Charm About You

I'll try to be brief

2012-02-22T13:03:00.002Z

Wishing my husband a very Happy Birthday today :)

I'm trying to stay in a good mood after venting about my hatred of word verification, which you can go read about.

I'm sure the chocolate cake we'll eat later will help!

I'm linking up to Freshly Pieced:

I was mad busy finishing my anniversary quilt last week and didn't link up at all. My Weigh in Wednesday post is over at Missy Mac Creations this week (go check it out if you're the nosy type) so this one's mostly fabric and sewing.

completed

- the Johnny Cash quilt for my husband

ongoing

- another Rose Star block

- Follow the Pezzy Brick Road quilt

no progress

- Stained QAL - must get to cutting!! keep meaning to and then get distracted. urgh!

stats
completed: 1
new projects: 1
in progress: 3

Next up I got some scrummy fabric goodness sent to me recently - the first is the utterly gorgeous charms from the rainbow charm swap organised by the wonderful Emily at Strawberry Patch:

I'm using Emily's picture because she's better than me!

And then the beautiful fat quarter bundle from The Intrepid Thread that I won from the lovely Adrianne at Little Bluebell who put this bundle together:

It's even prettier in real life so thank you Adrianne!

Finally I was chuffed to receive the Liebster blog award this week from two people! The lovely M-R at Quilt Matters and Michele at Quilts From My Crayon Box, thank you ladies!

This award is given to favorite blogs with under 200 followers. The Liebster Rules are:
1. Post about your win on your blog.
2. Link back to the blogger who presented you with the award.
3. Copy and paste the award to your blog.
4. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that have less than 200 followers that you think deserve to be recognized.
5. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm going to award this to blogs I love, it's not law that they need to participate in the award but you might want to go check them out because they're good!! I really admire and enjoy these blogs, they always give me inspiration and make me smile:

Rebecca at Making Rebecca Lynne
Becky at The Barefoot Seamstress
Heather at Crafting...
Janine at Rainbow Hare Quilts
Steph at Hope Sewing is Genetic

It was tough choosing, there's so many great blogs out there! Better get back to catching up on reading them!

Oh and I did think about including selfsewn in this award, since she has a new blog but it seemed like cheating since she had 400 odd before ;) You should check it out, she organised the Rose Star Block Party and the tutorial can be found there!

Hijack

2012-02-21T23:05:00.002Z

I'm hijacking Weigh in Wednesday!

Hop over to Missy Mac Creations to see inside my fridge!!

**** off!

2012-02-21T13:46:00.003Z

Sorry, I'm getting mad!!! I am not a robot - I've said this a few times I know!

I HATE word verification, abhor it. Truly hate it.

There's no need, Blogger has a great spam filter.
*** I get my comments emailed to me and sometimes I get the spam ones too but they are NOT published on my blog, just so you know!!***

I have just tried to enter those stupid words three times trying to comment. I've had enough!!

I am bombing people's blogs with requests to turn the thing off.

I know some people don't even realise it's on their blogs so if I ask you can you please, please, please turn it off!!

Lovely Claire wrote a post after I asked her to do exactly that and linked to this post that shows you how to turn it off!!

Please people, I need more time to read and sew!! ;)

***UPDATE***
I got so mad I just made a button - feel free to put it on your blog if your word verification is off :)

<div align="center"><a href="http://charmaboutyou.blogspot.com/2012/02/off.html" title="Charm About You"><img src="http://i1173.photobucket.com/albums/r581/charmaboutyou/wordverification.jpg" alt="Charm About You" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

If I stop commenting on your blog after this you know why!! Unless of course you don't want me too ;)

the Johnny Cash quilt

2012-02-17T13:42:00.001Z

I am linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday; TGIFF, which is at Marsha's Spot and Manic Monday

Thank you to everyone for your kind Anniversary wishes yesterday!

The secret is finally out... the quilt I've been working on was for my husband, a gift for our 5th wedding anniversary, the Johnny Cash quilt:

I had the idea for this last September after seeing Sarah's gorgeous quilt. I knew I'd write the words to 'If I were a Carpenter' because it is our song (and I know it should be 'baby' but we have two!!). Here's some night shots with the man himself holding it (that's my husband not Johnny Cash obviously!!), you can see the quilting a little better in these ones. I pretty much copied Sarah here too and just did some quick random lines to reflect our haphazard relationship!!:

I managed to do three blocks last October and then got distracted so it's been a scramble to get it finished in time. I changed up the fabric for the letters a few times, using up scraps and even used some that I was given by a friend last week! And yes I was sewing the binding on yesterday before he got home!! Last minute Lucy.

I was making it up but finding it really difficult I don't do maths or planning very well and I struggled a bit so I bought Tonya Ricucci's book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Word-Play-Quilts-Patchwork-Place/dp/1604680172/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329470042&sr=8-1

This helped a lot!! I followed the tips and starting some unruly cutting :)

I used the DS fabric Kaelin sent me for the binding and I think it looks cute and helps lift the quilt.

One thing I especially love is because it's double sided it looks cool whichever way you fold it!

In other sewing news, I want to challenge myself and having seen so much cute embroidery out there I ordered myself this cute kit from Sublime Stitching and a couple of patterns. It came really quickly and I love it! It includes instructions thank goodness:

A wonderful friend and her lovely husband from London came to visit me yesterday. I don't get to see them as much as I'd like but we had a nice chat and the kids were loving them! They even brought gifts :) for my belated birthday.
She made me this cute dishcloth (not sure I will be able to bring myself to use it as that!!) and some delicious homemade Clementine marmalade, named 'Oh my darling!':

As if that wasn't enough, explaining they were having a bit of a clear out, she also gave me some fabric because she knew I'd make use of it:

Seriously??!!! I honestly nearly cried. I'm sure she saw me welling up. She didn't know it was one of my favourites or even that it was the glorious Hope Valley but the girl has seriously good taste!! I think she bought it in London but never used it for anything. I am so glad she thought of me!
If you are reading this thank you so much sweetie! I love the homemade gorgeousness :)

Oh and by funny chance I was doing a quick bit of blog reading yesterday, look what popped up:

The happiest years

2012-02-16T13:49:00.000Z

Why, is this the first time that I'm seein' you around
Could you be visiting or are you new in town?
Yeah, whatever the case, I'm feelin' you right here and right now
Your smile, and all the love you showin' lets me know that you
Like what you see and wanna get to know me too
This could very well be the start of somethin' special
Happy that I met you

I ain't even gonna front, I ain't even gonna lie
Since you walked up in the club, I've been givin' you the eye
We can dance if you want, get it crackin' if you like
That must be a full moon, felt like one of those nights

I didn't think that I'd come here tonight
Meet someone like you, start feeling the way I do
Seems like we've known each other most of our lives
After one conversation, this must be right

Full Moon - Brandy

I never thought I'd meet my husband in a nightclub, I never thought I'd be the kind of girl to have a whirlwind romance, I never thought I'd have a fairy tale proposal and be swept off my feet and spun round in the snow, I never thought I'd marry someone after five months of knowing them, I never dreamed I could be so happy, loved and cared for.

Yet that all happened to me and I married the man of my dreams (and more) five years ago today.

I love you more and more everyday my darling husband.

I appreciate everything you do for me and the kids.

I still get butterflies when I see you (because you're hot!) and grin like an idiot when I think about you.

Life is tough sometimes but I know we can get through anything together and we'll always have Paris.

Happy Anniversary baby!

I also never thought I'd marry someone that hated Tom Hanks but you can't have it all ;)

p.s. Kelli and Rebecca are having a giveaway so check it out!
Linking up to Thursday Think Tank :)

Happy Fugly Valentines Winner!

2012-02-14T09:10:00.001Z

Good morning! I hope you're all feeling the love today and enjoy valentines day :)

Thank you to all of those who linked up to the Fugly Fabric Party and made it such a success! Thanks to all those who actually wanted the fugly fabrics too, there was a great response to all the posts.

The link is closed but some of the giveaways are still open so make sure you check back, especially the last few posts :)

Now on to my winner. A Pezzy charm pack will be winging it's way to...

