A merry time was had by all ....

I had some lovely Christmas gifts of a sewing nature ...

and my friend Sue was pleased with the needlepoint Christmas present I made her ...

and now I'm starting another ...

hopefully it will be ready for next Christmas!

My New Year's resolution is to catch up with all my existing sewing tasks before I start new ones .... I wonder how long that will last???

Merry Christmas ...

Not a great deal of sewing happening here but Christmas tree up with wrapped presses underneath.  Fridge bursting with food and plenty of drinks of an alcoholic nature!!!  Just want my family to arrive safely this evening then Christmas can begin!  

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family and every good wish for the New Year! 

Vanessa xxx

PS:  I have many New Year Resolutions and a few of them involve sewing so watch this space in 2014!!! :)

Great to be quilting again ....

with Steph at Cupcake Cottons!  Spent a lovely couple of hours cutting out squares and hearts!  Missed my friend Rose though - get better soon Rose!

A beautiful bouquet ...

from Sue to say thank you for the music stand banners!  

Just had to share ....

this beautiful fabric with you!

Bought the fat quarter from Steph this morning at Cupcake Cottons - it's SO sweet!  Now I have to think about what I'm going to make with it!

Sewing Bees ...

are such a great idea!  I've had a couple of Bees here now and it's been lovely to spend an afternoon with Jenny, Penny and Sue - just chatting and sewing and drinking sherry!!! 

At the last Bee, Sue mentioned that she wanted to make some music stand banners.  So this is what we've come up with ...

PS: Check out Sue's website - Sue Hayes Music Tuition - www.shmt.co.uk! 

Thrilled ...

with the results of this pinafore dress!  Made it with the help of the lovely Lucy at Cupcake Cottons, Burford ...

now should I make a matching jacket for Archie or is that just too much :) 

A lovely time ...

at The Makery in Bath!  Spent the morning with my dear friend Jenny on a Free Machine Embroidery Course.  We had a great time ...

When we got home we kept going .....

Happy 50th Birthday ....

to my friend Theresa!!!  If you remember, for my birthday earlier in the year Theresa gave me a chicken painting she had painted herself, so I made Theresa a chicken cushion ...

Happy 50th Birthday Theresa!!!  Or is it 36th???

Dutch Houses ....

Picked up my Dutch Houses quilt from Barbara at Fir Tree Quilting this morning and I am thrilled with it!  Thank you Barbara!

This quilt brings back some wonderful memories of my time in Amsterdam and the dear friends I made!

30 years today ...

Stitched this to celebrate ....

And my lovely daughter, Poppy, baked these ...  I don't know if you can see but they have tiny pearl decorations on ... thank you darling!

And can you see my cocker spaniel's nose ..... he's just sat there waiting for a crumb ... poor Archie is on a diet!

Good luck ....

to Cupcake Cottons!  Hope the exhibition goes well this weekend!

I took two quilts over to the shop today along with some cakes!  What a heavenly combination - quilts and cakes!!!  I've called my quilts "Everything's coming up roses" and "I'm dreaming of a pink Christmas"!

How did that happen?

I'm always amazed how things just happen .... I went back to Cupcake Cottons today with an IDEA that my next project should be a quilt for a lovely couple that are getting married next year ... I was looking at a magazine while waiting for my coffee to brew and I saw a lovely pattern of hearts ....  Steph had a delivery of fabric which included some beautiful charm packs .... a quilt is started!!! 

And in the pink ...

skirt number two finished!

Keeping busy ...

some things I've been doing ...

sundress for Spain.  This was free as I had the fabric, pattern and zip already!

picked up my quilt of triangles from Barbara at Fir Tree Quilting!  Going to put the binding on and then I'll let my dear friend have it on Friday!

started another skirt like my blue one but pink this time!  And finally ...

got myself an overlocker with some vouchers I had from John Lewis!!!  Very exciting!!!

It's finished ....

Now what was next on my list ?

It's made ...

I haven't blogged for several days BUT I have been busy - my skirt is finished and I'm thrilled with it!!!

A big thank you to Lucy for all the help and guidance!!!

Sniff, sniff, sew ....

I'm full of cold so I've stayed home and spent the day sewing!  My skirt is coming along well ...

and because I'm so proud of Tom for his triathlon, I've moved his quilt to the top of the list!  We've only managed to find one suitable cricket fabric though - from America !!! - so we raided my stash of fabric and this is what we've come up with ...

Cricket fabric ...

I insisted we put some hen fabric in !!!  This one is from the Avery Home Store, Edinburgh ...

Tom likes the London fabrics ...

