a little vomit

Here we go again. SV part 4 is underway. It doesn't matter how many 2.5" squares I cut and use, my scrap box never seems to empty, maybe after I've finished this one I'll think of a different scrap quilt using 2.5" squares, but for now this is my go-to scrappy pattern, I love it, it makes me so happy and as boring as sewing all those squares together can be it's unbelievably satisfying too. A quilt made from leftovers is always good, isn't it?

productive days

I've been sorting out my fabric closet into colour order, rather than random stacks of whatever wherever. I will show you pics when I've finished, it's still on-going. I've realised I have a lot more green and blue than anything else, I think it might be the colours I use less rather than the colours I buy the most of.

I decided it was time I organised my stash a little better because of the stash stack club over at Pink Castle fabrics, this month pink arrived, next month it's navy blue (I am seriously lacking in navy blue, so I'm very excited about that). I've been wanting to make a rainbow quilt for a while, I have the pattern in my head, it's just been high enough on the list of to-dos, so hopefully now I'm organised I might get that started.

Anyhow - whilst I'm doing the sorting and tidying I'm also destashing (if you follow me on twitter or instagram you may have spotted it) because I can't actually get my stuff back into the closet it came out of. Why? It fit before.

I'm also cutting scraps as I go as well. Using my trusty Sizzix big shot. This little thing is really very handy for cutting scraps. There's a 2.5" square die which is my absolute favourite and I use all the time. By the end of tonight I intend to have cut all of my scraps into 2.5" squares.  That's not such a huge task, I've destashed a lot of scraps because I know I can't get them all used up before more get created. Once I've got my boxes of 2.5" squares I can make a start on scrap vomit part 4 (& maybe even part 5 too!)!!!!! whoo!!!!

Pink Castle Fabrics Winner

Thank you to everyone that entered the flea market fancy bundle giveaway sponsored by Brenda at Pink Castle fabrics.

The lucky winner is number 25 which is......

 Tricia of fresh raspberry quilts

Congratulations Tricia!!!!!

Email me Tricia at katyejones at hotmail dot com and I'll get your bundle in the mail to you!

Also - there's 20% off ALL Moda fabric this week at Pink Castle Fabrics with the code MODA20. That includes those fabrics already discounted too, and Bella solids. You can find the Moda section by clicking here.

More news - I created this fat quarter bundle for Brenda after Ginge and I were doing some colouring in with markers. It's called a box of crayons and you can get it now!

100 quilts for kids - blog hop

Katie over at Swim Bike Quilt is incredibly passionate about what we, as quilters, can do to help those children less fortunate than our own. 100 quilts for kids is an annual charity drive that Katie co-hosts with the DC Modern Quilt Guild. This year they are running a quilt along (more info here) and encourage you to join in too!

As quilters we have a skill that might not seem very important at first, but when you curl up with a quilt wrapped around you on a cold night maybe you can appreciate how wonderful that gift of quilting is and how it's something that we could, and should share with others.

There are any number of local organisations that will be willing to accept a donation of a quilt - project linus (project linus UK) is probably the most well known, but you could ask at your local hospital, at the school your children or your friends' children or your neighbours' children attend. Or you can send to a more international group - like Katie's. 

Sibling's Together is my charity of choice for this year. I try to donate at least one quilt a year to charity, whether it's an auction or a donation for a cause. It doesn't take long to make a quilt for a child, and if you make it with fabrics you love it's a pleasurable experience that you'll really enjoy. I think the key is fabrics you love - if it's a quilt that you would make for your own child, it's a quilt that is good enough for a child in need. 

My quilt top has just come back from Charlotte who quilted it for me, and now I'm going to bind it and get it sent off to Sibling's Together ready for one of their Camps either later this year or next Summer. 

If you're looking for a really quick and easy quilt pattern for a charity quilt the Made In Cherry pattern (the one I used) is ideal - you can find all the details on this free pattern with alternative size options too, from the quilt along posts here.

Or if you want something really fast and simple maybe this one is more up your street? It's nice and simple and makes a lovely quilt out of fat quarters.

