I-Spy Quilt

This week I completed the i-spy quilt that I've been working on.  Friday I took it to the twins nursery & handed it over as a gift for them from Hannah & Robert.  All were pleased with it & shocked that   a) I'd made it myself &   b) that I could bare to part with it.

I hope future children at the nursery will have fun with it.

Quilt Front:

 Quilt Back:

Happy stitching :)

Quilting Progress & A Mini Make

On January 1st I did a blog post listing some quilt tops that I'm looking to complete as quilts this year.  As we are now three months into the year I thought I'd see if i've actually managed anything on my list.  You can see the original post here.  I was pleasantly surprised by my own results :)

Hannah Quilt
This is now complete.  Hannah uses her quilt EVERY day cuddled up on the sofa. :)

Stars Quilt
No change on this project :(

Pinwheels Quilt
No change on this project :(

Speedwell Quilt
This quilt is now layed & basted all ready to start on the quilting :)

Busy Lizzie Quilt
No change on this project :(

Now for the Mini Make.  This week was my monthly quilt group meeting & we had a list of items to bring with us, including some precut fabric.  This was our mini-make for the evening.

The design for this came from the Valentine Pennie Tutorial on the Moda Bake Shop website.  Originally designed for valentines treats, I thought they'd be perfect for the children to collect mini eggs in this Easter.

Happy Stitching :)

Time Flies....

.... when you're sewing!

Anyone else noticed that March appears to have turned up pretty sharpish?? One minute we were only half way through February & the next we're into the 3rd month of the year already.

Thought I'd just share with you some of the projects I was working on in February.

First up is Hananh's quilt.  I originally started this quilt on a days workshop with Carolyn Forster at Thread Bear.  It's a pretty basic disappearing 9-patch, also known as Patience Corner.  The quilt is backed in pink fleece, ditch quilting & I have just the binding to complete.

Next up is Crayon Rolls.  In total this month I've made about 25 of these & I've sold an awful lot of those 25 too.  They hold 16 crayons & come complete with the crayons. I still have some of them available to purchase which you can do through my Crafters Barn online shop.

Everything else I've been doing in cutting fabric & prep work for other quilts & I don't have photos of any of it so hopefully they'll all be projects to share with you over the next few weeks.

Happy stitching :)

The Life Of A Quilt + Other (image heavy!)

This Wednesday I decided to go back to the quilt that I started in November, the Pinwheel quilt. I made some excellent progress & have completed another 10 blocks. Now all I need is to square them all up to 12inches & the blocks are ready to sew together.

Strip pieced & cutting wide sections

Strip piecing the narrow sections

Narrow strips all cut

Chain piecing back together

Four patch squares created

More piecing

Blocks Complete

Just in case you haven't seen enough pictures I thought I'd share with you what else I got up to. This first quilt top is for my DD... aka Twin 1, Missy Moo, Little Moo or Hannah Moo. It's a disappearing nine-patch that I started at a one day workshop at Thread Bear that was with Carolyn Forster as the tutor. All I need to do now is add the border & then sandwich it. I think the border will be the lilac marble fabric as I have quite a bit of it & I think it would finish it off nicely.

This last one is a quilt top that I finished a few months ago but so far I haven't got around to sandwiching & finishing. I think I blogged about some of the stars as I was doing them but can't remember if I shared the finished top with you, so here it is.


I think that's everything.... for now... time to trim up some blocks.

Happy stitching :-)

A Finish :-)

It's late & I'm tired so just a quick post to share a picture. My first finished piece of cross stitch for at least 18 months. I am well chuffed & can't wait to enjoy another.

News from me.

OMG. how long has it been since I ventured into the world of Blog?? I completely missed the month of March & almost the month of April too.

Well lots has been going on. At home the bathroom has been done so thats another huge job out the way. The shop sale is finally complete so I no longer own a Needlecraft shop. The biggest news of all, we've booked our wedding (there goes the money from the sale of the shop!!!). It's very exciting & the closer it gets, the more exciting it gets :-)

My mum has started cross stitching birth samplers for the babies. Gave up on a twin one, they just don't seem to exsist. Instead I've chosen two Historical Sampler Company Birth Samplers, Animal Patchwork for Robert & Sugar & Spice Patchwork for Hannah. I shall keep you updated on their progress.

That will have to do me for now, my friend is due any minute for dinner which the bloke has just gone out to fetch :-)

Time to....

.... get a grip & stop dicking around!!!!!


The babies are now 4 & a half months old & to be honest I probably still look like I'm about 5 months pregnant (with a singleton of course as nothing could compare to the size I actually was!). It's getting beyond a joke. I have about 3 pair of trousers that I can actually wear, a hand full of tops & that's it. It's getting on my bloody nerves but I know that the only one that can do anything about it me.

