brown ever, and let's face it, brown does not come high on my list of must haves. This one is just so good though. The toasters have been needed in my fussy cut stash for so long. Now I just need kerchief girls. Oh, how I need kerchief girls. 

I haven't put these fabrics away yet. I like leaving stuff out to be admired for a while before tucking it safely away in the right drawer. Isn't that what a dining room table is for? Fabric display.

Susan

And The Winner Is...

What with this iPad blog post writing you are just going to have to go with this. I'm struggling here. I used Mr RNG and eliminated seven double comments and deleted comments for a total of 100 names in the hat. The number drawn was 82 and that turned out to be - 

Dianne Neale, who is also a bee mate and someone I have met in person. I can't remember the last time I had a giveaway winner that was someone who I had known almost from the beginning. So Dianne, your prize will be sent with your overdue bee blocks. 

Everyone else, I truly appreciate you entering the draw and all the lovely comments left. I shall try not to let so long go by before the next giveaway. 

And with that, I'm off to the post office (not with the prize, other stuff), then the school run and then multiple dance classes. That's the rest of the day spoken for. 

Susan 

Sewing 0 - 3 Books

We are back from our sojourn 'up north'. A fabulous time was had by all, but the blog post title sums up what I accomplished in the stitching arena. Not bothered though. We swam every day, played a playing card form of monopoly (don't ask), Chinese checkers, and we all read, a lot. 

A few other activities got thrown into the mix. 

There was a fencing lesson for each of them. 

We all painted pottery. This was my attempt, a progress shot. I need to take a final results photo of what each of us accomplished. Not sure if I like mine better before or after glazing though! 

And that's Emily finishing her 12m high tree trek with a zip wire. She did it without falter, and would have done the zip wire again and again given half a chance. 

And now it is head down and sew time for me. Commission work will take priority this week. But please don't forget my giveaway - just leave a comment on the post - if you want to win the tin and the fabric. Also, if you would like a chance to win something made by me and have a say in choosing what you would like that to be then hop on over to Instagram. If you aren't in IG, I'm really sorry. It's why I ran the giveaways at the same time, I wanted no one to be left out one way or the other. 

Unbelievably, we are now on the countdown to our next holiday. Just five weeks until we head across the ocean. Excitement levels are rising here. 

Susan 

Over Four Years Ago

I started blogging over four years ago and it transformed my life in many ways. It brought me into a world of fabulous inspiration, sharing and, best of all, friendship. I thank you all for that. 

With this in mind, I decided that it had been way too long since I gave anything away here. So, I found a tin. 

And I found some fabric.

I put the fabric in the tin. 

And Bob's your uncle, I have something to send to one of you. If you would like five FQs of low volume fabric, and five FQs of mostly blenders (and the tin obviously) then please do leave a comment here. Who knows, your name may be the one Mr RNG picks this time round. 

Rules? Not many. You can be anywhere in the world. Leave a comment, but please only one comment. If you are not sure whether or not you are a no reply blogger leave an email I can contact you at. If you don't then, sorry, but I will redraw and pick someone else's name. Trust me, it's happened before and more people are no reply bloggers than they realise. Hint, if you leave comments on blogs and never, ever get replies then you may be one of them. Oh, and Google+ has a habit of turning you into one on a regular basis without you knowing. I know this because it happened to me too many times to mention - I fixed it by dropping Google +. Ha! 

Okay, where were we? Rules. Leave a comment and contact details. That's it. I hate jumping through hoops so have no desire to make you do them for me. I will do the draw on Monday, February 23rd sometime around lunchtime here in the UK, as I will be back from my holidays and have regular wifi again.

A big thanks for reading my blog, offering support and advice on a regular basis, and being part of this online community. 

Susan 

PS: While I try to reply to blog comments as often as possible, with a giveaway there isn't a chance I will manage so I'll just say thanks for entering here - if you choose to enter that is. 

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED, THANK YOU. 

The Only Sewing That I Packed

I didn't fill my bags with projects to work on while I am away. Except for my latest epp. 

I pieced the borders on before coming away, and did a last minute rushed basting and packed my perle threads. I've no plan in place and doubt this will be heavily quilted in any way shape or form. I may even change my mind about hand quilting it and bring it home untouched and machine quilt instead. But it is with me just in case that after ample mulling over I decide that a wee bit of perle is just the thing called for. 

Susan 

Is A Bubble Half Made...

... Better than a bubble half missing? I hope so, because all I have time to make is half a bubble. 

This is paper pieced (Yes, I know, I paper pieced!) but in the realm of paper piecing it is easy because all the bits except the centre are rectangles. Not difficult to get the size right at all. Aylin has made a quilt with all different sized bubbles. You can see it here - http://aylin-nilya.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/bubbles-quilt-pattern.html  (If you are interested in having the pattern for yourself, Aylin has a link to her shop at Payhip on her blog.)

