CHARM ABOUT YOU

SUPER DUPER awesomeness! I had several nice things happen to me today; a visit from mum, another visit from a best friend and her gorgeous son, general merriment and then...


I WON! I actually won some really pretty appliques from Barb over at Bejeweled Quilts, they were cut with the Fall Medley Die using her Accuquilt. I'm so excited and am not sure yet what I'll make with them but I'll show you when I do. My kids are obsessed with nature and my kitchen could do with some prettying up  - any ideas?

To top it off I got a little package in the post too! I even love the stamps:


I didn't win Melinda's giveaway of her (so called) ugly block but she was super kind and sent me some scraps anyway. I'm going to make a purple and turquoise/aqua quilt so these are just perfect!


Thank you so much Melinda, there is something winging its way back to you :)
Check out her great blog quirky granola girl!
I have been thinking a lot about how I use my space and what I want it to be. I've kind of hidden it in the corner and tried to keep everything tidied away - until you all kindly gave me some suggestions!
I'm now quilting loud and proud and have a little design area (calling it a design wall would be going too far, it's so small!!). Big enough to hold a couple of blocks though:


It looks nice next to our house rules. They are important to me but may need to move!!

I've also taken some advice about my daughter's quilt and have made a drastic decision... I have CUT IT IN HALF! It makes so much sense. She's only one, it's massive, what was I thinking??!! This way I can donate the other 'half' to our local children's centre, who are raising money for their sensory room. A great space for babies and children with special needs. My two love this room and it would be sad if they couldn't make the improvements it needs. I actually spoke to them a month ago about doing this and can't believe it's taken me so long but I'm sure they'll still appreciate it! It also saves me debating what quilt to make!

So here's one half ready to be quilted:
And A Boy Named Sue is ready to go:


It will be quilting a go go for me, with 2 (smaller) quilts to bind!

I have linked up with the 'Summer sewing wrap up' over at Fairy Face Designs, I actually put my very first blog post on the linky list because that was my summary of what I'd made in the summer. Check it out and add your Summer goodies!

My son started at nursery school this week so I've been mostly sewing name tags on everything and trying to stop myself from completely crumbling at the thought of my baby growing up. I didn't think I'd get quite so emotional but it is a huge change and I'm not sure I'm doing that well with it. He, on the other hand, has been brilliant and loves his school! So I'm being brave, drying my eyes and soldiering on.

(See Lucy leading the way!!) http://www.amazon.com/School-Charlie-Brown-Peanuts-Classics/dp/0345452836

I finished my UGLY Blogger's BOM. Not sure yet if I might make another one or just leave it as is. I still have so much to learn.

So on to my WIP. I need to make a back and binding for my daughter's quilt. I'm going to use some or all of this:


I'm no further along with the blocks for my son's quilt either. All the excitement of school has left me just too tired to sew. Sometimes my emotions leave me more tired than physical activity. Not sure why.

I've made some progress on my secret quilt but man it is hard work. I've made so many mistakes it's untrue. More on that soon!

I think this week my WIP has mostly been family and me dealing with change (can you tell I'm no good at that!). I'm determined to get some focus back though and crack on with the sewing - fantastical husband has agreed to put the kids to bed so I'll have a bit more time :)

I'd love if you would tell me what things make your sewing suffer? And if you have any bright ideas how to stay focused please share...
(I'm not at all suggesting we don't put families first, I just mean focus when you have the opportunity to have sewing time!!)

My friend shared this with me and I can't stop looking at it. I'm in love with everything about it!

http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Exhibitions/Beauty/true.htm

So clever, beautiful and witty - very like my wonderful friend!

Here is my Blogger's BOM:


I actually think it's really ugly (because of my fabric choices) but I'm going to make it work somehow. And that's part of the process, right?! The good news is the block fits into my expanding file so I won't lose them over the course of a year. Clever me (or the people at Staples... whatever!).

It's such a shame that I made the block before these beauties arrived!


