Canadian Abroad

Liebster Award

2012-03-08T13:06:00.001Z

Over the past little while I have been awarded the Liebster Award from several wonderful bloggy friends. I would name them here but disgracefully I am afraid I am going to forget someone and insult them for life. This will lead to a family feud that could go on for generations, so instead I am just going to say 'Thank you, so much' I really appreciate that you enjoy reading me enough to try and send more people my way.

As February is over and I am no longer too busy to think, let alone do, it was about time that I acknowledged the honour and posted about it. Sorry for the delay.

I am now supposed to thank the person(s) who awarded me this. Um, thank you. (God, this is so embarrassing! Having a brain like a flea is not a great thing at times.)

And I am supposed to link back to them. (She hangs her head in shame. Honestly, I know Kelly and Sheila awarded me this but could the others either remind me or laugh at me in derision?)

Next I choose five blogs that I love that have less than 200 followers and hope that you lovely people will go have a read and find some new friends. So here are my choices, keeping in mind I that I love all the blogs I follow.

1. Indianna Dreams - you have to check out the most amazing pouch she made for Mouthy Stitches.
2. Strawberry Patch - Emily is lovely, funny and now, officially, going to the retreat.
3. Mrs Sew and Sow - If you don't know Nicky then you should. She's fab!
4. Sewquine - Another Nikki, with a great eye for colour. Oh, and another amazing pouch for the swap!
5. Bread and Milk and Blackberries - You may know Ruth of her sewing, but she is a great cook too!

So that is me and the Liebster Award. Thank you to all who read me, put up with my idiosyncrasies and come back for more.

Susan

Stitch Tease

2012-03-07T16:58:00.000Z

You may have seen a new button on my side bar, and seen it appear on a few other sites. That's because the lovely Di, over at Random Thoughts of Do or Di, has set up a brilliant little group of us to do a round robin bee - Stitch Tease. I am honoured to be asked to join this lot of talented friends and am looking forward to seeing the progress on the various quilts.

Besides our glorious leader, Di, also in the group are -

Hadley - Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle
Annabella - Life's Rich Pattern
Katy - The Littlest Thistle
Diane - Quiltova
Helen - Run, Quilt, Knit, Write
Danny - Mommy for Reals

We each have to come up with an inspiration mosaic, and then make the first block for our quilts. I am going for a 20" x 30" block, involving wonky stars and lots of colour. I know! What a huge surprise!!

Today I started stitching my block. I would have got more done only life thought otherwise. Oh, and I forgot my own instructions and made the first star colourful with white around it. What I was supposed to do is stars like these, white with a colourful background.

Now I am building up the star blocks in an improvisational way with the intention of joining them up. No, there isn't a pattern. No, there are no regular measurements. Yes, I have made it harder than I might have intended if I had thought about it a bit more first.

I have no idea what this quilt is going to look like by the end of this project. I am thinking that maybe I should rethink my idea. I will let it sit and fester over night and see how I feel about it tomorrow. For those in the bee who like more direction in their instructions, this will not suit at all! I shall complete the block and decide if eight of them together would be interesting, or look like an accident in a quilting cotton factory.

Susan

How to Look Like You've Gained a Tonne of Weight!

2012-03-06T16:13:00.000Z

I came up with a great way to make myself look like I gained a tonne of weight and have lips like a walrus. Do a self portrait of myself in fabric. Well not my idea so much as the instructions received for the February bee block for Brit Bee. I am late, but I have done it. And I do look like I have the lips of a walrus now. But, maybe that's what people think when they see me in real life but are too polite to tell me. Who knows?!

I started with a play on Picnik with one of my photos. I tried doing it like everyone else did in Brit Bee with brilliant results but when I reduced my photo to two colours I looked like a blob. So I went a different route and made it into a sketch instead.

Which I cut up.

I then turned the hair and the top I was wearing into two components of the photo with the help of some tracing and interfacing. I sewed these to the background fabric.

Next I needed a face. I place the printed piece of paper with my face on it under the white fabric and used a disappearing pen to trace out some of my features - roughly. Keep that roughly point in mind when you see the results!

Using the lines I sketched, I tried to follow them with a little free motion stitching. It seemed to be going okay until I got to my mouth. Unpicking of stitches happened, and again. And then I decided that I would just have to have a weird mouth.

I did some more stitching with a variegated thread on for my hair - notice the authentic touch of grey! Some grey thread was used on my top to give it a little texture.

To the right of my portrait I personalised the block a little more with a Canadian flag and my blog name.

I have no idea what drove me to choose the sashing I did. Do you?

And, for better or for worse, this is what I am sending Miss February - Jenny. I do hope it is good enough. This was quite a challenge, and an interesting one at that. Thank you Jenny, for pushing my boundaries and making me try something new.

Susan

Modern Mini Challenge

2012-03-05T16:06:00.002Z

Most of you will be aware of the Modern Mini Quilt Contest that Jennifer is running over at Ellison Lane Quilts. I've been following the series, the quilters she's featured and the discussions about modern quilting avidly. I have also intended all along to enter a mini quilt.

Only today is the deadline. And I've been rather busy with life. I left all a little bit too late. I intended to take my off cuts from the FTLOS Drunkard's Path cuts and turn them into a mini quilt along these lines.

Something like this...

...or this.

Too little time left too late. My own fault. It just was not going to happen. But 'She Who Must Be Obeyed' (Hadley) told me to make a mug rug. So I did. I am not necessarily as happy with it was I would have been with one of the above. But in many ways it represents modern quilting to me. Let me explain.

First off, modern means colour to me.

It also means breaking the 'rules' when it suits your purposes.
I trimmed the DPs to 2.5" square,
and didn't keep the colour pieces even deliberately.

I pieced them into bow ties,
with varied shades of neutrals.
Lots of negative space - another thing that means modern to me.
Then I decided I didn't like it,
But I was out of time.

So I hand stitched.
Perle cotton makes me happy.
It is also another of the things I consider part of modern quilting.

This is the finished mug rug.
8.5" square.

For better or worse, this is what I have made to enter into Jennifer's linky party.

Susan

Stash Building

2012-03-04T13:19:00.000Z

I got a wonderful package from Brenda at Pink Castle Fabrics (link in side bar) on Friday. I presume that I have worked my way through the stages of fabric buying and hope that I am at the point that I know what to buy now.

In the beginning I bought everything that was on sale, and most of it was 'traditional'. It matched what everyone else was using in the quilting classes I attended. I was new to online fabric shops and went a little mad. I collected a lot of fulgies, which should all be gone by now. Though I do think that sometimes they hide in crevasses and breed - then those little buggers leap out and give me a fright!

Next came the buying a whole line of a fabric stage. Only I would get them and there were always several prints that just did not do it for me. Fine when it is a charm pack or a layer cake, but when you have a FQ or half yard of it and it is glaringly obvious that you won't ever use it then that is a waste of money.

Finally, I am at the stage of buying stuff I like, and only what I like. I also have my fabric in its new storage units so I am better able to see what I have sorted by colour. This system works for me. It was only when I got the Ikea units and sorted it all that I came to realise that I had far more blue, pink and green than red, purple, orange or yellow. Now that does not mean that I don't still buy blue, pink and green. But it does mean that occasionally I remember to add to my stash of the others.

Well, that's the theory - because at the recent LQS sale I did come out with almost all blues, greens and pinks so in reality I am failing badly! I've done slightly better this time.

I already had the layer cake but I got the solids to go with it.
Any suggestions for a quilt pattern?

Love these!
Woodlands from Anthology.

Everyone needs a few sheep and flowers in their stash,
don't they?

Some Modern Whimsy.
Good stash builders.

Despite this looking like a package of hankies for your grandfather,
it was an ideal chance to build up my purple stash.

You don't find enough good purples out there in the fabric shops.
At least I don't, so I had to have these.

I am starting to get quite proud of my stash. Haven't ever been able to say that before.

Susan

Swap Mama Duties

2012-03-03T13:43:00.000Z

One of the things about being a swap mama is that if things go wrong you need to make an item for one of the participants if by chance circumstances prevent their partner from doing so. Now I am not sure about whether or not I will be needing to post this out, but just in case I have made another pouch.

Some grey linen (thanks, Hadley)
and a mix of text prints, greens and yellows.

A bit of hand stitching.

My zip ends are improving.

And a split pocket inside.

I made this yesterday and surprised myself with what I could accomplish if I actually just got on with it. Not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Because if this is what I can do under pressure, just imagine how much I could get made if I just pulled my finger out more often. Scary!

Susan

For the Love of...

2012-03-02T15:10:00.000Z

...Solids. It's done. Complete. Needs packaging and posting. But I have taken advantage of a brief spell of quiet between visitors and sewn like a demon here. I've concentrated like, well, like I am seldom known to do. The iPad played Rhonda's podcast about Cindy, which is a great interview and has some very funny moments in it. Rhonda is developing a good dry British sense of humour. She will be talking with an accent soon if she keeps it up.

So I listened and sewed.

And here is what is going off to my partner.

The cushion looks a little sad because I didn't have a big enough insert to put in it to make it look properly puffed up. My extras are the little pin cushion I made with the Drunkard's Path scraps and a zippy pouch.

The back of the cushion is in a chocolate brown with hand stitched circles of various sizes stitched in the same colours of perle cotton used on the front of the cushion. And I just did a simple envelope back.

I'm hoping that my partner likes what I have made for her. I am a bit nervous about this one. But either way, it will be on its way to her as soon as I get it wrapped up and to the Post Office.

Please don't groan when I tell you that I got post today - really nice, make me smile post. Because I got an unexpected gift from the lovely Laura Jane and she is just the best. She sent me the gift just because. No other reason and I can't wait to meet her in person. We will be driving down to London together in June and sharing a hotel room as well. Oh, I lie - Laura Jane will be driving and I will be navigating. God help us!

A little purple cutting mat to take to London! Isn't that just the most gorgeous wee mat you have ever seen?! And some fabric. Laura Jane - you are absolutely fabulous. Thank you!! I cannot wait until London.

Susan

Oh What a Feeling...

2012-03-01T13:29:00.000Z

... I'm dancing on the ceiling!

If any one of the following things that happened today I would be thrilled beyond words. But to have so many good things happen before lunch is overwhelming and I am sooooo happy.

First up, I missed out one of the lovely items I received in the post lately, and it was from Katy. She too has contributed to One for the Birds. And I love these little orange on lime background birds. So apologies to Katy (she graciously has already forgiven me) and a big thank you too.

Enough here for both quilts -
One for the Birds and Favourite Fabrics.
(And still some for my stash to make me smile whenever I please.)

I woke ten minutes early today and lolled about on my bed for a moment before I reached for my iPad to see if I had any emails. My day took off in a good way from there.

If you don't live in the UK you might not understand the competition for school places. There are desirable schools and less than so ones. My two girls attend a village school in another village because that was where they started their school life before we went to the Isle of Wight for three years. I drive back and forth each day to give them that continuity in their life, and have them in a good school. It is very tiny - only three classrooms for seven years of schooling. Yes, that small. But for the most part they are very happy there and that is important.

Helen moves up to high school next year. The catchment school for us in this village is not what you would term one of the desirable schools. There is a certain element of tough kids there (I am trying to be polite here) that would chew Helen up for breakfast. My child is a world class wuss. Lack of an older brother to toughen her up being part of the problem I think.

The catchment school for their primary school village is fantastic, rated outstanding on all aspects in a government inspection last winter. That puts it in the top 10% of the state schools in this country.

Today I woke up to an email from the schools admissions people that Helen was being offered a place there. This is too good for words, but I think you might get the correct impression about how thrilled we all are. I ran and woke Helen up and had her squealing with happiness so I was in good company.

Next up, after I did the school run I drove - through thick fog - into town and got my Bernina back from the sewing machine shop. It is home again and that is most definitely something to warm me to my toes.

You would think that was enough good stuff for one day, but then the postman came. My Mouthy Stitches pouch arrived and I got a doozy of a good one. I will let the photos do the talking.

The pouch was made by Ruth.
I already follow both her blogs as she loves food as much as I do,
as well as being such a fantastic quilter.
Cindy picked a perfect partner for me.

Ruth obviously knows how to do a zip end better than I do!

And hand stitching. Love the little squares with personal details.

Things I love - Pips puppies, that elephant, the scissors fabric
and my initial so no one can take this off me.
Unless they are named Sarah, or Sasha, or Stella, or Sophie...

Don't those fabrics and the stitching just make you smile?
Well they do me too.

The fog had cleared off into a delightful day.
I took the pouch out for a play.
Here it is practising balancing on the swing set.

Once the pouch was confident it tried out the trapeze.

Now look at the scraps Ruth chose for me.
I can see most of them going into the Favourite Fabrics quilt.

Ruth also included this gorgeous tin 'thank you' tag.
I think this is supposed to work the other way.
A huge thank you, Ruth, for getting me so right
and sending me this.
I love it all!

Today is a red letter, five star day. Hope you are having the same happy levels wherever you are too.

Susan

Catching Up

2012-02-29T18:25:00.000Z

You would think that after being on the go for the past few weeks that my first day alone again would be a quiet one. Would it, heck! I went from the school run to the train station and wished my best friend a safe trip home. I wasn't too sad because we had such a terrific visit and we are already conspiring about the next one. From there it was off to do a full grocery shop.

Oh, and for those of you in the UK who use Colour Catchers - they are half price at Tesco right now!

Home to put away the foraged food. Hang the laundry - because there is always laundry, isn't there! Then off to lunch with my friend - online and off - Jane. Lovely to see her again but by the time I left her it was straight to the school run. Once at the school I remembered that today was the day the caterers that have been contracted to provide school lunches were doing a display and tasting. Not only that, it was second term Parent Teacher meetings time.

So I just got in. At 5:30pm. I am a little boggled at how that happened. I should have made the girls eat as much as they could of what the caterer had on hand and then I wouldn't have to bother with dinner. But I wasn't that smart.

And I have so much to tell you. Honestly, go make a cup of tea if you can be bothered to read it all. First up, thank you for all the kind comments about my poorly machine. Here is the update on that.

Mr Sewing Machine Shop Man rang me while I was putting away the groceries. He told me he had been a very perplexed man. The part (shown yesterday) that had dropped out of my machine was a sewing machine part. But he had been flummoxed trying to figure out where it came from in my Bernina. By lucky happenstance someone brought in the same model for servicing while he tried to figure out what on earth was going on with mine. He put them side by side. Yes, the part is still a sewing machine part but not from my machine.

There was a part in my machine that didn't belong there and it dropped out because it dropped out. I am not sure I understand the how or why it was in there. I did buy a second hand machine, but the upshot is that my machine is not missing any parts. Good. Very, very good! Mr Very Nice Sewing Machine Shop Man is going to give my machine a de-fluff, oil and general once over and I can have it back tomorrow. All for far less money than I thought I would have to fork out. Woohoo!

