The one that got away

You may remember this little project?!

It fell victim to a chewy puppy last year and sadly didn't make it to my Brit Quilt Swap partner as intended.

I kept the pieces and after some healing time ;-) I unpicked the damaged parts and started to rebuild.

So now it has been hanging out on my sofa for a few months, creeping into the odd photo or two I decided it was time to give it the reveal it deserves.

It is hand quilted onto an old remnant of woollen blanket and bound using the cutest ever black pin dot fabric, I love this cushion and I am so glad I {eventually} had the patience to resurrect it.

Next month I am teaching a series of workshops at my lqs on epp, this cushion will be coming along with me, as will the rose star quilt....which I am hoping will be quilted by then!!

I love swapsies

I am back online, hurrah!

One working laptop and some lovely mail to boot this week.

My BQS3 parcel arrived from Sadie and I had a very willing helper to open it!

Oh the concentration!

Such pretty packaging....what could be inside?

Stunning! My little girl exclaimed  'look Mummy a quilt'! That is a lot coming from a 2 year old....she was as excited as me. I just love everything, the textured background solid, the colours, the prints, the quilting, perfect!

And look how neat the label is!

And there was more tissue paper for little hands to rip!

Sadie sent me a gorgeous V&A sewing kit, perfect for my travels. But the best was for last, just look at the face on her!

Lets just say that there was quite a struggle after this photo was taken, fear not, I won. I did share a few squares with her though, I am not THAT mean ;-)

Thank you so so so much Sadie!

I love the excitement of swaps so much, in fact I think I prefer the anticipation of making and watching the flikr group to actually getting the parcel, only because that means it is all over, much like a holiday. Waiting for something is that bitter sweet agony! So I, along with a LOT of other crazy women (including some that weren't even sporting undergarments) scrambled to get my sign up form in for Mouthy Stitches 2 today, I do hope they'll have me!

Was I born before the world wars ended?

Um, no! But my eldest daughter obviously required some clarification on exactly HOW old I am, as this is the question I was asked on my birthday yesterday!

Aside from the awkward questions, I had a very lovely day.....lunch in Nando's then a trip to my first ever Cath Kidston shop, dinner out with my hubby and then to the picture house. Spoilt I was indeed!

I didn't get any presents this year, I had asked for money towards my sewing machine, but I did allow myself a little treat

Tea towels on the left for me and napkins on the right for my mum, all to be turned into cushions. It is Mum's birthday in 2 weeks and I think the only thing on my FAL list I haven't started, now I have a plan I just ahve to make them!

Today I finished off my little extra for my BQS parcel, just in time too. I made up the sweet Zakka coin purse, I know I am going to have to make another for myself, I love this size!

I think this will make a great go-to present as well with the frames only costing £2.85 inc postage on ebay, brilliant!

I am off to the post office in the morning with my parcel, watch out partner ;-)

Quick Fixes

Whoa, Mr Sunshine, long time no see!

Just like everyone else I guess we have been soaking up the rare rays, froliking in a last minute-brought paddling pool and generally enjoying being outside from breakfast to bedtime. The kids are warm, worn out and happy. What a difference some sunshine can make!

With all this happy holiday fun I haven't even turned on the laptop in 2 days since my last post, so apologies if I have missed something or not replied to you, I am getting there.

I did squeeze in a teeny bit of sewing on Wednesday evening, making the latest Zakka project. The Delightful Linen Pouch, delightful it certainly is! I love it, this one I am keeping. Although I don't know what I will use it for, I don't have any electronic device that size but it is so sweet I am just keeping it on my table and smiling at it! AND it took me minutes to make, instant gratification!

I used some cool blue linen I picked up in the charity shop, £2 for 2 meters, sweet! A pretty embroidered cotton napkin, also from the charity shop and lined it with some Sevenberry floral. I found the Sevenberry at my local (usually twee) quilt shop, I was so excited I nearly ran to the till with it! I am hoping perhaps they have more hidden treasures :-)

Then I just had time to whizz over my bq3 mini and quilt it and attach the binding, then spent yesterday sewing down the binding in the sunshine.

I have also discovered HOW useful bulldog clips are for sewing down the binding, they don't distort it like usual pins do, but hold it lovely and flat, perfect!

Just the label to write and attach and then I can sit back and wait for the post window, yay!

Off to top up the pool and enjoy it before the weather breaks...happy summer everyone :-)

Charlie is a very naughty boy...

It has been one of those weeks....not as bad as Hadleys, I only had one real incident so to speak but it was bad enough that it has taken all week and a long lie in today to feel better about it.

It all started at the beginning of the week when I decided it was time to potty train my youngest. Cue LOTS of accidents and not much progress. I decided to stick with it though and see if it got any better over a few days. I spent days hoovering around her, poised with the potty on standby should she start to 'go'. This left little opportunity for sewing. I decided trying to finish the piecing on my BQS3 epp would be the perfect solution. I could do it right by her and drop it in an instant if needed. But then you need to add a very frustrated puppy into the mix, who doesn't like going out in the rain, and was very bored.

Total scenario......abandoned epp whilst mum deals with yet another 'accident', bored puppy see's a very bright and crazy looking mini quilt top dog toy and decides to relieve his boredom with it.....ARGGGGGGGHHHHH!

To top it off said 'toy' didn't agree with him and he promptly threw up all over the kitchen, leaving trails of it out to the back door as I shooed him out. Another accident for me to clean up.

Needless to say I took no photos of it, does anyone want to look at photos of dog sick anyway? I want to remember it like this, as it was

So yes, Charlie is a VERY naughty boy! I hope that one day soon I can muster the courage to start another one of these, that will never, never, never ever be put within dog reach. But for now I am too gutted about the loss of all the hours I put into it to start again. 

That leaves me BQS quilt-less and I really felt bad as my partner I know liked the epp. So wanting to do my best to make it upto them I poured over photo's on flikr and jumped in with both feet to something else they liked, improv. I have never improved before but I think I may again. That said I did pretty much use the mini quilt I fell in love with as a pattern to use.....I hope that's ok?!

I really am pleased with how this turned out and hope my partner is too, I used a treasured MM typewriter sent to me by the lovely Lucy and the last of my precious Hope Valley and a few other bits. Now I just need to decide how to quilt it. I think I am going to bind it in the orange praire flower DS print, I am hoping that will make the orange pop out of the quilt.

I did get more makes done this week but they will have to wait as my children are finally awake (10am on a Saturday, thank you up there!) and I can hear the youngest one trying to free herself from her room by throwing teddies at the door!