Jolly!

I am off on a jolly to Susan's today...

...so don't wait up xxx

Best laid plans and all that...

I was hoping to spend the latter part of today concentrating on packing my bag and getting ready for tomorrow, relaxing into Half Term and all that...

... instead I was racing about with specimens of a 6 year old variety, and trying to get everything ready for those not going away for the day, whilst donning my winter coat again and generally getting rather cold, wet and miserable...

So hubby has just returned from the late night drop off at the hospital, and I think we are all set.

Time for an early night xxx

Randoming again...

Whilst I try to play catch up, and laugh myself silly at all your comments about my comments about the Staple Dress, I have a couple of randoms to show you this evening...

Now, I work for the government, so we are pretty security conscious, but I think x-raying the clearly stamped staff Specsavers eye test voucher is a little extreme - or maybe I have clearance for x-ray specs!  Chocolates from my parents have prompted me to get cutting a new hexie project, and dear son came home with Roman armour, (to be used with the Staple Toga no doubt!)...

But more exciting... Fat Quarterly Retreat classes and supplies have been confirmed; I got the ones I hoped for and may have cut the curved paper-piecing supplies already.  My excitement was contagious, so the girls drew me some London pictures...

My friends and I, rain, sun, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Big Ben, The Queen, a Tube train(!) and a big round table to sew on!

Me and a pal!

Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament(!), London Eye(!), Olympic Stadium with people playing football, The Queen in the Tower of London and Me and someone with fab hair and a Staple dress.

Linking up these gems with Cindy, Random Queen.

The surgeon is ready now...

Well I never promised, but I thought asking a 6 year old to do the honours with the camera would guarantee me anonymity and mystique!

Not wrong!  But we did persevere...

Finally got one in focus and had the whole dress, and me in it!

My thoughts on the Staple Dress, for what they are worth...

• I am a UK14 (mostly!), with 'broad shoulders and a figure courtesy of pies', so I made a Large.  
• The area around the arm holes fits really nicely, not cutting-in nor gaping, and the whole fit is comfortably loose.
• I made mine in a dressmaking cotton (poplin?), it has a relatively nice drape, but it is still a bit crisp.
• I like the fit, but think I would prefer it in a jersey or something more flowing; I have some cotton voile, unfortunately not the super AMH floaty sort, but that may be a little better.  I am not yet back up to fancy slippy, stretchy fabrics, but do think these would look the best.
• I made the pocketed version, I will probably not bother next time, or maybe just make patch pockets.  They are a nice touch, but I would like to french-seam the insides instead of the zig-zag I had to use.
• I think that perhaps, if you are of the bigger-bosom you may, especially with the elasticated waist that I omitted, end up looking like you are smuggling footballs in a sack.
• I lowered the neckline by about an inch; I wasn't confident enough to slice off more, it is probably more psychologically comfortable than anything!
• If you are happy with your waistline, the elastic could look great, if like me you don't like to draw attention to the fact that you aren't as svelte as you used to be, then don't put yourself through the elasticated bother, you can still wear a belt!
• Without a belt it looks either like a super-cool 1960s number, or a hospital gown, even April warns that this would be the first impression.  I think I will wear it as an ode to dearly missed ER!
• I think if you are a skinny-mini the dress looks the most flattering; I have seen both enviable and avoidable versions on t'internet, so it possibly isn't a pattern for everyone, however if you want to make your first item of clothing, it really is a must.  Make it in some cheapish fabric, (mine was £6/m, and I used 2.2m), it will fit, and you can wear it round the house without scaring the postman, then work your way up to more complicated things.

I cannot see me wearing this much as a dress per se, but then I am not much of a frock-wearer; maybe on holiday, but I will wear it over jeans or leggings (no hybrid!).  I may even wear it on Saturday.  I may not.  But that will be more to do with the weather than anything else.

Well I hope this has helped if you have been wondering about this pattern.  Obviously these are only the thoughts of a 40-something, seen better days, mummy, so take on board or disregard as you wisely see fit xxx

Using an 'O' Level!

My kids are not old enough for me to start nagging them about the importance of exams, yet, but today I can honestly say that I have used an 'O' Level; I only took them 25yrs ago!!! 

So I made a Staple Dress, the full monty including pockets and facings!  I even altered the neckline.

