Monday Link Up 3

What happened to numbers 1 and 2 I hear you ask, well  I have not been blogging for a couple of years and only just thought I would resurrect my little space in blogdom.
So here we are, number 3 link up for Bonnie Hunters mystery quilt 'Allietare', but only my first.

It's been a while since I've done any quilt alonging but I am really enjoying the  camaraderie and the challenge of keeping up.
Clue number one - half square triangles - done. A nice simple introduction, thank you Bonnie.
Clue number two - Santa hats/decapitated geese - nearly done, plus the extra cutting, phew Bonnie that was a bit of a marathon ;)
Clue number 3 -  four patches - cut and ready to sew.

I am loving the group atmosphere and Bonnies friendly and thorough explanations are helping to make this mystery (my very first) an absolute pleasure.

To see more about Bonnies Mystery quilt follow this link
http://quiltville.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-3.html

blowing away the cobwebs

Oh my days it's dusty in here, time to blow the cobwebs away.
I'm still studying hard on the course, it seems never ending, but it will end I know, I just hope I can get all the work done in time. My weekends are full of either books and folders all over the dining room table or wonderful visits form delicious grandchildren. I know which ones I prefer.:-)

It was Maisie's first birthday yesterday. (she's the one in the middle) Happy birthday sweetie-pie.

My 'special' birthday was wonderful. Jon and I went to London and saw Les Miserables, what a fabulous show! We had an upgrade at our hotel once the receptionist realised it was my birthday and we were put in one of the tower rooms in a beautiful old country house.

Those two windows on the second floor in the tower were ours.

 

 

 

 

Here's me on the other side of those windows.

 

I'm trying to fit some sewing in somewhere too but there has been precious little. I've done some X + blocks though.

I do like making these blocks, I can't wait for the rest to arrive so that I can stitch it all together.

Right then back to the course work... sigh.

 

I'm just practising adding a blog button

 

Ooh it worked, now how do I get it to sit at the side?

A new Bee and a win

The Border Agency Bee has been so much fun. Our group of 7,  became 6  early on, started by making our centre block of our own design. Not having ever made a 'block' before, I was nervous about looking silly. I needn't have worried, I have found out that quilters are a helpful, appreciative and generous lot. Well now we're up to the penultimate border and I'm looking forward to getting my quilt back and seeing all the beautiful borders. But that's not for another couple of months yet. The last time I saw it, it looked like fabulous.
Anyway, I suddenly realised that I would miss the monthly scramble in my fabric stash, the searching for ideas for borders and the looming deadline panic. I always work better under under stress. So I looked around for another Bee and found The Japanese X and + Block Bee run by Patti. There are a whole load of people in this bee, 23 to be precise. We have 2 Queen Bees each month and we all make 2 blocks for each of them. That is going to be a LOT of blocks each person will recieve. My month is June!
I've made the  blocks for this months Queens, here's a sneaky peak.

I had a lovely surprise when I got home from work the other day. A mysterious parcel was laying on the door mat. Don't you just love getting mysterious parcels?
I remembered whilst I was making my cup of tea and opening the biscuits what the parcel was. ( well I like to savour the moment when opening parcels, and a cup of tea and biscuits are definitely required for a savouring moment).
I'd entered a give-away on Wendy's blog for a magazine, a very sought after magazine, which has had people scouring the shops and online for it. The reason is the Marcelle Medallion quilt.  It's all the rage right now.
Well I won Wendy's give-away and bless her she also sent another magazine and some pretty fabric scraps, a fabric glue pen and some zips. Isn't she a dear!

See I said that quilters are a generous bunch of people. Thank you Wendy xx

So here's what I've been up to

I am a member of the UK Borders Agency quilting bee on Flikr run by Kerry of Penny Dog Patchwork .
We made a central block each here's mine

I am so proud of this as it's my first ever quilt block :):):)
 I packed up my little tortoise saw tooth star block and sent it to the first recipient and waited for  one of the other members to send me theirs.
This is the first border I ever made on Wendy's block

I can tell you it was a very scary time, I didn't want to make a mess up of someone's hard work and also what on earth would they think of my sewing, I showed pictures of my ideas and fabric choices and just went for it. Happily Wendy was very happy with it. Then I packed it off to the next person on the list.
And so on it goes. I've seen a few pictures of my block with it's added borders and I can't wait to get it back, It's looking amazing.
Here's another border I did

This time I wanted another dimension so I added some Prairie points on top of a beautiful print from Amy Butler.
And the latest border

I'm not sure this is finished yet, I might still add some thing to the left and right borders.
Well that's what I've been up to. Well, as well as course work, looking after grandchildren (love that) and working. Oh and in my quilt group we are making a  quillow! But more on that another time.

