PIN IT TO WIN IT - FREE FABRIC

Randi who runs the wonderful store that is Freshly Squeezed Fabrics is running a ‘pin it to win it‘ contest, pin a bundle from her store and you get the amount of repins that equal the cost of the bundle you win it.

So I’ve chosen this bundle:

Pin It To Win It

Unfortunately I'm not as smart as some others and I couldn't link my photo to the Pin so I've made a link underneath which hopefully will work.

Now I need 30 repins to win this as it costs $30.00.  And I'd be delighted if you would repin it for me.  If you're playing along too just leave me a comment below and I will repin yours.

Don't forget about my giveaway courtesy of my newest sponsor who is 

The Intrepid Thread

which is right below this posting.

Until next time ...
Lots of Love
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

An Extraordinary Quilt + A GIVEAWAY

Well you know how when you get on the computer just to answer your emails and one of them leads you to other things on it and then 5 or 10 hours later you are still on the computer?  Well that happened to me the other day and I went trawling the internet because my arm is stil not got and I was bored of being a couch potato (in other words just sitting on my big fat backside watching tv) and I found this website through another website and it had THE most amazingly GORGEOUS MALORGEOUS quilt I think I've ever seen in my life.

The quilt is called The Full Monty, I wonder if Megan's British?  Nope she just likes the film as do I because it really is a great movie but actually not as great (and I LOVED the movie) as this quilt and it was made by Lucy and Norman (GREAT name by the way), who is Megan, and I thought I would share this gorgeousness with you because I'm highly unlikely ever to make anything quite this gorgeous so without further ado I present to you

 THE

FULL

MONTY

And it was made by Megan and this is what she had to say about it:

"This quilt is my biggest and most proud finish yet so please bear with me during this heavily-pictured post. And as a side note, if you've never seen the film The Full Monty, you should. Anyways, back to the quilt.

I started this way back when sometime last year after I received my copy of Material Obsession 2. I fell hard straight away for Sarah Fielke's pattern Maple Leaf Rag and knew it would be mandatory for  my overflowing scrap bucket."

Oh gosh I just realised you need scraps for this quilt.  Does this mean that Megan makes quilts and has scraps?  You bet your life she does.  She makes zillions of quilts so go on over to her blog after you have entered my giveaway and have a look at all her quilts and you can be gobsmacked too!  (GOBSMACKED = AMAZINGLY GREAT)

And now for the GIVEAWAY I promised you.  I am so excited I just can't tell you.  I got my first THREE Sponsors this week.  My first Sponsor is Julie who is the owner of The Intrepid Thread  is very generously giving to my followers

Avignon in Aqua by Riley Blake

this fat quarter bundle of Avignon in Aqua which is THE very latest collection from Riley Blake and I really really LOVE it.  Isn't it just gorgeous.  It is one of my two most favorite things in her store right now.  How can I say that?  Well I just can't because every time I look there are loads more of course because I am a fabriholic after all and must start using all this fabric instead of just collecting and stroking it.

My other favorite right now from Julie's store is the half yard bundle of Elements in Stormy Sea  I am so in love with this and if we weren't going away and I wasn't scared the postman (mailman) would leave it outside my front door, as he is so prone to do, and it would get stolen, or alert the thieves that we are away, I would so order both of them right now as well as loads of other fabric she has.  Oh gosh if him upstairs (DH) didn't make such a fuss every time more fabric came into this house I would buy so much more of it, but he yells and I hate yelling.

In order to be in with a chance of winning all you have to do is:
1.  Go on to The Intrepid Thread store and come back and tell me what YOU like the best
2.  Go to Julie's Blog and subscribe to her Newsletter for a second chance and come back and leave me a comment saying you have done this
3. Become my follower on this website and come back for a third time and tell me you have joined my follower list

That's it really and I shall be drawing the winner on Friday October 5, 2012 at 9p.m. my time (GMT) because that is when I come home from my much needed holiday and I hope my arm is better from resting it so that I can cut and sew again.

So good luck to everyone and please don't buy all the fabric I want.