Now, I shall try to keep the next part brief before your tea goes cold. But there has been some terrific post around here lately.

First up, the ever lovely Helen sent me some fat little Christmas Robins,
and a sweet bit of love birds.
She got them from others and shared them with me for my
For the Love of Birdies quilt.
Thank you, Helen.

Ceri, is our Miss March in Brit Bee.
She has asked for paper pieced food and kitchen inspired blocks.
My mind goes in all sorts of happy directions thinking of food,
but I am not sure if that was what she intended.

Fiona sent me my Fugly winnings.
And two more birdies.
Thank you, Fiona.
And I like that bottom right one, and the bottom left so shall ignore all
comments made by Hadley regarding these. Ha!

And here is my last swap of HR fabrics.
I have a Sleeping Beauty now. Yea!
And frogs, dogs and scraps for my Favourite Fabrics quilt too.
Thank you, Cecellia!

Now we have to go way back to December when I won a prize from
Di which was sponsored by Dana.
Dana and I were both knee deep in Christmas prep so agreed to do
the prize choosing in the new year.
I got swamped with new stuff and delayed further
for which Dana was incredibly patient.
And now I have some of her incredible home made soaps and body scrub.
Emily has already asked for the lemongrass and sage one.
I told her no - I am willing to share but not give her the whole bar.
Was that too mean?
Thank you Di and Dana!

And if you are tempted by these lovely products then
here is Dana's business card.
All the details are on it but you can hop on over to here or here to make it easier.
Dana is multi-talented as she does some amazing quilting as well as make soap.

Wow! You made it to the end. Thank you. I think it is late enough now that you have earned yourself a glass of wine. I'm off to cook dinner before there is a rebellion here.

Susan

Some Things Make Your Heart Drop to Your Stomach

2012-02-28T14:51:00.000Z

Today is my last day with my best friend. We have had a good time, and been out to lunch. But I am not posting about that today. Or about how miserable I will be tomorrow. What made my heart drop to my stomach today was when I got my machine out to try and do ten minutes of sewing before we went out. And while I was stitching this fell out of my machine.

It literally fell out of my machine and fell on the piece of fabric I was sewing. Not good. So not good!

My machine now resides at the repair shop. Thank goodness there is one in Banbury. The man said it would most likely take until the end of next week. Then he saw my face. He said he would try to look at it tomorrow, order the necessary parts and have it back to me as soon as possible. That could still be next week, couldn't it?!

I am about to miss several deadlines. I hate that.

Susan

I Need to Run Away More Often!

2012-02-27T17:03:00.000Z

I really should run away from home more often. I had a great time! (Ooops! Helen just read that opening sentence and is less than impressed.)

I would also like to be able to show you tons of photos from my weekend escape, but I was having too much fun to remember that I had a camera. I did take some photos in York. Sorry to everyone who suggested that I go to the Quilting Museum there. We didn't. Francine is not a quilter. We wandered, peeked in the minster, wandered more, ate. I love walking around York and at this time of year the numbers of tourists was decidedly low so it was easy to just meander about.

The markets were flourishing in the lovely weather.

If you have never been to York,
it is one of the prettiest of English cities with
so many medieval buildings intact.

I love the mellow colour of the stone used to build York Minster.

The minster is in a constant battle to maintain or replace
the stonework while keeping the integral character of the building.
You can just see new carvings in the bottom right of this photo.

This ceiling is new,
replaced after a huge fire in 1984.

Not a bad spot for a resting place.

York Minster is one of the most beautiful cathedrals in Europe in my opinion.

And that's it for photos. Because we moved on to Newcastle. Had a lovely evening with my mum and stepdad, being spoiled. (I was starting to see the benefits of not having the girls with me.) And then Saturday we were on the go all day. The weekend market in Tynemouth Station.

Photo ~~nicked~~ borrowed from here -
http://www.tynemouth-market.com/a-sunny-sunday-visit-to-tynemouth-markets/

Then it was fish & chips in Tynemouth followed by time in town. Which led to a night out in the Bigg Market. Yeah right! We were in the Bigg Market but by the looks of things I had on far too many clothes to be out in the clubs. Just the fact that I was wearing a jacket was enough to mark me out as 'too old'. We did have a fabulous dinner out in a Greek restaurant though. Flirting harmlessly with Greek waiters is a great way to keep me amused as well.

Sunday we strolled the length of Long Sands Beach in Tynemouth, sat and enjoyed a morning coffee in the beach cafe and then went home where my mum served up a cooked breakfast/brunch. Heaven! Then I had to drive home again.

You may wonder how himself and the girls fared together. They did great. And on Sunday the three of them hiked to the top of Kinderscout in the Peak District. They were happy but knackered when they returned. Himself was so thrilled that they had both done the walk so well and I was happy that they weren't climbing the walls waiting for me to come home.

All is well in our household. This is good!

Susan

Less is Not More

2012-02-25T13:17:00.000Z

The girls finished making the cake/creation they have been conspiring over with Francine since the weekend. They made the sugar art to decorate. Next they painted them. And then Francine did the icing bit, because she knows how to layer the butter-cream with the fondant on top to make a perfectly smooth cake - which only happens in this house when she is here. Otherwise, it is tasty but non-professional cakes from me.

Today (actually Thursday as I wrote this in advance) they got to decorate the cake. It is two tiers, the lower tier containing chocolate cake and the upper tier vanilla. My girls did not make all that sugar art not to use it. They plastered the cake with decorations. It's brilliant!

The beginning.

The ending.

Not sure what that is supposed to be!

I love that little white flower.

Ladybugs parading up the garden path.

Dragonfly in sunglasses?
Bumble bee on a flower.

I love this golden dragonfly.

Trees, flowers, dragonfly and more.

A touch of ribbon and some roses.

Not a spare inch left bare.

It doesn't look like this any more. We've started the eating part now. It's very good. Though I do peal off the fondant and the flowers and just dive into the cake bit. There is a limit to how much sugar one wants to eat. Well for me at least. The girls have other opinions.

Susan

Freedom!

2012-02-24T12:32:00.000Z

I am driving north with my best friend. Running away for the weekend. Woohoo! Helen asked who was going to take care of them if I was going away. I reminded her she had two parents. I fully expect to find them all traumatised, but happy upon my return. (Fingers crossed.)

We are headed for here -

Newcastle

Hoping to stop off here on the way -

York

I'll tell you about it upon our return.

Susan

Play Time

2012-02-23T13:32:00.001Z

What have I been up to with my best friend these past few days, now that I have wrestled her away from the girls? I have been having fun. I have also been forgetting to take photos. Apparently I can talk and sew, but I can't talk and take pictures. Here's a bit of what we have seen.

On Tuesday we went off to Stratford and had a walk, lunch and a wander. We sucked in the atmosphere, admired the buildings and enjoyed ourselves.

We played at tourist.
Well Francine did, I of course looked like a local!
And listened to the nice man exclaim about
'All the bloody people with cameras!'

Lots of lovely architecture.

Including where we ate our lunch.

Though I failed on the food photography thing. Sorry.
This was a small bit of what we ate but the only thing that looks remotely edible.

We even got our retail therapy in historic buildings.

Yesterday we drove down to Milton Keynes for further retail therapy but I can't tell you what we bought because my father and brother read this blog. We did have fun though. And a nice lunch. (Emily is really annoyed that we went without her as it is her favourite restaurant of all time, I think.) And my food photos were slightly better here.

Yo! Sushi
Got to love a place where the food comes to you.

Watching the options go by.
Duck sushi.

Spicy chicken salad.

I know, some people hate raw fish.
I don't, I like lots of different ones.

But not all the food is raw.
You can order lovely dishes, like this squid.

Yakisoba noodles.

Dumplings - one of my favourite things.
In fact, as you can see I ate one before I remembered to take a photo.

Just waiting for the waitress to come and add up what we had,
each dish colour coded to a price.

Now the sun is shining, the chores are done and we are off for a walk. Hope that you are having a fab day and that the sun is shining where you are too.

Susan

Aarrrgghhhh!

2012-02-22T08:30:00.009Z

I am not as happy with my Mouthy Stitches swap pouch as I was with the FTLOS swap cushion cover yesterday. Very unhappy, actually. Not a good feeling, I have to say, seeing as it is postal time. Haven't decided what to do yet.

On first inspection it doesn't look too bad.

One zip end is pretty good. But the other one is the dog's dinner.

I wanted this pouch to be useful for my partner's hand sewing projects. So I made two pockets inside to hold a mini needle book and pin cushion.

I'll admit I am happy with this bit. And I like the white spotty lining that would allow my partner to see what was in the interior more easily. Over all you would think the pouch was okay.

But it isn't. It isn't just that botched zip end. It isn't just because I have decided I hate the proportions. It is that when I went to press the pouch after sewing the first inner and outer pieces to the zip something came off the iron. Something that wasn't there when I used it earlier. Something that did not come from ironing quilters cotton, or the shirts for himself. Something that the girls deny all knowledge of. I am not pleased!

I got some of the crud off but how on earth do I get the rest off? And do I have enough time to make another, seeing as how I am swanning off to Milton Keynes momentarily to shop, not spend the say sewing?

Oh yes, and apparently Blogger no longer supports my browser - Internet Explorrer 9. That is why I can't post as I usually would and have had to resort to the old system. Well fine! It says I have to have Chrome. What are the differences? I have heard some people comment that they weren't thrilled with Chrome. My IT man is not home. Hell, my brain is going to explode. I'm going shopping!

Susan

Multi-Talented

2012-02-21T09:15:00.006Z

I can talk and sew at the same time. If that isn't talent, then what is? I have finished hand quilting my cushion top for FTLOS swap while talking non-stop to my friend. I am rather pleased with how it is looking. I originally planned on doing concentric circles with the various coloured threads to match the bright colours used in the pattern. I started. Then I changed my mind - as a girl can do!

I thought that the coloured threads were detracting from the pattern, from the neutrals standing out. So I ripped out those stitches. And started again.

I think that two neutral coloured threads on the neutral areas and then the bright colours on the bright enhances the design and this makes me much happier. Happy is good.

I would write more today but I am frustrated - with Blogger. Mine isn't working. I have had to switch back to the old editor to even manage a post. And most of the buttons don't work on it, nor psell check (so forgive me), or just about anything else. Just another day where Blogger does something that makes things that worked perfectly yesterday not work today. I know it isn't just me. I have found other people posting on the Blogger forum about it. Has anything happened to your ability to post or edit on your blog?

Susan

A Lesson In Sharing

2012-02-20T20:12:00.000Z

I had to share my best friend over the weekend. Can you believe it?! It took all the self control I contained not to stomp my feet and shout, 'She's here to see me, me, me! My friend!' But I managed, because I tossed the girls unceremoniously into school again today and 'my time' started. And will continue into next weekend as I am running away from home for a couple of nights to extend the girlie time as much as possible. My girls are not impressed that they aren't invited. I feel no guilt what-so-ever.

Over the weekend they got time with their 'Auntie' Francine doing something that they get to do each time she visits. Learning more about cake decorating. Because she makes cakes professionally and each time she comes over they take on a project together - to produce a magnificent cake covered with as many things as they can possibly make. This is not a less is more situation.

This is the face of a happy child.
I love it!

Deep concentration,
and quiet.
I love that too!

They have produced more than enough sugar craft for several cakes. But that's okay because these things keep fine once they have dried out. Here is a look at a small portion of what they have been making.

Many of these flowers and dragonflies are still to be painted. They can spend hours doing it. Isn't it great?!! And the cake is going to be chocolate. Woohoo! Life is looking pretty good around here. As long as they remember to keep those sugar coated hands off my fabric all will stay happy too.

Susan

The Elephants Came Two By Two, Hurrah, Hurrah!

2012-02-18T15:26:00.000Z

Best friends don't stop the postman from coming. Woohoo! Today I got my emergency order of perle I required for stitching my solids quilt. There were two colours that I didn't have. Somehow, inadvertently I managed to order several other colours while I was online. How does that happen?!

I doubled up on my favourite lime and turquoise.

I also got my last purchase of HR from Etsy. I ordered this a while ago but it took the long postal route here, not the seller delaying posting. But it is here and I love it.

The seller added in some fussy cuts of the kittens in flannel.
Sweet!

There are a lot more of these elephants than can be seen in the photo. It is a front pannel from a cari leg of a pair of Munki Munki pyjamas. It is a very light weight cotton that almost feels like voile. If anyone wants to trade two rows of elephants (approximately 11"x6") for a small piece of Heather Ross that I don't have yet, please let me know.

Susan

Favourite Thing Friday

2012-02-17T10:59:00.000Z

My best friend is coming to stay! My best friend is coming to stay! In fact, as I write this she is sitting exhausted on a train somewhere between Gatwick and Banbury. And she is my FTF. Because you can't beat the friends who have known you forever. Shared flats with you. Seen you through your wild spell (Oh come on, I am not the only one who had a bit of wildness in her younger days, am I?), your varied relationships, your ups and downs, donned a backpack and travelled with you, and been your friend through it all.

And she has come all the way from Canada to spend time with me, me, me. Okay, maybe the girls and himself to. But I am first in line. Because we firmly established that I don't give up my place in line to anyone on Tuesday. I am not sure what my posts will be like over the next two weeks. Apologies if I go AWOL. Trust in the fact that I am having fun though.

Last night I played with the teeny tiny off cuts from the Go! when I did the Drunkard's Path blocks. And this is what I came up with.

A wee pin cushion.

And I have just started the stitching on the FTLOS cushion cover. I am thinking concentric circles with the different coloured thread.

Keeping the circles even is going to be a challenge.

And I leave you with a photo of Emily, my smoothie goddess, with her latest creation. I believe these ones are strawberry banana smoothies but I am only the photographer. She drank both glasses on her own!

I love how the girls are so good at garnishing things now.
Trust me, they do not get impeccably garnished dinners each night!

Well, I had best do the final few things before I go and pick up my Favourite Thing Friday, aka my best friend. I'll be linking this up with Shay over at Quilting in My Pyjamas for her FTF linky party.

Susan

Fitting Things In

2012-02-16T15:10:00.000Z

Between the bowling and the visit to Pizza Express (thanks Dad!), the riding lesson from my friend and dinner there too - I have managed a little sewing. Half term sends everything off track. Just the way it is.

I have pieced my blocks for the FTLOS swap cushion. I am rather pleased with the way it looks. I actually think it looks better pieced than it did in my mind's eye when I thought up this idea.

The best bit about sewing the DPs was that when I did my bee blocks back in September I got proficient at doing DP curves using just three pins to hold the two pieces of fabric together. At the same time someone (I think it might have been Cindy) put out a call for help sewing these little buggers. Leanne, from She Can Quilt, came to the rescue with this tutorial.

I read it at the time and then moved on because my blocks were already done. This week I remembered it. And I didn't go back and watch it. I just sewed my blocks knowing that if Leanne said you could do it with no pins then it had to be so. Lord love us, she is right!