Unfortunately by the time I was finished, it was dark, so no modelling... that's my excuse and I am sticking to it.  As I mentioned the other evening, I have not added the elasticated waist; my waistline is not built for accentuating!!

So I will wear it with a sparkly disco belt, because I am like that, (well, when I am not at work, not at school or in my pyjamas...).  I will get a photo or two tomorrow, but I am making no promises on whether I will be in it, (but best you see me in it than out of it though!).

You don't need an 'O' Level in Dress to make this.  April has produced a foolproof pattern and instructions.  It took me 3 hours to make, including cutting, putting the kids to bed and trying on a couple of times.

It still has an air of 'heading into the operating theatre', but without the bum-flasher back; I am more than happy.  Next, to tackle a jersey version... maybe.

In The Pink...

So Monday Blues is more how I am feeling, but I've managed to get the first make of the week under my belt already.

This was one of the things on my 'need to do' list; a birthday present for the girls' best friend for Saturday.

After tea, I turned these Walk In The Woods scraps...

...into this...

Water into wine, pah!

I had the notion to construct the front block in a scrappytripalong stylee, but the pieces were not conducive so I had to just piece it longhand.  It finished up at 15" square and plumps up nicely with a 16" cushion form.

Not thinking a real Staple Dress and a Super Tote will come quite so easily this week, but here's hoping xxx

Some Sunny Day...

There was a little sunshine today; just enough to go to the park and afterwards sit out in the garden with my parents...

It was all going well until a collision between a small boy and a bollard, knees were patched, and he did get back on again later in the garden, so no long-term damage done.

The fresh air worked it's magic and sleep came super-quickly this evening, so I could get a little sewing done.

I owe Judith a couple of Bee Blessed blocks, the fashionable and simple 16-patches; please forgive the getting dark 8pm photos...

I am looking forward to handing these over in person next weekend. xxx

One more week until half-term, tonnes I want to do, tonnes I have to do.  Let's see which wins!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Spring 2013

Well the Blogger's Quilt Festival snuck up on me this time around, and I was just a little unprepared!

Oh what to enter??

If you are not a regular follower of this little corner of the interweb, please don't look back at the last couple of days and judge me - I've been having a bit of a week; poorly husband and one child out of 3, extra-curricular school activities, a busy work schedule and an AWOL sewing mojo, which resulted in me venting my frustrations on a Staple Dress last night; angry-sewing never looks nice!

Anyway, back to business, I looked back over the last 6 month's makes, before plumping for the one I knew I would end up entering anyway!

I love this quilt; this is my Brit Bee II quilt, Diamond Nipples, (yes, nipples).  I am one of the lucky dozen who are part of the best bee in the world; I am also in the second best bee in the world too, as proven here by my friend Di.  I have just joined my third bee, which is shaping up to being the 3rd best bee in the world... go figure!

Brit Bee at last year's Fat Quarterly Retreat.

The block I chose for my month (January 2013) was Diamond Ripples by Lara Finlayson from 99 Modern Blocks; I super-sized my request up to 24" blocks.  OK, for the record, this is not a stash bee, I provided the fabric, and I also cut all the HSTs by Sizzix, so no trimming was required; as if I would exploit the goodwill of the group (again)!

The ladies did me proud, as I knew they would...

This quilt resides on our bed, it makes me smile, a lot; it will remind me of all those who made it forever.  There's a lot of deep 'n' meaningful sewn into this quilt.  The last year has been a hard one for me and all in the Bee, and the strength of friendship we have forged over the last two years cannot be beaten, so don't even try!

The deets for those that like that sort of thing...

Name: Diamond Nipples
Made by: Brit Bee
Side 1: 9 blocks in a mix of orange, pink and grey fabrics
Side 2: 3 blocks plus siggie block and AMH Loulouthi
Binding: Patty Young - Dandelion in Raspberry
Batting: Sew Simple 100% cotton
Quilted: Continuous spiral from the centre with variegated Aurifil 28 wt 4657 by me, at home on a little Janome QXL 605
Size: 72" x 72"

I am entering this into the Group/Bee category, so it can socialise with many other loved group quilts and be part of this wonderful and inspiring festival.

Now I have taken up enough of your time, so many quilts, so little time...thank you for having a look here, and enjoy the rest of the festival.  Time to get pinning!

Regulars, see you tomorrow xxx

Friday, on my mind!