Until next time ...
Lots of Love
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

Dumb and Dumber

I'm not sure which one I am but I am definitely one of them.  Do you remember a few posts ago I couldn't remember where I had seen a quilt made with 5"squares (or there abouts) made of patterned cotton fabric and  squares of Essex Dyed Linen in Flax because that's all Rachel ever uses - see I got that part right if, in fact, I actually said that.  And (yes I know I'm not supposed to start a sentence with a preposition but I am so sue me) I was so sure it was posted by somebody here in England?  Well it wasn't!!  It was a quilt made by none other that Rachel Hauser whose blog is Stitched in Color and it also her class that I was so very sorry I hadn't signed up for at the beginning of the summer.  Well here is her quilt

This isn't the original quilt I saw but a new

one which is on her blog right now

and it's called Scattered Gems

and here are the blocks it is made from

and if you want to make one for yourself just go to Rachel's blog <---- link that will take you straight to the wonderful tutorial she made for these gorgeous blocks so go on and have a look and enjoy and now I can use the 2 yards of Essex Dyed Linen in Flax

Until next time ...
Lots of Love Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

I am just soooo bad

And I promised and everything.  And I just couldn't keep to it.  Well you see it was like this.  Last week I was on Etsy and just happened to see these

for sale.  They were from Sew-Fantastic De-Stash sale and I just had to have one of them.  Just one and it was so inexpensive when you think how much fabric costs in England.  Even with postage costs I don't think it came to more than $20.00 for 2 yards of fabric and the owner of the store Terri was really nice and even wrote and told me that the listing was wrong and the bags weren't full of fat quarters but usable scraps and she was so right.  I just love everything I got from her.  All such really yummy fabrics.

Then yesterday I actually remembered that it was talknt#2 on Twitter.  About an hour into Talk Night we were discussing selvedges and I said that it would take me a really long time to get all the selvedges I would need for the quilt I wanted to make when somebody (sorry can't remember who) said that there were some for sale on Etsy so before you could say computer I was over there and bought these

from ReFabulous2 for the paltry sum of 

$9.97 including postage

I mean aren't they yummy but I'm sure I upset somebody and for that I apologise and I just wish I could remember who it was.  I am seriously going to have to go through what I said yesterday to find out who it was but I am really sorry if you were going to buy them.  But I do love them and as soon as I get them they are going to become part of a string quilt which I love doing.

Until next time ...
Lots of Love Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

I just have to share some awesomeness

I have found THE most wonderful website quite by mistake.

Okay how many of you have seen a tutorial that you just love but whoever has taken the time and patience to do this for us hasn't put it in pdf form or in a form where you can print it without saving it as a pdf or word document?

Well I bought the full blown adobe version of pdf so I could save what I wanted without having to worry about this.  Did I need to do this?  NO WAY JOSE!!!

What I found was this website http://www.printfriendly.com/ and all you have to do is

1.  Go to www.printfriendly.com and save it into your favorites because you will need it a lot
2.  Go back to the website you want to save the tutorial from
3.  Copy the url (that's the address in your top bar) of the website with the tutorial you want to copy - you can see it highlighted at the top of the screen

just like I wanted to select this so I could copy it for you to see.  To copy the address or url what you have to do is

1. Put your curser anywhere in the address (or url
2. Single left click on it and it should be highlighted
3. press the Ctrl + C button on your computer at the same time (that's the cmd button on a Mac plus the C at the same time)
4. The address will be copied but be very careful NOT to copy anything else.  That is why I told you to bookmark Print Friendly before we started

4.  Then go to http://www.printfriendly.com/ that you have previously saved and

1. Press the Ctrl + V and the (or cmd + V at the same time if you have a Mac like me) and the web address that you have copied will be pasted into that empty box
2. On the right of the box that you have just pasted the address into there is a box which says 'print preview' so just single left click on this button and ...

5.  You will be taken to another screen that looks like this (I just pressed the no thanks button on the almost top of the screen on the right because as of yet I haven't done any tutorials so I don't need this on my website)  HOLD ON - this is a tutorial - albeit not a quilting tutorial but it's a tutorial so maybe I do need it.

where you will have a choice to 

1. Print, 
2. PDF or 
3. Email

There are other choices there too which are:

1. Text Size
2. Remove the Images which can be awesome if you just want printed text like I did with something else I saved

The whole process was totally painless and you will have the tutorial just the way you want to but didn't know how before.  I wanted to save the tutorial above and I did it as a pdf so I can either print it out if I want to or just look at it on my computer or any combination thereof.