This fabric is the only one we found that looks anything like a cocker spaniel !!!  Sorry it's the wrong colour Archie !!!

And have you noticed the odd bit of Dutch fabric?

I'm using the same pattern as I used for Poppy's quilt and my Dad's quilt.  It comes from this book which is the first quilting book I ever bought ...

I've decided I probably need to make more scrap quilts looking at the amount of scraps I'm collecting SO if you fancy a scrap quilt let me know ...

Very proud ....

of Tom completing his first triathlon in 1 hr 49 mins!  Well done Tom!!!

I'll make your quilt next!!! Mother Hen xxx

Ready to go ...

three quilt tops and backing, pressed and ready to go to Barbara for long armed quilting!!!

now what's next on the list???  Quilted trousers for David I think!  Only joking!!!  It's SO satisfying to tick things off my list though!!!

Just had to share ....

Rose brought me back these socks from Japan - thank you Rose - I love them!!!

Had a great morning at Cupcake Cottons - not quilting though!!!  But dressmaking!!!  The lovely Lucy is teaching us how to make a pretty summer skirt.  We had a fab morning picking up lots of tips from her regarding getting the right size, laying out your pattern and darts!!!

Picked some lovely blue fabric and, guess what, it was in the sale!!!  Fantastic!!!

Oh and couldn't resist putting this picture in ..... Mum-in-law very happy with quilt!!!

Wrapped in Christmas paper and ...

ready for David to take to his Mum tomorrow!

Now the details .... the quilt is called 'Cotswold Flowers' and is a kit I purchased from CupCake Cottons before Christmas.  It went together without a hitch and Barbara at Fir Tree Quilting made a beautiful job of long arm quilting it ...

Merry Christmas Mum!

Exhibition ...

Whilst at Cupcake Cottons I picked up one of these ....

profits will be going to Jane Ashley Ward for Women's Cancers.  It's going to be a great event!

Steph at Cupcake Cottons sorted me out ....

with another yard of fabric for quilt of triangles and also some beautiful backing fabric for scrap quilt ...

Thanks Steph!

It was all going so well ....

Oh dear - I've miscalculated the backing fabric and I'm short!  How frustrating .... I knew I should have checked the calculations with Steph at Cupcake Cottons!  That will teach me!  I'll have to wait for Thursday now to get some more fabric!  Fortunately, Steph is a whizz at working these things out and she'll get me sorted out I'm sure with minimum wastage!  Help Steph! :(

Busy day ...

Lovely to pop back to Cupcake Cottons to catch up with everyone.  So glad to find that Steph is feeling better and great to see Dolores again!

Barbara from Fir Tree Quilting had my Mother-in-law's quilt with her beautifully finished.  Thank you Barbara!  Just have to add the binding and then I'm going to wrap it up in Christmas paper - Merry Christmas Mum Swann!!! :)

Got home to find a parcel waiting from Secret Garden Quilting ... two lovely bundles of fabric!!!

Then went off with my lovely friend Sue for a birthday treat to Tollgate Teashop just outside of Bath! Had a lovely couple of hours chatting and eating a cream tea - thank you Sue!

Got back to dash off and watch Tom swim in a lake in training for a triathlon he's signed up for in June!  Julie Anger organised for him to swim at her Club - thank you Julie - you are a star!

Treated ourselves to a fish and chip supper - diet starts tomorrow!!! :)

Chuffed ....

with the end result of my quilt of triangles!  Here it is ....

all ready to go to Barbara for long armed quilting!

So the details of the quilt .... I've made it for a dear friend and she picked the fabric and pattern.  The fabric is a Moda Jelly Roll called La Belle Fleur which is designed by French General.  The pattern was from Pam and Nicky Lintott's book called Antique to Heirloom and the pattern is called 'North by Northwest Quilt'.  It's the first time I've used a pattern made entirely with triangles but I was thrilled with the way it went together and I only went wrong at the end when I managed to stitch 33 half-square triangle units together the wrong way and had to unpick the lot!!!

Oh my goodness ...

I've just logged in to find I've had 1014 page views!  How exciting is that?!  :)

Having a great Sunday so far - caught up with The Archers this morning whilst hand quilting a couple of blocks of the quilt I'm hoping Steph will show at her exhibition in September at Cupcake Cottons.

Watched Tom play cricket this afternoon in the beautiful warm sunshine ...

and Poppy is coming home for a few days and we'll be having a curry this evening to celebrate!!!

Cushions for David - tick!

Spent a lovely afternoon here in Bath sewing these simple cushions.  Now what is item 3 on the list?!!!