CHARM ABOUT YOU

It's been a really exhausting day but just wanted to share some blocks I've finished in the past couple of days.

Blogger's Block of the Month, which was at Bumble Beans Inc this month:




Then I made a start on the How Far Will You Go? QAL. I really love these blocks:




And more fun with block three for the Tetris QAL:

That green print Deborah gave me just makes this block! Thanks Deborah :)

"Unless someone like you...cares a whole awful lot...nothing is going to get better...It's not." Dr Seuss




Yesterday we took the kids to see The Lorax... I couldn't believe how well behaved they were. They sat (nearly) still for the whole thing. Our little girl was bopping along to the songs (they are good!) and our son was enamored with the whole film.

When I got back I had an overwhelming urge to create a little homage as a reminder of the fun afternoon and the greatness that is Dr. Seuss.




 The tree pattern is from Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray and the lettering is from Sublime Stitching by Jenny Hart.


I had no such desire to create anything after the last time we took them to the cinema - we saw Ice Age 4 - if you've seen it you'll know what I mean and if you haven't, don't! I vow to never watch anything that's beyond a trilogy ever again (Die Hard is the exception to this rule!).


Over the weekend the kids had more fun choosing a toy to make from this book:




Unsurprisingly she chose Pinkie and the boy chose a tadpole! I should point out that this tadpole pattern includes legs but he decided real ones didn't have legs and so didn't want them. I was too tired to argue.



Today I have mostly been wondering when the day will come that I am able to drink a cup of coffee that hasn't gone cold.

Since seeing the tutorial over at Sew Sweetness I knew I had to make one. The embroidered panel by Imagine Gnats is just brilliant.



I had a lot of fun putting this together. I loved embroidering the design and went for a monochrome look with hints of pink and orange because I knew I was going to use some Flea Market Fancy by Denyse Schmidt, Fizzy Dot in pink for the main fabric and knew it would tie in nicely. The handle and interior fabric are also Flea Market Fancy, Eyelet in grey.


It has a long zip, handy handle, a pocket at the back for my embroidery hoop and even holds my perle thread, what more could a sewing girl ask for?! Depending on the project I'm doing I can fill this with regular embroidery thread and/or perle, it really holds a lot!





Linking up to:



which is at Stop That Owl this week

Recently I had to put out a call for help because I needed some DS fabric, I was so surprised and grateful that so many of you offered to help - Ta!

Well this week I got just what I needed.

The lovely Jamie Lee sent me these (actually that orange one is possibly my absolute favourite DS fabric - I just adore it).


Thank you so much Jamie Lee - I can now have complete petals in my retro flowers!

Deborah also came to the rescue. I can't even write how much I love this lady, she'll blush too much and I may cry. Anyway, she sent a bunch of lovelies with the purple DS I needed:


I hadn't seen the California Girl in real life but my gosh it is so beautiful! Huge thank you Deborah! :)

I also received this brilliant perfume atomiser, which I won in a giveaway at Machen und Tun. Claudia sent it in this adorable bag! How very cool is her logo?!


Finally I got a surprise gift from the very talented Helen and Archie (ok I'm not sure how much sewing input Archie actually had but he sure is great at posing for pics!!)


This thread catcher is so pretty and will be incredibly useful - especially since I'm working on some embroidery at the moment and those little threads get everywhere!


I really love the little tag she put on it - tiny fairy writing, love it! Thank you so very much Helen. You made my day :)

For those of you thinking 'happy post' wasn't referring to mail but some other happiness, sorry!

Although I have to say the sun shining round here has been a nice change and we've been spending most of our day outside.

Can't think of anything happier than playing 'float or sink' stuff from the garden with two eager kiddos :)


Linking up:



oh and should anyone feel like making me a cool logo I'd happily accept!! I've tried to think of something that fits 'charm' but I'm struggling. Suggestions welcome :)

Pink Chalk Studio are having a link about 'where I sew'


 so I thought I'd join in...

I sew in the corner of our dining room. It's a tiny space that's blocks the door from the hall but we have an open plan living/dining room so we can still get in the room!


I don't have a sewing room of my own, or really enough space to manage all the crap sewing supplies that I amass, hence all the boxes next to and under the desk. The desk was a great find on gumtree and it extends as well, although that can't happen in my little corner!

I'm surrounded by beautiful makes from blogging friends (see if you can spot something you've made!) and I love the hanging organiser made by Emily, now next to my small "design wall" - ha!

And yes I know it's a mess but I've got so many projects on the go... here's some of what I've been doing:

working on the next rose star block

mmm... any guesses?! ;)

Next up I've finished the ET phone home block cushion front! Thanks for all the encouragement and suggestions regarding my mistake... thankfully it's all been for the best and I really, really love it now!


I hand quilting using Anchor perle 8, a pale green around the triangles:


and a cream in the border:


I'll get more pictures once I've finished the cushion. I look forward to getting this done, it's likely to be one of my favourites and I'm going to call it 'ET turn up the volume!'

Also linking to:

It's been a while coming but this evening I got myself in gear and determinedly finished hand sewing the binding on. Then I rushed my (rather tall) nephew outside to take some pictures of it!

Here is the Shattered Stained Navy - the pattern is from the fabulous Stained QAL by the talented Sarah of Narcoleptic in a Cupboard


Size: 57 x 69 (loving those odd numbers!!)

Fabric:
Panels - Joel Dewberry - from the Heirloom and Modern Meadow collections, Tula Pink - Hexbox, Amy Butler - Lark - Souvenir in Lemon, Dear Stella - from the Palladium collection, Lizzy House - Jewels and some others that I can't remember!
Borders - Kona Charcoal
I added larger borders in Kona Charcoal and the luscious Herringbone in Lake by Joel Dewberry


Backing:
Vintage sheet, black and white floral

Quilting:

I used the Leah Day pattern Broken Glass in some of the panels, straight line quilted around a few others and then straight line quilted around the Herringbone border.

At the suggestion of the super-duper M-R I also used the fmq design just around the edges of some panels so it really gives that comic book broken glass effect - LOVE! - thanks M-R :)


Overall this was a great pattern to do, it's so fun to see the blocks come together and is easily made from fat quarters. There's so many great variations of this quilt on the Flickr group!


Huge thanks to Sarah for providing such a well thought out and cool pattern :)

The S.S. Navy is bound for a dear friend and I'm hoping he'll like it... my husband said 'how can he not love it?', so that's one male thumbs up!

Linking up to TGIFF, which is at the amazing Plum and June this week:










and because I hand stitched the binding (does that count??) I'm linking with the fabulous Katie:


and because I'm so proud also linking to: