a little exposure...

 so i managed to sneak another holiday in this week...a mini break to France with some girlie friends to catch some last of the summer rays.

it was blissful, relaxing, stomach splittingly hilarious, as it can only be with the girls.

i was already in a good mood when i got home late last night, so when i quickly logged on when i got home having, had no internet for 4 days, i was greeted with 2 wonderful blog features that made my mood even greater.

first up was seeing the fantastic makes that the oh so lovely nicky had made with my new allotment fabric. nicky had not only bought up some of my new fabric pronto, but she had also sewn up this incredibly cute little cross blocks almost before it hand landed on her doorstep.

i adore these nicky.

if this wasn't enough to come home to, and it really was, the next blog mention blew me away.

i have long since been a huge fan of lotta jansdotter's as you know and to have the queen highlight one of my quilts on her blog was beyond awesome. thank you lotta...you've made my year!

since i am so pumped by holidays and all this exciting exposure there is no excuse for me to not be inspired and get up and move it today.

back home and refreshed...let's see what the day brings!

busy old week

 lots of activity at bp headquarters this week...

:: a rush on baby boy cards, altho sadly none for george alexander louis...

:: redesigning triangle mania image in an attempt to have it repeatable...that means larger fabric panels...that means excitement!

:: back to putting the advent calendar kits on a screen...apparently some people think it's time to start thinking about christmas...ugghhh...

:: however i am rather pleased with the 2013 update...a resting rudolph on xmas day!

:: a project half done...printed and all ready to sew...what will it be?

:: and even time spent on the glimma quilt...fmq'ed to an inch of its life and being bound as we speak...

:: i love weeks like this...constructive and fun and still 2 days left to get more ticked off...

smug? moi? no, just happy x

a little spot of dress making...

 i have been pretending that i'm a dress-maker this weekend.

seriously, i am such a novice dress maker that i have only ever tackled pjs and more recently the staple dress before.

but having searched the high street for summer dresses for ruby and finding nothing and then seeing the gorgeous charlotte sporting a beautiful make from the equally gorgeous Leila's pattern, with my limited dress making skills i thought "i can do that".

and apparently i can!...as long as you don't look too closely at the wibbly wobbly shirring.

next up, full of false confidence after the relative success of a let's face it a rectangular dress, i opened up my newly delivered washi dress pattern thinking i was up to the job.

well whatdya know i was!

the only thing disappointing about the outcome of this top is that i didn't opt to make the full length dress...next time.

having made and successfully being able to wear this item (it actually fits...bust seams n all!) i am now a newly converted dress maker. i'm hooked! 

i'm thinking i may even be up to tackling some of the pieces in the japanese books i have been collecting. 

how difficult can they be? 

over confident? moi?...

umbrellas and other quilt tops...

 is there any better sight than a pile of quilt tops?

 the only thing i can think of that is better is possibly a pile of completed quilts.

 january has seen me not only make 2 quilt tops from scratch but also finish off one from the WIP pile...big YAY!

 i jumped on the scrappy trip along bandwagon and made my first quilt top of the year.

 this was swiftly followed by making my Glimma quilt top...

and whilst the pressure of relative ease was still present business wise, i finished off my umbrella prints top.

i really love this top. 

the girls at umbrella prints are design geniuses and rank right up there with lotta jansdotter in my eyes (as does someone else who i'll tell you more about tomorrow).

i am hoping to tweak a little more time into my days to get these 3 quilted and bound before real work gets back to its crazy mayhem.

i'm not sure if i'll succeed but i think you will agree it's a damn good start to the year!

a nice start to the year...

 How is 2013 working out for you so far?

Very early days to make any judgments yet I realise, but January at least is turning out to be a very enjoyable month already.

 The crazy treadmill of Christmas orders is behind me and I'm able to get on with stockist orders (lavender bags, above, getting ready to head out) at relative leisure, whilst managing a heap of other stuff at the same time.

My big thing this month is getting ready for the first of my screen printing workshops (one place left for Friday due to a cancellation if you fancy?) I am very excited about it and have been busily getting things sorted for it.

 The relative calmness of January has meant I am also getting some extra quilt making done. I have been working this week on my Glimma quilt. That has been most enjoyable, but not without it's hiccups (more about that in a mo).

 January also included a trip yesterday to Lynne's for Kitchen Quilt Guild meet up. I rarely get to go. Lynne lives a little bit too far away to get there very often. She really should move further North. Anyways...yesterday was lovely. It was great to see everyone and we had a guest appearance from Australia which was fab. Danielle is just so nice and it's always great to meet our virtual friends. The excitement of yesterday was that our Scrappy Trip Along Quilts had a meet up too!

 So the Glimma quilt...

I think I have already mentioned how much I am liking Lotta's new collection and I really really do, but I am not overly happy with how my quilt is turning out.

I order just about all the designs and colours in the collection, my favourites possibly in this little area below.

 I am also enjoying seeing the squares patterns that the blocks show when all pieced together but as a whole I am not sure it is working.

I think it is just too busy.

A few of us were talking yesterday about quilting with an entire collection and how a couple of the fabrics should be left out. I actually did leave out the jade greens, which I do love but didn't think worked well when i included the yellows and oranges.

Maybe it will all come together when it is quilted. That is often the case. I hope so because I want to love this quilt as much as I love the collection.

So 2013 is working for me on the whole. I am enjoying it. That said I am ignoring the major bane of my January calendar...taxes...if I ignore them they may go away and not be a little black cloud on my otherwise happy January...

a Glimma of a giveaway...

 Have you come across Lotta Jansdotter's latest collection Glimma yet?

You may have seen sneak previews posted around the internet recently.

It is to die for.

 Maybe I am seeing it with rose tinted spectacles, as it is no secret that Lotta is my absolute idol in the world of fabric design. As far as I am concerned everything she does turns to gold.

And I defy you to disagree.

The new collection, due to be released by Windham Fabrics in April next year is even better than the 2 previous collections we all fell in love with.

The colours in this collection are a little more subdued than both Echo and Bella and I think that is what I am liking.

As well as the collection being crammed with her trademark quirky Scandinavian designs, there are also some coordinating solids, which I think will make the collection as a whole a real hit.

 I have been lucky enough to get a couple of charm packs of Glimma and have been having a great time playing with them. I have decided that this year's Christmas hand sewing project will be using Glimma and at the weekend picked this design using Lynne's Lozenge template.

 It is a really pretty design to use and I think Glimma is shown off beautifully with it. The only trouble is the rate I am going I don't think there'll be much left to do with it over Christmas.

 Being the impatient soul that I am where beautiful fabric is concerned, before I had decided on the above EPP project I just had to have a quick play with just a little piece of Glimma. I had to double check I liked it. You know, just to be sure.

It's ok I do...

If you read the title carefully by now you will be itching to know what the word "giveaway" is doing in there...

as a thank you for all your support throughout the year following my blog and leaving your lovely comments (I do so love reading your comments) I am giving away to one lucky reader, wherever in the world you may live, one of my precious charm packs.

That's how much I must love you ;-)

All I'd like you to do is leave me a comment telling me what you would do with the charm pack should you win. Oh and please make sure I have a way of contacting you to let you know you have won.

That is all. I will pick a winner on Friday in the hope that you have half a chance of receiving the pack in time to join me in having a play over the holidays.

x