Oh it is with great excitement that I have a VERY VERY important announcement to make. I am off to Yorkshire for a few days on a quilting holiday with Philippa Naylor!! She has taught classes before at my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven, but due to work commitments I was never able to attend - so this is going to be just fantastic, as I will be with her for FOUR WHOLE DAYS - and I'll also get to visit her at home and look around her studio - yes, I am just a little bit giddy thinking about it all!! The picture shown here is taken from her fabulous book, "Quilting in the Limelight" - her work is just AMAZING!  It will be a great way to learn lots of new techniques - I am going with my friend Helen and some other like-minded crafty ladies. We'll be staying at Highfield Farm, where we'll be doing lots of sewing and eating and sewing and yakking. Here are some tasters of Philippa's stunning award winning quilts....

.....and finally this shows detail from "Spider Plant". As you can see Philippa's quilts are so vibrant and exciting - I hope I can produce something as fabulous as this!  So, my case is packed full to bursting (mostly with fabrics and threads rather than clothes hehe!!) and I'll share lots of piccies with you all when I get back!

Last year when I went to the Festival of Quilts, I was admiring some Horn sewing cabinets, and decided that I really NEEDED one of them to keep my sewing machine in, but I really really wanted something a bit more contemporary. JUST LOOK at what I found on the internet - these gorgeous Arrow Sewing Cabinets - if Mr F needs any suggestions on what I would like for my birthday next year (it will be a special birthday, so I'll need a VERY special present hehe!!) this might give him some ideas. This design is called "Florrie" and I just love the colour - this fun vibrant pistachio green would look great in my sewing studio - well, of course I don't actually HAVE a sewing studio yet - but a girl can dream, can't she?.....

.....and if you think the green laminate is just a little bit TOO bright, here is the "Florrie" is also available in classic white wicker-effect laminate.  The Florie features a 2-position adjustable mechanism that will move your sewing machine into both flatbed and freearm positions.....

....."Olivia" is cute and vintage and  gingerbread-house-gorgeous, and is also available in pistachio green and white.  There is plenty of storage for your small notions with 2 drawers and 2 deep cubbies for storage of your sewing machine, serger or baskets of fabric.  I'm just dreaming about how lovely my Bernina would look sitting on top of one of these sewing tables!! And the best thing of all? I've found a UK stockist!!.....

.....and of course with a sewing table like this, you need the perfect sewing chair. I just love this  bright heavy-duty Alexander Henry fabric  - and there's even some secret storage space underneath the lid! Oh well I'm off to bed to dream of sewing rooms and cabinets and threads and fabrics!! 

Well I've been shopping again at my favourite Etsy store, Amanda Davie, and just look what I've found - this gorgeous "Sun and Sea" bracelet. Amanada writes on her Etsy site that this beautiful piece is inspired by water, and the start of summer. Sand and Sea is a hand knotted bracelet, and Amanda has added a beautiful collection of gemstones, charms and natural elements. Waxed linen cording pairs wonderfully with the natural quartz, shell, glass, and moonstone of this totally dreamy bracelet. This will be perfect for a summer beach holiday, and I just happen to have the perfect jaunt abroad already booked, when my niece is getting married on the beach in Cyprus later in the year. Now I just needed some earrings to go with this stunning bracelet....

.....and look what I found! Beautiful frosted glass has been stacked and wire wrapped to form the base of these unique earrings. Amanda has hung hand drilled Lake Michigan beach stones from the bottom of the earrings. Beautiful and casual, perfect for summer attire! These are just divine and I shall be so excited when these arrive in the post!

It's Beth's birthday today, and although I have already bought her a camera for her main present, I wanted to make her a little something else too. As she's off to Edinburgh for a few days with her lovely boyfriend, and needed something to keep all her beauty stuff in, I decided to make her a toilettry bag. I used a Norwegian pattern called "Toalettveske" by Elin R. Roland that I have used a few times before. It's a rather complicated pattern, but I have really enjoyed making it. The fabric in the corner looks shiney because it has a layer of plastic laid over it after it has been quilted - this will become the bottom of the bag, and the plastic prevents the bottom from getting wet and soggy - the other panels are added using a "quilt-as-you-go" method, and have been trimmed with lace that's not-quite-so-vintage as it was leftover from when I made Beth's Christening gown when she was just a few weeks old.....

