Patchwork packs launch

As I mentioned in my last post, I was going to make up some patchwork packs from the left over fabrics of my DD1's baby carrier business.

Well I've posted the first pack on my Etsy shop

These are the patterns I've selected for the first pack, so do pop across to see the details if you're interested.











And now to the draw, courtesy of my DH, looking suitably impartial :-)



Coincidentally it was Laura who won, which is really weird as I won her draw last week. I'll send a different pack so as not to spoil the surprise Laura, unless you really want this one.

This and that

The other weekend we went for a lovely bike ride around Hayling Island. There's a very good cycle track along the beach and along the way I found this wonderful Sea Holly.



I liked it so much that I did a copy in sepia (in the camera), I was quite pleased with the way it came out.



On the way round we saw this wonderful charred log, it was a pity someone had set light to it, but then there wouldn't have been this lovely texture.



We stayed for the day and were treated to this lovely sunset, anyone who knows the area will recognise the Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth in the distance.

It was a lovely day, but we certainly knew we were out of cycling practice the next day.



With the sudden onset of cold weather I've decided to make my socks a priority, and have sucessfully turned the heel on the first one, hooray!!!!!

Likewise my jacket seems to be a good idea too, it'll be a long project though, I've jut got to page 3 of 10 pages of instructions.



The interfacing's in and the darts successfully negotiated.



The lapels have been pad stitched and the roll line set to make them roll back. I was very impressed with the pattern instructions, it even told you to pad stitch the conners of the lapelsin a different direction and size so they turned into the body of the jacket. Hmmm!!!!!! clever.

Finally, and unbelievably it was my second blog B/day yesterday, I can't beleive I've been blogging for 2 years. It's been really great, I've learned so much from everyone and had such wonderful support, thank you all so much.

I'm going to start making patchwork packs of the lovely fabrics that my DD1 uses for her Connecta baby carriers and put them up for sale on my Etsy shop, so if anyone would like a pre sale pack just put a comment here and I'll put your name in the hat for my blog b/day. I'll draw it on Friday.

Shopping therapy and goodies in the post

I had a lovely visit to the Knitting and Stitch show on Sunday with DD2. We had a great girlie day out and both spent 'loads of dosh', as you do! I heard lots of conversations at the end of the day regarding hiding credit card receipts etc., but then it is only once a year.



I thought I'd make quite sure I had enough projects to do for the next year, or 3, so bought some lovely skirt fabric, some superfine woven interfacing, wonderful stuff, a fat quarter from the African fabric stand, for my present project, and lastly this gorgeous hat and hand warmer pattern in the softest alpaca wool.



Last year I was really disappointed not to get a Clover iron and everywhere I went they said they were being discontinued, so I was thrilled to bits when I saw this one for sale on one of the stands.



And lastly I couldn't go to the show and not buy a book, could I, so this year I just had to have 2, well, it would have been rude not to :-)

We both arrived home absolutely exhausted, but had a lovely day, how lucky am I to have DD's who all love working with textiles.



I've had some lovely goodies in the post too, firstly this gorgeous PC from Sandy which was her entry for September Calendar Girls challenge. We had a Hundertwasser painting for inspiration this month.



And this was my interpretation, I went for lollipop flowers instead if trees.



Sandy also very kindly included this gorgeous fat quarter with my PC, I love it.



Finally I was delighted to be the winner of Laura's give-away and received this lovely bag and stamp in the post this morning, thank you so much.

Moving on

My explorations into the African project have taken a couple of diversion at the moment.

The first being a suggestion from Laura to make a 12x12 quilt for the Colours of Africa project. I had meant to do something before I went to Tanzania, so having experienced a little of the African culture I was really ready to have a go. It's an amazing project, so if any one has some free time to help I know it will be much appreciated, you can see some of the work that's already been submitted on the blog.



It's not quite finished as you can see, I think I will add a little bit of hand stitching before I bind it.

The second diversion was as invitation to join The West country Budda group in making quilts for next years FOQ, which is very exciting and a great motivator, so thanks to Annabel for setting that up.

As a result I'm still exploring different ideas in my sketch book and decided to have a go at lino printing for the first time in many years. I bought a piece of wrapping paper on holiday and it was decorated with lots of lovely lino cuts, one of which was this great little lizard.



I wasn't too happy with the colours so went back to the original source to see if I could improve on it.



I do love the expression of the male dancer in the top pic, I'd like to think of a way of incorporating this in one of my designs.



I bought a Kuba Cloth at one of the lodges and have found it very insprirational, I love the way it's been pieced. I tried to incorporate the visible turnings into my design for the quilt but found it too cumbersome to work three layers with it, so I think that will have to be a separate project.