Can you feel the love tonight?

I certainly can!

Whilst I am being absent doing some hard learning (man, is this stuff harder than when you are in your teens! you wouldn't believe it!!), I am definitely feeling the 'lurve' !!!

First I received a stylish blogger award from Hadley who blogs at Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle.




She has a lovely blog so if you are not here on a link from Hadley, go have a look! Thank you Hadley, sorry I am a bit late blogging about it (and not so many facts about me either... I will put my thinking cap on and do some in a later post).

Then I discovered I have been given a 'Bloggy Lurve' award by Leila of 'Where the Orchids Grow' fame ! Aaaaw... Leila.... thank you girl!! That is sooo sweet of you. I am blushing now being nominated twice in one week. You sent a new follower over too you know (welcome Marianne, I saw you joined, love your blog too!!), all exciting stuff!




If you haven't visited Leila before... you know what I am going to say... HERE is the link!! Leila has not been blogging long but she is very talented (and sweet) and is rapidly on the way to becoming one of our bloggy celebs. Stay tuned there !! (you heard it here first!)


And.......



Tadaaaaah..... DQS10 basic windows (still closed) have been steadily multiplying. Nearly there with the base and ready to start thinking which colours to put in the windows. That is going to be a lot of fun after doing all the (read... a LOT of the..) groundwork. Can't wait.. Hold on in there partner... it's getting there!

Back to the grind. Assignment due coming Tuesday... aaaaagh....

Going... going..... ok, ok, I'm gone...

(see you all soon) xoxoxo

Lily's is baking !!

Look at this guys! Our own Lynne of Lily's Quilt has made her debut as a Moda Bakeshop Baker!!



Isn't it a smashing quilt? The fabric is Sherbet Pipps by Aneela Hoey, another talented blog pal turned designer.

I love the way the pattern showcases the fabric. A lovely quilt!!

Hop over to the Moda Bakeshop and leave Lynne some love in the form of a comment. If you click "HERE" you are going straight there.

And when you come back, why not hop over to her blog "HERE" and take your chance at winning some of the sweet fabric she used, and look at her lovely blog of course.

Go on,.... you won't regret it!

ORBC - Ticker Tape - Round 9

You have heard me talking before about the marvellous Flickr Group called "the Old Red Barn Company". It all started in 2009 when Dana hosted a sew along on her blog.(btw, she also sells marvellous soaps and things!) We all had such fun and we got such a lovely group of participants together, that we did not want to stop! So we all went on!

Sewalong after sewalong appeared and would you believe it, we are at round 9!!



Round 9 is ably headed by Dolores of DeeRoo Designs. She is doing a marvellous job making a lot of examples and tutorials, so everything you ever wanted to know about ticker taping is there! Go and check it out HERE. All the info in one yummy post.

I have been excited about doing this since months before it all actually started and been keen to join. However... yep... you guessed it... The Course happened and it is all so much more work than I anticipated.... So my intended quilt has shrunk from a quilt to a mini quilt... to maybe a mugrug??? Lol.... I WILL get it done and the beauty is that this will stay on Dee's blog so everyone can look back at it at any time.

In fact we still have regularly photos appearing of quilts made in round one and later rounds. There is no time limit!! So even though a fair few quilts have been made and the instructions are complete, do come and join us on the Old Red Barn. This ticker taping is such a fun technique with infinite possibilities (as Dee and the girls have shown!).

It'd be great if you could join us. It's a great group and round 9 a great round to join. See you THERE !!!

Coming up for breath...

Hi guys! I have been (and will do) a lot of studying but coming up for breath briefly for some enjoyable interludes.

Firstly, it was my birthday last week (how time flies, nearly a week ago now!) and both my boys got me such lovely presents. My elder got me a xbox kinect exercise tape/game/whatever... (I keep calling it video but have been told that is showing my age, lol!) This was not a hint, I actually wanted that one. It scans your body and you can see yourself working hard on the screen when following the (virtual) instructor. Good fun!

The younger one was very lovely and got me an incredibly sweet pincushion in the form of a reel of thread and selected a great book on mandala quilts I had not even seen before. What do you think? I really like it!



My mum, being elderly and having to post, asked me to buy myself my current favourite thing... No brainer!



Recognise it? Of course you do... Amy Butler Soul Blossoms! It will have to stay in its pretty stack for a while till the DQS10 is done and the course lets me sew something else.

Last but not least, my 10" block for the competition in Irish Quilting Magazine has been finished and sent off. The brief was to make an unfinished 10 1/2" block with a floral theme. You had to use at least 2 different stitches from your machine.