 

simpatico winner! (plus discount code!)

Come on down Jane from two wednesdays, you're getting the gorgeous bundle of simpatico courtesy of Annie at the village haberdashery. I just had a little peek at your blog and I can't wait to see what you stitch up with this.

Annie is giving everyone a chance to be a winner this week as well - use SIMPATICO10 for 10% all simpatico in the village haberdashery until 29th July.

out of my comfort zone

I spent today on an intro to DSLR photography workshop in the ruins of an Abbey not too far from where I live, in an effort to be able to use the camera I cart around everywhere with me, (and use near enough every single day for one thing or another) without it being set to auto permanently.



I bought my camera for 2 reasons - it was pretty, and it wasn't bulky. A friend of mine had suggested it to me when I was looking for a decent DSLR that would take pretty decent photos and was aesthetically pleasing. I've had it for 2 years and although I've read the manual I've never had any idea how to do anything other than use the auto function, which works fine and I'm perfectly happy with for most of the time but all too often I see photos of quilts that are so amazing and I just wish I could get similar results.



Anyhoo. That was the aim of the day. Tom Poultney is a Leeds based photographer who runs all kinds of workshops. I had signed up for the basic of the basic workshop - 5 hours of running through everything the camera does that you will need for shooting outdoors. From aperture to using the flash outside (who'd have thunk it?) I wasn't really very excited about going, because it was cutting into valuable sewing time and it involved me being outside with people I'd never met, and I am a scaredy cat at the best of times outside my little community of quilty types (let's face it - we're all a bit odd, aren't we?)



I HAD SO MUCH FUN! I WANT TO GO BACK AND DO IT AGAIN! Needless to say everything I learned has fallen out of my ears in the way that it does if I don't write it down there and then, but hopefully if I have a play around next week I can figure out what I was told and maybe then I'll write it down so I remember (I'd meant to bring a notebook with me to makes notes - but I forgot).

This picture is the one that made me the most giddy - it was a lovely day, quite bright, but not ridiculously so and we used the flash to take portraits. I love how the grass is green, the sky is blue and the people all look human rather than weirdly vampire-ish.



I rely on picmonkey for my photos all of the time - to tighten up the colours and the exposure and so on, all of these (whilst hardly amazing pictures) are completely un-edited - they're just as they came off my camera. I'm pretty impressed. I still have a lot to learn, and I want to go back and learn more...maybe if I'm brave I'll bring a quilt with me to take some pictures of that and figure out how to make the most of photographing large bed coverings in public places (I bet he won't have been asked that question before).

edited to add - this is my camera. It's an olympus e-p2, which is not a compact, and not an SLR but something in between. I don't really understand what that means, but the flash is separate, the view finder is too, any extras for it are crazily expensive. Honestly I don't think I'll ever need much more than the one lens I have (maybe a second, maybe for close up stuff, maybe not). You can pick the E-P range up on amazon at a pretty good price these days. One thing I do love about it is that at quilt market everyone really struggles with their photos, and on auto I manage to get some pretty ok pics in that awful lighting and with the glare of the bright red carpet (always a hideous bright carpet. ALWAYS). And wherever I take it someone always asks what it is. Because it's pretty.

Madrona Road

Madrona Road by Violet Craft for Michael Miller was one of the collections at Spring Market this May that really grabbed my attention. I really loved the colours, the story behind the line and the way there was a mix of scale that meant you could use the fabrics in all kinds of different ways.

Violet makes clothes, so she is incredibly conscious of scale in fabric - and a couple of the prints were so obviously designed with that in mind - in particular the backdrop in the photo above and the poppy print on a red background (it's really nice red, more orange red than London bus red, warm rather than angry).



I've been using some of the citrus colourway this week to make more giant granny square blocks (using my strip pieced tutorial but with 5" strips). I can't decide whether these will become 3 pillows or one really big body pillow. I also used an essex linen in steel, which was my second choice of background. Initially I thought I'd use a brown sketch but at the last minute the essex linen showed it's face from the depths of my fabric closet and it seemed a perfect fit.



