And the winner is... (plus my visit to the NEC)

We have our winner of the non-slip sewing machine mat!

It's Lisa from Candle Lite Quilter

Congrats Lisa...drop me an email with your details and I'll get the package out to you.

For those of you that are interested.  The pattern for the sewing machine mat can be found on Tazzie's website.  Her instructions are so easy to follow and the end result so useful.  Tazzie has a great blog too, if you want to see what else she is up to.


On Saturday, I went to the NEC with the DD1 to see the Festival of Quilts.  It's been a few years since I've gone and I was sooo excited to be there.  DD1 said I was like a kid in a candy shop..and that was before the doors even opened :o)  As we were waiting in the queue to go in we saw Sarah from A Village Quilter.  I knew then I might see a few familiar faces.

My first stop had to be seeing Sherry at her stand for Irish Quilting Magazine.  I've been reading Sherry's blog for quite some time and have shared an email or two over the years.  It was great to finally meet her and have a chat.  I could have chatted all morning, but with many stalls to see and quilts to view, I had to be on my way...but not before I bought the new issue of Irish Quilting! ;o)

There was so much fabric to choose from that it was hard to know where to start first.  This was just one of many stalls.


After lunch we started to look at the quilts.  Lynda has talked some of the ones she liked on her blog and on the Lutterworth Piecemaker's Blog you can see their entry.  I took this close-up of one of the Lutterworth balloons...I love how it sparkles.


I also liked this quilt of mittens and the saying that was embroidered. 


This one was interesting with all the mementoes of previous trips.


And this one made me think of all of us that like to recycle shirts and don't know what to do with the cuffs!


As you can imagine I was drawn to this one and the links with Canada.


I'm not one for crazy quilts...but this was pretty...


And this was pretty too. 

It was a brilliant day and I saw so many people I knew...surprisingly considering I was there with 10000 other people!  At one point near by there was the very recognizable voice of Trashy (who I met for the first time in April)  It's a good thing it was her...can you imagine if it wasn't and I walked up to someone and called them Trashy :o) 

Until next time...

Paying it forward...

Last week a pretty little package arrived for me from Sandra from MonFilRouge. Just like the name of her blog, the package was wrapped in red string and inside was a lovely selection of vintage sheets. I have a little collection going and these will fit in perfectly. I have yet to decided how these will be sewn up, but I have a few ideas :o)

As Sandra was so generous with her spare fabric.. I, too, wish to share something that I have spare. It is this non-slip sewing machine mat that I made a little while ago. The back is lined with non-slip fabric and it is quilted to cushion your sewing machine. It has three pockets on the front to store your scissors and spare thread which is really handy. I have used it, but it is all washed up and ready for a new home. I no longer need it as I have another one in the works that is colour coordinated with the rest of my sewing space.

If you would like it, (and a few goodies to be thrown in) please leave a comment on THIS post only.

Please only post one comment per person and make sure that I have some way of getting in touch with you (blog or email)...A winner will be chosen on Monday, August 24th around 10am my time (BST)!

The giveaway is now closed...Thanks for playing along!!

Until next time...

A Wavy Wallhanging...

Lynda and I seem to be on the same "wave" length when it comes to colour at the moment.  Together we are part of a mini sewing group that challenges ourselves every couple of months with a new block or technique.  This time around we are all making a mini quilt using a technique which requires us to sew together wavy panel and then cut circles out which are then swapped and then stitched down in place.  This is mine...

Until next time...

Isn't every girl's dream...

...to sleep in a castle?  Well, guess what?!  That's just what I got to do!!  This past weekend my brother-in-law got married and the location for the reception was at Caverswall Castle.  Caverswall Castle was build in 1275 and has a long history.  At one time it was used as a convent and the priests used to stay in the turrets.  Now it has now been restored to be used as a venue for events.  The rooms in the castle were very grand and the turrets were 2 story family rooms.  We stayed in one of the turrets and I must admit I didn't get much sleep as the moon was shining through the curtains and I kept waking up thinking "I'm sleeping in a turret in a castle under moonbeams!!" It was magical!  Not surprisingly, I took A LOT of pictures and have managed to choose the best to share with you....(see, you are always in my thoughts! :o)

This was one of the turrets from taken from the roof of the castle


This was our door to our turret...For once I was glad to be short!!


The windows on the upper floor


A selection of pictures from the wedding


One of the rooms in the castle


A cat that we met along the way...


The lane from the castle back towards the road


The roses growing outside the turret


Oh look a quilt!!  LOL - had to sneak this one in. 
I finished my DD2 princess quilt in time to take it with us to the castle.


And lastly, the sign on the door of the church...it made me smile :o)

Until next time...

The last stitch done...

By the time you read this I should be dancing the night away at a family wedding celebrating with the happy couple on their marriage.  I've made them this quilt which is a scrappy Chinese coin quilt.  I wanted a design that I could incorporate different fabrics that have featured in some the quilts that have been made for other family members.  For instances, the duck fabric you can see in the close up is fabric my MIL gave me, the blue fabric two rows over is in my nephews quilt.  I really hope they like it.

Until next time...

Catching up...

If you've been keeping up, you will have read that our camping trip ended early....and with that was the missed opportunity to roast marshmallows over the camp fire.  Luckily we came up with a great solution and were able to roast them over our bucket BBQ.  Surprising it worked incredibly well.

This weekend I went to visit Crafts & Quilts on the A5 near Weedon.  They have just moved into a new and larger shop at the back of the Heart of the Shires.  The shop looked wonderful and has so much more natural light that it did before.  Here are a few snaps my sister took while I was busy shopping :o)

Until next time...