You will never guess

who has bought more fabric.  

I promise you I really needed this.  I bought some
already from Natasha who owns Skye Reve
in the States because I want to make another  quilt
like the one that I am making right now
which shall be revealed when the top is finished

This is what I am using it for and I am using Kaffe Fassett's gorgeous prints for the heart in the middle:

and I bought this too but I bought this from LiMaSews on Etsy

Linh owns this store and she is just so lovely
and I was introduced to her by somebody else's blog
Linh also has a wonderful blog
and for those of you in the USA Linh is also a Long Arm Quilter
I have asked Linh to move over here but it's doubtful :-(

I know I shouldn't have because I already have so much that I haven't used.  But it will be used.  I want to make so many different things.  I want to make an improv quilt sort of like two you have seen before, the one by Lu Summers or the one made by Chase which you can see on the back of her couch or this one

which was made by Maureen Cracknell and
on this link you can see all the quilts Maureen has made

I've signed up for Lucky Stars from Don't Call Me Betsy but shall do that in solids of which I have a huge amont, I mean why do anything by halves.

I'm just waiting for some fabric, yes more, from The Fat Quarter Shop to compliment the Navy prints I have already and they are creams and navy and whites and navy to start this Block Of The Month from Open Gate Quilts.  It wasn't until I saw Sherri's version that I fell in love with it and thought to myself 'hey I have some perfect navy small prints that would do this beautifully'.  If you look at all five (I think) girls (women) who are doing this you will see very different versions of the same blocks.  So here is Block 1 and here is Block 2, Block 3 will be out on tomorrow as Monique is very prompt I think.  I did buy Moniques rulers I must admit (like I needed more NOT).

I also joined a class that Rachel Hauser was teaching called The Hand Stitched Class but realised quite quickly that I should have joined the other class which was her Curves class but I shall wait until that is released again and join it and join in really.  But I did buy a lot of fabric for the Hand Stitched Class which I shall use for something else.

I am also currently making a quilt for my, ok our youngest granddaughter and I just have to sash the blocks and join them up and then I can reveal all of this one.  I suppose I could reveal a block if I could get myself into gear.  I really need to stop using my phone to take pictures and start using my camera again.

And I've saved the best news for last.  I have finally learned how to nest properly and now everything meets as it such do. YAY ME!!!

See you soon
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH
but British in every other way

A New Store

Do you remember when I told you I'd found a new store here in England?  Well this post is about my finding this new online store.

I don't know how new it is but as you know I live here in the U.K. and have done for many years - a lot more years than I have been quilting that's for sure.  Anyway it's not that I'm mean because I'm far from that, in fact I'm a really good spender.  But I hate wasting money.  Buying fabric in England is very expensive and I do understand, sort of, why.  The stores here have to pay postage from the States which is expensive - even more so now since the US really hiked up the price of international postage charges plus they have to pay VAT (Value Added Tax) at 20%, so we in the U.K. end up paying £s for $s which I really hate.

So since the rise in postal rates I decided I needed to find another source of cheaper fabric that was as good as Robert Kauffman's Kona Solids cotton which is my preferred type of solids as it is thicker than Moda Bella which I found that you could see the seams through.  Picky I know I am but I like what I like.

So I typed in Kona into Google and got taken to this website Backstitch Fabric and I found that they had, what I thought was Kona Solids, at a reduced price.  So I ordered some and wrote to the owner of the store thanking her for her reduced prices upon which she wrote back to me telling me that it wasn't actually Kona but Klona Cotton solids.  I wondered why there wasn't the same amount of colours and I wrote back and said too late I've ordered some and I'll let you know what I think when I get it.

So what did I think?  It's wonderful fabric and if anything it's a teensy weensy bit thicker than Kona and stitches up beautifully.  Not only is it cheaper at £5.80 a meter but it's way wider too because instead of being 42" wide it's 53" wide.  So you are getting more for your money as well - almost a whole extra foot x whatever width you've ordered.  The only downside is that apart from the bundles Alice (that's the name of the lady that owns the store) sells which are in fat (very) quarters she only sells in 1/2 meters which is no biggie as I tend to order solids in way larger pieces because I go through so much of it.

This is one of Alice's Fat Quarter Bundles of
Klona that she sells and this one for almost
3 metres of fabric is only £16.00

I shall be offering some of this fabric as a giveaway soon.  So keep watch on here because one of you is going to get some of this (not necessarily these colours) wonderful fabric I found.  I love it and I don't say that easily - okay maybe I do.  But I really love it and if you can't wait to get some then just go here and order some like what I did (good English or what).  I am not just saying all this stuff about this store because Alice has become my latest Sponsor but because I truly love this fabric and will continue to shop at her store for this great fabric.

