CHARM ABOUT YOU

**GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED**

I have to preface this by saying that occasionally I am approached by companies that would like to partner with me to promote their products and most often I refuse because they have nothing to do with quilting or sewing and I don't advertise companies I wouldn't make use of myself or that don't concern my readers. And while they are not a craft company, Wayfair have such a great range of products that we all use I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share some of their products with you and offer you the chance to win!

Primarily home furnishing and decor, Wayfair have an amazing selection of items; with loads of different brands, styles and varying price points, it's easy to find the perfect item and the website has a super friendly layout that makes it fun to shop! 

You could certainly buy items for your sewing room (AKA corner of your dining room if you're like me!):

Wayfair stock these craft scissors that are manufactured in Sheffield and this brilliant craft light pad (I have one, it's really brilliant - so many great sewing uses!), it also comes in A2.

Perhaps some shelves for storing your fabric stash or drawers for hiding it away... maybe brighten up the dark evenings with a lamp while relaxing with a brew?

Or you could just chose anything to pretty up your house, I'm loving these beautiful mirrors:

And think this tea towel would make a sweet Christmas gift:

There are so many great products at Wayfair, you really can find anything for your home!

Wayfair are kindly offering one of my readers a £100 gift card to spend on anything on the site and they will take care of the shipping so you don't need to worry about that.

How to enter:

You must live in the UK or Ireland. No reply bloggers will not win, please leave your email address in the comment to be sure I can contact you e.g. bob (at) gmail (dot) com

- To win £100 gift certificate to Wayfair hop over to their website, find something you'd like to buy and then leave me a comment telling me what it is!

- As a thank you to my lovely followers, if you've left a comment on my blog in the past few months BEFORE this post (and I will check) then you can have another entry because I'm nice like that, just leave another comment saying you have commented!  ;)

New followers are welcome - you can subscribe/follow using the buttons up there on the right, stay and look around if you're interested in the sewing and quilting posts I usually write.

Open until Monday 29th September at 8pm BST, the winner will be drawn by random.org.

*This giveaway is only open to people in the UK and Ireland (sorry international peeps, there's another more fabricy giveaway coming up soon though!)

Good Luck!

The number picked is:

A colleague at work very kindly gave me these two Acacia by Tula Pink prints that will be stashed away for future use and we just got some of the Paint collection by Carrie Bloomston in the shop, not my usual taste but I'm falling for this cool woven print - need to think of a project I can use it in so I can justify buying some ;)

My stationery love has totally taken hold, I bought more stickers (that I failed to get a picture of) and these fun goodies from The Journal Shop. The Iconic Colour twin pens are so lovely to write with and great colours, the Otegami Memo Pads are super cute and washi tape is becoming an addiction.

Hurry and check out Pink Castle Fabrics, you can get an extra 40% off the Super Sale section with code SUPERSALE but it ends today so be quick. And this isn't one of those 'get rid of the horrible fabric' sales either, there's loads of great stash builders, basic prints like spots, stripes and gingham and some of my favourite prints and lines, quick go look!

I also decided to add some detail to the flap by stitching some pluses, inspired by Rachael from Blue Mountain Daisy and her beautiful stitches.

I started quilting just before I started this blog, encouraged by my cousin and my Aunty. I remember doing some blackwork embroidery when I was young and using a sewing machine at school. I love trying new techniques and currently hand quilting, hand piecing, EPP and cross stitch are my favourite. I like the slower pace and have a couple of hand sewing projects lined up to take me through the winter!

When was the first time you knew that you were a quilter/sewer?

I think after I had made a few quilts and wasn't about to stop!

Do you have any sewing/quilting horror stories or faux pas?

I am constantly making mistakes but none of them too horrific and honestly I don't care if I mess up, it helps me learn. I do know I have to stop when I'm tired, too often I sew things back to front, upside down or just wrong!

What advice would you give to someone who’s just starting out in sewing/quilting?




The Fat Quarter Shop have released a super cute 'Color My Heart' quilt pattern that you can download for free here.


Here in the UK it is National Cupcake Week and although I've not done any baking I do have a sweet treat for you!

I found the most brilliant tutorial for making your own quilting templates by Steffi this week (click that link!). It's really quite simple and I love that you can make your own designs and have long lasting templates. Very clever Steffi :) I will definitely be making some soon so I can get to work on Joan's butterfly quilt.

I'm also making do and mending by patching my son's favourite jeans ready for 'Jeans for Genes' day on Friday. I think this Rocket Age fabric will be perfect!