Brenda has the full collection in stock now. As well as essex linen in steel. And as always you can use KATY15 for 15% off orders over $35 (excluding shipping). I used fat eighths of the citrus colourway (because I split my FQs with Lauli Pops) and a yard of essex linen in steel for 3 blocks that end up just under 20". So, FQs and probably 1.5 yards (because I had leftovers of the linen) would make double that, and so on.

Fatquartershop are expecting the collection in any day now too.

and one for the international peeps

I promised you a giveaway, right? I always follow through (actually sometimes I forget, but today I haven't).

In celebration of me hitting over 1,000,000 views Brenda over at the incredibly amazing Pink Castle Fabrics (where I seem to spend all of my family's food money - oops) has donated a fat quarter bundle of flea market fancy for one lucky international winner.
So that's one of you OUTSIDE of the UK and Europe (don't be sulking European peeps, you've got your giveaway here).

Look at the pretties. I love this collection so much, I have to admit I have 2 FQ bundles and a heap of yardage I got so excited when it came out.

I've been sewing up a storm with flea market fancy this week (well, I am kind of drowning in it). Mixing it with some of the Denyse Schmidt prints from Joann's into giant granny square blocks. I'll share my progress soon, but here's a sneaky peek....



The rules are simple and you get 4 possible chances to win (I know there's hoops to jump through, but it's worth it, I swear it's all for your good). Remember this giveaway is for anyone OUTSIDE of the UK and Europe only;

• leave a comment for one chance
• like Pink Castle Fabrics on Facebook for a second chance (come back and tell me you've done so in a second comment)
• sign up for the newsletter for a third chance (come on back and tell me you've done so in another comment)
• if you've signed up for stash stack club (I have - I'm so excited by it!) you get a bonus 4th entry, just come on back and let me know!

Good luck my little peeps. And don't forget you can go shopping whilst you wait to see if you won and use the discount code KATY15 for 15% off all orders over $35 (excluding shipping). That even works in the sale section, so if I were you I'd go stock up. I did earlier this week, it was practically free fabric by the time I'd added that coupon.

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED!

a million!

I've hit 1,000,000 views on this little blog over the weekend. Wow! One million - that's craziness. I don't usually pay attention to the stat counter thingy, but I noticed last week I was at 900,000 and some and I thought 'oooh, that's almost a million. wow! How did that happen?

As a thank you to everyone that has taken the time to pop in and say hi and visit I'm having a couple of giveaways - the first one is for UK and Europe folks only (don't ye fret, oh overseas friends - your giveaway will be coming later this week).

This giveaway is a gorgeous bundle of organic yum from Cloud 9 fabrics. I think I mention a lot how much I love these ladies, and everything they do. They have the organics market nailed - perfect mix of prints and colours and fabrics that are different enough to be striking without being so different that you think what the ? You know what I mean, don't you? Heck, I'm going to scrap that - it's not just the organics market they have nailed, it's the whole fabric design industry - they have such a great selection of amazing designers, so many amazing collections, the cloth they print on is really lovely, the fabrics wash so great, they're a pleasure to sew with. These 2 ladies, and let's be frank - they are just 2 ladies, not a whole massive company of hundreds of staff, just 2 girls with a whole lot of passion and the perfect blend of business acumen and design eye.
I said it after quilt market that I am totally not into nautical, but seven seas is drop down dead awesome. I'm not a fan of chevrons, but I want the chevrons (and everything else) in simpatico and I'm even doing that grabby hand thing that's so unattractive. Gimme gimme gimme that fabric.

Annie at the Village Haberdashery has offered up a fat quarter bundle of simpatico for one lucky winner. You will LOVE it. I swear you will, and if you don't then I'm sorry, we can't be friends anymore because you're clearly deranged. You can also read this lovely interview with Michelle and Gina of Cloud 9 on the Daily Stitch, the Village Haberdashery's blog with peeks of what's to come over the next year from Cloud 9 (too much good stuff, far too much, it's almost wrong how many fantastic lines are coming from those girls).