Ok so not winging this time, driving!! Congratulations to Helen from Archie the wonder dog! She has a wonderful blog and makes beautiful things so I'm looking forward to seeing what she'll do with it :)

If you missed out on the fuglies or didn't link up this time stay tuned because there's some planning going on!!

Love to you all :)

Afternoon off from the day job

2012-02-13T19:53:00.003Z

First I'll just mention there's about 2 hours left to link up to the Fugly Fabric Party if anyone was thinking about it!! Link up and check out the fabric on offer HERE :)

One of the lovely linkers will be winning a Pezzy charm pack tomorrow! I so love having giveaways.

Ok with notices done I'll let you know what I got achieved this afternoon. Grandparents had the kids so I was off duty!

Firstly I finished off a tiny bit that I had left to do of my 7th Rose and Star block:

It feels very early 90s to me, not sure why! Still loving it though. I've already cut pieces (last night) for the next one and I'm using some new bits I got the other day, I'm in love! - so you can't confiscate them Katy ;)

On to the main event. I sewed and sewed. I finished my 'secret quilt' top! Hurrah!... except the bad news is that's only half of it - this will be a double sided job. That means all I can show you is this...

Yes the worlds worst sneaky peek! Sorry but the clue is in the current name.

I also managed to make the binding since I knew I wasn't going to make a lot of headway on the back of the quilt. I did this about 10 minutes before the kids came home. I wanted it done so couldn't be bothered marking diagonal lines on the fabric before sewing the strips (which I normally do) I just eyeballed it, and it's not bad!!

This beautiful DS fabric was sent to me by the wonderful and talented Kaelin of The Plaid Scottie after seeing her beautiful Sweet Caroline Quilt. I was sad we couldn't get it in the UK and she so graciously gave me what she had left! What a sweetheart!
I was going to go with Kona Charcoal to bind this quilt but it wasn't making my heart sing - this on the other hand totally does, so thank you Kaelin!

Hopefully I'll have a finish at some point so I can show you but there's still so much work to do...

Off for a drink with a very dear friend now so no sewing tonight, just a good girly gossip!

Oh and this is my 100th post! whoop whoop! Thanks for reading :)

fabric on my mind

2012-02-12T20:32:00.001Z

This blog has become more about fabric and less about me actually doing any sewing, just to prove a point here's another post about fabric...

I had a delivery, some yummies from Hawthorne Threads:

I know, YUM!!
These are my favourites and I am seriously crushing on them!!

I also woke up to a lovely email yesterday from Adrianne at Little Bluebell to say I'd won a FQ bundle from The Intrepid Thread! This is such a pretty bundle that Adrianne put together when shopping for her Peaceful Pagoda quilt. She posted about her process and I commented that I loved her choices at the time so I am so thrilled to have won! Thank you so much to Adrianne (for having great taste!) and Julie for the giveaway :)

If you're loving it too you can buy your own Peaceful Pagoda bundle here!
It really is good fortune since I had a giveaway of two charm packs of Kate Spain's 'Good Fortune' and didn't have any of my own! :) The bundle includes other lines too, check the link above to see the list in more detail.

If you're hating me a little bit please don't, why not do some winning of your own by entering the giveaways still open at the Fugly Fabric Party?!!

There's a few fashionably late links so go check it out - there's currently 67 links! :)

Remember tomorrow is the last day to link up your own fugly fabric posts before the party closes, click the button above to read all about it!

The winner of the Pezzy charm pack will be chosen on Tuesday.

I have been hard at work on the blocks for my secret quilt and was worried I wouldn't be making too much progress because it's half term here so I have 2 little ones under my feet for the next week, that means no nap time sewing!! - Honestly I'm glad to have them both around really, I miss the boy when he's at school!

Tomorrow, however, I have some boring stuff to do and my very kind and wonderful mother and step father have volunteered to have them both for the whole afternoon so I get a little me time too! I am SO grateful!

Once the jobs are done I should have about 2 or 3 hours free sewing time - yippee!! Hopefully I'll have something to show for myself! How much do you think I can get done??

Thinking fugly!

2012-02-09T14:28:00.000Z

I'm linking up to:

Pretty much all I can think about is fugly fabric!! It seemed funny then that a friend kindly gave me a bag of unwanted fabric yesterday! She knew I made quilts and collected some scraps together for me. Some are not my taste at all but I'll find a way to use them, even if it's just practice blocks (and I need the practice!!). Others I think are lovely though:

I'm loving the bird at the top and the florals! Some of the scraps are really small so I'll be cutting them into 2.5" squares and sticking them in a jar for now. The rest you're liking to see cropping up at some point!

The Fugly Fabric Party is going well and people are still adding links! Please go and see the newest posts (also I will say that someone has some out of print Heather Ross to giveaway ;) Just a heads up!).

It is a yucky, grey, drizzly day here so if you have anything positive you want to share go ahead and leave me a happy comment :)
- I could still use cheering up after the upsetting story yesterday!!

The Heart and the Bottle

2012-02-08T23:35:00.000Z

It's Wednesday and it's going to be a long post... you've been warned!! (seriously if you're in a hurry just skip to the end so at least you know what the title is about!)

I'm linking up to Freshly Pieced and Love Affair with My Brother:

It's been a busy week for me but here's what I've been doing sewing wise!

completed:

This week I finished my 'Not So Charming Rainbow Stars Quilt'

I also made a friend a little gift for her birthday, I used Danny at Mommy For Reals tutorial, it was super quick and easy:

Thankfully she loved it! I also made a couple of cards, really fast and cute!

ongoing:

Again this week I've managed to do two more paper pieced Rose and Star blocks, I'm linking up to the wonderful Rose and Star block party at Selfsewn - you really should join us!

Yeah I'm not sure what I was thinking with the second one - was it dark when I was cutting?? There's not much contrast with those corals! I did debate changing it but to be honest I am loving the coral and it's one of the linking colours between the blocks. It does make it look different from the others but I'm not too bothered about it right now.

I also totally goofed the centre hexagon - the fabric is the wrong way round!! WTF?! Oh well, I kind of like that too ;)
Here's the back so you can see what it should look like at the front!!

I also got a lovely package with some scrummy Kona School Bus from Marmalade fabrics, I'll be throwing this into my Rose and Star mix!

Secret Quilt: I've made 7 more blocks this week :) So that's 52 to go!! eekk!
(I've not blogged very much about this quilt at all but that's because it's secret. So there!)

I've also done some cutting for the Follow the Pezzy Brick Road quilt:

Like the pezzy?? Yeah I'm giving a charm pack away but I kept one for myself ;)
Love that this pattern only uses one charm pack - brilliant!

no progress:
trying to make a 12.5" block but I will!!

I will be joining in the Fat Quarterly Paper Piecing Sew Along organised by A Labour of Love and using the Fat Quarterly Issue 8! yippee, lots of fun projects!

stats
completed: 2
new projects: 1
in progress: 3

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

I'm not overawed at my progress for the weigh in though :(

Despite almost no effort this week I have lost one pound. It's lonely, it wants more pounds to join it, I'm determined to do better next week!
A couple of people have, however, commented that I look like I've lost weight and that's nice. Don't want to get complacent but at least it's not for nothing!

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

Finally a huge thank you to everyone who's participating in the Fugly Fabric Party!

I can't believe there are 48 links!! You're all in with a chance of winning a Pezzy charm pack :)

Please keep checking the fugly party post and stick buttons on your blogs - don't miss out on any of those gorgeous fugly fabrics, I mean seriously some are actually beautiful! The link will stay open until Monday 13th so people can still link up posts and you can carry on enjoying the fugly fabrics!

Check posts carefully - some swaps are now closed, some have just started and most giveaways are still open!

I've also had lovely comments and emails from people saying they are having fun - great!, loving the fabrics - yes!, and enjoying other people's blogs - brilliant! I know some of you are discovering new blogs and getting more followers, which is great because we all love them ;)

Thank you for your kind words, for participating in the party and for hopping around wallowing in the fugly!

In other news and finally getting round to explaining the post title...

My husband got the kids some new books this weekend. The first is the wonderful and highly amusing 'The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man' - this will appeal to any geek mum like me!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Astonishing-Secret-Awesome-Man/dp/0007453361/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328739464&sr=1-1

I really enjoy reading it, so fun!

