Birthday giveaway :)

I had a wonderful birthday! I'm so blessed with great family and friends and they all made me feel very cherished - IG and Facebook messages, texts, phone calls, cards, gifts and great company throughout the day ... it doesn't get much better, hey? 

DH and I went out during the day. I had an ice cream on the beach AND we even found a friendly little quilting shop - Tailor Made - totally unplanned ... honest!

Today, I finished my new sewing machine accessories using these fabulous fabrics gifted to me from the lovely Carla @ creatin in the sticks:

See this post for some of the techniques I used. The sewing machine mat is so handy - I keep my seam rippers, scissors, tape measures in the pockets so I always know where they are:

The cover keeps all that yucky dust off my darling Juki when she's sleeping:

And the little bag is for all my leaders and enders:

Here's it all together:

So here's my giveaway. I need to make a quilt for our God-daughter's 18th birthday (and for her to take to University later this year) and here are my main fabrics - I'll probably add some pinks:

I need some ideas. What block would you choose? Leave me a comment below and I will put everyone's name into a draw on Wednesday night (7pm UK time). Your prize is - I will make you a sewing mat - you choose it's size and colours - and I will add some co-ordinating fabrics for you to make the other accessories (if you want to or you can just keep the fabrics).

Have a lovely weekend :)

You made me 'do a Gwyneth' !!

Yes, you lovely followers you, when I woke up yesterday morning and immediately grabbed my iPad (as you do!) and read all your wonderful comments on Friday's post about my quilting and blogging, I must confess I ... large GULP ... got a little teary :'-)

It woke DH up so I read him some of your comments and then, being the drama queen I am, I did a bit of this:

With my own, "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for xxx and I also want to thank xxx so much for their help and support"... it made us both laugh ... you probably had to be there but take my word for it ... it was funny! Thank you x

And so, drum roll, please ... who is the lucky winner of the Christmas FQs: 

It's: 

Congratulations dear Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts who left me this sweeeeeeet comment:

Oh, Jennifer you are a fabby quilting blogger and we love you! Congratulations on your 200th post! That is exciting! Love your house blocks pants bag. Regarding the quilting across and bumping up..... I wish I had an answer for that one. But I am getting pretty good at burying knots!

Thank you for the opportunity to win those festive fat quarters! I have been on a Christmas project kick and would sew love to use those on a table runner or stocking. Did you know there are only 74 days left until Christmas?

Isn't she a darling? 

And, as promised, I have spent a lot of time sewing over the weekend! After a quick trip into Rochester to buy some batting and a little bit of fabric, I made a start on a baby boy quilt for my friend Laura at work, who has given birth to Matthew - pleased to say Mummy and baby both doing well. Inspired by the new fat quarter I bought, (bottom left), I pulled all the other fabric from my stash: 

It wouldn't be me if I chose something easy peasy! Also, why keep it simple and follow the pattern exactly when you can shake it up, add inches and have to work it all out because you want one bigger teddy bear rather than four small ones?!

It's actually been lovely to work on and here's a WIP photo: 

And, just because I could, I made a start on this Makower Advent Calendar (bought the panels weeks ago): 

I've had the best weekend, hope you enjoyed yours too :) 

Thank you Nina and an adventure to share!

Still no sewing in Glinda's busy Oz - well, it's a bit difficult to create when everything's packed away!!

But someone else has been busy making things, haven't you?! Naughty Nina @ Quilts, Life and Balance thank you very very much. Like me, she has a small blog following, please pop over and say hi :)

Nina won one of my Giveaway Pants Bags (a pink one!) and couldn't help herself ... she just had to send me some pink loveliness in return! Look what was waiting for me when I got home from work today:

I love the Glinda fridge magnet! The dishcloth is one of Nina's 'knitting endeavours' and the pink flannel has been sewn into sections and a tie added to make into a cute roll-up! Perfect timing as we are packing an overnight bag and going on a little adventure tomorrow! 

We are going to view a house in North Wales (about 200 miles from London). It will be our 'retirement' home in 5 years time so it's a little premature in the grand scheme of things! We've fallen for it by looking at it (constantly!) on the computer and just have to go and see it to see if we really really love it:

If you believe in fate, signs, good luck, timing, que sera or even a message you find in a pink Chinese Fortune Cookie:

... then it will all work out! And if not, we get to spend a little time with family :)

Was it something I said??!!

