Archie The Wonder Dog

Cindy@FluffySheepQuilting is running a competition to make some Kona solids bundles.  If you haven't already entered then pop over to Cindy's blog to find the rules and then go to her shop, Fluffy Sheep Quilting , to pick the eight colours you want in your bundle.  The winner of a public vote will receive two yards of Kona solid  and the top five bundles will be available for sale (as fat eighth bundles) in her shop.  You can even choose the name under which they will be sold but I'm not good at thinking of names so mine are very predictable! My entries are... Archie's choice and Alfie's choice Details of the colours I've they've can be found in my Flickr photostream . I'll leave you with a photo of the man dog himself enjoying the sun and a comfy bed... It's not as easy as it looks you know...all this lying round looking cute is hard work! And the moment he realised he'd asked to go outside at just the wrong time..

When Lynne blogged about her ET phone home block a couple of weeks I knew I wanted to make lots of them into a quilt using my Terrain charm packs (plus extras ) and, inspired by Susan's Terrain quilt , a navy solid for the background and I waited patiently to see if she would be making her pattern available for us to buy. Last week Lynne (who is one of the most generous and talented quilters I know) published the (free) foundation piecing templates for the block and, after a request from me, she set to on her ipad and created some hand piecing templates for me to try.  (Honestly, I think I gave her a headache...or an ache somewhere lower...trust me to be awkward!) After printing out the templates on freezer paper I spent quite a while sorting through my scraps to find fabric that would work with the navy background.  I didn't want to use any of the fabrics I'd set aside for the 'real' project so I searched my scraps for four colours that would work together an

...look what's just arrived in the post! A party bag!! Lucy@Charm About You very kindly had a word with Brioni from Fat Quarterly and somehow managed to get me a party bag!  Actually, it's probably called a goody bag but it's been a while since I've had a party bag (I used to get them all the time when I was teaching - I used to turn down the party invitation but would often still get a slice of cake and a balloon!) so I'm sticking with calling it a party bag! Thank you so much Lucy and Brioni (and the rest of the amazing Fat Quarterly team) - I don't know how to thank you enough.  Following on Twitter and seeing photos over the weekend (as well as a few texts from Nicky and Sarah ) enabled me to feel really included but this makes me feel like I was there!  Words can't express how much I appreciate this parcel (didn't I say that quilters are the kindest people imaginable?!) but please know that if you could see me now you'd know h

I'm not sure whether there's an official collective noun for a group of quilters and although the possibilities are endless (a creative, a thread, a bundle, etc.) I'm going to petition for 'a kindness of quilters' to become the description. Over the past few weeks I've been lucky enough to receive some wonderfully generous parcels through my letterbox - some were completely unexpected and some were half expected but they are all fabulous.  So, whilst many other bloggers are writing about how friendly and welcoming quilters are (as well as talented and generous!) I want to share just how incredibly kind this community of ours is - I feel blessed to be a part of it! The first thing I want to share is a giveaway prize.  I won a wonderful giveaway to celebrate lovely Liz@Lizsquilts' first year of blogging and this is what she sent... From Liz Thirteen (yes, thirteen !) FQs of Heirloom (and unlike many of you ( Sarah !), I wouldn't have k

   It's my first FSD post of 2012!!!  (And we're not quite halfway through the year, it's a miracle!) 1. Stained 1 , 2. Stained 2 , 3. Stained 3 , 4. Stained 4 , 5. Stained 5 , 6. Stained 6 , 7. Stained so far , 8. Back of Stained (I hope!) , 9. Thread catcher , 10. Fabric flowers , 11. 101 pieced hexies , 12. More hexies , 13. Not amused... , 14. P1000412 , 15. Please can we go up all those steps? , 16. Did someone mention food? I've spent most of the month piecing my Stained blocks, trying to work out how to stretch the leftovers far enough to make the backing blocks (still not sure it's going to work!) and preparing hexies...and taking lots and lots of photos of Archie! (And I've finally managed to upload a photo directly from Flickr!  Not that it's hard, I just haven't got round to doing it before - I think I'm going to have to give in and go 'Pro' though...) I have a feeling there's a couple of big things going