If you haven't visited Annie's store before, then you are in for a treat. It's beautiful. Annie is another one with a great business brain and an eye for putting fabric collections together that work beautifully. The shop is only small, but every single item is perfectly considered and chosen because it's the right fit for the shop. You can tell how hard Annie worked on getting the village haberdashery just right, from the website design to the products for sale. That girl done good.

• Rules are - 
• Leave a comment on this post for one entry
• Sign up for the Village Haberdashery newsletter (then leave me a comment saying you have) for a second entry
• Like the Village Haberdashery on Facebook (then come right on back here and tell me) for a third entry
• Do a little dance for a fourth entry (Ok, I made that up)

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED!

more photos than is strictly necessary

This quilt is the 3rd scrap vomit quilt I've made. Although technically this is the second, because it was started before (long before) Justine's quilt.



This one is all mine. SV1 was a birthday present for a friend of mine, SV3 was for Justine when she had baby H, so SV2 is staying put. Right here. In my house.



I had a lot of help with this quilt, so many amazing people made blocks or sent 2.5" squares. I'd put a call out on flickr well over a year ago asking if anyone would be willing to make me a block or 2 in return for fabric. Or if they'd swap me their ugly stuff for my nice stuff.  A whole lot of people said they would, which was amazing.



So in this version there are some great fabrics that I have never owned



And some very scary clowns, fussy cut for full effect



A cat that looks like it's had something shoved up it's bum (and isn't best pleased about it)


Sock monkeys and London cabs.



I sent this top (along with the granny squares top) to Sarah in upstate New York and told her to quilt it however she wanted. I would never in a million years have picked a yellow thread, and if she had told me she was thinking of a yellow thread I'd have told her I wasn't keen on that idea, but isn't it perfect? It shows up beautifully on the solids but blends in the prints. I also love the kind of snowflakey spiral design she used as well. I'm so happy that this quilt is mine, and so grateful to everyone that helped me make it.
Time to start a 4th? I think so. Anyone want to join me? The how to can be found here. We could swap ugly fabrics too. I'm not thinking full on quilt along, but if you want to make one alongside me, or maybe a few of us could make blocks for each other to get a variety of uglies then I'll start a thread in the SV appreciation society group on flickr and we can take it from there.

sew ichigo winners

3 lucky winners;

• number 17 is Ali @ cupcakes and biscuits
• number 114 is Gunilla
• number 88 is  Tiffany @pinks sweet treats

ladies - shoot me an email with your email address and I'll get the PDFs over to you! katyejones at hotmail dot com

Congratulations!

life is better with fabric

Hands up who loves text print fabrics? Ok, that's everyone. Me too. I once bought almost a bolt of one timeless treasures text print because I couldn't bear the thought of ever running out. It backed a couple of quilts, and I still have some left.
These beauties are from Sew Me A Song and Sew Fresh Fabrics. Peg and Becca together were Sew Fresh Fabrics but then Becca moved away because of a heap of good things and now has her own store called Sew Me A Song. You can read more about it on the Sew Fresh blog.  I love these 2 girls, both shops have a great selection of different stuff, stuff you might not see all over. Peg's store (Sew Fresh) is full of colour and fantastic bundles for building a stash. Becca's store (Sew me a Song) is full of Japanese fabrics and unusual collections that have that 'zakka' feel. They are my 2 favourite etsy stores. Period.



Brenda sent me a flat rate envelope literally stuffed to the gills with flannel scraps. She calls them scraps, but they are really rather generous sized pieces. I like her thinking that anything kind of smaller than a FQ is a scrap. There's probably enough here for a small quilt, which is exactly what this stack will become.  She has a lovely selection of scrap bundles in the store right now. I have never been disappointed with a scrap pack. Not once. They make me so happy.



 I just noticed she has Anna Maria Horner folksy flannels in the sale section at $7/yard. This past winter I made a heap of pillowcases for our bed with a yard of flannel perpillowcase. It's Summer now (you wouldn't know it) and I'm still using those pillowcases every day, they're so soft and I can't bear to pack them away until next winter!

