Miss January (almost)!

In the Brit Bee, it is my turn as Miss January to set the block requirements for my 11 Brit Bee Buddies. 

It is quite a daunting task deciding on what to ask 11 other very talented ladies to make.  Choosing the fabrics alone was mind boggling! I stewed over it for a long time, and finally budget restraints helped me to make my final decision!

SCRAPS!

I love scraps, and I love making things from scraps! So I raided and rummaged and gathered up 11 colour coded bundles of scraps and posted them at the end of December to the 4 corners of the UK (well to England and Scotland anyway!).

And you might well be asking 'And what did she ask them all to make with those scraps?'

Just take a wee look at these pics & more on this board on my Pinterest and see if you can guess!

That's right - log cabin blocks.  I can't wait to see what the girls come up with!

Well it is January tomorrow (yikes!).  

I hope you have enjoyed the good times in 2011, won out on some of the tough times, and have grown in your knowledge, understanding and appreciation of life and all it has had to offer you this past year.

Judith xo

The First Cut is the Deepest!

I have finally made the first cut into the brand new civil war fabrics I bought for my dad's 70th birthday quilt!

I'm always nervous making the first cut into new fabrics, probably because it isn't that often that I get to work with brand new fabrics!

I'm working from the Civil War Diary Quilt book, but unfortunately it isn't a pattern book.  So I'm scaling up the blocks to 12", working out the maths and selecting 20 out of the 121 in the book.

Here's the first one, it's called Conscript Law.

Fabrics from The Homespun Loft

Well, that's one down, 19 more to go!!

Judith xo

Sophie ... Meet Natasha!

The long awaited Sophie Quilt recipient decided to enter the world this morning!

Welcome to the world Natasha Sarah Grace!  

Your quilt is on its way to you sweet one!

Judith xo

Slowly But Surely!

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas weekend!  

Mine was quiet, and although I'm struggling a bit with a yucky cold, it's been lovely chilling out with family, and living a slow pace through the day.

I haven't felt much like sewing, but my hands are too fidgety to remain motionless for long, so there's been a little bit of crochet.

More headbands

Lots of circles, which are meant to become squares for a cushion cover.

And I'll leave you with a sneak peak of a W.I.P. for my youngest!

Have a lovely day!

Judith xo

Brit Bee Secret Santa - Squeeeeee!

Me and my lovely Brit Bee buddies decided to do Secret Santa for each other.

We were to make or send something small to our allocated buddy, disguise the writing on the parcel and put a fake return address on it!  What fun!

Mine arrived from my mystery buddy last week and it didn't last long!

Choc chip cookies, peanut cookies, cranberry & white chocolate cookies, pretzel & peacan turtles and pretzel & smartie turtles - these vanished in minutes!

I couldn't believe the treats that had been made for me and my family!  What a generous gift!  And just look at these adorable decorations!  No one was left out!

All of these are now on my Christmas tree!

Paper clip ice skates - too cute!

Thank you mystery partner - I think I know who you are, and you have blessed me and my hungry lot more than you could imagine.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

And if you want to know what I made & who it was for, you'll need to pop over here.

Well, this is my last post for a day or two (if I can stay away from the computer for that long!).  

I would like to wish all my lovely bloggy friends a truly peaceful and special Christmas!

Emmanuel!

Judith xo

We have a winner!

Thank you lovely readers for entering my blogiversary giveaway, all 38 of you!

My beautiful bloggy buddy, Ceri, inspired me to be more creative about choosing the winner of my blogiversary giveaway.

So out came the Uno and my trusty little helper.  The first number drawn out from the 0-3 numbers was:

and then a quick shuffle of the 0-9 numbers to get

That means the winning number is 06 - NICKY!

Well done to Nicky!  Martha May will soon be winging her way to you with something Fuscia inside (better get my thinking cap on!).

And want to hear something hilarious?  Guess who was number 7?  Only Golden Touch Hadley!! Phew! Talk about a close one!  

And a final pic of a wee extra stocking filler for footie mad daughter no.2.

Ayumi's baskets - intended as desk tidies - well we live in hope!

Have a fab Friday!