I'm not going to show you how I did it, just a couple of photos to prove I did, because Leanne does the teaching better than I could. If you have any doubts about being able to sew curves then I highly recommend you go and have a listen and read of Leanne.

Start, keeping the needle in the down position if helps.

Sew to the middle, or just past if you have HSTs involved like me.

Turn and sew the other end, meeting the stitching in the middle.

Press.
Bob's Your Uncle, easy peasy.

The blocks go together super quick when you don't have to faff about with pins. I love doing it this way. Before I knew it I had my cushion cover pieced.

And now I am auditioning perle cottons. I've had to order a couple. (Yeah, twist my rubber arm!)

Hope you are having a good half term too, or just a good normal Thursday if you are not sat listening to the howls of laughter coming from the bedroom that you cleaned for the arrival of your best friend tomorrow - and those girls of mine just better pray that they haven't trashed the place or they will see their mother do an interesting impression of a mad woman!

Susan

12 Minutes

2012-02-15T13:25:00.000Z

I annoyed some people yesterday. And to make it worse I am not one bit repentant. Usually I have a level of guilt, whether deserved or not, but not this time. Let me tell you what happened.

My local quilt shop is The Bramble Patch. It's a lovely shop and they also do classes which is where I took my first steps into the quilting world. Yesterday was their annual sale. Yup, once a year one big sale. For those of you in North America who don't know what quilting cotton costs here - the average price at this shop is £11.95 per metre (approximately US$18.75). Now you now why we in the UK complain about the cost of fabric a lot!

Therefore the annual sale is a big thing for quilters in the surrounding area, and some even come from further afield. Getting fabric half price can't be ignored, especially for those who have not discovered the joys of online shopping. Anyone who wants to hold on to the image of us quilters being gentle souls should never attend this sale. It is not a pretty sight!

The shop doors open at 10am but there is a long queue by that point, so it pays to arrive early and get into said queue. This year the sale landed right in the middle of the half term holidays so I had to take the girls with me. I planned accordingly. They had books, and snacks, and had been primed for what to expect. There were explicit instructions to go straight upstairs to the balcony where the books are and to watch the carnage from above.

When we arrived at the shop there were already a number of quilters sat in their cars but they had conveniently left the parking space right by the front doors free. Thank you! I told the girls to make themselves comfortable and I would get out and line up. I was the first in line. Woohoo! Another lady joined me soon after and she was lovely, and we were soon chatting happily.

A few minutes later more ladies got out of cars and then one came and stood by us and said, 'Excuse me ladies but we were here first so if you don't mind we will go in front.' Excuse me?! I (politely - honestly) suggested that that was not how a queue worked, as did the lady who I had been chatting to. 'But we were here earlier than you! We've been sat in our car!'

'So have quite a few others,' I replied. (Shall we ask them to all go in front after they decide who arrived in what order? - I thought to myself.)

Well, that was it. We then endured half an hour of muttered (loudly at times) 'That's so not fair!', 'They are so rude!', etc, etc. Oh for goodness sake people, grow up! When my children got out the car close to opening time one of the aggrieved quilters suggested that the two of them should go to the end of the line because they had been in the car. I ignored that, and wasn't going to even get into it with them which showed an incredible amount of restraint on my part.

And when one of the shop staff came out to take a photo of the line up they commented to this group of quilters, 'I might have known you lot would be near the front.' obviously knowing them. To which they replied, 'Well we were at the front but that's a long story. We'll tell you all about it later.'

Sometimes I just do not understand people. Was I wrong?

Why the importance of being at (or near) the front? Well I was in the door when it opened, straight to the tables of uncut fabric, quickly picked one I liked and handed it to the person doing the cutting. I then made a quick circuit of the table and picked up bolts and handed them to her as I went. By the time I had made my circuit the table was surrounded. Shortly thereafter it was two deep and you couldn't get at anything. The wait for a staff member to cut for you was (I presume) long.

I could have chosen a lot more than I did. Budget and short arms prevented that happening. Once I had my fabric cut the girls ventured down from above, risked life and limb and picked a couple of FQs each. I was at the till paying when Emily threw a charm pack into the basket as well. That took me by surprise!

It's Lily & Will from Moda. I don't have a photo because I told Emily that we would have to share the charm pack. So she came home and gave two (yes, two) squares to Helen, none to me and took the other 40 for herself. She is busy making something with them already.

The following is what I bought yesterday -

Before you think I have taken leave of my senses -
these are the girls choices.
Though as Emily took most of the charm pack I think I am going to nick that black FQ from her.

As you can imagine there is a lot of end of line fabric that is on sale. But this is okay with me because it meant that I could stock up on some that I loved and wasn't likely to see for sale in many places any more.

Bliss - woohoo!
There was a lot more of the line available but I couldn't have it all at
the minimum cut of a metre each.
Sarah, you would probably have had the lot!

Flurry by Kate Spain.
I know this is a Christmas line but I think this FQ and metre of fabric
are good all rounders and was especially thrilled to get the red because I love it.

It's a Hoot by Moda.
More of my favourites from the past year.

Sunkissed on the left and Just Wing It on the right.

I paid for all of the above and we left. On leaving the shop I looked at my watch. 10:12am. I would call that a very efficiently spent 12 minutes. I am sure that someone arriving was pleased to get my parking spot too.

Susan

The One With All the Winners

2012-02-14T19:19:00.000Z

Right, this is it, time to draw the winners for my giveways. All of them - Fuglies, Kat's Patterns and the Blogiversary. I've been out all day today and I am about to imbark on the 'write a post while figuring out Mr Random Number Generator at the same time' adventure. Patience please, this may take a while. (Update - I just cannot make it do what I want it to do. Getting very frustrated and am now asking that you accept the copied and pasted text from Mr RNG that I have used below because I cannot get the damn thing to work for this IT idiot who is me!)

Giveaway One - The Fuglies - Eight Seaside Rose Fat Quarters. 90 commented. (Slightly less actually want them because I know if I draw Hadley's name and actually send them to her she will throw a complete wobbly!)

True Random Number Generator

Min: Max:
Result: 50

daisy and jack said...
wow - love these fabrics - I can see cushions and maybe a table runner - thanks for the chance to win your generous giveaway !

Giveaway Two - Patterns from Diary of a FlutterKat - 49 comments. Then I removed four entries as two were comments from Kat, one was a repeat and one was from my brother, and I really think he is not about to take up sewing.

True Random Number Generator

Min: Max:
Result: 23

Archie the wonder dog said...
Yeah - a whole year of blogging, here's to many more wonderful posts from you! I love Kat's patterns...and skirts and tops, my niece would look gorgeous in one. She loves to twirl round and make her skirt spin out - too cute!

Giveaway Three - The Blogiversary Part 1 - Zippy pouch with bird fabric scraps - 188 comments (Wow! Thanks so much everyone!!)

True Random Number Generator

Min: Max:

Result: 69

Second Chance Tan said...

phew...... how to choose from that wonderful selection? But in the end I just have to go with those gnomes in the middle of the last mosaic, I've never seen gnome fabric before x

Giveaway Three: The Blogiversary Part 2 - HR charms - 188 comments

True Random Number Generator

Min: Max:

Result: 46

Reene@Nellie's Niceties said...

Happy "Bogday" to you :) What a fantastic year you've had! I love many of your items but I think your wonky stars quilt is fab

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to enter my giveaways. I received so many kind comments and appreciate each and every one of them. I have tried to reply to so many of them but have failed to get to everybody. If I didn't reply please know that it wasn't from lack of wanting to but lack of time. I love writing my blog and one of the things that thrilled me about the giveaways was hearing from some regular readers who take the time to read what I am up to but don't necessarily have the time or inclination to comment (which is fine). It was lovely to 'meet' your through these giveaways.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Valentines Day - no matter what they did. Let's face it, mine wasn't dripping with romance and chocolates with himself elsewhere during the week and me out doing stuff with the girls for half term. But it was a good day and I know I am loved. That's good enough for me.

Susan

PS: I have no idea why have this post is tabbed in and I presume it has something with me copying and pasting Mr RNG and winner's comments but I just give up on this post. We have the winners. That's the important bit!

What Was I Thinking?!

2012-02-13T17:32:00.000Z

Do you have those times where you come up with an idea and think it is fairly basic? And then it is for a swap and your partner gives the plan her full approval? So you proceed with said plan? I'm right there today. And my plan wasn't as easy as I thought. I am starting to see the thrill of improv piecing.

Because today I started work on my For the Love of Solids swap item.

I cut 5.5" squares.
Lots of them.

I sewed them into HSTs.
Pressing the seams open to aid the next step.

Which was cutting them with the Drunkard's Path die.
And therein lay the problem.

Because I had to cut them one by one,
trying to match the seam to the corners of the block.
It was a right bitch of a job!

I had a varied success rate!

I then did a mock up of how I plan on doing the cushion cover for the swap.

But I found out something. Playing with the layout of these pieces is much like playing with the layout of HSTs for me and we all know how much entertainment I can get from that!

This was the other possibility that I liked for my partner,
but I prefer the original idea ~~I think~~.

Then the real fun began because I found out that playing with the other half of the DP blocks was way more amusing. Please ignore the neutrals in the background as they have not been cut yet and therefore are laid out a little haphazardly.

Circles?

Staggered circles?

I like this one.

But I love this one!
Thinking this might be a possibility to make for me!

As you can tell I got some time in my sewing space today. My mum left. I would usually be more down about it but I am going up to see her in less than two weeks, and then taking the girls during the Easter break. So not a big long time before we see each other again. Now I have three more days before my best friend arrives for me to get more done on the FTLOS swap and Mouthy Stitches - only we are out most of tomorrow, and half of Wednesday. Not a problem, surely!

Susan

Finally...

2012-02-11T17:29:00.000Z

... my package of solids and linen arrived from America. I can get on with making things now. I am so relieved. It is a horrible feeling watching everyone else getting on with the making in a swap and not being able to do anything yourself.

I posted a photo of my solids on the For the Love of Solids Flickr page and was thrilled that my partner commented in a very positive manner. I will be able to proceed with cutting on Monday, I hope.

The colours haven't all photographed as true to what they are,
but it is a good enough representation, I guess.
I love the bright cheerfulness of it.

With the linen's arrival I could proceed with my pouch for Mouthy Stitches as well. I have sewn in a strip between the triangles I already pieced, added the wadding and now am doing some hand stitching.

I have a few more daisies to do but ~~think that~~ I am pleased with the way it looks. I hope my partner likes it too.

I'm going with the theory that petals on a daisy in reality aren't all perfectly spaced and shaped.
Neither are mine!

So it has been a day of swimming for the girls which was great. Because my mum was there and instead of 'Mummy, watch this!' there was two hours of 'Grandma, watch me!'. Absolutely brilliant!! Then Emily's last dance class before her exam tomorrow. Home for a late(ish) lunch and then himself took them off over the fields and I was the taxi service when it all got too much, to go fetch them home again. Which I have done and settled them in front of the telly with one of these each.

Life is good when you are nine and eleven!

Susan

Ta Terrain Dah!

2012-02-10T16:40:00.000Z

I have been too busy having giveaways to show you a photo or two of the HST Terrain quilt finished. The photos are crap because the light has been bad and every outdoor surface seems to be covered in slush - which I have been rather reluctant to place this quilt upon. But, for better or worse, here is the completed quilt, which himself still deems nice enough to hang upon our walls.

I went for the traditional quilt and toes shot.

The small dry patch outside was cursed with over bright and uneven lighting.

So I got artsy and moody with the indoor lighting.

The backing really does work well with the Terrain.

I must have been bored because I kept taking photos.

And then the obligatory rolled quilt shot.

I am very pleased with this quilt though most of that pleasure is derived not so much from the quilt making as the loveliness of the Terrain fabric. I am so glad I chose to pair it with the navy instead of my usual white. I think the navy sets it off beautifully. And the stitching in the ditch lets the fabric shine.

So, finally, a finish for 2012.

A huge thank you for all the lovely comments that have been left in the past few days. You have all put a smile in my heart. I've been doing stuff with my mum today (and tomorrow and Sunday) so I may not be very good at the replying thing over the next few days. As it stands I currently have 167 emails in my inbox. But I have read each and every one and grinned like an idiot with happiness. You are all too kind for words. Thank you!

Susan

One Year Old!

2012-02-09T11:15:00.000Z

Well, if you didn't already know, it's my blogiversary! Who knew that a blog which started in a quiet corner of Northamptonshire would introduce me to an international set of blogging quilters who offer up more inspiration, incredible generosity, humour and friendship than I knew was out there?!

It has transformed my life in many ways. Taken over my life too - but we won't go into that! Before I started blogging I maybe made one or two small quilts a year, always as a gift and generally for friends who had babies. I knew little about modern quilting and the possibilities that existed once you threw the rules out the window. I sewed alone, knowing no one who shared my interest. (Sob!)

Now there is no stopping me. I sat here this week and tried to make a mosaic of my year. Instead I made four. These represent the majority of what I have made this year and it thrills me right down to my bones that I have done so much.

These are the quilts I made in the past year -

I am proud of each and every one of these quilts for different reasons.
We all know wonky stars is my favourite,
but the scrappy blue one in the top right position just makes me smile.
Something about it just works for me.

I had the pleasure of becoming a member of Brit Bee and each month has produced new challenges. This bee has the very best set of members that any bee could ever wish for. The blocks we have made so far are -

Each month brought a different challenge,
some I thought I wouldn't surmount but I did.
And I am so proud to be a part of this Bee.

Then there were the other projects I took on. Learning to sew different things as my confidence grew.

Cushions, zippers, crochet, needle books, pin cushions, bags - so many things that I took on and got my confidence in.
I love the book bags I made the girls (only one featured here).
And I am so proud of my Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap.

Finally, there were the items I made for swaps -

I have to admit that my first swap was the Brit Swap and I was scared senseless amongst all these fabulous
ladies who all seemed to know each other already.
But I made Perv Bird (top left) and think I did well for a first timer.

What a year! Thank you each and every one of you for stopping by. The fact that people come and read my blog thrills me. The fact that some of you return time and again amazes me. I appreciate the comments and support. And as a way of showing you my thanks I have another giveaway. (Of course I do, it is tradition after all.)

I'm afraid I don't have tons of fabric to offer you. But in light of my current projects I thought I could do two prizes. The first one is inspired by all the lovely things you lot have had to say about my idea to do One for the Birds Quilt.

One pouch - featuring a bird of course.
Filled with scraps of a half decent size that all feature birds.
So you can make a birdie quilt of your own if you want.

The second prize took all my will power to do. Because it involved cutting my recently purchased and traded for Heather Ross fabrics.

21 charm squares of Heather Ross
Only one duplication - of the gnomes on blue.
I tried to ensure every charm had a usable part of the design on it.

And that's it. I know it is not a huge giveaway but it is mine and I kind of like it. Hope you do too. What do you have to do to enter? There are three ways to enter.

