Speak Swedish?

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

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

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!

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

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!