CHARM ABOUT YOU

Four years ago today I was in labour.

It's not his birthday yet but St. Patrick's Day will always remind me of contractions and labour. If he had been born on the 17th his middle name would have been Paddy. But he waited a little too long ;)
my gorgeous baby son



Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

I also got a nice bit of post, some stationery bits from Riky and Nina, how cute are these?! I even love the paper bag it came in



I have some things to make for Sunday and need to press on with the Stained QAL, my first block is hanging on my wall willing me to make it some friends!!

This weekend we'll mostly be celebrating St Patrick's Day, Mother's Day and my son's 4th birthday with friends and family so sewing might have to wait a little longer.

Top of the 'get it done' list though is cutting some FQs for the Stale Stash Swap, which starts on Tuesday!! :)

I have tonsillitis :( The kids are poorly too, although theirs is not bacterial.
So for me there's mostly been this:




I'm in the same boat as Kelli (read her post because I was basically going to say the same sort of stuff!!), I haven't been commenting although I have speed read some blogs but I just don't have the energy to be a good active blogger - so I'm sorry.

I've done the odd bit of hand sewing while lying on the sofa and I'll show you all when I can be bothered!!

There's just a couple of notices I wanted to share.

Firstly there's some great giveaways going on, some I meant to blog about last week so you might need to hurry but please check them all out if you get a chance:

- Duke Says Sew What is having a wonderful giveaway of fabric in one of my favourite colours, as well as some DS!
- Poppy Makes... is looking for a name for her adorable new puppy and giving away a charm pack to those that throw in their opinions :)
- Lori at Adventures in Fabric is celebrating her 50+ followers (now 75!!) by giving away a charm pack
- last but certainly not least the fabulous Canadian Abroad is having a sponsored giveaway from The Village Haberdashery (open to UK residents only)
** In my absence I failed to include the cute and generous giveaway from Suz at Patchwork n Play, so check that out too!!**

Once you've checked those out you might also want to go look at Prints To Polka Dots they have 20% off Flannels, 20% off Riley Blake, and a great clearance on haberdashery items, including felt, buttons and ric rac!

Finally a reminder that I'm having the fat quarter Stale Stash Swap in one week!! So get your fabric ready and think about what you want to offer to swap :) Please help spread the word so we can get as many swappers as possible



Ok as you were, I'm heading back to the sofa to watch more Transformers cartoons

Linking up to Freshly Pieced for the mid week party that is:



I'm excited to have become affiliated with Prints to Polka Dots. They are a fantastic UK online shop, with everything you need to quilt and more (check out the Slipper Gripper, I will so be making myself some slippers!!)


I know I've already recommended them to a few of you before and I have bought some great fabric from them since I started quilting. They have a good choice, particularly for children's prints, and I love their sales. They currently have some lovely Amy Butler, Valori Wells and Annela Hoey's Sherbert Pips prints on sale, as well as great scrap bags (they have lots of options and choices of scraps if you need some stash builders!) and budget bargains :)

completed:

The Pezzy quilt top (still waiting for wadding!)


My first embroidery attempt (still waiting to be framed!)


A Bee Blessed block (I sent it off to Judith today!)


A drawstring bag using Jeni's fabulous tutorial for my threads since I'm now an embroidery addict too!!


ongoing:

Stained QAL (see the button on the sidebar) - I've finished my first block and I'm totally in love :)
This is SO fun, goes together super easily and although my sewing isn't perfect I'm really happy so far!
I realised I made a mistake, sewing a couple of the same fabrics in the wrong place, so they're too close together but I'm not unpicking since I still like it ;)


no progress:

- rose star blocks, I've basted some pieces for my next block but no actual sewing done yet

I've been perusing the internet looking at solids for the background for my Rose Star dilemma and I think I've fallen for the Kona Apple! I like the mint but am wondering about going brighter. The apple looks yummy to me. I'm still contemplating... I did try some darker colours but it doesn't look right. Huge thank you to you all for your input and ideas. I will do another mosaic if I can't make a decision soon!

stats:
completed: 2
new projects: 0
in progress: 3

Hope you're having a great week and I'm off to see other people's WIPs!

Sometimes things don't work out the way you planned. I like to dream but not all of them can come true. That fact makes me glum. Facing reality can suck. Everything's good but still I was hoping for a change that just isn't going to happen. So glumness ensued.
I'm not getting into it but just in case you were thinking I'm always happy I wanted to let you know I'm not. I can be glum.

