Country Living Fair Giveaway

 

Calling all readers in the more northern climes. Today we have a Give away of 2 day tickets to the Counry Living Fair in Glasgow for either Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd or Sunday 25th November at the SECC in Glasgow. These are brought to you by Emily Faulkner Photography, who will be selling her wonderful landscape pictures there for the first time. To go along with the tickets Emily is also offering a 20% discount off all purchases from her to the winner of the tickets.

The show is a great mix of food, gifts, clothing and all the usual beautiful stylish and quality items you would see regularly in the magazine.

 

For a chance to win these tickets , just leave a comment below between today and midnight on Monday 19th November and I will contact the randomly drawn winner on Tuesady morning, with the tickets being collectable at the box office on the day.

Why not pop by Emily's website to view her great pictures or the shows website to see what you will be missing if you dopn't pop along.

 

Hope to see you on stand E52- oh did I forget to say it's my Emily!!! She has me in charge of dressing the stand so lots of stitching this weekend. Just finishing off this Star quilt in Moda fabric which I have had so long that I have no idea of the name. But the pin tucked plains make a real contrast and I am very happy with the look, even if my apalling photos dont show it off well. I am going to back it with fleece for a cosy Christmas feel. Lots of other makes needed so if you pop along you will get to see these in the flesh too and how far it get by bedtime on tuesday.

 

Happy commenting and thanks for coming by.

 

 

Random purchasing

I have been very remiss with my blog recently. I am not sure why as I have been keen to sit down and write nearly every evening but same old excuse I am afraid. Time has just conspired against me. I had a flying visit down to see Emily at the weekend as she is suffering from a horrible chest infection so as well as a hug  to make her feel better I wanted to give her some moral support in her planning for the Country Living Fair, as I mentioned in my last post. We had a fruitful catch up and I feel a plan is coming together. The two of us and the wonderful Jonathan must have looked like a load of chumps though as we paced out the stand size in the back garden, laying out sticks and cushions to mark the spaces for tables and print holders. Improvisation can be such a hoot if you try hard enough! 

My flying visit was preceded by a quick trip to the "Scottish Quilt Championships" at Inglestone near Edinburgh and the title of this quilt fair always makes me chuckle. Not quite the FA or Ryder Cup but some hard work exhibited by some very clever and talented ladies ( and lads perhaps? who knows). I took along my lovely lofty friend Emma, who is a "quilt virgin" and I hope I didn't bore her too much droning on about fat quarters and the like. Emma is a great supportor of QD land and I love keeping her up to date with the latest news. Who knows she may at some point get the urge to join in, but I have had to warn her how very addictive all this stitching can be. 

one of the few linens I found at the show

 

As you can see I did indulge in some retail therapy and I was shocked at the randomness of my purchases when I surveyed them back at home. No real theme or style here at all, but I think that's a good thing as I like the idea that different styles grab me on different days. Having quilted for over 15 years I have made many traditional pieces but have loved watching all the new styles and colours come through and the change in fabrics available has been so refreshing. I have to say that I actually was a little disappointed at the lack of modern fabrics at the show, with the only real nod to modern quilting coming from the girls at the Avery Homestore in Edinburgh. I had fallen on their website a few weeks ago so it was lovely to meet them and I am itching to get through to see the shop itself soon. The girls were selling a lovely mix of contemporary fabrics, from my favourite Amy Butler, through the jolly Brrr Ice with its great polar bears ready for Christmas, to some great Suzy Ultman Critters. I felt quite rotten actually as I rather inappropriately said that I had just bought some of the fabrics that they were selling from Pink Castle Fabrics and how great they were, but did not mean to be so rude. The girls had the best choice of fabrics at the show by far and I will most definitely be a supporter from now on. I love Pink Castle and their service is great but sometimes you just have to shop locally and avoid the tax too.

One of my plans was to look for fabrics for my Mouthy Stitches swap , with our partners being announced that day  but technology failed me and I couldn't get my emails to work on my phone till that night by which time I was tucked up in my trundle bed in the B&B in Newcastle.  Actually as I say, the fabrics on sale at rhe show were mainly run of the mill, with the exception of the very large pile now laying in the middle of my dining table, so I will be looking online for my partner, or alternatively will be "google mapping" to see if I can leg it to Avery Homestore in my lunch break in the next day or so. ( This time I shall go alone rather than inflict agony on any more friends - see " A Challenging shopping trip" ha ha). As this is my first swap I am very nervous that I will not be able to match up to the amazing work of my fellow Swappers but I will keep you posted- without revealing too much. However I will say , I do have  plan .... wink wink nudge nudge
 

Homecoming

It seems an absolute age since I have written of the goings on in QD land and that's just been due to life in general going on around. The beloved JB has been home from offshore and the days have flown by. With the nights drawing in too I really can't start sewing after I have finished supper as my brain tells me its time to sit curled up under a quilt and indulge in a bit of autumn TV scheduling and of course a a bit of "Smurfing" the net to catch up on what's happening with my swappies out there in Flickr land. 

Cutting went well for the Japanese Charm Swap and my little squares where quickly winging their way to Narcoleptic in a cupboard in Lerwick and by some miracle I ended up with a fair size pieced left over for me to keep. Yipeeee! Cannot wait to get my bundle back come the end of the month. If you have popped by the group you will have seen that the gang have exceeded themselves in their shopping skills . I just have no clue at  all at the moment what I will want to make from the charms when they arrive.

my girl , herself

This weekend however, much hooting and a hollering could be heard in QD land as at last, the girl got to come home. Yes, that is correct. Emily managed to make it back north for a day and a bit and was welcomed by a very happy Mummy and Step Pa. Emily is a mad little whirlwind and I miss her like mad. I miss Number One Son constantly too, but I don't know if its him being a chap or because Emily actually did live in this house in Scotland for a while, but she has left a bit of a hole. This here was her home, where as for Tom, Cambridge will always be his home, although I am very proud that he constantly regales everyone of his home in Scotland and long may it continue. My tots grew up and life moves on...

Anyway, I digress. Emily managed to get home for a flying visit bringing her gentle and lovely man with her and we managed to catch up on events whilst he and the beloved JB bonded over a glass of red and stories of spanners and electrical supply theory. On Sunday it tipped it down with rain and so we decided we would have a bit of Mum and daughter time in my den. Em has been doing a lot of paper piecing recently but this is not really one of my favourite types of stitching so I had avoided it somewhat but we thought it was time for some role reversal with Emily tutoring me on the technique she uses. 

We chose a pattern of stacked teacups to practice on, from a pattern she found on Craftsy. We raided the stash and set too and to be honest, I am still not completely convinced that this kind of piecing is my bag, but I can see it has its place. 

Em's turned out a lot better than mine as she chose better contrasting fabrics . I went wrong with my top cup fabric as it is too pale and tried to remedy it with  a little embroidered trim, but hey ho. That's what practicing is all about. 

We had a great afternoon whilst the boys snoozed/watched the football and topped it off with a full tummy of Roast Pork and rhubarb Crumble. Yum Yum.

Em has now headed back to County Durham but I will be heading that way on Saturday as we have much work to do sorting out her stand for the Country Living Fair in Glasgow in November.  This is a HUGE thing for Emily and her fledgling business and I am so proud that I could burst. You will be hearing much much more of this event so I won't bore you now but if you want to pop by to see some of her work that will be on sale there just click here. There will be some new work in time for Christmas too, especially as it's a Christmas Fair so don't forget to bookmark the page, wink wink.....

See you soon when I am back and hopefully I will have news of not only the Japanese Charms that have arrived but also progress in the Mouthy Stitches 2 Swap. Can't Wait.