If you have any questions about any of this just leave a question here and I will do my best to answer it for you.  But I can honestly say this is the easiest thing I have ever done and trust me I have done a lot of things in my time.

Until next time ... 

Lots of Love Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

P.S. I just found out that if you put the Print Friendly bookmark in your Toolbar so it is visible all the time when you are on a website where you want to make a tutorial into a pdf or copy it or email to yourself all you have to do is stay where you are and click on the Print Friendly bookmark and it does it for you and will save you heaps of time.

Fabric

Fabric is just so horrible expensive in this adopted country of mine but sometimes you have to weigh out how much the postage is going to cost you from the States for the fabric you want and if you think it will slip by the British Post Office people who have this horrible charge they put on top of charging you the VAT.  Now please don't get me wrong I pay the VAT, prices in England are inclusive of 20% VAT (Value Addded Tax) but it's the £8.00 ($12-$13) handling fee I have the problem with.  I mean the VAT can come to like £3.00 or £4.00 but the handling fee bumps it right up.

Anyway last week I decided to join in Lori's Bee In My Bonnett Row Along and I needed some fabric like NOW - yeah I know like a hole in the head I needed it.  Lori said that for the first row the fabric needed to be small prints and I really don't buy small pints as I generally like larger prints and plains.  And anyway, most of my stash is just too good - okay it's not really but I have this horrible thing of having to SAVE things.  What am I saving them for?  I don't know!!!  No idea!!  Anyway I bought 4 fat quarters of fabric from Celtic Fusion here in England and here is what I got:

Anthology fabrics Flying tree bird menagerie with trees

Anthology fabrics Flying tree tiny flower in red

I actually bought both of these

The one on the right is 

Riley Blake Happier birds

and the one on the left is

Riley blake happier Scandinavian flowers

Now why couldn't I wait I hear you ask yourselves.  Well Celtic Fusion were having a sort of sale and I desperately needed two yards of Anna Maria Horner's fabric for a charm swap I'm in that I didn't know I was in.  So it wasn't that expensive in the scheme of things but more than I would have had to have paid from my favorite fabric stores in the States which are on Etsy and are:

1.  Spice Berry Cottage and Dina, the owner, is just such a delight.
2.  The Intrepid Thread which is owned by Julie who is just charming
and finally the first shop I ever bought anything from:
3.  Swell Cloth which is owned by the very lovely Sarah who I love to pieces

All three stores have given me such excellent service in the past, and will continue to in the future I'm sure.  These women are just THE NICEST ever.

Anyway I do hope you have enjoyed this post but I have to tell you that I have looked at loads of British blogs and still can't find out who posted that darn quilt top using both fabric and linen.  If you guys can't find it I'll just have to keep on looking.

Until next time ...
Lots of Love Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

Help + A Giveaway

I saw a quilt on a British Blog - I really thought it was Kerry's blog <--- LINK which I love and go to a lot to see what she has done - so go and have a look if you haven't because she is amazing.  So I bought two yards (g-d forbid I should ever do anything by halves) of

FLAX Yarn Dyed Essex, Linen and Cotton Blend Fabric from Robert Kaufman from Fresh Modern Fabric <--- LINK

at Etsy

and I duly received it and I went to Kerry's blog to look at the quilt top again and I couldn't find it.  So I emailed her today and although she did make one top using some linen it wasn't the one I had seen because the one I had seen used 5" squares (I think) and Kerry's used Drunkards Path and I don't think I'm brave enough to do that yet.  Not only did whoever it was that stitched it have a photo of it and live in the UK she also put a link where the linen could be purchased here in the U.K. but unfortunately they didn't have any so I bought it from the Etsy shop above.

So if anybody can remember who in England has shown a quilt top made with Charm Squares and Flax hand-dyed linen please let me know.  Please leave a comment on here and whoever remembers who made the quilt top will get a giveaway from me I promise of some fabric.  So please somebody remember and let me know.

