A Challenging Week

Well, what can I say, after a traumatic Monday spent throwing the last of our things into boxes, and the removals men having to go and get another lorry as we'd filled the first one, we have now moved into what I will term our "homeless phase".  When we finally stopped running around like mad people my immune system crashed and I had to spend a couple of days in bed, absolutely unheard of, I really cannot remember the last time i was that ill.  I am of course back to myself but still with only about 60% energy, so it's unlikely I will be up to any sewing until next week.  We have hot-footed it from my friends house (not to be recommended when you can barely crawl out of bed), to the in-laws for the weekend, and are due into a holiday home tomorrow for a week- hopefully that will mark the end of our homelessness if we get into our new home on the 8th or 9th of April.



So, in all of the mayhem I have a couple of things outstanding which have been bothering me, including finishing my Handprinted fabrics for the swap which should have been posted last Monday. I had hoped to get them done on Tuesday and Wednesday, but as I was fit for nothing, the lovely ladies in Group 7 have been very patient and told me to get better before I do them, so that's my first job for next week once the little one is in nursery- I detest missing deadlines.

I also have a zippy to finish for the lovely Erin who won the second prize in my birthday giveaway, and I am running out of time to quilt my Chevron quilt, which I am determined to get done for the competition- I really do dislike quilting, and all this procrastinating about it is starting to annoy me!

Not a lot to do then, I just need to find some serious energy, because at the moment, snoozing seems like a far more appealing option!

It's the last day of the Book Challenge, so if you have any projects heavily inspired by or completed from a book, get yourself in the draw for a book, all of the details are here, and you have until tomorrow morning first thing when the competition closes- Hadley, this is your official last minute warning, if you have a project, get it listed!!

Happy Easter
Ange x

Birthday Giveaway Winners.....

Wow, well that was fun, a massive pile of entries (162) to the competition, and so it's time to announce the winners, there are 2 prizes as you may recall, so here we go:

Winner of the book from Stitch Craft Create is
 
 

  
 

Well Done Lucy, you have the choice of Stitch Savvy, Modern Designs For Classic Quilts, or A Bag For All Reasons.  You can read my reviews for the first 2 before you decide if you want, I have linked them up to the book titles above.

And for the second winner, a Zippy Bag with scraps (not quite finished yet, but it will be done this week once we move) is....
ha, Erin!  Congratulations Erin, I cannot believe it's you, but well done, I will get it sent out to you asap!!



A massive thank you to Stitch Craft Create for offering up another book as a prize, very generous, and if you would like to purchase any of the books, click on the link to the UK shop.

On another note, I did try to respond to every comment, and if you didn't receive a little message from me then you are probably a no-reply blogger, and left no email!  It's a real shame, and means the chances of me being to contact you are pretty slim if you win, feel free to comment below and ask me to check your status (with your email address in the comment) and I will happily tell you if you are.
 
Right, I'm off to finish my packing, we are very nearly there, but who knew I lived in a tardis, so much stuff- aaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!  Just call me The Doctor :o)

Ange x

Thank You...

A massive Thank You to everyone for my birthday good wishes, I had a fab day with my little one, eating cake (she and her Dad coated my cake with cream and a LOT of grated chocolate, yum!), out for lunch and a lovely snooze in the afternoon- a rare treat indeed!  

 I also received some lovely cards, and gifts, including some chocolate, a quilty pattern and some mini charms of Honey Honey from the lovely Kerry, how cute are these!!  And from my very first bloggy friend Sarah, a FMQ pin, some more chocolate (you girls know me so well) and a fabulous book on posh quilting tips- anyone who reads this blog often has probably figured I am common as muck need all the help i can get to be posh at anything!!  Thank you ladies, it is really appreciated, and as you've probably noticed, not all the chocolate made it to the photo stage, what can have happened to it?! *wipes chocolate away from her mouth*

Photo stolen from Di!

I have also attended my first meeting of the East Midlands Modern Quilt Guild (Saturday the 16th), where I met some fantastic ladies who I will be spending lots more time with if they let me). It was a pleasure to meet Moira, Di, Trudi, Mandy, Kerry, Wendy, Liz, Lizzie, and Reene, and if anyone else fancies joining us, don't hesitate to get in contact and I can give you details.  
 As our first project we have decided to do a 6 hour Weekender Bag sewing session on the 20th of April, which should be fun, venue to be confirmed.  
 

