shop update

Just a quicky - I have put 2 Christmas dolls in my shop, in case you were stuck for a gift for a little girl. (on the picture above, it's the blonde one with a snowflake in her hair, and the brunette with bunches).

yesterday...

My new tattoo, so far. The outline was done yesterday and a little bit of shading on her hair. You can't see how amazingly detailed it is from the picture. The line work is really fine, like pen. And - now this is amazing - it didn't hurt. There was one slightly ouchy bit, but even then it wasn't really painful. Maybe the shading will hurt more. Even so, Saira, has magic fingers and is so gentle it's unreal. I could have sat for much longer, but she had another client, and I had to go meet my friends' new baby.

Speaking of the new baby - she is 12 days old, and her mum has to set the alarm at 3.30 am to wake her up for a feed. She will sleep through otherwise. Last night it was cold, rainy, and generally not very nice. We met up for dinner and Annabelle slept the whole time, even when her mum tried to wake her up for a feed, she had a little bit of milk, then fell right back to sleep again. She didn't make a peep. She just lay curled up in her little new baby ball, looking like a perfect picture of a baby.

Not only that, her mum looks amazing (like she's never been pregnant), and for first time parents, they are both incredibly relaxed. Although, to be honest, if anyone was going to fall right in to being the 'perfect' parents, it was those two.

And, yes, they loved the quilt. Both of them said it was the best present they'd had (which made me very happy).

All in all, I don't think I could have had a more perfect trip to the big smoke.

finishes and progress

Five dolls. Finished.




The spiderweb. Growing.
The long side is 77 inches, and will actually be the width. The short side is 55 inches, and needs probably 2 more rows on it. Originally I had planned for 7 x 8 setting, but now I think I'd like a square quilt instead. My decision has nothing at all to do with the husband saying 'don't you think it's quite big enough like that?' No, he has no influence on me at all. It is going to be big, and I have no idea where it's going to live, because it doesn't actually go with our bedroom. It would go in Miss G's room, but she has an abundance of quilts that are lovely, so has no need for another. Ginger is all quilted out too, and this one is a little girly. Plus, it's mine. I don't intend sharing it. Maybe I'll share it with the cats, or possibly on a cold winter evening watching TV with the rest of the family. It's going to have to live in the sitting room, but it'll be a lap quilt for a giant.




Gingers hex quilt. Finished (finally). The top was finished back in August 2008. Yikes. I loved making this quilt. It was one of the first quilty things I ever made, and I really enjoyed piecing it. Quilting it, not so. I tried hand quilting, but failed miserably, so I 'tied' it using buttons in the middle of each 'flower'. Maybe one day I'll go back to hand quilting it. As it is, Ginger loves it, and that is all that matters.




Last minute baby quilt. Finished.



Nice work, Missus Monkey.

That makes a grand total of 7 finishes this week. If I count each doll individually, which I'm going to do, because it sounds totally impressive and makes me feel incredibly smug.

Tomorrow I am off on the choo-choo train down to the big smoke to meet a new baby (hence the quilt). Watch this space for tales of broodiness and itchy ovaries. Again.

I am also going for a new tattoo. Cue much excitement and clapping of hands in glee. I'm not telling you any more about it until I get back. All I will say is that I think it's going to be my absolute favourite tattoo yet, and I am GIDDY with excitement.

Have a wonderful weekend, whatever you are doing.

and the winner is.....

I will never be able to figure out how to do that screen grab thing for the number generator. I'm sure it's obvious, but I'm only just getting used to having a Mac, and doing things the Mac way.

So, who is number 8? It's Laura J! Congratulations, Laura J, I'll email you with the details and you can go shopping (although not until after the weekend, because Dana is off doing fun thanksgiving stuff).

Do you know what I'm thankful for? All of you - everyone that stops by and reads my blog, I'm doubly thankful for those of you that leave comments. I truly am.

I think I'm going to take a few days off, try and get some stuff finished and crossed off the list, so I shall see you next week.

Have a wonderful thanksgiving.

is it only a month away?

The annual pre-christmas panic has started. It's a tradition in this house. If I was better at planning I'd get started earlier and finish without that feeling of dread. Why do I do it? I'm not even sure the little people will be all that bothered with getting handmade gifts, maybe they'd prefer a doll from toys r us they can dress and undress. Maybe. But I feel better for trying to make something for some of my friends and family. I hope they realise it's not a cheap cop-out but because I really do care.




I have to get a baby quilt made for a brand new baby girl that we are going to see on Saturday. If all else fails I can sew the binding on the way there, but the top was whipped up last night, and the backing too (thanks to 6 FQs and a couple of charm packs - also known as emergency baby quilt supplies). The husband is down in London for a couple of days this week, which gives me the opportunity to quilt at night, until the wee hours. It'll be a casserole for dinner, I think - nothing beats a 'chuck it all into a dish and forget about it in the oven for a few hours' kind of dinner when you're panicking about time.

Don't forget about the giveaway, I'll draw a winner some time tomorrow evening.

Best get back to it. Time waits for no man (or woman) and all that.....

sunday stash

Kona cotton solids - they're always useful, right? Although Brioni and me were finding one of the greens hilariously funny in it's shocking nastiness this week. I might have been hormonal when I bought that one (you can't see it from the picture - believe me, it's pretty hideous).

Bought from here. They have an awesome selection of colours. Too many to choose from, really (which might explain why I bought the nasty green...but might not).

Don't forget, if you haven't signed up for the giveaway you have until Wednesday to do so. Go on, and whilst you're at it, why not pop over to an even more amazing giveaway over on the flea market fancy freaks blog. You'll be disappointed if you don't!

a new obsession (and the giveaway continues)

That's my very exciting new quilting frame - all set up and living in it's new and scruffy and not very inspiring home...the garage. I haven't managed to get to ikea this week, but next week I am on a mission - I need a rug, I need some pretty bits and bobs - I need that messy garage transforming. And I need a very long extension cable too, so I can use the desk in the back of the picture to sit Nina Bernina on when I sew the spiderwebs together - I think it's easier to take the sewing machine out there, rather than the spideys into the house, row by row.

The spidey quilt obsession has paused, momentarily, whilst I obsess over another quilt, in a desperate attempt to get my flea market fancy and katie jump rope cut into before hope valley arrives (hopefully in January).




I've been admiring string quilts for a while - the spiderweb was going to be a string quilt, but the spiderweb won me over, and I promised myself I'd do her cousin soon. That time has come.

May I introduce you to Miss Green....



and Miss Pink...



I'm not too sure about Miss Green, but I think when I get all the blocks together it'll work. Inspiring me is this, this, and this. If my quilt turns out even half as lovely as any one of those 3 then I will be a very happy lady.


The giveaway is still going strong - just click here and leave a comment on that post for a chance to win $25 gift certificate for the fabulous thistle hill fabrics. Anyone can enter - I just need a way to contact you should you win, so make sure you leave an email address or a link to your blog with contact details.

a big thank you! (plus a giveaway)

Yes. That's right. Thanks to all of you voting (some of you more than once!) I am now officially the most stylish person in Leeds (Ok, maybe not the most stylish person in Leeds, but the one with the added benefit of many hundreds of bloggy friends all over the globe). Check out the comments (click on the picture for a better view)...Lily Boot? Now there's a familiar name.

I really didn't expect to win. I half thought they'd phone me to tell me that blogging about it was cheating. I suppose in reality I should know better than that - we are part of the internet generation, our children may never speak to each other face to face but do it all via facebook or twitter. I was probably the only person in the competition that doesn't have facebook or twitter. I think I might be the oldest winner too. That's a nice thought. (Just checked - I was the oldest, by 3 years. Go stylish old lady me!)

So I think we need to have a celebration, don't we? Should we crack open a bottle of bubbly or two? (Actually, scrap that idea - it makes me hideously ill, not a pretty sight), I'll have a beer, won't you join me?

Here's to you - every single one of you that took the time out to vote for me and make me really very ever so happy. Yes, it's a little bit shallow, but it won't ever happen again, has never happened before. The only people to stop me in the street usually are the ones that have doom and gloom stories, the monks (I have to try really hard not to get stuck with the monks, I feel terrible when I don't talk to them for hours - they're monks, they have karma on their side), and people trying to get me to sign up for new windows. I don't even get given the flyers for clubs anymore - sometimes I even look at the people handing them out to say 'yes please' but they just ignore old lady me. So I shall relish the moment a little, and when I'm really old I can drag the magazine out to show my grandkids who will be so bored of the tale of when granny got stopped in the street by a magazine and won thanks to the internet.