I am all out of kilter this week, I think the man-flu, busy-busy and disco have taken their toll on my sense of time, and zapped my energy!

I didn't even link up with Cindy yesterday; I managed to catch up with a lot of blog reading, but commenting was a step too far.

My Inbox is fit to burst, so apologies if I owe you a reply, I will try to clear everything down over the weekend.

And now the Bloggers Quilt Festival has begun and I haven't even thought about what to enter!

This evening though I made a Staple Dress - well almost; the arm and neck facings are not finished, but as I made it from an old sheet, it basically looks like an old sheet; ('Are you dressing up as a Roman?' was my husband's reaction!), I might finish it, and give it to the kids for dressing up!

I made an XL, but a L would be better - I am not going to do the shirring, just belt it, it really is a super easy pattern.  I just think it needs a knitted fabric, and that is a little scary!

Anyway, I don't want to leave you picture-less, (my Staple Dress is not photogenic), so here's what is hidden under a little girl's pillow tonight, as her first tooth came out today...

I better go get my wings on; unfortunately, pound notes went out of circulation in 1984, so guess a coin will have to do!

There were crisps...

... lots of crisps, lots of kids and lots of noise...

I have a headache.  I need a lie-down xxx

Liberty, Liberty, Liberty!

Well I have had a Liberty-fuelled day.

Kids at school, hubby packed off to the office, (albeit he only made it until lunchtime), and I got down to it.

First I finished off my Marcelle Medallion quilt top.

I. Love. It!  Simple as.  I had a grand plan, lots of Liberty and not a lot of red, pure white or orange.   And it worked!

I took lots of photos...

Then I took some more...

Then the postman turned up with a couple of envelopes containing some more beautiful Liberty...

I knew Ali of Very Berry Handmade had the Eloise print I was after to finish my Retreat name tag, so I ordered what I needed, and maybe a little more fell into the basket, (well Ali does a mini-bundle deal on 3 pieces, so why buy 1 when you can buy 3, or something like that; and super lovely friend that she is, I also received an Only Ditzies Please! scrap bag, which I must say is a complete super bargain at £3, and with all those beautiful teeny prints, is perfect for smaller projects... I am thinking my Retreat goody-swap partners may be seeing these again!  Watch this space.

So with time to myself, I bound my partner's name tag, and made a blue Essex Linen lanyard; and then hand finished the back whilst catching up with a recorded EastEnders that I missed whilst on the Cub run!  (Hold a grudge, moi?).

I now have the dilemma of how to quilt my Marcelle Medallion, but I am surrounded by beautiful things, so I think I can cope with that!

Cross!

It's been a day and a half; hubby is still bed-bound, so on top of everything else, I had the joy of taking and collecting dear son and friends to and from Cubs this evening; in the cold, and rain, taking up precious sewing time.  I have only just got home.

So in an attempt to play catch up with emails and blogs, I will love you and leave you with my Marcelle Medallion crosses, because they are far prettier than my mood!

Until tomorrow xxx

Men!

The men in my life are conspiring against me!

Dear hubby was ill all weekend, and took today off work with a bout of Man Flu; then I got the call from school to come and collect a poorly-feeling son after lunch, and to top it all, the reminder pinged up on my phone for my brother-in-law's birthday in a weeks' time!

So not only did the weekend not yield as much me time as I would have liked, today, before I could get on with my Marcelle Medallion crosses, I had to make a gift, quick smart.

Some gent-flannel scraps left from the Christmas man-pouches and key fob hardware; Bob's your uncle...

One is for my Bro' in law and the other is for the poorly bloke upstairs; the notebook made me smile, and is perfect for the Kiwi recipient.

Sonny-boy went to bed feeling fine, hopefully hubby will sleep his off, and fingers crossed everyone will be back in their respective proper locations tomorrow, and I will be able to get back to the plan!

I've ordered some additional Eloise Liberty fabric (same as the spool) to bind my partner's Retreat name tag, and I am already sketching out my ideas for the sample swap.

Honestly, my To Do list does not have any more wiggle-room!

My Weekend

Well it was a wet and windy weekend here, with odd moments of sunshine, luckily coinciding with this...

But after the domestics were taken care of, there was a little time for some stitichery.

Yesterday I made a start on my partner's name tag for FQ Retreat...

I have embroidered the name and blog-name of my secret partner under those there virtual buttons.  The liberty patchwork has ended up with 1/2" squares.