This is the result. I have been an avid admirer of Susan Brubaker Knapp for a while now and have been wanting to try one of the tutorials on her blog. So I perused the older posts, bought her master stitching DVD and off I went. I am quite pleased with the result, even if it by no means to the standard Susan reaches, but by having a sort of impressionist style, a lot can be forgiven!



So next (apart from studying of course, but a girl has to have SOME time to herself..) I am going to give the DQS10 my full attention!! Not that I have not thought about you partner! I have been reading your blog and following your flickr and thought of and rejected several ideas.. but I think I have twigged the general idea now. Next is thinking of, and ordering maybe, some fabrics to use.. depending on what I have and what not.. We'll see. But now the flower block is gone, DQS, full steam ahead!!

If I don't get back to you....

You know how life can take over? How suddenly you have committed yourself to do this that and the other (sewing or otherwise..) and run out of time?

Well... I have realized that I need a 48 hr day at least to keep up with everything I am supposed to be doing. Main reason is that I have just started a daytime course, with lots and lots of reading, researching and assignments to be done and given in. This by itself would mean that I have no time for anything else.

Then there is the sewing of course, lots of commitments there and I do not want to disappoint my fellow bee members or my PIF followers who are still waiting for their surprise (hold on guys... it IS coming but I have to apply for an extension there, just hold on a bit till summer when the course is over...). I DID apply for DQS10 and got, but I reckoned I would need a little relaxation inbetween all the studying and that would be just the ticket.

I have won and been given lovely prizes and gifts. Patterns I want to make, kits I would like to make up and show the generous giver what I have done with it, programs to learn..

I would like to answer at length everyone who sends me a comment or email, I would like to comment on each and every blog I am following and where I see something that interests me and want to say.. 'hey, this is great!'. To try and keep up with this, I have (sort of)kept up with the posts in my reader... scrolling through most, clicking on those of special interest where I want to answer, comment or simply print out some inspirational photos. These then open in a new tab.. I have left all the tabs open.. "for when I get time..." and the amount of tabs grew and grew... Every time the computer is switched off, there is an option to 'restore' and get all my open tabs back.

However... this morning.... nothing!! no tabs... no restore... All my tabs gone... It's as if you have a whole pile of important papers on your desk and someone threw them out of the window in a raging storm. Nothing left, nope, nada.. It is an enforced (ruthless..) clear out and I am already starting to fill up a new line of tabs..

So if you know I read your blog, and I suddenly stop commenting... or I do not answer you... please let me know. It is not personal, I am not snubbing you, I simply cannot keep up..

I have had to prioritize, and radically. The most important time consuming task at the moment is my course. I hope to have completed this by summer when my time is going to be more my own again. As it is, it's nose in the books, and a little sewing on the side. Internet will have to take second seat for a bit.

I am therefore not going to keep up with all your lovely blogs till summer... I will only see all these lovely things and get wonderful ideas I don't have time for!! I will comment here and there, and try to answer mails, but again... If you don't hear, it's me disecting some grammar, not you!

I hope you'll all bear with me. I won't be absent, but semi absent, and try to curb my natural desire to connect with you all.

So if I don't get back to you.... don't fret and please remind me!

Thanks friends, wish me luck !

We have our partners !

Ooooh so exciting! Partner details are being sent out as we speak! Some of us have the mail, others not yet!

I have my partner and thank you mama !! (you know who you are, lol) that was a wonderful match! My partner and I share our taste in fabrics and some other things besides (not going to say what so as not to give away too much..) so I am very happy. I will be stalking you for a bit and form an idea of who you are and what would make you happy before I start to make your quilt.

Here is a lovely photo of Scotland taken on the Isle of Raasay. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the DQS but I like it and I don't like posts without photos..



So, having got that out of the way, you, my partner who is making my quiltie for me, will log onto my blog either today or in the coming week. And you will read this. So..

Dear Partner,

I have given you a little bit of an idea of my likes and dislikes on the form that has been sent onto you. That does give you an idea. Feel free to read my blog, and look at my flickr photos, that should help to tell you what sort of person I am.

When it comes to making my quilt, I would like you to have great fun in making it. This is my first and foremost requirement. I don't know whether you have done this before, but when I started, I really worried myself sick throughout most of the first time and was mainly worried about getting it 'right' and whether my partner would like it...