I got them in the fantastic sale at Prints to Polka Dots. There is a special section for fabric with 3/4 yard or less left. So I haven't got huge pieces but I'm really happy with the selection and I'll probably use some of these for the Blogger's BOM quilt. They have great service and I love the website! There are lots of deals to be had :) A lot of the things I've made are using fabric from Prints to Polka Dots, as well as The Fat Quarter Shop. Any spare pennies is spent online at those two shops!!

Finally I'm also linking up to the Hot Mess Craft Space at The Barefoot Seamstress.






This is my little hot mess sewing corner (clearly we don't use that door!):


It's not too inspiring is it?! Gonna have to work on this. Any ideas?

I haven't really put pictures of my children on here and would really rather keep it about my sewing stuff but recently I had the pleasure of having Rebecca Chow, a wonderful photographer, come and take pictures of me and the kids for her brilliant blog project. She has a blog called 'The Mothers' where she has created "a place where we could share stories and experiences without feeling judged or criticised". 




If it sounds interesting to you, or indeed you are a mother I would love for you to go and have a look, please also follow or comment because I'm sure she'd appreciate it! 
And if you're feeling a bit nosy or would like to read my interview feel free to go learn more about Lucy, Fred and Joan!


My kids love being outside and this time of year is just the best, kicking leaves and splashing in puddles, coming home and getting wrapped up in a quilt! Who doesn't love Autumn?! I'm linking up to Noas' Libellule to show what epitomises Autumn. For me it's this:

A collection my children made on our travels. There are conkers all over our house!

And when they're not outside, the kids are inside trashing the house, remember what happened to our TV table?! Well I managed to come up with a solution and made a table cover (not a runner, although it would be on a bigger table!):

Aaahhhh! Isn't that better? (excuse all the toys!)

Buzz is so desperate to get in the pictures!

I have also chosen some of the fabric for my secret quilt:

It's not really cohesive but I don't think it'll matter much in the grand scheme of things. Now just need to get working on it!

I have more focus now that I've finally got my quilt-a-long quilt quilted (is that right? It seems very complicated with lots of q's!!). I used a dark green small print fabric for the binding and I'm really pleased with it:

MMMMmmmmmmm snuggly! It's pretty big, about 87"x66" and I'm so chuffed that I've finished my second quilt and I can throw it on our bed tonight :)

Something else to smile about is my 31 followers! Thank you so much! It also oddly pleases me because that's my age. So I'm doing a little 31 wiggly dance celebration :)

I'm linking up to the Thursday Think Tank at makingrebeccalynne. A great way to share what things I've thought of doing and reminding myself how much stuff I want to make!

Last week there were a couple of things I wanted to do for the kids but haven't got round to it because of illness and desperately trying to get my quilt on.

I get so much inspiration from all the wonderful bloggers out there. This week I've seen a couple of blocks I would love to try:


What a cool block by Lynne at Lily's Quilts, she has a great tutorial as part of the Desperate Housewives Quiltalong. I'd love to do a whole rainbow of these!







I love everything about this block; the colours, the layout, the fabrics! It's by Angela at Cut to Pieces and she also has a great tutorial on her blog.

If you've managed to keep reading and not be too distracted by those fantastic blogs well done :)

I am hatching a plan in my little brain... I need to keep it a secret but I am going to try and create a quilt with some letters on it. I have no real idea how to piece but I'm going to give it a shot.


Sarah made a lovely quilt making free pieced letters. It was her first attempt and she did an amazing job - check out her wonderful work at Fairy Face Designs.


I imagine it will take a lot of trial and error and expletives but I have to make my secret quilt for a special person (and I'm so bursting to tell someone about it!!). Better leave it at that then for now.

I've got a couple of baby quilts to make and think I'm just going to do something simple, I have some small pieces of nice kiddie fabric and some nice patterns so they should come together fairly easily.

Next up is the DISASTER that is the table our TV stands on. It was super cheap from a charity shop and I'm not really bothered about it but the kids have completely ruined what was already a mess!