(1) Leave a comment and tell me what you like the most that I made in my first year of blogging. Go on, it'll make me smile!
(2) If you are already a follower you get a second chance. This is not a second chance for people to start following me but a thank you to all those who have pushed that follow button because they liked what they saw in the previous 365 days. Just leave a separate comment telling me you were already a follower, thanks.
(3) You can blog about it if you like, but it will diminish your chances of winning so you might not want to. If you do bother, leave a separate comment telling me and you get another entry into the draw. I have never been on Twitter and am a sporadic Facebook participant so no extra points for publishing it on those.

If you are a non-reply blogger and don't leave an email address at which you can be contacted then I will redraw for a name that I can get hold of. Sorry, but that's just the way it is. I will do the draw on February 14th in the evening, UK time. That means all three giveaways from the past three days will be drawn at the same time, and announced in the same post.

I leave you with a couple of photos taken this morning as the girls made the effort to celebrate my blogiversary.

Helen made me this wee cushion,
and a card from each of them.

And Emily did this too.
Check out the spelling!

Susan

Day 365

2012-02-08T11:49:00.000Z

This is my 351st post in 365 days. Part of me thinks I should apologise for never shutting up, but the other part of me thinks 'Nah! They're all used to it now!'

I am celebrating the final day of the first year of blogging for me with a giveaway. I just might be celebrating my blogiversary tomorrow so best come back and check that out too!

Today's giveaway is sponsored by one of the best bloggy friends I have made in the past year. The one and only Kat from Diary of a FlutterKat. It matters not that she lives on the other side of the world. Nor that she is ~~slightly~~ ~~a lot~~ centuries younger than me. We hit it off right away and I can't wait to meet her face to face (she's a short arse too) in June in London.

Someone in the Mouthy Stitches Swap asked me recently where I learnt to do such tidy zipper ends, like on these pouches.

I managed to learn to make pouches confidently entirely through a tutorial Kat wrote. Kat is a business woman as well and recently restructured her shop and is concentrating on what she loves best and does best as well. Patterns are part of that restructuring. She now sells the pattern to make a pouch like this -

And do you remember this pouch?

Beautiful scrappy front...

... with a magnetic clasp and one of Kat's fab labels...

... and more great scraps with that lovely butterfly.

Well, I will rudely say that this pouch is mine, all mine. And I am not giving it away. I won it from Kat last year and I am keeping it. But you could make one like it. Because I have two pdf patterns of Kat's to give away. One will give you fool proof instructions (I know because I - the ultimate zipper phobic person - tested it and got my pouch confidence from it.) to make a zipper pouch, with zip ends and all. The second pattern will be how to make a gorgeous scrappy pouch just like mine above. Look, she even uses mine for her sales photo (think I should get her for copyright?) -

Anyway, if you are interested in winning these two patterns from Kat then please do let me know. All I ask is you go and have a look at Kat's shop here and come back and tell me what she sells there that you like the best - she is in the early stages of the restructure but there is a variety of things to choose from including fabric. If you've never read Kat's blog then you should stop by and have a look because she writes brilliantly and personally, letting you have a fabulous glimpse into her life (warts and all - she's a bit like me, no glossing things over).

That's it. One visit to Kat's shop and one comment for one chance to win. Non-reply bloggers must leave an email address or I will have to redraw. Mr Random Number Generator (or something equally as random like one of my children) will do the draw on Tuesday, February 14th about 6pm UK time. Thanks for taking the time!

Susan

Fugly is in the Eye of the Beholder

2012-02-07T11:22:00.000Z

If any of you are not already aware, Lucy, over at Charm About You is holding a Fugly Fabric Party. What is this all about? Well it is an opportunity for you to give/trade/pay someone to take your Fugly fabric off your hands. It doesn't have to be truly ugly - just unloved and unwanted. Cowering in the corner of your stash knowing that it will be passed over once again, ignored and derided.

Some of you who have been reading me for a while are aware that I have made it a bit of a habit to giveaway my Fuglies. So it would just be wrong for me not to step forward and join in Lucy's party. I had another dig and found some fabric that truly is not ugly. It is, however, very ignored and has been in my stash for a very long time. I have chosen it to be my latest attempt to make room for fabric that I will use, love and wallow in happily. (There is a method to my madness!)

Would any of you be interested in having eight (yes, eight!) FQs of this.

I know! It is obvious that things have changed in my stash over the years. I still kind of like these fabrics though - well some of them. But I can't see me making anything with them in the foreseeable future and they have been languishing here for about five years as near as I can tell.

All eight FQs are from the Seaside Rose by 3 Sisters for Moda line. They have barely been touched by human hands because they were still in the Fat Quarter Shop bag.

If you are interested in having this fabric haul then just leave a comment. No hoops. I don't do hoops. Can't be arsed, to be quite honest. If you follow me you do so because you like following me. One comment, one chance to win. Easy peasy lemon squeesy! I am more than happy to post anywhere in the world. If you are a non-reply blogger and don't leave an email address then I will do a redraw. I will do the draw next week. How about February 14th? Valantines Day.

If this fabric is not to your taste, please stay tuned. This is not the last giveaway this week. I have plans!!

Susan

Almost

2012-02-06T16:24:00.000Z

Almost finished, that's what. I have been diligently working on my Terrain quilt today and I am so close to being done and finally ticking a box for a finish in 2012. Woohoo! I can't remember if I told you that I nipped over to the sewing machine repair shop while Emily did her dance class on Saturday. They don't sell fabric there, but they do sell thread.

I spent this morning going crossed eyed, watching that walking foot clatter up and down, in the nicest possible way.

Don't be surprised if you can't see the quilting. I decided that I liked the Terrain fabric and the HST layout so much that I didn't want to have any obvious quilting, so it is all in the ditch. You can vaguely see the quilting pattern on the back a little more clearly.

After all my deliberation about what to do with borders and binding, I forgot all about it when I received the backing and basted the layers together. So I just went with navy binding and left it at that.

Despite appearances to the contrary, it is not yet finished. There is still a fair amount of this to do.

But I do feel like I accomplished something today. This is good.

Susan

Everything Else Takes Back Seat to a...

2012-02-05T14:32:00.000Z

... snow day! Please, my Canadian friends, don't laugh. You may look at this and think 'What on earth is all the fuss about?' - but this may be the only snow we see all winter so we have to lap it up, enjoy it, play in it, make the most of it.

It started snowing late yesterday afternoon. I didn't tell the girls it was expected because they would have been totally gutted if it didn't happen. Such was the fear that they would wake in the morning and it could all be gone that Emily was out last night making the most of it.

Getting this child back in side was the only problem.

We woke up to this.
Pure joy emanated from the children in this house.

And then the snowball fight commenced.

Some had snowballs bigger than others.
Taken from the safety of the upstairs window.
I'm no fool!

Snowmen of all sizes...

... appeared in the front garden.

A walk through the village showed it looking completely beautiful.

Now if only the ~~man~~ boy in the car hadn't thought it was amusing
to drive by Helen and I at speed in the slush!

Angels appeared everywhere we went.

The rest of the weekend was taken up with
ice cream making.
Vanilla. Delicious!!

And bread making by my own little baker.
Both Saturday and Sunday.

Sometimes life is far more important than sewing. This weekend was one of those times. Playing in the snow surpassed all other activities. Hope that you had as much fun as we did.

Susan

Winter Stitching Update

2012-02-04T15:54:00.000Z

With one day to spare, I squeeze my Winter Stitching Up-Date in and will be linking it up with our uber mama organiser, Sarah - to be found at FairyFace Designs (but you knew that already).

Unlike all those bloggy friends of mine who made lists a mile long, I kept mine relatively short so you would think that I had nothing but success to report. Ha! Chance would be a fine thing!

1. The first item was my Modern Christmas Tabelrunner Swap which I can report I am absolutely thrilled with - except for poor Annabella who seems to have had her tablerunner eaten by the postal service. I will be remedying the situation when I see her in June though so even this can be fixed, hopefully. My partner seemed to be very happy with the runner I made for her and I was pleased to have tried something new and have it come out as well as it did.

2. Finish Helen's Quilt - Success!! I am thrilled to report this, and it makes me smile every evening when I kiss her good night and the quilt is helping keep her warm. She loves it. I love it. Yea!

Within the same challenge for me was to then move on and work on Emily's. Well I would like to up the ante and say that before the Winter Sewing challenge is finished Emily's quilt will be too!

3. I was supposed to make 3,000,000 Christmas ornaments which might have been a slight exaggeration, but I can say that I made well over 100, sold some and gave lots as presents to friends and family. I would count item 3 as a success, as long as you ignore my tendency to exaggerate!

4. Make my Brit Bee Quilt. Um - no, this would still be at the stage of occasionally getting out my blocks and admiring them. No ~~further~~ work has been done.

5. Zips! Woohoo - this was a big, fat resounding success. So pleased that I no longer quiver in fear at the mere mention of zips.

6. This challenge was to start a new swap - with a bloggy friend or two. Well, seeing as how it is all I talk about half the time (swaps and birds!) then we all know that this is a success too. Mouthy Stitches was launched with more participants signing up than we could have imagined. Hopefully by the end of the Winter Stitching we will be able to report that it was a huge success - fingers crossed!

7. Try paper piecing. Not yet. Need to find the right project. Any suggestions?

8. Crochet a throw - something adult sized not baby size. I'm afraid that ambition and budget did not connect here. To make a throw the size I want is going to take a lot of yarn. And I want nice yarn. Soft, cuddly cotton yarn that is a joy to snuggle under. When I have the budget then this will happen, meanwhile it will just have to go on hold.

That was all there was on my list. It looks pretty pathetic unless I add in the things that I did make that never made it to the list. Here is a quick summary -

I made pouches of many sizes.

And went on a cushion making rampage.

There were fleece lined baby blankets.

Copious amounts of bunting.

A quilt for himself for his birthday.

I kept up with my Brit Bee blocks obligations.

A quilt for my brother and his family for Christmas.

One of the cushions I made.
They became a popular gift item for me to make this year.

My first attempt at a tote.
The reason people should use a pattern sometimes!

I started this,
soon to be finished.

I developed a bird obsession.

And an even bigger obsession with Heather Ross fabrics.

So all in all I don't think I did too badly. The worst I did was in my ability to predict what I was going to make, not in my ability to actually make. (Does that make sense?)

For the remainder of the Stitchery list I want to finish the Terrain Quilt, finish Emily's quilt, keep up with Sarah's Stained Pink QAL when it starts (tomorrow rumour has it) but using my Favourite Fabrics in it, get the rest of the bird fussy cuts framed (only about 50 more to go) and then figure out how to go about piecing them together, and figure out a design for the Heather Ross Fan Club quilt. I need to finish making a pouch for my partner in Mouthy Stitches. Make a swap item for the FTLOS swap, and then do the hardest challenge of all - February's bee blocks.

Don't hold your breath that I will manage to get all that done. That would just be fanciful thinking on my part. But now I have focus I had best stop writing and get sewing!

Susan

Almost There...

2012-02-03T17:04:00.001Z

... with my Terrain HST quilt. Because the lovely Judith helped me get hold of some fabric and then sent it to me. I now have the backing fabric for the quilt.

Soul Blossoms by Amy Butler

I quickly pressed the backing, put the layers together and got on with the basting.

The quilting is going to be very simple on this quilt because I do not want to distract from the fabric or the pattern at all. Needless to say I haven't actually got the thread I want for the quilting but I will get around to purchasing that more quickly than I did with the backing.

I also received another fabric gift this week. From Wendy, who sent me some scraps for both For the Love of Birds and my Favourite Fabrics quilt.

Ruby and Bliss!! Joy!
And new birdies.
Love that charm square, middle row, second from left.
It's already fussy cut perfectly for me.

So another huge thank you going out to Wendy. This is going to be the best quilt ever because of all the generous donations so it is going to represent my blogging life as well as a quilt I love. And (I repeat myself here) Ruby and Bliss! Sarah will be launching her Stained Pink QAL any moment now and I am going to be all set because it will be my Favourite Fabrics Quilt. Well, I have a huge number of scraps I am waiting to put in this quilt and I have the solid I need for all the narrow sashing. All I need is the time and energy to make it. While doing two swaps, and having visitors. How hard can it be?

Meanwhile, I am cooking dinner while I write this. Bouncing back and forth. Rather shot myself in the foot tonight by making the Penang curry too hot. So now I am making a quesadilla for Emily with raw veggies on the side, because her eyes near popped out her head when she tasted the curry. Way too spicy for her! I sort of knew that was going to be the case, but best go make sure I don't burn her quesadilla. I would be running out of options of what to feed her if I do!

Susan

Attempt Number Two

2012-02-02T15:59:00.000Z

There was a mixed reaction to my ~~too~~ incredibly scrappy piecing of the aqua fabrics yesterday. I can't say I am surprised because I have rather mixed feelings about it myself. On one hand I like the little pieces all put together. But on the other hand I don't think I like it on that large a level. I am thinking of another use for yesterday's work. It won't go to waste. And today I had a rethink about how to piece my aqua and orange parts of the Mouthy Stitches pouch.

I am happier with this attempt. What do you think?

Front and back.
A little Heather Ross in there.
The triangles will be separated by a linen strip with some hand stitching on it.

I am happier with my work today. Hope my partner is too!

I have also been trying to set aside some time to stitch on Emily's quilt every day, whether it is fifteen minutes or an hour. Just to progress it forward. There is a lot of blank space on the quilt as I have mentioned before - legacy of letting a five year old help design her own quilt. I can remember the age by the house we lived in. Isn't that sad! We were in Newchurch on the IoW, therefore Emily must have been five as she had her birthday the first week we were in that house and we were there for slightly less than a year.

Anyway, I digress (as Rhonda would say), I am hand stitching hearts with perle all over the blank space. Some in coloured thread but most in white. I am not sure how I feel about this quilt. It will not be my favourite, but Emily loves it. That is what we aim for. Customer satisfaction.

Hearts...

... and more hearts.
I can see a finish on the horizon.

Thank you for your kind words about the car yesterday. It is behaving itself again and showing no sign of not wanting to start. What on earth happened is beyond me - but it wasn't a complete girlie moment because my Samaritan and the garage mechanics couldn't make it start with the key in the ignition either. I'm just happy it is being nice to me again. And I could take the girls to school today. And sew happily here, in my warm house. I love being comfy inside when it is cold out.

Susan

Good Samaritans Still Exist

2012-02-01T17:39:00.000Z

I went to the school to pick up the girls this afternoon. On the way back home I realised that the fuel gauge was pretty well on empty and I had come out without my purse. So I popped into the house on our return and grabbed a money source without turning the car engine off.

Get to the petrol station. Put some fuel in the car, pay, hop back in the car and... ... nothing. The engine wouldn't even turn over. My heart dropped to my stomach. I had a car that didn't work - again!

