Giveaway Winner

Courtesy of Mr Random Number Generator:

I can't get my comments to number properly on my blog so trust me that Number 11 was Catherine.

If you didn't win and have your heart set on one of those charm packs I'll be adding the remaining ones to the De-stash tab at the top of the blog so have a look to see if your favourite is still available.

And because a post without photos is rather dull and its finally starting to look a little Christmassy around here . . . .

Fresh Sewing Day

Finally I can link up to this as I have actually done some sewing this month!

Progress on an old UFO - now a finished baby sized quilt top

A new finished quilt top

Another UFO crossed off the list

Linking up to:

Jelly Roll Race Quilt

Way back in June I attended the Fat Quarterly Retreat in London.  I happily signed up for the Jelly Roll Race Quilt and quickly swiped the Sew Stitchy Jelly Roll for my quilt.

I couldn't do it all in one go as I was too busy flitting around talking but John very kindly timed all my segments.  I am known amongst my family for being unbearingly slightly competitive so when it got to the last 10 minutes I was stitching like a demon.  I can't say these are the best seams ever but I got the quilt top sewn up in the fastest time of 1 hour and 8 minutes.

Me & my quilt on the right of the photo - Katy (I'm a Ginger Monkey's photo)

I might have sewn the top together quickly but I wasn't quite so fast at finishing the quilt.  It has lingered in my UFO pile for quite a while until I finally backed it with some Ikea fabric (to tone the pinkness of it down).  It then lingered again waiting for its binding.  

I chose a fabric from Sherbet Pips for the binding - its not the perfect match but once it was on there was no way it was coming off.

I'm rather taken with the back wonky straight line quilting and all.  And I am very pleased to have another finish off my list of Work in Progress quilts.

I have a quilt top!

This week I finally finished something from my UFO list - my jelly roll race quilt (photos after the weekend when the light is hopefully better). I also finished sewing together the Summersville quilt top for the baby.

The weather was so rubbish today I had to take this photo inside so the colours look a bit funny.  The colours are much nicer in real life honest! I'm hoping to get this basted and quilted at the weekend now that my sewing mojo seems to have returned.

I also wanted to share this gorgeous baby shawl that a friend knitted for me.

I've been inspired so another friend is going to help me start a baby hat next week - I've got my supplies so fingers crossed for my first adventure into the world of knitting!

Linking up with: 

Work in Progress Wednesday

Well as I predicted here there hasn't been a huge amount of progress on my current work in progress projects.  I've continued hand quilting the beast quilt and sorting my fabric for a de-stash but that's about it.

And also as predicted I have instead started a new project - a Summersville quilt for the baby.  I stopped agonising over finding the perfect design and went for something simple using Easy Bake from Cluck Cluck Sew.  The blocks are all made and just waiting to be sewn together.

Linking up with :

Hello!

Well it's been a while since I last blogged my news.  I had great plans for sewing lots and lots of things but I didn't expect to feel so tired.  I didn't expect work to be so rubbish.  I didn't expect to be suffering form Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.  And I didn't expect my husband to hurt his hand and need surgery which means he can't drive (or do a lot around the house) for the next 6 weeks.  

So I haven't been sewing.  But now I am starting to miss it so I have had a sort out, updated my Works in Progress page and here they are:

 

And the hand sewing tins with their projects:

So am I going to crack on and finish some of these projects?  Well I am full of good intentions to do so but I know that I am much more likely to dig out these books:

and these fabrics

and make something so that my poor neglected baby has at least one or two handmade things (and hopefully a quilt or two).

I missed my 3 year blogaversary in October so there will be a giveaway before Christmas.  I also need to make some space for this baby so I am thinking of having a de-stash sale here or on Twitter/Instagram if anyone is interested.  I definitely need to get rid of some Tula Pink Hushabye, Tanya Whelan Delilah and maybe even some Momo Wonderland as well as some other bits and pieces.

Hopefully I'll be back in a week or two with some actual sewing too!

A little bit of news . . . .

So I'm back to blogging with a little bit of news!

First the bad news - I need to give up my lovely sewing room next year.



But the good news is I couldn't think of a better reason why.



 * yes baby due in March (which hopefully explains my absence  from here over the last couple of months!)

A very summery quilt

Finally a finished quilt!  

This year I have been trying to use up some of the fabrics in my stash.  This little set of Fat 1/8s of Lizzie by Anna Griffin has been in my stash for nearly 2 years!

I love the back as much as the front - a real double-sided quilt.

Look at those little house and birds!

The binding uses the last of this stripey fabric that I used before here and here.

And the mother-in-law's garden provides the perfect photo shoot location!

In the Frame Purse

Finally some sewing!  

My purse for the In the Frame swap on Flickr is finished.

It's all packed up ready to go with some fabric scraps hidden inside.  Hope my partner likes it!

A new start

This was intended to be a post about my current works in progress.  But when I started adding them up and taking photos at the weekend it was all a bit overwhelming!!!


So instead I started a new quilt!

To be honest it was about time I got on with this quilt.  It's for my sister's 30th birthday at the end of September so I really need to get a move on.

Fabrics are a selection of Anna Maria Horner Innocent Crush, Joel Dewberry Aviary 2 and some Kona solids which the lovely Mandy at Simply Solids helped me choose.

Linking up with Work in Progress Wednesdays

Because I'm not here . . .

Because I am here There is no sewing other than this to report However there is a little guest post by me here. where I interviewed Lu Summers for my local lovely quilt shop.

Sunday afternoon sewing

This afternoon I sat down with these supplies:

and turned them into these:

So satisfying to have a finished project at the end of an afternoon's sewing and just in time to send off to my Granny for her birthday this week.

Fat Quarterly Community Retreat

It's almost impossible to put this weekend into words (or at least a blog post that won't be so long that everyone nods off).  So I'm going to try and keep it short and show you what I made and tell you what my favourite thing from the weekend was.  All my photos from the weekend  (including my "fan pics"!) are here on Flickr if you want to see more.

I took some brilliant classes and came home with lots and lots of ideas for what I want to sew next.

Frame Purses with Katy aka I'm a Ginger Monkey 

Freezer Paper Piecing with Kerry aka Very Kerry Berry

Portholes with Lu aka the Summersville (Somerfield) Girl

Wonky Log Cabins with John aka Quilt Dad

I had no idea what to expect from the weekend. But in a word it was amazing.  The best thing about the weekend for me was undoubtedly meeting so many lovely bloggers, Flickr peeps and sewing folk in real life.  Everyone was so lovely so I'm not going to mention anyone in particular except my lovely roommate Justine.  Justine was one of my first bee, blogging and tweeting friends and it was so much fun to share a room with her (& the gorgeous Hunter).  My husband still didn't quite believe that I was going to London to spend a weekend with people I have never met and to share a room with "a girl I met off the internet".  So thank you Justine for such a fun weekend, for my lovely sewing pouch and thank you also from my husband for not being some crazy rotary cutter wielding maniac!

Thank you so much to all the Fat Quarterly crew for such a fantastic weekend and thank you to all the people I met who were so funny, welcoming and inclusive.  When I started blogging 2 years ago it was just little old me posting and reading my own posts.  Until I joined a Bee I had no idea that this huge online UK (& further afield of course) community existed.  I could never have predicted when I first started blogging that such a weekend would happen and that I would go, love every minute and cry my eyes out when it was over as I walked from the hotel to the tube.  When it was announced I wondered how the "community" bit of the Fat Quarterly Community Retreat would work.  After this weekend I know how - it's a place where everyone, no matter where you are from, what age you are, what your favourite fabric is, can be part of.  It's a community that I am happy and proud to belong to.