100 Follower Giveaway!

In celebration of reaching 100 followers, I'v decided to host my very first giveaway.

I have one gorgeous Summer House layer cake by Lilly Ashbury, up for grabs.

There is a great mix of fabrics in this layer cake, a great addition to anyones summer stash.

To have a chance of winning simply:

1 - Be a follower and comment on this post telling me what you'd make if you won this giveaway.

2 - For a second chance to win, please add the button to you side bar/blog/link bank, whichever and come back telling me you did so and I will give you another entry (I will be checking!)


Thanks and good luck!

What a difference a day makes...

...to my stitches! I found this tutorial, switched my thimble to my middle finger, and suddenly my stitches improved.

The front:


The back:


I've had to zoom in as they were difficult to picture. O.k so they're still a bit on the small side compared to the front but they arnt wonky and Im not to embarrased to show them.

Thanks for all your advice, thanks also to everyone who has wished me well since my rotator cuff injury,it meant a lot to me. Its been two weeks and I am feeling loads better, I havnt recovered fully, but enough to handle my two young children and sew, so I'm happy :-)

yoo-hoo! (waves and jumps to get your attention) calling all hand quilters for much needed advice!

How do you get your hand quilting stiches to look good on the back?

This is the question thats playing on my mind right now. I have decided to try and give hand quilting a go as I love the look that pearle cotton can give.

The picture above is the front and Im much to embarrased to show a picture of the back, lets just say the words "wonky" and "uneven" spring to mind!

I am stitching just one stitch at a time but my stitches are uneven on the back, so do I rip them out and machine quilt instead? Or do I perservere and hope that the wonkiness on the back adds to the charm of the finished quilt, and hope it may not look so bad once its all quilted?...Any tips?

Bear in mind that this quilt is a wedding gift for my sister, so I want her to think I'v done a good job. The batting is loftier then usual as I want to give a plush look to this quilt so gathering a few stitches at a time isnt really achievable although the batting did say it was very good for hand quilting, so I think it may just be my inexperience, trouble is, how to I fix it?

I come across so many wonderful blogs, but rarely do I see discussions over stumbling blocks people might have, you all seem to know what your doing so I hope somone in the blogosphere can help shed some light on this subject.

Talking of trying out new things, I'm giving Y seams a go. Unhappy with my attempts at hand peicing, I've decided to try and machine peice some hexigons, This is my first attempt:



and the back...



I have no idea which way I'm supposed to iron the litte flaps created by these seams and I'm still trying to figure out how to close up that little gap you get without leaving a pucker, but I think I'm improving!

oh bums.

This is not good. I am unable to sew :-( I have injured my shoulder, I felt a twinge at the gym on Friday which slowly escalated into full blown pain and now total loss of movement. The hospital said I have injured my rotator cuff and my G.P says its tendonitis which could take weeks or months to get better. I need some strong pain killers, physio and possibly an MRI scan and if its torn, an operation!

I'm gutted! Today is the first week Jacob gos to preschool full time so I was looking forward to more house, sewing and blogging time, but instead I am left without a right arm and having to look at all the things that need doing without being able to do them as well as look after the kiddies.

bummer eh!

I'm still here!

While I'm waiting on batting to arrive I've been busy trying out some simple embroidery. I saw some fab needlebooks a little while ago (I believe it was on mmmcrafts)and as someone bagged my favourite one and I'd just bought some lovely felt, I simply had to try and create my own version.



I have a couple of new projects I'm gathering fabrics for and have currently cut into this little festive bundle:



I am somewhat of a Christmas fabric addict. I know, I know...I could just use regular fabrics in festive colours but theres something that draws me to those cute little designs!

I also wanted to say thanks for sharing all your projects, I continue to get lots of inspiration from you guys but blogger has not allowed me to leave you all comments under my blog I.D but I have managed to solve this my unchecking the "remember me" box when signing in, I hope this might be helpful to other blog users who might be in the same situation.

:-)

Hexie Cushion finished and a thank you

I managed to get quite a few of these hexies done while I was in Florida. I have to say, they wernt my favourite thing to do but its probably my technique and I would definitely try another way if I were to have another go. Still, I'm fairly pleased with the results and my far far away quilt now has a matching cushion.

As I'm nearing 100 followers I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has become a follower and has commented on my blog. Your comments and advice have given me confidence and I am greatful for each and every one of them. In celebration I will do a giveway but you will just have to wait till I get to 100! (and till I think of a suitable prize.)

I also want to say a huge thank you to Val from Sugar and Cianide
who had read that I loved the Wizard of Oz and very kindly offered to send me this fab vintage pillowcase she had all the way from Texas, how lovely is she?!!



So lovely infact, that not only did she send me this pillowcase-(and refused to let me, at the very least, pay her postage)but she also sent me not one, but two fat quarters of DS fabric which I also love!

Now Val, if your reading, I have your address and Im putting together a little package to say thankyou, but some hints on what fabrics/colours you like would be handy so speak up as I want to get this right!

Toodles
x

Back from the land of..

I'm exhausted, but had a lovely time, and check out my hawl...



I've been after a thread rack for ages, this came home in my hand luggage, it was only around $10 from Walmart, which was much cheaper then Joanns..

well I was only a few minutes drive from here so it would be rude not to pay a visit...

I'm sure someone out there is laughing at my exitment of visiting this store but you have to understand that we have nothing like this available in the U.K.

Masses of quilting and craft books. It was like looking at my Amazon wish list, very differnt from the half a dozen craft book that can be found in Waterstones or Hobbycraft in the U.K.

Bolts and bolts of fabrics...

I dont know why there seems to be a little snobbery about Joanns fabrics but I came out with some of the Denyse Schmidt line and some great basics.
Not to mention books, magazines and notions.

I did try and visit a quilt store while I was there but sadly it had closed down...Think I spent enough in Walmart and Joanns anyway! and my research showed there wernt any modern fabrics in the other places on my list so instead I placed an order online with fabricworm and saved myself postage costs by sending the package to the management address of the villa I stayed in (Rental villas dont have mailboxes sadly but where theres a will theres a way!)and the lovely lady very kindly dropped off my package when it arrived.

I know I can now get pips in the U.K but its cheaper in the U.S :-)

Righto, I'm off to relax for the rest of the day and open up all my post
:-)