The next one though I can barely bring myself to read. The first time I was crying, the second time I couldn't get the words out and actually had to stop. My husband rescued me and took over when he heard my sobs.
Yes I'm a big softy and yes this is a children's book but it's the most beautiful and heart wrenching tale I've read.
Largely because I desperately miss my Grandad who had his 'own' chair (you'll get that if you read it).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Heart-Bottle-Oliver-Jeffers/dp/0007182341/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328739380&sr=1-1

In my humble 'mum' opinion, Oliver Jeffers is a genius. We love his stories, who doesn't love a lonely penguin or a boy trying to catch a star?!
The Heart and the Bottle is a beautifully illustrated story, with a touching and thought provoking theme. Unfortunately I can't read it through my tears so I'll be leaving this one for my husband to read to the kids, I'll just pick it up when I want a good cry.

FUGLY FABRIC PARTY!! woo hoo

2012-02-07T08:17:00.000Z

It's the day you've all been waiting for... it's Erin's birthday!! Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you my lovely!! :)
(I'm totally deleting that bit on Wednesday!!)

Oh and I'm also very excited because this is the

If you're not sure what's going on click the button above to read all about it!

**** Please take note of just a couple of things:

- If you're linking up with a post offering some fabric (in whatever way) you will automatically be in with a chance of winning a Pezzy Charm Pack! The winner will be drawn using random.org on Valentine's day :)

- The linky party will remain open until 7pm (UK time) Monday 13th February. So if you are having a swap, offering to send fabric to someone paying the postage or having a giveaway that closes before the 14th February PLEASE edit your post to show any updates once the fabric has gone. People may still be visiting your blog from here and it's only fair to make it obvious if there's no fabric left!! (finger's crossed!)

- I am playing host and as such will not be entering or participating in any of this fabric fun, so in some cases I won't be commenting on your blog (if you're having a giveaway for example), know that I'll be reading and giggling away though!!

The premise is for you to de-stash and get rid of your unwanted fabric but please also visit some of the other links - you never know you might find some fabric treasure, discover another very cool blog and even make some new friends :)

If you're just here to hop around that's great and I wish you luck!

Please respect all the participants by following whatever premise or rules they have for their fugly fabric posts.

On your marks... get set... FUGLY!!

What my blog means to me...

2012-02-06T10:29:00.000Z

I'm guest posting over at Noas' Libellule today so go find out!!

She's also having an amazing giveaway :)

Oh and check out what she did with a vintage tennis racket!

Remember that the Fugly Fabric Party will be here tomorrow, linking starts at 7.00am UK time

Not So Charming Rainbow Stars Quilt

2012-02-03T14:22:00.002Z

I have a finish and it's Friday, smiles all round :)

This is my 'Not So Charming Rainbow Stars Quilt'. It has given me a few problems, it's not perfect, it's kinda small at 41"x41" but I completely adore it:

let's just ignore that big crease down the middle
where it dried on the radiator shall we?!

I did a bit of straight line quilting in between the blocks and this is the first quilt I have done a 'proper' free motion quilting pattern on, inspired by Leah Day's Echo Shortcut design.

I enjoyed every second of it - except the part when I realised I'd done one block with cream thread on the back instead of the coordinating thread I was supposed to be using (that's what happens when I leave something a couple of days and come back to it!!). I was not about to unpick all the fmq so the mistake will have to live there - it's not too horribly noticeable and just contributes to the 'not so charming' aspect!

The backing was given to me by my mum and I've fallen deeply in love with it despite it not really being my sort of thing at all!!

I'm happy with the new addition to our house and nearly keeled over when my husband actually said that this is his favourite quilt I've made so far, partially because he thinks it "looks like it took skill". Compliments indeed, he seems to have fallen for it's charm too!

I had a very exciting package from the talented Emily arrive, very cutely wrapped :)

After seeing the lovely Dala pouch she made for Nicky and knowing she's trying to raise funds to come to the Fat Quaterly Retreat in June, I commissioned a pouch of my own!

I must say this is to celebrate the Fugly fabric party I'm hosting and we agreed that she use some actual fugly fabric in making it - if you'd like her to make you one I'm sure she would use more pretties like she usually does!! ;)

Having said that though, it's blinking cool!! I love the pigs on the back and I LOVE writing so the simple 'fugly' on the front and label on the inside are perfect.

She also included some little treats, a cute felt heart and sweet little button brooch that my daughter thinks is magic! Thank you so much Emily!
Clearly she has excellent taste so get in touch with her if you think you can help contribute to her making her way to meet us in London. I for one would very much like her to come!! She blogs over at Strawberry Patch so go say hi :)

Also take a look at the Fugly Fabric Party, which is here on Tuesday - there's a nice giveaway too!

Now I'm off to continue playing with these:

Linking up to Thursday Think Tank even though it's Friday here! (there's been some drama, go show Rebecca some love), Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, This Week@Love Affair with my Brother and TGIFF, which is being hosted by the fabulous Erin who has made a cute Blanket of Love this week!

Thursday it is

2012-02-02T14:41:00.002Z

Yesterday I had a wonderful package!
The layer cake I won from Maureen Cracknell Handmade arrived!! Whoop whoop! Thanks so much to Maureen and Angie from The Little Fabric Shop for the giveaway :)

Tonight I will be hand stitching binding on my stars quilt:

I think I'm a hand sewing convert. As much as I like machine binding, hand sewing binding is so satisfying. I enjoyed sewing Dave's binding on for the first time and I'm going to do it whenever I have the time!

I'm also going to try again with the bee blessed blocks but it might have to wait until the weekend.

My daughter and I did achieve this today though (I drew round her little hands, she has to take credit for the rest!). It is now proudly displayed in our kitchen!

Also sometimes I light a candle. To think about the people I love. The ones who are with me and the ones who no longer are.

p.s. NO I am NOT a blinking robot and HATE having to prove it when I want to comment. sorry.

Just a little bit

2012-02-01T13:48:00.000Z

I'm linking up to Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day:

Well I have to say I was a little disappointed in my productivity this month until I started doing my mosaic and realised I'd made more than I thought! January was a really long month! I had such a slump after Christmas and was recently ill but I seem to have spurts where I achieve a fair bit and I do really love all the things I've made.

I finished the Hacienda quilt, my Not So Charming Rainbow Stars Quilt top and did a little fmq, a camera case and a thimble pocket! I also made a sewing machine cover, two sewing cases and a zip pouch. I'm most proud of completing four rose and star blocks this month, having never done any English Paper Piecing before - I'm totally hooked and loving every part of it! If you want to join in the Rose and Star Block Party is being run by the very talented Selfsewn :)

Since it's Wednesday I'm linking to Freshly Pieced:

completed:

Two more Rose and Star blocks:

I also did the Blogger's BOM:

still not convinced about where I'm going with this

ongoing:

I managed to fmq five more stars on my Not So Charming Rainbow Stars Quilt last night! In the zone!!:

There's only 3 left to do so I'm hoping to do that tonight and then it just needs binding. I originally thought about using Kona charcoal but actually I don't have that much spare and I realised I still had some of the backing fabric left over when I cut the length so I'm going to use that instead :)

I've also been working on some Bee Blessed blocks, my first contribution.

tutorial: http://modifytradition.blogspot.com/2009/11/amish-diamond-tutorial.html

I made two different blocks and they both went horribly wrong. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. They both came out about half an inch too small (12" square instead of 12.5"). Any clues?? My seams are all 1/4" and I don't know why this has happened.
If anyone has any good links to SIMPLE 12.5 blocks for beginners that I can try not to mess up please let me know. I feel so annoyed about it but obviously I need some practice. Sorry Judith I will try again and failing that send you some fabric!!

no progress:

The secret quilt - I have to do something on this by next week. seriously.

stats
completed: 0 (well 3 blocks but I think I have to stop counting them!!)
new projects: 0
in progress: 3

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

Finally it's Weigh In time at Missy Mac Creations:

Although honestly can I just skip it?? I've done nothing, ate rubbish and been ill.
There's been no change. I haven't gained or lost anything. Just feel blah about it.
I have been walking but clearly all the carbs I've inhaled after feeling better haven't helped anything.
Need a bit of motivation!!