Thank you all so much.  

Until next time ...
Lots of Love
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

I've Changed My Mind

I just want to thank all of you who wrote to me telling me where I could get another Lilac Lane jelly roll.  You are awesome  and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

So what else is new I hear you ask yourself?

Well, the reason I need two of those jelly rolls was because I wanted to make this in King Size



I fell in love with it but having looked at it again I've decided I want to make a lap quilt out of or a single bed quilt.  I think there is just too much white for my bed, seeing as Mr. Early spends so much time on it watching TV, and I think I'd prefer more color (colour) in my bed quilt.  So I don't need a second jelly roll after all.

The only thing I didn't understand when watching this video, and looking at how much fabric was needed, was that Jenny says that the entire quilt is made up of 9 blocks which is fine by why would you need extra fabric?  I just worked it out!  The white blocks in the middle are not made from a jelly roll.  DUH!!!  But me being me I think I just might use a jelly roll for the middle 9 patch squares as well as this way it will all be perfect (one hopes) and also it's not gonna be in white because of my jelly roll I think I will use cream and not Moda either because, IMHO, Kona is just so much superior.

So, I hope you enjoy this YouTube video that Jenny has made.  Her instructions are always so clear.  She has made loads of tutorials for YouTube so enjoy and go and see some more!!!

Until next time ...
Lots of Love Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH
but British in every other way

I'm searching please

Hi,

Did anybody buy this Jelly Roll and isn't going to use it and would be willing to sell it to me please?

It's called Lilac Hill and was produced by Moda

If you do have one could you please email me.  Because I have one but need two for a quilt I have found that I would love to make for my bed.

Until next time ... 

Lots of Love Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

The Tucker Trimmer and ME

Okay right.  I am making a quilt for my darling granddaughter Chloe who is almost 9 months old so guess I've been promising this quilt for say almost 9 months but I'm finally making it.  After a lot of deliberation (I am a type 'A' personality so it has to be perfect in every way - perfect choice and perfectly made) and many many months - well 9 of them to be precise but it might actually have been longer I started on Sunday I think.

Here is a picture of Chloe because you so NEED to see her - you really do. And here she is

My personal favorite.  A biscuit (cookie) in her mouth

and one in each hand.  Guess who found the biscuits???

Here she is reading

Well she's really smart - she takes after ME!!!

So after seeing and buying and downloading loads of patterns I finally decided on this one:

which you can buy here

Right I'm in love with this and I've been collecting charm packs for quite a while amongst the rest of my stash which shall remain nameless.  But let's just say it isn't small.  So I started out with two charm packs like this, and as you know Charm Packs by Moda are 5" square and cutting out a load of 5" squares (I'm getting so much better at cutting out anything using a ruler and my trusty rotary cutter) when I have lines is no problem at all so what next

   

I ironed all the white fabric, because you have to do this, no I didn't iron it - I PRESSED it.  Because ironing is a big no no and pressing is a HUGE yes.  Now, as you can see I marked two lines on either side of the center and I know it was the center because my trusty Quilters Magic Wand told me I was bang on in the center of this and if I drew a line either side I would get two quarter inch seams and then be able to cut right down the middle of the two squares I've sewn together using the lines for guidance and voila all would be good!  Really???  Somehow I think not.


Okay so right sides together I stitched with my sewing machine expecting, yep you've got it, when I ironed them open, and the pattern told me to iron the seams open so that there wasn't any bulk when I made up the X's otherwise known as Pinwheels.  So this I did for a while and then thought 'this is killing my junky arm and either I'm going to stop or else my arm is going to give way totally'.  So I stopped around halfway through because I knew I had a seen a uTube thingy that told me how to open up the middles of the pinwheels so they weren't bulky.

Then I got out my trusty Tucker Trimmer just to make sure that the new squares I had made were really square and guess what I found?  Yep!  They weren't square at all.