Then a very nice gentleman came over and offered to help. Bless him! He checked the battery didn't have a lose wire. And then he towed me to the garage up the road. He even stayed while the garage checked the battery and then jump started the car, just in case I needed a drive home. So a huge thank you to my Samaritan today. He won't ever read this blog but this is my way of telling him thank you again.

When I got home and turned off the car engine, I tried starting it again, and it worked. So I repeated the process two more times. And it started each time. What on earth was that all about?! I couldn't start it at the petrol station. Mr Samaritan couldn't start it. The garage couldn't start it. I came home and it was acting okay. Wonder if it will be nice to me in the morning?

Meanwhile I have completely forgotten completely what I was going to blog today. I did spend quite a bit of time handquilting on Emily's quilt. And then I played with some aqua scraps thinking they might work in my design for Mouthy Stitches. I gathered together even the smallest bits (because Judith makes me keep them).

Here are some on the world's most vile ironing board cover!

I then spent an age piecing - which was rather quite fun. But I have no idea if my partner would be interested in something so scrappy. I'll have to post a photo on Flickr and see what she says, if anything.

At some point between smiling happily picking up my girls at school and returning home I seem to have lost some brain cells. It is taking all I have to piece together this blog post.

Suppose I am going to have to make dinner too! Not sure if I trust myself around a cooker right now.

Susan

At a Loss for Words

2012-01-31T16:22:00.000Z

It had to happen sooner or later. Me being speechless - a rare and unusual occasion. Now add in the fact that I have come up against a challenge that I don't think I am up to. I will give it my best go, but I am very afraid of letting down one of the wonderful Brit Bee ladies who has set this challenge. Letting Jenny down would be worse than my fear of this project.

Jenny is Miss February. She blogs over here. And this is what she is asking for her bee blocks for February -

Well not these blocks exactly.
But a self portrait block.
A fabric picture of me.

I think I'll consume the 'E' numbers she sent first.
And then make my block really psychedelic.

Meanwhile, I was doing things this morning and it occurred to me that it was going to be a very boring post today. Until the postman rang the doorbell. Things looked up after that. Because there were four parcels for me. The first one was the above bee block package. The second one had my awaited Zipit order.

Ten multi coloured 8" zips.
And ten blue 22" zips.

I have an idea for my Mouthy Stitches swap partner. But I am not sure if I am capable of doing it. I will try, and it will involve one of those 22" zips. If I fail then I will fall back to plan 'B' and one of those 8" zips will be used instead. When I have had a go I will show you what I want to do, whether it fails or not, but meanwhile I will leave you in suspense.

Number three parcel was some more bird fabric from a lovely reader of this blog by the name of Mary. She is quiet, but we have chatted a couple of times by email and she is always lovely. So these latest birds for the quilt have come to me from rural Wisconsin. Thank you so much, Mary!

I love those eyes on the owls.
And isn't the middle fabric gorgeous!

Last, but certainly not least was another HR delivery. This was one of my mini purchases for little money and lots of satisfaction. I finally decided I needed to have the little girl playing with her toy horses. And some orange flowers to go with it.

One more mini order to arrive.
I haven't ordered any HR in the last little while.
Honest, I haven't!

When I wasn't opening post I was cutting fabric. I have 44 fussy cut birds now ready for their sashing. I hope I have enough stash to find the right fabrics for each and every one of them. Because they all deserve an appropriate frame.

The other main thing I did today was go for lunch with a friend. We get together about once a term for lunch and a good old gossip. It was much needed for the goodness of my soul - chatting, laughing, bitching and generally catching up. That will keep me going until the arrival of my bestest Canadian buddy's arrival in 17 days - not that I am counting or anything!

Susan

Sewing Progress...

2012-01-30T16:35:00.000Z

... is completely non-existent in this house. Instead life got taken care of. The going here and there, doing this and that. And then there was the birthday girl. Because while we celebrated Helen's birthday all weekend, she pointed out that today was her birthday. And the birthday girl gets to choose what she would like for dinner on her birthday. Ah, yes, I had forgotten to consult her. She remedied that. So today I did a grocery shop too.

I took two avocados and squashed them. Literally.
Once stoned and pealed, I squeezed them in my fists.
Works a charm - if squashed up avacados is what you are after.

Chuck in some of these.
And some garlic.

And the guacamole was made.

Salsa - chopped tomatoes, red onion, coriander, chili and garlic.
Easy peasy!

Chicken, onions and peppers.
Lots of spices.
From a packet!
Oh please, this is a last minute request.

So the birthday girl, who is dragging this out for all it is worth, is getting her requested dinner of chicken fajitas. Wonder if she will be happy with eleven candles stuck in the remains of the cake?

Susan

PS: I promise this is not turning into a food blog. Sewing will recommence - when life and them let me.

Coherent Speach Not Possible

2012-01-29T14:11:00.000Z

I am tired. So, so tired. But I guess you could count the birthday weekend a success so far - other than the overtired sisters repeatedly falling out today, but there was no avoiding that happening. I am just trying to avoid them - full stop.

The film, A Monster in Paris, was actually very good. Pizza Express was great and the girls loved being allowed to sit at a table on their own. And they all behaved so well it was incredible. I think trusting them to be on their own and behave brought out the best in them. I would show you a photo or two, but I didn't remember my camera. I put it on my desk to take with me but failed.

The birthday cake was a hit -

- and not as vile as I thought it might be.

The girls all loved watching Home Alone which I had picked up for £3 at Tesco. Sometimes the mother does know what she is talking about!

There were copious amounts of pancakes for breakfast.

Helen loved her acrylic paints and all the accompanying accessories, and got stuck in to copying Van Gogh right away.

I'll leave you with a picture of the necklace Emily chose to give Helen. For all their bickering I think it says a lot about how they really feel (well at least from Emily's point of view but I am pretty sure that it is a two way thing).

Hope you can read it.

Susan

Sugar Alert!

2012-01-28T11:07:00.000Z

I made the chocolate cake, and mixed up the icing for Helen's birthday cake. I have to say that melting a whole Chocolate Orange into the icing was ~~inspired~~ a sick idea. The icing is so sweet it is vile. The girls love it. I suppose that is what it is all about. I left the icing and decorating of the cake to Emily. She took to the task with zeal.

She wasn't up to random placement of the chocolates. She needed more control. But I think she did a brilliant job, Helen is happy and Emily didn't let any of those little buttons go to waste.

The cake will be cut tonight. Just so I can enjoy the pleasure of four girls hyped up on sugar at bedtime. Obviously I have no sense of self preservation. Meanwhile we have an afternoon at the cinema and then Pizza Express. I am all set to go.

If you don't hear from me for several days then I didn't survive the experience, or it really was Death by Chocolate.

Susan

If I Only Had a Brain!

2012-01-27T16:57:00.000Z

Now I do know I do regular numpty reports, but this one takes the cake. Remember that mysterious Echo FQ yesterday? Well, I was sat here yesterday evening catching up on emails when I came to one from a friend in Australia. The one in which Kirsten asked if she could have a piece of fabric shipped to me and then I would post it to her because the shop was asking twice the value of the fabric to get it to her. Of course I said it wasn't a problem and I was happy to do it. Of course she told me exactly what fabric was being shipped to me and from what shop.

My brain is disintegrating faster than the speed of light! I thought that if poor Kirsten read my post about the FQ before I sent her an explanation she would be shouting at the computer screen, 'It's my FQ you numpty! Don't cut it for goodness sake!!' Kirsten claims she just about spilt her coffee all over her computer she was laughing so hard, in fact.

So my Favourite Thing Friday this week is the fact that my sense of humour is still intact, even if the rest of my faculties are not!I made it through the child with shingles, the child with the hurt back, the garage from hell - and then I ended up able to laugh at myself for being such an idiot. It can't all be bad then!

Today has been about having everything ready for the weekend. Including the birthday cake. Which Helen has requested this -

- all to go on her cake as decoration. Except the Chocolate Orange, because I thought we could use that in the icing instead of plain chocolate. Where on earth does that child get her obsession for chocolate from?!

Between the grocery shopping, cake making, hoovering and bathroom cleaning (eeuuuuw!) I managed to squeeze in a few minutes of sewing. So yesterdays birds and today's birds are here.

Twelve more.

Loving this one...

... and the love birds!

In total now there are about 26.
Lots more to go.

Just in case anyone remembers my Terrain HSTs, I finally got some fabric ordered for the back. I should get that sometime towards the end of next week. So I should have a finish in the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, I have zips, solids and some linen out there in the postal system and when they arrive I can get on with the swap items. It's okay, I don't think there will be much sewing featured in this weekend. 3D animated films, yes. Pizza, yes. Giggling girls, yes. Sewing, no!

Hope you have a good weekend and that your FTF is not a disintegrating mind but a sense of humour still there. Honestly, I thought I had a few more years before it all started falling apart! I'm headed over to Shay's to see who else has a FTF, right after the feeding of three girls and a Brownie run, and cake decorating.

Susan

Back in the Saddle Again

2012-01-26T13:54:00.000Z

Thanks to all of you for your lovely messages, and the occasional offer to fire bomb the garage that annoyed me. (Okay, I'm joking but I am sure you would join my in some midnight mayhem if I asked nicely!) Pulverising that lemon yesterday did the trick in making me look life in the face again and believe I could take whatever it threw at me. Besides, I think lemons are afraid of me now anyway.

Today I have two children in school. No phone calls yet, though I may just jinx myself saying that. Emily asked if I was going to come medicate her at lunch today, and I declined. The teacher knows how to get in touch if I am required. I noticed a big difference in Emily this morning from the previous two so I was quite optimistic when I skipped away from the school - and that optimism seems to have been well placed.

Because even if the school calls now I have had a blissful time doing this and that. The sun is shining in through my ~~glistening clean~~ windows. I saw that the spring bulbs are starting to push up in people's gardens. Before you know it I will be oooooh-ing and aaaaah-ing over little baby lambs. Yes, I know it is only January but I think the spring bulbs appearing has made me slightly light headed!

Lots to tell you so had best get on with it. I spent a great deal of time last night stalking my partners for the two swaps I am in - For The Love of Solids (FTLOS) and Mouthy Stitches. Thankfully I have very vocal partners who are commenting all over the place (woohoo!!) and I came up with some ideas this morning which I posted on Flickr. And I am getting good feedback already. Not saying if that feedback is from my partners, but nice things are being said and that always makes a person smile.

Here's what I came up with -

FTLOS
My idea is to make HSTs in bright colours and then cut them into the outer portions of the Drunkard's Path block.
The inner circle will be neutral. I am leaning towards shads of cream/beige but put the darker colours
in the equation as my partner seemed to be drawn to them. I will see if I get feedback from her.

Mouthy Stitches
Pouch about 9" square.
Scrappy oranges up top and aquas on the bottom,
with a strip of linen running on the diagonal between.
Perle stitching on the diagonal strip.

It was good to check those two things off my list of things to do. Now I sit and wait to see what my partners think. I have fabric ordered that will be required for both of these so cannot get making on them yet. Oh, and zips ordered too!

Speaking of fabric orders today. I think I am losing the plot. I got this from M is for Make today.

Now don't get me wrong here. I love this piece of fabric. Love! But I do not for the life of me remember ordering it. There was one of M is for Makes little notes inside saying 'Thank you for your order'. I am thrilled to have it but suppose I had better go and see if I paid for it!

I got more happy post too. This time all the way from Cindy in Texas, who can be found here. She was really lovely and emailed me two bird fabrics for my quilt and they are massive bits. Also unique to me. I so cannot believe that there are so many different bird fabrics out there!

Eeeeek! Look at those love birds! Sweet!!!!

Meanwhile I have been fitting in a little more of this -

And more of these -

But I'm only giving you a sneaky peek, because I am headed into another busy weekend involving sleepovers, a trip to the cinema, pizzas and probably a lot of junk food. Someone in this house is turning older. Thank goodness it isn't me! So if I get too busy to accomplish anything on my projects I can fall back on the things I held back today for my weekend blog posts.

Susan

Life and Lemons

2012-01-25T13:00:00.000Z

The past few days life has served me a few lemons. I decided not to blog yesterdays lemon and today I am fighting back. I know the saying is if life gives you lemons make lemonade. Well, I just went for a slight twist on that. And I got to take my own back on at least one lemon. (I feel better for it too!)

I grated and squeezed the crap out of that lemon. The rind went into the cake batter.

The juice - with some added sugar - went on top.

So me and lemons - we've talked and come to an agreement. Life can serve them up but I will pulverise the little buggers.

Lemon Drizzle Cake

1/2 cup (4 oz) butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/2 cup (4 oz) milk
finely grated rind of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the lemon rind and the two eggs. Beat well. In separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk to the mixing bowl, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.

Place in lined baking tin. (I just line the bottom, but that's me.) I usually use a 2 lb loaf tin for this recipe but mine was in the freezer full of meatloaf, so I used an 8" deep round tin instead today.

Bake until firm, the cake springs back to touch and/or no batter clings to a probe if poked in the middle of the cake. While the cake is baking mix the juice of the lemon you grated the rind from with 1/3 cup sugar (granulated rather than caster sugar will give you more texture to the cake top). Do not stir until sugar is dissolved.

After removing the cake from the oven, pour the sugar and lemon mixture over the top of the cake slowly, making sure to cover all the surface. Leave to cool in the tin. If removed too soon it just might fall apart on you. (The voice of experience here!)

I have been using this recipe for just about forever. It is the recipe that my mother used when I was little. It is also one of my favourite cakes to make. And when life has dealt you a few lemons it proves a very useful recipe to have. Besides, sometimes you need an alternative sugar source to chocolate.

Susan

The Best Laid Plans...

2012-01-23T13:01:00.000Z

... seldom go to plan around here. I had full intentions of being attached to my sewing machine all day today.

That was before the girls were ready for school. Before we were in the car. And before the car wouldn't start. Arrrggghhhh!! Deep breaths - long, deep, cleansing breaths! I then had a dilemna. We live about four miles from the school. A friend came over to drive the girls there but I ended up keeping Emily home because without a car I couldn't pick her up if and when her back started bothering her. She gets very uncomfortable in certain positions and sitting in the same position for an extended period is one of the problems. I couldn't risk sending her to school. And then not being able to go and get her if it all got too much.

I found a garage that was willing and able to send someone over to jump start the car and take it back to the garage. It is there now. I await the phone call to say it is fixed. Because I need to go get Helen. She might be having a recurrance of her recent illness. I don't know because she is there and I am here, but the school say the symptoms are similar.

I feel rather helpless right now. We are not in an area with an efficient transport system, nor is there a local taxi service. I need my car. Now!

Meanwhile, I have tried to get on with a few things. I had planned on giong into town today and one of the things I was going to get were blank note cards I could put into some packages I have to send. Without the means to go purchase these I used the available resources. Emily, paper and Emily's new pens.

Job done!

