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!