Hoop-la Book Review and Giveaway

if you are new to my blog and are here as part of kirsty's hoop-la blog hop then hello and welcome!

i was thrilled when kirsty asked me to be part of her blog hop. i have long been a fan of kirsty's and her work having 'met' her over the internet when i first entered this wonderful world of ours.

kirsty is one of those effortlessly clever people who produces things that are so quirky and original and, as this book demonstrates, is not short on ideas.

hoop-la is a gem of a book that incorporates {well over} a hundred ideas and projects to do with embroidery hoops.

whilst the book is not only a visual delight with all of kirsty's fab fun designs but it is a fantastic manual too with pages upon pages of templates to use and detailed instructions on how to carry out all the different skills. i love all her 

::top tip:: 

ideas too.

so embroidery hoops are for, well, embroidery? aren't they?

wrong!

think again! kirsty shows in this wonderful book that this little humble piece of equipment can be used in oh so many different ways and decorated in an endless variety of ways.

my favourite ideas are the ones that make the hoop into a functional piece, rather than merely as a frame for a piece of art...although those are obviously all awesome too. 

i love the chalkboard idea...and the noughts and crosses game...the vase of flowers, although you may not want to put water in them...the pen holder.

with this theme in mind i made my own little homage to hoop-la frame...an advent calendar pocket decorated in washi tape...ok i should make the other 24, and it would probably look rather cool if i did, but i just love how again you can take something quite simple and make something very striking.

i love when kirsty's thinking outside the box has resulted in more than one frame being the whole picture like the giraffe...the conversation...the hot air balloon.

so the giveaway! kirsty is very kindly offering one of you lovely readers a chance to win one of her fab frames from the book. being a screen printer the one i was instantly drawn to is the mix tape screen print. it's so cool!

all you need to do for a chance to win this frame is to leave a comment here. it is open to anywhere in the world and please feel free to tweet and the rest about it! i will be drawing a winner sometime on sunday 17 november.

thanks again for stopping by and if you have missed the rest of the blog hop (it finishes on friday) do check out and catch up on the other posts right here. you may still be in with a chance of entering some of the other giveaways!

i hope this has given you a good insight into this really marvellous book (put it on your xmas list) you will never look at an embroidery hoop in the same way again!

and i will leave you with this really cool little video that kirsty made. if what i have said hasn't persuaded you that you need a copy, then this really will!

:: selvedge ::

it's that time of year again...xmas fair season...where i can normally be seen galavanting off all over the place at various fairs around the country.

it's an unusual year this year however, due to other work and personal commitments, as i am actually only going to be out and about at one fair. 

i am going to be exhibiting at the selvedge winter fair at chelsea old town hall on fri and sat 29 and 30 november.

coincidentally this is one of my favourite fairs to exhibit at and also to shop at. it is full of beautiful handmade products that make exceptional gifts. i'm hoping to conquer my complete xmas/chanukah list whilst i am there!

if you are in the neighbourhood and fancy a great day out do come along and as a little incentive to come over to my stand i am offering all my lovely blog friends 10% off at the fair. just make yourself known to me quoting {fair13}.

right, i'm off to make some more goodies for my stand and hope to see lots of you then!

ps if there's anything in particular you are wanting to buy do let me know and i can make sure i have it or put on one side for you. x

:: normal ::

another week, another set of projects...

it's amazing how much time you feel you have when things get back to normal. when i say normal i obviously don't mean normal, but rather back to routine. it's never normal round these parts.

having had our routine disrupted for 2 weeks worth of half term, i am always amazed by how much time i feel i have when the kids first go back to school.

without constant interruptions i have had a successful week getting through the long list of projects I am working on, all of which will be revealed in the up-coming weeks. I actually haven't finished any of them, but it has been fun having time to work on all of them.

a good productive happy week round these parts. no doubt next week will be back to the only normal i know about...normal mayhem.

hope whatever your normal is, it has been a good one. 

x

ps watch out for the middle of next week when one of these projects will be finished and be featured on a blog tour!

