Birthday Giveaway :)

Thank you for all my birthday wishes - I'm 45 today ... that seems such a big number but I'm not counting!! I have had a lovely day - worked the first half of the day and came home to lots of cards and prezzies and DH had bought me flowers and put some pink bubbles in the fridge which we're now drinking ... Mmmmmm :)

We're chilling at home tonight (hence my blogging!) as my 'birthday night' is a West End dinner and The Bodyguard musical on Thursday night ... yay! I love the film (must have seen it a dozen times) and I hear the singing performances are fantastic - I'll let you know :)

My bestest two presents were sewing related ... of course! Firstly, I have wanted a pink rotary cutter for like forever. Don't ask me why ... it's just a 'tool' (apparently!) so it shouldn't matter but I wanted one. 

You can't buy them anywhere in the UK, I couldn't even find them in the good ol' US of A but 'down under', they sell them! And if you find a lovely eBay seller like Shelley, she will post stuff really quickly from Australia to the UK :) So, here's present #1:

Now, present #2 is another eBay find. Note to self: 'read the product description properly'!! I am very very pleased with this sewing cabinet but I honestly don't think in centimetres - we might have had decimalisation since the 1970s but me? I only do feet and inches so when I saw its dimensions were 60cm x 30cm x 30cm, I definitely thought it was going to be a bit bigger than this ... hey ho:

I love it, it's 'cute' and I am sure I'll fill those 'little' drawers up with something!

So, onto my birthday giveaway. I am starting a new project this week: I think it's going to be a 70" x 50" lapquilt - not entirely certain until I draw it all out. Here are the fabrics I'll be using:

The prize is I will make you a cushion (pillow) or an iPad Case or a Pants Bag (check out my Other Finishes 2013 page) of your colour choice and I'll also throw in some surprise Fat Quarters for you.

So you get one chance to win just for leaving a comment on this post saying what you'd like me to make you and in what colours and a second chance if you guess correctly what the theme is of the quilt I'll be making! 

The Giveaway is open to everyone. It closes next Tuesday at 2100 UK time. Happy guessing!! 

Giveaway now closed = 2100hrs on 30th April

Shopping!!!!

Dad always said his sister (my dear Aunty G) was a "compulsive shopper" as every time she turned up for a visit, she'd come bearing him gifts! Anything from a pair of marigolds (washing up gloves) to a charity shop teapot; it gave him endless hours of amusement guessing what she'd bring him each time!! She also is a great bargain hunter so they'd both be proud of me this week as I have shopped ... compulsively ... and found some bargains.

First up at my LQS (Yarnia) this week, the lovely Nicci 'talked me into' signing up for a bag workshop next month and when she showed me the new fabric we'd be using - a gorgeous linen feel - I talked myself into buying 1/2 a metre and some matching white spots on red for my stash! Whilst I was there, I also bought some Moda Spraytime fat quarters and yardage for my next project (more about that soon!) and some red and white border fabric for Grandma's quilt. It was really lovely to see Nicci and to meet and chat with some of the Linus Ladies and thanks, Ladies, for your advice on the 'balls' :D

Some online shopping too and DH bought me a birthday present which is coming all the way from Australia!! (Well, truth be told DH doesn't actually know how to shop online but the greeting card will say it was from him!) Hoping it will arrive in time but it doesn't matter because I'm soooooooo excited - you know how much I love pink?

Some more online shopping - thank goodness for Google - and I found some Moda wood grain yardage I'm going to need for my new project:

And this afternoon, I had to return to Hobbycraft (don't hate me, Nicci!) for some extra backing fabric for Grandma's quilt and they had a sale on! The Robert Kaufman 'Fusions' I'd bought a metre of two weeks ago for the front of the quilt for £14.79 (ouch, I know!) was reduced to £6 a metre and all this Andover Dimples and baby quilt fabric was reduced to £3 a metre - a 70% off  bargain - so after a spend of ... £84, I walked out with all of this (24 metres!) :

My Daddy would be so proud of me - and dear Aunty G, it's time to pass down the title for I surely am the 'Ultimate Compulsive Shopper', am I not :D