Any ideas about the blocks or improving my clear misinterpretation of instructions would be very helpful too :)

A week left of fugly hunting

2012-01-31T13:06:00.002Z

I'm recovering from the horrible vomit bug that totally kicked my a**e and had me exhausted last week.
I haven't been able to keep up with blog reading, so sorry for the lack of comments but I'm back on track now!

It is officially a week (right?!) until the Fugly Fabric Party kicks off!! If you don't know what I'm talking about click here.

Thanks so much for all of you who've given it a mention on your blogs and there's been some great button grabbing!

Here it is again, just in case you missed it!:

<div align="center"><a href="http://charmaboutyou.blogspot.com/p/fugly-fabric-party.html" title="Charm About You"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6723225913_dc59644156_m.jpg" alt="Charm About You" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

So with one week to go:

- Collect some fugly or unwanted fabric to rid yourself of!
- You might want to think about how you're going to offer it on your blog (giveaway, postage paid, etc.) and let people know via your blog that it's upcoming.
- If you're super organised (unlike me) you could even get your post written in preparation.

If you're not sure what a link party is or you've never done one before, head over to the The Barefoot Seamstress and check out her easy guide to linking up so you can play along!

Remember there's a bribe involved ;)

I need to get the house cleaned and boring stuff like that today but hopefully I'll have some actual sewing to show you tomorrow!

Winter Stitching Check In

2012-01-26T14:42:00.002Z

I'm joining in with the Winter Stitching and had to check back to see what was on my list!!

Here's my progress:
Dead Simple Quilt - done

Drunkard's Path QAL - done

One baby quilt, which became Diagonal Stripe HST Quilt - done

2 quilts for my nieces, which became the Terrain Lattice Quilt and Terrain Lattice Quilt 2.0 - done

Does Not Compute Quilt - done

I've also managed to do a whole bunch of other makes that you can see here!

Blogger's BOM, keep up to date - done

Owl quilt - I have the fabric but it is creeping down the list of priorities so I'm not sure if this will get done this winter:

Secret Quilt - I've done nothing on this one and I'm not sure whether to abandon it.

Do more fmq practice and try to do some on actual quilts - done. I didn't remember I'd even put this on the list and it seems very serendipitous that that's what I'm currently working on!!

Love of Rain Quilt - the fabric is sitting staring at me:

Vintage Inspired/Modern Quilt - I am going to do the Across the Sea Quilt Along pattern for this. I have yummy repro fabric ready and am planning on hand quilting it. This quilt will be ALL MINE! I will start work on it soon though I hope. I'm wondering if I want to make it so much that I'm putting it off because I'm worried it won't be as good as it is in my head. Do you know what I mean?

So all in all I'm doing OK but I still have some really big projects to do...

I'm still a bit rubbish at not getting distracted and need to focus to finish something . I also have periods of doubting myself, which I hate because it makes me feel so useless and that's not really me. I'm battling through it though and my husband is wonderfully reassuring, always telling me just to do it and reminding me that most of what I want to do will only be living at our house and how will I get better if I don't keep working at it. I love that attitude. So I will continue to challenge myself and work at getting better, whilst having fun and sewing with abandon :)

I'm linking up to T.T.T. because it's Thursday!!

sofa day

2012-01-25T22:21:00.002Z

I'm linking up to:

completed:

Today has been a total sofa day. Me being ill was not fun, the little girl being ill is even less so :(
She had very little energy so blankets and Snow White were the order of the day. It also gave me an opportunity to finish my second rose and star block:

Don't they look pretty holding hands!!

While she was napping I also managed to make this quick camera case:

I used this simple tutorial, the only difference was I hand sewed the closing rather than using the machine. I'm trying to improve my hand stitching and this tutorial really helped, the seam looks great (you can't see it but that's the point!)

It helps that I now have a thimble. My finger was getting so sore but no more!
I decided the thimble needed a special spot in my sewing case, the pockets were just a little too big and I didn't want to lose it. So I cut a bit of fabric, pressed and top stitched the edges and then hand stitched it onto my case:

Cute and handy!

ongoing:

I'm hoping to maybe try to get some more fmq done tomorrow because there's been no progress on the 'Not So Charming Rainbow Stars Quilt'.

I've also cut pieces ready for my next rose and star block (I think this might be a regular Wednesday thing!!)

no progress: everything else but I've done enough all things considered

So here's my stats:
completed: 3
new: 0
in progress: 2

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

I'm linking up with Missy Mac Creations but I don't really have any good news :(
I gained a pound this week and am so fed up. I'm hoping it's water retention because I've barely been able to eat anything. Admittedly I've not done so much exercise (except normal looking after kids stuff) but who wants to work out when you're poorly??!
I'm on the mend so I promise no excuses next week and hope to see some loss.
Can anyone recommend some effective but gentle exercise? The next couple of days I want to go easy on myself (that makes it sound like I work out really hard, clearly I don't!! I just want a change and nothing too strenuous).

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

In other news...If you have facebook and fancy some free 'facebook cards' head over to moo . This is the UK site but I know the US one is doing the same thing (not sure about Canada or Australia or anywhere else, sorry!).

I used my Charm About You profile and created these:

So incredibly professional and handy for handing out at all those important meetings I attend! HA! They're just for fun, I only paid a couple of pounds postage and I wanted to check them out. They come in a cute little case and you can chose 6 different images and get 50 free cards (for a limited time!). I have to say the images didn't come out as well as I'd hoped, the colours are pretty dull so if you're going to get some I'd say pick some really bright shots.

They do a lot of fun cards but I'm assuming the quality of the stuff you pay for is better!

Oh and look what my son made at school :) Happy Chinese New Year!

Feeling fugly

2012-01-24T13:39:00.000Z

I've finally caught that horrible bug going around and feel totally lousy today :(

Just wanted to remind you the the Fugly fabric party starts a ~~week~~ fortnight today!! **thank you Erin, I'm such a ditz!!)**

To say thank you for linking up I'm offering a prize to one of the linkers (you can call it bribery, I'm going with incentive!!)

I don't have a big stash and very little fugly fabric! So you'll be pleased to know my giveaway (open only to those that link a post with fabric offerings) will be this delicious charm pack!!

again not a sponsored giveaway, bought by me!!

Yes this time it's only one charm pack! What can I do with that I hear you say?!
Well by amazing coincidence look what's just come up on the Moda Bakeshop... this fantastic pattern by Sunflower Quilts, using only one charm pack and some solid yardage!

http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/01/follow-pezzy-brick-road.html

So what do you need to do to win? Just come back on February 7th and link up! After a week, once the linky is finished I'll pick a winner using random.org.

You must link up with a post offering some fabric to your readers (and hopefully visitors!!). Be it fugly, ugly, not your taste or just fabric you're not likely to use. You can have a giveaway, competition, swap or offer it to anyone who'll pay the postage!

Please make sure it is cotton fabric suitable for quilting and a decent size, feel free to offer scraps if they're useable (no smaller than 5x5") but make sure it's clear in your post.

Thank you to those who have already helped spread the word! Remember we want some takers for the fabric so please encourage people to come and blog hop starting Tuesday 7th and spread the word on your blog. Grab a button and stick it on your sidebar:

<div align="center"><a href="http://charmaboutyou.blogspot.com/p/fugly-fabric-party.html" title="Charm About You"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6723225913_dc59644156_m.jpg" alt="Charm About You" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Off to completely veg and feel sorry for myself (while amusing a 2 year old with as many puzzles as I can find!!). Yucky, yucky illness :(

Smug Happy Dance

2012-01-23T11:48:00.001Z

Linking up to Sew Modern Monday and Manic Monday:

I'm not normally smug... rarely do I feel completely happy with something I've sewn but this time I really am! Excuse the ensuing smugness...

I have been working on my 'Not So Charming Rainbow Stars Quilt', which wasn't turning out exactly right. This has become a slight comedy of errors. Anyone spot the mistake??:

Yeah, see the middle block at the bottom - it's the wrong way round!! Whoops. I only noticed it when I was basting and at that point could not be bothered unpicking. It'll just have to stay that way!