Alice also sells other American Fabric and some are on sale right now.  On sale is in at a reduced price.  I still remain so darn American it isn't true.

See you soon
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH
but British in every other way

I got something wrong and THE WINNER

I got a letter from Scott today who told me exactly how Ecolux Lighting came to be and I want to share it with you all.  So here is what he wrote to me:

Here's the whole story. 

Kim has been quilting and sewing for about .... well since she was a little kid. So its been a while. She bought a new Elisimo machine that has built in LED lighting. Should have been good, right? Well the light was horrible. She called me on the phone, I was on a contract engineering job away from home, and started venting. She asked if there was any way we could come up with a light that sticks under the throat of the machine. something with a better light qualtiy so people could actually see what they were doing. No pun intended but the light went on. So I started getting prototypes put together for her to look at and approve or not.  Well, 3 proto's later and she decided that this was the one. Being too analytical myself, I would not have gone with the current product. So, long story short, I want to make sure that everyone knows Kim is the inventor and she is the owner of Ecoluxlighting.  I think this is important for people to know that the light was developed by a quilter who understands the requirements. 

I do like getting Kudos, but only when its my idea :)

Finally here is the winner according to Random Sequence Generator:

Random Sequence Generator
Here is your sequence:

81
58
 8
83
52
93

Who is:  Terry@ a quilting blog17 February 2013 03:50

Visited their site...love that you can get just the right size for the machine you own. 

Well I've email Terry so she knows she won.  Congratulations Terry.  

See you soon 

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

A Giveaway Like No Other I've Had

A couple of months ago whilst I was doing a Craftsy Class, in fact it was the Craftsy class I gave away, where Cindy Needham suggested it would be a really good idea to have Ecolux Lighting as it made her life so much easier because it lit up her sewing area like nothing else she had ever used.

So, if you know me, I simply just had to have it because it was something new and Mrs. Gadget here needed it.  But first I had to check and make sure that it would work in England, so I phoned up and spoke to Scott Stewart who owns Ecolux Lighting with his lovely wife.  I told Scott I lived in England and wanted to know if his light would work here.  He replied that yes it would and all I would need was a plug adaptor and voila it would work just fine.  The light came in really good time but unfortunately the darn adaptor didn't!!

So I got the light and it sat for a while until the adaptor arrived.  I then hurridly plugged it in to see if it was as good as Cindy said it was and was so impressed with it that I phoned Scott again and asked him if he would please sponsor me for a giveaway as I was pretty sure that unless the quilters here in the U.K. did that particular Craftsy Class they wouldn't know about his totally brilliant light.

Here are some photos showing:

This is my sewing machine during the daytime
here without the light on

This is my sewin machine during the daytime
with the Ecolux Light on

This is tonight without
the Ecolux Light on

And this is tonight WITH
the Ecolux Light on

To say it has made a difference to my sewing is, well, putting it mildly to be honest with you guys.  I was so impressed at the difference I just had to call Scott up.  I am getting nothing from this apart from a giveaway and I am just one very very happy customer.

Comments that have come up so far are:
1.  What about the lead at the back of the machine.  It clips onto your machine beautifuly and doesn't leave any wires that would get in the way of your sewing
2.  If you have more than one machine you can just buy extra 'strips' because this is how the lights come as strips that stick on your machine and reuse the cable that you already have.

So do yourselves a huge favour and go and get one if you don't win it here.  This competition is open to all whether you live in England, Australia, the USA or anywhere in the world for that matter. So come on and enter and win yourself this wonderful new gadget that I, personally, would hate to live without.  The light is not cheap but then again anything worth having never is and my old saying always stands me in good stead 'You Get What You Pay For'.  Buy cheap and you get cheap which breaks really fast, buy good and it will save you money in the long run.  I love love love my Ecolux Light butI think you guys have realised that by now.

All you have to do to enter is
(1) become a follower of mine and leave me a comment telling me and
(2) go and see Ecolux Lighting's website and leave me a comment about me what you thought and finally
(3)  (Optional) If you leave a comment on your blog about this giveaway and leave me a comment telling me you have done this you get a third chance to win this wonderful prize


I have the 5 light size because that was the size I needed for my Janome TXL 607 and if you need to know what size would be best for your machine just email Scott and ask him because he is just a delight.


This competition will be ending on Monday night February 18 at 21:00 my time which is I have no idea what time it is where you are.  I do have a huge idea if you live in the USA because that's where I came from.

