Wednesday 24 July 2013

Super Summer Sale Headsup!!


No, I haven't changed my name or my header, I just wanted you to know about a great sale over at Raspberry Rabbits. Let me say right away that I have no affiliation with Michelle May, the owner of this wonderful site. I have been working on the free BOM 'Harrington and Hannah' for a loooong time, but I am getting there. The free blocks are here for the BOM, but make sure you copy them soon, as they are due to disappear! There are also more, really nice, free designs, so have a look. I thought I was in some small way giving payback for these wonderful designs, by advertising the sale to all my friends and readers. All you have to do is spend $25, and you will get a 20% discount. My Scottish blood is singing. I couldn't miss such an opportunity!!

Look at this wonderful design - you can buy either the pattern or the kit -

-and this one is the same!
There is a wonderful selection of bargain materials -

-and the colours of the hand-dyed Valdani threads are to die for!!

There is a good selection on supplies, but I must admit my favourites are the wools. They just look scrummy!! I can see a few wooly crafts appearing on the horizon! Fun! Fun! Fun!



Hope you will hop over to Raspberry Rabbits (no pun intended) and have a browse. Michelle is a lovely lady and she also has a great blog.
Till next time.
tich xx

Friday 12 July 2013

I Spy Finished (photo heavy)


You might remember last month that I was teasing you about something I was making (here). It was, of course, and I Spy quilt, and I was making it for my granddaughter's birthday. I was making it with some of the wonderful material I received from quilters all over the world, when my sister died. I thought I had better start early, as I was still not feeling very well, and I wanted to take my time.

I cut out lots of lovely squares, ...

...and sewed them into nine patches. No, these squares are sewn correctly, because ...

...I was making a disappearing nine patch,... 

... to make quick blocks!  

I layed out all the blocks, once I had them made,... 

 and then I numbered the rows. I was trying to get the different materials spaced out, but was not concerned about the self-coloured material.




I had some really quirky material for the backing. I sandwiched it and quilted it on the machine. I quilted it with straight lines, but with random spacing in between. Some of the lines were a bit wobbly, but I don't think my granddaughter will notice. 



The binding was made from the self-coloured material, in random lengths. 
 

I bought a packet of hair clips, and used these to hold the binding, whilst I was sewing it down. They were great, and only cost me £1.20 for 30 clips!!

Below are some pictures of the quilt. 












One of the ladies included some labels, so I used one as well.




I hope my granddaughter likes it.

I  am sorry I cannot name the ladies who gave me the material. I made up an Excel file with all the details, but both my computer and my backup external hard drive crashed in the same week, and I lost most of my files.
But THANK YOU again!!

Till next time.
tich xx








Tuesday 2 July 2013

New Life



The rule in our house is that if an animal has a name it does not get eaten! When this new lot of ducklings came out of their shells, I could not stop laughing. One of them had a pompadour haircut, so he just had to get the name 'Pompei'. He is just adorable!!
Till next time.
tich