From this.....

A lovely stack of fabric waiting to be made into something beautiful! Any guesses?

Into this.....

In a mere couple of hours. Bliss. Uninterrupted = fewer mistakes (notice I didn't say no mistakes!)

From left to right we have:: an iPhone pouch for one of my lovely friends in Anna Maria Horner 'Good Folks - Fortune Sun Sea'. A pirate jewellery pouch for 'Master M', he's getting quite a collection the little fashionata!! And finally a glasses case from the Echino Spring 2010 range - 'Glasses in Pink' for a special bloggy friend who'se having a hard time of it.

If you hadn't noticed I'm loving these pouches, the tutorial is from here.

Now that the summer holidays are drawing to an end (yay!) there are a few swaps popping up on blogs out there. I've signed up for the Christmas stocking swap from Selinas Vintage and the Pumpkin Swap from Crafty Helen @ Home.

I've also at last found a use for those hexies I've been making!! Texas Freckles is hosting a hexie charm quilt along so I've joined in!! There's no time limit on this one though thank heavens!!!

Patch Fabrics Giveaway!!

Photo courtesy of Patch Fabrics

Just a quickie to let you know that Patch Fabrics is have a little bundle giveaway of some new fabrics just in. The above picture is a line called Avalon from Clothworks, its my favourite of the bundles offered and would be my choice if I do so win!!

Head over to Patch now as there are other designs on offer too!!

Also check out my side bar as I've joined in an Xmas stocking swap being hosted by Selina's Vintage - check it out it looks like fun!!

Justine xxx

Echino How I Love You So.....

Earlier this week this cute little FQ bundle arrived from Seamstar for me.

Now though I was trying to be a good girl and not spend any more money on fabric this month, Courtney had a little offer on this bundle that tempted me. Hmm, don't they all?!

Now I love Echino its so fresh and modern, some of you may remember this post from earlier in the year? I've still not cut into the 3m I bought for this pattern, but am aiming to make the tunic over the next few weeks.

So what to make? Well I'd seen this pattern a while ago and it was just perfect! So I adapted the pattern slightly and made me a pouch for my beloved iPhone!!

I used the Echino Spring 2010 - Bicycles in Purple. I just love it, it keeps my iPhone nice and safe and looks good too. What more could a girl ask for?

Now for the inner I used some lovely pink check fabric that I was given in the Fabric Addicts swap by Blueberry Heart. Its the same weight as the Echino (linen blend) and complimented the design perfectly.

So that's it for today as I have two little people desprate to take their bikes to the park!

A very busy day!

I'm really quite pleased with myself today. Acheived lots and all in my pj's, brilliant!

First up I have made excellent progress with a roman blind for 'Master M's' bedroom. His room has pale grey walls with white woodwork and he is wanting to go blue and red on the textiles front. 

This is said blind having the roman blind tape hand tacked across the back before been sewn on. Prior to this the blind had been cut out, ironed, sewn around three sides, re-ironed and pinned all over. Not bad considering I had two little people at home!

I was hoping to finish it this evening but got a little side tracked so I will finish it tomorrow whilst the little people are at a playdate and hopefully get a photo of it in situ soon!

Now I've never ever made a roman blind before so I used these guidelines from the wonderful Courtney at Seamstar. They were simple to follow and if I can do it anyone can, believe me!!

Not satisfied with whipping up a blind,  oh no! 'Master M' and I whipped up these beauties this afternoon too.

You can't beat yummy vanilla cupcakes with lots of sweet sickly icing on and don't forget the sprinkles!!

You see I told you we'd spent the day in our pj's!! 

I've also made good progress on a block for another quilting bee I'm doing, bee.quilted. This is the first month and the bee is using the quilt as you go method. Basically you not only construct the block for the quilt top, you are sent the batting and backing and you simply 'quilt as you go'!

So, pleased with todays efforts I'm saying goodnight. Hope tomorrow is as productive.

Hexie Love.....

Today at last I've managed to get some hexies done. 

I don't have a set plan in mind for this little lot though I'm sure I'll think of something soon!

As well as sharing my hexies I thought I'd share my recent winnings too! 

