Last week in pictures

As promised here is the insane amount of sewing I got done last week!

Excuse the instagram photos (whoops, I forgot to mention, I fell for instagram! You can find me @lovestrawberrypatch)

From top to bottom there is:

1. Fractured Oakshott Finished
2. Christmas Table Runner Sample for Workshop finished
3. 2 patchwork chair pads for the girls made
4. EPP Rose Star Cushion made as sample in preparation for teaching epp class at LQS
5. Same cushion but used as a table mat/mini quilt
6. Liberty Mini Finished
7. Another rose star block made (that's 7 now)
8. Bruce the Buck phone case made
9. More + and x blocks made
10. Infinity scarf made from my Melody Miller I won from Kelly back in May (finally!)

I am embarrassed to say there was more but I just didn't take photos (these were bad enough, there are only so many naff pictures I want to clutter my blog with ;-)

This week seems to be heading the same way...I 'may' have just started a swoon quilt on a whim whilst Mary was here for a sewing day on Monday, ahem. Well I have finished a few wip's so I figured I was entitled to start another (technically two as I've been sewing up all of the hst cut offs to use at the same time).

I've just got the log burner fired up so I think a cuppa and a biscuit are in order before braving the Arctic conditions in the sewing room again!

insert moving heartfelt title here...

sorry about the lack of blog title, as usual I can't find the words I need....I really intended to post this sooner but it is talking a while to sift through the mess that are the thoughts in my head.

I am so moved, so wonderfully lucky and incredibly grateful for all the supportive and caring comments on my last blog post. I was very overwhelmed by the warmth and concern I received, I really did not expect it. I feel very blessed to have met such amazing people. Please be assured that I am seeking help, I will get through this but at the moment it is hard and sometimes seems impossible. Your words have made a huge difference, I never thought I would say this but perhaps if all of you like me I should really start trying harder to like myself.

On a lighter note I am please I still have the ability to laugh, a lot, thanks to a wonderful spam comment on my 'blue' blog post. Me and my husband had a very long chuckle to this one:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "I got the blues": 

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Posted by Anonymous to Strawberry Patch

Oh the irony! At least I still have a sense of humour!

And I also still have amazing things coming through my letter box, lucky me! Earlier this week my AMAZING mouthy stitches tote came from the very talented Nicolette.

 There is not one thing I don't like about this, she made it absolutely perfect for me! The Metro circles, the quilting, the epp, the Heather Ross and DS fabric, the text prints (all my fav prints by the way) and the colours, oh the colours! They just happen to be my favourite combination right now. Nicolette is so clever and I am going to cherish this tote. My girls were so impressed at the fact that a lady in Holland had made it (I think they have inherited my awe of all things that come from overseas!).

But wait, there is more! I think I possibly forgot to mention that I joined a new bee?! I am in Bee a Brit stingy with some of the best of British bloggers and we decided to kick things off with a pincushion swap. It wasn't secret, with each of us making for the person in the month after us, but we did keep what we'd made a secret. Now mine has  arrived I can show you my stingy pincushion!

I made this for Jan, using the tiny pieces cut off my HST when I was making blocks for the Aneela quilt. They were sat in a pile with the trimmings next to my machine and it seemed a shame to waste them, next thing I knew I was making a teeny tiny star block, I think it ended up about 3-4" across. And imagine my delight when a couple of weeks later Jan made herself a machine cover also using Sew Stitchy!

My pincushion was made by Lucy, lovely lovely bff Lucy and she knows me oh so well

 A pieced doll?! Wowzers, I love it and I have 2 little girlys who have their eyes on this one! And on the back, glittery text sigh. I 'may' have spent quite a bit of time in front of the window making this shimmer ;-)

I have also been sewing lots this week (my output seems to increase in proportion with my dropping mood!) but I'm saving that for another day, suffice to say Fractured qal is finished, my liberty mini is finished, I made some patchwork chair pads, two phone cases, a Christmas table runner and a bunch of + and x blocks!

I got the blues

I've sat here for quite a while with a blank page, not knowing what to write or where to start. My blog is a place for sharing sewing and crafting and having fun, making friends and not what I am about to use it for. But I just need to say something. If you are adverse to negative posts, then feel free to skip on me, I won't take it personally. I like a good moan now and again but this is a bit deeper than that.

The short of it is, I have depression, typing that is SO hard. I like a good dose of denial with my depression too. I have had far too many years practice of pretending in real life that I am happy, on top of everything, more than just coping 'I'm doing great'! Everyone seems too believe me, except my husband, he can always tell. It has dawned on me that I am great at putting across this front online too. Believe me I am a happy, bubbly, jokey sort of person, its just that I have this dark desperate side to me too that I battle with and don't really like to share, after all who wants a wet blanket around? I don't want this part of me, it is a nuisance and gets in the way of life...but I am learning that it IS part of me and I just have to live with it and find coping mechanisms.

