Lucky lucky

I have never done a stitchery before, but I was delighted to be a winner on Rosalie Quinlan's blog of this gorgeous stitchery pattern...

It arrived yesterday in the mail, and I wanted to get started immediately (great handwork while watching the tennis...)

I didn't have natural-coloured linen or red thread (as in the pattern) so I did it my way...

Thanks Rosalie, I could get addicted to this ;-)

I won't know what to do...

... when the postman stops being nice to me and starts bringing me just the bills!

Even my Mom, who nevers sends me any post, mailed me some of my pre-papered hexagons which I received today!



I felt a sense of urgency to have these pieces sent over in case I managed to piece the whole top before Mom comes to visit in November, but I doubt that will happen. Although I am managing to do a bit here and there while watching the kids in the park, or waiting at swimming etc etc... so maybe soon I'll have some progress to report on that project...



And I was lucky enough to win Lynda's 100th post blogaway. And what a prize! An awesome Japanese magazine, gorgeous fabrics and some quirky charm squares too.



The magazine holds lots of inspiration especially for those of us who are hoping to end up with lots of spare hexagons LOL



Thank you Lynda! I'm delighted to have read probably every single one of your 100 posts and been the lucky winner.

I'm not complaining!

I won! I won big time on Vicki's blog. Vicki W made some cute Monkey quilts with this great monkey fabric and then offered the scraps as a giveaway. Well, I like scraps! So I entered and gosh and golly I hit the jackpot. Vicki not only included her fuzzy cut scraps but also loads of FQ's of monkey fabric left over from her Monkey quilt...



And it's all gorgeous! Now, what shall I make????

Vicki also included one of her fabulous tie-dye t-shirts that I had my beady little eye on...



Thank you Vicki!
Admittely I am a sucker for hearts, but I LOVE it!! I reckon she should give up her job and make these t-shirts, they are superb!! (I couldn't get DH to take my photo because he's too busy bashing...)

What it looked like before I went out this afternoon...



And when I came back...



I'm not complaining, every bash is one bash closer to having a nicer house! (However I do have holes in my kitchen - photos to follow... if I can bear it LOL)

Something scary

Something scary was in my postbox yesterday.... oooohhh....


I know they're frogs, but I think they're quite spooky!
Andrea sent me these fabrics.

DS1 loves them. Thanks Andrea.
I had to use them straight away!!


The Happy Scrappy House blocks are from Toni. Hope you don't mind Toni, but I just had to use those googly eyes in one of the windows and one of the doors so I adapted your original blocks a bit. The borders for the houses are the sum total of Halloween-type fabrics that I have. As it's not a 'celebration' that I am familiar with, I don't have a stash of Halloween fabrics (and you guessed it, I'm not buying any! LOL)

Friday I went to the Lunesdale Quiltshow with a friend. It was held at Jean's house. When we arrived it looked so nice from the outside so I whipped my camera out to take a picture only to discover that I'd left the battery on to charge!! So no pictures except this one of some of my raffle winnings and a few small oddments of fabric that I bought (there must be less than a yard there so I've forgiven myself).

I also bought some batting/wadding offcuts for a future BQL Bag as I need batting. I'd love to buy a whole roll of the batting Birgit stocks, but where would I hide it? :-)

I met a fellow BQL-er at the show called Linda, she is a hoot and I hope our paths cross again sometime!

Spoilt rotten

The timing for the arrival of Kate's parcel was perfect. It arrived on my birthday and was full of swap blocks:


These two blocks are great and are part of our private African Block swap.

This star block is awesome. I'll have to count up how many African blocks I have so far and think about what my plan for them will be... (something for DH I'm thinking)

Kate also give's loads of lovelies away on Mondays and I won these while I was away:

I've never made any string blocks before so I was pleased to get them. Thanks Kate

Then being the generous sort that she is, Kate also included a Jennifer Chiaverini book for my birthday as I'm enjoying the other one she sent me. This came with some soap/bubble stuff which is perfect because as my time is limited, I tend to read in the bath (not smart quilting books of course, but novels etc)
The Ricky Tims book (which will NOT be read in the bath!) is just on loan as I was disappointed not to win Kate's convergence blocks she gave away one week. (See I don't win ALL the time LOL) I have started reading this book and hope to give this a try. (yet another thing on my wish list. Meanwhile Toni had a workshop with Bonnie and now I'm itching like crazy to make someHappy Scrappy Housestoo!)

And here's what I spent some of my birthday money on...

Andrea who finally got my parcel (posted from SA about 11 weeks ago!) gave me a great fabric shopping tip. Thanks Andrea! Now I have some yardage for the Orange Crush mystery. Getting birthday money makes me feel like a kid in a sweet shop. Thank you very much (you know who you are LOL)!

And the winner is...

...ME! Ha ha Just kidding, I'll draw a name tomorrow (the 14th), but in the meantime I won a gorgeous mini-quilt on Hedgehog's blog. I am thrilled to bits and it came with all these great goodies too.


I also received a book I won on Kate's blog (this was one of Kate's Manic Monday offerings, and I've already gotten stuck into reading it) Kate also sent me some super-cool shoe fabrics.
Thank you both for your generosity.


Today my lovely husband took me to Embsay Mills near Skipton to buy some fabric for my birthday tomorrow. He asked me what I wanted, I said I know I have a room full of fabric....., but I have no yardage. I'm doing Bonnie's Orange Crush Mystery quilt and have asolutely no yardage for it.

And this is what I bought:
One Fat Quarter of lovely brown stars, I did want to buy more of these lovely brown stars (which were in the sale bin), but they only had this one FQ left (yet again no yardage!). I'm sorry, but birthday or no birthday I am not paying almost $20 for a metre of fabric!


Here are my 4 patches (clue one) for the Quiltville OC Mystery.
While I was sewing these I got a bit carried away and made over 180 and then I started sewing more four-patches for my Mom's quilt. While doing this I started digging in my stash in an attempt to sort some fabric out and scrabble together a bit of yardage (i.e. fabrics that from afar might pass as the same) and instead I unearthed some blocks Kate P had sent me for Project Linus UK which became (with a little help from my stash):


I also found some leftover blocks and squares from another Linus quilt I'd made. So I made another top, almost the same as the one I did last year:


And if you can keep a secret, I'll show you the top I've made for my mother...

She chose the colour scheme and wanted a Double-Four Patch type design. (I say 'type design' as I got a bit confused and ok, it's got lots of four patches...but not many doubles). I plan to quilt this myself as it's only a lap quilt and she says she likes quilts soft and underquilted - I can manage that LOL.

The real reason for the postal strike?

Friday, our postbox was FULL! I got a great block for our one-on-one African Blockswap from Kate. Thank you Kate.

I also got my 'Manic Monday' win from The Quilting Pirate a.k.a. Toni. It's beautiful! I loooove the purple star fabric and all the different kitty prints are so amazing. I was really pleased to win this - Thank you so much Toni. Definitely check out Toni's Blog on a Monday (and Kate's too) as there are some lovely things up for offer from these very generous bloggers!

And Toni kindly sent me my first Civil war fabrics... Thank you so much Toni for these too!

Also from Toni in another parcel are my purchases from The Quilting Pirate's Home Shopping Network. Go and take a look as Toni has some lovely things for sale...


On a Yorkshire life note. We have grass. So now we have an activity centre too.
The kids love it and we had some great visitors today who came and tried it out!