While Emily sat and did that, I cut fabric and gathered the necessary bits for each envelope I was sending. I now am ready for a trip to the Post Office. When I have a car to get me there.

So that is me. Sitting and waiting for a phone call. And a walk to the garage. Then a rescue of Helen. And maybe a visit to the doctor - for both of them.

Life is an unpredictable thing. I am glad that if this was going to happen that it happened this week when I am no longer in a self indulgent funk. Mind you, maybe this would have snapped me out of it because when there is no time for a funk then you skip the whole thing. And at least I have acheived something today. Now I have a request to go play Scrabble. The worry is that without spell check Emily will spell better than I do!

Susan

Traded In My Funk for Busy

2012-01-22T18:17:00.000Z

Not time for being in a funk around here this weekend. Barely time to sit down. You sure do sleep well when you have days like that. And no time for feeling blah at all.

The first big news was that myself, Cindy and Hadley got the partner assignments for Mouthy Stitches done, sent out and the stalking has commenced. I have been given a brilliant partner and can't wait to get making for her. With that in mind, and knowing who I was making for I sat here at some stupid time this morning and ordered more zippers, just in case I didn't have the colour I really wanted for my make. (You never can have too many, can you?)

My next news was that I received my last two purchases of Heather Ross fabrics. I found it very interesting shopping around for HR fabrics because the prices being charged are so varied and then the cost of shipping! Goodness me, how can one seller on Etsy be asking $12.95 to ship a piece of fabric smaller than a FQ to the UK but another can do it for $10 less? It certainly makes decisions when shopping easier. I saw the same design FQ of HR for sale by two different sellers and one was asking twice as much as the other. So, my advice, if you decide to do a little fabric collecting, is to shop around! My last two shipments I got for just over £5 each, including shipping. You can have fun for a very little amount of money when you try.

The three on the right I got from one seller and
I had to have it just for those cheeky little gnomes.

My other news is I have had more good post. (I know! There is no chance of being gloomy around you guys!) First off Maggie sent me a parcel all the way from Utah. I didn't really know Maggie before she entered my Christmas swap but she is a joy. And she goes out of her way for so many people, paying attention to what is going on in a swap and is generous to all. As a thank you - not necessary at all - for running the swap she sent not only me a gift, but the girls one each too.

A mini tote for each of the girls,
which they quickly decided were the perfect size for dance shoes.
And a stack of charm squares for each of them too.

For me all of us was a brilliant Christmas mini quilt.
I love that wreath stitched on the door!

And for me some amazing HR scraps, plus another bird scrap which I do not have.
I could sit here and rave about that HR Christmas tree piece!
Love it sooooo much!

The other package was from Fiona. We are doing a bit of a swap, and she sent me some HR, plus some birds. I will be sending her a package tomorrow. Because I have a number of packages that need sorting out!

Yoga girl - love her, while somehow hating her at the same time.
And liberated goldfish. Well, that's how I think of them as opposed
to the fish in a bag.

Birdies!! Those orange ones are gorgeous.
(Sorry, Katie, but no need to go looking for any for me now. Thanks!)

The other thing to happen this weekend was Emily took a whacking great fall at my friend's house after swimming lessons and hurt her back. She is doing fine now, still aching but children's bodies are so much more resilient - thank goodness. But in her moments of lowness yesterday she requested that I blog about baby bunny. So blog about baby bunny I shall.

This was designated Baby Bunny weekend.
For that Baby Bunny got a sash and her own pillow.

Helen made whoopie pies.
Baby Bunny found where she wanted to hang out for a while.

And Emily gave her a treat,
but I am not sure if bunnies eat bears.

So it is all go here. Swaps are on the go. I am stalking two people - one For The Love of Solids swap and the other for our very own Mouthy Stitches. I have my zips ordered for one and my solids ordered for the other. The making only waits for the post. I have a load of blogs to read, and so many emails to reply to - but I think normal service it about to resume here come tomorrow morning. I'm feeling the urge to sew, and do, and plan, and fondle the heap of HR I have accumulated.

It has taken me two hours to write this blog, whilst doing other tasks gong back and forth between all things demanding my attention. I think I am going to reward myself with a glass of wine. I have been ever so good lately but I do feel I have earned it this weekend. Life, despite the occasional moan, is good!

Susan

Favourite Thing Friday

2012-01-20T15:00:00.000Z

This week has been an interesting one in that I have been on a bit of a downer missing some close friends, none of who live an easily accessible distance from here. Some are further away than others. I tick along merrily most days getting on with what needs getting on with, but there are occasional slumps - we all have them (I think). On the other hand one of the best friends a person can have in the world will be here visiting from Canada in less than a month. That's something to look forward to.

And then there are you guys. All of you are my Favourite Thing Friday, because of your kindness, lovely comments, humour and generosity. You brighten my days and widen my world. Can you believe that I got two more packages in the post today?! From the lovely Ceri - one of the fabulous Brit Bee girls who blogs over at Inspired By Felix and makes the most beautiful things that she sells (Yes! Sells successfully.) I got some more bird fabric. What is amazing is how little duplication there is in the wonderful donations I have received for my Birdies quilt.

I love that bird in the upper right hand corner!

The other package was from another of my friends made when I joined Brit Bee - the wonderful Sarah who can be found at Narcoleptic in a Cupboard. Sarah is having a QAL very soon and I am doing it. It is called Stained Pink - though my quilt will not be either stained nor pink - I will be using her pattern. I got two donations from Sarah and her mum (that just makes me smile even more) for the bird quilt.

All those empty bird cages that have been escaped from. Perfect.
And the colours in the purple fabric are so cool!

And a donation to my HR quilt too.

Horses!!
(What more can I say?!)
You'll just have to imagine the stupid grin on my face.

A huge thank you to Ceri, Sarah and Sarah's mum. You guys are the best and I hope you'll let me know when you have a specific theme for a quilt that you could use some help with.

I have been blogging for just short of a year and I can't imagine how I got by without all of you before. It was a lonely sewing existence. The support received is nothing short of amazing, and I hope I manage to give some of that back. In an effort to spread the love (so to speak) I made something to pop in the post for someone else today.

A little needle book.
Which would have had more perle stitching in lime,
if I hadn't run out of that colour of thread.

Simple, but colourful and fun.

This will be popped into the post. I would like to say today but it looks like I have left it too late as the school run needs doing. But I hope it makes the recipient smile the way the kindness of so many has made me smile.

Thank you for being my Favourite Thing Friday. You've made my week a much cheerier one by stopping by here. As usual with FTF, I will be linking this up with Shay over at Quilting in My Pyjamas and will be having a look at what is making other people happy this Friday.

And for you Mouthy Stitchers out there - I have spent a good part of my day doing partner allocations. Oh, it is going to be so much fun! Hope you are ready to receive your partner this weekend. Because it is coming whether you are ready or not!

Susan

Resolved to Sew

2012-01-19T15:10:00.000Z

I spoke about Resolved to Sew the other day because Ali is having one of the best giveaways ever over at Very Berry Handmade. But she is also giving us an extra chance to win if we talk about our sewing plans for 2012. So it would be silly not to take Ali up on her offer of another chance to win because I would love to win this.

But quite frankly, even if I didn't get first choice, all her prizes from the wonderful sponsors are brilliant and I would do a little happy dance if any of them came my way.

Since I did Sarah's Winter Sewing List and Rhonda's Finish-a-Long you have a good idea what my aims are for the next few months. But I will talk about them some more and about further plans in the year.

(1) I will finish Emily's quilt before the end of this month. (I have my fingers crossed behind my back just in case there is a slight delay.)

(2) I will make One for the Birds, my Favourite Fabrics quilt (in Sarah's Stained Pink design), and my Heather Ross Fan Club quilt this year. At least one of these quilts will be for me, me, me! I have yet to make a quilt entirely for myself and it is time.

(3) I will write a proper tutorial and it will work. Enough said!

(4) I will spend less time on the computer and more time sewing. I need more balance!

(5) I will be involved in the organising of more swaps (Mouthy Stitches being part of this goal) and I will enjoy the process and stress less.

(6) I will start my Christmas sewing now, not in November and avoid putting myself in a blind panic and being exhausted for Christmas Day.

(7) I will eat less chocolate. I have to! It's getting out of hand. Really!

That's enough. If I make lists too long I start to panic and procrastinate rather than get on with it because I end up intimidating myself. We wouldn't want that to happen.

Meanwhile I have had more happy post. Jan from Isisjem and I got emailing about my One for the Birds quilt and she quite liked the idea. She found that she had a number of bird fabrics too. I suggested that we do some swapping so that we each had more birds and before you could say 'yes' she had a package in the post for me. (No, I haven't sent hers yet because I am useless like that!) Look what I got!

Lovely card with the package!

Birds, birds and more birds.
I love those birds on a chair prints. Love!

Look what else Jan sent.
Some contributions to my HR quilt. Sqeeeeeee!
And chocolate! Died and gone to heaven here.

You can't say happiness for a quilter more than fabric you love. And with that in mind I got on with cutting the charm squares for the Over the Rainbow Charm Square Swap - Rounds One and Two - because I didn't want to miss out on any good fabric! All cut and ready to send off to Emily now. Tick that box off my list.

California Dreamin' for the pink.
Enchino for the purple.

I'm rather pleased with myself today because I have also finished doing a good old clean of the house the past two days. If you dropped by right now you would have the rare opportunity of not finding me mortified to let you in. It won't last long but it is nice while it lasts!

Theoretically I should be sat diligently working out the partner assignments for Mouthy Stitches right now. But I did have to get these other things done and out the way so I could concentrate.

Susan

Nosy Parker in the Neighbourhood

2012-01-18T17:46:00.000Z

I'm linking in to Kat's Nosy Parker in the Neighbourhood over at Diary of a Flutter.Kat this month. I missed the Christmas link up because, well by the time I thought of doing it I was done with talking about Christmas and just never got around to it. Kat gives us a bunch of questions to answer each month and then those who wish to join in, link up and tell all about the subject of the month. January is all about our sewing spaces.

1) How long have you been sewing? Are you a first generation sewer or was the knowledge handed down to you? Basically tell us about your journey...

About ~~five~~ six years ago, after trying a few other crafts unsuccessfully, I asked himself if I could have a sewing machine. A friend got pregnant shortly thereafter and I decided to make something for the baby. My quilting career was born. I knew nothing, but that didn't stop me. I very quickly discovered the joys of shopping for fabric online and was instantly addicted. The sewing was secondary to the buying for a while. No one I knew sewed. My mum never sewed anything. Until I found my LQS and took a few classes I was winging it. I don't think the world of blogging had been born yet, and if it had I was clueless about that too.

I did bravely hand quilt it though. With varied success.

2) Where do you sew?

I sew in our dining room. There are no other options in this house. I dream of having a sewing room. In this dream the room is big, with every toy and bit of storage I could ever want. Meanwhile I have this -

Admittedly it is not perfect, but it's better than nothing. And it beats the conservatory in the last house we rented where there was no electricity, or heating, or lighting so it was either too cold, too hot, too bright or too dark. I didn't get much sewing during those two years at all!

I have a small cutting mat I keep on the table for while I am working. It proves equally useful for piling stuff on to shift it when we want to eat in the dining room. When I am required to cut larger pieces of fabric I use my other cutting mat on the floor. This gets pushed under the rowing machine when not in use. The rowing machine is useful for stacking fabric on as well. Beats having to exercise on it!

3) What does your sewing room/area look like today in it's real state. Take a picture of it if possible and show it to us real :)

Well, the above shows some of the tale. I am currently planning on cutting that purple Enchino into charms for the Somewhere Over the Rainbow Charm Swap, and there is a yard of pink somewhere waiting the same fate. On the table are the bird fabrics, and Judith's blocks and a few other items. By the machine are the fussy cut birds waiting for sashing.

And on one of the chairs is my growing stack of Heather Ross fabrics which have not been cut into yet. I just like to have them there right now reminding me of the quilt I am going to make soon and they make me smile each time I see them.

4) What is the first thing that you made which you were really proud of? Show us pics of your favourite project.

I am so used to parading Wonky Stars, or one of my Pips quilts when asked this so I am going to go off piste and show you the scrappy blue quilt I made with leftover two inch scraps. It isn't big but I think it is very, very pretty and I love the way it went together - without a plan as per normal for me. Just started piecing the scraps in an experiment and the next thing I knew I had a quilt top I loved.

5) Do you always stick to the "rules" when you sew, or are you more improvisationally minded?

Rules!? What rules? Think that about sums it up.

I have been making it up as went along pretty well from the beginning. The use of patterns in my quilting is almost non-existent. I will look at other people's quilts for inspiration - and there is some pretty amazing inspiration out there - and I will often take parts of an idea that suit me. Even when making a traditional quilt like an Irish Chain pattern I have just worked out the maths and the cutting requirements for myself. Yes, there have been mistakes along the way, and sometimes those very mistakes have become projects that I loved. Live and learn.

A year ago this blog didn't exist, I was just starting to read other people's quilting blogs, I had never sewn a pillow or a cushion, a zipper in any of my projects, done a swap or found out just how much finding a quilting community online would brighten my life, infuse me with new found love of sewing and experimenting, and generally open my eyes to a whole new world.

I like it!

Susan

Catching Up and Resolved to Sew

2012-01-17T15:16:00.000Z

This was one of those days I seemed to spend much of my time catching up. Catching up with a good friend over a cup of tea. Catching up with emails because I fell way behind again. If I missed yours - apologies - I sort of zoned out after a while. I also caught up on a few more bird blocks for One for the Birds. I now have ~~twelve~~ ~~thirteen~~ fourteen blocks in total. It's a start.

My favourite from today is most definitely this one -

I also notices, in the process of reading and replying to emails, that a number of you differed in my opinion of how hideous my Christmas fabric was. I will now stop hiding the truly fugly ones behind the more palatable ones and show you the horrid truth. There really are some crackers in there!

Now, if any of you have a hankering after the above I am more than happy to swap some for some Heather Ross or bird fabric. Trust me on this, I would give you great big pieces of these fuglies in return for small pieces of coveted fabric. Just a thought!

Last, but so not least, you probably will have noticed that there is the most amazing giveaway going on over at Very Berry Handmade. Everyone is blogging about it. And that's because it is a giveaway that beats most giveaways. Well, it's also because we all love Ali and her blog, and she's hanging out with us over at Mouthy Stitches. (Cindy and I are thrilled to be hanging out with the cool bloggers - Hadley always was cool.) The Resolved to Sew giveaway shouldn't be missed. Nor should the Very Berry Handmade blog. So off you scoot and go have a look. I'm all done here.

Susan

I Didn't Know...

2012-01-16T13:37:00.000Z

... that I owned some of these fabrics! And my stash is small compared to most, I believe. I have sat here most of the morning, sorting, smiling, frowning, and wondering where some of it came from. I have sat and stared at some of it wondering what on earth I was thinking at the time. And here I thought I gave away just about all my ugly fabric a long time ago! Apparently not.

