flying past!

2012 seems to be zooming past for me!  I have so many posts that I have started and just haven't got round to finishing and posting!

The hubby had some time off work which as usual for him, meant that he ended up being unwell!  Seriously every time he stops working his body shuts down and he ends up ill.  This time it was a fluey-virally thing with ear infection. He is very hands on, particularly with the pre-bedtime routine so I didn't get much sewing done during my time as a single parent.


Then it was the Easter Break.  The boys spent the first week at our family caravan in Hurley whilst I stayed at home and had a good ole sort out of all our cupboards and drawers. Why does tidying-up make such a mess!  For most of the week I was unable to sew because I just had so much stuff laying around.

The River Thames at Hurley (picture actually taken summer 2011)

 I am still busy working on my Mum's Birthday Quilt.  All the blocks are now complete and I am busy putting the blocks together.

This is the centre block, which I have machine appliqued and finished the details by hand.  The appliques are of my Mum's three grandsons.  My two and my Brother's little boy.  I used the templates in "Freya and Fred" by Janet Clare.  I love this book and I really enjoyed putting the little figures together, using scraps from the quilt and an old linen tea cloth. 

I didn't manage to get the panel completely centered but think once quilted it will be hardly noticeable.

Sewing-for-boys sew along update.

Sadly I wasn't able to get February's pattern started, (simple joggers/trousers) other than to trace the pattern pieces.

The March pattern was one that I have been looking forward to making and I have had the fabric ready for a while.  It is "The Easy Linen Shirt".  I have cut two sizes out and made a start on one but have yet to finish.  The Mother's quilt really needs to be my priority at the moment.

April's pattern is also another favourite of mine - "The treasure pocket pants".  I have some fabric from the charity shop that would be good for these.  I will have to try and catch up on the sew along whenever I can.

I only sew in the evenings once the boys are in bed.  When do you sew/craft?

Fat Quarterly Retreat Name Badge Swap

This is another urgent project.  I signed up to a secret name badge swap, which I must post out by the first week of May.  I have made a start, but need to get this finished.  I have gone for a London/Queen's Jubilee theme.

I did it!

Finally after lots of doubts, umming and urring and penny counting, I have booked my place on The Fat Quarterly London Retreat happening in June! 


Two whole days of sewing! (hopefully nothing too big as I will be travelling by public transport unless I can cadge a lift off a family member.

I am a bit nervous as I do not know anyone else that is going but I am really looking forward to it.   I follow many of the Fat Quaterly Designers' Blogs and so I just couldn't let this oppourtunity pass.

I am also off to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Olympia next week, with some old work friends that I have not seen for sometime.  We just have to decide which course/s we would like to do on the day and get them pre-booked. :)

The Snowflake

Just a reminder to my followers - please make sure that you are following/subscribed to my new address/url thingy as it has changed.

Machine applique, with hand stitched details.

The snow is quilted with metallic thread, the rays with silver thread and french knots for snow.  The boy is holding a snowflake made from sequins and a bead.

Just before Christmas, I was browsing through the Sunday newspaper supplements (You magazine from Mail on Sunday)  and spotted this lovely story The Winter Carosel, by David Melling, illustrated by Christopher Young.  It was written for story-telling sessions that were held at London's Somerset House ice-rink over the festive season.

(this is a photo of the magazine page, I drew around the outline with felt-tip to make the image clearer to trace)

This picture really captured my imagination, and on Christmas Eve (yes Christmas Eve!!!) I decided it would make a lovely applique picture & so went through my stash to find something suitable.  I used a scrap of batik from The Little Fella's quilt (still shamefully half-quilted) and some of my treasured vintage linen and a few other scraps.  Then simply traced the picture onto bondaweb & cut out the bits.

I finished the machine applique quite quickly, and actually enjoyed hand-sewing the details. That was until I  started to add french knots for snow but went completely brain dead!  No matter what I did, I could not remember how to do a french knot!  I searched for tutorials, watched umpteen videos on utube and I even took it to the community centre where I take The Little Fella to playgroup and asked some of the old dears that volunteer there.

Then I left it.

Till we had a bit of snow & it motivated me to get it finished.  And this time I remembered what to do! I am pretty pleased with it.  I love the sparkly snow (I am not sure if you can see that in the photos)

So now what do I do with it??  Cushion? Wall hanging?

Giveaways-

Just popping in to let you know about a couple of giveaways on some blogs that I follow.

