new moon

Finished it this morning. Onto Eclipse we go. I'm off to the bookstore in a bit to get the final book, I'm just really hoping it all ends in the way I want it to.

I can't remember the last time I was this obsessed. Maybe it was when I fell in love with Katherine and Michael from Forever way back in 1987 or something. Or it might have been when I was convinced I was Andie and spent the whole of my teenage years wishing for Blain to whisk me off my feet. You know what, he did too, he whisked me off my feet on the last day in April 1998, when I had just turned 23, 4 months later we were married.

Whenever it was, it was a long time ago, and a 34 yr old grown up lady with children (one almost at the intended age for the twilight books) shouldn't be quite so hooked.

Hubs is in London today, and tonight, so rather than watching TV, or sewing (which is what I should be doing), or feeding the children, or getting the house ready for the impending halloween party, I shall be reading the next installment of Bella and Edward's romance. Bliss.

(and I have the Sookie Stackhouse books lined up for when this lot is over. Got to be prepared, haven't you?)

dangerous distractions

I finally caved in and bought the trilogy, only a couple of years late. Right? Vampire love story - like I was going to get sucked in by that (excuse the pun). Pah. I could read the books on the way to and from London on the train when I'm down next weekend, nice and easy, nothing to it. I was sure they'd be pleasant enough, but nothing more than nice, simple, chick lit.
Well, the books arrived yesterday, I've finished twilight, and I'm onto new moon. I can't put them down. I can't do anything other than read the bloody books, I've taken them with me everywhere I've gone in the house. Last night I put the kids to bed and sat on the sofa and read until bedtime, got up this morning and read until I finished the first one. I couldn't make breakfast until I was done.

Dangerously distracting. And there's no way I'll still have an unread book by the time I go to London on the 6th - what am I going to read then? Should I buy the 4th one? It has some pretty bad reviews. Will it leave me disappointed? If you've read it, let me know.

So whilst I should be trying to figure out the tension on my new baby (scarily fast - even on slow)....



sewing the binding on this quilt.....




and quilting this quilt....




I'm back to Bella and Edward and hoping for happy endings. Seems I'm a hopeless romantic after all.

checking in

Isn't there something special about a jelly roll? The way it's ever so tightly rolled, the way you know you're never going to get it as tight again once you untie that ribbon, the whole collection of fabric, but just a little strip of each one.

This beauty is my first. I'm a jelly roll Virgin. Pure, unsullied, never touched. I feel ready to take the plunge now. I think I've found 'the one'. Would you care for an introduction? What do you think? I think I've made the right choice. Oh, with age comes wisdom.

Any way, hello! Wow, that week flew by, didn't it? I'm still going to take another week or so off, because I've really enjoyed having the time to actually get things done, instead of spending the day chatting or skiving, or using hunting down fabric I don't need as an excuse to avoid getting things finished. Or lusting over jellyroll patterns.

I might give myself a coffee break a day to do all things flickry and bloggy. If I behave, at least.

Because this week has been really productive. And I like to see a stack of finished jobs, it makes me feel good.

The spiderweb grows...by another 12. Which takes me up to 42 in total, only another 14 to go. And 9 of those are going to come from my European posse.



The Christmas Quilt has borders and its backing has been pieced. Next week I'll quilt it, maybe I'll even finish it completely. It is half term, so I might have to talk to the kids every now and then.



Giant Animals part 2 (boy colours) was finished. Although I will admit it was finished a little before last week, but I didn't take a picture so I'll try and speak it in here without you noticing.

I might have to re-name this giant wrinkles. Better get it pressed before I take ti round to Baby Fin (who I still haven't met, despite him being almost a month old)



And finally. I finished up the pop garden quilt from the workshop I went to a few weeks ago.

It feels good to get things done.



So, I'm off again, I'll be in hiding again for the next week. Getting ready for Halloween too. The kids have planned a party, I think we have 15 kids coming, which is a little better than last year. There are fewer adults this year too. To be honest, it's those that the harder work than the kids - needing constant refilling of wine glasses, and conversation.

Before I go, have you seen/heard of/tried howcast.com? It's kind of like you tube, full of 'how to' videos. Might be a good one to bookmark? Like I need another website to trawl through.

I know I said I was taking a break...

...but I was just checking out my stats and stuff and noticed I'd been nominated for the little blog awards on the dorset cereals site.