It's a double edged sword when you hear a fabric store is closing. There's a whole lot of great bargains to be had, but someone's business has had to close. Too many closing down sales have been happening recently, and whilst I'm happy to get cheap fabric, it makes me feel guilty I didn't do anything to save that shop in the first place.

Venezie Fabrics is one of those stores, and I took advantage of the closing down sale to score some older fabrics I really love to add to my stash, at 50% off (the store shuts for good on July 22nd so hurry!)

granny squares - finished!

Finally the British Summer held out long enough for me to get some photos - by that I mean it didn't rain all day!

Here she is, back from Sarah, bound with a Michael Miller clown stripe (those stripes have to be among the best ever - great basics, if you can find them).



I love these 30s repros by Darlene Zimmerman. Love the cute little details in them, the mix of colours and how they work in this block. This collection is on sale right now at Lola Pink fabrics - less than $6 a yard.



I love the moda extra wide dotty I used for a backing too - those dotties just get better with washes, so soft. Snap them up while you can too, they've been discontinued. Brenda has a whole heap and they really do work out great value for money and the quality is amazing (don't forget you can also use KATY15 for 15% off orders over $35 at Pink Castle fabrics).



And I love how Sarah quilted it in a scrolly swirl design that you can't even really see, it just adds texture to the quilt and makes it perfectly crinkled. I was so pleased with the way it looked when it came back. You should totally think about sending a quilt to Sarah if you are looking for an East Coast based quilter (Sarah lives in upstate New York).



I've got to say thank you to Dana at Old Red Barn co for hosting the granny square quilt along, if it hadn't been for that I don't think I'd have got round to making this quilt. I strip pieced my blocks which made it come together so fast, you can find the how-to here.

The deets...
Fabrics are Adventures with Alice by Darlene Zimmerman for Robert Kaufman and white klona cotton
Binding is a Michael Miller clown stripe in orange.
Backing is steel gray dottie extra wide (108") by Moda Fabrics
Finished quilt size (after washing) 48"x69"

kool aid

Today the sun is shining, it's a balmy (note sarcasm) 58 degrees, the pollen count is crazy high, my eyes feel like I'm poking needles in them and my nose won't stop dripping. Oh joy.

Let's make a quilt!



The fabrics are a mix of Melody Miller's Ruby Star Shining and Brenda's co-ordinating solids. Plus a sneaky little Flea Market Fancy medallions that crept in because the green is such a good match for the Ruby Star Shining fabrics. An awful lot of the Flea Market Fancy prints are good matches for Ruby Star Shining, the colours and the retro prints really co-ordinate well.

I'm making a new version of the orange soda quilt from the Fat Quarterly book. Allegory is hosting a quilt along, there's a flickr group and it's a really fun quilt to make, it's simple, you can make it super super scrappy, even use charm squares or layer cakes. Sara made an enlarged version using layer cake squares, and I have to admit I was blown away by how effective it looked with those big squares. I'm making myself one too, one day one day. My new quilt is called Kool Aid, I bought some for Ginger when I was over in the US for Spring Market, we don't have it here in the UK, we're kind of anti artificial flavours, colours and stuff here. Fruit flavoured drinks have fruit juice in them, and I'm pretty sure the Mummy Police would be jumping all over anyone that actually gave their kids a powdered drink that you added a cup of sugar to (I remember it from being a kid and growing up close to an Air Base, and I can still taste the delicious sugary orange flavour in my head). When I got the bundle of solids in the mail that was the first thing that came into my head, colours like sachets of Kool Aid.

The first version I made was using echino, it's got all those petals fused on top of the mid weight echino fabrics, it's a great winter quilt, heavy and warm. I think a lot of people are wary of using heavier weight fabrics in quilts, or mixing the different weights like I am here with the cotton solids and the more home dec weight Ruby Star prints. Seriously, don't be worried. I wouldn't recommend you try it if you've never made a quilt before, but if you have sewn stuff and you don't make anything that's too complicated with teeny tiny pieces then give it a go. The different textures add something to the finished piece.
I have never had a problem with weird shrinkage when I've mixed weights, and I'm not a pre-washer. I haven't pre-washed any of these fabrics, I'll quilt it in a medium dense pattern (or Long Arm Chris will) probably, so it's still got a good amount of drape and doesn't end up too stiff because of all of the fused petals.

