Goodbye 2011

This was going to be a post with lots of mosaics showing all the lovely things I made in the past year but having spent over an hour trawling through the 69 substantial makes, I lost the will to live! Instead I will just wish you all a very happy New Year. I hope the new year brings you all much happiness! Thank you very much for all the support and encouragement you have given us over the past year. I'm really looking forward to the next 12 months :)

Because I can't do a post without photos here is a progress pic of Katy's consolation cushion.

Catch you all very soon :)

Katy's consolation

Hello All. I hope you've had a relaxing time over Christmas :) It's been very quiet around here which is just how we like it! Many lovely goodies were given and received too and I'll probably share some of those with you in the new year. I'm sitting rather gingerly at the moment as I managed to tweak my back on Boxing Day....curses a plenty! I've got some good pain-killers though so I'm managing to do little bits and pieces now that they are kicking in. Today I've felt well enough to make a start on Katy's consolation prize :) I have to admit to being slightly intimidated by making something for Katy with all her mad skills and Fat Quarterly knowledge but she's led me to believe she'll love whatever I make! I'm making a cushion as I do seem to be OK at those ;) I've pushed myself to do something a bit fancy so paper-piecing has been the order of the day again. Here's a little peek.

When designing this I didn't think too much about how the seams were going to meet up and the amount of Y seams that would be necessary but thankfully, so far so good!!

Ask me again when I'm piecing the lady into the centre of the finished octagon!

I've called it a day for now but hope to get this finished by the end of the weekend. Catch you again soon x

Pre-Christmas round up

I've been busily sewing last minute presents this week and now I'm going to overload you with photos of them :) Cool Britannia became a pillow...an actual pillow not a cushion!

After reading this post by Kerry I was inspired to try out this pattern. It's so quick and simple and really effective so I made a few! A Saffron Craig pouch for a friend

and a Ruby Star Rising pouch for a relative.

I also bought this pattern from the same designer, Keyka Lou, and made 2 for man presents.

I lined both with this bee lining which I think was by Patty Young....correct me if I'm wrong!

Finally, because I've been a good girl this Christmas I made myself a pouch using some of the gorgeous fabric Karen screen printed for me :) I intend to make a bag with some Anthology fabric to complement this purse!

That's about it for creativity this year. I can't see a great deal getting done between now and New Year but you never know :) In any case this will be the last blog post before Christmas so from Yvonne and myself have a restful and enjoyable time whatever you are doing.

Happy Christmas to you and yours. Catch you soon x

Christmas is a coming :)

I finished the Echo Framed II quilt last night and was amazed to have blue sky today for the obligatory washing line shot! It will begin it's journey to USA tomorrow barring disaster ;)

With this finish under my belt I was able to get on with the Christmas decorating. The first thing to go up was the fabric wreath (it's actually been up for a few days but I hadn't got around to taking photos of it). This was on my 'must make' list for a year or so and I finally got around to making it last weekend. I love the cheeriness that it brings to the hallway.

I don't know about you but I'm rather anal when it comes to Christmas tree decorating. I like things just so....I blame Mum! In our house we have 2 trees to combat the stress that is associated with other people 'helping' me decorate. Hubby and Jess decorate the tree in the family room and I do the tree in the living room. This year Jess wanted a hand-made and Scandinavian theme for the family room tree. Here it is almost finished:

The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot the Countdown to Christmas skirt and some of my Savvy Seasons swap goodies from Laura. There's also a freshly made felt heart (near the top)that Jess crafted this morning! Here's the tree illuminated.

Here's the tree I decorated in the living room. I've gone for clear, gold and blue decorations again this year. Jess topped the tree with an angel that promptly fell off head first causing many giggles :) Safely reinstated she(the angel)'s keeping a watch over the tree to make sure the other decorations behave!

I dug out last year's bunting and other bits and pieces for the fireplace. The new addition here is a printed Christmas tree of words in the frame behind the candles. I found it on Pinterest and just had to have it for myself! You can find the printable sheet here.

So now I'm totally exhausted again but at least the house is looking more festive. This time next week it'll be almost over and I'll be desperate to take the tree and everything else down as I am a bit of a humbug. Before then I've still got quite a bit of wrapping and sewing to do! Hope you've all had a good weekend. Catch you soon x

Thank you and a winner!

I've been totally overwhelmed by the response to my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway so thank you to all 317 people who entered to win the Echo quilt! Here it is ready and waiting for binding :)

So with no further ado, Mr Random Number Generator says the winner is:

This is comment 96 on the second page of comments so you'll have to trust me on this one :)

Congratulations Jeanne! Looks like that spot on your loft rail is going to be filled soon, though probably not in time for Christmas. I'll be posting the finished quilt out to you as soon as possible after I receive your address :)

It's been lovely reading all your comments and my films to watch list has become mammoth ;) Thank you for saying so many lovely things about the quilt, I feel very warm and fuzzy!

I'm sorry that more of you couldn't have won something. As a little extra I decided to do a quick draw for regular followers and flickr friends. So I'll be knocking up a little something for the winner of that too ...Katy at I'm a ginger monkey.

I'm fairly certain there will be another giveaway very soon as we 're sneaking up towards 100 followers! I'll be back soon with some regular crafting posts :) Catch you soon x

Giveaway Day

It's giveaway day over at Sew Mama Sew and I've decided to join in the fun :)

I'm going to giveaway a replica of the Echo framed quilt that I made a little while ago. The winner will receive a small lap size quilt in a similar design to the one pictured here.

