Another Winning Scot........

So, Mr Murray wasn't the only success story yesterday.

Some of you might recall me posting this, a few weeks ago -

I made it with the intention of entering it into the Quilters' Guild Regional Day in Perth, last Saturday. I wasn't able to go in person but our local Guild Rep, Tricia, kindly took it along and submitted it for me.................
............and it came in FIRST!! Woo hoo, I am well chuffed.

And how brilliant to receive a rosette that matches my fabrics so well!!

Yesterday, I also received my free Spoonflower fat 1/4 - all it cost was $2 shipping, thanks to Susan for alerting me to the offer. I snapped up this gorgeous Princess & the Pea fabric, I love it.

And last weekend, I made some cushions for my impatient daughter - we had shopped for the fabric a week before and she seemed to think four new cushion covers would just miraculously appear. (By the way, The Cotton Print Factory shops are slowly beginning to stock quilting cottons, they have started with some Amy Butler @ £9.95m.)

So Tired, So Happy!!

A Few Good Things

I had meant to post a little sooner than this but you know how it goes, so I am just going to share a few things from last week. Of course I already posted about my super BQS3 Mini from Trudi.

I made a couple of Crazy Patchwork blocks for Judith's Bee Blessed.

I did a little shopping..............for Christmas makes - it's Santa Claus is Coming to Town - Christmas Pageant in Green by Marisa and Creative Thursday for Andover

and a little Lollipop by Sandy Gervais for Moda (and old line)

          that I bought to play with my little pile of Lucy's Crab Shack and Pure.........I am building a stash

                   because I am joining in with Leanne's Mod Pop sew a long and I plan a big quilt.

One of the lovely ladies in my class has spent several months in Canada this summer. I think she did a lot of border hopping and managed to fit in a little shopping for teech! Some new dies for Gordon, my Go!! Thanks again Denise.

Yesterday I managed to jump in and join Mouthy Stitches Part 2 - we are going to be swapping tote bags, looking forward to that one. This is my inspirational mosaic.

And this morning I managed to complete my penultimate Zakka project, the Happy Garland Memo Hoop. My photo appears a wee bit blurry but it's too late now to take another. I used up scraps of my 1001 Peeps and made it to match the bunting I made for grand daughter Ava's nursery, that also matched the quilt.....  

Now I need to go link up my hoop before I miss the deadline.

A Good Day

One of the most exciting parts of taking part in online swaps is remembering that you too will receive something - the BQS3 swap has just come to fruition and I have been in all three.
Today I rushed to the front door when I heard the postie open it, and then the thump!! My mini quilt had arrived..........as soon as I saw the sender's name on the back of the package, I whooped out loud - it was from the super talented Trudi  and only yesterday I had left a comment on this flickr picture -

When I woke up this morning I thought about that quilt and wondered if it just might be on its way to me - and it was!! She has called it Sketchy NYB as all the coloured points are made from the very popular Timeless Treasures Sketch fabric, one of those clever understated prints that can be brilliant for adding texture to a quilt.

I really love how these colours sing against the background grey. Now I thought Trudi had quilted this baby on her long arm machine and I was rather chuffed to have something that had received this treatment - but she absolutely took my breath away when she told me she had done it using the normal, free machine quilting technique, it is exquisite. I took my mini along to class tonight - several of my students are doing NYB this year so they were so interested in seeing Trudi's version, and they too were in awe of her skills.

And here it is in my house, along with a lovely notebook with quilted cover and some yummy chocolate.

It's been a good day.Thanks again Trudi.

Can't Grow a Mo

If only that were true.......but I digress.

I read about Danielle's campaign on Lily's Quilts last week.Why don't you go on over and read her story - it's such a worthwhile cause and I have made a couple of blocks to throw in the ring.
I am sure most of us have been touched by cancer at some time, and I am happy to help in this small way to make a difference.

I Did It...

......just!
I'm talking about this week's Zakka project, the framed purse. I have been reading many enthusiastic posts on how addictive these framed purses are, I knew it was an upcoming project and picked up a lovely little frame while I was on holiday. It wasn't exactly the size required in the book.
Then on Monday we discovered the size in the book was a misprint and the correct frame was available online, from Canada I think - a bit late for completing within the week, so I downloaded the very comprehensive instructions on UHandbag, also read a good tutorial somewhere.
It would seem I needed to draft my own pattern.
The one in the Zakka book had pleats which in itself is not a problem but I couldn't figure out how to size my fabric correctly so just missed that out.
As one or two others commented also, there were no helpful, step by step pictures in the book either....hmmm.
So I got my fabric chosen from old scraps, thought it suited the frame. It said in the book to use wadding and interfacing but I was worried that might all prove a bit bulky so ditched the interfacing. I quilted the wadding to the outer fabric and constructed the purse body.
Almost gave up at that point - how it would fit the wee frame was beyond me...........but I persevered and had a go - the Guttermann glue is definitely the business, worth every penny.

I think it looks ok. I think I have made the body a bit too pouffy.

and I am not happy with the bit underneath the hinges. I think I should have re-stitched it to a better shape but couldn't face it.

and then, my daughter came round today and totally unprompted, declared that it was lovely and was a perfect evening bag size. I was quite chuffed.

August in pictures.

August has been a busy month for me - I have been keeping up with the Zakka Sew a Long and completed the Brit Quilt Swap 3 Mini quilt (just posted off Friday morning). I entered the Texting While Sewing competition and made some samples for class.I even got the knitting pins out!!

As always I am linking to Lynne's Fresh Sewing Day.