Downs and ups and soul searching

Well what a roller coaster ride it's been these last couple of years!
Family illness, bereavements and breakdowns, then a couple of new grandchildren and passing exams. All this led to a lot of soul searching.
What makes me happy? What is important in my life?
So, a change was needed.
I had been losing enthusiasm for my beads, jewellery and clay work for some time, it was becoming a chore and with my new "Do what makes me happy" approach I decided to put them aside.
I passed a maths exam and started a city and guilds course because of upheaval at work and I had to think of my future. It was tough going because I have slight dyscalculia, There was a lot of cussing! The C and G course is still going on for another 6 months and it's a hard slog but needed.

When the first new grandchild arrived I wanted to make something special for him and decided on a cot quilt. I so enjoyed making it that I went on a fabric hunt so that I could create more things. Here's Harry on his quilt

.
I made this for Sofie, our son's girlfriend, I drew the elephant for her and made the frame for it.

I've joined a quilting group, we meet once a month and I am a member of an online quilting bee and I have my enthusiasm back again. I've joined the gym, have a new zest for life and I'm looking forward to my 50th birthday in a couple of days.

You can now keep up with my blog on Bloglovin here Follow my blog with Bloglovin I'm a slow blogger though ;)

 Life is what you make it so do what makes you happy.

Apples and a Bride

Wow! I am so excited!
I was contacted a while ago by Lesa Simons who makes the most beautiful wedding bouquets from buttons.
She asked me if I could make some little apple charms for a wedding bouquet she had been commissioned to do. So I set about mixing colours and trying out some designs. 
I finally came up with something Lesa and I were both happy with, here they are drying after being varnished. Aren't they sweet with their little stalks and leaves?

After adding a loop to each one, I packed them up safely for their journey and waited.

Lesa always has a proper professional photo shoot for her designs with models and photographer and I was really excited to see the pictures.

Well the photographs were emailed to me last week and wow they are amazing. To see my little apples on Lesa's gorgeous bouquet was thrilling, I had butterflies in my tummy.

Thank you Lesa for the opportunity to work with you, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and would gladly do it again.

Here are some of the photos taken by Chris Cowley  at the Apple Farm on the Isle of Wight.

Spreading the Love

My poor neglected blog has been feeling unloved, so to remedy this and to spread some love to some lovely talented people of the Craft Pimp Team, here is some of there beautiful work. This gorgeous cuff is from Jill Egan @ Kiln fired art http://www.etsy.com/shop/KilnFiredArt?ref=seller_info Jolene makes these lovely quirky buzz word beads, She'll make them to order too. @ Buzzword Beads http://www.etsy.com/shop/BuzzwordBeads?ref=seller_info Jo Walker is the queen of the beach huts, aren't these fab? @ Jo Walker Studio Jeweller http://www.etsy.com/shop/StudioJewellerybyJo?ref=seller_info Nicola creates really pretty cluster pendants using gemstones and charms http://www.etsy.com/shop/SmittenKittenLoves?ref=seller_info To see more of the fabulous work from members of the Craft Pimp Team, follow this link http://www.craftpimp.co.uk/index.php and here http://www.flickr.com/groups/cpteam/

The torch has landed so I'm having a sale!

Well this morning I was up bright and early, 5am to be precise, I put it down to age, that's what my mum always says anyway. While it was all quiet and I sat down with a cuppa and switched on the laptop. The headlines were all about the Olympic Flame's arrival in the UK, how exciting! So to welcome the Flame I have decided to have a little sale in my Etsy shop. For one week only you can get 20% off of everything by entering the code TORCH2012. why not pop along to my Etsy shop and celebrate the countdown to the Olympics too. These are a couple of sets available.

And the winner is................

...........Di Keeble

Well done Di.
Your pendant will be winging it's way to you very soon. I hope you like it.

