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 :)

They say it comes in threes ...

... and that was true in our house last week. First, the tumble drier finally gave up the ghost (it was repaired in January but the guy wasn't optimistic!) Luckily, the shop delivered a new one on Saturday and it's drying our towels as I write.

Next, because of the major house upheaval (fingers crossed the builders will finish by Wednesday), I set the ironing board up in a different place with a different plug. I wasn't looking where I was going and tripped over the lead and the iron crashed to the floor and the front smashed open. I tried to fix it but no joy :( Oh well, I just plugged in my quilting iron (longer lead too!) and carried on :)

Yesterday, I plugged the iron in, had just finished ironing some binding, turned it off at the plug and there was a flash and a bang ... after resetting the fuses, I tried it again in a different plug but it smelled real bad! Goodbye quilting iron :(

So shopping today for two new irons! Beauty and the Beast describes them well, I think:

But life is surely about balance? And good things come in threes too? Here are the best three of the good things that happened in my life last week.

1) Lucky me got a day off work to attend a great bag workshop on Tuesday :)

2) Finished quilting my Snooker Table Quilt yesterday :)

3) Went to my dear friend's (Swedish Wedding) UK party last night and there was an ABBA Tribute band!! Had the best time in the company of some really lovely people. Also got to meet up with some friends I haven't seen for ages :)

No disastrous lows in the grand scheme of things but some wonderful highs ... 

Loving the new bags!!

I blogged about making this linen bag at a wonderful workshop on Tuesday:

I won't lie ... parts of it were tricky to make and without the patience and expertise of our lovely tutor, Kate Higgens, there's no way I would have completed it from just a pattern. And I don't know about you ... I need to repeat things - soon - if I'm to learn to do them on my own.

So, after work today, I set about doing just that. I took lots of photos so that I can refer back to this post as a mini-tute in the future because I will be making loads of these gorgeousnesses!!

Step 1 - choose your fabric. No linen in my stash so this bag will be made from 100% cotton - I've chosen three different fabrics for the main bag area, the handles and the lining:

Step 2 - cut up the fabrics: this takes a bit of time but it's good to do it all at the beginning:

Step 3 - make the handles, parts of this are more fun than others!

Make the bag and add interfacing (Vilene or Pellon) and start putting it all together. Note to self - do not fix handles to the bag this way:

But, if you do, please notice it before you've finished the bag! That way, you don't have to do all that unpicking ... DOH :(

Attach handles (properly) this way:

Then do the lining:

Add a flower and a tie and - ta daaaaaaaah! Here it is - a birthday gift for dear niece:

Learnt a lot today ... it's good when that still happens, hey?

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

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WIP Sewing Room ...

You will know from this post all the tidying and clearing we had to do to empty the loft / sewing room for the arrival of the builders on Monday. Our house is in upheaval but we have brilliant builders and they are really cracking on with it.

This was the room all tidied on Sunday evening:

And yesterday - see the lack of insulation in some areas ...

and no vertical supports ... 

those bolts are new ...

In brief, between the two sets of builders over 15 years who created the original loft room and the extension, they didn't build it properly and worst case scenario - the roof coud have collapsed. Thankfully, this wonderful builder crossed our path at exactly the right time and we've been able to get it fixed. They've worked hard again today:

I cant wait to get to the fun part when we  I get to choose paint colours, furniture placement and rebuilding my sewing space ... can you see a potential design wall here ... I am a lucky girl :)

Bestest Bag Workshop :)

I bunked off work today (took a day's leave) to attend a bag workshop at my LQS - Yarnia ... hosted by the fabby Nicci and taught by the very talented Kate Higgens who was so patient and made it such a fun learning day for me and the 4 other lovely students.

From 10am - 4pm, we happily sewed away (it was such a relaxed day) and all made the same bag in different colours and sizes and everyone finished their bag by home time :) this was the first time I had sewn with linen and it was really nice.

I learnt how to make a flower:

And a bra all in one handles:

Doesn't this look painful? It pulled through ... eventually!!

Here's everyone's finished bags:

Me and Kate (I'm such a teacher's pet!):

And my bag: 

I love it ... I'm so chuffed - put it on Facebook - big mistake ... HUGE ... as the orders have already started to come in!!

Linking up with Heather and Megan @ Quilt Story - Fabric Tuesday