I've been a person that has struggled with weight all my life & to loose the amount that I did & be as happy as larry for such a long time was a dream come true. I certainly wouldn't be without my babies (sorry that should be OUR babies) but my god did I gain some weight. It's been heart wrenching to open my wardrobe & see all the lovely clothes that I can't actually wear. I've been refusing to buy hardly anything in my new size as I just see this as temporary & if one more person says to me "it took your body 9 months to get that big so it'll take just as long to get it back to how it was".... I think I'll be looking at murder in the 1st!!!!!

Well this week sees the start of something new..... watch this space :-)

Oh yeah & in the meantime I hope you enjoyed seeing what I consider to be the greatest photo ever taken... until we get another greatest that is ;-) xx

Wow!! .........

.... look how old my babies are already ^^^^^ only 4 more days & they'll be 4 months exactly. Please someone slow things down a little bit, they're growing so fast I can hardly keep up!

Life is so busy at the moment there is no time at all for stitching or craft of any kind for that matter. A brief update, we're in the process of selling our home & buying a new one....Hoorrahh! I've sold my little KA... awwwww! I think I'll miss my little KA, it was the start of a new life & I'd had the little thing from new & now it's gone forever, lets take a moment to reflect (pause for all of 2 seconds), ok thats over... NEXT!

I decided the other day that I would make fairy cakes, what a bloody disaster that was. To start with we have already boxed up lots of the baking things, then I find (slightly too late) that I have the wrong type of margerine for baking, oh it was just one thing after another so I've given up for the time being. Although saying that it didn't stop me buying new cake tins in Lakeland :-)

Yesterday we went for a visit to DG's place down near the coast, all plans to leave home at sensible times went completely out of the window. Babies are following a routine & the majority of the time it works perfect, maybe half hour or so out but for the most part it's working a treat & yesterday was no different, unfortunately sticking to a routine is one thing but actually taking ones feed (Hannah) & bringing up ones feed (Robert) are uncontrolable so we ended up leaving home late, then arriving when it felt like half the day had gone. I was most upset on the way there that we had left so late & felt it was slightly rude on our part not to arrive a little earlier but DG was understanding & I was easily relaxed in the families company. In the end it was a shame to leave, it's the kind of calm & tranquil place that you long for to keep you out of reality... that is until both babies scream the place down!!!

It's feeding time shortly so for now I will leave you with the most wonderful images of my smiling children who continue to bring tears of joy to my eyes as I wonder at lifes miracle that is............babies :-)

Sooooo cute!

Ahhhh, some of my fav pics of the babies together!!

Potty Training Already???

No... well not actual Potty Training, more like Potter Training!!!

A couple of weeks before the babies arrived I made it my mission to get hold of the complete works of Beatrix Potter & it had to be the little white book versions rather than all them stuffed into one large book, I wanted them to be close to "original" as they could get.

When I was younger I loved the Beatrix Potter stories but never quite managed to get the entire collection of 23 (think I only managed 4!!!!). I was also lucky enough to visit "The Home Of Beatrix Potter" in the Lake District. A lovely place that is full up with everything BP, Peter Rabbit, Tom Kitten etc.

My main issue was that these books RRP at around £120, ridiculous. It was of course possible to get them through the childrens book club at some ridiculous price of £9.99 + P&P but that meant signing up to so many books a year, editors choice.. etc.. etc. Both me & DP decided that it wasn't something we wanted to commit to as we'd rather purchase our childrens books as & when we see fit rather than almost being forced to by some club. Next came the ultimate in finding anything at a pretty good price.... Ebay!!! I manged to get the complete set for £40, incl postage believe it or not... bargain.

Now that the babies are starting to spend a little more time awake after their feeds we've started on the collection & every evening during/after the last feed (last meaning before midnight) we read a BP book so now I have to run as it's around the time that the babies need relocating to the bedroom, bums changed, milk warmed & we all settle in for story time.

Tonights book is number 8 in the series - The Tale Of Jemima Puddle-Duck

Two weeks on!!!

Well our babies are just over 2 weeks old now... for those of you that didn't know, they were born happy & healthy on Sunday 11th May.
Hannah Daisy weighed in at 5lb 9oz at 22.21 & Robert Gregory weighed in at 6lb exactly at 22.22.
They are extremely cute & at the moment sleep quite a bit, feed quite a bit & fill their nappies... quite a bit. They rarely cry (for now!) & we are living it hope that they stay that way :-)

Now we can get down to the serious bit... birth samplers.. hmmm, none for twins. I shall have to put in an email to Historical Sampler Co' & see exactly how far the ladies have got with the designing of their twin sampler. In the meantime I have picked a couple of little ones from Cinnamon Cat (who else?) & their "Kitten" range. I intend these ones to be more of a door hanger for their bedrooms (when they eventually get a room each) rather than a sampler to hang on the wall.

Will keep you posted on progress of both stitching & babies!!!