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2013...

 it's that time of year again.

the time when Amy inspires us all by running the blogger's quilt festival and when i get to catch up on all the amazing quilting that has been going on around blogland.

i love taking part in the festival, not because i have any delusions of winning, but to be a part of it.

to be honest i wasn't really sure which quilt to enter and then i realised i was actually impeded by the fact that this year i have started many quilts and finished very few so it was  more a case of what i actually could enter.

i have decided to enter my elephants love water in the baby quilt category.

as soon as i saw this fabric at the beginning of the year i knew i had to quilt something out of it (i am having the same feeling about the talented duo's new collection).

it is one of those collections that speaks volumes by itself s doesn't really need too much complicated piecing to make it look good.

i decided to make a wonky windmill kinda block pairing the umbrella prints with coordinating kona solids. i backed it in a simple solid red, again less was more.

i didn't have the right fabric in my stash for the binding. nothing was singing to me when i held fabrics up against the quilt top so it was down to the cellar to print a stripe.

perfect!

it is a simple quilt. it is a small quilt but i absolutely loved working with the umbrella prints fabric and was delighted when a reader loved it so much that they wanted to buy it. i wasn't so pleased to part with it, so i guess i will just have to purchase some floating world and make a substitution.

thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out what else is going on at the festival. x

a week in pics...plus the odd word or 2...

 what a week...and it's still only thursday!

it all started with Ruby's Bat Mitzvah weekend which went brilliantly.

i had been very anxious about it for weeks partly due to how much work i have on at the mo and how on earth i was going to have time to prepare for the batty as well and partly due to not having dad with us. i have been very emotional about that for the weeks leading up to the batty and was worried i wouldn't be able to keep it together...

i did keep it together...

for most of the time...

well, some of the time.

we had a truly wonderful weekend and one thing it did teach me was, whilst it is beyond sad that dad is no longer here to share these occasions with us, it is so important to build new happy memories.

the work side of life has had to fit in alongside. it couldn't stop altogether due to the up coming xmas fairs and other deadlines.

the newly discovered silver brussels linen was made up into cushions and napkins. i can't tell you how much i love this fabric. it's so soft and smooth and of the most exquisite colour and i blame that for my little sideways distraction of piecing it together with some of my printed pieces. i haven't quite decided whether this is destined to become a quilt or wall art...time will tell.

then things got a bit more colourful...

selvedge needle books for the xmas fairs...

ruby's horse printed onto vintage fabric that is destined to become famous...

printed fabrics for a new exciting commission...

a play around with lotje's gorgeous pattern for this week's big city girl QAL...i couldn't resist...it's so cute!...and besides my new love kona fern had arrived and i just had to find something to sew with it...

and then finally, not made all this week, my screen printing table drop cloth... 

it could just be the colours but i'm thinking it would look great framed as a piece of art...or maybe not!

another mad week in my mad and hectic world and looking at the calendar it isn't due to get any less mad this side of 2014 so you may just see photo mosaics cropping up regularly just to keep you up to speed with what's going on around these parts!

:: wings ::

i've been dreading and excited about this weekend coming in equal measure for quite a few months.

most importantly it is Ruby's Bat Mitzvah weekend so excitement is abounding, certainly from her corner.

it is quite a feat putting on a celebratory weekend and since this is the 3rd time in just over 2 years you would think that wouldn't faze me.

that on its own isn't fazing me...it's everything else going on in my life at the same time that is spiralling me out of control. 

i hate being out of control.

i get a bit moody...

if only i had known about Ray Bradbury's inspiring quote months ago, i would have had wings to cling onto for months...but now i have been enlightened to it by the lovely Kylie i'm grabbing onto those wings and hoping we all fly this weekend and beyond.

:: sometimes you just have to jump out the window and grow wings on the way down ::

Hoop-La!

i am more than a little bit delighted to have been asked to be on Kirsty's blog tour for her new book Hoop-La!

have you come across Kirsty's new book yet? It was published in august so chances are some of you already have. if you haven't you must check it out. 100 things to do with an embroidery hoop...who knew!

i am going to be wrapping up the tour on november 13 which will include a giveaway of one of Kirsty's fab projects from the book, so do come back then.

in the meantime you can follow the tour at these lovely blogs where each will have their own giveaway...

OCTOBER:

Thurs 24th – Bugs & Fishes

Fri 25^th – Flossie Teacakes

Mon 28^th – Syko

Weds 30th – Emma Lamb

Thurs 31^st – Wild Olive

NOVEMBER:

Fri 1st – Feeling Stitchy

Mon 4^th – Carina’s Craftblog

Weds 6^th –  tbc

Fri 8^th – Notes on Paper

Mon 11^th – The Green Gables

Weds 13^th – Blueberry Park

also check out news on Hoop-La! and other fab new publications right here.

see you on tour!