A day of Blessings!

Yesterday was definitely a day of blessings!

While I was rushing around like a headless chicken getting ready for our 2nd gathering of Bee Blessed, Mr Postie delivered a sizeable package, all the way from Galway.

As I was opening it I was thinking 'it can't be; it can't be!' and it was!

...my 2nd Small Goodie Swap from none other than super swap Mama Cindy (Fluffy Sheep Quilting)!

Cindy very wisely ditched the colour criteria I had given way back at the sign ups stage, and went with her gut.

She quickly realised we both liked a lot of the same things, so she made these gorgeous items which she loves just as much as I do!

Aren't they adorable?  My eldest daughter was with me when I opened Cindy's parcel and immediately fell in love with this snap closure pouch!  And the mugrug is so clever because it is reversible!  And as if that wasn't goodie enough, I also got this cute brooch in an even cuter wee box, a yummy fq of Amy Butler (not in pic) and a box of tea (Cindy knows I like my caffeine in the form of tea)!

Thank you so much to my new bloggy friend Cindy, for making for me, wrapping them all so beautifully, and organising a super small goodie swap!

If you've never visited Cindy's blog, I'd highly recommend it - she makes the loveliest things and is running a series on 'Start Your Own' on Thursdays, where guest bloggers who've set up their own businesses share ideas and inspiration.  Well worth a look!

Another blog well worth a look is my blogging buddy Susan (Canadian Abroad).  Susan not only writes hilarious posts, she makes gorgeous things and is currently doing a giveaway of 8 Punctuation fqs.  Hop on over for a chuckle and a chance to win.

Finally, a huge blessing came yesterday in the form of our gathering of Bee Blessed.  10 of us squished round Sarah's dining room table to turn all the amazing wonky star blocks that have been donated into cot sized quilt tops.

No.1 Girl Quilt

No.2 Girl quilt

No.1 Boy Quilt

No. 2 Boy Quilt

This last quilt top was kindly donated by Susan, which was quilted yesterday.

If you don't happen to see one of your stars in these quilts, don't worry.  We had a few left over which we are going to keep and either make up into cushions or another small quilt, so absolutely nothing will be wasted.

The team worked liked trojans yesterday - thank you all of you for investing in this project.  Next time we will get these lovelies quilted, bound and washed, ready for handing over to their new homes.  

For those of you keen to get started on another block, I will be posting details soon - watch this space!

Introducing ..... 'Martha May'

We are now day 3 into my wee bag series.

Say hello to 'Martha May'!

A zippered version

Same pockets on the back as the front

More IKEA fabric!!

These 2 are slightly smaller than Modern Maud, and are actually the result of my playing around with the Bag for Life pattern I sketched out (it's amazing what you end up with compared to what you start with!).

So what do you think of the new addition to the family?

In other news, yesterday I received my first Small Goodie Swap parcel - all the way from Australia!

Just look at all these lovelies, incl. Denise Schmidt scraps - yum!

The back of the mugrug is as gorgeous as the front!

Thank you Kat for these gorgeous and beautifully made gifts.  When I first saw the pics of them on flickr I almost shouted at the computer 'pleeeease be mine', and was gob-smacked when I opened the parcel!  I think I'm the envy of one or two other swap members in the group, tee hee!

We each get 2 parcels in this swap, so I've still got one more to look forward to.  Hmmmm, I wonder who it will be from?

And last but not least, I've signed up to Emily's (Strawberry Patch) Christmas Charm Swap.

Emily needs 28 participants, each to purchase a meter of fabric and cut it into 56 charm squares of 5". We then post the fabric to her, Emily mixes them up and sends us back 28 different prints with 2 squares of each!  Sounds fab doesn't it?  Now Emily doesn't yet have 28 people signed up yet, and we can't run the swap with less than 28, so pleeeeeese hop on over to Emily's and get signed up. 

And when you do, you'll have lovely fabrics to get working on the irresistible swap over at Susan's blog Canadian Abroad!

Phew!  I think that's all I need to tell you about today.  Have good one whatever you get up to!

A Glorious Day!

The sunshine does my soul good!

It's been another glorious day here, sunny, breezy at times, and even warm!

In our house today there has been cooking, cleaning, baking, sewing & gardening - and it's still the afternoon!

