Tagged in Tiptree

I feel as if time is whizzing away at the moment, I don't seem to get the time to read my favourite blogs or do any sewing!  I forgot to turn my alarm off this morning, so when it went off at 6am today (yes, really!!) I got up anyway, but time just ran away again and its been another no sewing day today.  That means no pics, so in keeping with my last post I thought I would share a picture of Tiptree

Tiptrees sailess windmill

It s not a bad place to live!

Lucy at charm about you tagged me this week, sorry its taken so long Lucy: it's been a long week!!

1. What's the most spontaneous thing you've ever done?
I went and got a tattoo just after I passed my motorbike test!  I don't regret doing it but I did take myself by suprise!

2. What is your favourite time of day?
In the summer months, definitely early morning 5.30/6am.  Its all so peaceful

3. Which colour of fabric do you use the most?
Looking around, it seems that I use whatever is going!

4. Did you have a toy/blanket that you took to bed when you were little?
I used to have a cuddly bear called 'Bermus' (don't ask!!)

5. What song always gets stuck in your head?
Pretty much whatever I was just listening to

6. What's the best concert you've ever been to?
Went to see Ultravox back in the day - very good

7. What did you want to be when you grew up?
I always wanted to be a travel rep - I still want to travel and will definitely go in about 3 years when my girls have flown the nest (or ideally not, so then they can stay at home and pay the mortgage!)

8. Camping or a hotel?
Well, its been mainly camping for us over the last decade: and we have only ever packed up and gone home early once, due to bad weather

9. Do you have a nickname?
None that I am aware of, but probably lots that I am unaware of!!

10. Can you play any instruments?
Err, no!!

11. Would you rather call/text/email or write a letter?
Much rather write a letter and really love receiving them.  I still have a lot of my letters from when I was at boarding school and last summer came across a lot of correspondence from a long ago holiday romance!!  Great memories

Hopefully I will get some form of sewing done tomorrow - who knows, maybe sitting out in the garden and hand sewing!

from one extreme to another

Some days are just way much better than others: this is where I was today:

Tillingham

slap bang in the middle of nowhere (you can just see the sea in the distance) - bet this isn;t the image that comes to mind when people hear 'Essex'

St Lawrence, round the corner from Tillingham

Yesterday I was here

Basildon

 Not the most scenic area on the planet and full of traffic jams!  I didn't get home until gone 7 yesterday and was cranky when I got in.  Today, I got home by 4pm and after all those lush green fields, sunny day and hardly any traffic on the lanes I felt much better!

I came home and finished this

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all those hard working mums out there.  I decided early on that I would do no studying today and crack on with my stained quilt

I started early (8ish) and have finally got all my blocks sewn together.  It was absolutely gorgeous here this morning, so I sat at the kitchen table with the conservatory doors open - lovely (p.s it's now raining!!)

I have even managed to get the first two rows sewn together!  I am loving this quilt and hope to get it all finished off next weekend.

This was my mothers day gift from the girls.  The picture is rubbish (ie my photo, not the painting!!)  It is a very large painting that is now on my bedroom room, reminding that summer should be here shortly.  It goes very well with the other beach prints that I have in my bedroom.  I also received some lovely flowers and had pancakes with nutella made for my breakfast :-)
I am now off to cook Mothers Day roast chicken: my mum is coming for tea, just as soon as Jenny has finished work about 6ish

A slight digression...

I have digressed slightly from the finish along, and finished something that wasn't even started back in January:

Now, I may have mentioned before how this blue is my all time favourite, and the colour of my bedroom....

when I saw the the moda blueberry crumb cake charm pack just sitting there, I had to have it.  The cream material is one I already had

I just did some simple hand sewing in the cream squares and it has been a great evening project

I used a cream fleecy blanket as the backing and no wadding.  The no wadding scenario is what lead me to the fleece backing and is also why my mystery quilt is not finished - can't quilt with no wadding!!  This will hopefully be rectified soon as I have just put through a ridiculous amount of overtime hours at work  (its awful when you have to work such long hours just to feed a habit!!!)

So, I will now go and place this lovingly on my bed (on top of the much much larger blue one that I already have there)

Something else for London FQ weekend

Firstly, thank you to everyone for all your congratulations on my exams, it was so nice of you all to take the time to say 'well done'

I have done no sewing this week, apart from a few hexies when I was slumped in front of the telly! 
I need to share this with you though:

.... a carry bag for my sewing machine!!  This will be perfect for London in June.  I picked it up this morning in Dunelm for £12.99, which I thought was a steal!

It has a pocket at the front for bits and pieces and loads of room on the inside.  It may not be the most lovely sewing machine carry bag to look at but it is nice and sturdy, which is perfect for travelling. 
So for those of you needing a  sewing machine carry bag for the weekend head off to Dunelm!

Success

I found out today that I passed both my exams that I took in February.  I am so pleased, as I was a little unsure of myself and was feeling very poorly on the day I took them.
What a relief!!

rainy days and sundays.....

Well, today has been perfect sewing weather:

.... lots of rain: great excuse!

Next weekend is my cousin, Alison's birthday.  We popped in to see her last Sunday and she was admiring my bucket bag, so I have made a bag for her birthday

I will be sorry to give this away, but glad that it is going to Alison

the pattern came from artsycraftybabe and was very easy to follow.

I have also managed to crack on with some of the stainedqal2012




in no particular order!

 some of the fabrics being used over on the flickr group are lovely - and a couple of people have even finished!! I have had to unpick some of mine as my 1/4" seams were way out and these blocks do not forgive you for that!  I am not the only person who has had problems with their seams thankfully

And..... finally: I have found the perfect border fabric for the my mystery quilt

it looks a bit dark in this pic, but maybe this is better

this really needs to be my next finish!! 
Hope you have all had a nice weekend