Playing with fabric :)

Slowly but surely, I'm moving my supplies back into the loft / sewing room. I could leave it until the weekend but I'm hoping to do a little bit after work each night so that I can spend ALL day Saturday sewing :D

Thank you from me and DH for all the lovely comments you left about our decorating efforts - the pink Annie Sloane 'accents' were a hit with you too!

So, tonight I moved all my fabric back - I was up and down the ladder 6-7 times ... erm, there is quite a bit of it! I know I don't have the largest stash (go and Google 'large fabric stash' and look at the images of some very very large stashes!) but I was quite flabbergasted to see it all piled up:

And shame, there was even some I had forgotten about which I really need to use up:

Everything over 1/2 yard went back into the hanging baskets (wrapped around comic boards) and my fat quarters went back onto the cd shelf:

So far, it's all looking good up there. I'm not allowing myself any new purchases (fabric, storage or furniture) until it's all unpacked and I can assess what I need (not what I want!) Tricky ... very tricky :)

Best I get creating sooooooooooon!!

Linking up:

Sewing room ... we're getting there :)

DH and I have been hard at it since yesterday morning and all our hard work has paid off ... we have finished decorating the loft / sewing room tonight and I can start moving alll my stuff back up there next week ... yay!!!

He's an absolute star ... as I am writing this, he has just popped out to buy us some chocolate ... well, I reeeeeeeeally needed some:

You'll remember before all the fixing the unsafe roof-building work began, we had to empty the loft and the room looked like this:

And this was where we'd got to when we stopped at 7pm tonight: 

Whilst DH pva glued the new plaster yesterday, I discovered an amazing new painting experience - Annie Sloane's chalk paint ... in pink - of course! My new blanket airer (quilt holder?!) got the treatment first:

Followed by my last year charity shop find cubby hole display unit:

Then a cheap old TV table we'd forgotten we had:

The walls are painted 'apple white' and whilst I had that pink paintbrush in my hand, the door trims got a coat too!

It's amazing stuff - one coat covers all (except the dark brown varnished display unit - it needed two) and so nice to use. DH even gave the inside of the ugly old windows a coat:

Very happy ... very proud of what we've achieved ... oh, and very very tired :)

Finally finished ... with a day to go!!

Nothing like putting yourself under a bit of pressure! This was the final stitch going into the Snooker Table Quilt - 'Time for a Break' on Wednesday night:

Jackie's leaving do was yesterday! She retired from our organisation after 42 years exemplary service. She laid on a wonderful afternoon tea and cakes for us (I love cake!) and there were lots of colleagues past and present gathered to say goodbye and wish her well.

I've blogged quite a bit about the journey of making this quilt starting with this post in April (my birthday giveaway) when you had to guess what I was going to make out of this bundle of fabric:

There were some funny answers along the way! I am still amazed at how we quilters take a bunch of ingredients, mix them together and produce such loveliness ... aren't we lucky!?

There were some tricky moments too - I never did perfect my balls, which remained a little 'wonky':

Why work to a pattern when you don't have to?! I used a Google image as my inspiration and pretty much made it up as I went along. The corners took some planning and I did keep them square in the end. And just when I thought I had finished the top, Julie asked if I was going to add a 'stick'?! So I did :)

I sewed all the team's signed messages onto the back of the quilt:

And this is the finished front:

After the boss did his speech, they asked me to say a few words and and hand Jackie our gift:

Snooker is Jackie's passion - she gets so excited watching it on TV, she has never trusted herself to go and watch a live tournament! Her absolute hero is Steve Davis OBE (famous world snooker champion in the UK) and not only was he kind enough to autograph a patch (his got pride of place in the centre of the quilt), he also provided a signed photograph:

She was a very very very happy lady yesterday! I'm chuffed I helped put that big smile on her face:

Congratulations, dear Jackie, enjoy your retirement, we will miss you xx

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

Did we buy the house?!?