I am undecided on what colour/fabric to bind and make the lanyard in - yep it'll be a lanyard (again); I do not like pins, and I expect my partner to tow that line too!

Today after the duck race, I settled down and pieced all the crosses for the next border of my Marcelle Medallion...

And because there was a rather large bunch of bananas turning blacker by the minute, I made another Moshi Monsters 'nana bread - yeah, I am almost fooling the kids that I can cook!

So that was my weekend; hope you managed to cram some good stuff into yours too!

Sew Mama Sew Winner!

The winner of my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway is...

Lindsey!!  I have sent you an email already my friend.

Thank you everyone for entering and telling me your favourite fabric combos.  It seems that I should be getting some more purple in my life! 

And to all of those who mentioned the 'B' word, you will be either shocked or pleased that I have been making plans for my F8ths of Echo, and there are many (good) browns in there!

Have a great Saturday everyone xxx

Siblings Together 2013 and beyond...

I promised you a finish and reveal, so a finish and reveal you shall have!

My contribution to this summer's Siblings Together camp is a collaboration with Amanda (Scissors & Thread), as she kindly offered some beautiful Tula Pink - Hushabye strips for the cause, which I snapped up at the point when she was eagerly awaiting the arrival of her baby; she is now a yummy-mummy to cutie-pie James, win-win!

After pondering too long, I added some Kona Snow to make a simple staggered-strip top...

I told you about my backing luck yesterday, unfortunately the bright sunshine today has bleached the pictures a little, but it truly is a very vintage girly quilt!

Before washing it measured 54" x 62", and it doesn't appear to have shrunk much, just enough for some lovely crinkles.  In the overall scale of quilts it isn't huge, but to snuggle under on the sofa, or to lay on your bed and look pretty, it fits the bill perfectly.

I quilted each side of the seams with 50wt Aurifil 2021, and bound it in the same fabric as the backing...

I just need to get the label on, and then this can be popped into my Aeroplane bag ready for Retreat.

And in anticipation of both Siblings Together 2014, and dare I even start mentioning, FQR14, I am now also part of the Siblings Together Quilting Bee, producing one quilt per month for a year.

If you are interested in joining a second group of UK-based ladies, there is a flickr thread here, and if you are in continental Europe, Dianne has also started a thread here.

If you have previously made a quilt for Siblings Together in solitude, then maybe a bit of camaraderie would be a refreshing change, or if you have always wanted to join a Bee and already have way too many quilts of your own (oh as if) then a charity Bee could be right up your alley.  Again I am sure any contributions of wadding and backing would be much appreciated by all involved.

So with a finish, reveal, good deeds, a tick off my FAL list and last call for my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway, I think I have all the bases covered this evening!

Bank Holiday Random...

I know, it was Monday, but things have been hectic here what with the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway, and Give Me Liberty link ups, but today I have a couple of random happenings for you.

Pretty unexpected really, for a Bank Holiday Monday, it was sunny!

So bright and relatively early we headed out to the village Boot Fair.  It's only a tiny one in the Library car park held on Bank Holidays, mostly old toys and tomato plants, but worthy of a pootle if the weather is fine.

Some Jacqueline Wilson books, a skipping rope and a bag of marbles later, we got to the Rotary Club trailer of old curtains and wot-not and to my utter surprise, lying there were some pillow cases, and, what turned out to be, a homemade duvet cover which were scooped up and mine quicker than you could say 'bargain'!  I have never managed any such finds in the past, ever.

So where's the random?  Well having made my Siblings Together top on Sunday, I had thrown my backing dilemma out to Instagram-land.  In the dark days of winter, I had pulled the IKEA house print, it had looked great; in the warmer light of the May Bank Holiday, it looked too heavy.  Feedback was kind, but the consensus was 'no'!

I already showed you a glimpse yesterday, but how damn perfect was this...

Sooooooo happy, and the quilt is now going round in the tumble dryer; let's hope the rain stops tomorrow so I can get you some scenic shots.

The second random; well, last summer one of the girls taught herself to ride a bike in the garden, much to big brother's disgust and proclamations that he couldn't do it, it wasn't fair etc etc, all winter.

So, after lunch on Monday we took the bikes to the park, and by the time we left, a couple of hours later, all three were speeding about!

