Reasons to be Cheerful...Part 3

*There's still time to enter the SMS giveaway here*

Welcome to my new followers! I'm so happy you clicked one of the buttons and hope you'll like what you see and stick around.

Perhaps I got out of bed the wrong side this morning but ask my husband, my mum or my newly turned 5 year old son and they'll all tell you I've been in a bit of a funk today. There were reasons but I won't bore you with them!

After having a whinge of mammoth proportions to anyone who would listen, I turned the aircon on and basted my Field Study triangles quilt. The backing arrived last night and I love it! It was silly price Loulouthi voile which I bought in a recent Pink Castle sale and it is super soft, silky and just well lovely and far prettier in real life. Now I just have to decide how to quilt it - straight line echoing I imagine!

Then as if the universe knew I needed cheering up, I found my copy of Hand Quilted with Love by Sarah Fielke lying next to the gate having been thrown over it by the postie. A quick flick through and my eyes widened on seeing this quilt. This was one of two quilts that Sarah was making for a very special person and her daughter, and I contributed blocks! You can read about it and see my blocks here.

My mum also sent me this picture of her presenting the Patchwork Wheel quilt made by the members of the Care Circle, do.Good Stitches to the local representative of  Project Linus UK. It made me smile to see it finally going on its journey to a new home.

Lastly, if that wasn't enough reason to get out of my funk I only have to look at this little one who turned 5 on Tuesday and I smile.

Whinge over.Thank you for listening. Off to look at my new book!

A Kaffe Fasset Double

You may remember last year that the uber talented Sarah Fielke (co-author of Material Obsession) was looking for people to make blocks for a couple of very special quilts.  Amy and Annabelle had lost husband and father Dan far too early.  Sarah wanted to make them both quilts from Kaffe Fasset fabrics using blocks that looked like bass lines on a stereo.  I wanted to help but only had a few Kaffe Fasset scraps and so Sarah very kindly sent me some of her scraps all the way from Oz.

Here are my blocks.

Amy`s block

Annabelle`s block

Well I was super excited to read this week on Leanne`s blog that she too had helped and that Sarah had pieced Annabel`s quilt.  Click here to see it (you`ll have to scroll down a couple of posts).  I love it!

So having written my Winter Stitches mid-term check in, I was beginning to feel very guilty about my mum`s birthday quilt.  She has waited patiently while various quilts, bee blocks, pouches, mug rugs and runners have been made and meanwhile I have prevaricated about which block to use.  She isn`t swooning over swoon - a block which many of you thought would look great in the Kaffe Fasset fabrics she had chosen.  So today, energized by a beetroot, celery and ginger juice (zingy and delicious), I started on the first block.  All I`ll say is it`s not a quick block (but I think and really hope it`s going to be amazing)  and it`s a block from this book.  Only sneeky peaks will be shown and here`s your first one.

I know.  I`m not giving much away.

Hope you`ve all had a fab weekend.  Check in later tomorrow to see if you won the giveaway (there`s still time to enter).

Blocks for Amy and Annabel

A huge thank you to Sarah Fielke for sending Kaffe Fassett scraps all the way from Australia so that I could make these two blocks measuring 8 x 11 inches. They will be used in quilts for Amy and her daughter Annabel who lost Dan a few weeks ago.  Amy`s favourite fabrics are Kaffe Fassett and with her husband`s love of the music world, Sarah thought these blocks which look like a bass line on a stereo display would be appropriate.

You can read about Dan here.