Happy Mail Catchup + Thankyous = long post

Hello lovely peeps … I know I haven’t been blogging regularly for some time, but if you follow you’ll know it’s because I’ve had a bit of a rough summer year with my health.

However, that’s no excuse for bad manners, and I have some serious thanking to do for some lovely happy mail, before I crawl back to my corner to get on with planning the new term …

First off, thanks and delight to Hadley@FlyingBlindOnARocketCycle – I won and received the prize from her giveaway way back in 1952 August …  and lookee see what wonders I received … Thank you again Hadders, it’s all just perfect!  Zips too!  (to make me face the fear, no excuses now – stay tuned! LOL)

Look at the little Melody Miller brooch and the birdy magnet!

  

How amazingly wonderful is this purse?? Forget all that “fits a chapstick and a halfpenny” crap.
This could accommodate a ferret, should the need arise … 

… or indeed 16 my-kind-of-cute* Aneela Hooey foxcubs … grubby fingerprints all mine!



* I have a distinctly bipolar relationship with ‘cute’.  My deeply supressed stiff upper Brit genes take over, I think.  That and my synaesthesia kicks in big time - it's just one of those words that tastes bad -  even typing it or saying it in my head makes me a little sick in my mouth. 

This in turn makes me wildly reinterpret 'cute' in my head to something more like this:

Anyhoo, I digress ... This was also in the haul!



Now, I know I’m a bit late to the party here, but just in case you’ve been holding back on buying this, let me tell you, Fat Quarterly Shape Workshop for Quilters is a fantastic collection of all things inspirational … I read it cover to cover when I was a-bed this summer.

 There’s a few serious must-makes in here for me, not least this wonderful Fast Forward/Rewind flying geese quilt from
<-- Tacha Bruecher


.... or this Orange Soda Pop from Katy@ ImAGingerMonkey -->

 I love the whole concept of the book and the way it builds on the amazing versatility of the geometry of quilting shapes. The instructions and whole tone of the writing are great too.

I would have loved to see some of the blocks multiplied to get a better idea of their ‘quilt appeal, but it was easy enough to close your eyes and picture it, just bein lazy ... but the blocks themselves, practical advice and the complete projects far outweigh the limitations of my noggin by a gazillion …

I don’t buy a lot of quilting books, the writing is just as important to me as the visuals and, historically, I have often been disappointed with one or t’other.  I think Shape Workshop and Hexa Go Go (another thoroughbred from the Fat Quarterly stables, so to speak) are absolute must-haves for anyone’s library.  I would definitely have bought it if I hadn’t won it. which I did. Squee! A feast for the mind as well as the eyes.  Also, as I hadn’t made it to London for the Fat Quarterly Retreat this summer, it made me feel all 'included'! Icing on the cake, Hadders!  By hook or by crook, man, I'll be there next year ...

Then, the day I got home from my hospital stay, I had such a treat waiting for me, from the most lovely Mary@ MollyFlanders – a little surprise package just to say hello!  Just look at the wrapping paper on this!  Love.  Couldn’t have timed it better, Mary!  Thank you sooo much …

wouldn’t that make great embroidery?

that pincushion’s such a beauty!

This is a rubbery silicone ‘spool’ for keeping yer headphone cord untangled!  Absolute. Genius.
It now lives in my bag - fools me every time when I have my hand sewing in there, too!


I also just got my winnings from Leona’sQuiltingAdventure’s giveaway - 2 charm packs of Dear Mr. Claus from Cosmo Cricket for Moda - nice retro colours, not too heavily saturated … Yippee! Thank you Leona!

So, thank you very very much, ladies of the Blogolopolis.  You brightened a pretty sodden summer no end!


I do have some progress to report, and some really fun stuff coming up.
Bear with me and stay tuned!  It could be to your advantage … Just sayin.

Good Etiquette Revisited

One of the unfortunate side-effects of being a tad busy (and cutting down on my online time so that I can catch up with sewing) is that I have so much to catch up on in my blog reader … !

My self-imposed blog diet means I also completely failed to support Kat and all the great post-ers for her Good Etiquette For the Modern Blogger Revisited Week.  My etiquette mark is way down … sorry Kat!  I even missed my own post!

Anyway, I remedied that today by spending a leisurely morning catching up with all the good advice and, frankly great writing, in the posts below … I’m sharing all the links to the series here, just as much for me as for anyone else … 

If you haven’t already read them I really do urge you to … there’s good common sense and advice here …

Day One - intro
Day Two - Laura
Day Three - Lynne
Day Four – my post from last year!
Day Five - Hadley
Day Six – Jennie
Day Seven - Kat

What a great set of posts!  Thank you Kat and clever people.

In other news I finished up two quilt tops whiling away the rain and the storms this weekend, on top of a busy morning invigilating yesterday… more on them another day … no chance to take pictures as dark and soggy all day ....

As I can’t have a post without a picture, Manny spent much of the day doing this  ….




... and this is pretty much all that BBC* does every day …  try to catch his pathetically teeny tiny tail …

*Big Bastard Cat

I know how he feels!  Have a great week peeps ...

Ch-ch-ch-challenging ….

Hello blogland … I’m not really back, but I just wanted to touch base and wave at you a bit. 

Life and Work are both ‘challenging’ at the mo. Work is interesting but I don’t have the time to be interested - 14 hour days filled with confusion.   Meh stuff in life is bad news enough to almost be intriguing, if I were a novelist, or a better blogger perhaps.

I went out for a walk yesterday.  It felt good to be out in the fresh air not thinking about anything.

There’s something about a man in a kilt.  For me it’s the suspenders and pleats.

I like the worn down heel  …  How many hours a day does he stand in that position, strangling Amazing Grace? 

Apologies, for the randomness of this post …

… and the biggest apologies of all to my lovely Japanese Scrap Bag Challenge participants. You lovely people are my top priority this week.  I will be in touch … I love what you’re all doing, I just haven’t had time to pay attention to online life at all.  I’ll be on it.  If you’re not doing the challenge do click the link and see what people are making.

But first I need to write three tests and plan a whole shedload of lessons.
 

See you all on the other side of the week … Let’s be careful out there  

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough ... Maybe

Maybe it's because today was my first day back at work ... a new term is always depressing (grief for the end of summer and loss of freedom ) yet simultaneously inspiring (love of autumn & winter and new challenges) ...

Maybe it's because I find myself deeply affected by the 10th anniversary of 9/11 (which of course for me is 11/9, therefore totally disconnected from any 'date' concept) ...

Maybe it's just some sad sad news of a many lives ago big time friend ...

I do have a mega (for me) sewing finish to report ... but today I just wanted us all to have a little boogie round our sewing bags ...

... be they full of stitches for hexies, bees, charity, babies, old slightly urine whiffy relatives, bread and butter commissions, scarves, socks, trees ... ourselves ... heck ... let's all just put the needles down for a minute ...

and shake our bits, bytes and butts to this ...

Even if you are ambivalent to the man, you've gotta love the groove and the whole rolled up jacket sleeve thing ...