I really like the pattern but time constraints mean I can't finish it today. In fact I will be away from my sewing machine for eleven days. I will also be away from wifi most of that time. Eeeek! I keep telling myself that it will be good for me but I am sure I will be found pressed up against a window in the corner holding my phone up trying to get a signal like the desperate person I am. Sad but true. 

Hope you all have a great half term, if that applies to right now. 

Susan 

An Abundance Of Riches

I met my friend Gill today for lunch in Stratford. It was lovely to catch up, as always, but she floored me with her generosity. Gill is so good at stuff I can't do, like knitting and making clothes (so jealous), but one thing I do that she isn't so keen on is scrappy quilting. 

So she passed on all her 'scraps' as she thought I could put them to use. Uh...   ...yeah! 

More like hell yeah! Thank you so much, Gill. There are some real treasures here. 

Polka dots galore, always a good blender. 

And British themed fabrics for my fussy cutting enjoyment.

FMF, Vintage Happy, Aneela Hoey, The Sweetest Thing and Nordika. Seriously! 

And this little piece of fussy cutting heaven. I am - almost - speechless. Plus we had eggs benedict for lunch. Does a day get any better?!

Susan

The Brain Is Functioning Better Today

I'm six diamonds short off finishing the epp part of this project.

Now all I have to do is decide which fabric to use. That may take a while.

Susan

Taking The Hint

We've had a terrific weekend with good friends, lots of laughter, food, some wine, and more laughter. No complaints here. 

But I may be a little tired and not concentrating. This would be the first clue.

Time to step away from the epp and just relax. Doh! 

Susan 

Guests Coming

And that means I've been doing housework. And cooking. And baking. The house looks vaguely respectable. And there are good things to eat. So I deserved a little sewing time. I earned it. 

I made a little zippy pouch, just big enough to hold a 6" hoop. This was not a birthday present request. It was a me just playing about doing what I wanted to do rather than what I should be doing sewing session. 

Lots of tiny HR one inch finished squares. A lovely selvege for the back. A little bit of stem stitching. Snails on the zipper tab. And flowers inside. 

This pouch is my happy place in material form. It makes me smile just to look at it. That's what I might do too, prop it up somewhere in my line of sight and let it keep the grumps at bay. I think (for me) HR has magical properties. 

Susan 

And Again

The list of friends with birthdays continues. As I had a sick child home today - seems to be going around the school/county/country - it seemed a good time to quietly get another gift made at a rather relaxed pace.

It's for a purple loving girl this time. I'm selfishly loathe to use the few good purples I have, but found that there was a half yard of this particular one so I didn't sulk like a three year old when I cut into it. 

The lining is a piece of Tilda fabric I've had for just about ever. I liked the contrast of the traditional versus modern between the interior and exterior. A bit of hand stitching, and one happy daughter. Not a bad way to spend the day at all. 

Besides, we made Rice Krispy treats. Haven't made these in ages. So easy and so good. 

Susan 

If I Don't At First Succeed...

... Rip it out and try again. 

Those blue diamonds I was adding to the outer ring at the top just were not working for me. Quick stitch removal and I went for a much softer approach.

That just works better for me. It allows the warm jewel tones to pop out in the other fabrics. I think I can be happy with this. 

Susan 

I Went AWOL Because...

... I was grumpy, quite frankly. While I do not ever wish to give the impression of a perfect life here, nor do I wish to inflict myself upon you when I am a wee bit disagreeable. No big reason for my grump, just a little bit of this and a little bit of that. When I wasn't grumpy I was busy.

A certain someone turned 14 last Friday. 

I drove down to Southampton on Friday to get the Isle of Wight bestie for the weekend. Friday night we all went and enjoyed the third and last school performance of Hairspray, which both girls were in. Saturday I took them into town. Sunday I took them for an amazing Thai buffet lunch, then we headed south again to return said bestie to her family. I have spent more time in the car than anywhere else it seems. But it was worth it to see one incredibly happy birthday girl. 

Very little sewing has occurred. But some fabulous post was received today. 

From my online friend Maggie I got this Heather Ross parcel of wonderfulness. The pyjamas are for deconstructing and adding to my HR stash, but in all honesty I am wearing the penguin pyjama top right now. Freaking comfie and prefect it is too. I think I may have the best of both worlds here - pyjama bottoms for the stash and the top for me. Woohoo! (The bottoms are about a foot too long for me so this makes sense. Please do not suggest I hem them and wear them as well. We all know hemming is a dirty word around here, like ironing that is not quilt related.)

Needless to day the package from Maggie was more than enough to shake the grump out of me, what with the quilt patterns, fun mini tapes, and extra bits of HR from her stash too. I admit to a girlie girl squeal when I opened the package. And to grinning stupidly to myself with only a gerbil as witness. 

But...  Yes, there is a but...   I also got another package today. 

Some Alison Glass fabric. Let the quilt making commence! 

Yes, I'm a happy person again. Yes, I will try to stay that way. No, I will not take an unauthorised leave of absence again. 

Oh, and no my computer is not fixed. Which may have been one of the things contributing to my grump.

Susan