So good luck and I'll let whoever has won this great prize on Monday night.

On another quick subject I remembered what I forgot the other day.  I know why quilters use the flat headed pins and not the smaller ones which I thought I preferred.  Because if you use a flat headed pin and you turn your work over and sew on the other side you can sew right over them without any lumps or bumps.  You can also sew right through them as I will show you in my next post and it didn't even damage my needle.

See you soon
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

Of All The Quilts I Have Ever Seen ...

both in real life and on all the blogs I troll this one is by far my favorite

It was made by Lu Summers and I saw it IN REAL LIFE last Spring and to say it is gorgeous is putting it so mildly.  It is truly the most beautiful quilt I have ever seen.  It's not a bed quilt but it hangs on her wall above her sewing machine.  She had made lots of other things that were splendiferous too.

This has Reverse Applique 

and this

and this

I will share what I've been working on later on this week.  Believe it or not I am about to finish a quilt top. Now what I need to know please is if I use Minky??? or whatever it's called for the backing do you use wadding too?

I had something else to tell you guys but I've forgotten what it was.  I know it was kinda important for the newbies amongst us so when I remember I will tell you.

Thanks for putting up with my not giving you a giveaway yet but I still have to wait.  It will be this week (hopefully).

See you soon
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

I was going to give you guys a ...

... really great giveaway all darn week but I have been waiting for an adaptor plug to arrive.  I ordered the adaptor plug which will turn an American plug into a British one via this adaptor thingy.  Anyway I ordered it on Thursday of last week and it was from a company here in England and at the same time I ordered a car charger for my cell phone from Hong Kong and a Supreme Slider from the States.

Well the Supreme Slider arrived from the States this morning as did the Car Charger from Hong Kong but not the adapter from England.  If it doesn't arrive tomorrow I shall phone them and give them what for.

Hopefully it will arrive tomorrow and I can let you see my wonderbubble giveaway.

On my name front I have decided to quit trying to get anyone here to call me Patricia.  It just isn't working so I quit.  I will remain either Pat (which I hate) or Patti (which I don't hate but I'm too old for it) until then end.  Only my Aunt and cousins call me Patricia.  Just thought I would let you know.

See you soon
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH
but British in every other way

Boy am I ever aggravated

I'm not aggravated about not being able to change my name to my full name as I am sure you will notice that Patricia has left the building and Patti is back.  Everyone here has just called me that for too long so guess I can't go back to Patti after all.

What I am aggravated about is that I won a $30.00 gift certificate from Sara at Sew Sweetness (great blog by the way so be sure and go and visit it) about a month ago for a gift certificate from Stash Modern Fabric.  Well I spent the $30.00 on gorgeous fabric

Sorry photo taken at night so
colors aren't exactly right - my stool is purple irl

and because the gift certificate was for $30.00 I, of course, paid for the postage - no biggie my choice.  That isn't what has aggravated me.  What aggravated me big time was that, as most of you know, I live in the UK so what really aggravated me was

£11.99 for the privilege of getting this fabric and they hold
It for their ransom until you pay


As usual  is the British Post Iffice because they charge £8.00 for charging me the damn VAT (that's Value Added Tax which is charged at 20%).  I have no problem with paying the 20% tax because in this country unless you are shopping at Costco everything you buy is inclusive of VAT so we don't even notice it to be truthful.

Sew to end my tale of woe fabric would have cost less if I had bought it here in the UK and not won it. So please people here in the U.K. let this be a lesson to you because it has been for me.  I will think long and hard before buying fabric from the USA especially as their postal rates have gone up sew much!

Oh yeah and another thing I won't be buying anymore here is The Jewish  Chronicle which has risen in the last year from £1.00 to £1.90 and I shall really miss it.

Okay griping over you'll be happy to know and normal service including a picture of my tidy sewing room after today and a great giveaway which should have been my blogaversary giveaway and even some sewing with my new sewing machine which I haven't even switched on yet and the sewing machine I have bought for our eldest granddaughter for her 10th birthday next month and collecting tomorrow. She will be so excited and photos will be taken of her getting it and using it. I can't wait.

See you soon
Patti xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

I knew that Quilters were THE nices people BUT...

I received not one but two blocks from Donna Pitts who lives in Edmond Oklahoma, in case there are two Donna Pitts who are amazingly generous and thoughtful and belong to the Block Swap Adventure.  I dropped out of this for a while due to all the crap that has been my life of late.

