Winners

Firstly, thanks to everybody who left such nice comments about losing our dog Barney.  We are going to get a new puppy towards the end of the summer when holidays are all finished with.  Hubby would like a Newfoundland or a Burmese Mountain dog, eldest daughter would like another Labrador, youngest daughter would love a White Swiss Shepherd dog after seeing them on Grit's blog.  After a lot of cleaning up dog hairs for many years (why do they call them short haired dogs?) I want a hairless one like the Chinese crested dog but I don't think I'll win this arguement.

I have drawn the winners for my blogoverary giveway but I'm going to keep you in suspense until further down this post (I know I am a meanie).

I've received my long person in the post from Litina.
Here is a photo of her, isn't she a beauty with her shiny lips and eye makeup.  She also sent some beautiful fabrics, fabric flowers and a handmade card.

Here is a photo of the long person I sent to her.

I was in a swap called the Name Game swap where you made a mini quilt for a fellow blogger which showed either their blog name or their real name.  Sue had my name and sent her quilt to me but our Post Office didn't deliver it and returned it to her.  She very kindly resent it to me and here it is.

I love the colours and the patterns in it.

My swap partner for the 12 inch mini quilt swap received my quilt so I can show a full picture of it.

School has now finished and on her last day in 5th class my youngest daughter got to dress up as they had a 60's day.  Here she is in all her glory.

Now for what you have been waiting for, the winners of my giveaway.

I had 7 comments so the winners are as follows

7, 6, 2  

Random numbers generated Jul 4 2012 at 14:12:54 by www.psychicscience.org  

Free educational resources for parapsychology, psychical research & mind magic.

7 is Cindy (who wins the book)

6 is Helen (who wins the fat quarters)

2 is cheeky monkey (who wins a surprise)

I also want to send something small to the other four

so congrats to

Sarah, Sharon, Sunnie and Leonie.

I will email you all so that you can give me your details and I can post your winnings to you.

Thanks everyone

Slan leat a chairde (goodbye friend)

Our much loved dog Barney died on Sunday.
He has been a member of our family for 13 years.
To us he was more than just a dog.  He was a companion and friend
who wanted nothing more than a bowl of food and water and as much
love as you could give him.  He would happily plod along after us on
his walks and liked nothing better than a swim in the sea and to drink the
seawater.  We will miss him.

Barney (Dawnbreak Ben)

8th June 1999 to 17th June 2012

Thank you for 13 wonderful years.

12 inch Mini Quilt

I know, nothing from me for weeks and then three posts in one day.  Well you know what they say, it's either a feast or a famine.

I took part in the Mini Quilt Swap organised by Cheryll.
Our theme was WELCOME.
I received the following from Pauline.  Isn't it georgous?  Great bright colours and fantastic embroidery.  I love it.  She also sent a lovely notebeook with an embroidered cover and a fabric charm.  How lucky am I? Thank you Pauline.

Here is a sneak peek at the mini I've made for my partner which went in the post today.  I hope she likes it.

You should check out Cheryll's blog.  She organises and runs a lot of different swaps and if you are interested you're sure to find one that you want to join in with.

It's that time again FNSI

It's Friday night sew in again (where did that month go????)
Heidi is hosting the sew in.  Why not join in.

I'm hoping to get some work done on a jelly roll that I have.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

1st Blogoversary and a giveaway

WHOW
Where has that year gone?  I can't believe that I have been sharing my sewing and quilting adventures with you for a year!!!!!!
When I look back I haven't done too badly.  In that year I've become a bit more computer tech savy, joined in a lot of swaps and made some things.  Not bad.
To celebrate I'm going to have a giveaway.  The following are the prizes
This lovely book which has some great things to make in it

This bundle of fabric (8 fat quarters of pastel spot fabrics)

 The final prize is a surprise

To enter just leave a comment below.

I will leave the giveaway open until Saturday 30th June.

Please make sure that you leave a way for me to reply to you.

Best of luck everyone.

FNSI

It's Saturday and that means showing what I achieved in the Friday Night Sew In.
I'm working on some New York Beauty blocks.  I'm using scraps for the centre and points and then I am going to use a solid for the background arc but I haven't decided on a colour yet.  I'll wait and see when I have them all made what colour would go best.
Here are the blocks I managed to get done last night.

I also received the following fabric postcards for a swap called "Tag It' based on clothing tags.

This one is from Miriam

and this one is from Monika

I was also nominated for The Liebster Award so I have to do a post on that tomorrow provided I have the energy after tonight.  One of the girls from my class in secondary school is home from Edinburgh for the weekend and the class are meeting up for a night out (plenty of chat, some food and drink but I won't be drinking).

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

LindaC

where does the time go

I can't believe it's two months since I wrote anything on my blog.  Time has just zipped past me at supersonic speed.

It's Friday night sew in again.  If you want to join in go on over to Bobbi's.  Why not sign up and do some  sewing tonight.

  I'm going to work on my New York Beauty blocks.

WHAT HAVE I DONE IN THE LAST TWO MONTHS
I was lucky to win some giveaways
I've received and sent some blocks for a swap I'm in
I've made a few doll quilts
I've signed up for a few secret swaps
Hubby and I spent time decorating youngest daughters room (painting, laying a new wooden floor, putting together a new bed and all the new accessories for it)

Life has gotten in the way (Mum's taxi, work, family health issues).
I promise I will update with new photos of goodies tomorrow.

In the meantime, enjoy FNSI if you're joining in and have a great weekend.

LindaC

FNSI projects

A Happy Mothers Day to all (mothers day here in Ireland and the UK).
Friday was Friday Night Sew In and I managed to get the following done.
This is a mug rug for a secret swap on flickr.  My partner likes flowers so the front is a very scrappy paper pieced leaft and the back has some flowers to which I've added some hand stitching and french knots in the centre.  I hope she likes it.

I also managed to get a start on a New York Beauty project.  I am stitching this one by hand.  It is a panel of 16 blocks which a lady at my quilt group was selling.  I like these as I can stitch them at night while watching something on the telly.

As you can see it is really scrappy as I'm using a very random group of 5 and 1/2 inch charm squares.

On a different note, I received the following during the week.  They were from my work colleagues to celebrate the fact that I have worked for the same company for 30 years.  Aren't they lovely?

Today is a beautiful sunny day, a little bit cold in the wind but a great day for a walk.  Hubby, youngest daughter, dog and myself went for a walk around the cliffs this morning.  Thought you might like to see what it looked like today.

The cliffs

As you can see we had a lot of rain on Saturday

Lambay Island

Loughshinney village

This is a ring fort, the gully is what remains of a moat (there is still water in it).  The story goes that some of the oldest kings of Ireland are buried in this ring fort.

This is Drummanagh Martello Tower

Everytime we have gone on this walk we see three cormorants on this rock.

Everyone goes at their own pace on our walk and as usual I am last.

One of the beaches.

Hope everyone has a great weekend (bank holiday here on Monday0.