Resolved to Sew 2012

Have you seen the amazement happening over at Very Berry Handmade? No? Get yourself there now, go quick, well perhaps be polite and stay and read my offering first!

Ali has the most splendiferous pile of prizes on offer, all you have to do is hop over there and comment, whats stopping you?! And if you are a blogger you can be in with a chance of winning the bloggers prize, first pick of the amazing goodies on offer, just by writing your own blog post and linking back! I personally would choose the £40 voucher to spend at Fancy Moon - a guilt free shopping spree? Yes please!

My 2012 sewing resolutions are quite simple, stop taking on too much (like umpteen swaps I cant resist!) and make time for the things I put off! Like the phone pouch my husband asked for last year! Learn paper piecing and improv piecing, practice more fmq and get machine binding down to a tee. So basically more practice in what I am afraid off!

So that's me, I'm off to sew up a phone pouch right now, honest I am (as long as the Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL block for this week doesn't get posted in the next hour or so!!)

A Thank you Tutorial - Flower Pincushion

Hey everyone, I want to say a hugemungus thank you for all the lovely sweet comments on my last blog post. Not one of you told me to 'pull myself together' you were all most sympathetic, which left me wishing I was going to the FQ retreat even more so I could meet some of you lovely ladies!

I got my mojo back!

It didn't take long, I know sewing heals the soul and I got down to some good old fashioned stitchy therapy! After having put up mosaics for the Mouthy Stitches Swap, the For The Love of Solids Swap and catching up on admin in the Rainbow Charm swap too.

I made my self a cute little bag that I've been dying to make for months now, photos soon I promise! But today I have a mini tute for you all, sort of stitchy, sort of crafty. Its a great way of using up pretty scraps you'd like to show off and would make a really cheap/quick gift for someone.

So sweet right?!

Supply List:

Flower paint palette (I got mine from a local discount store for under £2, I did want a porcelain one but they were hard to find and expensive, this plastic one still looks good)

Scraps of Fabric

Polyfill Stuffing

Glue Gun

Needle & Cotton

Circular Template

Pen & Scissors

First of all make a circular template, I just used a glass bowl, which I to draw around on the wrong side of my fabric. My template was approximately 5" in diameter but it will of course depend on the size of the wells in your palette.

Cut out the required amount of circles, one for each well.

Make a long running stitch around the outside of your circle.

When you get back to the starting point with the running stitch, gather it up until it looks like a cute mini shower cap! Leave the needle and thread in for now.

Stuff it very full with polyfill stuffing, then using the needle and thread which is still attached, pull the circle closed as much as you can, criss-crossing over the opening to secure. I found it was helpful to try it in the well of the palette at this stage to check it was full enough and had a good shape to fit.

Now liberally fill the well with hot glue and push the ball you have just made down firmly, holding for a short while until secure. Continue until all the wells are full. I left my centre well empty for buttons, safety pins etc. The beauty of this pin cushion is it has so much space I can have one for bent pins, one for dressmaking, one for quilting, one for needles...well you get the idea!

Now, fill with pins and admire!

I hope you like my mini-tutorial, Id love to know if you make one!

I have a heavy heart

I'm not usually one to share moans and groans on my blog (ok, maybe just a few!) but this I just cant keep inside. So if you're ready for a bit of violin action read on, if not and you think I'm a wimpy bugger then feel free to go off and read some cheery quilty post instead, I wont be offended!

I have been secretly squirrelling away money for my golden ticket to the fq retreat, selling little bits and pieces from the old house that we're no longer needed. I was very proud of myself and my lovely husband offered to give me the remaining money when he gets paid at the end of the month. Wonderful, all I had to do was hope there were still tickets available.

Then this morning we had a delightful walk in the orchard, in the sunshine after pancakes for breakfast, I thought what a wonderful world I lived in.

Then the dog started making funny choking noises, next thing I know we are rushing off to the vets to have a stick removed from the roof of his mouth. It was badly lodged up in the bridge of in mouth and needed sedation to be removed. Thankfully it didn't damage his mouth and silly poor Charlie boy is sleeping it off.

The snag being that my lovely little pot of retreat money is now empty. In fact more than empty, I had to steal some temporarily from the bill account (shhh!). Now I know that as a dog owner I should be prepared for/expect these costs but the truth is moving house just wiped us out and we are going to take a few months to get back on our feet.

I also know that missing a sewing retreat inst the end of the world (and I really shouldn't have cried!) but I had so been looking forward to it after the ups and downs of the last few months. So, if you are feeling charitable, share a word of encouragement with me, either that or tell me to 'buck my ideas up' lol! I'm not in the mood for sewing now today but I'll leave you with my giant star quilt I've started from vintage sheets, it makes me smile.