Thinking it HAS to be covered! I'm going to use some of this (it's showing up yellow but that fabric has a lovely lime green background):


Then follow these instructions to quilt as I go!

Still working on the 'does not compute' blocks and put that on hold for a little while just to get my first quilt-a-long quilt quilted!! So that's what me and 'A Boy' are doing today:


Meet my machine, a simple Toyota - I couldn't think of a name but I knew he was male. Asked my husband for a name and he said 'Sue'. I said 'no, it's a boy' and, quick as a flash, he said...
'A Boy Named Sue'!

My husband wrote it on my machine in permanent ink!!


There's no link today for WIP Wednesdays but click the button on the left to check it out if you want to join in next time :)

I have become totally addicted to fabric! (who here isn't?!)
After a heads-up from Rebecca over at makingrebeccalynne I've been looking over my fabric and picked out my favourites to join the linky fabric party at Patchwork and Play.

Honestly it wasn't hard for me, I don't have loads of fabric to root through and the ones I chose are special because they are scraps given to me by my American cousin. I think a couple are vintage and I have no idea who made them but I LOVE them! LOVE LOVE LOVE:




The colours don't show up quite so brightly on the pictures but the nights are drawing in and I was too excited to share to wait until morning!

My son and I are reading Alice in Wonderland before bed. Today my only purpose was playgroup! The past couple of days I was feeling so ill it felt nice to get out. My husband has been a superstar, constantly telling me to relax and rest - he did EVERYTHING the past couple of days and I'm on the mend...

so naturally I got back to a bit of sewing today. I've now completed six blocks of the 'does not compute' quilt for my son, and look! In the corner there's a little bit of robot:

I spent some of my evening arranging the blocks for my son's robot quilt. I'm thrilled with how it looks but the pictures aren't great and it will be even more of a thrill to show you when it's done! It consists of 30 blocks and I've only done two.

I'd sorted the pieces using scrappy post-it-notes - Michelle at The Quilted Tortoise knows what I'm talking about ;) but clearly this would have been an even more rubbish system once I'd tried to organise the pieces ready for making into blocks.

I started searching for some plastic folders and then IT HIT ME...


I had a solution! On my shelf was an unused expanding folder and it has 31 sections!!! Perfect.
All my pieces are now organised, safe from children and ready for me to sew into blocks.

Now I just have to work out why I have two bits left over... oh no wait it's because I'm REALLY bad at maths

I'm linking up to Rebecca's Thursday Think Tank because I have so many projects I want to do!

 - I would love to try sewing some dresses for my daughter and this Bookworm skirt is a MUST
- I want to make more things for my kids rooms and try to make some more toys, like these great alphabet bean bags
- I have too many quilt ideas to really mention now but I might try to sort out some of them next Thursday (oh dear Rebecca what have you done to me!!?)

Sorry if that's a bit yucky but it's true. We finally get a lovely sunny day and both my kids noses are streaming!! They don't even want to play outside :(
My son had been back in playgroup for the past three mornings and the result is a house filled with tissues. Bloomin' germs!

The upside to the sun is that I got to take my quilt top and finished back outside to take some pictures. yeah me:





Ignore all the wrinkles please and instead focus on how adorably cute my owl peg bag is!!
I got it from Wonky Giraffe and I cannot recommend this seller enough, she's truly wonderful. It's also a great way to get the kids to help with hanging up the washing!...

Unless they're sick. Hopefully some yummy green beans with dinner will help:


and yes I use a big rock from the beach as a splashback :)

Since I'm somehow on a bit of a roll I'm linking up to WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced and seriously hoping you all will encourage me to finish up projects and generally get on with it, I'd love any suggestions or ideas you have! Comments and new followers really do give me a buzz :)

So I'm working on the backing for my quilt along and I've been piecing it together while playing with giant numbers:



Also no further on the blocks for my son's quilt but hopefully get back to that soon, it's pretty much still a pile of pieces! Ok actually it is just a pile!

If you'll excuse me I'm off to make some playdough worms while dancing to Gwen Stefani (I love my job!)