I know my little band of faithful followers are dying to know how the house viewing went on Saturday? You're not?! Well, I'm just going to bore you with all the details anyway :)

Remember the outside:

Well, it was as lovely inside ... not perfect (it's been a holiday home for 9 years and, honestly, you could tell) but it had lots of character and it was still very tempting! Look at the quarry tiles and that Belfast sink on bricks in the downstairs loo:

And the imposing wooden staircase:

And a great sized utility room (never had one, always wanted one):

There were glorious old wooden latch doors, parquet flooring and floorboards everywhere. More than enough space to live and quilt in. So, lots of positives ... but ... it wasn't for us. There was an issue of shared access to half of the drive (leading to a range of local authority outbuildings behind the house used for forestry purposes), there were two large ponds adjacent to the property (actually one looked a bit 'swampy') which would be mosquito paradise and I am mosquito fodder at the best of times and there were a lot of different sized steps all around the house and gardens which wouldn't be visitor friendly enough for us.

I'm sure it will be a wonderful home for someone ... just not for us, sadly :(

On the bright side, we had a wonderful weekend with family in Chester and my dear Aunty G joined us for the house viewing and afterwards for a most delicious lunch at the fabby Pant-yr-Ochain country pub (we were in Wales, remember!) and it was as pretty as its picture:

Back home and we're still in major house upheaval but hoping to get the loft / sewing room painted this weekend. Might have to ask one of DH's friends to help us out ... so not a lot of sewing to share. 

I did make a linen Pants Bag after work tonight. This one is for Lucy who is leaving work to go travelling and I thought this might be a fun gift for her to pack her pants in on her travels:

Remaining optimistic ... I know the right house is out there :)



Linking up to Plum and June's Let's get Acquainted Monday link-up hosted this week by Laura C @ little and lots

and also to Quilt Story's - Fabric Tuesday and Janice @ Better off Thread's Sew Cute Tuesday :)

If you're popping by on Tuesday (June 11th), do please go and visit the lovely Shauna @ lovinquiltin and and leave her a birthday blogging message! 

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 :)

Happy times :)

Because of the loft / sewing room work and family visiting, all my sewing stuff has been put away so there has been no sewing for a week but what a lot of fun we've been having. Please indulge me as I share some great (non-sewing) times with you from the past few days.

On Saturday, we couldn't have a painting party because the plaster wasn't dry enough :( so DH and Stuart worked in the garden clearing the rotten decking away:

SIL and I chilled out, did some chores and after lunch, I started sewing some of the personalised patches onto the back of the Snooker Table Quilt ... and look what was on the TV:

Sunday was DH's birthday and he got a 'camouflage Onesie' from his niece ... thanks Hannah!! 

After a delicious 'special birthday breakfast', we headed off to Greenwich for the day - mooched round the market, visited the Cutty Sark and enjoyed the sunshine:

Later on, DH decided to hide in the garden in his new 'Onesie'... can you spot him?? I cannot describe how hilarious it was - tears were rolling down our faces - bless him, we laughed and laughed ... I'm still chuckling now, the silly beggar:

And today, the four of us headed off to Rye in East Sussex - a small but beautiful medieval town full of Antique shops - we  stopped for a drink at the Mermaid Inn (dates back to 1156):

Had a lovely lunch at Carey's Fish Restaurant:

We all found little things to buy. I bought a new blanket airer to hang my quilts over (when I get to round to making some!) and some Cath Kidston linen fabric to make a bag for SIL's birthday:

Back to work tomorrow - but with a light heart and an aching face from all the laughing. We're very lucky to have such wonderful family and the memories of the last few days will stay with us forever :)

No time for sewing :(

Busy busy busy week so no time for any new quilting projects :(

Have finished FM quilting the Snooker Table Quilt, though:

And the builders have finished the loft / sewing room. Can't wait to get back in there with all my sewing loveliness:

Nell hid in the cupboard when the builder came for his money (I did feel like joining her ... yes, take all my money - ouch!)

Dear SIL and hubby are visiting us for a long weekend ... Yay! After a couple (or four!) of these:

Deb and I ended up in the hot tub:

We may have a painting party today, we may garden or go out somewhere for the day ... whatever we do, I know we'll have fun :) Wishing you all a happy weekend too! 

Linking up with Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts - Finish it up Friday and Karen @ Sew Many Ways - Find a Friend Friday :)