Swaps

I've been busy making items for several swaps I'm in (over ambitious again) and looking after Fudge

 This is him asleep in the back of the car after getting one of his shots.

Here he is with Lisa.  He loves a lap to snuggle on.  He's gotten a lot bigger and cheekier.  No shoe is safe.  He knows where the press is with his food and will sit in front of it barking until someone feeds him.  We have to wait another two weeks before he can go for a walk so at the moment we can only walk him around the house.  He makes his own excersise by running around the hall and sunroom like a mad thing.  He goes so fast that he can't stop and slides around the corners.

This is the bag I've sent to Michell in the black and white bag swap.

 This is the front of the bag.  The bottom section is a row of pockets.

 The inside has a wide row of pockets at the bottom on one side and three smaller pockets nearer to the top on the other side.

 This is the back of the bag.  I really like the fabrics in it (which I picked up at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August).

The second swap was a fabric cuff swap.  This is one of the cuffs I've made.  As I'm not sure of my partner's wrist size I've used velcro (thaty're the black circles on the left) so that she can move them to where she needs them to be).  I won't show the other one in case she looks in so it will be a surprise.

 It's mid-term break here next week for the schools and I have a couple of days off so I have to finish off
(1)  a four block (12 inches each) wall hanging (for a swap)
(2)  a hoop-la (an embroidery hoop enclosing a fabric circle) again for another swap
(3)  some surprise items for some people (NOT for a swap)
(4)  a scrappy surprise (for another swap)
(5)  some christmas (yes I did use that word) gifts for a swap.

I also bought the makings of a coat which I hope to get a start on.  I reckon if I can get one thing done each day I should get quite a bit done.

It's also the Knitting and Stitching show here in Dublin from the 1st to the 4th November.  I don't know yet which day I'll get to it but I'll be there eyeing up everything and wishing I had it all.

broken mac, winner, fnsi and fudge

First off I did a stupid thing.  I put the camera disk into the cd disk holder on my Mac.  They are so close together that I'm surprised that I haven't done it before now.  So my beloved Mac is away having surgery and I have had to resort to a backup laptop which I am struggling with as it's laid out completely differently.  Ah well, lesson learned.

Because I can't use my Mac I can't find the website that I used to download for picking out winners from the comments on my page for any giveaways so I've had to resort to good old fashioned pen and paper.  I had four comments and the winner was number 4 Judy from Knit, Quilt, Spin and Weave.  I'll send you an email Judy about your win.

It's FNSI (Friday Night Sew In) again.  Where is all my time going?  I have a swap item that I need to finish so that is what I will be doing, provided of course that Fudge lets me.  Who is Fudge I hear you ask?

Fudge is our new puppy.  A chocolate labrador who has teeth like razors, has discovered where his food is kept and will try anything to get into the press to get it.  Likes to be read to at night and loves to steal my shoes and play chase me.  He is 8 weeks old and already rules the house.  Because I put my camera disk into the cd holder on  my Mac I can't show you the picture I have of him but here is one from my daughters camera.

His full title is

Fudge Mozart Tully Bear

Fudge  because of his colour

Mozart after the lovely Mozart chocolates from Austria

Tully because he was born in Tullamore

Bear was the name that was given to him by his other family.

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

 

LindaC



 



The Weekend

It is a very exciting weekend for us.

Lisa and Fergus

Lisa, Fergus and his dad.

Firstly tonight my eldest daughter is at a debs with her friend.  It is his debs from his school and he asked Lisa to go with him.  They both looked great.  For some reason I am having trouble loading photos to Blogger today so I hope some of the photos comes through.

The next thing is we are going here
London 2012 paralympics

We are going to the athletics on Saturday and Sunday and I'm really looking forward to it.  We will be shouting for all the athletes but especially for any of the Irish athletes competing in the Olympic Stadium.

I will announce the winner of my recent giveaway next week.

Have a great weekend everyone.

My Memories Giveaway

I was asked recently to try out My Memories scrapbooking software.