Which is where all this stuff came from

80, yes 80 Half Square Triangles, so far

have had to be trimmed

Please trust me this is now a PERFECT

4 1/2" square

which is should have been

but wasn't

So now you see why I am so adamant and have now made three posts on my Tucker Trimmer.  Well the first post was really about the Wing Clipper but who is cutting hairs here?  Not me that's for sure.  I will show you one completed X or Pinwheel has been sewn.  BRB (that's Be Right Back if you're new to this blogging thing, which I am not, but you might be and one shouldn't taken liberties with one's readers now should one?  Do I sound Queenish there?  You know enquiring minds and all that). 

(PLEASE EXCUSE ROTTEN PHOTO TAKING

It isn't really squiffy)

Here she is in all her glory - my first

PERFECT Pinwheel or X thanks to

my Tucker Trimmer

Oh, by the way IT STOPPED RAINING here FINALLY we have had three, yes you heard me right 3 lovely sunny days in a row, but apparently on Friday it is going to start again.  I HATE THE RAIN!!!  

Until next time ...  
Lots of Love Patti xxx 
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

I So Wish

I so wish I had started Quilting years earlier.  Okay I was probably much too busy years ago working and looking after my children and taking care of my home all at the same time but I must have had spare time.  Oh I remember what I did with my spare time then.  I think I slept!!  Yep that must have been it because being an 'A' type person, which I have to admit I'm not that proud of because if I had been a 'B' type person I would have had more fun, probably.

Anyway I am an 'A' type person and I can't change that much as I try because everything does have to be perfect, or as near perfection as I can get it.

But I am quilting now and I have some recently made blocks to share with you.  Unfortunately I didn't use my Tucker Trimmer or my Square Squared or even my Wing Clipper for any of them.  Dumb dumb Patti.  Because if I had they would have definitely have been perfect.  Okay I know now and I have them all I just didn't use them.  That'll teach me.  So here are my imperfect blocks:

These two are for my July Exchange

which has gone to Ireland. The top block is so

much better than the bottom one IRL it

just isn't true.

These two are my June Block Exchange

That are winging their way to the US of A

Believe it or not this is my 

May Block Exchange that is also winging

it's way to the US of A.

Well she did want this block and it's

my first try at making it.

 This is my block for Kilah

They aren't all that bad and I'm not that displeased and hey I can only get better if I use my Deb Tucker rulers.  And NO I am nothing to do with them just a very very happy customer.

Until next time ... 
Lots of Love Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

I am totally in love ...

with this new(ish) - well it's new to me because even though I bought it ages ago it was still in it's plastic wrap.  What is it, you ask?  Well it's a ruler.  Not just any ruler but a ruler made by Deb Tucker and it is called 'Deb Tuckers Wing Clipper' and with her way of making Flying Geese it turns out perfect every time.

Here are two photos, one is a block I made not using the Wing Clipper and the other one is a sample I made using it.  Okay I goofed up on the sample because instead of putting right sides together I put right side to wrong side but you get the gist of this

This is the less than perfect block I made and this

is so much better, don't you agree?  This little
block I made following Deb's instructions
and using the Wing Clipper ruler and the points are
all perfect unlike the block above this one!

and here is he lady herself demonstrating how to use it

I also have her Tucker Trimmer which I find invaluable.  It is by far the best ruler I have besides the Wing Clipper.  They only thing I've done to either of them is put some Invisi-Grip on the back of them because my hands aren't the best so it helps keep the ruler steady whilst I'm cutting.

I am in no way associated with Deb Tucker just a very very satisfied customer whom she has helped enormously just with her rulers.  There are loads of ways to use
the Tucker Trimmer and Deb has at least 4 more videos on her website 
showing you how.  Just have a look for yourselves.


Deb makes accurate piecing an absolutely doddle and what's more for every ruler Deb makes Deb also has a video explaining just how to use the ruler and instructions come with the rulers too.  So do yourself a favor and if you are having problems cutting and piecing correctly go and look at Deb's website and buy yourself one of her rulers to see how great they are.


I was a very bad cutter and piecer and because of Deb's ruler I now have so much more confidence that I can do a quilt top for my granddaughter which I have been putting off for the last 8 months at least.  So tonight is it and tomorrow  or Saturday more like I will be able to show you the top (or part of it) which I made using the Tucker Trimmer.


Until next time ...

Lots of Love Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way