(Japanese) Prints Charming and a win!

Thank you so much to everyone who voted for Archie in the Pets on Quilts - he won!!!  I think he's a little bit disappointed that he doesn't get a trophy and/or a sash and tiara but he did get extra biscuits and a treat or two, spread out over the week, of course, wouldn't want him getting fat!  (Chance would be a fine thing...I'd give it a good go...) so he seems quite happy.  I also won a voucher for a quilt shop in the random draw so I'm going to have fun spending that!

Anyone for a thank you kiss?

In fact he's so please he thought he's show you how well his tummy hair is growing back...(Owners of boy dogs will testify that's it's not easy to get a tummy shot that doesn't upset the delicate!)

Not so much of the baldy nicknames from now on!

I seem to be going through a lucky streak at the moment (I pinched it from Hadley!) as I also won a lovely charm pack in Mary's giveaway - Mary has a wonderful blog Spoolhardy Girl, please pop over and say hello!

Archie composed a limerick as his winning entry - it's not marvellous but I didn't give him much notice!

I think it'll go nicely with my other Christmas fabric...when I eventually get round to making a Christmas quilt!


I haven't been up to doing much sewing (or anything else, to be perfectly honest) for a few weeks now - this tummy bug has knocked the stuffing out of me so I'm spending a lot of time lying on the settee half watching telly.   I've managed to do a bit of hand sewing that I've had prepared for months (adding the turquoise stripe borders to the Drunkard's Path blocks) but that's almost run out now.  Fortunately Sarah decided to run a Japanese Charm Swap and very kindly sent me a parcel with the instruction 'make something, anything, as long as it shows off the fabric and is cute' (or something to that effect...and she did say please - she was well brought up!).


This is what she sent

As soon as I opened the envelope I knew I was going to have fun!

I'd already decided that whatever I made would be made using EPP (English paper piecing).  It's not something I usually do (I prefer hand piecing - no papers) but I'm not up to sitting at the ironing board and preparing pieces in my usual way so decided this would be a perfect alternative...it was!  As you may know I do love a bit of fussy cutting so I set to with a paper window (a square with a square cut out of the middle - to make sure I got the image centred) and my scissors and after about three days I had made this...

1/2" squares full of cuteness!

...which turned into this...

I had fun choosing which sections to use on the sides!  Can you guess what it is yet?!  Thanks, Rolf!

...and after a bit of stuffing it turned into this...

A pin cushion!  The top is 2" square and it stands 1 1/8" high - a perfect size for a hand piecing kit!

I promise it's more evenly stuffed than these photos would suggest!

I hope that qualifies as cute!  If you'd like your own charm pack of Japanese fabrics (they're perfect for fussy cutting and I can only begin to imagine how much fun you could have with 56 squares of glorious cuteness) please head over to Sarah's blog and leave a comment telling her you'd like to join in!   There are a few places left but you'll have to be quick as sign-ups close on Saturday evening (the 25th).  She's even made a cute button for us and arranged a discount of 10% for all participants at Celtic Fusion Fabrics.  Our Dear Leader is a marvel, isn't she?!

As if that wasn't enough she's also running a giveaway of ELEVEN fat quarters of gorgeous fabric so head over to her blog (same post as the swap) and leave a comment asking to be entered.

Speaking of giveaways...this week (Tuesday) was my first bloggy birthday (hurrah!) and my next post will have details of a (small) giveaway to say thank you to all of you who put up with my wittering.  I'm not making anything in advance (good job or you'd be waiting weeks!) as I want to give you the chance to choose from a (small) selection - I may be making a rod for my own back but I'm determined stubborn so it will happen!   **watch this space for details**

That's it from me, just one last photo of Archie (and Alfie, in the background, who stayed over this week so he didn't end up with paint on him...or hair on the woodwork!)

Any chance of a walk?  Or a consolation biscuit if a walk's out of the question...

Edited to add for Sarah:

A photo of little old me...about time too!