Archie The Wonder Dog

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas?  I'm sorry I haven't been around much (at all!) but I've been enjoying meeting friends (some of whom I only get to see once a year), doing a little sewing and a lot of sleeping and spending time with my family.  I wasn't planning on posting for a while yet (I feel like I'm really out of the loop as I haven't really been online in over a week - I'll reply to all your lovely emails and catch up on your new posts soon, honest!  I'm really missing you all and hope you're all ok?) but I've just had a nudge from a certain someone and I decided to post my response to her recent post on the Fat Quarterly blog - if you haven't read it go and do it now and then come back, it's OK, we'll wait! I loved Lynne's post but couldn't think of a verse to put in the comment section.  I kept thinking about it and spent far too much time a couple of nights ago messing around with this when I should have...

It's been a while (a week?) since my last post (is it just me or does that sounds like the start of confession?!) and I'm not entirely sure where the time has gone or what I've been doing - not a lot, I suspect!  I just thought I'd pop in and catch up with everyone before Christmas...which is rapidly approaching - I just have some mince pies to make and then I'm done.  Thanks for the recipe, Susan , I can't wait to try one! One thing I have done is to sort out my scraps (an aim declared in my winter stitching list ).  Before I started they looked like this... All sorted by colour but then thrown into freezer bags - they were crumpled and sad!  And now they're all ironed and in labelled boxes... Don't they look smart in their new boxes and don't you just love IKEA?! Ahhh...that's better! So there's one thing ticked off my list - several more to go! Another thing I've done is to finish the tree triplets for my mam.  I...

Archie and I would like to say thank you very much for all the wonderful comments about the embroidered hoop and all the very funny captions for his photo - we had a great time reading all your suggestions! (Well, I did, Archie just perked up each time I mentioned biscuit or walk!).  So, Archie has picked a winner but before I do the big reveal (lots of photos and a couple of short videos!) here's a quick catch up... My prize from Kristyne 's giveaway, sponsored by Gigi at Pinks and Needles , arrived at the weekend and it's even more wonderful in person.  Unfortunately my photos can't do justice to the delicate beauty of the pin toppers and the egg cup pincushion but here's my (poor!) effort... I love them so much...they're currently living on my mantelpiece! Thank you, Kristyne and Gigi ! And I have been doing a bit of sewing but nothing I can show you at the moment.  Here's something almost finished that I can share...it just needs stars on the...

What did I promise, you ask?  Well, you're going to have to wait (im)patiently for the end of the post!  (Or you could scroll down to the end, I suppose, but where's the fun in that?!!) A couple of weeks ago I went with a couple of friends to the regional day for the Quilter's Guild of the British Isles and listened to Jon MacPherson from Barnyarns talk about thread (he gave us a great handout and said we could distribute it so if anyone is interested please let me know and I'll scan and email it!).  After we'd helped set up the hall for the afternoon (mini) workshops, a spot of lunch and a spot of shopping.  I didn't buy much but I did get a great book for a bargain price. £4!! It gives you a diagram and name(s) of the blocks and is divided into four patch, nine patch, curves, etc. (Sorry about the odd angle - it was the only way to not get a shadow and I keep forgetting to get a photo in daylight!)  I think it's going to live on my co...

You're right, it could be anywhere so I'll tell you... Head over to Cindy's blog to read my version of The Name Game (don't forget to come back!) and welcome to anyone who has followed the link on Cindy's post and has popped over to see me - I hope you enjoy your visit!  I was thrilled when Cindy asked me to take part in this feature and I'd like to say a big thank you to her for asking me! In my last post I showed you the cushion I'd received in the Brit Quilt Swap Pillow Fight but I realised later that night that I'd forgotten to tell you who my cushion was for!  It was such a relief when Trudi emailed me to say she loved it - visit her blog to see the fabulous cushion she made and see some more photos of the cushion I made.  Trudi, it was an honour to have you as a partner and I'm thrilled you like what I made! Last Thursday my run of good luck continued when I opened my email inbox to find an email entitled 'YOU WON!!!!!!!...

Me again!  I told you I'd be back if anything else exciting happened! On Wednesday I came back after lunch out (if I eat it out it's lunch, if I eat it at home or at Mum and Dad's it's dinner - is anyone else the same?!) to find a parcel on the door mat containing these beauties Susan made lots of lovely things for a recent craft stall and she kindly sent me some of the spare ones (and my first Christmas card of the year!) and in return I am going to make her an unspecified something to be sent on an unspecified date...hopefully before the year is out!  Thank you, Susan , I'm afraid the photo doesn't do justice to just how beautiful they are!! And yesterday morning (well, almost this afternoon if truth be told!) I set off for an Archie walk (after leaving my usual note to the postie stuck to the letter box 'Please leave parcel behind the gate - thank you!' in case she arrived whilst I was out) and what did I see but the Royal Mail van parked a...