Ooops!

Who ever thought it would be a good idea to let me loose on the Fons and Porter website?
Of course when I went there yesterday to get me a subscription I had to register, so today I get me an email telling me about all the special deals they have.
Yep, you guessed it, I've been spending more money!
I just bought the CDs with a whole years worth of back issues on them! And a couple of magazines.
All up $60 ish dollars, that's before they put the international postage on. Shh, don't tell Hunney. LOL Time I think to make a bit of a hole in this stash of mine, yes it's grown a bit. I have three maybe four projects sat here waiting to be started, I shan't run out of things to do, but I just know a subscription to the magazine and all those back issues is going to inspire me. Keep me going girls.

Speaking of keeping going, yesterday I got 3 hours to sew, so sew was what I did. I got the sashing and corner stones cut for the dragon quilt, then I set to and chain pieced the lot, and my assistant was nowhere in sight.

After playing with the layout I put it all together and cut the first round of border and got that on too. So here's where I'm at now.

I'm hoping to get a second border on today, it's in the same gold colour as the corner stones, I may even get a start on the quilting, then all we have to do is audition black and red for bindings and make a decision. I say maybe because Nerine stayed over last night, and I think Moya may be coming along today, I'm really not sure what is planned, I may have less sewing time than I hope for. So I'm off to make the most of it.

Have a great day.

Birthday Party

Yesterday the whole family gathered at Moyas house for her oldest daughters birthday party. I forgot to take my camera so these pics were taken with Hunneys phone, they are not the greatest but I think they tell the story. As usual Loulee has got the pictures in the wrong order!

The sun was shining and there was a gentle breeze, Hunney and I are a little pink this morning.
It wasn't just the little boys and girls who played! Moyas Hunney and mine playing swing tennis. A boy must take his dinosaurs on the tramp you know. This is Kirstys son Alex. Kirsty is the sister in between Moya and I age wise.

And because I can't upload pictures correctly, a pic of my beautiful swap quilt from Annette. It matches perfectly the African Violet in my dining room, they were made for each other. Thank you again Annette.

Big cousins are an essential at birthday parties, they can pick you up and throw you around! There is the birthday girl sat on the edge of the tramp.

Big cousins can also dive into the bouncy castle after you and get beaten up and bounced on. The even bigger boys were pleased about that, cause in years gone by that has been their job.
Katy and Lauren, getting a turn on the tramp. They did do some bouncing, but had to stop so Katy could eat hot dog.

And taking turns on the slide.

All up there were four sisters, 3 brothers in law, (Nerine isn't attached) eight cousins, one friend and his mum, oh and last but not least, two nanas.

We had hot dogs and chocolate cake washed down with lemonade. We drifted home tired and sunburned at about 7 o'clock.

Today I get to sew, I have one application form to fill in, must run to the post office, then my time is my own. Time to cut sashing for my boys quilt top.

Have a good day.

A stitchy time was had.

I finally got to get to my machine and do some stitching. :-)

While the big monsters were playing Jenga,

And doing the dominoes thing once they got bored!

I was able to get on and sew, and sew and sew,

aided by my assistant and future owner of this quilt.

He was snipping as I was chain piecing. Needless to say this was the very last piece in the chain. Personally I wouldn't have put these two fabrics together, but this is what he wanted, remember he helped to design his own quilt and he chose the fabrics. So now I have 24 blocks made and need to cut sashing, I have yellow and red for sashing, more black dragons and yellow for the borders.

Tis Sunday, the one and only day I do a cooked breakfast, so I'd better get to it before they try to eat me instead.

Have a great day. I will, it's my nieces birthday party today.

Perfect timing.

I'll get to the timing thing later! Although a day out with my sisters yesterday went a long way to improving my mood.
Our baby sister Nerine is on the island, she escaped to uni a few years ago and has managed to stay away, except for summer visits.
At less than 5 foot she packs a whole load of personality into a tiny body! She is fun to be with and has an infectious entheusiasm for life.

As I think I mentioned we visited Port Erin so Moya and I could go quilty shopping. I was very restrained and bought only a couple of fat quarters to go in with my swap quilt. We had lunch just over the edge of the cliff there in a cafe that was practically on the beach. We saw one man who was brave and sat outside, loose his lunch to a cheeky seagull.
Before leaving Port Erin Nerine had a look around and did the touristy thing, lots of pics and photos. We also wandered into a few shops, and in one of them Moya and I were delighted to find 7 yes, seven different quilty magazines!! That is unheard of this far north! LOL I bought Fons and Porters Love of Quilting, then promptly subscribed this morning, what a great mag. (I have seen one other copy which Janet sent to me last year, I loved that too.) There are at least two patterns in the May June issue which I'd love to make.
On the scenic, for Nerines benefit, drive home we stopped to take this pic, looking south over the East coast of the island.

Now to the perfect timing.

On my doorstep this morning as we were off out shopping I found a package, look what was in it!!

My share of the 'Another Little Quilt Swap' I think, I have to admit to being a little confused by the label. Isn't it pretty! No way would I ever have choosen these colours for myself, but I love it. I gave my unknown partner a totally open brief, no colours, no styles, surprise me. And thats exactly what Annette did.
Thank you Annette for a beautiful little quilt. I treid to get close up on the quilting, Annette has echoed the shape of the appliqued flowers and done some meandering hearts, perhaps you can see it better on this pic of the back. See what I mean about the label?
My own version is here all wrapped up and waiting for the post office on Monday morning. It is on it's way to the united States, I hope it arrives swiftly and safely with it's new owner ........?


Oh Yeah and I have Monday and Tuesday off work! Monday is half claimed, more application forms.......Tuesday is half claimed, more sisters time. Maybe I'll get a little work done on DS2 quilt.

Speaking of DS2 I took a break from cutting his quilt to catch up here, I'd better get back to it, he'll be home soon!

Have a great weekend.

I hate this.

All I seem to have time to do at the moment is housework and a little shopping! When I do manage to get a few moments of me time, it's in the morning before work, I quickly read a few blogs, if you're lucky I'll have time to comment then I'm gone again. For some reason I had NO mornings off this week, I had to wrangle to get one on Wednesday, I had every intention of getting some sewing done, but ended up spending the whole morning updating my CV and filling in job applications. A sweet, sweet, sweet, colleague agreed to swap with me today, because my baby sister is on the island, Nerine. So today we three are off out for lunch. Moya and I are aiming to spend a little time in the sewing shop in Port Erin. I want to find something yummy to put in with my ALQS.

I did find time to have a look about on the net and purchase these beauties though, one of my magazines has just started a mystery quilt and published the yardage required.

The way things are going, there will be no mystery for me! It will all be published before I even get to start! LOL What the heck, I can hope.
Of course while I was shopping for those I had to have a look at the sale pages, and look what I found there.

Yummy Batiks. Shh! I didn't tell hunney about those. No I didn't buy the mouse there either, he just wanted to be in the pic.

Right, I'm outta here, I have to go get showered and dressed or I'll still be in my PJs when the girls arrive.

Wish me some mornings off, some sewing time and my well paid dream job.

I miss you all. Have a great day.