When I got home from my holidays Kerry had emailed me to let me know that I won a recent giveaway on her lovely blog verykerrryberry

She had put together a scrap bag of lovely fabrics and included a mini pincushion made of the same fabrics. The pincushion is now in my hexie making kit, thanks Kerry I love it!

N

Now can you believe it but I won another giveaway today!! And guess what it was also from a lovely lady who goes by the name of Kerri!!

Remember the post I did on Sunday where you could win an embroidery pdf pattern from Kerri's fab blog Lovely Little Handmades? Well I won.

I chose this little fella who is from the Halloweenies collection. 'Master M' loves him and the whole collection will look great stiched up for him.

I just love lucky days!!

Sunday Stash #64

I decided to wait until today to show my recent fabric purchases as it ties in well with Sunday Stash of course!!

First up we have a bundle of Amy Butler's, Love. This is 26 FQ's of the full collection and is gorgeous! I'll be using this in my month (October) for bee.quilted, an online quilting bee I'm taking part in.

Next up we have a bundle of the fab Tufted Tweets by Laurie Wisbrun. This was bought from Seamstar who unfortunately due to problems with supplier, could not get the purple colourway. This bundle is the blue/green and red collections with some co-ordinating Kona solids. I have managed to get the purple collection from the states but that's another post!!!

Now before I went away to get married (I have mentioned this before I think!) I was lucky, very lucky and managed to get my mitts on some Anna Maria Horner Dobby Dots Voile - woop woop!

I just happpened to check out (late one night) the Saints and Pinners website and it was there, it had been listed about an hour earlier. Apparently Fran & Jo had ordered it way back when but had been told they wouldn't get any as it was such limited stock. Imagine their surprise when it arrived, imagine mine when I saw it!!!

I got 1m of the olive to make a skirt and 0.5m of the sea, burnt orange and coral. Beautiful. Whilst I was there I also got two voile bundles that I'd been eyeing up for a while......

Perfect for baby quilts.

Finally for today - I've begun catching up on my bee blocks! This is the first of two for Susan for July's Fresh Modern Bee 2.

Hopefully I'll get the second one finished this evening so I can get them posted to her tomorrow. One block down, four to go!

Great Giveaway!! Ends Today!!

photo courtesy of Kerri @ Lovely Little Handmade

Just a quick post to tell you about this great giveaway over at Kerri and Heather's fab blogs!

You get lots of chances to enter and can win a bundle of embroidery pdf's from Kerri's etsy store and quilt patterns too - fab yes?

photo courtesy of Kerri @ Lovely Little Handmades

You simply need to head over to Kerri's blog and follow the instructions for entering and then head over  to Heather's blog and follow the same entry instructions via her blog - double the chances of winning - GENIUS!!

GOOD LUCK!!

Beautiful Softies

So, next week is my niece's birthday (yep, the little cutie who was my bridesmaid!) and I'd already kind of made a decision I wanted to get her a new softie.

Like my 'Master M' she always has a favourite teddy in tow, usually a bunny we call Flossy. Unfortunately Flossy is very worn now and so a replacement is required before the dreaded day Flossy is no more!

I already knew where I could get a perfect replacement, no other than my lovely friend Beth who has the most amazing online store selling her handmade softies called The Linen Cat.Those who've read my blog from the start may remember from earlier posts that it was Beth's gorgeous blog that made me want to blog too and her help and advice in the early days has been invaluable to me.

So without further ado I'm pleased to introduce you to 'Betsy' 

Bunny made by Beth Foster

She's divine, her Liberty print halter-neck dress is just adorable and the hand-crocheted flowers really set it all off. I'm sure my neice is going to love her as much as I do! 


Next meet my gorgeous Mr. Fox::

Mr. Fox made by Beth Foster

He's mine all mine! This handsome fella has a fully removeable outfit, fully lined with complementing Liberty print cravat - to die for!! I had to have him the minute I saw him on Beth's blog!! So bless her she sent me one on a pre-order, they'll be available in her shop at the end of September. Reserve one now.


So just a quick share before bed, had a very busy two days at work and am bushed.....

As Promised The Most Lovely Wedding Gifts!