This is the fifteenth challenge link at le challenge, which means I've successfully finished fourteen makes since we started, but this time... well you've probably already guessed... I have no completed project to share.

I was exciting by the theme 'era' and had lots of ideas but it's been such a busy summer (blah, blah, excuses, excuses!), I had grand plans but as time ran on I realised they were not feasible and I just couldn't find the love for hurriedly cobbling something together.

So instead I made a start and finished the first block of the Green Tea and Sweet Beans pattern by Jen Kingwell. 

The fabrics I'm using are mostly 1930s reproduction, though I think this block looks a bit 1950s too. The fabric on the bottom left corner was given to me by my wonderful cousin in America, I absolutely adore the print and have been saving it for a special project. I think this hand sewn pattern is the perfect way to use up my most loved vintage scraps.

So there you have it, the first fail for me. Ok not a fail but this wouldn't count if I was actually linking up to le challenge. Since Nat will be having her baby towards the end of this year, we've agreed we are both allowed a couple of passes and this is mine.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone else's actual finishes and if you've made anything over the past two months that fits the theme 'era' in any way then feel free to come and link up your finished project. A random winner gets a $25 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop as well as a special giveaway this month of 10 FQs of vintage sheets from Mary Emmens.

Hop over and check it out!

We had an extended challenge over the past two months and now the time to link up your finished 'Era' projects is nearly here! The Le Challenge link party opens on the 15th and you can link up for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop as well as a beautiful vintage sheet bundle of 10 Fat Quarters from Mary Emmens. Check out the blog for more details. It is NOT a competition, the winner is random and it's just a fun way of showing your finished makes that tie in with the theme - the best thing for me is seeing how creative everyone is and the cool ways people interpret the themes!

Here's a sneak peek of my project:

Your don't need a blog, you can link up a picture of your finished project from Flickr or Instagram. Please be sure to link back to the le challenge blog or use #lechallenge. 

If you haven't linked up with le challenge before maybe you could sew a little something this weekend and join in the fun!

How would you interpret the theme 'Era'?

I've noticed my follower numbers have been creeping up so I think a thank you giveaway (international) will be in order when it's a nice round number and I've got a really great giveaway coming up (just for UK and Ireland) peeps very soon too!

I'm deviating from my usual sewing posts to show you a little of my first love... stationery.

September fills me with joy, I'm a natural organiser (though baby brain has trashed that of late), and to quote one of my favourite films it makes me want to buy "a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils" (You've Got Mail). With a brain like a sieve I have to make notes about everything and, even though I've tried the technology method (iphone calender, reminders and the like), the best way for me to stay organised is to write things down. 

I've seen the 'bullet journal' system (that Trudi is proficient in!) and it appeals to me but since I already have a organiser that I love it makes sense to me to use that. I have used Filofax organisers since I was a teenager and my very favourite thing growing up was stationery. I still love stationery shops and all things cute and useful. Before I had kids I treated myself to a beautiful Smythson Bijou Organiser, small and perfectly formed. I carry it around with me all the time, it's chucked in my bag daily and it's still looking good. The twist closure is one of my favourite things about it, as well as the gorgeous orange colour. All the rings close perfectly and the original card dividers show no sign of wear or tear, which is pretty amazing.

So armed with my organiser I came up with a way for it to work best to suit my needs; a realistic way for me to keep up to date with what I need to do and my schedule. I came across one of the nicest online stationary shops I've seen, full of gorgeous things at reasonable prices: The Journal Shop. I shopped the sale section and got this cute Mnemosyne note pad, which has graph paper perfect for to do lists! The yellow first page has now been been torn out (and kept because it's nice!) and I love that I can open my organiser and see my 'to dos' straight away.

The only thing my organiser was missing was a 'today' tab/bookmark. I thought about getting a Filofax ruler page marker but they're so boring (I totally would get a clear one if they made them for pocket size though). It was fun to find these cute Midori Arrow Magnet Markers and they work perfectly as tabs at the top of my organiser so I can find the important stuff like what day it is! (...reminds me of Reality Bites where she hasn't used her filofax for years!!). I also couldn't resist buying a super sweet Midori Otegamo Memo Pad, notes that turn into hexies?! Yes please! They also have bows, fish, hearts and more. It also meant I had just more than £10 in my basket so I got free delivery, I love that! The Journal Shop offers free UK delivery on orders over £10 and has free delivery worldwide if you spend £75.

I already had a photo sticker of Fred as a baby on the front of the diary and decided just to go for it and make it more personal with kawaii stickers from this Etsy shop and washi tape. I've been using the stickers as a fun way of adding cuteness to my schedule and to do list.