I'm waffling on - I should get to the point. And the point is this. As a thank you for voting for me, and for taking the time to read my waffle, to leave me lovely comments and for just being there to cheer me up when I need it I'm having a giveaway.

One lucky person will get a $25 gift certificate to spend in my new favourite etsy fabric store Thistle Hill Fabrics. When I emailed Dana and asked her if it was ok for me buy a gift certificate and offer it as a giveaway she very generously offered to cover shipping - so not only will you get $25 to spend, you don't have to pay for shipping either. Isn't that awesome?

So, head on over to her store, have a little browse, and let me know what you like the look of and what you might make with it. Just because I'm nosy and I want to see what you have brewing in your heads.

small print......
The giveaway will be open for one week until Wednesday November 25th. One entry per person, and you MUST LEAVE A WAY FOR ME TO CONTACT YOU!!! - if you don't have a profile with a link to your blog/email address I can't enter you.

Good luck!

rain rain go away

Oh, miserable weather.

This pretty little lady came to my house in the mail, I won her in a giveaway over at sophie and lilli. I don't think she's too impressed about the constant rain. She sits staring out of the window and I'm sure I can hear her sigh for the warmer, drier weather of home. Although I'm not sure what the weather is like in Connecticut right now. Probably better than this, it seems to have rained constantly all week. It's big rain too - those huge great splodges of raindrops that hit you in the eye and blind you for a minute or two. Gorgeous. My hair is constantly curly, despite ironing it dead straight every morning. I hit the moisture and WHOOSH it frizzles right up again. And don't tell me to leave it curly, I haven't been blessed with the curls of my children, mine just looks like I've been sleeping in a hedge.

My quilting frame is now assembled, I have Kreiger the German perched on top, but I'm not getting on as well as I hoped in my mission to become a grand quilter. I haven't had as much time to spend locked in my little garage workshop as I'd like, so until I can spend a good day in there practising and practising and practising I'll keep getting snags. At the minute I'm having thread snapping issues, so I'm going to try threading the machine a little differently (one tip from a flickr friend) and try a different kind of needle (thanks to a helpful man at barn yarns). The tension is fine, the stitches are nice and even on both sides of the fabric, although the stitch lengths are not so even (practise, practise), and I'm using king tut at the minute which I'm told is a perfect thread for the machine I'm using (pfaff grand quilter). I've never had much luck with free motion quilting before, so it's my technique that is at fault, I'm sure. I'll get there, and as I have loaded a quilt onto the frame I am determined to finish it before christmas and master my loops and swirls. There's so many possibilities that I can see in the future with my quilting, and I'm really excited about it. I've never enjoyed the quilting part, but I'm actually excited about learning more skills now. Having the frame set up, with a quilt loaded onto it and being able to leave it for a while as is most definitely makes it easier, I don't have to move my machine over from my desk to the kitchen table, and set up there, only to move everything off when it's time to eat, or bed (to save the quilt from getting attacked by cats).

If it would only stop raining I could take some photos of my little garage workshop. It's pretty sparse at the minute, I have to get some bits and bobs to dress it up a bit, make it more homely. When the rain stops I'll take some pics. Maybe no close ups of my quilting though. I wouldn't want to shock anyone.

10.17 am today

I finished trimming the blocks (so far) of the spiderweb quilt. I still have a few left to make. I lost count, I think it's only four more.

Ordinarily I loathe trimming blocks, it's not fun having to square things up and trim off the scruffy bits and dog ears, but this time I was like a crazy woman possessed - LOVED it. Maybe it's because the spiderweb is mine all mine. I think, however, it might have something to do with my new 11.5 inch ruler from creative grids. Non-slip, and actually non-slip, not that faux non-slip I seem to have experienced in the past where you get things all straight, go in for the cut, ruler goes whooooosh and you trim off too much on one side (or is that just me?). I'm addicted to buying these rulers now, I think I need one in every size. (Father Christmas, are you hearing me?)