Judith xo

Blanket of Love

I've been wanting to try out Elizabeth Hartman's wonky cross block for ages.

And this week I got an opportunity.

Quick, easy and satisfying - my kind of block!

These blocks are 8.5" unfinished, and a 3x3 mini quilt is the perfect size to donate to Kat's Blankets of Love Charity.

So this has already been parcelled up with some backing and binding, ready to be posted to Oz!

And the UFO I was referring to yesterday?

This Kaleidoscope quilt was originally part of a QAL with Don't Call Me Betsy.  I didn't finish it by the deadline (what's new)!

However, it is now basted and ready to be quilted (scratch head).  No clue yet how to quilt it!  It was originally for daughter no.3 who loves green.  But she's not expecting this for Christmas, so I'm not putting the pressure on to get it done by Sunday.  

 If it happens, it happens. C'est la vie!

Judith xo

P.s. I plan to do the Blogiversary draw later today and will announce the winner tomorrow!

I've Made it!

Firstly, thank you everyone for your lovely comments and congrats on my 1 year blogiversary post yesterday!  I've had so much fun reading through your comments & choices.  I completely forgot to say when I'd draw the winning number, so I'll wait until Thursday and do it then.  

Good luck everyone (you'll need it 'cos Hadley has entered and she wins everything!).

                                              ********************************************************

I've made it to the end of my Handmade Christmas Present list.  This will truly be a Handmade Christmas (Kirsty eat your heart out!).

Every member of my family will receive at least one handmade gift from me.   

Including teachers' pressies, the totals are:

3 mugrug/hostess box sets

7 journal/diary covers

3 sets of change trays

6 Tea bag wallets

3 tissue pouches

6 make up bags

1 gift bag

2 cushions

1 Batbag/toy pouch

1 laptop sleeve

2 doll quilts/pillow sets

3 mini baskets

3 pairs of crochet fingerless gloves

1 crochet headband

1 cot quilt for a Christmas baby (still to arrive!)

and a partridge in a pear tree!

I mentioned above a crocheted headband.  I got carried away making these cute flowers from a pattern Sarah gave me.

And I thought they would look lovely on crocheted headbands.  My youngest always wears headbands to tame her magnificent thick, blonde locks, so this will be an extra wee stocking filler for her.

Modelled by Daughter no.1

And one last pic (or 2) of the diary cover my hubbie requested.

Of course, just because I've finished my list, doesn't mean I'll be sitting back on my laurels. Oh no!  

The kids finish school today and tomorrow, which will mean a demand for Christmassey activities (hopefully not involving shops!) and I might even get a UFO from the summer finished (more on that tomorrow).

Hope you are getting organised and not getting stressed!

Judith xo

1 Year Blogiversary!

It's exactly one year ago today that I wrote my first blog post.

My amazingly talented friend, Sarah, started blogging a few days before, and suggested I do the same!  I went from never being the least bit interested in computers to needing a 'fix' every day! 

It has been a wonderful year of learning, growing, being inspired by the astounding creativity out there in blogland and of course, making some wonderful new friends.

I would like to say a special 'thank you' to those of you who take the time and interest to pop over and read my nonsensical ramblings.  I never would have expected anyone to be interested in this creative venture, let alone hang in there week after week.  You rock!

To celebrate this special milestone I would like to make something bespoke for one of my regular readers, so I'm not doing a generic giveaway.

I would love it if you could tell me 1. your favourite colour in fabric, and also 2. choose one of the following handbags which I would be delighted to gift to you.  One comment will do for both & I'll find some means of randomly selecting the winner (Archie could you please teach Poppy how to select winners?).

Martha May

Modern Maud

Boxy Bag

Thank you for celebrating with me, and I look forward to another year of blogging with you! 

Judith xo

A Great Exchange!

Before the visitors descended yesterday I managed to finish the last pair of crochet fingerless gloves for daughter no. 1 (as modelled by daughter no.3):

Sorry about the hideous nail polish!

And then the visitors arrived and I'm chuffed to say the presents exchange went down a treat!

Bat boy loved his Bat Bag:

And the older boys were surprisingly enthusiastic about their cushions:

The Rugby player (with stitches in his chin from a recent training session!)

