CHARM ABOUT YOU

Yes. Over the past few evenings I have been doing some chain piecing and pinning and have FINALLY finished my retro flowers blocks.

It has been at the expense of me catching up on the HFWYG? QAL blocks but I needed to get something finished and since I've been at this longer I know it'll feel wonderful to have it quilted. I'm sure once I've struggled with putting this together and quilting it some nice blocks will be just the ticket!

I'm intending to do the most simple quilting I can do, straight lines, as I'm not sure I can cope with anything more vigorous.

not because she was mean to me... entirely the opposite. I am in tears over the kindness that just dropped through my door.


The lovely Catherine of Sew Wonderful Life sent me some adorable goodies for the baby and some chocolate for the kiddies! She made this incredibly cute Paddington Bear bib (some of you know how much I love Paddington!)


and she cleverly appliqued two elephants on a burp cloth. I really need burp cloths and muslins (they don't last for more than two babies!!) and this one is almost too cute to use. Though I will because  I want to show it off!


The sweet card she sent was just the icing on the cake, she mentioned the last 6-8 weeks are so tiring and she's right. I've not been sleeping well at all and have really been feeling utterly miserable and fed up. It is hard work being pregnant though I know it's a total blessing at the same time, so feel bad complaining. The joy of preparing is a great distraction. My husband has been up in the attic to retrieve all the baby clobber. We have the moses basket, the cot, and a bunch of baby clothes - although most only start from 6 months. I think the other two used up the smaller clothes and I remember chopping lots of feet off baby grows so I imagine I passed on or threw out the majority. We will need to stock up on those basics. We also have a lot of baby toys, which I soaked in the sink and then hung up to dry:

I always seem to underestimate the kindness of friends I have known for such little time and many of you have pointed out how generous the blogging community can be but I feel undeserving and overwhelmed that anyone would think of me, let alone spend the time to make something for our baby. I'm not having a pity party, I am truly, truly grateful. It is incredibly special knowing that my third baby will have some beautiful things that have been loving made for it.

Thank you Catherine!

Finally my husband pointed out to me that I have now been pregnant for over 2 years all together. This explains a lot...



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Not my stitching!! NICOLE'S EMBROIDERY - PATTERN HERE

I wanted to make a start on some embroidery, a nice sampler so I could learn some more stitches but love when I'd finished it. I knew I found the perfect one when I saw Nicole's gorgeous Abel the Stitch Explorer. It's so cute and available at her shop Follow The White Bunny, along with other gorgeous patterns (I'm eyeing up this one) and some amazing value bundles.

The pattern is not only super cute but comes with really clear and well thought out instructions, honestly I think she should charge more so go get one before she realises! ;)
Also if you like embroidery I strongly suggest following her blog, she has great tips and some lovely giveaways!



I have traced the pattern, while my daughter traced a monster onto paper at the same time!

I'm in no hurry to get this done, I will take my time learning the stitches and it'll be a nice project to have to hand when the baby comes.

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p.s. I bought this pattern from Nicole's shop, she doesn't know I was writing this post and I hope she doesn't mind me using her embroidery picture!

Find out more HERE

More gorgeous feather blocks and a great siggy block that she machine embroidered, I love it! She was also kind enough to send me some lovely fabric and an adorable notebook that is already hanging out on my fridge! Thank you so much Lisa, you really did brighten my day :)

I'm making simple things in preparation for Christmas, I really want the house to feel super festive this year!


I had these lovely charms from CeLynn at The Sunflower Patch and this great Christmas fabric from Lisa at The Quilt Jam, which I won in giveaways a while ago, thank you both again for your generosity! I used a few bits of stash fabric and some red solids to make it big enough to cover the table.


The tablecloth was finished the same way as my Tetris picnic blanket. I used some very thin white (possibly lining) fabric that my mum gave me for the backing (I think this is the third time I've used some backing fabric from my mum! She's a goldmine!! Thanks mum).


I sewed the backing and patchwork top right sides together, leaving a gap for turning, turned it through, pressed the edges and then top stitched around each side.


I've packed it away now but, along with my Vintage Holiday tree skirt, this is going to make such a difference and I'm looking forward to December!