Thanks for all your thread advice. I'm glad it wasn't just me that has problems with gutermann. The little Swiss lady loves it. Although she also loves king tut best. She's not a fussy thing, she will use anything without fussing too much. Bless her. The German is bossy, though. If she were human she'd be a big boned lady, probably quite tall....she reminds me of that East German shot putter from the 1980's. The one that turned from a woman into a man. I think I'll name the pfaff after her, Krieger it is.
Lorraine has very kindly said she'll pick me up some rasant thread for me in Oz and bring it over when she comes to visit her kiddywinks for Christmas, because I'm having trouble finding it here in Blighty. Online at least. I could just go to a shop and ask, but that would involve me leaving the house. *shudder*

Oh, and thank you Dorothee for the German to English translation - maybe if I buy the thread I can sew 'rasant' too, right? Worth a try!

My quilting frame turned up yesterday afternoon, it's in 2 boxes, I have watched the instructional DVD and hope I'll be able to cobble it together this weekend....and load up a quilt and start playing pro-quilter. I'll let you know how I get on. The frame itself was quite reasonably priced. Very reasonable if you compare it a long arm frame - I got a 7 1/2 feet frame (which will take a quilt up to about 7 feet in width) for £600. After trying out a couple at the festival of quilts, both me and my friend Brioni were rather taken with this one. Hers is already in place in her swish sewing room, mine is going in the garage, the only place I have room (other than the kids' bedrooms....which did cross my mind). Their website is basic, to say the least, but take a look. I have a feeling they make them in a shed/workshop, they're definitely not mass produced. It's nice to support a small business, especially in times like these.

christmas came early

I have a new baby (you were very briefly introduced to her here). I bought her for me, by me, lots of love and kisses, merry christmas, Katy. Saved up my squirreled away secret pennies and then went for the splurge.
She's a grand quilter, which I'm hoping will rub off onto me. We'll see. For now I've managed to figure out the tension, I can thread it (with the help of the handbook - lots of new and different holes and bits to wind round) and sew (on the slow speed - and it's still super fast). I've attached the binding on 2...or is it 3...quilts, which was amazingly fast, and easy peasy.

Because I'm getting a quilting frame for quilts bigger than tiny ones (again, trying to become a grander quilter), I needed a second machine, a straight stitch with a bigger throat. This was what I chose, because of the three I was looking at it was the middle one price wise. And it's German, I've been brainwashed into believing the Germans know how to engineer things - well, cars at least. There's not much difference between a car and a sewing machine, is there?

So, me and the good lady pfaff are going to be great friends, but she has a serious dislike for gutermann - which is all I have right at this precise minute. It snaps, it's too thin. Possibly. I am assuming it's too thin, I'm blaming the thread and not the good lady pfaff. She's German, I don't want to mess with her - she might shout at me.

So, the question I have is this - do you have a pfaff? What thread do you use? Apparently (according to a flickr friend) she likes king tut. So do I, it's a beautiful thread. Anything else I should try?

the big smoke

I had a great weekend. I went to London with my Sookie Stackhouse book to stay with one of my absolute best friends (that I don't see nearly enough). Sookie kept me entertained on the train both there and back - now I've finished the twilight books (and in mourning) I needed a literary distraction. I think I'm going to enjoy the slightly racier True Blood series even more than twilight. Plus Bill is a much more acceptable Vampire crush for a 30 plus lady - with him being a man and not a teenage boy.

Anyhoo, the weekend was spent eating dimsum, drinking beer (quite a bit), and browsing anthropologie. Oh wow - what a store. How'd it take so long to get to Europe? I didn't buy anything, but that was because I couldn't narrow my wish list down to anything less than a lottery winning amount of cash. As I am yet to win the lottery I thought I'd be restrained. The husband was a little shocked, I was secretly annoyed with myself. Hey ho. I'm back down again at the end of the month, I can go back.

The clothes were made from beautiful fabrics, but the shapes weren't really me. Admittedly I am more into the peculiar shapes of Vivienne Westwood and Commes Des Garcons, but I was a little disappointed. It was a little too safe for my liking. I prefer the Mary Poppins look. But the homewares were awesome - awesome awesome awesome. The quilts were super pricey, but gorgeous. One was made from huge yo-yos of fabric appliqued onto a muslin background. Simple ideas always work best, don't they? I can imagine it made from the new Amy Butler collection. Mmmm. Pretty.

