Kate Winslet speech

I apologise if this all gets a bit Kate Winslet but I cannot tell you exciting it feels when people trust your work enough to buy a pattern- I am totally overwhelmed.  I thought I might sell a couple- I underestimated completely and had to keep rushing back to my etsy shop to top up the numbers!  Your kind and generous comments have made me smile and blush so much!  Even the Flickr photo was on explore today- icing on the cake! So time to give a little credit to some very lovely friends.  Firstly Amy, who has more energy and better time management than anyone I know,  has been a wonderful pattern tester.  She was emailing me pictures before I had even finished my own and came up with this frosty, wintery table topper in an unbelievably short time.

in fact she has only just finished this beauty before she started my pattern.  This block really took my breath away, stunning!  If you haven't already, take a visit to her blog  and you will soon see how muliti talented she is with her patterns, screen printing and crafty makes.  She has an incredibly generous spirit and has been so helpful in my tense final stages of getting this up and running, thankyou Amy.   And she is also hosting a little giveaway for my pattern here if you want a freebie ( if you have already bought it, you can still enter and get a freebie on my next one).

And holding my hand across in Japan has been Ayumi who made these in double quick time- an enlarged version of each mitten block to make for his and hers mini tea cozy- I love that idea and it is an extra test of the pattern!   Ayumi is a pillar of support to me, a great friend and always gives positive and helpful advice.  Sometimes people visit here who haven't looked at her Pink Penguin blog before- if that's you, oh wow you are in for such a treat.  Thankyou Ayumi!  She is also  giving away my pattern here and the same applies as with Amy's giveaway.

If you are stuck for Christmas presents Ayumi's latest tutorial is here and you can make this cute and very useful organiser basket

And then there was Hadley who turned my cheeks red with her blog post (and ended it with my favourite musician and comedy genius).  Hadley made this clever little mug rug use the  + x block in the best way

And last but you know definitely never least, Lynne wrote some incredibly nice things and is hosting another giveaway- 3 peeps win a pattern from me.  It is hard not to find something amazing in her photostream, take a look at this, her latest work

Such a supportive community could leave me speechless apart from the very long speech I have just written...thankyou x

Winter Woolies Pattern

Thank you for such supportive emails yesterday.  Putting myself out into the commercial world even with one little paper piecing pattern is a stressful experience but now it is done I am so happy- you can find it on etsy here.  It is just turning chilly in the UK- I have put away all my summer footwear and got out my many boots, so timing couldn't be better!  I made a wall hanging with my block, it is now just by our front door as a subliminal prompt to my husband and daughter to maybe even put a coat on?

I have put a new page  here with paper piecing links,  so if you want to know the basics before you embark on a pattern like this there is some great help out there.  The best tip I can offer is one I read at The Sometimes Crafter, use an old needle without thread and machine stitch through the paper pattern on all the lines.  The perforations make the paper easier to fold its removal so much easier.  You do not need special paper just something lightweight.  I bought a pack of 70 gsm from the classiest stationery shop- Poundland.  Another tip is to print a second copy of the pattern pieces on to card- use these as a rough guide to the fabric shapes you will need.  With foundation piecing you always need bigger fabric pieces than you think! 

If you are lovely enough to purchase, you know I am here for help!  If it is sold, I will renew as soon as I can so be patient, it will be back up there!  More patterns are coming, I just need a little photoshop tutorial from my much in demand brother - I have booked him and if he wants a birthday present he knows he has to come, big sister has spoken.  Christmas themes are next- presents and candy canes I hope...

Preview

Unfinished, the fancy bits have not yet been added but this is a sneaky peek of my first foundation paper pieced pattern going on sale tomorrow...

back with more details soon...

Promise

Thankyou for all the get well wishes. I am back at work and feeling much better than last week.  I have an energetic job so when I get home I can't get much sewing done until I feel a bit more up to speed.  I did fancy a quick fix instant gratification make.  I bought this months Mollie Makes magazine, mainly for the tiny coin purse frame kit on the front.  At £4.99 an issue, it is at the pricier end of the magazine market. I blindly cut my fabrics out following the instructions and cutting round the templates , I then realised there would be no lining, the seams would be visible on the inside and the whole thing would be too flimsy for coins.  So I abandoned the sparse and slightly inadequate instructions and made it using previous purse making knowledge- see U-handbag for great purse tutorials.  