To enter for your chance to win please leave a comment telling me your favourite film for the Holidays. Just for the record, for me it's Miracle on 34th Street :)

That's it, no hoops to jump through other than that. The giveaway will close on Friday December 16th and a winner will be chosen by Mr Random Number Generator. I'm open to International entries. Please make sure I can contact you if you are the winner, so if you are a no-reply blogger leave your email address in your comment. Please excuse me if I don't manage to reply to all entry comments, I'll be busy sewing the quilt for the winner! ;) Good luck.

Don't forget to pop back over to Sew Mama Sew to check out the other giveaways! Catch you soon x

Edited to add: Don't forget to leave a contact email if you are a no-reply blogger, thank you :)

Edited to add: The winner of the quilt is Jeanne Gwin.

An afternoon stroll in the woods

In between fits of coughing I thought I'd better get another item crossed off the Christmas makes list. I broke out a charm pack of A Walk in the Woods and some co-ordinating solids to make a mini quilt suitable for a little girl. I wasn't feeling too energetic so went for a very simple design.

It went together really quickly, thankfully! I backed it with some pale blue fleece and bound with a blue grey print from Sherbet Pips. I did my usual straight line quilting, so nothing fancy but I think it's cute all the same.

I'm hoping to shift this blooming cough very quickly so I can get on with some bigger projects! Catch you soon x

Scandinavian Christmas

Slightly later than I intended I can show you the fabulous goodies I received in the Savvy Seasons Swap! My partner was the very fabulous Laura (Needles, Pins and Baking Tins) and I can't tell you how delighted I was to receive from her!! As soon as Laura's goodies showed up in the flickr swap pool I was desperate for them to be mine! Unusually Laura was also the recipient of my Savvy Seasons goodies so it was doubly exciting to receive from her :) So now to the bit you're interested in....the haul!! Just look at all that yumminess!!

There was a beautiful embroidered hoop, 3 fabulous little house decorations, a string of felt decorations...

a mugrug with a groovy triangular quilting design

and a gorgeous wall hanging!! Laura used some of the fabrics from the Countdown to Christmas range in her goodies so I will be very co-ordinated this Christmas when I put out the tree skirt :) Look at all the work in this, just amazing!

Laura also stamped a label on the rear of the hoop and the wall-hanging, which I just love! I love this Scandinavian print from Ikea!

So once again I've been blessed with a fabulous swap partner! Lucky me :) Thank you Laura for making such gorgeous goodies just for me xx

I'll leave you with a rather tenuous link to the title of this post, in the form of gratuitous shots of half naked Scandinavian men! I'm off to snuggle under a quilt to chase away the disgusting cough I brought back with me from my weekend away. It was worth it though.... Reckless Love rock!!

Catch you soon x

Fresh Sewing Day

Amazingly this is the first time that I've linked up with Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day over at Lily's Quilts.

I've been very busy this month so my mosaic contains lots of goodies mainly for various swaps but also for Christmas.

Left to right: Cool Britannia (Based on Lynne's Double Fat Jack) for Christmas present, Manly cushion for Christmas present, Countdown to Christmas tree skirt for our tree, Echo framed quilt, Scrappy Christmas Tree Skirt for Savvy Seasons Swap, Snowman in his Winter Woolies (variation of Kerry's pattern) mini tote for Christmas present, Echino frame purse for Christmas present, Santa's little helper apron for Savvy Seasons Swap and Stargazer Crystal cushion for Brit Quilt Swap.

I said I was busy!!! I've still got plenty of Christmas makes to be getting on with so another busy month coming up :) Catch you very soon with exciting news of my Savvy Seasons Swap!!

Larking around and Cool Britannia

Today I put into motion a bit of sewing for me again, I know I should be slaving away at the Christmas Makes list but I'm always so easily distracted! Since receiving the very beautiful Lark by Amy Butler I have been mulling over ideas for using it. Here's one of them that I've very unimaginatively named 'Larking Around'. I've been meaning to make something with equilateral triangles for ages, this will be a quilt eventually :) Excuse the extremely hideous floral ironing-board.

After establishing that I could accurately piece the triangles I thought I'd better get to work on crossing something else off the Christmas makes list. I've done my take on Lynne's Double Fat Jack, Cool Britannia; this will be another man gift. Loving all that Echino :) I'm not sure yet whether it will be a monster cushion or a wall-hanging. Hubby tells me that it's far too cool for the intended recipient but I'm not for turning ;-)

Catch you soon x

A manly cushion

Today I set about crossing off an item from my Christmas makes list. I'm pleased to say I achieved my goal by whipping up a "manly cushion". I bought these 'Modern Grace' fabrics from Kaelin (the plaid scottie) when she was a having a destash and thought they'd be good for a 'man present'. Men are so difficult to make for but I hope that the use of these masculine colours will pass muster.

The back is a bit busier than I intended but I think it should still be ok.

I'm delighted to be crossing a man present off the list, only another 4 men to make for!! Catch you soon x

Wouldn't you know it?

I finished the Echo framed quilt in enough time to get some photos in decent light!!

I have to admit I love it! It feels very modern and funky to me. Here are some close-ups of the details. I bound with a print from Innocent Crush.

Backed with a house print from Ikea.

Straight-line quilted with a mustard/gold thread.

Then, wouldn't you know it...claimed by the teenager!! Darn, I felt certain this would be far too colourful for her tastes but apparently not. It now resides in her pit room!

I also finished the tree skirts today! Woohoo! This rather dodgy picture shows the tree skirt for my Savvy Seasons Swap partner.

I bound it with green and white twill ribbon which was marginally easier than with bias-binding. I cheated by sewing it on by machine. The binding is far from perfect but I hope my partner will appreciate how flipping difficult it was and forgive my inadequacy in that area ;)

Then for contrast, here's my finished tree skirt. I love how Carol's pattern translates so beautifully regardless of the fabrics used!

Tomorrow I'd better crack on with some of the items from the Christmas makes list! Catch you soon x