I must say when I originally asked for help via my blog for surprise wedding presents for 'Mr. G' I really didn't think I'd get that much response, let alone actual gifts!

I'd left the timescale tight and was really just looking to bounce a few ideas about, the generosity of my this online community just stokes me and the presents we received were amazing. 'Mr. G' loved all of them and couldn't believe that people we'd 'never met' would do something so lovely for him.

So to showcase the gifts I made a mosaic of photographs.....

Now I've messed about with the mosaic maker at BigHugeLabs for long enough and I cannot get the little bit at the bottom of my mosiac that tells you what all the pictures are and links to where they are from. (If anyone knows how to do this properly please message me for future reference!!)


So without further ado, left to right, top to bottom we have::


1. Handmade Wedding Chalkboard - Courtney @ Seamstar
2. Wooden Sewing Box - Lynne of Lily's Quilts and Mandy of Simply Solids
3. Wooden Name Heart - Jo of Muddy Puddle Crafts
4. Momo Travel Wallet - Courtney @ Seamstar
5. Wedding Cushion - Louise of Sew Scrumptious
6. Fabric Trays - Nadine of Quilted Bliss


These gifts were so very thoughtful, well made and just lovely and all have taken pride of position in our home where they are really cherished! For further descriptions please check out my flickr.


We also received another beautiful wedding gift from my lovely friend Amanda. This gift has been made all the more poignant today as Amanda has decided to give up blogging due to really stressful and quite horrible things going on in her personal life which involves others using her blog against her, those who read her blog will no doubt know who I am refering to. Those who have no idea, trust me its a massive loss to our lovely little community.


Here is the divine hoop she made us::

Wedding Hoop By Amanda Makes.

The hoop is actually me and 'Mr.G' on the beach on our wedding day. Seriously it is, the likeness is spooky.

Well it's back to work tomorrow. Boo Hoo! 

I hope to do another post on Sunday as I have a couple of new fabric acquisitions to share with you (I know, I know) as well as a couple of new stuffed friends.

OMG.....We Got Hitched!

I still can't quite believe it, in fact it's really quite cute!

After panicking the day prior to the wedding due to a hurricane coming over the Florida Keys and sweeping through Miami....arrgh! It all went super well, especially since the hurricane blew itself out before it reached Cocoa Beach and we reaped the benefits of the gloriously good weather that followed. It was silly hot for the whole of the holiday never got much below 86 at night and pushed 110 most days, nice. 

 

 The pictures I'm showing are what my dad took, the professional ones won't be ready for another couple of weeks but never fear I'll post some of those when I get them, they're bound to be fabulous as the photographer was great.

You can see in the photo's that I didn't get round in the end to making my own wedding dress so my daddy bought me one! You can however see the end results of the dresses made for 'Little Miss H' and my neice using the gorgeous Anna Maria Horner Voiles. Oh I just remembered on the voile front that a mere 2 days before we went away I managed to get hold of a lovely selection of the dobby dot voile line that never really made it to the UK. I just happened to look on Saints and Pinner at the right moment as they received a small unexpected amount from their supplier. I think it was the only ever UK stock so was snapped up in a few hours! I will post pictures of this rareity in the near future, I promise as  it really is to die for. 

Now where was I? Oh yes, as ever a last minute nightmare ensued! When we tried the finished dresses on the girls they were huge even though I'd made the correct sizes and they measured up correctly when finished!! Holly wore hers on the big side on the day as she wouldn't let me tack the straps to make them shorter!! It really was no big deal though as it was majorly hot on the beach. The night before we flew I was up into the wee hours making my neices simple sundress out of the leftover fabrics as the original was just huge on her!!! At least she'll have that one for next summer....

On my return I had a nice suprise from Kerry over at VeryKerryBerry. I'd won her giveaway of a scrap bag and a mini pincushion, how cool. I'll post pictures of the winnings very soon along with pictures of the wonderful wedding gifts 'Mr.G' and I received from some very generous and lovely bloggy friends. 


Now I must dash and attend to the mountainous cleaning task that our humble abode requires, I knew there was a reason I didn't want to leave the teenagers in charge for 3 weeks........