.....I decided to make the bag in tones of cream and white, and used lots of scraps from my stash box for this project. I also printed off a picture onto fabric that I have appliqued to the back of the toilettry bag.... 

.....I decided to alter the original pattern, and added a pocket inside with an elasticated edge. This looks great, and I'm sure it will be really useful for all Beth's bits and bobs and general stuff. The fabric that I used for the pocket and the lining is a beautiful cream paisley print that was leftover from an earlier project (in fact it was extra wide backing that I had bought from Janette to back one of my quilts with) - it seemed just perfect for this pretty toilettry bag....

.....and here I am stitching the binding along the sides - I thought this was going to be quite tricky as I was sewing through so many layers, but my Bernina didn't seem to have a problem at all!.....

.....the trickiest part of this bag is putting in the zipper and this one really did try my patience!! As you can see, I had a very busy weekend trying to get this finished. Anyway, eventually the zipper was in place and I'm really pleased with it. It has some ties at the side, and of course I had to add one of my labels - just incase Beth wonders where it came from - the Yummy Mummy shop of course hehe!!.....

..... and the toilettry bag is just the right height for Beth's favourite "Soap and Glory" toiletries that I have hidden inside for her.....

.....also I couldn't resist making her a matching make-up bag to go with the toilettry bag - and trimmed it with the last of the Christening gown lace. I had been hanging on to this for years, so I did have a slight pang of emotion when I was sewing with it, but it's no good hoarding onto beautiful things - they need to be seen and to be used.....

.....I am so pleased with this set of bags - this will be perfect for her trip to Edinburgh. Happy Birthday Beth - hope you like your pressie!! 

Yesterday was very productive - I was making a gift for my very special friend Fran. I started by making 2 log cabin blocks, finished size 10" square. I used left-over strips from a Moda Honey bun for this project (Fig Tree Quilts - "Patisserie" - yummy fabrics and colours) and layered the squares into a couple of quilt sandwiches with some cream backing fabric and some 80/20 cotton/polyester wadding. Can you guess what I was making?....

.....the layers were spray basted together and quilted very simply "in-the-ditch" using a Gutterman varigated sulky thread in shades of peach and olive green to match the colours of the log cabin squares.....

.....and then it was time for a very delicate "stuffing" operation that required a very steady hand -  and here, stitched neatly on the "bottom" is one of my new labels  that I recently ordered - I'm really pleased with these, as they add a final flourish to all my quilted projects, and love these ones with the "grown-up handwriting"!.....

.....here is another clue to what "eggstreme" craftiness was going on - these were the left-overs from the completed project - a couple of empty bags of rice and a few "feathery" fabric scraps. Have you worked it out yet?.....

.....did you guess what it was? It's a patchwork hen - looking rather magnificent if I say so myself! I bought a kit from Quilters Haven a few years ago to make one of these  - my own patchwork hen sits on a shelf in my kitchen - and I still had the pattern. (The pattern was inspired by "Frittgaede Lappeideer" by Lise Bergene and Annie Eikenes). The rice? It was used to stuff the chicken - so it's nice and weighty, with a good firm bottom. And the reason for making this hen for Fran? Well you'll see in the picture below....

.....here are Fran's real hens - a bevvy of beauties - who we were admiring last night when Mr F and myself spent the evening with Fran and her lovely partner, Paul. Instead of taking Fran some flowers, I gave her a hen instead! And was chicken on the menu last night? Definately NOT!!! We had a great time last night - good food, good wine and brilliant company. Thanks for a splendid time Fran.

Yes, I know, I've been shopping again - and I really couldn't help it!! This stunning bracelet by Amanda Davie arrived in the post yesterday and I am so thrilled with it! It is a mixture of lovely Czech glass beads, and antique brass accent charms and has a beautiful stamped message on it "Life Is About Creating Yourself" and I absolutely love it!  This piece also bears Amanda's signature tag. Now all I need is to be taken out somewhere nice so I can wear it!

On Saturday I was meeting my friend Val, and after I'd had a look at her longarm quilting machine in action (her husband was busy operating the machine) we drove over to Felixstowe as we both NEEDED to have a browse at some fabrics. After a very VERY long chat over coffee, we headed off to Fabric8 and we were really spoilt for choice. I have been asked to teach a bag-making class for a quilting group in Essex next month, and so was looking for fabrics to make a couple of samples with. Firstly I spotted some red and white spotty fabric that would be ideal for a splash of colour for a bag lining - so that HAD to come home with me. Then I saw some Union Jack fabric - (this will look great teamed with some denim for a tote bag) - and finally I found a vintage chocolate bar print - perfect! Whilst the fabric was being cut, I spied a nice firm weave fabric (looks like linen but is really stiff) that would go perfectly with some brown batics from my stash (may also get to make a new runner with this fabric!) so that was the end of my shopping spree - or so I thought..... 