Yesterday I received a note from Donna that said "Patricia it seems you've had more than your share of 'unhappy' lately.  I'm sorry you weren't able to participate in the block swap this month and I hope to cheer you a bit with a new block" and here is the gorgeous block I received from Donna

Then this morning another envelope arrived and I looked at the name that was on it and I thought to myself 'I know that name'.  Of course I know that name it was Donna again with another block.  Donna I just can't thank you enough - you are a living legend in my book.  You are one very very generous person and I truly believe that what goes round comes round and I hope somebody is as nice to you when you are having a crap time as you have been to me.  Here is the second block

It is very like the first block and I love them both to pieces and can't thank you enough.  Thank you so much Donna you are my person.

I have also received some other stuff and will write another post over the weekend and also about a new great store I found here in England that sells amazing fabric, a giveaway I won that I received and oh I don't know just some stuff and next week I am having a giveaway.

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

No More Plus Something New

Okay enough of doom and gloom.  Yes I'm still full of it but there is no reason you all should be.  So just for today I am sharing with you a brand new FREE Block of the Month being run by Alyssa who has the Blog Pile 'O Fabric she has been blogging as long as I have and actually quilting as long as I've been sort of trying.  Anyway please go along and have a look at it.  Here is the logo which leads to signing up for this FREE skill building Block of the Month.  You will provide your own fabric - whatever your heart desires.  My heart right now is desiring solids because I have really fallen in love them them.  But it will be really interesting to see what everyone else comes up with and no doubt I shall wish I chose something else because I ALWAYS like what somebody else has chosen and made so nothing will change here that's for sure.  All you ahve to do is click on the logo below and you will be taken to the new BOM and learn  all kinds of new things or things you thought you knew but didn't really.  And now you will see.  If nothing else you will have a complete new almost Queen Size Quilt by this time next year.  Just think how fast 2012 went and I, for one, will not let 2013 go by like I let the last year.  So come on and join me and others and have a really fun year.

See you soon
Patricia xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

A very crappy Christmas

This was the worst Christmas of my whole entire life but it was far worse for my sister Jacquie.  I was still ill but my poor elder sister, who was just 70 and healthy, died so unexpectedly of a stroke, it just wasn't true.   She passed away last Thursday evening and and as we are Jewish the funeral was held on Sunday last.  We, that's my two other sisters and me, just couldn't believe this had happened.  In fact I still can't believe it.   The only thing I hope and pray is that she is in the hereafter with her adored son Jonathon.

I love you Jacquie.

See you soon
Patrcia xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

P.S.  I did not put this up for sympathy.  I just wrote this because I NEEDED to!

I'm sorry

I know it's my Blogaversary today but I'm sick in bed so I will make my giveaway as soon as I'm better because I have to take photos for it.  See you as soon as I'm better.

See you soon
Patrcia xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

And the winner is ....

First things first.  The first thing is to thank all my new followers.  I am really overwhelmed by how many there are of you and I hope you will come and visit my blog often .  Well oftenish if you know what I mean.  I hope I replied to each and every one of you and if I didn't then I am truly sorry because I think it is only polite, and I'm a very polite person - you know please and thank you etc., to respond when somebody leaves a comment on my blog and I love it when people thank me too when I leave comments on their blogs.

So without further ado Mr. Random Number Generator (okay it could have been Mrs. but I have decided, and this is my blog, that the Random Generator is a tall, dark and very good looking MAN)  has selected, for this very auspicious occasion of Michele's 5th birthday 

So come in Number 173 who is TA DA DE DA...

Erin @ Sew at Home Mummy15 December 2012 03:26

Thank you for the opportunity!

Fellow FQS lover :)

Signed up to follow: Erin Davis

x

p.s.: not sure if you'd be interested or not but I've started a new bee, Simply Solids...and we're looking for UK members!

mummyquilts.blogspot.com

Don't know where that number 1 is coming from either, I've tried to fix it but can't!  Now before you all go (or b*gger off) I would just like to remind you that I am having another give-away starting on the 18th of December which is my BLOGAVERSARY so please come back because you don't want to miss this one that's for sure as it will be my birthday of this blog and I'm really excited about it.  

So hopefully I will ...

See you all very soon
Hugs
Patrcia xxx
American by birth and MOUTH but British in every other way

P.S.  You may have noticed I have changed my name back to it's original as I think I'm too old to be called Patti and I reall do so much prefer my full name.  I have informed all and sundry that starting from now this is the only name I will answer to and if him upstairs insists on calling me Pat (which I HATE with a total vengeance) I just wont answer him.  Somehow I think he might be happy about that but he'll soon get sick of not being answered.  At least I hope he will.  I'll let you all know.