Simply Solids Flash Sale

Seen as I'm in a great mood and was super giddy to receive more srummy yummy fabric today I've decided to have a flash sale over in my shop Simply Solids.

Starting NOW until midnight Sunday 30th Sept 2012 there will be 15%, that's right a whole 15% off Pre-Cuts.....

That's right the sale includes the extremely coveted lines Oh Deer! and Sew Stitchy........

Now fly my lovelies before I'm all sold out!

www.simplysolids.co.uk

and the winner is.....

Yay it's time to announce the winner of the fabulous advent calendar from the lovely Karen of Blueberry Park!

And it was comment number 65:

Kelli said:

65 

Kelli said...

Read about your giveaway on Twitter--thought I was following your blog before, but ALAS! I am now following for real. :)

I have already been in touch with Kelli for her address and her prize will be winging its way to her shortly!!

Now don't despair if you didn't win this time because the lovely Laura over at Needles, Pins and Baking Tins is holding another giveaway to win the self same advent calendar!! Hop over there now and enter again!

Good Luck!

A right busy weekend

Well after my big announcement on Friday night I've spent the weekend up to my neck it in it!!!

Saturday saw me, the hubs and 'Master M' drive the van down to Derbyshire to the lovely Mandy's to collect my new business venture 'Simply Solids' - Yikes!

Once we got home the real fun began - sorting and stacking fabric into the sewing room - woo hoo!

Sunday was all about the cutting and packing of orders and getting to grips with the behind the scenes of the website, lets just say I spent a long time on the phone with Mandy!

Today I've been speaking with various suppliers and will be doing a mini stock take this evening. Scratch that I've run out of time, poor baby Hunter is having mahoosive teething problems just now so I've just spent all evening cuddling him as he struggles with it. Poor thing.

That's after I've tidied up. This is waiting until tomorrow too now!


This is what busy looks like! Not that I'm complaining.....

PS: Leave me a comment if there are any specific Kona colours you want me to stock and I'll try my best to please you.

Roll Up, Roll Up...

Read All About It!.....

Big news time!

*Deep breathes been taken and announcement made in my poshest voice*

From tomorrow Saturday 15th September 2012, I am the proud new owner of... Ta Dah.....

Can you believe it? I don't think I actually can just yet, Yikes!!

My lovely sewing bestie Mandy was made a job offer that she simply couldn't refuse and made the sad decision to wind down Simply Solids, that was until I raised the subject of perhaps buying it from her. I mean it's a champion shop and where the hell else would I get my Kona??

So here we are. The start of a new adventure for both me and Mandy. I've got big plans, oh yes I have, but first I need to get to grips with this super shop and make it my own.

Don't you be worrying though, oh no! You're still going to be getting the same excellent service, free postage when you spend £15 or more and access to one of the best ranges of Kona Cotton Solids in the UK - all at the best price too of course!

As an offer for this weekend only, every order will receive a free random FQ for every £10 spent in the shop. The offer will run from today thru to midnight on Monday 17th September!!

I hope this new venture excites you all as much as it does me and I hope that as the shop grows over the coming months, I'll be able to bring you all the solids your heart desires! Please do let me know if there are specific colours you'd like me to stock and I'll do my best to accomodate. 

Don't forget

As an offer for this weekend only, every order will receive a free random FQ for every £10 spent in the shop. The offer will run from today thru to midnight on Monday 17th September!!

Hope to see you there soon

Xxxx

Ho Ho Ho.....

So you all know its only about 15 weeks to Christmas right?

Well in the spirit of trying to be organised I almost snatched the lovely Karen's arm off when she offered me one of these to make up for the kids!!!

You see I'm a sucker for handmade Christmas goodies, I just think they add something magical to this very special time of year and what could be better than a fabulous 'Make Your Own Advent Calendar Kit' from one of your lovely talented friends. Nothing that's what.

If you don't know the lovely Karen from Blueberry Park, why the hell not? She not only writes the loveliest blog with some awesome photography but she designs and sells her wares in both her Etsy shop and her online store all of which trade under the same name, that's so you don't forget it that is!

This great kit is so simple to sew up and is just genius, you get the two lots of screen printed fabric (it's actually screen printed by Karen at home), the red background and the white numbers panel plus the red ribbon to hang the finished article up and obviously a set of instructions!!

Here's my calendar looking pretty good so far! Just got to finish sewing the pockets on - I'm trying to sew it when the kids aren't around as I don't want to spoil the surprise!

I can't wait to choose the gifts to put in the little pockets, in fact I'll be starting to gather them from here on in!!