Here's what I got done today:

I got the back finished for my Across the Sea QAL cot quilt.  I wanted to keep a wee bit of white around the crosses so they wouldn't completely disappear into the solid blue.  Although if I was doing the bordered cross again, I would have those outer white tips blue!

Can anyone tell me why the back is so much bigger than the front?  I know that Nicky found this the case too!  Are we Numpty's Utd, or is there a logical reason?

My youngest daughter (10) loves to sew and is a natural on the sewing machine.  

Under my supervision, she made this mugrug for herself, choose all the fabrics from my scraps, pieced it, & quilted it with a variegated thread, having lots of fun using Mr Pfaff's more decorative side!

The cupcakes were made today by my eldest daughter!

And I can now reveal who one of my Small Goodie Swap partners was, cos she opened her parcel from me today!

Do you remember these?

Jan (Isisjem) got her parcel during the week and her mum hid it from her until opening day today! The blue handbag in the middle is based on Jan's 241 tote bag that she made recently.

Hop on over to the flickr group to see the full package that Jan received (my daughter made her a cupcake pin topper which was v.cute!).

Well that's all for now!

I hope you are having a great weekend, wherever you are!

Ooops!  Almost forgot to tell you that my Glorious Day today started with an email from Cindy telling me I'd won a Saffron Craig $25 voucher as part of Cindy's Start Your Own Series.  Thanks Cindy!  

If you've ever thought about starting up a wee business, check out Cindy's guest blogger interviews - v.informative.  


Bye for now!

A-Tissue!

This morning I got a wee lie in - much needed after 2 really hectic days on Friday & Saturday.

After church, I threw a korma together in the slow cooker for tea-time, and headed up to the sewing room.

All the stuff from yesterday's Bee Blessed had been dumped into the sewing room, and the door firmly closed behind!

So after a sort through and tidy up, I did actually get some sewing done.

I made 3 tissue pouches, one of which is for my Small Goodies swap partner B (but I'm sworn to secrecy which one!).

The others are for friends who need a little lift!

I've also made some progress on my Across the Sea QAL, but more on that tomorrow!

Hope you've had a great weekend.

Revealing Mugrug No.2

If you are visiting to enter the River Fabrics Giveaway, please see here for details.  Giveaway closes Friday 9th September.

Ok Goodies Swap Partner no. 2 - here is your mugrug:

I can't show the back of this mugrug because that will most definitely reveal its soon to be owner!

All I need to work on now is a small goodie to travel with these handbags!

Hope you like it partner!

One Finished Goodie!

Well instead of Bank Holiday Monday, yesterday turned out to be Mugrug Monday!

I got this goodie finished for one of my swap partners in the Small Goodies Swap.

The design is based on Lily's Quilts Little Big George, and while I don't like sewing curves, I'm really pleased how flat this turned out.

There is a reason why the mugrug is fan shaped, but to explain it would giveaway too much about the recipient!

I also made a brooch, but not sure yet which of my partners is going to get it!

So what do you think partner?  Like any of these?

Mugrug Fun!

I love mugrugs!

They are really just mini quilts, an excuse to get down and creative on a small scale.  But they make great wee gifts too.

I recently made this one for my friend Sarah, whose birthday I missed!

Sarah recently encouraged me to try out some new/modern hexie designs that have been floating around the Hex-a-long flickr group.  I was delighted with how this one turned out (check out a great tutorial for this hexagon here).

If you are wondering 'why the monkey face?' it's not because Sarah has a particular fettish for them (at least I don't think so!), but this is her profile icon for her fab blog and flickr page.  

If you've never visited Sarah's blog - check it out!  Sarah has an amazing ability to make even sewing disasters sound funny!  She's a very talented quilter, writer, Brit Bee member & friend.

You may remember I signed up to the Small Goodies Swap being hosted by Fluffy Sheep.  This involves making a mugrug & small goodie for 2 people.

We've all now been assigned our partners - I'm really pleased with who I've got but I'm sworn to secrecy.  All will be revealed at the end of September.

Suffice to say, I have already started on one of the mugrugs ....

....and have some ideas on what small goodies to make too.

All will be revealed in time!

Enjoy your bank holiday Monday, Brits.