Rescue cats ... do you have one? Has yours got over their bad experiences? I think mine has abandonment issues ... still ... after nearly 4 years! Ok, Nell, so we went away two weekends on the bounce but you were looked after really well whilst we were away so just because Mummy decides to sew tonight doesn't mean you should be rude:

The complete opposite of her bad behaviour on the swingometer has to be acknowledgement. Look at the pretty presents I received in the post today with a lovely thank you card from Fran @ Patchy Rose who won my Giveaway:

Too nice, Fran ... and naughty but thank you :) And speaking of gratitude, I forgot to share this little Pants Bag with you which I made just after my birthday for DH's colleague, Mandy. She kindly covered his duty on my birthday afternoon so that he wouldn't be late off work ... it was the least I could do:

And a wonderful acknowledgement was the response I received today from the legendary World Class Snooker Champion - Mr Steve Davis OBE. 

You will know from this post that I am making a 'Snooker Table' Quilt for my colleague Jackie who is retiring next month after 42 years service. When I thought about getting colleagues to write goodbye message patches to sew into the back of the quilt, I wondered if I asked Steve Davis what would his response be? He his Jackie's hero. Like BIG time :)

One of my most adhered to mottos in life is, 'If you don't ask, you won't get.' Not that I encourage avarice (because I don't) but if the occasion fits, and I felt this did, then I think you should go for it. I contacted Mr Davis' Management Company and explained the reason for my request and asked if there was any chance he could sign a patch for me. 

Look at this - and a signed photo too:

I'm beyond thilled! And I think Jackie will have kittens! Thank goodness, it'll take some attention away from my wonky balls!!



Linking up with Janice over at Better Off Thread:

Who's done ALL her work?!

That would be ... MEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeee :)

With minutes to spare before the Post Office closed, I posted the other two giveaway prize Pants Bags this afternoon (1st prize sent on Wednesday) and I am so happy because all three lovely ladies will get their gifts soon. I know they didn't mind waiting (was in Sweden last weekend - was the wedding really only a week ago??) but I know what I'm like when I'm waiting for a gift ... impossibly impatient ... so here they are!

First up for Fran @ Patchy Rose who asked for a purple PB. This scrappy block making was something new for me and I sewed it on to Vilene for extra stability and did just a little straight line quilting - I think it worked? I'll let Fran tell you what it looks like in 'real life' but I hope she likes it! 

Then, for Shauna @ lovingquiltin who asked for pinks or blues or greens ... Well, if you give me too much choice, you'll get too much colour, Shauna! Sorry, but I couldn't stick to one colour so you got all three:

And last, but not least, Nina @ Quilts, Life and Balance who asked for pinks and browns. Now, having a lot of pink in my stash but not so much brown, I was really chuffed when these 3 FQs 'jumped' off the shelf to come together:

Don't you just love it when that happens? I made a star on one side: 

And with the cut off triangles scraps, a centre square:

Which I framed:

It's so hard making stuff for other quilters - do you agree - especially when all the winners are so talented! (I stalked their 'older posts' to see what they've made!!)

Three different Pants Bags - each unique and special - just like their new owners! Three parcels off to the UK, Canada and USA ... lucky me getting to sprinkle some happy dust all over the World! Yeah ... get over myself, I know :)

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday

and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

WIP Wednesday updates :)

Back in the land of sewing - a happy quilter am I :)

I haven't made much progress on the Snooker Quilt but I did make a mock-up of a corner pocket using some scraps. It was tricky because I have to get the scale right otherwise it will look silly. I think this should work okay and will make one out of the 'real quilt fabric' tomorrow so fingers crossed that works out better than my wonky balls:

And for the fabby Fran @ Patchy Rose, who won my Birthday Giveaway and asked for a purple Pants Bag, I wanted to try something new so I dug out my purple scraps and some 1/2 yards I've been hanging on to for a special occasion! Had a flick through one of my books for some inspiration:

And here is a bit of scrappy loveliness which will find its way into the completed bag:

I won't show any more photos until I know Fran has received her parcel so that she can have a nice surprise :)

Linking up with the lovely Lee @ Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday

Giveaway Winner ... Winners!!

Hey lovely quilters, I am pleased to announce the winner of my birthday giveaway - oh, what the heck, let's have more than one winner!!

Because you all left comments and guesses over 3 posts (and some had multiple wrong guesses!!), the fairest way was to write everyone's name on a piece of paper once and then write the names of those who guessed correctly on another piece of paper (so getting two chances.) 

The correct guess was SNOOKER!! Yes, dear Jackie is an avid and passionate snooker fan (well, it takes all sorts as my Nen used to say!)