We didn't exactly teach them, (more, gave a shove, let go and shouted 'just keep peddling!'), but it worked.

Hmmm.. I wonder if I tried to FMQ again I would just be able to do it!!?  If only everything was as simple as riding a bike!

Linking with the Random People gathering at Cindy's. xxx

This evening...

I will be stitching down the binding on this...

I basted and quilted my Siblings Together quilt today, and will hopefully be able to get it finished and through the wash tomorrow for an end-of-week reveal.

I will be packing this one up to be delivered at FQ Retreat in July; another reason to be excited. 

If you are going and have signed up for the Name Tag swap, have you flickr-mailed all your details to Trash yet?  She wants to match everyone one up this week, and I have done the maths and worked out that loads of people haven't spotted the thread yet - so hurry, hurry, I want to get making!

Give Me Liberty Please!

When Krista and Nicole threw down the Liberty-lined gauntlet to stitch up some Liberty last month, they didn't have to ask me twice.

As soon as I saw Ayumi's Embroidery Pouch in Patchwork Please! I knew I would be making one in advance of the sewalong - it's near the end of the book, so it'll be months before that one gets the treatment, so I started formulating a plan immediately.  A Liberty-Heather Ross plan. 

The sew-along booted my butt into gear!

I showed you the cover a while back, and I know I have already put the finished shots on instagram as I was so happy with it and couldn't wait to show off; but today I am linking up with Nicole's blog for all to see...

I am so in love with this pouch.  It finishes at 9.5" square, which is perfect for a nice sized hoop to fit inside.

As you were party to my vinyl dilemma, you may like to see a bit closer how I managed to incorporate one of those 50 pence pencil cases, zip 'n' all...

Instead of the second side pocket, I cut open the pencil case, unpicked the vinyl from the right-hand side of the zipper, (with the zip closed and pull at the top), and then trimmed to size; I amended the pattern slightly so that my pocket was lined was some Klona jade, and attached a strip of Liberty to that, and the other side to the edge of the zip sandwiched with the linen, the same way as you would sew the first side of a zippy purse.

Apart from not dividing the other vinyl pocket, this is my only real deviation from the published pattern.

Having a transparent pocket, or rather two, is so useful, and I am glad my gamble paid off.

Due to all the vinyl, I machine-stitched the binding to the inside first, then hand-stitched it down on the outside.

So there you have it!  Thank you Ayumi, your pattern is brilliant, so it really would have been difficult to make a duffer!  And a final thank you to Krista and Nicole for getting me to make this sooner rather than later.

I am over the moon with every inch of this pouch, it's another favourite thing ever!

***

Don't forget to pop over to yesterday's post if you haven't entered my Sew Mama Sew giveaway for the chance of winning your own bit of linen and Liberty. 
PS. No Reply Bloggers have been prevalent - if you discover you are of this ilk, email me before Friday, and should I pick you, I will be able to contact you - I know Blogger likes to randomly bump people!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

*** The Giveaway is now closed ***

Hello, hello, hello!

I am going to cut to the chase, you have so many places to go, so many giveaways to enter, I am not going to keep you here for too long; I know you just want to know the what, and the how eh!?

The what is a small (8" square-ish) zippy purse made of Liberty Lifestyle and Essex Linen, my current favourite combo...

There is also a key fob in matching Liberty; you can never have too many purses and keyrings nor too much Liberty in my humble opinion!

If this is your first time visiting, it would be nice if you came back again; I know today is all about the goodies, not going to kid myself about that one, but if you are liking my style, (stop sniggering at the back), please think about coming back and clicking the follow button.

So anyway, the how...

Leave me one comment, (any additionals will be deleted), telling me your current favourite combination of fabrics; things that were born to be together, or others that probably shouldn't work, but actually do; it would be nice to try something new.

The giveaway is open internationally; Random.org will be used to select the winner; and I will say it again, if you are a 'No Reply' blogger, please leave your email address in the body of your comment - if I cannot contact you, I will click the generate button again.  I will not be responding to individual comments, but may well give credit for fab combos in my Winner post.

I will close the giveaway as soon as I wake up on Saturday (11th May), because 5pm PST, or DST or whatever Friday, is the middle of the night in the UK, and I'd rather give you a couple of extra hours than disturb my beauty sleep.

Thank you Sew Mama Sew for the hosting, and thank you for stopping by.  Good luck everyone xxx