Then when I did some straight line quilting and the bobbin ran out I stupidly put the wrong colour in - I was using a different thread to match the backing and out of habit used the top thread colour. A bit of unpicking later (I couldn't leave that - it was too obvious and annoying!!), the right thread in place and the straight lines were done.

So with renewed confidence I decided it was time to stop procrastinating and practice my fmq - Nicky will be proud :)

I had a gander at Leah Day's designs at the Free Motion Quilting Project, just the beginners ones obviously!! There's so much choice but I wanted something that would counter the pointy stars and also a design that would suit the backing fabric.

I went with the Echo Shortcut:

first and second attempts

third attempt!

My tension was all over the place and the first attempt was with the feed dogs up. I thought since this was a function of my new machine it would make it easier. I hated it, so feed dogs back up and attempt 2 and 3. My design looks less curvy and more like mussels than Leah's but I really like it!!

Happy with the pattern, I switched to the thread I'd picked for the quilt to try and sort the tension out and had another go:

Not too bad. Feeling more confident and excited I said to my husband, 'Shall I just do it on one of the stars?'. He said, 'go for it!'

Glad I did!:

I totally love it!! The texture is amazing.

I had to stop and start a couple of times to get into all the points and I did slip outside of the star a couple of times. I sewed into the dark red square but since it already has black lines on it I just grabbed a micron pen and coloured in the little threads! You'd never know ;)

Despite that it's not bad! My stitch length is somewhat random but not horrendous, I still just tend to go a little fast sometimes:

Using the different thread really helps the design blend in to the backing, also the design works really well:

Overall I'm chuffed to bits!! Now just have to attempt this 8 more times to fill all the stars!!

In other news I had a nice delivery:

I'd seen this Habitat fabric around on other blogs and knew I had to have some. Those pixels are SO PERFECT. This may just be may favourite fabric ever (so far!!). I also got some lush Essex Linen in grey, oh so scrummy :) I've never used it before but I couldn't resist.

The service at Marmalade fabrics is fantastic, great choice, very quick delivery and so nicely wrapped. Highly recommended!

I also ventured out to Nantwich for a quilter's fabric sale. Now I have to be completely honest and say it wasn't really my sort of thing. I'm way too laid back for elbowing nice ladies out of the way for some bargain fabric but it was fun to see. There were so many people there and lots of stalls. There were also some demonstrations and I was able to pick up a few tips from a very kind and patient lady (I did ask some moronic questions!!). Much of the stuff on offer wasn't my taste but I did get these beauties:

from the lovely folks at Patchwork Corner

And I have plans for these already!

Another quick reminder of my Fugly fabric party!! Please check it out and help to spread the word, I'd love people to join in and we also need some blog hoppers to enjoy all the delights and grab some fugly fabric!! :)

Late to the party...

2012-01-21T01:46:00.002Z

Technically it's not Friday here anymore but it is somewhere in the world, so I'm linking up to 'finish it up Friday' at Crazy Mom Quilts and TGIFF at KristyLou's Creations!

Already this week (and last weekend!) I managed to finish a sewing machine cover, 2 travel sewing cases and a hand pieced rose and star block, which you can see here. I also made a zip pouch for my zips!

I have been working on a 'version' of this pattern, I say that because I forgot that the charms I had were 4" not 5" and I'd already cut the solid squares for the points from the pattern, so my stars sort of came out as a mistake and not all neat! I went with it anyway a) because I had no more neutral solid fabric (I barely squeezed the sashing out of it!) and b) I like them and don't really care!! I continued in a nonchalant way until I had this:

sorry for the late night shots, I've been out for dinner!!

So this is my 'Not so charming rainbow stars quilt'! I've only finished the quilt top so far but I've got the backing ready to go! It's a ~~weird, beautiful, hippy~~ acquired taste sort of fabric, that my mum kindly gave me but I oddly love it:

The quilt top was actually slightly bigger than the backing but I couldn't bear to piece this fabric together, it would look even odder and I like the red border on it. I did contemplate adding a border to make it bigger but I doubt I would have been able to centre it properly when basting because that would require skill!! So I did the only thing that felt right to me and trimmed the edges of the quilt top. So what the sashing won't be even, I will love the back and that's what counts!!

I'm thinking of binding it in Kona Charcoal because I think that's all the solid fabric I have and it will suit the Autumnal colours, I don't really want a print binding and I can't be bothered making a scrappy one either. Lazy?? Yes I am!! Well maybe just about this one ;)
I'm also planning on quilting it by outlining the squares and then doing some free motion quilting inside the stars. They're not big so I was going to do some loops or something. I don't really want to fmq stars or anything too fiddly but would love to give it some texture. Any ideas?

I'm fairly certain this will become a hanging out on the sofa quilt because I'm not sure anyone else would love it!!

Oh and if anyone has any clue what that orange flower fabric is (top right corner) Rebecca and I would love to know!!

On a whim and spurred on by a few ~~crazy~~ people agreeing to the idea (thank you!!!) I also decided to create a linky party on my blog starting 7th February - the idea is to de-stash and get rid of any unwanted fabric you may have been hiding by having a giveaway/swap/whatever on your blog and linking up here. Click the button to learn more and spread the word!

Beauty in the eye of the beholder?

2012-01-19T08:15:00.002Z

I'm linking up to the marvelous Rebecca and her creative Thursday Think Tank:

I've noticed a lot of people in blog land have been organising their fabric, making room for the new and picking fabrics for all the lovely projects and QALs that are about. There's also been gushing over beautiful new lines and undoubtedly at least some of you are using fabrics you were given at Christmas, or got in the sales afterwards ;)

There's also that other fabric (Susan knows what I mean). The fabric that you might never use, the ones you used to love, the ones that you don't know why you bought, the fabric sitting there taunting you, or hiding away at the back of a drawer somewhere! We all have it, it's the fugly fabric.

After little email conversations with both Erin and Susan an idea formed in my head (see how I'm partially blaming them already!!). I got to thinking about what will happen to that fabric. Maybe it'll get used in some practice fmq, or pieced into a quilt back, or used for practice blocks - or not.

What if you could give it to someone else, someone that might actually like it and use it?!

So I'm suggesting this:

<div align="center"><a href="http://charmaboutyou.blogspot.com/p/fugly-fabric-party.html" title="Charm About You"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7009/6723225913_dc59644156_m.jpg" alt="Charm About You" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Here's the idea - show us your fugly fabric! Ok it doesn't have to be really ugly - it could be any bits that you don't want anymore, you know you won't use it, you're sick of looking at it or you think it is actually ugly. Maybe you have a piece of fabric leftover from a quilt that you don't really need and can do without. Write a post and give it away!!

You can have a giveaway, a competition, a swap, offer to send it to anyone that will pay the postage - whatever you choose. I'll have a linky party and you can all have a look around other people's blogs seeing what fabric they have to offer and maybe find some gems! One person's trash is another's treasure (I hope!!).

You could offer really ugly fabric if you wanted (you probably wouldn't have many takers! *cough, cough*) or fabric that you just feel 'meh' about that someone else might really love.

I think nothing too scrappy, but decent sized scraps and pieces that are useable are ok and you could offer as little or as much as you like! Obviously good quilter's weight cotton only and not fabric that is utterly crap and no use to anyone.

There's no real rules, just come back here and link up your fugly fabric post and I can maybe offer a fabric prize (not a fugly one!) to giveaway to one of you :)

Would anyone join in (I won't be entering, it wouldn't feel right but I'd love to see some posts!)?? At the very least it might be a laugh, at best a wonderful exercise in good karma!

All too often I think we hang on to pieces of fabric we don't love so why not have a fresh start...

I was aiming to have the linky up and running on 7th February - it's a Tuesday (~~what a fugly day!!~~ Sorry Erin, Tuesdays are just random so seemed like a good day to pick!) and have it up for about 6 days, in time for some Valentine's winners!

So let me know, should the fugly fabric party go ahead??