Isn't that cool? Total surprise. I wonder who nominated me? Someone who didn't tell me - so whoever you are, secret person, I love you. Thank you.

You can go and vote for me (if you'd like...I currently have no votes. Which is a little sad, it would be nice to have one or two) by clicking on the pic below.



Ok. Now I am truly going for a week or so. I have had SUCH a productive day today, I should be able to get all sorts done by the end of the week. Oh yay.

sunday stash and a brief intermission

Au.then.tic by sweetwater for moda. I got mine from fabric buffet.

I'm a sucker for those text type prints.

I'm taking a break for a week or so. I need to get some stuff sorted, and the internet is distracting me way too much. So don't fret (like you would!), I'll be quiet, I won't be visiting any one, I won't be posting on flickr or here, but I won't be gone forever. Just taking a tiny breather. Think of it as a holiday.

back down to earth

Crikey. I can't believe all the lovely things you lot said about my little foray into extra minor celebrity. You really know how to make a girl feel good about herself. Thank you. Even when I woke up yesterday with lips that looked like collagen implants gone wrong (or maybe a platypus?) thanks to the Ginger one kissing me with his buttery mouth (dairy allergies are no fun) I still managed to shrug it off, and just slathered more lotion on than was probably necessary (and looked like I had a milk moustache. Class.) Thank you, you make me smile.

I'm back down to Earth with a bump. I was looking at my stack of works in progress and I need to get my finger pulled out. So, yesterday I made 2 spiderweb blocks to give me today off, and I can get the giant animals quilt finished. Noo Noo is helping with the binding.



I have swaps coming out of every orifice. Sorry. That sounds pretty awful. I started on my placemat swap from the flickr group. I'm hoping it goes the way I want it to. If not I might have to re-think. Here's a little peek...Autumn colours, some applique, a little bit of embroidery.



Have you seen the new Amy Butler Love collection? Wanna win some? Go and see Amy (not the Butler one - the Schmenkman one) and check out her giveaway (scroll down to get to the post). 8 fat quarters!!!! I really want to get my greasy paws on some of the soul colours. Beautiful. I LOVE them (geddit?) Plus, Old Mrs Schmenkman (she's not old really, but it sounds good) has embarked on a new and really exciting project. It's a doll quilt monthly programme. 12 months, 12 patterns (plus a freebie if you sign up for the 12 months upfront). A joint venture with her and Sarah Fielke. It's like a marriage of geniuses. I don't think I can stand the excitement to be quite honest.

work it baby, work it

Do you remember back in August I was having a particularly good week? Ginge and me were having lots of fun with me being overly efficient, making playdough and the like. I even ventured out of the house and got papped by Grazia magazine?

Well, last week a lovely lady phoned me to tell me I'd been picked as one of the finalists for the style hunter awards. Moi? Stylish? Seriously? Obviously they haven't seen me at home in my sweatpants and no make up on, have they? (the exact outfit I was wearing when the phone rang, in fact). The husband said 'typical, the one day you actually leave the house and get yourself looking pretty and you get spotted in the street'. He's rather chuffed with himself for having such a stunner as his missus (I'm joking, folks - he sees me in my sweatpants/scratty t-shirt combo). It's the Ginger one kissing my hand that makes the pic for me. I look a bit confused by the whole experience.

Now...I'm not saying you should, but if you happened to accidently click on the link and then found yourself voting for me and the Ginger one as Leeds's most stylish and I won....well, it'd make me a very proud 'full time mother' (like my job title? Why didn't I think of something more exciting? I could have made any old thing up - I was too shocked that they weren't trying to sell me life insurance or a catalogue and actually were being serious when they said 'you look really cool'). It might make me less likely to sit about in my sweatpant/scratty t-shirt combo.

Now, please excuse me, I have my catwalk strut to perfect....mwah mwah.

monday morning - back to work

The giant animals quilt in baby boy colours has been sat as a quilt top for too long. My friend had her baby boy on October 6th, so it's about time I pulled my finger out of the spiderwebs I've been obsessing over and finished up some of the WIPS that are lying around.