Friday night we were supposed to go out, but it rained. A lot. Way too much to consider trekking on the underground from East London up to Notting Hill. So we stayed in, listened to dodgy old vinyl records of Fleetwood Mac, Scritti Politti and some random soft rock compilation that was incredibly awful (so bad it was good, in fact). A great night, especially thanks to the addition of beer (which is good for your bones, according to my friend Katie).

I hate leaving London. Most of the husband's friends are down there, both of us have brothers there, it's an amazing place to bring up kids - like google is on your doorstep. Whatever subject Miss G would need to study would be available in some museum or other in the big smoke. Homework would never be the same again. Ok, so houses are pricey, it's busy, overcrowded in places....but the good outweighs the bad in my mind.

He has promised me we will move there one day. He isn't one to break a promise. I'll hold him to it. I'd even sacrifice my yearning for extra babies if we could just live in London for a bit. *sigh*

Luckily, to break me from my obsession with moving, the posty brought me gifts. He actually declared they were 'presents!!!' when he rang the doorbell today.

Mexican oilcloth from thistle hill on etsy. $7 a yard. Now, that's good value if I ever did see it.

Plus extra snippets of fabrics to add to my spiderweb quilt. Those were free - just a little gift from Dana. Isn't she the most loveliest?
You should go and check out her shop, and stock up on oilcloth (amongst all the other great fabrics). I want to cover my house in it at the minute, although I don't think the husband would agree with that. At 7 bucks a yard it's cheaper than any wallpaper I've seen, and wipeable. Oh, imagine the possibilities. Anyway, Dana has a heap of designs, I'm thinking tote bags for christmas presents. Pretty. I'm trying to avoid going back though, I can't help but shop, there's a ta dots stack I'm craving.



And talking of christmas presents, here's one I'm on with. The quilt dude, John sent me a layer cake of hushabye yonks ago, and it's been sat as half square triangles for almost as long. Now it's a nearly quilt top. Soon it'll be a quilt, once I find some flannel to back it with over here in the UK (any ideas on sources, anyone?).
This is for my mother in law's best friend, who I promised a quilt back in July when we were on holiday together. Well, 5 months isn't too long to wait, is it?



You do realise you only have a month and a bit until the big C day, don't you? How are you doing with homemade gifts? I'll admit, I'm not doing great.

moments

4th November, lunch time. A loaf of bread on the sofa whilst watching TV. Healthy lunch?



5th November, lunch time again. Bed still not made. I got into bed like it last night too. It's been unmade for most of the week, with new bed linen waiting to go on. It won't make itself, will it? Actually, never mind the unmade bed - that quilt doesn't even have any binding on it.

Proof that I am no creature of perfection (I'm not sure you needed any proof, I think it's common knowledge).

I do not have vases of beautiful freshly cut flowers displayed around the place, I have laundry piling up in the laundry room (thank heavens for having a laundry room to hide the laundry, although it is no bigger than a cupboard), I have clean laundry still in baskets in various rooms. I have nothing in the fridge to make any kind of edible lunch for myself, my children are most often a little scruffy. As am I.

I hold my hands up, I say it loud and proud - I'm not perfect, and I'm happy to show you my real life 'moments'. Little snippets, nothing dressed, nothing made to look better than it is. No making sure I crop the picture to hide that half eaten sandwich, or pile of last weeks newspapers. Warts and all.

If you'd like to join in and share your own true life moments then skip over to Amy's place. She'll welcome you with open arms.

the value of peace and quiet

Yesterday the husband was down in London shopping/hanging out with his friends/pretending he hadn't really gone to watch the Regent Street Christmas lights switch on.
I attempted, although not entirely successfully, to get the kids into bed a little earlier than usual, so I could hand stitch the binding on to a quilt or two, and settle down to a little bit of Vampire romance on the DVD player.
The kids were not playing along, and ended up going to bed at their usual times, but armed with my cup of tea and snuggled under the quilt I was stitching, I sat and got settled with my DVD.

