so fresh and so clean

My husband had the urge to spring clean over the weekend and the downstairs of our house looks much brighter and a bit less cluttered (ignoring my sewing stuff and the kids toys!). It must have been catching because I cleaned up my blog a little... I'm liking the fresher look, it feels like Spring.

This week I got these adorable Rocket Age prints from Fluffy Sheep Quilting. I think these are just so cool and I love the retro look. Rockets and space... obviously my son loves them too! I have to think of something fun to make him, maybe shorts for the Summer?

As a bonus when I ordered I used up some of my reward points. There's a clever computer thingy in the site that works out your reward points when you make a purchase and you can check the points in your account and use them any time. In my book that's basically getting free fabric (or Aurifil, or perle or any other lovely thing in the shop) for buying fabric and it's amazing how quickly those points add up! Head over and take a look, there's lots of fabulous fat quarters, all under £3!

I've been doing some hand quilting, straight lines and circles, on a baby quilt for a friend. I drew round a glass for the circles and it reminded me how annoying drawing on fabric can be. I've tried loads of different pens and methods for marking, when it comes to straight lines nothing beats a hera marker but when I want to draw a circle or pattern I want a pen. Pencils seem to drag so much, the pens that disappear in the air are ok and that blue one that washes off is pretty good but for some reason both make me a bit nervous.

I recently ordered a frixion pen because I know other bloggers have recommended it. I wasn't convinced and still felt nervous but oh how wrong I was! This pen is awesome. It writes so smoothly with no dragging, it's really easy to see on the fabric (I bought a black one) and you just iron the quilt and it vanishes. VANISHES. Even under the perle thread?! I don't really understand (nor do I actually care) how it works, it just DOES! I even scribbled out a line where I'd messed up and it completely disappeared. Hello me drawing loads of embroidery patterns, quilting patterns and whatever else I want not to be permanent. Very clever pen.

There's a new theme over at le challenge, this month it is NATURE. Are you working on anything that fits the theme or are you inspired to make something new? The link party for finished projects is 15th May. Head over to check it out, there's a random winner every month!