 And on a personal note, this has been my day, no fun, and still hundreds more boxes seemingly need packing, yay!  Tomorrow I will be doing more of the same, box filling, but I am getting there, however slowly it feel- 6 days til move out, oh crap, i'd better get back to it.

Ange x

 

 

Meet my Machine- Hoppety Birthday Giveaway!

***There is a linky party over at Staceys Blog, The Tilted Quilt- write about your machine so we can hear all about it!***

Did you see what I did there, incorporated the Blog Hop, My Birthday celebration (today), and the fact that there is a little giveaway happening here to help share the celebration.  Before I get any questions on whether it's a big one (the birthday), I can confirm it most definitely is not, I am celebrating my 21st and my 16th all at the same time, so yes, for those of you that can count, that means I'm a knackered youthful 37 today. 

 Onto the Meet My Machine Blog Hoppers stuff, so here it is- don't forget to read all the way through to the end, there's a double giveaway, and links to some other fabulous blogs! :o)

I have 2 machines, my day to day one is a Pfaff  1548, I picked it up about 18 months ago when I wanted to try FMQ and Freehand Embroidery on my machine, and my classic machine wasn't set up for it.  It's a fab little machine with fancy stitches, the ability to drop feed dogs etc for the FMQ, and a good array of feet included.  It has 7 inches of throat space, which is ok for quilting, but maybe at some point i might want to upgrade to a bigger machine (if the budget ever allows), which might help me get over my general dislike of the actual process of quilting, but probably not!  I haven't got a name for her, which is strange for me as I've named cars in the past, but I love her all the same!

Very professional masking tape seam width indicator!

I do have another machine, and it's an ancient Singer, she might not have all of the bells and whistles of my Pfaff, but my she is a great machine, around 60 years old, a semi-industrial 201K- classic brown Bakelite, but if you need a job doing, she's your woman.  The quality output of this machine is what it's all about, she's straight stitch only, but does have reverse which helps, and has 8 inches of throat space- she was my first machine.  I only got her jusr over 2 years ago when I first started sewing "seriously", before that I borrowed my Mums old Singer.  

And I have another machine on her way to live with me.  When my grandmother passed away about 20 years ago I didn't think to ask for her machine, and my brother ended up with it, where it has sat in his house ever since, unused.  I have no idea what brand it is, or anything else about it, but i'll be picking it up in a couple of weeks (after we move), and hopefully getting it operational.  There's something that feels right about using it and maybe teaching my daughter to sew on it, I can't quite put my finger on why, but it feels like the right thing to do.

  I think it's probably best if I don't show you my sewing space right now, the shame would be too much to bear- it hasn't be tidied for about 3 weeks and looks like I've been burgled!

*****GIVEAWAY*****

There are 2 prizes:

1.  Your choice of ONE of the following 3 books.

and a second person will win:
2. A Triple Zippy Bag (yeah i know it's a pouch, i just don't like that word) stuffed with scraps.  I am half way through making it, oops- i'll add a picture once it's done!

You have two chances to win, for the first chance, tell me the machine you sew on, and your favourite feature, and for a second chance, be a follower, and tell me you are.  Competition closes on the 24th of March, at about 9am UK time.

And if you're not competitioned out yet, check out my Monthly Book Challenge- another chance to win a copy of Stitch Savvy.  

SUNDAY, MARCH 17

Erin @ Sew at Home Mummy 

Angela @ Heart of Charnwood

Shannon @ Crafty Turtle

Amy @ Stitchery Dickory Dock

MONDAY, MARCH 18

Ebony @ Love Bug Studios 

Jaclyn @ Jaclyn Quilts

Amy @ Diary of a Quilter

TUESDAY, MARCH 19

Kara@ Me and Elna

Beth @ Plum and June

Nerissa @ Nissa Made 

Elizabeth @ Don’t Call Me Betsy

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20

Carly @ Citric Sugar 

Celine @ Espritpatch 

Patti @ A Yankee in Queen Liz’s Court

THURSDAY, MARCH 21

Stacey @ The Tilted Quilt 

The Jolly Jabber Staff (Chelsey, Kimberly, Debbie)

Rachel @ Sew Happily Ever After! 

FRIDAY, MARCH 22

Erika @ Sews it All 

Lisa @ Vintage Modern Quilts

Adrianne @ On the Windy Side