I've just done up a couple of layouts from the templates that are already there but there are plenty of free templates that you can download as well.  I'm a bit of a newbie to digital scrapbooking but if I can do it then anybody can.

It's easy to import your photos's into the layouts.  You can also design your own layouts from scratch if you want to.  There's a lot that you can play around with (adding shadows, text, colours etc).

Due to My Memories generosity I have a copy of My Memories Suite 3 to giveaway.

I will leave the giveaway open until Sunday 27th midnight.  All you have to do is visit the My Memories website and then leave a comment here telling me which of the kits you like best.  Good luck.

goodies, swaps and holidays

I've received some wonderful goodies in the post lately.
I made a needlecase for a private swap with Shirley.
Here is the wonderful case she sent me filled with extra goodies.  Isn't it lovely.

I also won a giveaway on Moose Stash Quilting's blog.  Here are the beauties I received, three 1 yard pieces of lovely fabric and a nail file and luggage tag.  I am so lucky.

I was also involved in a mini quilt swap between the Irish and Atlanta Modern Quilt Guilds.  I received my lovely mini from Amy.  It turns out we had each other for the swap but my mini isn't a patch on the one she made for me.  Her quilting is so good.  I love the colours she used.    

I've also been making another needlecase for a swap.  I just have to sew the button on the front.  My swap buddy loves dogs and nature and she has a boston terrier and a scottish terrier so I did some embroidery on the front of the needlecase for her.  I hope she likes it.

We're away on holidays  (at last a break from work).  We're heading to Cushendall in Northern Ireland and I can't wait.  We've booked to go to the Titanic Museum in Belfast and I'm hoping that I can get to Quilters Quest (fingers crossed).  We won't have internet connection where we are staying so I won't be able to get my fix of reading everybody's stories.  Talk to you all when I get back.

Needlecase

Well I almost got one needle case finished at the FNSI.
My swap partner likes patterns and left the coice and style upto me.
I used different pieces to make up the front and some sewing themed fabrics for
the inside.  I just have to finish the binding off and sew on a large button on the front.

front of needlecase

inside of needlecase

I hope to get it finished today so I can post it away to it's new home tomorrow and maybe I will get a start on the other swap needlecase I need to make.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

FNSI

It's that time again, Friday Night Sew In.

If you want to join in head over to Heidi's.
I hope to make two needlecases for two swaps this month.  I've picked out some fabrics for one and a pattern.  I'll post photos tomorrow of what I managed to get done.

I was involved in a swap between the Modern Irish Quilt group and the Atlanta Modern Quilt group for a mini quilt.
This is the quilt I made for ??????? (it's a secret until it arrives at her house).

My secret partner likes blues, spots and solids so I tried to use these.  The small coloured squares start off as three inch squares which are then folded down onto a two inch foundation to form a folded square in the centre.

I've used this method before to make a bag for my daughter but it was made of all folded squares and also for making one side of a small pouch for a previous swap.

Eldest daughter is heading off for a 2 day Adventure 2 sailing course this weekend along with 9 other "Senior Junior" sailors, two instructors and boat owners.  They have to plot their courses tonight, stock up on their food and head off bright and early tomorrow morning.  This course also involves staying on board overnight with watch turns.  I hope the weather is calm enough for them all but with enough wind to make it enjoyable.

 Have a great weekend everyone.

Photo Finish (Travel)

Barbara over at Cat Patches is doing a linky for Photo Finish where the optional theme is Travel.
This is my firs time doing this so I racked my brains (that doesn't take a long time) and thought of the following photo.  This photo was taken in the Calgary Tower on the glass viewing floor.  The feet belong to hubby as I am not great with heights and I just couldn't get the courage to stand on it.

This was the final part of our trip to Canada and Alaska which we made a few years ago.
We try to go on a big trip every three years and this was one that we really enjoyed as it involved a lot of travelling by plane, ship and train.  I would love to go back to Canada again and visit the East coast so that is on the bucket list.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.