Closing the Stable Door...

... After the horse has bolted!

I like that saying.

It means that even though Christmas is over

I am still blogging Christmas stuff

and doing Christmas crafting LOL.

I was sent these beautiful snowmen for our tree:

They were beautifully hand-crafted

by Kandy.

Thank you Kandy!!

DS1 complained that Santa wouldn't be able to read

his name on the old name tag that hung on his stocking,

so last night I embroidered the boy's names on their stockings...

I just found a font in 'Word' that I liked...

and tried my best to embroider it.

This year I joined the BQL Sewing Santa Swap

again and received a cushion

with my name machine-embroidered on it.

When DH saw it he said,

'Wow, someone's got a fancy embroiderery machine'.

They sure have!

Thanks Mary!

And my little poppet is 10 weeks old today!

The time is flying by far too fast!!!!!!

Let's hope 2012 goes much more slowly!

Filling in the gaps

I picked up my hexagons again as I have not had a chance to get any white fabric and I just can't sit and watch telly without something to stitch. So while my Lilies lie languishing, I am trying to get my rose hexagons to finished top stage. Quite a feat with crutches, but I am sure it must be good physiotherapy to get down and pin hexagon pieces in the gaps :-)



A friend bought a second-hand sofa and was so unhappy with the cushions that I offered to make her some new ones. We bought the fabric together and I made these seven for her. The biggest are approximately 28" square.


After they were made I thought I had better make us some new ones. I have made six and just have 4 to complete, but I am definitely all cushioned out for a while now!!! (Especially as I sewed my own cushions the wrong way up. They are stripy so perhaps there isn't really a right or a wrong way LOL)

I found some photos on the camera....
Here's a snap of the travellers leaving. I just didn't get a chance to get any photos with my quilts this year....



And Nichole and I have done a fun private fabric swap. I received these amazing surprise fabrics...


And these gorgeous spots. I love spots at the moment!



Nichole also included some quilting magazines and some lovely goats milk soap. I have sent her a selection of African fabrics, some magazines and some surprises! Thanks for swapping Nichole!

I was the lucky winner of 2 monthly challenges on one of my online groups and won vouchers for thespiderswebfabricshop. This is what I ordered, plus some black fabric for my African blocks:

I may have gone a bit spot crazy.... :-)

Flood Day

No school today because the rainwater under the bridges left the road to school impassable.

Luckily I sent out 2 swap parcels and my giveaway parcel last week!

Amy from the Calico Cat likes blue, so I sent her a blue parcel which included a blue cat bib for her little boy, a tote bag, a bag charm, fabric, ric-rac, fabric to make a dinosaur bag....



...and it has arrived safely so that's a relief.

Hoping to have the kids back at school tomorrow!! (Perhaps it's time for a canoe LOL)

Swaps, swaps, swaps, swaps...

Ok, so I'm a bit mad. Last I checked I needed to send/make 4 Christmas swap parcels (as well as my giveaway parcel). This means I need to get a shake on, but all the swap effort will mean that I have a thoroughly crafty Christmas - yippeee!

Speaking of swaps, my Angel Stitcher's parcel arrived in Italy (forgive the terrible photos!):



The parcel for Cristiana included an embroidered tote bag, a large cosmetic bag, some fabric, some ric-rac...



A hand stitched heart...


And a beaded handbag charm made by my mother...


(one down, 4 to go LOL)

August already!

I am so behind reading blogs and keeping up this one. It's just horrible not having my own computer. And the school holidays mean that I don't actually have any spare time to speak of. My MIL took the boys on a train trip last week and although that meant I was kid-free I had to drive several miles to another hospital for a CT scan of my leg.

Just as I was leaving, the postman pulled up in his little red van and brought me reading material for the waiting room from Anne - fantastic timing!

Anne included some roses and boy fabric too - thanks Anne for a very pleasant surprise.

Andrea led me astray with a fabric warehouse some time ago and as it's near the hospital which is very far, I couldn't not pop in. It sells quilting fabric by the kilo. I treated myself to 2 kilos...



And a piece of red spotty pvc fabric for the new kitchen (and the messy kids!) And some spotty fleece which I have in mind for someone who visits and is always cold ;-)

So I was doing rather well for fabric, but things just got better. A wonderful lady called Barb (who has no blog) contacted me recently wanting to know if I still wanted rose fabric. Why yes!! So we arranged to swap some fabric.

Thanks Barb!

They are already over papers with Anne's fabrics.

The kitchen is coming along nicely and the worktop guy is in today so there will be major changes soon.

Friday the plasterer came in to do the old kitchen ceiling so everything had to be moved onto our bed for the day :-((( Not a pretty sight!

Saturday, was the local village show. I got a First in the Abstract Painting section (only 2 entries LOL)
and a First in the Needlework section (lots of entries) with Rosie's bag.

On the way home from the Village Show, I saw this down the small road I take to get home...

(...not something you see everyday. Not sure where they were going as they were walking in the direction of the bunkhouses and the roadside greasy spoon LOL)

Sunday, we had a day out at the Dog's Trust in Leeds. So many dogs and lots of fun.