I quilted this one this morning. Now for the binding, and then I can go and visit baby Fin and his Mumma. I do love to sniff newborns, hopefully the bringing of a quilty gift will get me plenty of sniffing in return. Maybe even the chance to change a nappy. I miss those frog-like legs my babies had before they learned to keep them stretched out. If anyone has a newborn they'd like me to change the nappy of, bring it round. Night feeds, I can do them too. Call me odd, but those middle of the night feeds, both of us still half asleep, the house deadly quiet and everything dark and still - they were the best moments of the day.

Yes, I am still terribly broody, my ovaries are still itchy. Let's hope for an unplanned pregnancy, because after much talking and discussing and weighing up pros and cons (mostly involving maths and money and horribly practical things like that) it's been decided we can't plan for another little baby monkey...but if I was to accidently fall pregnant...well....both the husband and I said 'it wouldn't be the end of the world, would it?'

Moving swiftly on, before I fall into a deep depression about the extra babies I should have and don't...how about a shameless plug?

It's almost Christmas, you know. Isn't it time you bought yourself a new stocking? Don't you think Father Christmas is getting fed up with seeing the old one you've had for years? Treat him to something new. And yourself. There are 3 stockings in my etsy shop. Plus, if you mention you came from here I'll send you a revised invoice with 20% off (that's $5). Can't be bad, can it?

sunday stash and other stuff

Well, that flu bug thing knocked me out. I was pretty much out of action for most of this week. Bleurgh. Nasty. I was supposed to take my Mum's quilt top over to the quilter's on Friday but I couldn't face the drive - it's a good 45 minutes, and on parts of it I have to concentrate on the road and not look at the fields where the sheep or horses are (one of these days I will crash because I'm too busy looking at animals in fields and not looking at where I'm going) so I've rearranged for next week. I could mail it to her, but the post over here is a little sporadic at the minute with the postal workers on strike some days, and in some areas. There's nothing like a lack of organisation in your striking to really mess things up. I'm really looking forward to Christmas when they're planning a national strike. Yeah, that'll really get you in the heart of the nation, Mr Postman. Mess up my Christmas mail and I swear the only tip you'll be getting this Christmas eve is 'strike again, and I'll hunt you down and use you as a pin cushion'. Or something equally pleasant.

Or not. Because I really like my regular postman, maybe he can strike and I'll let him off, but the one that comes on his days off, he can be hunted down. His life can be a misery if he messes up my Christmas mail.

Oh, it's good to be back - and not have cotton wool in my head, or a woodpecker pecking at my eyes. I do have that nasty cotton wool sinus feeling, but I can live with that. Bring on the rivers of snot, the woodpecker has left, I'm happy.

And also happy because I spent yesterday (saturday) hanging out with some old ladies (I bet they'd hate being called that). Actually, one of them wasn't so old. Maybe 2. One was only late 40s, so she was still a spring chicken, but a couple were definitely owners of a free bus pass. Mind you, so is my Mum. Ha ha - Mum - you're old. But she doesn't look old, you know? She looks pretty fine for a over 60. I hope that bodes well for my future.

So, back to the old ladies - I went to the patchwork class at the local quilt shop. I've done the class before, so I suppose I shouldn't really be there, but it's a day out, and around these parts a day out sewing is a precious thing.

I've had this pop garden for a while and not known what to use it for, because I wasn't really sold on it. Too much yellow, maybe.

Anyway, sewn up with some essex cotton/linen blend for the sashing and border it looks really pretty. The binding will be yellow, and the backing is pieced from more of the same. I just have to get it finished. Along with a million other things.



Friday, Saturday and Sunday's spiderweb blocks are done. Taking the total up to 24. Amazing how quickly the numbers add up. Only another 32 to go. Although I might put some on the back, or at least make some cushions to go with it. That would mean I need to make more. Oh well. I have plenty of scraps and selvedges to use up!



Last up - Sunday Stash. I am loving these dots from the snippets range by American Jane. They are destined to become centre stars for more spiderwebs. The only colour I couldn't find was the red dot, so if any of you has seen it can you let me know? I need 1/2 yard, or 1 yard.

Thanks x



So here I am - back in the land of the living again. Do you know what was especially nice? I got an email from Nancy asking if I was ok because I hadn't blogged for a few days. I love this blogging world.

better than the floor (especially when the floor is dusty)

I've been thinking about design walls for a long time. Somewhere to get a good view of quilts as they come together. I saw a portable one that was kind of like a flannel sheet with tent poles that you could put up and take down at will when I went to the festival of quilts back in August. At almost £100 it seemed a little pricey, and not a hugely big necessity. It would have blown most of my shopping budget, and I wasn't up for spending that much on something that I thought I could probably make myself.