This is one crossed of my list for the Finish-A-Long over at Quilter in the Gap!


If you fancy a bit of online shopping this weekend look at what Fluffy Sheep Quilting have just got in! New Kona charm packs, gorgeous perle cotton and new Kona bolts - they will be listed very soon so jump in:



Also check out the sale of the week at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics - I spy some Heather Ross, Nursery Versery in there!!



Linking up:

at Quilt Matters this week and Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

I love my original (70s/80s?) rotary phone but it's seen better days. You can't call out on it anymore and since I'm pregnant and there could be some great need to dial out (since mobiles and cordless phones aren't always reliable I shall forever stick to corded phones - oh and there's no electrical plug socket anywhere near the phone socket anyway - 1930s house!)... my wonderful mum has agreed to get me one for an early Christmas present. It didn't take much looking because look what the amazing John Lewis stock!!

GPO 1970s Retro Push Button Dialling Phone, Ivory

Clearly it's not quite as awesome as the original one but it has push buttons for those hideous times you have to press numbers to speak to someone and, you know, it works!! You can get them in black or red too and they also have 1960s versions. There's even a 1930s one and princess phones too.

It is a bit pricey but it will last forever (until some change in technology leaves it void) and there's NOTHING like the sound of these phones ringing. No annoying bleepy noises or jingly tunes, just a proper ring:



Yes I youtubed it!! It's worth it for the ring alone but then I realised I also love the sound of the rotary when you are dialling out *sigh*

I have been looking on Ebay for a butter dish (mine mysteriously cracked and no one is admitting anything!) and also a sugar jar (mine hasn't cracked but it's a horrible cheap thing from Ikea and it makes me sad). Anyway you know how when you see a word written lots of times it starts to look funny? Sugar is definitely one of those words. I kept saying Su-gar in my head. I haven't found anything perfect (and cheap enough) yet but it's fun looking at all the vintage jars and dishes people are selling!

David Shrigley: source

A few weeks ago my husband and I went to the opening of the David Shrigley exhibition at the Cornerhouse in Manchester, How Are You Feeling? I really like his work and so much of it makes me nod my head and/or laugh. I took a couple of pictures but if you get a chance to go and see it you definitely should!



There was some fun interactive stuff too and they even had little napping areas - so perfect for pregnant ladies!

I have been pretty productive of late, lots of finishing things up and huge motivation to get things done since I decided just to sew what I love and enjoy - ok I think I'm saying that too much but really it's a revelation and obviously it's the whole point. I just felt overwhelmed by my to do list but when I stopped trying to get it all done in any order or speed it was a weight lifted and it brought the joy back. And yes those baby hormones have a lot to answer for... this is a clear case of sew-nesting people!!

completed

- Starry Starry Notebook cover for the Sew Seasonal Blog Hop


- Bienvenue Baby Quilt


- Donkey Basket


- Vintage Stitchings - After finishing the vintage donkey embroidery last week I decided to sew up another 2. They kind of represent the (nearly) 3 kids and will be hung in the baby's room:


You can find the patterns here.

I love the happy orange bear:


That went well, and I was stitching up the little dog when I realised my mistake:


urm yeah... I forgot the golden rule about transferring patterns and letters being the mirror image. So I did my best to conceal it, at least it still follows the theme:



in progress

- Braid Quilt - I've finished all the rows so they need sewing together and a border

- HFWYGQAL - done a bit of cutting in preparation but no blocks sewn yet - I will catch up though!

- Blogger's BOM quilt - I had great plans of sashing this and trying a different but modern layout. Partially because when I started making these blocks (a year ago!) my 1/4" seam was not consistent and so the blocks vary quite a bit in size. I wanted to get it done though and just could not face sashing at all - it's not my favourite thing to do and with a baby bump this size cutting is getting harder and harder - so I took the easy road and hoped for the best...


no progress

- Christmas table cloth
- Rose Star
- Retro Flowers
- Granny Blanket
- Kids project

stats
completed: 4
new projects: 0
in progress: 8

This week I also got these lovelies from my Bee pal Nicky!


Gorgeous, beautiful feathers, an awesome feather siggy block and some fantastic charms :) Thank you Nicky!

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