But there is still lots of fabrics I like. I have surrounded myself with storage boxes and have been sorting diligently.

Obviously I will have to 'borrow' space from the other storage unit sooner rather than later.

I have grouped together certain fabrics. Because they don't fall into a category, are brown/sludge, unbleached cottons, etc.

That one that looks red is actually a rust colour
and just doesn't seem red enough to make the cut to the red box for me.

Then there is a box just with solids in it.
There are more still to come I do believe.
And a whacking great big piece of Ash.

Still to figure out is what to do with the 'other' fabrics. There is a small pile, so far, of fabrics I am keeping together rather than sorting according to colour.

Fabric gifts, my Pips, etc.

There is a horrendously huge pile of Christmas fabrics still, despite my best efforts this past Christmas to use up some of them. Maybe there should be an ugly Christmas fabric challenge later on in the year. I'll supply the fabric!

I admit I tried to put the less horrible ones on top so you didn't realise just how bad it was.
Surprising how you can hide the ones with gold in them due to mortification!

I was also incredibly surprised to learn that I have a lot of Simplicity leftover from making Helen and Emily's quilts. I must have bought a lot! I might have to think of a project to use some of this up.

There is more to sort out, but the bulk is done now. This certainly focuses you, shows you what you have and what you desperately need more of. Especially in the colours. I need more reds, and oranges, and yellows, and purples - which are particularly hard to find - well purples that are palatable are.

If I get this task done I will be able to see the carpet again, which will be a shame because I am sure to get a visible reminder that it needs hoovering. Maybe I will leave my fabric out for another day. Just because I can.

Susan

Speak Swedish?

2012-01-15T14:27:00.000Z

Needless to say, there was no fooling you lot yesterday. Of course I was off to Ikea, with much excitement and glee. First I dropped the girls in the centre of Milton Keynes with my dad and his girlfriend. They were having the girls for the night and then taking them to the pantomime today. I was getting to buy storage and my girls were gone. (Which was strange and very, very quiet. The girls both being out is a very rare thing around here.)

It took me longer to find a parking spot at Ikea than it did to do the shopping. What a nightmare! It's a good thing I knew exactly what I wanted and went in through the exit, back tracked to the correct place in the warehouse, got what I needed, paid and got out. I very quickly remembered why I don't go to Ikea on the weekends if I can help it.

But now I am the proud owner of this Trofast unit.

Just waiting to be filled. But look at the bigger picture showing location.

It fits perfectly under the stairs, still leaving room for the coats to hang, and right there beside it is another unit - full of hats & scarves, dance gear, and summer sandals - and I think that I can feel a mini coup happening in the future when some of those drawers become mine by mysterious happenstance. All I need is a little stealth.

Tomorrow, when I have them all back into routine I will do my final delve into the old toy box and get sorting.

Who knows what lurks in the bottom?!

And sundry other piles of fabric shall also be sorted. I live a dream that sewing will become easier, more organised, more sophisticated when all these fabrics are sorted, colour coded, and each in its place. I know I am living in a fools paradise, but a girl can dream.

I now have to girls to go and bring home again. I am sure I will be hearing all about the pantomime all the way home. I promise not to pass on all the details to you tomorrow.

Susan

One for the Birds

2012-01-14T11:07:00.000Z

I have officially started One for the Birds, having realised that until I get the backing fabric for the Terrain HSTs that quilt cannot progress at all. I tucked it out the way and instead I took all the fabric I had featuring birds and started fussy cutting.

And then I began the enjoyable task of choosing the fabrics to sash them with. I love this part, delving through the stash, pulling out bits here and there and trying them on for size. I spend far too much time doing it, but it is just such good fun.

And my favourite one so far is...

That's another project started before the others are finished. Typical! Never mind, it's all good fun and that is the most important thing of all. We have a very busy weekend happening here so I would be surprised if work gets done on any of the projects on the go. And today I am off to do a small task that I have had on my list of things to do for a very long time. For me it is exciting. Doubtful it is to anyone else, but I am hoping that it makes my fabric delving and diving a more organised experience. And that's the only hint you are getting!

Susan

Another Doohickey

2012-01-13T12:20:00.000Z

Way back when I started quilting, and took a few classes, I also took up buying everything the quilt police recommended I do so at the time. Most of the stuff ended up in the bottom of a box to 'keep it tidy' and never saw the light of day again. I delve into that box occasionally just to see what is in there. Recently I even retrieved an item and have been using it. It has been a very useful little doohickey.

I finished the stitching around all the applique hearts on Emily's quilt.

And now I have moved on to sewing hearts randomly on the quilt, some in white, some not, and sometimes a combination of the two.

The white.

The not.

The combination.

And this was when my little doohickey thing finally earned its keep about five years after its purchase. Because my doohickey is a hera marker. Yes, I did have to look up the name because I didn't remember it!

The hera and a template (also bought in those early years).

A quick mark around the template and it's perfectly outlined.

Just have to stitch before it disappears,
which it doesn't do as quickly as I feared it might.

So, those quilt police, they know what they are talking about a lot of the time. I am sure that they would not appreciate some of my methods of doing things now, but they gave me a good foundation to build on and the confidence to believe I could do it on my own. That's no bad thing!

Susan

Wow!

2012-01-12T12:32:00.000Z

When Hadley, Cindy and I set up our Mouthy Stitches Swap we never in our wildest dreams thought we would fill the maximum number of allocated spots, let along do it in less than two days! Unbelievable! If you wanted to join the swap but failed to get one of those 90 spaces then please do send me a message and I will put you on a waitlist. Things change, and I do believe that a few members are there for the fun of it but can't (for various reasons) actually participate in the making. We will sort it all out and let you know if we can fit you in.

Meanwhile, there is another new game in town. If you are looking for a QAL then I highly recommend you take a look at my friend Sarah's (Narcoleptic in a Cupboard) Stained QAL February 2012. If you hop on over to her post here then you can see what the schedule will be for this. Having mentally figured out roughly what I wanted to do for my One for the Birds quilt, and my Heather Ross Fan Club quilt, I was still humming and ha-ing overthe plan for my Favourite Fabrics quilt. No more humming and ha-ing happening here. This is the perfect project for featuring all the different fabrics that I have known and loved - and still have a piece of!

While not sitting here at the computer and admiring everyone's mosaics in the swap I have squeezed in a little sewing. I am still part of a bee after all and Miss January has had fabric with instructions sitting on my desk for several weeks now. Her instructions were to create a scrappy log cabin with the fabric provided but to please use some fabric of our own for a fussy cut centre that would reflect who we were and 'personalise' each block.

It took me a while to think what I could use in my fabric that would reflect me, my (almost) year of blogging, sewing and being in a bee. Eventually I fell on the idea of a cut from Sherbet Pips because I made three quilts from this fabric line since I met Judith and it has been one of my favourite lines of the year. Plus I used a 'scooter girl' in my Brit Swap, and that mini quilt went to another of my bee friends - Laura. So scooter girl it was.

Scooter Girl! And a few puppies for good measure.

Block two was more of a problem. I dug about in my bottomless chest of fabric. (No, I have not got to Ikea yet and do not have my lusted after and promised for storage units!) Eventually I found a bit of fabric that I thought Judith would deem suitable to reflect who I am and make her smile when she saw it.

One cheeky monkey!

Judith, I hope you like your blocks. They will be in the post soon. I won't tell you which day because I am notoriously bad for posting things when I say I will and giving you a date would just be a jinx!

Susan

Heather Ross Goodness and More

2012-01-11T15:11:00.001Z

Over the holidays I indulged myself by purchasing a few small pieces of Heather Ross fabrics online. All in aid of my future Heather Ross Fan Club Quilt. But I also had some very kind fellow bloggers offer up some of their precious hoard. In the past few days I have had two envelopes arrive and these blogger friends have almost made me cry with their generosity.

First up came a lovely contribution from Indianna Dreams who is right here in the UK. She sent me some of her HR saying she had won it in a bloggy giveaway and was sharing the happiness. How kind is that?! Now I urge you to go have a look at her blog because when you see her scrappy Union Jack, or the bag she made as a Christmas gift, or her embroideries, you are going to want to be in the Mouthy Stitches Swap because she is too and you just might get her for your partner! (Go on, have a look and then think about how much you would like her to make you something. She is seriously good. And it is time to sweep her into this blog circle of friends.)

These dogs are so cute. And some dots!
I can't wait until I have received me HR purchases too and can start plotting and planning the quilt.

My other package came all the way from Australia and took less than a week to get here. Marg, who can be found at Sunshine? Paradise?, offered to trade me some of her HR for some of mine. Only two things - Helen got sick so I never even posted anything yet, and she sent me so much loveliness and I think I will just ship back half my stash in return. Marg is making the most amazing starflower quilt right now in the lushest of fabrics. The blocks are so gorgeous that it almost makes me want to start doing paper piecing. Almost! And she hangs out with Shay in real life as well as blogland. You just have to know she is fabulous!

The Farmer's Market I knew was coming, but not that she would send me such a whacking great big, beautiful piece of it. The Munki Munki kittens were a complete surprise. Marg said she 'found' it when she went looking for the Farmer's Market. Her HR storage is different than mine I guess. Here it all gets hoarded together, jealously watched over and death threats are carelessly thrown about if the girls so much as look at it! Look at those kittens!

Too cute for words!

That wasn't all that was in the envelope. Marg contributed to my One for the Birds quilt too. She sent me all of this -

I'd tell you what they all were but -
(a) you know that I don't know really, other than the Michael Miller (because there is a selvedge),
and (b) you probably recognise them all yourself anyway.

So I am totally overwhelmed by the generosity of the bloggers in the quilting world once again. Thank you so much ladies. I cannot express how much I appreciate these contributions to my quilting life. If you saw me last night, pressing bird fabrics and stacking them carefully ready for cutting and then just caressing my Heather Ross fabrics you would truly understand. It is a sort of madness I am sure, but a benign one.

Susan

PS: If you haven't yet signed up for the Mouthy Stitches Swap then please do go and look at the amazing group of people already signed up and think about how much you would like to be a part of this. It is going to be be fun!

Mouthy Stitches

2012-01-10T08:00:00.000Z

What do you get when you team up an American living in Ireland, a Canadian living in Great Britain and a Brit living in... well... Britain? Three women who can't get a word in edgewise because we all talk too much! And that was how Mouthy Stitches was born.

What on earth is Mouthy Stitches, you ask? Well, I have the privilege of joining up with Hadley from Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle and Cindy from Fluffy Sheep Quilting to create a swap group with the three of us sharing mama duties.

And we want you! (Please!)

We're starting off with a nice easy swap. (Plans to expand the empire might follow if you all join up and enjoy yourselves!) Easy, peasy lemon squeezy - just make one zippered pouch for your assigned partner and the only 'extra' is everyone is to then put one FQs worth of scraps into the pouch before posting.

I would appreciate it if everyone would stop rolling around on the floor laughing because I said that it was a Zippered Pouch Swap. Yes, I avoided them like the plague for just about ever. So making one scared the crap out me. I did it. And it turned out to be rather easier than expected. Like easy enough that I wondered what on earth I had been so afraid of for so long! If I can do it then so can you. (Yes, Shay, you are one of the people I am directing this message at.)

Are you interested? Have you been sat there wishing and wanting a Zippered Pouch Swap? (Am I pushing my luck here?) Well, we are looking for a group of people just like I had in the Modern Christmas Tablerunner Swap. Everyone was fabulous in that. They chatted, they joked, they made amazing things and (so they tell me) they had fun.

It doesn't matter if this is your first swap ever. Far more important is your attitude. And your willingness to be actively involved in the swap. This means commenting on other participants photos on the Flickr site, posting photos of your own, and sticking to the swap rules like posting on time, etc.

Here is the general information -

signs up starting from now until January 22nd.
you don't have to have a blog but you must have a Flickr page.
you must post a mosaic to the Mouthy Stitches Flickr site and fill in the posted form before the 22nd to be in.
partners will be assigned by January 29th.
posting to your partner is between February 25th and February 29th.
one zippered pouch and one FQ worth of scraps no smaller than 2.5" square are what is to be exchanged.

Right, are you up for it? Do you want to join in? Then please do go over to the Mouthy Stitches Flickr page to find the form and post your mosaic. I'm looking forward to seeing you there.

Here's some inspiration photos from my mosaic to whet your appetite. If you wish to see Hadley's and Cindy's mosaics then head on over to the Flickr page where they are posted already.

I do hope that you want to join in with us because I had such an excellent time in my last swap that I just want to repeat the experience.

Susan

All By Myself...

2012-01-09T15:03:00.000Z

... Almost! I did get both girls to school this morning. And I did drive back before lunch to give Helen her medication as she hasn't finished it yet. But then I had to go back and get her after lunch as her energy and pain thresholds plummeted. I still have to return for Emily. I will be wearing a groove in that road, but that's okay. One of the reasons for being a stay at home mum is so that I am there for them when needed.

I did a few tasks for himself as well. That left me... well... not much time for sewing. But I did do a little bit on the Terrain HSTs. And in the process of pressing some fabric prior to cutting it I realised that I had received a shipment of fabric from Brenda at Pink Castle Fabrics and not told you about it. So here is a quick peek at what I received before I ask for some opinions on how to finish the Terrain quilt.

A lovely charm pack of Aneela Hooey's A Walk In The Woods
Some of this will destined to be fussy cut into my favourite fabrics quilt.

Some stash building Half Moon scissors.

A layer cake of Salt Air for Cosmo Cricket.
Luscious colours!

And more stash building with some California Dreamin' yardage.
The pink on the left will be used for the Somewhere Over the Rainbow charm swap.
The pink on the right has just been cut and some of it used in the Terrain quilt.
No plans for the green, yet!

I sewed some borders on the Terrain quilt today. I wanted to frame the HSTs so that they continued to stand out boldly.

Here's the part where I need your help. My original plan had been to add another navy blue border and then bind it in another colour, not the pink. But not the green used for demonstration purposes below.

But I've gone off this idea now. I am thinking that it would be too much of a good thing. So should I add another border of the navy solid and then bind it in the navy as well. Or should I stop now and bind it in the navy and be done?

Wider border of the navy or...

... just a navy binding?

Helen suggested a coloured binding directly on the pink but (don't tell her this!) I am not currently favouring this idea.

Anyone any ideas? All help is appreciated as always! Thank you.

Susan

For the Love of Solids

2012-01-08T14:26:00.000Z

I've taken the plunge and put my name down for another swap - For the Love of Solids Round Two. I wasn't going to. There is a lot going on but the first round of the For the Love of Solids really impressed me with the amazing things that participants made for their partners. So today I filled in the form and made my mosaic. No going back.

If you are interested then I think that there might still be spaces left. You can go have a look here.