I was thinking about how often I've mixed weights, I seem to do it quite a bit. It can be something as simple as mixing a voile or lawn with a regular cotton, or mixing baby corduroy, cottons and velveteen. Even Hexy MF has voiles and cottons. I think one of my favourite quilts I made so far this year was that giant star using Jeni's tutorial, I used velveteens for the star and a cotton for the background. It's been washed, it hasn't been an issue at all and if anything the mix of textures makes it better.



I guess what I'm saying here is don't be afraid of using something like Ruby Star Shining for a quilt. It's great in pouches and pillows and everything - but it's also so cool for quilts. Give it a go, make something nice and simple and then you can at least say you gave it a whirl. I bet you'd love it.

You get 15% off orders over $35 at Pink Castle Fabrics if you use the code KATY15 too (and that includes the sale section!).

tumbleweeds

I've been a bit busy just lately, and hopefully that's pretty much done and dusted (for now) which should mean life can get back to normal and I can get on with fun stuff. This poor old blog has been a bit tumbleweedy just lately (but I kept you distracted with giveaways, didn't I? Sneaky.)

The Hexy MF quilt along is well underway, and I'm loving seeing all the posts on people's instagram feeds, twitter and flickr. I'm still shell-shocked there are so many of you guys crazy enough to quilt along with me. I decided that my quilt is going to be a smaller version of the Hexy MF. I was planning on doing another one the same size as the first, but do I really need 2? This smaller one will be easier to bring with me as a travel quilt, that's the plan I have for it. My own little travel rug. I can't wait.



The next post will be up on Fat Quarterly's blog at the weekend, it's all about sewing the flowers together into rows. I find the rows the trickiest bit, and I need to enrol a helpful daughter or husbeast as photography assistant so I can get some decent explanatory pics for you. It's not hard, it's just a bit awkward sewing those rows together.



I've managed to finally finish my own scrap vomit quilt, and the granny squares quilt I made using the strip pieced method. I picked both of these quilts up at quilt market in May. MAY! It's taken me almost 2 months to bind them, although I will admit I kept the binding as a treat for when I'd finished other bits and bobs of work and the like. If it would only stop raining I could get some photos. The weather is forecast to be dry tomorrow - let's knock on wood and hope it stays that way, I really want to show you these quilts. I sent them to Sarah who I met on flickr in the Swoon-along group and she long armed them for me, I love what she did - both are nice and simple, just an all over design, but they look so lovely. She did an awesome job. Is it crazy to admit I'm thinking I'll make another scrap vomit quilt? That'd mean the 4th. I just love love love them so much, the scrappiness and all the little snippets of fabric surprises (some of which are hideous - I'll share those in the next post!)

In case you haven't seen yet - the class details are up now on the Sewing Summit site. Registration for classes isn't open for another month, I think, but you can now check out what the classes will offer and start to plan which ones you're interested in. Yay!

giveaway winners

It's all about the low numbers this week according to Mr Random.Org 

The winner of the art gallery bundle of fabrics is Doris in Des Moines (which I have to say in a weird voice, anyone else have to say Des Moines in a weird overly American accent? Try it - it's fun. Or at least it is when you haven't really left the house in a while and you haven't slept much recently.) Des Moines - that's Iowa, right? Is that the mid west? My geography is shocking.

And lucky number 7 is Nicolette in Holland (or is it the Netherlands? Which is the correct term these days and what is the difference?) Nicolette wins the bundle of rainbow fabrics from Alice at Backstitch (incidentally -there's a flash sale on Quilt Blocks by Ellen Luckett Baker at Backstitch at the minute, it won't last long and there's 15% off Ellen's gorgeous line. I love this line. Love it so much).

I've never been to Holland, which is a travesty really, as it's only a skip and a jump across the water and  I know I'd love it. I'll put it on my list of places to visit or else.