If you want to join in grab the button above and stick it on your blog, try to spread the word!! The more fugly fabric we can muster the better :)
**It seems like it's all go for the fugly fabric party! I've made a tab at the top so people can easily read about it!**

WIP and Weigh in with Beyonce

2012-01-18T12:35:00.000Z

Linking to:

I've managed to do quite a bit this week, largely thanks to my new machine :)

completed:

- sewing machine cover and 2 sewing cases (read more about them here)

- I finished my first paper pieced block :)

- I also finished the zip pouch I was working on:

front

back

I love those little squares, thank you again Heather! My sewing space looks better already, the zips have their own home!

ongoing:

- I've cut out for my next rose and star block, if you haven't already you definitely should come and join the party!

Here are some basted, looking like a string of little goldfish (it was late last night I was going a bit mad!!):

points if you can spot my teeny tattoo!

- Also managed to make a block for the Charming Rainbow Stars quilt after doing some cutting. These are charms from a swap, some are fugly but it's going to be ugly cool!!

I'm ~~following~~ basing it on this pattern - I realised that the charms for that particular swap were 4" square not 5". DUH!! So it's a little off! I'd already cut the smaller squares for the points and can't do maths anyway so I just went with it. I still think it looks like a star so that's good!!

I was a little disappointed to find that some of the charms still had edges on :( Good job I hadn't planned to use them all or there would have been little holes everywhere!

no progress: - Secret quilt

future projects:
Did you see the exciting win?! I didn't until some of you pointed it out to me (that's what sewing and no blog reading does!!). I was so thrilled to see I'd won Maureen's giveaway over at Maureen Cracknell Handmade. A wonderful Just Wing It layer cake :) generously offered by her sponsor Angie at The Little Fabric Shop.

I love this fabric and had seen some lovely projects made with it, I also have two pregnant friends so I'm hoping one will be a girl!!

Regardless I knew I wanted to pick what to make with it straight away!! I have an odd disorder I think, I really have to know what I'm doing with my fabric. I love organising and have everything separated into projects (total has now hit 13 quilts!!). I asked Laura's advice about what to do, she has great taste (is not afraid of expletives) and she's so good at knowing what patterns are out there. Thank you very much Laura :) She made a few suggestions but her initial one had me hooked straight away! So this:

source: http://www.thelittlefabricshop.com/Products/just-wing-it-layer-cake.aspx

will become this:

source: http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/02/hexagon-park.html

I love Lynne's patterns and I think this will look gorgeous in Just Wing It :) Is it crazy that I've planned what to do when I don't even own it yet!!!

Sorry that has been a long post already... hope you'll stay for Part 2 below!
*******************************************************************************************************************************************
(That line right there is how I'll be separating WIP and Weigh In Wednesdays!!)

week's loss: -3lbs

exercise: jumping around and dancing madly like a crazed woman :)

Not sure how that's happened with all the birthday cake last week but it must be the boogying!

This is the BEST way to lose weight!! I can't stop watching this, dancing around like I'm re-living the early nineties ;) It is SO fun to dance too. Yes I look like an idiot and not Beyonce but I dare you not to move around listening to this :)

I'd also just like to add how amazing she looks, what a healthy and beautiful body she has! Going to go and do a Cindy Crawford workout DVD later just to top things off!

Welcome Judy!

2012-01-16T21:09:00.000Z

I'm sad to say goodbye:

Yet thrilled to say HELLO JUDY!!

My mum very kindly gave me her Janome because she rarely uses it and knew it was better than mine. Great timing since the Toyota had clearly had enough :(

Really, this is what sewing machines are meant to sound like! A lovely whirr, not a violent clattering and whining noise.

A new (to me) machine calls for a new sewing cover doesn't it?!

After seeing the great cover Svetlana at s.o.t.a.k. handmade made, I used her tutorial.

It came together really quickly - I went for bigger scraps so mine doesn't really look like books but I didn't want to cut into some of them and, let's be honest, it was even quicker!!

I also used home dec weight fabric, left over from the girl's floor cushion, on the reverse side to make it a bit sturdier:

So that's like three covers in one!! I love it :)

I've been a busy bee over the weekend because my husband very kindly went out for the day with the kids (oh he is wonderful!). So I also finished up my little sewing case...

and have sent one to a friend :) I love making these, Amy's tutorial is brilliant!

I've also managed to make a start on the zip bag for the overflowing notions and zips I have. I couldn't stop myself from using the gorgeous little squares Heather from Crafting... sent me:

These are teeny tiny now!! Each square is just 7/8"! I used Elizabeth's (Oh, Fransson!) fantastic method from Sew, Mama, Sew! Super easy and it just looks so cute. I thought I'd ran out of interfacing (later found some more!!) so I made a different back:

I like it, it's a nice plain contrast to the busier front and I just LOVE that mustard. The tension was totally off, I was getting used to the machine but I kind of like those loopy lines so I'm just going with it. Should be able to put this together tomorrow!

I have also thoroughly enjoyed rising to the challenge set by Amy's Creative Side and I have completed my first ever hand sewn paper piece block!! Whoo Hoo!

This is the first block I've made as part of the Rose and Star Block Party at My Selfsewn Life. Everyone's been making so many gorgeous blocks, totally inspirational!

Luckily I got to join in the Somewhere Over The Rainbow Charm Swap 2012 hosted by Emily at Strawberry Patch. So I got cutting and sent off my orange charms today :)

Lastly, I forgot to mention that last weekend my husband and I went to see 'The Artist'. I wasn't too sure I would like it. Silent movie?? No, Ta!!
WRONG!! It was wonderful, magnificent, elegant and I want to watch it again, and again, and again. If you haven't, go see it!

I'm linking up to Amy's Creative Side and Canoe Ridge Creations:

Presents!

2012-01-13T11:49:00.005Z

Thank you all so much for your kind birthday comments!! Wanna see some of the loveliness I got?!

Firstly the very generous and lovely Rachel left me a present when she came over the other day, I was a good girl and managed to save opening it:

How pretty is this?! I'm yet to sew a star myself and I love the colours and how beautifully she quilted it! Now I need to work out the best way/place to display it :)

She also gave me these cute fat quarters, need to get going on those stars!! They're from a local quilt store that I never knew existed, we may just have to have a shopping trip together!

And not only that, she also got a gift for my daughter. An adorable doll's outfit that is now gracing the doll of the moment, Upsy Daisy. It's so sweet and I have to say I think she looks a lot better in this than her usual get up!

Thank you so much Rachel!

Another blogging friend unintentionally sent me a birthday gift too!! I won Heather's gorgeous blocks and they arrived on my birthday, she couldn't have planned it better :) She also sent some lovely scraps (again psychically knowing I needed to make a zip pouch??!). Thank you so much Heather I LOVE them (but you knew I would!!)!

I can't do justice to the blocks so I hope she doesn't mind I've nabbed her picture - I won blocks 1 and 3!

http://craftingdotdotdot.blogspot.com/

My husband had a gorgeous bouquet delivered to me. He knows me so well, orange and gerberas! They are so beautiful:

Last but not least, my mum's gift. I'd asked her for a knitted cardigan, thinking it would take forever but she managed it in four days!!! I can't for the life of me get a decent picture (maybe you'll meet me wearing it one day!) but here's it folded up so you can at least see the colour - it's so beautiful, chunky and warm! I well up thinking about how much work she put into it. She hasn't knitted for yonks but I might have started something because she's going to do me a jumper too :)

I have no finishes this week but if you do make sure to link up to TGIFF!

**I just received a card from Dave saying thank you and that he thought the Hacienda quilt was "incredible"! I'm grinning like an idiot!!**

Happy Birthday to me... and a winner!

2012-01-12T20:10:00.000Z

I've so enjoyed my birthday and had a fantastic day!! I want to show some of the lovely things I got but I'm going to save it until tomorrow.

Shall we just get to the good stuff?...

The winner of two Good Fortune by Kate Spain charm packs is:

Congratulations Kirsten, I'm sending you an email :)

It was so fun having a giveaway I'm sure I'll be doing another one soon! Thank you all for your charming comments, I had many tears and smiles reading them.

Off to spend the rest of my birthday cosying up with my husband watching the movie of my choice!!

Don't talk to strangers!

2012-01-11T22:22:00.000Z

I'm going to start by linking up to Freshly Pieced:

I have completed nothing since finishing Dave's Hacienda Quilt last week:

Ongoing:
I'm joining the Rose and Star Block Party at My Selfsewn Life, so there's lots of this:

And I'm trying to finish two sewing cases (one for me, one for a friend) before my machine totally self-destructs:

Upcoming:
I now have 11 quilts I want to make :) The number is growing all the time and all the good inspiration out there is only going to bump this number up I'm sure!!
I'm going to try and focus and get one done at a time rather than driving myself crazy working on 11 (I so easily could!). So I'll stick to:

- Charming Rainbow Stars Quilt using this pattern and the charms from a rainbow colour charm swap

- I also really need to work on making myself another zip pouch because it's clearly needed!

Really the more sewing I do the more stuff I accumulate!

Moving on to other things I met a real life blogging friend today, Rachel who blogs at mammafairy sews. I was nervous because I was always taught to be wary of strangers but after a few emails and blog reading you really feel like you know someone! We agreed to meet up and have some cake but because it's hard for me to get very far with no car in the daytime I asked her round to my house :)
I was worried she might think I was a bit mad but she agreed, came for a cup of tea and we had a great time!! I might have talked her ear off (as us full time mums tend to do!!) but she was so easy to talk to. She was fascinating and wonderful company. My daughter was also very taken with her and enjoyed playing with playdough while we chatted.
I have to say though this enamour was in part due to the fact that she brought an amazingly delicious homemade cake and two jars of jam with her ;)

The 3 of us seem to have consumed nearly 1/4 of the cake!! The biggest piece went to the little girl, she loves cake but it was largely to keep her mouth full so the two of us could talk ;)

What a great early birthday party!! Thank you so much Rachel, you really are very kind and we hope you'll come again!

Although here comes the bit where I hang my head in shame and I can almost see Erin cracking her whip whilst shaking her fist at me! Why? Because today is:

I realise I will have to work hard to burn off those calories but I'm doing something right because:

week's loss: -3lbs
exercise: 4 hours plus walking

Hope I can keep it up and don't blow it tomorrow! (you know, because it's my birthday!!) I'll also be announcing the winner of my giveaway tomorrow evening so if you've not entered hurry :)

Oh and I'm safe to count Rachel as an actual friend now but I feel I should give some sort of safety announcement and a reminder not to talk to strangers:

Challenges

2012-01-10T20:50:00.002Z

Not big challenges, just fun sewing ones!

I saw this over at Amy's Creative Side:

I've noticed a lot of people in blog land posting about a word for the new year - I wasn't going to but it has been on my mind and after discovering the sewing challenge I'm going with Challenge as my word for 2012. I want to challenge myself to do more, learn more, lose more (!!!), move more and enjoy more. I want to think about things as a positive challenge and see what I can do!

So with that motivation, my challenge for the week is to do English Paper Piecing for the first time using the tutorial and joining in the rose and star block party going on at My Selfsewn Life.

After yesterday's post and thinking about the comments I went and chose some more fabric to add into the blocks (Nicky was totally right!). I wasn't going to use solids at all but after thinking about it and realising how vibrant so many of these prints are it makes sense. Also wanted to put in some more colours. I'm still going for a crazy mix and I want to make some different combinations with these:

I began my epp challenge last night and following the block party I made patterns. I actually already have some templates given to me by my Auntie in the hope I would quilt the 'proper way' (her words NOT mine!!) - she must have seen this coming!! I used a hexagon template and ruler to make the patterns and then photocopied it so I didn't have to do it again!

I then spent a while cutting up little bits of paper, then fabric and got on my merry way:

I got this far!! Realise I've gone overboard with the tacking and will hopefully get the rest done quick so I can get on to sewing them together :) Already though this is proving addictive and now I know why so many bloggers talk about having a project you can take around and do while chatting, watching TV etc. My sewing is pretty limited to nap time and evenings, so this project might take me a while but I love it already and am having so much fun! It's also nice to be able to not be using the machine but still do something productive. Huge thanks to Mary for leading me to the block party and Clare for creating it! :)

I have to say Christmas was sometimes challenging and I'm so glad I linked up to Making Christmas at Rainbow Hare Quilts to keep me on track :) It's the final this week and I'm pleased to say I made everything on my list and more (because I crossed off toys and replaced them with other things!!). I've done mosaics of 2011 (only five months of sewing for me!!) so much of this is familiar but here's everything I made that was for Christmas!

Any one else challenging themselves this year??

My little girl is! And she already knows that real spools are better than toy plastic ones :) - don't you love the vintage, wooden one I just finished using the thread from!

Will I quilt again? (feeling a tad dramatic apparently)

2012-01-09T14:41:00.000Z

I know I will, there's nothing wrong with me but there is something wrong with my machine :( It is whining - literally. Not a happy Boy Called Sue! I think the noise is really putting me off, I'm scared to use it in case it totally breaks!

This is going to be one of those random posts packed with bits about nothing so if you don't mind I have a few things to share!! Oh if you can't be bothered reading that's fine but, if you haven't already, make sure you go and enter my charm pack giveaway here :)

Another reason I haven't quilted is because I don't really know where to start! I've got nine quilts planned, NINE! I have an order in my head but then I keep changing my mind. I've organised my fabric into projects, so I know what I'm doing, but I'm having some sort of block (perhaps brought on my the eeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkk noise of my machine!) and can't get going. I'm hoping that will change today!

One of the projects I want to start today is the Rose and Star Block Party that's just started on My Selfsewn Life:

I've never done paper piecing and very limited hand sewing at all so this should be interesting! I love the look of this though and like the traditional blocks done with modern fabric. With that in mind and also my desire to use fabric that I've been collecting (mostly got in the amazing sales over Christmas!!) but not sure what to do with, I've picked fabrics I adore:

the ones on the right are more coral in real life!

They don't really go together do they?! Well I'm not bothered!! ;) I just LOVE them all so much and I'm kind of hoping it will work out in the end! I may need to find some smaller prints to use but even just a hint of these fabrics might look nice anyway... we'll see I guess! I'm hoping to create some interesting combinations :)

I did brave my machine to quickly sew a bib together for my lovely neighbour, who has just given birth to a healthy 10lb 1oz baby!! Hope it's not too small:

I was inspired after seeing this post on Pleasant Home, I used the same pattern by Chickpea Sewing Studio and the tutorial by Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson! for sewing onto interfacing. I was originally planning on using up tiny scraps and making it more patchwork but again, frightened by the machine I went for something more simple.

This past week I also received these beauties from the fabulous Zipit!

I just love those fortune telling fish!!

Just in case you were wondering, I'm pretty sure Dave loved his Hacienda quilt :) We had a fantastic time at the party. The Charlatans were the guest band (have to admit we were late and missed them though!!), Lemn Sissay read and Dave gave a brilliant speech :)
Want to see my party outfit?

Bad angle it may be but still you can see why I'm joining in with Erin for the Weigh In Wednesday!! I also managed to put nice plaits (braids) in my hair but we were late enough without taking another picture!! The dress is an early birthday present and is just lace on the back of the top! Glad I like my back :)

Linking up to Canoe Ridge Creations:

The Hacienda days

2012-01-06T11:00:00.003Z

I am linking up to Finish It Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts, TGIFF at Quokka Quilts and TTT at making rebecca lynne, who has some very exciting news to share :)

I have my first finish of 2012! It's a birthday present for our friend Dave, who used to work with my husband.

Dave also used to DJ at a famous Manchester nightclub, The Hacienda. Unfortunately I never saw him there because I was too young ;)
I did naughtily go as a teenager though and have some great memories. There's a bit about it here, including a good article by Dave himself! He's also written a brilliant book about Manchester's history and music, which I'm going to shamelessly plug ;)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Manchester-England-Dave-Haslam/dp/1841151467/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325807743&sr=8-1

I decided to go with the yellow and black stripes that were in the club and became part of it's identity:

source: http://www.mancky.co.uk/?p=2275

I've made him a 'Hacienda quilt' and I'm hoping he likes it! We're off to celebrate his important birthday with him tomorrow night. Funnily enough the party's at the venue my husband and I had our wedding in and he was our DJ! It should be fun :)

This is the first quilt I've hand sewn the binding on! I thoroughly enjoyed it (you were so right Debbie!) although I may have carpel tunnel but after the rush of Christmas it felt nice to take my time and, after all, it was for a legend :)

It's time to celebrate...