Calling bloggers PLIMA & GENEVIEVE

 

Hi Plima & Genevieve, you commented on the rainbow charm swap wanting to take part but you are a no reply blogger so I cant add you or contact you. If you do want to take part please email me (emilylevey @ yahoo . co . uk) so I can have your email address to send all the details too.

I have others wanting to take part in the swap waiting on standby so if you don't want to continue please let me know.

To everyone else, I'll be sending out your colour assignment very soon, keep your eye on your inbox and have your card ready to go and shop!

Rainbow Swap Kicks off, More Spaces avaliable in Round 2!

SWAP NOW FULL

(Edited 11.1.12)

Wow, what a busy weekend! We have been dry-stone walling, painting barn doors, gardening and a little sewing was squeezed in! I managed to make up my first two blocks for the Sew.Happy.Quilt QAL with my new Hope Valley fabric. Had to use it quick or it would have stayed on the shelf to be stroked!

Woven Block

Snowball Block

The Rainbow Charm swap also filled up really quickly and by Friday I was giving the green light to all the ladies to go shopping for their very own little bit of rainbow.

In fact the response was more than I expected and I have several ladies who missed out on spots. Because they are all so keen to take part I have promised I will run a second swap group if we can fill the 28 spaces again. So If you missed out on the first group here is your chance! Comment to sign up, make sure if you are a no-reply blogger to leave your email.

Full swap details are in the original post here

You are more than welcome to take multiple spaces if you fancy getting yourself a bumper stack of rainbow charms, just remember you will need to purchase 1 meter for each space, so if you want 2 spaces and 112 charms you need to buy 2 meters in you assigned colours (each a different fabric).

Please help the ladies get round 2 off and running by spreading the word and blogging the swap. Im sure they'd be really grateful.

Calling blogger LILYSMUDGE !!

Hi Lilysmudge, you commented on the rainbow charm swap wanting to take part but you are a no reply blogger so I cant add you or contact you. If you do want to take part please email me (emilylevey @ yahoo . co . uk) so I can have your email address to send all the details too.

I have others wanting to take part in the swap waiting on standby so if you don't want to continue please let me know.

To everyone else, I'll be sending out your colour assignment very soon, keep your eye on your inbox and have your card ready to go and shop!

I love my postie!

Well, truth be told not my postie actually, just all the goodies he brings me. OK so he is not bringing them out of the goodness of his heart, it is his job AND I have paid for them myself :-)

It is like Christmas all over again here. I got this cute parcel from Saint and Pinners yesterday

Cute wrapping huh, just that alone would have had me happy but look what was inside....

Oh yeah, Hope Valley. It maketh me smile big time! I love this and plan on using it for the SEW.HAPPY.QUILT Along. Outstanding service too, this arrived only 2 days after I ordered it (which was on a Bank holiday too!).

Someone else who does fantastic service is M is for Make. More Hope Valley and a fq of Loulouthi Hugs and Kisses, all at great prices in the sale.

Then later in the day a lovely courier man brought me a huge parcel and the poor guy had been driving around for ages looking for the farm! I must get around to making up a sign for the house!

But look at the goodies he brought me!

I wouldn't normally count this in my list of shopping haunts but it all came from Abakhan. I was tempted to go there when The Sewing Directory posted on Facebook to say they had 70% off their daylight lamps and lighting. I scooted on over! I have always wondered if a daylight lamp would make hand embroidery easier, oh boy does it! It is fantastic! I would highly recommend it and at the sale price it was a really great buy (and meant I wasn't worried about wasting a LOT of money on a lamp if I didn't like it)

It is a neat little clip on lamp that has a long flexible neck, great for clamping on the table, on the sewing machine, anywhere you like in fact. Its a godsend in my new house, with its tiny sash windows and lack of natural light. I've taken a photo of it in use and you can see from the darkness around it, it certainly makes a difference! The bonus being there is no glare. And its arrival was very timely as I had just started to get on with my Birdie Stitches block for Rhonda's Finish Along.

So if you have a little money burning a hole in your pocket and a dark dingy house, head to Abakhan.

I also bagged a bag'o'zips for very little money indeed, lets hope they are all useful! A very cheap embroidery hoop and packet of embroidery cotton both for less than £1! Finally, a lovely piece of quilting cotton for only £1.15 a half meter, I wanted more to back my Hope Valley quilt but the website wouldn't let me, perhaps I had the last?

In other news, there are just 7 spaces left in the Rainbow charm swap!!! Get in quick if you want to take part, they are filling up fast.