Here's where I'm up to so far - a long way still to go and I will have to sort my balls out - they don't look too bad here but close up .... hmmmm:

So, names in a bag, shake 'em up! The winner of my rainbow colours (Red and Yellow and Pink and Green, Orange and Purple and Blue) pack of fat quarters (FYI, there's a couple of 1/2 yards in there):

is ... drum roll, please:

Well done, Fran (@ Patchy Rose) Congratulations!! You get the FQs and I will also make you a purple Pants Bag :)

But you all made this such fun (my little band of munchkins!) and it is still my birthday week (until midnight tonight!) and I got lots of nice presents and cards and had a fabby night out, I wanted to share the giveaway love a bit wider! So, next out of the bag is:

Congratulations, Shauna (@ lovingquiltin) but you'll have to let me know what you'd like - a Pants Bag, a Cushion or an iPad Case :)

and one more? Ok then, you twisted my arm:

Congratulations,  Nina (@ Quilts, Life and Balance) I will also make you a Pants Bag in the colour (s) of your choice :)   

What fun - I really am very fond of you all - even though we've never met and, sadly, probably never will :( you make me smile with your wonderful comments and I love our exchanges, visiting your blogs and getting to see what you make.

I will email all the winners to request posting details and confirm those orders! Thanks to everyone for joining in - I wish you could have all won ... still, there's always next time!!

Making balls ...

Although they're not very round! Does anyone know how to make appliquéd circes without lumpy edges??

I have started today on my new project blogged about in my giveaway posts here and here.

I have done some drawings and think my finished quilt will be around 75" x  50" so I cut my background fabric into 9" squares - it was tight ... this was the last cut and just look at that pretty pink rotary cutter :)

I need to make a lot of balls ... and applique them onto the background fabric.  I also need to make corners and pockets ... here I go ... AGAIN - why couldn't I make this easy on myself?? 

Using my button tin for the 'pockets':

Here's the story. We have a dear colleague at work - Jackie - she's retiring after 42 years service. As is tradition, she will have a leaving party in June and there will be a collection amongst the team for a gift. I don't know Jackie that well but she's a character and when I started to think about her leaving gift, I just felt ... unhappy? ... that she would leave after 42 years with a card and a good present but perhaps without a sense of what she's given to our organisation and what she's meant to the team. 

We had one of our weekly management meetings and the thought just came to me (Don't tell them - I often dream about quilts during these meetings!) ... I'll make her a quilt. And I'll get all the Team Leaders to sign a patch with their personalised message which I'll sew into the back. Brilliant ... what could be easier? 

'Any other business?', the boss asked and I floated my idea. They LOVED it! 'The only thing is,' I said, 'is that I don't know Jackie that well - what she likes, what she doesn't like so does anyone have any ideas?' 

One more clue (if you haven't got it already), as my colleague pointed out - every year (at this time), Jackie takes 2 weeks leave to watch this tournament, televised every day from a city called Sheffield. She loves it that much! So that's why there's wood, green fabric and lots of balls :)

Giveaway / Birthday updates :)

Once upon a time, a birthday girl got up at 0530 for work. Having worked a full day, she met her DH in the pub near Earls Court and they had a drink:

The happy couple then skipped their way to a floating pub on the River Thames and had another drink whilst admiring the view. Look at that sky! Has Spring finally arrived?

Now, as 12 hours had passed since the birthday girl woke up, the sensible thing would have been to NOT have another alcoholic drink. So, they left the floating pub and made their way to a tasty Italian Restaurant just off the Strand ... but birthday girl was a THIRSTY girl:

Which is why birthday girl looked a little 'special' when she arrived at the theatre two hours later!!

What a most enjoyable night. Heather Headley and Lloyd Owen played their lead parts brilliantly. The cast were so talented and believable, the music was sublime, the story was cleverly adapted for the stage,  there was an excellent mixture of humour and drama and Ms Headley's vocals were outstanding - all the audience were singing and rocking on their feet to the encore ... in short, it was an INCREDIBLE show!!

Birthday girl was very sleepy on the train home and had no energy for sewing after a day at work (what a surprise!!) so no Friday Finish today :(

But, birthday 'miniature' cabinet is slowly getting filled with scraps:

And a surprise present from my little sister arrived through the post: 

And I have loved your guesses at the next project! To recap, from these fabrics:

I will start tomorrow to make a sporting themed quilt - a sport played between 2 opponents.  Do you need another clue?

These are the fat quarters you can win, as well as a gift of your choice. Sadly, as can be seen, our sunshine didn't stick around today:( 

Full Giveaway details on this post.