2012-01-05T00:28:00.003Z

and have a good ~~time~~ fortune!

To celebrate the fact that I'm turning 32 next week and the fact that over 100 wonderful folk decided to hit the 'follow' button I'm having a giveaway to say thank you and spread a little joy!

Because I'm 'Charm About You' and since it'll be the second year of my thirties, I'm giving away 2 charm packs - ok clearly that has nothing to do with why I'm giving away two, it's just useful to have more fabric but it ties in nicely!

Just to be clear this is NOT a sponsored giveaway! I bought these charm packs with my own money from the Fat Quarter Shop - I love their service and they just have great little pictures!! ;)

********THE GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! See the winner here *********

If you'd like the chance to win 2 charm packs of Good Fortune by Kate Spain you'll be pleased to know you get two shots:

1. Leave a comment telling me the most charming memory you have (I'm hoping to have some heartwarming stories, it could be anything really!!)

2. Let me know you're a follower in a separate comment

If you are a no-reply blogger or use Wordpress or any other reason your email doesn't appear on your profile PLEASE leave your email address in the comment :)
(BTW some of you that already follow definitely are no-reply bloggers because I can't reply to your comments! If you're not sure, click on that big red button down on the right that says 'are you a NO REPLY blogger?')

I'm not shouting about this giveaway but feel free to share about it on your blog if you're feeling generous!

The giveaway is open internationally.

I'll be drawing a winner using random.org on 12th January because that's my birthday! Not sure what time (it's my birthday and I'll do what I want to!! It'll probably be ~~about 10am~~ **in the evening** UK time) so just be certain to enter before then ;)

I wish you all good fortune and thank you so much for reading, commenting, supporting and contributing so much to me and this little blog!

This rather large piggy...

2012-01-04T11:52:00.000Z

It's not too far from the truth of what I look like and is how I feel! I've been overweight before and lost it but after having two kids and using it as an excuse to eat I've put it nearly all back on. It's gradually coming off and I've lost at least a stone (probably more) but now it's time to get serious and physical ;)

I'm joining in with the marvelous Erin at Missy Mac Creations and you can too! We're going to kick some butt and get fit and healthy together!

Across the ponds we may be but there's no way I can do this on my own and having to keep a check and report in each week is going to be a big motivator for me. I always hated getting told off at school and want to do well - even if I procrastinate a lot!!

I have other reasons for wanting to lose the weight (possibly including putting it all back on by having another baby!!), I need to be stronger and also I have some lovely clothes that don't fit in my wardrobe!!

So Monday night I ate a big pizza, last night I ate chocolates and from now on there'll be ~~none~~ as little as possible of that naughty behaviour!!

I'm not going to announce how much I weigh but I'm overweight by about 28lbs! So I have some work to do.

Even if you're not joining in because you're already healthy (good for you!!), a happy weight or it's not something you need - PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE can you support me and others.

I intend this blog to remain about quilting and sewing and not much else but occasionally life takes over (a lot of it, wobbly life, muffin top life) and I want to make a change. I'll be reporting each week about my weight loss (because I will lose weight!!) and exercise - it may just be in some sort of code at the end of the post if I've not done too well!!

Stats right now:

Weight: see pig above
Exercise: ~~Moving from the sofa to the kitchen~~ Ok not just that, I also walk about 30 minutes a day and general running around after kids. I'm going to make an effort to do more :)

Hopefully you'll be here to cheer me on :)

Catching up

2012-01-02T15:12:00.003Z

I'm linking up to the Manic Monday linky party at Sew Happy Geek.

Here's my Blogger's BOM for December:

I threw in some Hometown and now I'm not sure about it but I didn't like the first block and do now so I'm hoping once there's a bit more in there it will be ok.

I did a run to Abakhan just after Christmas and here's what I got:

This is what I'm using just now for my friend's present, just sewing on the binding and it needs a good clean, there's batting fluff all over the black - arrggghhhh!

Anyone else's kids or pets already destroying their Christmas presents?? The girl is so strong the toy buggy ties got ripped off, I'm hoping she can't mess with my sewing!! And I love this doll she was given:

Lastly we went to Wales for Christmas and here's what we did Christmas morning!

My husband always says since the kids are half Scottish they can stand the cold, it was freezing!! We had lots of fun though, the kids filled their pockets with rocks and shells. It was lovely, we could see the beach from where we were staying!

Bbbbrrrrrr, makes me cold just looking at it!!

**oh my! Just wanted to add I've been so sick of looking at the hideously large number of emails that I have read but kept so I just hit select all and archived them!! Scary stuff. This is the year of organising emails properly!**

So over 2011, here's to a Fresh Year!

2012-01-01T14:44:00.002Z

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a good night and that 2012 is full of joy!

I only started quilting in August 2011, shortly before I started blogging :)
Here's a round up of what I've made since then:

1. Nanny's Yellow Brick Road Quilt 2. My first QAL, Sampler Quilt 3. Does Not Compute Quilt 4. Terrain Lattice 2.0 5. Diagonal Stripes HST Quilt 6. Drunkard's Path QAL 7. Terrain Lattice Quilt 8. Dotty Simple Stripes Quilt 9. Dead Simple Quilt 10. and 11. Easy Bricks Quilts - two halves!

So that's eleven quilts! I'm pretty happy. They're not perfect and there's so much I have to learn but most were gifts and all were well received so I'm glad about that!

I've made a bunch of other stuff since the summer too:

I've had loads of fun making and exploring all the great tutorials out there. Apologies but I'm way too lazy to link to the posts about these makes but if you want to know more about anything let me know :)

Thank you to everyone who has supported me, given me encouragement, tips and for all the inspiration you blogging folk give me!

I'm hoping to learn even more this year and have about 6 quilts on my to-do list already! Actually it was 7 but since Christmas I've been busy and have one basted and ready to quilt. It's a gift for a friend's 50th. So far I'm loving it but no pictures yet I'm afraid - a girl has cleaning to do don't you know! I'll post about it soon because it's a fun one :)

I'm linking up to Craft Buds, Lily's Quilts and Love Affair with my Brother:

Inspired by fashion

2011-12-28T01:26:00.002Z

I couldn't resist joining in with the temptress Laura at Quokka Quilts and her amazingly cool competition!

There's so much choice on the Fat Quarter Shop website it's hard to know where to start, so instead I went to the source of all wonderfulness and inspiration; Vogue and came across some Missoni!

Missoni / Spring 2012 RTW

http://www.vogue.com/collections/spring-2012-rtw/missoni/review/#/collection/runway/spring-2012-rtw/missoni/18

I had to adapt the colours so I created a slightly different palette but I love the fabric choices and the vibe the mosaic has. These fabrics suggest so much texture to me, a definite nod to Missoni :)

I had a lot of fun making my mosaic and spent FAR too long doing it!! I am loving it:

Here's the fabric details:

Flora Sunflower Feathers Yardage SKU# 25055-21, Prince Charming Coral Turtle Bay Yardage SKU# TP10-CORAL, Domestic Bliss Aqua with Cream Beaded Curtain Yardage SKU# 18077-16, French Dress Teal and Walnut Woven Texture Yardage SKU# 8629-113, Stitch Organic Gold on Brown Loop Stripe Yardage SKU# 11897-238, Lark Persimmon Souvenir Yardage SKU# PWAB68-PERSI, Happy Mochi Yum Yum Lemon India Yardage SKU# 30305-50, Impressions Teal Medallion Yardage SKU# PWTY020-TEALX, Plume Blue Feather Half Moon Yardage SKU# CM8668-BLUE, Hall of Fame Sage Game Turf Yardage SKU# DC5367-SAGE-D, Lark Cobalt Gypsy Yardage SKU# PWAB72-COBAL, Mimosa Orange Ikat Yardage SKU# STELLA-12-ORANGE, Michael Miller Watermelon Cotton Couture Solid Yardage SKU# SC5333-WATE-D, Kona Cotton Brick Yardage SKU# K001-1042, Free Spirit Designer Solids Saffron Yardage SKU# S46-SAFFRON

Thank you to Maureen for the great tips on making the mosaic and the fat quarter shop logo :)