The lovely Sue at Harts Corner  is holding her very first giveaway, a basket full of haby bits and handmade goodies.  Sue makes some lovely bags, make sure that you have a look around when you pop in for the giveaway.

Then over at Kitchycoo (where I found the backpack tutorial that I have been using) Amanda is giving away the winners choice of one metre of any of the gorgeous knit fabrics that she sells in her shop. 

Let me tell you that there are lots to choose from and they would make a fab Raglan Tee from the "Sewing for Boys" book.  Which reminds me that I really must find some fabric for this months pattern - the clock is ticking.  (it is half term and both boys are pretty run-down & full of cold so I have been putting off doing the charity shop searching this week)

Both Giveaways will finish on Saturday 18th February - You gotta be in it to win it!

Good Luck!

Welcome

to

"Happy is What Happy does"

Please, Please can you comment as I can still see my followers but have no idea if you can still "see" me and let me know if you can see my new address or not.

Thank you!

Growing up & Moving on

OK - edited to add my new address is

happyishappydoes.blogspot.com

 

I would love to see you there! Explanation below -

This is just a quickie, although I have lots to post about including an award.  But more about that later this week.

I started this blog purely because as a newbie to an Internet forum, I was unable to add any photos until I had posted the magic number of replies.  Also you can only upload photos from online, not your hardrive. So rather than join a photo upload site, I chose to start a little blog; to record my progress and spur me on.  (I have always been very good at starting things, less so finishing)  My blogger name came from the username I used on the forum. (a nickname given to me by a housemate at Uni)

I changed my blog title recently and I very much prefer it, so soon I will be changing my URL too. (I think that is what it is called) Now I am not the most techie person, but I am always willing to have a go and figure stuff out for myself. It will be called either "Happy is" or "Happy is what Happy does", should I dissapear from the face of the (virtual) earth.

I am really hoping that I don't lose too many of my 43 followers, Most of you followers are from the forum mentioned above but I am very amazed that I have picked up a few more readers on the way.  I have never attempted to put myself "out there" in the cyber world, in fact my blog is ungoogleable (my new word lol) so I am so pleased that you have found me & then liked what you saw enough to follow my ramblings.

So should it all go "tits up" and I vanish from blogland, that is the reason why!

(and completely random - the blogger spell checker, doesn't actually recognise the word "blog".  I find things like that funny, I am sad like that lol)

Mum's Birthday Quilt

 I have made a start to my Mum's 60th Birthday Celebration Quilt.

I fell in love with this range of fabric, Ruby by Bonnie & Camille for Moda.

But I could only find it for sale on ebay & I wasn't sure about paying the price being asked. 

I wanted something feminine without being too "fluffy" or too old fashioned and chintzy.  My Mum changes her house-decor much more frequently than the average person, so luckily I was not tied into a particular colour scheme. Although she has a blue/duck egg living room atm and her favourite colour is yellow.

 A couple of weeks ago I popped into the annual sale at my local quilting store "Creative Quilting" and picked up these fat quarters. (for less than half of what Ruby was selling for on ebay) The pink stripes on the left will be the binding.  I have no idea what ranges most of them are from, as most of the selvages were blank but there was some "Anna Griffin Lizzie Collection" and "Dream a little Dream with Me, for In the beginning fabrics" 

A nice mixture of graphic & floral prints in pomegranate pink, yellow, spring green and light blue.

As for the pattern, I really wanted to attempt some stars or traditional style blocks, but with a modern twist.

I found plenty of great free patterns & sew alongs like the

"Oh My Stars" quilt along

or pinwheels in the park by Four Wise Monkeys, a free pdf on Sewmamasew

Crazymoms seeing stars quilt sew along

Made in Cherry

Scrap Jar stars

Sparkle punch Quilt Along

As well as the fabulous patterns here. (Swoon & On a whim are my favs)

So after hours of precious sewing time spent on the computer searching, I finally settled on this one -
Quilt a long 2010 by Blue is Bleu

Lots of variation and I can mix & match blocks to my hearts content.  I love the look of scrappy quilts rather than a clean "matchy" look. I might even add my own design to the middle square.

The pattern was designed to use scraps, but after "doing me sums" I worked out how many squares of each size I would need and managed to use all my fat quarters with only a tiny bit of wastage so far.  I used 20 fat quarters in total (added one from my stash)

Mum's Birthday isn't till May, but I have put some money aside to have this professionally quilted so need to get it finished asap.  If you have any recommendations for a UK based quilter (SW if poss) I would love to hear them!