Suzuko Koseki fabric and a little stamping with versacraft ink.

The lining is Kei dots.  The coins give you an idea of scale, this is a tiny purse.

I am not a great craft magazine buyer. UK magazines are often aimed at beginner sewers and have great aspirational lifestyle pictures but projects with often rather limited usage or not the best instructions.  If I had been new to sewing and had made the purse how they suggested I would have been rather sad about the result.  The crafting tradition and maybe a larger market to see to in USA and Japan leads to more adventurous magazines with a variety of projects for a greater range of abilities.  Don't get me wrong, Mollie Makes is very pretty but there is the edge of whimsy that pushes me over the edge- I am a little irritable at the moment and "things that have been made with love last longer" as a caption was going too far for me. 

I have had a week of frustrating tech which has compounded my grumpiness.  My phone is a Blackberry- I just got it fixed and then the Blackberry crash has made it inoperable for most of this week.  I also working on my first paper pieced pattern for sale on Etsy and drawing the pieces has been fiendishly hard in Word!  I have now sussed it, publication is imminent and I promise Damian that I will be a loveable person to live with once more and not a raging, irritable old bag x

Whine and a moan

It is time for a little whine and a moan.  I lost my voice last Tuesday- mid  class it went from singing and talking to whispering in 10 minutes.  The strangest experience, I have lost my voice before but not without warning.  It was the last class of the morning and I thought I would rest up and it would return. Hmm, Sunday, running a temperature, a mountain of tissues and wondering about how next week will be.  Two very welcome parcels this week though.  I did a fabric swap with Charise- what lovelies she sent, vintage in there as well as modern.  I can only fantasise  about her great her fabric stash is.

I have got to know Charise via Flickr and admiring her creations...take a minute to look at this.  See what I mean!   Thankyou Charise!

I was also lucky enough to win a giveaway at Wynn's ZakkaArt blog.  She has recently posted a tutorial for a lovely patchwork bag- see the links here.  A beautiful stack of 4 fat quarters in pretty colours, gorgeous and soft.  Thankyou Wynn!

So I am sniffing, snuffling and croaking away.  Other crappy things this week: my phone broke- life without my Blackberry is sadly a bit hard, there is a magic man nearby who is fixing it for a small fee, hoepfully back by Thursday.  The mouse on my computer bust, and my laser printer packed up too.    My head has not been up to speed either- I tried to dial my own phone number today, and numerous pans have been burnt, water left on etc.  A costly week.

Normal service will be resumed soon.  I was meant to be seeing Ben Howard play tonight, too poorly to go, I've sold my tickets and made someone else and her daughter very happy, so I'll leave you with this and stop the whinge.  I'll be better soon and  I will try and feel 'gracious' too.

Mug Rug Winner!

The winner is...

and that was Quirky Granola girl aka Melinda!  I have already been in touch with Melinda so the Mug Rug will be winging its way to her very soon.  A big thank you for all the entries and the incredibly helpful ideas for paper piecing designs- I am working on Christmas paper piecing right now!

Christmas- not yet

Just finished, ready for Christmas in Hawaii, my Christmas Ringo Pie bee block-an advent tree for Amber.  I found this wooden tree on Flickr and that was my starting point.

The bordered squares are 1.5 inches.  I stamped the words- a line from White Christmas using Versacraft ink as it sets permanently onto the fabric.

The background fabric and stamped squares are Kona Snow.  I have very little Christmas fabric so I dived into the red and green in my vintage and new fabrics so it is an eclectic mix.

You can see the other Christmas blocks which have rolled in so far here as well as the first blocks from Amy's camera theme too here and here.

It might be a while till Christmas but it is the start of stitching time- I am hoping to get some paper pieced patterns ready for sale in the next 2 weeks with Christmas designs ready for stockings, cushions etc.  Keeps me busy x