..... I had really wanted something a bit more unusual to add to my stash, and Val had seen this fabulous fabric in the shop window - it is a wonderful screen printed extra wide canvas with a very patriotic design of union jacks, heraldry symbols and stars - with a very large pattern repeat. As it WAS rather expensive, we decided to economize and have half a piece each, which really will be more than enough to make some great shopping bags. We headed back to Val's after the shopping spree to have another cuppa! (and to admire the quilt that had been on the machine - her husband had finished it while we'd been shopping and it looked great!) - we'd been so busy nattering I really don't know where the day went! Right - off to start sewing samples! As Mr F is at the races today, I've got the whole day to myself to make as much creative mess as I like! 

I spent a wonderful day on Saturday at my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven, on a class with the very talented Helen Howes, making an "Embellished Landscape" wallhanging. I have been on several classes with Helen in the past, and she is a fantastic tutor. As you can see, I had decided to make my wallhanging in suble neutral shades, so raided my stash box (actually I've got several stash boxes!!) for an assortment of creams and whites and beiges and lace and ric-rac and buttons - well, you get the general idea - and then it was time to get ready and let those creative juices start flowing!!.........

.....first of all we played about with fabrics and bondaweb, and started to create our landscape design with some fusible applique, (and yes we all has to actually DRAW our own designs, which was probably the most stressful part of the day as I can't draw at all!!). I felt very inspired by my recent trip to Norway, so was remembering those magnificent mountains and fjords when I was choosing my fabrics and trying to put my ideas onto paper!....

.....then the fun really stared with some confetti quilting - lots of bits of fabric randomly placed and covered with net and then we were let loose with free motion quilting. I added a few twirly bits with some metallic gold thread. Hmmm - could this resemble the "moraine". This was followed by learning how to make chenille - this was a bit tricky as we had to cut through several layers of fabric, but was made much easier once I'd invested in a Clover Slash Cutter, which was much easier than cutting through all those layers of fabric with a pair of scissors. This piece just has to be washed andd dried to "fluff" it up and make it a bit more textured. Helen then showed us how to pleat fabric - again, this was done completely randomly - we didn't have to press any fabric or measure anything - we just pleated the fabric wherever we wanted to. I think this will represent a "glacier" on my wallhanging! The last thing we made were 3-D leaves. These will be added to the landscape wallhanging at the end, once all the other parts are arranged (arftully of course!!), sewn together and quilted. Helen's final flourish to the day was to show us how to add some foil to our finished wallhanging - this will be added to mine once it is completed and quilted. I always enjoy classes with Helen, as we learn so much from her - and it was great meeting up with some quilting friends, Lesley and Mary, and making new friends too. Now, please excuse me while I carry on quilting and get this finished!

My Bernina sewing machine has been feeling a bit poorly recently - maybe because it is used so much!! Anyway, with a planned leave of absence due to a holiday in Norway, I decided to give my sewing machine a real treat, and arranged for it to have a full service whilst I was away admiring the fjords. I duely dropped it off at my local quilt shop, Quilters Haven, and the wonderful Mr Woods (he's also known as "The Bernina Man") worked his magic - anyway, my wonderful Bernina has now been returned, fully serviced, and with a new lease of life, and is now purring away merrily while I'm sewing. Now then -  what can I make next??

Well it's been very wet here today, with just a bit more than the usual April showers. Mr F has been pottering about in the garden this afternoon, dodging the downpurs of rain - and ohhh look what he found - a blackbirds nest with 4 greedy little beaks peeking out! It was exhausting watching their busy parents flying backwards and forewards with beakfuls of food for their ravenous youngsters.....

.....and while Mr F was getting wet in the garden, I've been keeping dry, sitting in the conservatory with a cuppa, and listening to several of these fellows croaking away in the pond, making a terrible hullaballoo. What a wonderful relaxing way to spend an afternoon. Any sewing? No, not today - I'm going to  collect my Bernina tomorrow - when normal service will resume at Foreman Towers hehe!!