And now, my computer time must be well and truly up, so until next time, keep on keeping on :-)

The Mac is back!

At last a new charger! To replace this damaged one:


I hated not having my computer, but I did gets lots of other things done *LOL*

This means I can finally thank Kate for an African block for our swap


Kate also included some goodies... the dog paw print is for the boy's dog quilts (WIP's!) and the roses is because I just lurve roses! And the Black & White leaf print is because Kate knew I had my beady eye on it! Thanks Kate!

(While I was typing this I looked down and look at this!!

The fabric on the left is from Kate and the fabric on the right is my skirt *LOL*)

Also in the post this week, a magazine and some great bits (fabric, a pattern, a wonderful card...) from Wendy. Thank you for swapping with me Wendy!



Wendy and I swapped the magazine I wanted for a kitty pincushion. I had been reading blogs and everyone was making the tea-towel bag in this magazine so I had to try it...


I didn't have any nice new (large) tea towels needed so I just tried it with fabric and it's quite fun...

Also in the magazine, a new one for my 'To do list' (someday before I die *sigh*!!!)


I just love these colours and it's a favourite design too!

On the bag front, we had a leaving 'do' slash teddy-bear's picnic for Sue who has now retired...
Kids...


Cake...


Gifts...


I think it went well...




I bought myself a book. I love books. This one has great pictures and before you belly-larf (!) even if I never put it into practice it's quite an interesting read...


The weather has been abomnible (sp) and our poor garden is quite flooded


So I won't be rushing out to 'grow my own veg' just yet, but at least I'll have a little think about it LOL

Please Sir, can I sew sometime soon?

Nothing doing I'm afraid... There was a clearout yesterday that got my eye all twitchy LOL. Joking aside, I was afraid to leave the house for fear that all our household goods would be thrown out :-( But actually it does look better for it and we just need to keep going.

So, no sewing to show except a great parcel I received from Sharon last week....



We had a little swap of African fabrics for rose fabrics. I have been collecting rose fabrics for my Hexagon quilt and enjoy swapping to collect them. I love these fabrics especially the yellow roses and don't know whether I can bear to chop the roses out of the great star background! I have a feeling this piece may become a bag! - thanks Sharon.


While carting another load up to the 'new' sewing space and wondering where the 'goodness-gracious-me' I'm going to put it, I spotted the family outside of my window...





More washing for me then...LOL

A photo finish

At long last. It's handquilted in variegated thread, bound in scraps and just in need of a quick wash to remove the marks made while I made up quilt designs...

I am pleased with it. The blocks are from my BlockBuddySwaps with some from Ila, Amanda, Cobi, Maureen (I think), Theresa G and lots from me (I hope I haven't forgotten anyone!!). I did traditional binding instead of my usual sneaky Cheater’s Binding as I had taken so long on the whole quilt, I felt I couldn't just whizz the binding on.


On another note: We have a 'guest/sewing' room complete. It's really bare for now :-) so I plan to quilt my BQL Ostrich challenge for one of the walls. I will slowly move my sewing stuff in as neatly as possible so that guests don't feel as cluttered as I am LOL





I have been expecting a small squishie from Guðrún, but yesterday the Postie brought me this!!!



DS1 thought he was in heaven! All the yummy sweets and Lazytown stuff. Guðrún has some interesting Icelandic facts on her blog, but doesn't mention that Lazytown was filmed there. DS1 loves Lazytown...


Guðrún and I are swapping some fabric and I'm due to mail her some this week. I love all the fabrics she sent me and the box it came in (Sorry, you can't see that too well in the picture). So Guðrún keep your eyes peeled, I'm planning on going crazy too LOL!

Busy, busy, busy

On Friday I made another New York Beauty.
here is E4:


I started another A2, only this time I printed it out the right size! But on Saturday I thought I'd better make my step 2 of Bonnie's Orange Crush mystery quilt. I finished these split 4 patches on Sunday
they still need trimming etc. I had to do them the old fashioned way as I still haven't had a chance (or robbed a bank LOL) to buy the Easy Angle and now the Companion Angle rulers needed for this project.
The Quilting Pirate bought her ruler for $2.50 and then another for 97 cents!!!. I can't seem to find one in the UK for cheaper than around $18 including postage.

I also made DS1 a new schoolbag with a zip pouch in the front to carry his 'to and fro' book.
I used some shark fabric that Kate had sent me a while back.

The 'to and fro' book is a really sweet book that the teacher writes in to let us know what he gets up to at Nursery.

The back is also shark fabric that I bought from my friend Angela who has an Ebay shop.

DS1 loves sharks (hope he doesn't mind the rick-rack LOL)

And here's a lovely parcel from Nicolette.

We did a private fabric swap. Nicolette sent me rose fabric and I sent her some African fabrics. We were both pleased with this swap. I got sweets too mmm! And inspiration for another project.
Thanks Nicolette, these fabrics will go beautifully in my rose hexagon quilt...




On the side I have also been handquilting DS1's baby quilt. A lot overdue, but here it is.
Only two blocks and the borders still to go....