I was chatting to Katie about hers. She had made herself a mini one out of an old bulletin board and a bit of flannel, and a big one she folds up and tidies away when it's not in use.

So, after a trip to the market for supplies I fashioned myself a couple of homemade design walls....

baby....



and mama...



The baby one is a flannel pillowcase cut in half and stapled on to a cork notice board. Mama is a double sized sheet with a channel sewn at the top and bottom for a long bit of dowelling to be poked through, a couple of cup hooks screwed on to the ends and hooked on to the wall in the garage (that way I don't need to take it down, it can stay up forever). The sheet a bit bigger than the dowelling, but I'll fix that eventually. For now it's doing it's job really rather well.

The blocks really do stick to it like magic.

Maybe I am easily impressed, but it doesn't fail to make me quite excited playing with it.

Hours of fun.



I'm trying to get a few jobs underway. The spiderwebs are growing in their stack, I'm up to 20 blocks now - only another 36 to go. I missed yesterday, the Ginger one passed his germs on to me, so I couldn't do much else than sit and sip tea all day and watch prehistoric park on DVD. Today i feel like I've got a woodpecker in my head pecking at my eyes. It's not good for sewing anything even vaguely complicated, so I've been sewing half square triangles together. Eventually I'll have enough for a quilt. One day. Possibly. I'll add it to the pile of things to get done.



I think I can hear Nigel calling me back to watch him rescue dinosaurs. Or it might be the Ginger one shouting me to come and snuggle with him and the cat. Both are pretty good offers, maybe I can combine the 2 and watch Nigel whilst snuggling my boy and fat cat?

Hopefully I'll be back without the woodpecker tomorrow.

4 years in the making

Where does the time go to? It doesn't seem 5 minutes ago he was just a little baby. And such a good baby as well. I had to poke him a few times when we were in the hospital the first night because he slept right through the night. I was sure he'd stopped breathing. He's still as good, he's happiest when he can play by himself, and will spend hours lining up toys in rows, chatting away to himself.

But now my baby is 4. He's almost old enough to go to school full time. I had to fill in his application for a school place on Friday, just another reminder that my little baby is not so little any more.

Miss G was always very grown up, right from the start. I imagine she could run the world right now, at 10. Ginger is not so grown up. Is it the mothers and boys thing? Do I molly coddle him? Possibly.

We had a fun packed weekend. He woke up with croup on Friday morning, but was well enough for school (he gets it each year, he's not normally poorly with it). Saturday was party day, and he was going downhill - his voice was almost gone, and his temperature was up, but the party went ahead, and everyone had fun. By 7pm Saturday night he was zonked out on the sofa. Yesterday he didn't speak, his voice was completely gone, the only noise was the occasional bark from his cough. Another early night, after falling asleep on the sofa again, and this morning he was full of beans. The voice is a little raspy, kind of like he's been smoking too many cigarettes, but the bark is almost gone. And no more hot head. Whoo!

So he's gone off to nursery, wearing his 'I am 4' badge. He's a very happy boy. Mummy feels a little bit sad. I think I'd like to keep him like this forever.

Sunday Stash

Echino birds and seeds in double gauze. So soft. So floaty. So what can I use it for? Ideas please. (I have 1.5 yards)

I bought it from thistle hill fabrics, who also has some gorgeous Mexican oilcloths for just $7 a yard. That sounds like a bargain to me! (nice oilcloth is so pricey over here in the UK)

More stashes? Have a looky here.

sunshine

Well, wasn't I a miserable cow yesterday?

Sorry 'bout that.

It's amazing what a curry and chat with some girlfriends can do. Clears those grey clouds in a flash. And that's exactly what I did last night, I cleared those grey clouds, chatted, ate chapattis and drank tea (I don't like wine). By magic when I got home the house was tidy, the laundry all done, toys had been put in their proper places. The husband told me he had done it, but I think he has some elves enslaved in a cupboard somewhere.

And guess what? This morning when I came to look at my mum's quilt in progress I was rather pleased. I think oak leaves and acorns quilted all over it would be perfect. She is going to love it, and that will make me incredibly happy.

But I still can't get a picture that shows the colours properly. I might have to take it outside and hang it off a bush or something.