Narrowing down some of my favourite makes done in solids wasn't easy but here is my mosaic -

1.Michael Miller Lipstick, 2. Bella Solids Turquoise, 3. Bella Solids Lime, 4. Bella Solids Terrain Iris, 5. Package sent to my For the Love of Solids swap partner, 6. FTLOSS - received, 7. Swap extras, 8. Ripple quilt back, 9. "everything's coming up rainbows" , 10. modernswap2, 11. Chris's Blocks - "Triple B" Bee, 12. Kona Solid Challenge Quilt, 13. Festival de couleurs, 14. FLOSS Recieved!!, 15. kona mini quilt front partial view finished, 16. From Sarah - my MCTRS partner

Now I just have to sit back and wait for my partner assignment. That will happen by the 15th of January. Then I start panicking. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Susan

Laughter is the Best Medicine

2012-01-07T17:33:00.000Z

Or Chocolate! Or ice cream. How about ice cream and chocolate together, with laughter served as a side dish? Now that would be the best medicine of all. Some of you may remember that I mentioned I got something else for Christmas, besides my ticket to the sewing retreat. I got one of these.

It seemed to me that it was time to break out the ultimate medicine.

This was our inspiration.

This was the recipe book.
Love those guys!

~~Surprisingly~~ I had enough chocolate in stock.

To make Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream, first you need to make the brownies. I used the recipe supplied by the very nice Ben and Jerry. I'll tell you what. This is a win win situation here. You make brownies and you only need a cup of them chopped up to use in the ice cream. The rest is sort of like a reward for your hard work. And they are good! I didn't have the correct 9"x13" baking pan so I made some the regular way and the rest in star shapes.

OMG, I am telling you, if you can't be arsed to make your own ice cream - and I readily accept that most people would not be - make the chocolate brownies. They are sooooooo amazing!!

I am sure if you click on this photo it will get bigger and show you the recipe more clearly.
If not, and you want the recipe, let me know and I will type it all out tomorrow, or the next day.

Brownies made, with the gooey centre of the tray baked ones duly chopped up and chilled, waiting to be put into the ice cream...

... we made the ice cream mixture. It then got poured into the frozen container to be churned...

... and then we sat and watched.

Here's the really good bit. The frozen container turns, not the plastic churning blade inside. And there is a hole in the top for adding ingredients (like chopped up brownies). So you can, in complete safety, jab your finger into the gradually freezing mix and make sure it hasn't gone off in the two seconds since you last jabbed your finger in. I am sure, after hearing that, you don't want to eat ice cream in my house ever. But the novelty will wear off eventually and we will all stop jabbing our fingers in. Honestly!

Now we have a container of ice cream for desert.

In the freezer, getting firmer.

Label by Emily.

It would have been nice to do some sewing after all that but, horror of all horrors, himself bought a key board and set it up on the dining room table! I have squatter rights in there! Me!! Not him.Emily had my iPad and Helen was watching telly in the sitting room. So I took my time making dinner. I played with the carrots for the Thai curry, sad git that I am.

My life is too exciting for words!

Thank you for all those lovely comments about Helen. The new improved medication seems to be making headway where the other wasn't. She isn't exactly happy (other than when taste testing ice cream) but things are improving. Woohoo!

Susan

Favourite Thing Friday Returns

2012-01-06T16:44:00.000Z

Today I did no hand sewing whilst keeping a child company. I did do grocery shopping. (She stayed home with her dad, I did not drag her around with me.) I did do laundry. And I did make a venison stew. I did not pick up a needle. No, instead I took said child back to the doctor, he trebled her medication and then we went on an entertaining (not!) hunt for a pharmacy that stocked said medication.

Three pharmacies later, and a wait for them to fill the prescription said child had a new coat. So something good did come out of that excursion.

Despite the second photo...

... she loves this coat.

To earn her keep, and the new coat, I made her stand outside and hold up the pieced Terrain HSTs. I still need to add several borders, but I was ever so pleased when I showed himself and he asked, 'What are you going to do with this one?' My heart sank as I thought I was going to get a lecture about another quilt without a home, but I was wrong! No, he suggested that we hang this one up! I was gobsmacked, flabbergasted and generally all round pleased. Miracles do not cease!

You would think that this would be my Favourite Thing Friday, but it isn't. I had to open a bottle of red wine when I was cooking earlier. The remains of that bottle are going to be my FTF because I am tired, fed up, am hoping Helen starts getting better and generally do not want to play this game any more. So I am tossing my dummy from the pram and replacing it with a glass of wine! Shay would most definitely approve.

Susan

One's Loss is Another's Gain

2012-01-05T16:26:00.000Z

As is the way of life and all its unpredictabilities, no sooner did school start than poor Helen needed to stay home. This was not a ploy on her part to avoid returning to school because she loves it there, and would much prefer to be there than home alone with me. Since she is home alone with me, she wants me there by her side. Not elsewhere being busy. Her loss of freedom is Emily's gain in this case.

Because I am keeping Helen company I have opted to do the hand quilted sewing during the daytime. This allows me to still sit and chat with her, watch a film, be there for a cuddle. At the same time as allowing me to accomplish something so that we are both happy. Because I think I would go doolally just sitting there all day doing nothing.

So all you concerned individuals (you know who you are) who wanted to make sure that I got on with Emily's quilt, I am - much more quickly than I thought I would be. Stitch by stitch I am making slow but steady progress. This might be the first finish of 2012, not the Terrain quilt, if the current situation continues.

All five of the applique hearts are now stitched.

I am working on the bit that is a partial Irish chain.

And the border has stitching on both sides now.

Emily is home from school now, so I have been allowed the freedom to come to the computer. I am far behind in my blog reading. For those who have noticed a lack of comments from me - I am not ignoring you, just having to prioritise here. Normalcy will resume as soon as possible.

Thankfully the unpredictability of life does not preclude good post from arriving. I have received the first of my orders to upgrade my Heather Ross collection in aid of the future quilt.

I now have some bicycles.
And a couple of wee scrap extras that the vendor put in which I do appreciate.

Signs indicate that I will most likely be hand quilting tomorrow as well. All in all, if that is the worst thing that befalls me then life is pretty good. I just wish that this wasn't happening due to poor Helen's unfortunate encounter with germs.

Susan

Finish-a-Long

2012-01-04T17:09:00.000Z

Well, having thought (much like Sarah) that I didn't have anything to finish so therefore linking up to Rhonda's Finish-a-Long linky party would be an exercise in futility - I had a second look and, surprise, surprise, I have things that need finishing. I am very adept at ignoring things I wish to avoid. But that doesn't mean they aren't there. Helen's quilt is an example of that. Just finished after over four years in the making. So, without further ado, I am jumping into Rhonda's party, linking up and making myself pull my head out ~~my ar~~ the sand and get on with things.

First up, the obvious one. If I finished Helen's quilt then poor Emily still doesn't have hers. Despite me giving it to her for Christmas there is the little matter of basting pins all through it and a great deal of hand quilting to be done. It is a priority and if it hasn't been completed in this quarter I give everyone permission to take me out and have me whipped, or take away my chocolate, or some such cruelty!

I have often bragged about being a member of Brit Bee, the most amazing group of women I have ever had the privilege to be a part of. I was Miss September in this bee. The other eleven made me glorious blocks with the Drunkard's Path block. There are 24 of them sat there now, waiting to be joined up, basted and quilted. It would be an incredible waste of such goodness to not get on with it and make the quilt!

I dug a little deeper into my box of goodies and stumbled upon 21 6.5" blocks. I love these little blocks (except one; one I hate) and really need to make some more until I have enough to make something, anything, with them. They are my Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long blocks. If you are a betting person then I would put your money on this being the item on my Finish-A-Long list that I make little to no headway on!

As I have started my Terrain charm square quilt I guess it now qualifies for finishing. This one will definitely get done because I am loving it so much, it isn't too big and it was my easy start up project for the new year to get me back into the swing of things. And may I thank everyone for the terrific feedback they gave me about the layout! You boosted my confidence in my slightly shaky decision making abilities.

I am pondering whether I should be adding in anything about my Favourite Fabrics Quilt, and the offspring of that idea which are the For the Birds Quilt and the Heather Ross Fan Club Quilt. At least one of these will get started shortly, and with luck finished within the three month time frame as well. Progress so far involves fabric fondling and little else.

That should be just about enough to keep me well and truly busy over the next three months, but you can add in a swap (that is being organised and shall be announced in the not too distant future), the For the Love of Solids Swap - Round Two that I have put my name down for, and a tutorial that I have promised to do for someone else. Well, quite honestly the small bit of sanity I cling to now will be well and truly gone.

Stick around over the next months. It should be amusing to watch me lose the plot!

Susan

More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys

2012-01-03T19:25:00.000Z

I've had an unintentionally busy day today. Not busy in an exhausting way but in a way that kept me away from my sewing. But I did get my HSTs trimmed yesterday and played with layouts last night. I had to use the flash to take photos so the colours are not very true but you will get an idea of the fun I have when left alone with HSTs. The combinations are endless and I do get carried away.

This was my original intention for the HST layout.

But I got to moving those HSTs about.

It got a little weird.

Then a whole lot bizarre.
(I was getting tired after all.)

But this was my eventual conclusion.
And I love it.

If you think that my final decision is completely wrong for this please speak up now before I proceed to the piecing stage tomorrow. Total lack of sewing time today means that there is still time to stop me!

Susan

48 or 49 Weeks a Year We Live Like This

2012-01-02T12:10:00.000Z

So why does the house feel so empty when you take down all the Christmas decorations? And why does everyone want to help put them up but no one wants to help take them down again?

I don't usually take down the decorations until after the new year has begun. But this year I may have left it a little late. Here's a clue to why I think that.

The tree may have been losing needles faster than the speed of light, but pulling off the ornaments left it near about naked! No matter how diligently I hoover you just know we are going to be treading on those dried out little mini spikes for ages to come. The downside of having a real tree!

So all I have to do is clear the table of a mass of ornaments and then I can get back to the sewing. The girls have to help me with this task because they know which ornaments are theirs and I don't have a clue!

This is the hardest day of the holidays for me. The ending. I think I am going to get those ornaments sorted so I can have a little sewing therapy to cheer me up. Maybe with a box of chocolates by my side.

Susan

Start the Year as You Mean to Continue

2012-01-01T15:04:00.000Z

I got up this morning before everyone else. Not for any particular reason but just because I woke up. So I decided to make the most of my quiet time. And I ordered another teeny bit of fabric. Start as you mean to continue, say I! (Well, one can stay reasonably optimistic and hope for the best!)

Then, after catching up on blog reading and email replying, I decided to bring my sewing machine back out of hibernation. I haven't got all my toys out and will be able to easily clear the table for dinner tonight, but it was time to hear that happy hum again.

Needless to say, as I pulled all those fabrics out yesterday, I did something completely different. A few months ago I won a charm pack of Terrain from Sarah at Fairy Face for participating in her Summer Sewing list. Today the charm pack got broken into and well and truly used.

I had a ponder about how to make these jewel tones go further and opted for the old favourite - HSTs. A quick look at what was in my stash to use with them and I was set.

When I couldn't find my trusty old pencil that I usually use when marking HSTs I came across my Chako Ace Pen that had been part of a gift for me. Perfect, thought I. Yeah, and after I had marked forty squares and then pinned them to the solid the lines on some of the charms had dissolved to almost invisible. I must remember this for future reference. Mark, then sew - quickly!

Some chain piecing.

And some cutting.

I now have 80 HSTs to play with.

Well, actually I don't have eighty HSTs to play with because I have only trimmed three so far. Only seventy-seven more to go. I decided I would rather come and chat with you instead. I have to admit that I do like the way the colours in the Terrain really seem to glow up against the navy blue solid.

I started my new year shopping and sewing. Perfect! What about you?

Susan

PS: And a Very Happy New Year to you. May your 2012 be filled with happiness and lots & lots of fabric!

FFQ

2011-12-31T16:06:00.000Z

FFQ = Favourite Fabrics Quilt. It is my quilt for me, and I am going to find a way to put lots of different, disparate fabrics that I love for one reason or another all in the same quilt. So that I can sit there, snuggled under it and remember quilts made, scraps given, projects completed, scraps hoarded because I love them so much I end up not using them.

It will be one of my first projects for 2012. But I got a start on it today, the last day of 2011. I sat on the floor with Emily this morning and pulled fabric. Not all of the fabrics that have been pulled are going to go in the quilt. Some I will change my mind about, I am sure. Others were not pulled by me and I some how might forget to put them in. (Shhh! Don't tell!)

I'm not telling her some of her favourite fabrics aren't mine!
Maybe I will just give them to her as she loves them so much and she can do a quilt of her own.

I still have another pile of fabric to go through and I know that my Pips is in there. I loved the Pips fabrics and definitely want some in this planned quilt.I have to shift some things back to the dining room before I can access that fabric hoard so it will have to wait. I have vowed to let them have a dining room table through this weekend. It is killing me, but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do!

I did take temporary custody of the table to lay them out and have a better look.
The poor gingerbread house sits in the background.
I say poor because it is melting. Really, it is, look -

The sweeties we that we melted into the window spaces when we baked the gingerbread are melting.
They've melted the face off the poor little girl Helen piped in the window waiting for snow!
If they melt on the m at Sarah made for me they are in big trouble!!
I am keeping an close eye on them.

Right, back to the fabric! I sorted it out some and the fabrics seem to fall into distinct categories. First up the Heather Ross fabrics. Some I bought in much earlier in the year because I thought I really needed to buy before the prices went up even more. Others have been given to me very generously by Fiona. I love them all so much that I cracked a couple of days ago, got on Etsy and ordered a couple more small bits.

Love these fabrics!

The next group are little scraps mostly, many of them received in swaps or from friends. Pieces of fabric that make me smile, remind me of the person who gave them to me, or were used in quilts that I made and loved.

Next comes some of those fabrics that I have been hoarding, and I think there are more to be added to this category. I think that these would be particularly good to use in this quilt because maybe if I actually cut into these pieces it would be the incentive I needed to stop hiding them away and actually use them!

Those FQ rolls of Birch and Cloud 9 haven't even been unrolled
and I bought them at the Quilt Show this summer!

What came as quite a surprise to me was how many of my fabrics were for the birds. Maybe I need to do a 'One for the Birds Quilt' as well as this FFQ.

So having had the first initial trawl through my fabric I find myself left with a question or two. Is this going to be one quilt or three? Will I make 'One for the Birds'? And how about my sudden desire to make a quilt featuring the fabrics I have from Heather Ross? If I did this I might have to order a few more. Or set up private swaps. A caravan for a penguin say, or gnomes for ? Anyone interested in this Heather Ross mini scrap swapping please let me know.

There you have it. I touched fabric today. And it felt good. Onwards and upwards for 2012. A very happy new year to everyone and have fun tonight if you are the going out and having fun sort. Sorry to admit it but we are the staying home and having a nice meal type. Boring I know, but it is what it is!

Susan