geese with beaks!

I have just finished my second block and am pleased to report that my flying geese making skills have improved to the degree that they all have sharp beaks!

The same; but different

As frequently happens, I have been inspired by Katy over at I'm a ginger monkey who is participating in this quiltalong, set up by the fabulous Anita.

I am quite late in starting so I have a bit of catching up to do and, well, I've changed it about a wee bit

I have taken out the geese in the sashing - a) because I am skeeered of how many geese I would need to make and b) because I wanted a 'whiter' quilt.

I have replaced the two centre geese with a solid 4 1/2 inch square because I knew I would obsess about which direction the geese should be facing and this way I can have them all pointing in centrally instead.

I have added extra white sashing either side of the geese border, again for that extra bit of white.

Finally, I have reduced it to 3 blocks by 3 blocks from Anita's 4x4 - this is just so that I get it finished! Depending on how quickly I progress I may reconsider that change.

I have just finished my first block

Oh yes and another change I have made is that each block will use 3 different fabrics + white. I

haven't planned out which fabrics I will use where yet, I just grabbed the first 3 that came to hand last night but 3 blocks by 3 blocks x 3 colours in each block = 27 so there is scope for using each of my current designs once if I leave out the ones that are very white like the large maneki and the peacock range.

My goal is to get it finished in time to use as a wall display at the Festival of Quilts - I will send it away for long arm quilting so I need to decide where it is going and find out what their deadline would be in order for me to get it back in time!

I have just spent an exhausting weekend at Wimbledon International Quilt Show - only really so tiring because of the 'toing and froing' though! I had a lovely time meeting and chatting with like minded people. I mainly spent my time figuring out a simple method to drop a zip in a small coin purse (Hi Rose!).......this took the majority of Saturday and Sunday, hand sewing is not my friend! I am going to play around now I am joyfully reunited with my bernina and then I might do a little tute cos it's quite cute! The quilt show itself was gorgeous, they are a very talented bunch, stupidly I didn't take any pictures, hmm.

Last weekend was my first camping weekend of the year because, yippee!, it is kite festival season once more! It was bitter sweet as we took time to mark the passing of our dear friend/father/husband/ex partner (that's where I come in)/team mate/flying buddy Steve who sadly passed away in January.

Since my last post I have also managed to squeeze in a little trip to France to gaze lovingly at this nose......

....well, wouldn't you? given the opportunity?

Yay!

I just got an e-mail from the lovely ladies at One Yard Wonders to say that my project submission has been accepted and will be in their next book! I am so excited! I only found out that they were looking for submissions two days before the deadline and just tried it as a long shot but I got in! Here's a pic of the 'Drawstring tidy caddy' that I designed for them.

They want me to make it in a different fabric so I am crossing my fingers that they might consider one of my other designs but that might just be asking too much!

swapping fun

Dena, my spring fling swap partner who sent me the lovely pink bouquet of flowers last month finally received my mini quilt last week (I am so not impressed at it taking 4 weeks to arrive!). I posted a sneak peek earlier but here is the whole thing.

I am participating in 3 swaps this month - a mini coin, an anything goes mini and a placemat swap. I heard from Karen this morning that the wonky mini coin I sent her has arrived so here it is! I had lots of fun making it, I can't remember where I saw a wonky coin quilt but it was at least a year ago and I have been hankering after making one ever since.

non fabric crafting!

I have been practising icing biscuits today and all I can say is it is harder than it looks!

Cerys is moving this summer and she is planning a party for her daughters to say their farewells, the party is going to have a garden theme and Cerys and I have been having a lovely time of late dreaming up the food and decorations.

One thing that we have decided to do is biscuits in the shapes of snails, caterpillars, butterflies, bees and flowers iced in lovely bright and glossy royal icing.

I have searched the blogosphere for hints and tips and inspiration and today purchased a packet of rich tea biscuits on which to practise (waaaaay easier than making biscuits to practise on!)

Here are the results, I certainly hope I improve and I am SO glad I did a practise run!

Goodies from Shanghai

I have just been out for yummy Thai food with my parents who are over from France, even more exciting though - they came laden down with goodies passed on from Michelle who has just arrived in France from Shanghai!

Samples of beach huts so I can check the colours and scale - I have been longing to get my hands on these!

And presents! Lovely linens and pretty prints from Laurie - thank you so much Laurie (and Mark and Stella!) I love them all! So, so, pretty!

And even more gorgeousness from Michelle! Thank you sis! I can't believe you gave them all to me in the end!

I have just spent the last hour drooling over them all and planning how I will use them (who am I kidding? I will just stroke them, far too precious to cut into! although who could resist making a handbag with turnips or pigs?!)