Doris and Nicolette - shoot me an email at katyejones at hotmail dot com and I'll get those bundles out to you.

The sew ichigo giveaway is still going on - last day today, hurry hurry!

For Lauli-Pops

It's my friend Laura Jane's birthday this week, and although she's much, much younger than me, in my head we are about the same age. (She might see that somewhat differently).

Any-hoo. Once a month or so, the Kitchen Quilt Guild meets up in Lynne's kitchen for coffee, cake, chat and not much else other than lounging around and showing off what we have been up to lately. I love my friends so much, they're brilliant. They really are brilliant, not just a bit ok, they're super super awesome, and the meet ups we have keep all of us on the brink of sanity (I say the brink because we're all a little bit barmy to be quite honest)

The rules are that when it's someone's birthday, they get presents, so we had all made Lauli-Pops presents. You can see her pretty damn good birthday haul on her blog and to be quite honest she got a bit spoiled actually, probably because she's the baby and we all mother her. And also because she's just so very loveable.

I made her a rather large pouch to carry all her stuff around. She knits, so I wanted it to be big enough for knitting, although I'm not sure it actually is that big, and she embroiders and she hand sews, so she needs a big pouch to hold all this stuff she does. We all need big pouches. I don't believe it's possible to have too many pouches, is it? (This pouch is on my list of must makes shortly - I love Noodlehead's stuff)



Laura likes buttons too, so on the back I embroidered (not very well, because I am rubbish at it) her name and stitched some candy coloured buttons on.



The sun shone all day long, we all ate too much cake, and it was quite the perfect day. *sigh* today it's raining, raining in Biblical proportions. I'm expecting the ark to float by any second now.

sew ichigo

I'm sure you have all heard of Kerry and Penny, and I'm even more sure that you have at least a couple of their creations on your pinterest  boards or flickr favourites. I know I have. I think they are 2 of the most talented sewists out there, and if you're not aware of them or their blogs you really need to add them to your readers right now.

Together they've created an awesome little pattern business called sew ichigo, and Kerry generously offered me 3 sets of patterns to give away.

I am absolutely terrified of paper piecing like this, I could english paper piece all day long, but paper piecing and me do not get on well...although I am determined to overcome my ridiculous fears and make myself a cute little coffee pot block to add to a pouch.

Both Kerry and Penny have a fantastic eye for detail, and they write patterns that are incredibly straightforward and concise. I know that because paper piecing patterns usually confuse the heck out of me and theirs make it sound like I could actually get this nailed without too many tears.

If you'd like to win a set leave a comment and I'll pick 3 winners in a week.

If you are looking for the backstitch giveaway you'll find it here and the Art Gallery giveaway is here. It's giveaway central this week on the blog!!!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED!

Lucky Rainbow - a giveaway!!!!!

 oooh - what are these pretties? Stacks of rainbowy loveliness. Mmmmm. I luffs you pretty fabrics.

It's a new bundle of yum from Alice at backstitch. And I have a bundle to give away. Oh yay. Shall I just keep it? I'd quite like to actually. But that would be selfish (I actually would like to just keep it, and let it be known if it were here in my house and not at Alice's shop, I would keep it and pretend I lost it, or the dog ate it, so count yourselves lucky, alright? I'm not even joking.)

What I like best about this bundle (called Lucky Rainbow) is that it's a lucky dip of fabrics, a bundle of 10 prints in rainbow colours consisting of present and past fabrics from Alice's shop. The good thing is all of her fabrics are gorgeous, so you're not going to get a bum deal and it's like getting a surprise gift, because you don't know exactly what's coming.

I like surprises like that. They're the best kind.

Do you want to win one? You can! There are a couple of teensy rules though.

• You must be living in the UK or Europe
• You must say something nice (about anything - the weather, your neighbour, the dog, anything at all)
• You must bring me cake and tea

Ok - the last rule is made up.

Leave a comment and I'll pick a winner in a week (July 10th) and try ever so hard not to accidentally give Alice my address instead of yours when I tell her the winner.

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED!