Sunday swaps and stripey bindings

Well before I start to waffle on today I must impart to you the current musical accompaniment here in QD land. Rather surprisingly for a Sunday afternoon, I am presently blogging to the tones of the Sex Pistols and Anarchy. Now I am sure this is not what you would expect, but Sounds of the Seventies with Johnny Walker is my favourite part of the week and this week "Never mind the Dangly Bits " turns out to be his album of the week and even though I was not, this time rather unsurprisingly, a punk, it takes me back to my student days and to be honest I love the track a lot more now than I did then. If you get the chance though you need to listen to a band called The Bad Shepherds, featuring Adrian Edmondson as they cover Anarchy in a style you would never ever have expected. I will not ruin the surprise but just urge you to You Tube it or something. It is pure genius and me and the beloved JB had a wonderful night in chilly Morecombe last year watching the guys which was one of our favourite gigs for many a year- and that is saying something!

Anyway as ever I have digressed again - probably too early on in this blog to have kept your attention, but if I haven't lost you yet let me update you on events. As you may recall I signed up to Mouthy Stitches 2, a  bag swap with a heap of very talented ladies and now the moment has come for me to actually have to make something. Aagh was the cry. The rest of the gang have been busily uploading their beginning ideas to Flickr and I have happily been commenting, although I don't think I have spotted my secret partner that is making for me yet. However all this viewing has done is increase my fear.  The partner I am making for has a very varied mosaic for me to use as a guide to her taste and the more I read the more I can see that she is a bit like me ( so well chosen) in that she has a broad taste in styles. Whilst this is a great trait it has not helped me one little bit. I have poured over my stash, rifled through the stores and googled until the cows come home and still am not totally convinced if my idea is the right one. But go for it I must as we have a deadline to meet  and I have a weeks holiday in Ireland in the middle of the remaining time so need to pull my finger out. I have today uploaded my mix of fabrics and invited comments and now will sit back and see if she has any for me.  I had a sneaky and really cool idea for the lining but I will keep that to myself for the mo as a) its complicated and may fail and b) I may change my mind.... 

discarded idea 1- I thought the stripe would make a good lining for the swap bag, and the print is the lovely Amy Butler

Anyway on the way to deciding on the final group of fabrics to put into the group for comment I went through quite a few alternatives, so you might like to give me your comments on the rejected ones. Who knows, my secret partner might see one here they prefer and I might get to change my plans yet again.

discarded idea 2

discarded idea 3 - Appleville by Robert Kaufman , bought from Avery Homestore in Edinburgh

I also had to get a crack on and finish yet another baby quilt ( yes I know I said no more for a while but this was a request from elsewhere) so I got a chance to use the great zig zag I had been hanging on to for a binding  and I love it. The feature fabric was very bright and busy, featuring zoo animals and so the black and white I thought was a good contrast. Anyway hope it goes down well with its new owner. 

She has also asked if she can have the pink and green quilt featured in last months catch up blog which was homeless so it will be nice to see it put to use keeping someone's wee one cosy now the nights are drawing in.  On that note I also popped this little mat together this afternoon as I fell on the Halloween fabrics whilst rummaging and just couldn't resist a play. I know I am a bit early, but at least its ready for the end of the month and as you can see I made good use of the left over binding. 

That's me for now, I am off to try and decide what I need to pack for Ireland. Five days of rain is forecast so probably won't need the shorts this time eh!

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.