The books are always better, aren't they? But still, it was lovely and Edward was suitably handsome, although he can't possibly be a teenager, can he? Is it a Michael J Fox situation - is he really 35 or something pretending to be a teenager? Like in Back to the Future and Teen Wolf (now, there's an awesome movie).

The best thing (for me) was when they were playing baseball in the field, and my favourite band's song started playing. Vampire romance and Matt Bellamy's heavenly guitar playing? Nice combo. I get a little bit giddy when I hear a muse track starting, I have a not so secret crush on Matt Bellamy, not for his looks (he's not all that beautiful, actually) but for what that man does with a guitar. *sigh*

So, back to the quilts. This is a blog about sewing and stuff, isn't it? Not a blog about a 34 yr old woman going mushy about a man in a band/vampire novels for teenagers.

And last night's stitching gave me this......




My value quilt from the quilt along over at Katie's place is done - before the quilt along has even finished. I'm annoyed I didn't go bigger, it's approx 50 x 60 inches, and in all honesty I was too impatient to make more half square triangles and make a nice big quilt. Lazy lazy lady. Impatience is not a nice trait, and I am incredibly impatient at times. However, as the technique is so simple, and such fun, I'm going to make another. One that will be bigger, much bigger. In fact, I might make a few more. It's all stash stuff, out of the scrap box, or by choosing some of my favourites that I've stashed away, afraid to cut up.

it's over

My readathon has finally finished. I bought Breaking Dawn on Saturday afternoon, and finished it yesterday morning. It's such a good thing I'm a fast reader, I don't think I'd have noticed if the whole family had moved out whilst I was lost in my books.

Saturday evening was spent in the kitchen, avoiding the hoards of children that were in my house for halloween - I was doing an excellent job of pretending to be a gracious host. I was, in fact, discussing the wonder of Twilight with my friends. And felt MUCH better when my biggest literature snob friend came squealing at me 'you've been reading Twilight, haven't you?!!!!' and then turned into a 15 year old girl right in front of my eyes gushing about Edward.

So, quick review - what did I think? (I promise I won't give ANYTHING away to those of you that are only on your first or second book).

I'm so glad I asked you all if I should get book 4 - I wasn't going to bother because of all of the awful reviews on Amazon (I never read the good reviews, only the bad ones - bad habit of mine). Ok, so it was a little far fetched in places, but if I'm not mistaken the books were about a regular girl falling in love with a vampire boy. It might be different in Washington State, but I don't think I've ever met a vampire, or heard about them falling in love with normal humans. I often LOOK like a vampire, but last time I checked I did have a pulse, and I don't really like blood much. So, it was a bit of fantasy, and a little too sweet in places, but book 3 (eclipse) and a large chunk of breaking dawn were definitely less sugary. I loved them, I would be shocked if there wasn't a spin off TV series, and if there is I will most definitely be addicted to that as well. I have bought the twilight DVD, and I shall be going to see New Moon in November. Ooh, that's this month!!!! And I heard that they just finished filming Eclipse. Actually, Miss G told me that, she knows more stuff than I do about most things. Eclipse was probably my favourite book, but breaking dawn brought the story to a satisfactory end - with some peculiar twists. If it wasn't for the fact that the books are so very innocent with no adult content, I might have found one of the twists a little more uncomfortable...but I think that is more to do with my age, and cynicism.

But now it's back to real life - I have 3 quilts to bind this week, before I nip down to the big smoke on Friday (taking Sookie Stackhouse with me - I'm saving her until then).

Today I'm off to play pro quilter with Brioni and her new quilting frame. We shall eat bacon sandwiches (I'm making presumptions, she hasn't promised me bacon) and drink tea (that's a given). We will also be stroking fabric and discussing other exciting subjects, like thread and wadding. I live life on the edge, don't I?

On another note - does anyone have a Kindle or know anyone that has one? I was thinking of getting one for christmas (or at least asking for one - whether I get it or not is another matter). I did the same thing as I usually do, and read the bad reviews, now I'm thinking it's just a gimmick and totally unnecessary... but they are amazing, and would save me cramming my carry on with 6 books every time I go on holiday (plus all the other crap I lug about with me).