Blogaversary giveaway winner

Thank you everyone who left a comment on my Blogaversary post and to everyone who has sent birthday wishes for today - I have had a lovely day out thank you. And guess what - I didn't take one picture!

Anyway, 23 comments were left on my post and so I asked Mr RNG to come up with a number and the number he chose was ---- 18!

So the lucky winner is Bethan of Crafting Ramble! Congratulations Bethan - I shall be contacting you for your address so that I can get your parcel in the post.

This Friday is the first in the month and so its Friday Night with Friends - pop over to Cheryll's blog here to sign up and join in the fun. See you there.

Blogaversary, EPP Tuesday and other things!

It's my Blogaversary! This is my 300th post - I started my blog nearly 5 years ago. I want to thank everyone who follows my blog and there will be more for you later in this post.

Meanwhile, it is also EPP Tuesday.

Thank you very much Anthea for hosting this link. Sadly I have nothing new to share with you but, claiming Blogaversary privileges, I am sharing a picture of my first ever quilt which I may have blogged about before but if I have I can find no reference to it!! 

This quilt took me two years to make, 1979/1981 and coincides with my joining of the Quilters Guild

as a founder member. To me, at that time, patchwork was all about hexagons. I had a whole lot of learning to do! Not least that it is a good idea to wash fabrics before you use them because the plain brown and red fabrics both ran when wet. I had this dry cleaned several times before I decided blow it and put it in the washing machine. So sadly now, although still in  use, this quilt is looking very muted. Love it still though.

Thank you Anthea for the EPP linky which you can find here - do join in or visit everyone who has linked up.

I am very excited to show you this quilt flimsy which I have been given permission to share with you.

A friend who has been coming to my monthly quilt group has been making this quilt for her grandson for the last couple of years. The fabrics are all Native American Indian based and the blocks are all related in some way to Indians. She has also used this fabric to make a tepee for her grandson. Isn't it gorgeous? I shall be sharing some better quality photographs of this quilt as it progresses.

So now to my Blogaversary giveaway! To thank everyone who follows me I have a package of goodies to give away. Some yummy fat quarters, matching threads and a pretty French sewing sachet plus a few little extras.

Just leave a comment below if you would like to win them - I shall ask Mr RNG to choose a winner next Wednesday (3rd) which also just happens to be my birthday!

In the mean time, have a great week.

Catching up

So here we are having gone past the middle of January already and I have lots to catch up on. I now have a new computer and am trying to find all the lovely things I used to find so easily and trying to find passwords for some of the sites I use.

So the first thing I need to tell you about is the wonderful giveaway that I won back at the end of November.

I have been following Christina Erickson on Instagram for a little while now - she does the most amazing embroidery - so when this popped up on her feed I entered.

And, lucky me, I won! Now, Christina lives in Washington and I live in France. But during the course of our email conversations it turned out that not only were we both going to be in UK at the same time but actually going to the same exhibition on the same day! How much of a co-incidence is that. So we arranged to meet outside the V&A and Christina handed over the package which was this beautifully framed piece of embroidery.

The embroidery is aprox  8" x 3.5" and covered in beautiful stitch. Many thanks Christina

it was good to meet you and your Mum and the chocolates were delicious!

The exhibition we had gone to see at the V&A was Opus Anglicanum and what a treat that was.

Do click on the link and scroll down the page - there is a video of how some of the embroidery was worked which is fascinating.

And now a finish for 2017 - four of my CQJP2015 blocks framed, bound, labelled and with a hanging tube.

All I had to do was complete the black feather stitch around the sashing but for some reason perle thread is not available in my neck of the woods so I had to wait for my Christmas trip to UK to buy some more.
The quality of my pics is not good - I think the black sashing must affect things.

So just a reminder of my original four blocks before framing.

So that's it for now - but lots more to show you so I will be back soon!

A Finish, WIP and a Giveaway!

Earlier this week Jenny of Elefantz shared this tutorial for her sewing caddy which she designed to sit over the arm of a chair.

 

With so many projects going on here  I of course immediately decided that I had to have one and so dropped everything to get started!

Fortunately I had to hand all the necessary ingredients. This Jenny of E stitchery that used the beautiful Cottage Garden thread that Maria sent me.

I also had these fat quarters that I won in a giveaway a couple of years ago. They were so lovely that I have been keeping them for just the right project.

That fruit fabric is gorgeous but sadly there was no info on the selvedge as to what it is.

Anyway, here is my finished caddy.

I made mine slightly larger than Jenny's so that it will sit nicely on my lap and also contain all the necessary for an afternoons sewing while 'watching' the bowling during the summer. Thank you Jenny, it's a great pattern.

I have also found some time to get on with my April Crazy block and have added some more seam treatments.

I am pleased with the way it is coming along and should have it finished by the end of the month.

So now to the giveaway! Next Sunday is my birthday and so to celebrate I shall be giving away  a collection of goodies - here are some of them.

That gorgeous floral is one of the V&A vintage florals collection and I am sure something delicious can be made with it using the matching spot fabric and the rickrack. If you would like to win these (and I am happy to ship anywhere) then please leave a comment below. Next Sunday I shall ask Mr RNG to choose a winner.

Lots of pink and purple in this post so I shall leave you with some more, in pictures I have taken of our garden. Have a good week.