I have enjoyed doing this give away and can't wait to do the next one.
Thank you all for all your lovely comments here and on FB and for re tweeting, You're all Fabulous!

A seasidey tutorial

Here's a little tutorial. I made these buttons using some caramel browns, white, pale blues and more white, lovely beachy colours. They have a mica shift back for which I used one of my own texture sheets.
Hope you like it, why not have a go at making some too. They could be done in different colours which would give a totally different look.

A Giveaway in Celebration!

Well after a very long labour and even longer pregnancy, our new little grandson, Harry James Richardson is finally here!
Poor Claire had a traumatic labour, a caesarian after forceps, but Harry arrived safely on the 8th February weighing 10lb 2oz. Wow!

To celebrate his birth I am having a giveaway.

This pendant is made from polymer clay. I stamped it with a butterfly wing stamp then added ink in aubergine and silver metallic powder to give it an iridescence. I've put it on a silver snake chain which threads through a glued on bail.
It is a beautiful pendant, nearly kept it for myself.

To be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is leave a comment and I'll get Claire to pick a winner from the hat on Harry's behalf

Here it is...

Finally... Here's Harry

Feel the love February! A give away

February, the month of love, and there's a beautiful heart bead to be won Here
All you have to do is follow Ness's blog or Facebook page and leave a comment.
How generous are people?

I must have a give away myself, very soon.

Buttons Galore

I am fast becoming a huge button addict since discovering that I can actually make my own from polymer clay. I also did a little test to see if they were safe to wash and pleased to say that as long as they are washed on a cool (30o) wash then they are absolutely fine.

Here are the latest ones from my little crafty room

Here are some more button friends.

The very talented members of the Craft Pimp team have been know to make and use the odd button too.
Faith made these very pretty textured ones, I love the shape too.

Helen makes beautiful buttons out of glass,

Of course I couldn't leave Lesa out, she makes the most amazing wedding bouquets from buttons.

Mel makes wonderful cards and now these unique Christmas decorations using felt buttons.

One of my most favourite places to shop on the internet is Emma Ralph's EJR Beads She sells all you could need as a polymer clay artist, she is so friendly and helpful too. I love getting parcels in the post from Emma, it's just like Christmas.


These are some of the amazing art beads she creates

She has a facebook page too
https://www.facebook.com/EJRBeads

Lovely Treasuries

I made a couple of treasuries...
This one is full of spooky Halloween items, check them out, there are some awesome artists out there.


This one titled Autumn Leaves speaks for itself, gorgeous autumn inspired beauties.


And I've been featured and a few treasuries lately, by some very lovely people.
Thank you :o)

Beautiful seaside inspiration


More spookiness

six weeks and what have I done...

Not much, but then again I have had fun with the family, babysitting Ruby, our granddaughter was special, we spent two whole days together and really got to know one another, she is a darling, and very clever but I would say that wouldn't I?

I have been updating photographs for the website and Etsy to try to make it more appealing and this week I added some new pendants using my texture sheets which I am pretty happy with especially 'Witches Brew' (on the left), I went a little mad with the inks but what a great result.

Here's a couple more using another texture sheet I made, these a re a bit more rustic, I used acrylic paint on these.

Oh and I've done 2 big fairs as well, Heckington and Revesby, great fun but very tiring and so I'm off on my hols, to Cornwall for the first time and we're really looking forward to it.

Lucious cupcakes

My nearly sister-in-law, Amanda, (hurry up and make an honest woman of her Alan)is a very talented artist when it comes to cupcakes.
Her edible masterpieces are the best I've ever seen, I've tasted a few too and they are just as delicious as they look.
She makes BIG cupcakes like this pretty one.

I love these deep pink cakes

These vintage looking ones are beautiful, look at the detail, she's even added tiny buttons, I have a thing about buttons, I'm a bit of a collector.

and how cute are these little monsters?

Amanda lives in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. She has a website here and her facebook page is here

spotlight on Georgie Bristow

Georgie is a fabulous lampworker, that is, she makes amazing glass beads, she also uses tiny silver rings to create the most intricate chain maille jewellery, all from her home in Bristol.
Just take a look at her designs...

Go along to her Website to see more of her gorgeous designs
Why not check out her blog too