That out of the way there's been some good sewing going on despite the glum (sorry I just can't think of a better word to describe it!!). I got two blocks done this weekend.

Firstly, and thank goodness, I finally managed to do a Bee Blessed block. I had some failed attempts last month and didn't get my act together in time. When I saw Judith's too cute Pippy Longstocking I knew I had to give it a go! So here's my not-so-Pippy version using up my scraps!


Ok she randomly has one foot slightly bigger than the other but no one's perfect!! This was made super easy by the great tutorial and came together really quickly. Thank you Judith :)

I also made my Blogger's Block of the Month, this month the tutorial was done by Amy at Diary of a Quilter


I LOVE this block, so pretty and easy to do... if you're concentrating. I think the glum got the better of me and somehow I did this, twice!:


Silly!! Anyway nothing a bit of unpicking couldn't take care of!

Some good stuff has happened. My cousin gave me some great vintage sheets that were my Great Aunts. I've never used sheets before but I can certainly see me using some of these as backings for quilts. I know some people don't like to use anything but good quality cotton but hey, we can't all afford that and I have no personal hatred for a bit of polyester mix.


These are my favourites:


The amazing Heather certainly brightened things up for me when she very kindly sent me a Hera marker!! I can't wait to try it :) Thank you so much Heather, I'm on the lookout for something to send you in return!


Finally another reminder that I'm hosting a link party, where we can swap fat quarters of fabric, I hope you'll join in :)


Currently just trying not to be swallowed up by glumness. I'm sure we all have those times.

I'm linking up with Megan and if you've come from there I'm not always this down I promise!!

The Pezzy quilt top is done!


I followed this pattern by SunFlower quilts.

As I was literally sitting at my machine about to sew on the borders I decided not to. I love it as it is. So I just turned it into binding instead.


I have an old curtain reading to use as backing but I'm afraid this might turn into one of those UFOs because I'm out of wadding. It'll get done eventually.


I also managed to finish my first attempt at embroidery. This is for my little girl (I'll have to get a frame or hoop to put in her room).


I used a pattern from Sublime Stitching and also read their excellent 'how-to' section to practice different stitches.


It's simple and I didn't add too much to the design, just the 'J' and the french knots on the pinafore. I love that it's not too cute and there's an edge of mean to the face! Like the little one when she's being grumpy ;)

I've a lot to learn and the back is an utter mess!! But oh well! On to the one for the boy :)





Linking up to TGIFF which is at the fabulous Quokka Quilts this week, finish it up Friday at the inspirational Crazy Mom Quilts and Love Affair With My Brother

Happy March everyone! It's a bright sunny day here (still cold) but I'm enjoying soaking up some vitamins :)

I'm linking up to the ever creative Rebecca's Thursday Think Tank and Lynne's fabulous Fresh Sewing Day, with a cute new button!




February was a month of celebrations here - my husband's birthday, our 5th wedding anniversary and the Fugly Fabric Party ;)

This month I'm hosting another link party and I'd love you to join in :) Click the button for more info and bear it in mind when Spring cleaning!



One of the things I love most about the Fresh Sewing Day is seeing what I've accomplished over the past month, it's always more than I thought!


I finished two quilts, the Not So Charming Rainbow Stars and the Johnny Cash quilt. I made 5 rose star blocks, a little bag for a friend and a fabric matching game for my kids.

I also worked on two more quilts (Pezzy and the Stained QAL) and started some embroidery.

Despite not finishing those projects yet I'm determined to get them done ASAP!

I am struggling a bit with my rose star project and would love some help. It's a long term project, I want to make a good sized quilt and I've only done 9 blocks so far so it'll be a while before it's done. Even so , I can't help thinking about what the background will be. I think I'd like to make some of the joining blocks alongside the rose star ones so I don't have to make them all at the end.

Anyway I'm still adding fabrics to the blocks themselves and it's a real mish mash!

No one fabric stands out as being a good choice for the background, I've had a play and here's some options:


The neutral and off white seem too blah to me.
I love the coral fabric but will use it for the backing.
The solid colours from the blocks looks way to ice cream sweet for my taste.
I like the mint, it seems fresh but I'd have to have a good think to remember what colour it actually is!! I only have a little bit of it I got on sale.
The prints from the blocks looks pretty cool but I don't have enough of the fabrics and it's going to be way too much isn't it!?

Maybe another pastel colour would look good?

So any bright ideas, good suggestions or opinions are very welcome!! It's bugging me that I don't know what to do.