At last, the Easter break.

At last,the end of term! we can all relax. March has been a very busy month with my husband working away lots, poorly children and making use of all this lovely weather. The sewing for pleasure show in Birmingham was ok, my favourite quilt supply shop was there so I left with a few purchases but I wasnt blown away. I think I've been spoilt with the quilt show, so Ill definitely be going back in September.

My daughter and I have been busy working on her Easter Bonnet and I'm pleased to say she won the competition for her class at school today!. It was a boost she needed as she got told that her drawing she made for special acheivement day, was not a special acheivement and that she needed a medal, certificate or trophy.

This puts me in an awkward situation as you can only get those if your child gos to after school classes, but we cant all afford to go these, yet these acheivement days happen monthly which I feel is too regular, and she ends up panicking as she has nothing to bring in. She's still working on learning to ride a bike, so I can make her a certificate for that when she gets there but I could really do with some ideas of what else I can do to make these days more positive for her, any ideas?

They seem to expect so much from 5 year olds these days, and apart from the cost of after school classes, I really just want her to play outside in the nice weather after school and have some down time, but I'm really feeling the pressure to conform right now and I dont like it. Please tell me I'm not alone in this???

I'm taking part on the Stale Stash swap over at Charm About You and here's what I have on offer:

Cath Kidston fabric 17.5 x 19.5 inches so a tad under a fat quarter, which is a bit cheaky as I ordered a fat quarter when I bought this, but Im throwing it out there just incase and thought it was best to be as honest as possible.

x1fq of AMH Swopped with Marian

1FQ Robert Kaufman tiles in Marigold: SWAPPED WITH KAREN

x2 fq or half yard of Michael Miller painter canvas in lemon SWAPPED WITH LORI

Michael miller x2 FQ or 1 half yard: Please note this is more orange then red but does have a few petals that are more red.

Lotta Jansdotter x2 fq x1 FAT QUARTER GONE TO JESS x1 fat quarter gone to Marian

Kaffe Fasset x4 fq or 1 metre

If your interested in swopping, I'm after any tangerine toned fabric think Micahael Miller ta dot in tangerine or grey fabrics like ta dot in stone. I like Heather Ross, bright sunshine yellows I like spots and stripes but will take a peak at anything as something might speak to me :-)

Bust Yo! Scraps QAL...le fin.

Well hello there.

I hope we all had a lovely mothers day yesterday?. I was woken up with cards and gifts and had a wonderful roast for dinner cooked beautifully by my husband. The rest of the day was spent putting binding on this quilt and continuing with other projects I have going which I'm sure you'll read about soon.



and the back:



It was so theraputic, using up all those scraps, and I was surprised at how well they all seem to go togther, I think I had enough of each colour to be able to have a bit of consistancy and look like I planned it that way.

This is a triple whammy for me. Not only is this going in to the Just a Bit frayed QAL flickr pool but its also going into the stitched inn color scrap attack pool and as its been free motion quilted using the new to me loop de loop it also qualifys to go into my March FMQ challange. It was quite refereshing doing something other then straight line or stippled quilting and I will definitely be taking Anne Fahls advice and trying new designs in future.

I'm going to the sewing for pleasure show in Birmingham this Thursday so I'm sure i'll be replacing those scraps pretty soon!

2012 Free motion challange: March

This month Ann Fahl has focused on improving our skills using some simple designs. She has focused a lot on prep work too. I invested in a white board and I can't tell you enough how invaluable this tool is, as it allows you to develop a flowing motion as well as save paper. Here are my white board and fabric efforts:

Loop de loop:




Hearts:



Flowers:



Stars:



Tips I have learnt:

1- Use monofilamint for ditch quilting
2- If your thread spool is cross wound, the thread should lie horizontally on your machine with spool cap on and should not spin. If your thread is parallel wound then the thread spool should lie vertically and should spin. (Can you beleive I never even noticed how thread was wound before?!)
3- Steam your layers when basting
4- Stop stippling and try something new and put your own spin on it.
5- Keep a book of FMQ designs, here is mine:



Im still keeping up with my February challange, and I've found a new techinque for creating the plumes:



It's still not how I would like it to be on fabric, but drawing with a pen and using the needle as a pen are two different things!. I am pleased with how the shape of the individual plooms has improved though:



I'm off to loop de loop my scrap quilt, back soon!

xx

when it rains, it pours.:-(

Last week was not good. My husband was away with work for a few days, at the same time my daughter got sick and that evening I had to ring for an ambulance as just before bed time, my 3 year old son swallowed a coin,:-( emergency services said it was a long wait for the ambulance, could I drive?, but my husbands away and my daughters sick so how could I? the answer was my inlaws- get them to drive over from the other side of town, but in my mother in laws rush, she hit her neighburs car coming out of the drive double:-(

Four hours later (and aching arms from little man falling asleep on me in A&E) we see the xray of his tummy with the coin in, thankfully, it wasnt lodged anywhere it shouldnt be and the doctor said he should pass it in a few days. I never thought the term spending a penny would be so literal. Then a couple of members dropped out of the bee im in to top it off! So there it is, my bad run of luck must be over now surely!

Its now been 6 days and still no sign of the penny unless I missed it somehow on er toilet duty. So today I'm waiting in for a doctors phone appointment for some advice.

On the plus side, I've managed to whip up 3 more simple skirts for my daughter as she has grown out of almost everything and these should be perfect for summer.

It also means my little man will get his plane quilt in plenty of time for his birthday.

every cloud and all that...-)