And my 'daft but beautiful' sister loved getting her wee treats.

This is my sister who has been selling some of my handbags and makeup bags in her Hairdressing Salon.  In total 5 Handbags and 20 makeup bags sold!  Result!

And my BIL got some handmade change trays, which after opening them looked at me and said 'Explain?' said he would definitely be using them!

So a fun day was had by all!

Wishing you a great start to the new week (1 week to go .....eeeeeeeek!)

Judith xo

Saturday Sewing

Well the present making fervour continued a pace yesterday.

Here's what I got done:

For my sister (to accompany a teabag wallet & tissue pouch):

For my mum (to accompany the mugrug/hostess box set):

A journal cover

Teeny tiny crochet heart by Attic 24

For my eldest daughter:

Journal Cover

Recycled crochet trim from lovely Terri

For my middle daughter (the footie fanatic):

Journal Cover

After seeing these book covers, my husband decided he would like a cover for his new 2012 diary, so I managed to get some pieces cut out from leftover Indigo Berries.  Will show you more when I get it finished.

My sister & her family are visiting with us today, and I can't wait to give them all their hand made pressies!  There is definitely more joy in the giving than the receiving!

Have a restful Sunday!

Judith xo

A Year's Work is Finished!

Last night was my last ever class of 2011!

I completely forgot to take pictures, but be assured we enjoyed some warm mince pies and Mulled Wine (non-alcholic of course - we don't want to encourage wonky seams!).

It has been a wonderful end to a busy teaching year for me. In total I ran 17 projects, 1 Bag Day & a Beginners' Saturday School during the summer.

It has been such a privilege to teach and (hopefully) inspire so many lovely ladies who have come to my different projects throughout the year.

Thank you for making this a special year for me!

Here is a wee mosaic of some of the projects of 2011.

It occured to me last night that my one year bloggiversary is fast approaching!  My first post went out on December 20th, and it was thanks to my lovely and talented friend Sarah, who got me started blogging!

So I'm putting together a wee plan on how my lovely bloggy readers can help me celebrate.  Watch this space!

Wishing you all a lovely end to your week!

Judith xo

Sophie is Finished!

The cot quilt I've been working on for my friend's baby (due next week!) is finished!

The back - Sarah inspired me to go with large quilted wiggles!

The colours look a bit washed out in these pics, but in reality they are bright and vibrant.  

This isn't a big quilt, only 38" x 40" and I only used half the Sophie Layer cake.  I hadn't enough pink for the backing, hence the strip down the middle made from the leftovers, and my leftover Kona Azure I used for the binding wasn't quite long enough either, so I added 2 strips from one of the remaining 10" squares to make it work.

All that remains is for little one to enter the world and then I can make the label and post it over to England.  Wouldn't it be funny if they called her Sophie!!

And this morning I rustled up a few more change tray sets for my Dad and Brother in Law for Christmas. 

Well the sun is shining, it's baltic outside, but warm inside - aaahhhh! 

I'm off to have a bite of lunch before deliberating over what else to make Mum for Christmas!

See ya later!

Judith xo

A Few More Ticks!

The ticks I'm referring to aren't the nervous kind of twitches (which I'm not a million miles away from developing!).

Amongst the endless (& continuing) saga of boiler repairs, over sensitive electrical trip switches (no kettle now!), getting an iron that actually works, and now a sick child, I somehow managed a few Christmas finishes this week!

These are for 2 of my nephews:  First for the rugby player, made in his team colours:

Next the nephew who got the matching colour brick quilt from me in June this year:

Also, some mugrug sets (can't mention who they're for! Sssshhhh!):

I got my secret santa pressie finished for a lovely Brit Bee lady, but not allowed to show you that yet!

And talking of the Brit Bee, it's my turn next, as Miss January, to set the other 11 gals to work on a block of my choosing!

The parcels are all made up and ready to be posted!

So watch out girls for Mr Postie!

And I'll leave you with my amazing Oasis Ladies, who this term made a stunning sampler quilt and matching cushion, which will be raffled off to raise funds for the charity.

Well done girls!

Judith xo