I am really not sure why I am sharing this, perhaps because I am sat alone typing, it feels like I am telling no-one. I never do this in real life. I have alienated friends because they don't know what I am going through, I guess they think that when I shut myself away because I cant communicate that I am actually just being rude. All I can say is writing this sort of helps. I WANT to blog, I know I am always sewing (I swear I would be in a straight jacket if it were not for the sewing!) but I never get time to share it all with you. Life is busy, life is hard, not just for me I know. A lot of you have your own struggles to deal with. But I have made real friends here too, and I don't want to alienate them. I read your blog's everyday, some days I just can't comment as I don't have any words. Its torture for someone who talks so much and loves being busy to feel so bleak I cant talk or bothered to do anything.

I guess what I want to say is thanks for being there for me, all of you. even if you don't realise it you make a difference to me. I'm off to quietly sob into the soda bread I am supposed to be making. I've had some lovely post over the last couple of days and I'm hoping to come back and share it with you in a much lighter fashion soon!

I'm not here, I'm over there!

Check me out over at The Village Haberdashery today and find out what that sneak peek I showed you was all about!

Something Wicked This Way Comes!

All right, enough of the jolly Christmas makery, it is time to make things a little spookier around here!

Having my very own little witch (Juliette was born on Halloween and often lives upto it!) we have become quite excited about Halloween decorating over the last couple of years. We still don't have many decorations (why is everything in the uk made of plastic for Halloween?!) Seeing all the amazing home décor on the American blog's I decided I had time (pah!) to knock up a couple of table runners for the lounge.

For the first I made a little runner like this one made by Vanessa, you can see a picture (old) of my little witches in the back!

Then a bigger scrappy quilt as you go runner.

I love this one, it may just stay out all year! Which is funny really because I decided to cut a few corners, after all this was only going to be out for a couple of weeks a year right?! I didn't put a backing on and I used some scraps of an old wool blanket instead of batting as it was all I had. Oh well, I am sure visitors won't come round and turn it over!

Do you like my reading?!! Speaking of which, I must dash, I have a date with some vampires ;-)

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Firstly apologies to Hadley, Katy and anyone else offended by the untimely arrival of this festive laden post!

But today I hosted/taught my first workshop at home in my small studio. 3 lovely ladies joined me to make a quilted advent calender. We laughed, sewed, ate home made cake, drank tea and talked and talked and talked!

I am quite exhausted but very contented after a blissful afternoon. It has confirmed what I already suspected, I love sewing and sharing my knowledge. Apparently it was quite obvious I have a passion for sewing, my ladies told me as much! I was so caught up in demonstrating, helping and explaining that I clean forgot to take any photos!

So you will have to make do with snaps of a couple of Christmas mini quilts I made this week to decorate the workshop and get it looking all festive to inspire the ladies.

Mini quilt inspired by this one here

I used the little scraps of Cherry Christmas sent to me by Kelly to make some little 1" hexies. I love this line so much and I know I need a charm pack just as soon as I can afford one. So pleased too to finally have some use for the cute little hanger I brought last year at my lqs. A bargain £1.50 I have been dying to use it ever since! I tried out a new stof linen that I brought a fq of this week, it is only £6.99 a meter at my lqs, another bargain!

As soon as I saw this mini quilt on pinterest I just had to make my own little one, it is adorable!

They are both at home in the studio, this is AFTER I de-cluttered ready for the workshop!

The girls are much better following their tummy bug and all should be back to normal next week, fingers crossed! My week was made a lot cheerier by the news that I had won a cute bundle of Christmas Fabric, from Jesse at Messy Jesse. Very timely too with all the projects I have been working on!

They are lovely, thanks Jesse! Expect more Christmas makes soon (Just waning ya!)

Jesse has just launched a fab new online shop, Sew and Quilt. 

She is selling lots of wonderful vintage fabrics, along with a lovely range of 1930's reproduction prints which can be hard to come by, along with favourites such as Sew Mama Sew, Liberty Bloomsbury Garden prints and lovely Scandinavian themed Christmas prints. I know that I will be adding to my Christmas bundle soon!

I'll be back in a day or two with a new project (as long as I get it finished tonight and I'm not too distracted by the gogglebox) and I promise it wont be a Christmas one!

Get your pink on!

Firstly, thank you all so much for the lovely messages of congratulations on my teaching news, I am so excited, the only way it could be better if you were all there with me!

The wonderful run of productivity I had on Monday came to a rapid cease when both the girls came down with a sickness bug within hours of each other, yuck!

They are much better today but will have to stay of school so we are all stuck at home. I took the opportunity that sleepy pyjama'd girls wanting to just watch telly presented and cracked on with putting the first borders on the fractured oakshott quilt

I am so excited now the pink is on, love it even more! Next week the final row of borders and the plum, it is going to be awesome!

I'm off to rustle up some epp to occupy myself as the sickly twosome want some snuggle time on the sofa with me! Hope your week has more sewing and less sick buckets than mine so far!