Anyhow's if you fancy making your own Advent Calendar just click the linky to be whisked away to Karen's online shop where you can buy one and whilst you're there have a peruse at all the other pretties, I promise there are some lovely unique goodies that would make great Christmas presents for the special peeps in your life! I'm currently eyeing up these beauties.

above 3 photo's courtesy of Karen

All of which can be found here!

Alternatively if you feel that lady luck is on your side you could always enter my giveaway to win your very own kit!!

To enter please leave me separate comments for doing the following things:

1) Leave a comment telling me what goodies you would put in the pockets if you won the kit!

2) Follow my blog or leave me a comment telling me you already do!

3) Follow Karen's blog or leave me a comment to say that you already do!

The giveaway will be open for 7 days and will close at noon on Thursday 20th September 2012. Mr. Random Generator will then choose a lucky winner who will be announced later the same afternoon. 

Good Luck!

I'm in Love.....

As you all know I've fallen a little behind in my sewing schedule over the summer months and I'm blaming that entirely on the kids, little blighters!

Anyhow now they're back in school and it's just me and the baby at home I'm catching up and quick - huzzah!

First up I've almost completed my 'Sailor Mouth Swap' (which I love & actually don't want to give away), I'm just finishing hand stitching the binding down and it can be posted off with the other goodies I gathered together for my partner. Seen as you've seen the front of the pillow - here's the back!! I used a Tula Pink fabric and am binding it in that very lovely blue from my stash, heaven knows what it is or where it's from....

I've also managed a little more stitching on my Dessert of the Month club and June is well under way.

Finally I have a little excitement occurring on the blog towards the end of the week that involves this.

And something else that is majorly exciting will be announced at the weekend!!

Intriguing eh?

Playing Catch Up!

Now that I've got both Holly and Max back to school I feel like I'm getting back into a routine whereby I can sew when Hunter is asleep on a morning. Trust me this feels great!

I've got a few urgent sewing type projects that I really need to get caught up on and out of the way before I move onto something new, so this is what the next couple of weeks will be about.

First up I've picked up my Dessert of the Month cross stitch again. This lovely project fell by the wayside when Hunter came along, I'd only completed the first four months to April! Well not anymore - here's May too!!

He's such a cute flan isn't he?


I've also been working away on a swap project for the 'Sailor Mouth Swap'!! I'm sure by the title you can all guess what it might involve - that's right my potty mouth gets free reign in this one!! Thankfully its a small tight swap group of crafters who like a good cuss now and then and who aren't easily offended. 

Here's a shot of the project underway, sorry if it offends you I've tried to conceal the sweary bit!

I've got a couple more secret projects that I've been beavering away on too but the reveal for those will have to wait until I've got the all clear to do so! Boo!

Finally the postie brought me two great new books this week. The first is Aneela's 'Little Stitches' which I have been hanging for since she announced it in the works months ago!! It hasn't disappointed the designs are just too cute and I can't wait to stitch some of them up. You can get yourself a copy here and direct from Aneela here.





















The second one is Julie Jaybirds 'Skip the Borders', again this is a lovely book and I can see at least one quilt been made from it. I've been a fan of Julie's blog since I started blogging/sewing so it's great to have a book from her too. You can get yourself a copy here.

Monday morning me time!

Can you hear that? Nope me neither. No loud noises, no hustle and bustle. Phew!

Today marks the start of 'back to school' week here and I'm one kiddo down. I honestly cannot believe the difference it makes to the volume in this house. The baby is sleeping, he's been asleep an hour already, that's not happened for let me see, 6 weeks!

My poor little old blog has been sorely neglected during the month of August and I do apologise for that. On the other hand I think its nice to down tools for a while and trust me it's going to mean a more revitalised Justine with lots up her sleeve for this blog and my sewing life in general!

Ages ago I showed a sneak peek of a stitchy project I was working on and now the lovely LJ has received her very late birthday present I can do the full reveal. Ta Dah!

Its a geeky stitchery, just great for my own geeky buddy!! The pattern is available here from the marvellous Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery if you fancy stitching up a geek of your own!

I've also worked hard on my Spring Carnival EPP over the holidays and its nearly complete, as you can see just one circle to add and I can turn it into a mahoosive cushion! I've used Kona Grey and Lizzy House's 1001 Peeps, I really love how it's turned out.

I've been beavering away on a quilt for my friends 40th and am now in the final stages of piecing the top. I'm hoping to get it to 'Longarm Chris' this week for quilting, it's turned out lovely and will be hard to part with! Promise there will be pictures in my next post!

And finally a few snaps of the summer fun that's been occurring round these parts!!

Catch you all soon X