still here ...

... I've been reading a lot lately  ...  blogs  ... I treated myself to an ipad, though I've yet to work out how to blog from it...  I'm sure some of you clever ladies will point me in the right direction ...

... and 'those' books ... all three of them! 

But I have been busy sewing and quilting ...

Ab Fab Free Bees ...

I've been working on my 'In the Frame Purse' for my swap partner ...

and the purse is done, I've just got a few extras to get in hand ... and post it all this week.

the July BOM for the PeaRoom Quilters ...

Which went down at the summer celebration well!

And in addition to quilting a customer quilt, I've been very busy working on my Festival Quilt ...

delivery of said finished quilts by Friday this week! 

I'm afraid this is it for seeing the Quilters Guild Challenge quilt, I'd like the impact of it to be at the show.  I promise to show you the finished quilt come Festival of Quilts.   The theme is 'Britain, what it means to you' - oh the possibilities!

So whilst I've been awol, I have been beavering away ...

normal service to resume shortly :)

Birthday baking

This morning I managed to throw a cake in the oven and get it baked to take along to Lynne's for the Kitchen Guild, we were celebrating a birthday!

Sorry no evidence of cake, but there was plenty of eating being done!

So for the birthday girl, I managed to rustle up these Zakka Hot pads for the lovely Laulipops

I knew that FMF was close to her heart ...

and what better for a fellow baker of cakes than some pretty little hot pads to protect her clever little fingers  :)

Happy Birthday Laura! 

I also managed to get myself completely lost in the middle of Derbyshire, despite having been to Lynne's before, so I am so sorry for being a little (read as a lot) late for the party!

Now, if you'd like to see all the other lovely gifts that this particular birthday girl received, then head over here and leave her a little birthday love too :)

And lastly, but certainly not least, Happy Birthday to Susan,

...

who I didn't know had a birthday today, another place to visit while you are reading :) 

Sew Fresh Sewing day ?

I'm not so sure I qualify on the sewing stakes,

as there doesn't seem to be a lot of it being done at the moment ...

to make up for not posting in May ... due to the FQR and the small point I'd already gone ...

I give you my May ...

I might add there were 7 customer quilts in there as well as 2 of my own  :)

moving swiftly on ....  June ...

my meagre offerings  ... all I can say in my defence is that jam production has started in earnest!

today I picked 5 kg of strawberries from my allotment! 

and on the sewing front, there has been a somewhat func going on ...

so if you manage to find my mojo, .... please return it, I'm kinda lost without it  :) 

I'm linking this up with Lynne's Sew Fresh Sewing Day,  so head on over to see what everyone else has been up to  ...

July ...  you and I need to have a serious talk ... you get me!

Happy Quilting!

In the frame

For those of you not already in the swap, I signed up for the 'In the Frame Purse Swap' on Flickr

and this is my inspirational mosaic for my partner ...

following the success and whirlwind (not quite right word for this location right now - tornado in Lincolnshire) of the Purse classes run by the talented and inspirational Katy at the FQR, this swap is just the tonic to feed those desires for something pretty ...

don't ya think? 

So, using all my experience of making one whole purse, Di of Willowbeck Designs came over earlier this week to get a few clues on how to make one....

and some lunch, cake and whole lot a laughing too!

so the practice went well, apart from not following instructions, doing it all wrong - ish, it actually turned out pretty well ...

in fact, I really DO like this one, I might just have to use it myself, esepcially as the Diva definitely hasn't bagged it!

There are one or two other swaps I signed up to, but more on those another day.

Happy Weekend!

Fluffy Fun!

I'm just dropping in for a little fun with Cindy of Fluffy Sheep Quilting.  You know Cindy right?  go say hi - I'll wait ...

well we all love a little Kona solid in our stash, it's not just me, really it's not ...

so not being one to be left out of an opportunity for free fabric  ....

I give you my bundle selection of Kona Solids for Fluffy Sheep Quilting

if you haven't entered, that's ok :)  but head over and check it out anyway,

you never know!

I'll be back, once I get back to being me, with mojo and motivation :) 

I'm back!

I went away with an open mind and an open heart

meeting online friends, old friends, new friends, shopping, eating and learning ...

and lucky enough to find myself in town by 10 am on Friday!

a taxi ride and quick pit stop at the hotel I took myself off to browse the V and A

where I partook of a little light luncheon here ...

the smell of the lillies was fabulous

there was a lot of this

and a little of this

and I finally got myself to Fortnum and Masons

the window was fantastic as were the displays in the food hall ...

a little trip on the tube and I was planning a sneaky little nap, (it's my age you know!)

however I bumped almost literally into Susan and from that point on, my feet didnt' touch the ground ...

there was a little of this



dinner with Brit Bee ladies and other guest at the amazing expanding table setting ...

more tube action for a little shopping at Tikki Patchwork ...

retired to the bar and bed for precious sleep in preparation for 'the big weekend'

more to follow ...

Trudi x

I'll be back soon ...

not wanting to dwell on the point, but my bags are packed and just the necessaries to bung in in the morning! 

So a quick round up of the week so far ..

Monday, sewed on binding ...

Tuesday ...  Brit Bee Blocks for Miss May  ...

I also delivered my sewing machine with Laura ready for the weekend

Wednesday  ... work

today ...

well, everyone else was producing bags like it was an easy thing ...

hmmm, I'm no bag lady ... but it is reversible ...

and just how long does it have to take to iron on the interfacing!

so I then thought I should do just few other little things, after all it was only mid/late afternoon ...

so a little playing ...

and now I have these to finish off on the train in the morning ...

and because it's the end of the month ... and there is no way I am going to be up in time to do another post let alone get it linked in to the Sew Fresh linky dinky ....

a finish .... ta daaaaah

Holiday Hoops is finally done

and I'm pretty darn pleased with it :)

so I'll be back sometime next week to see what June brings and to maybe do a post on the Fat Quarterly Retreat ... we'll see ...

Happy Quilting!