DON'T do that !! Have fun and don't worry about getting it 'right'. If you put love and care in what you make, I will like what you make for me, because I know the effort and time you have put into it. When I look at it on my sewing room wall (where it will go), I would like to think that when you look at the quilt in photos a year from now, you will remember the fun you had in the forums and the fun you had selection fabric/pattern and making it. That is my main wish.

So don't worry too much about which colours or designers I like. You will get enough of a general idea from my blog mainly. It takes a lot more time to upload photos to flickr than to the blog, so consequently there is less on flickr although enough there too.

I have increased my favourites to contain more of the quilts from the last round. The favourites have specifically been chosen from former DQS rounds to give my DQS partners an idea of which ones I liked in the various round. Just to give you an overall idea. You do what you like. OK ?? great !

Now lots of luck and fun for everyone. I know I am going to have!

It's Doll Quilt Swap Time !!

It's that time again when we are all waiting with baited breath for our doll quilt swap partners! For my readers who don't know what it is all about a quick recap;

The doll quilt swap started small, with a few people being organised in pairs to swap doll quilts they are making especially for their partner. It is a blind swap, which means that you know who you are making the quilt for (obviously, as you are having to 'stalk' them and find out their likes and dislikes to make the best quilt possible for them) but you don't know who is making the quilt for you, that will be a surprise!

To give your partner information on your likes and dislikes, you can write a letter to them on your blog, make a mosaic, update your favourite photos in Flickr and make lots of comments in the threads. Likewise, when you have been emailed with the name of the one you are making for, you stalk them in turn to find out their favourites.

The group itself is very jolly and has lots of amusing characters who entertain us all in the threads. I am not that funny myself but I enjoy reading some of the banter going on. Some threads get quite raunchy, lol...

You can imagine, as this swap has now grown to 200 participants per round, we have a lot of fun! It is organised by swap mama's, ten of them this round (and an angel mama, who makes a quilt for those who get lost in the post or not arrive for some other reason, Hi Carol!!), who each look after a batch of 20. The mama's collectively read all the blogs and look at each flickr page to match participants as best as they can. It's a lot of work and we are so thankful to all the mama's who make it possible for us to participate in one of the best swaps on the net!

I have been lucky enough to participate in DQS8 and 9 and here are the quilts I made and received;

This is the first doll quilt I ever made. I was sooooo worried my partner would not like it, as I did not have much information at all that time because she was taken ill and had to drop out of the swap. My swap mama and I decided to still continue as planned and I made a quilt and sent it to her as a surprise.





As Laura my swap mama made the angel quilt to send to the one who was my partners partner (if you get what I mean), I made a surprise quilt for Laura. She just loves Hello Kitty, so made her one of those. I don't seem to have a photo of the finished quilt.. and Laura hasn't published any of it either so I can't scoop those. I remember taking some.. wonder where they went.. Anyhow, this is the piece before quilting;



The quilt I received was made by Marianne Penner (maripenquiltmum). She made this lovely bird, which I coveted seeing it grow on her blog and in Flickr. I just loved it but thought that nobody got just those quilts they particularly like... So what a surprise when I got a parcel from her and this beautiful quilt came out!! It has pride of place in my sewing room now and I admire it every day.



DQS9 arrived and I took part again. This time I was making a quilt for Mari who wanted a square quilt for her kitchen table. This one took me a long time to make, not in the least because it was a new technique I was trying and, now I had more information, I wanted to make it perfect for her! I think she liked it and she has a beautiful picture of it on her Flickr with a candle in the middle.



The quilt I received reduced me to tears. Teresa the Lochside Quilter in Scotland made it and she just hit the nail on the head and made it perfect!! I had just returned from a journey to Scotland which did not go entirely to plan, so I arrived home very tired and a bit sad from a long long journey in the car, having to shop and breathe life back into the house before going to sleep and recharge. I came through the door, and... surprise!!! My doll quilt!! And what a lovely parcel with thoughtful extras and a fantastic dolphin quilt. Teresa had 'read' me perfectly. Love water and dolphins, love Scotland too and amazingly had passed the day before almost by Teresa's house. It was so nice to know that someone who I did not even know had taken such care in putting such a lovely parcel together! It was a warm welcome home I had not counted on! It now also lives in my sewing room. It's getting a really nice place to sew with all those beautiful quilts on the wall, as almost every I sew is given away, so it's nice to have these lovely memories of both swaps on the wall!





We are on the evening of DQS10. We will be getting our partners in about a week or so (or two...) I think... Who will it be?? Excitement is growing!

Go check out the Flickr Group.. You will enjoy it !!! (click here)