Wow I have sooo much to catch up on!
My reader is sitting at 300+ posts to read and I need to reply to all the lovely comments left for me from the bloggers quilt festival post (Sorry peeps I will get there soon!)
What has kept me so busy? Frankly I couldn't tell you! not thats its top secret in anyway, I just don't know. I worked an extra day this week, which while it has left me unable to remember what day it is (I'm running a day behind myself) it hasn't really eaten up too much of my time. Never mind, I'll show you what I have been up to :)

Steam Punk quilt pattern by Jen Kingwell

This came for me and I have to say I honestly haven't been this excited to start a quilt in AGES! 

There is a Flickr group already set up for you to join if you want to join in.

 (Don't get me started on what Flickr has done to it's self, needless to say if you follow my stream you'll know I'm not a fan!) 

This is the reason I haven't actually started the Steam Punk quilt yet

New York Beauty start of my pillow talk swap 

 Pillow talk swap got hold of me and made me join! I have gotten further in making my pillow to send out I just haven't gotten around to taking photo's on it yet :) 

We also had a birthday in the house, and just to make me proud she asked for a Pink Sewing Machine!! (I will admit to being a little chuffed to bits with the request) I picked this one up at John Lewis for her and after helping her set it up and play for a while I can say she is very taken with it and so am I. For the price you pay it seems a bargain for someone just starting out sewing or buying for a child if your not too sure if they will stick at it. Obviously I can't speak to longevity but if anyone is interested in it let me know and I'll do a quick show and tell. 

These bad boys have been in bloom all over the town and I can not get enough of them, it always makes me sad when the blooms start dropping and the riot of pinks dies down to make way for "summer" If you live in the UK you understand the need for inverted commas.

Ben and Jerry's has been a very good friend to me over the last few weeks, in fact I might go so far as to say Core is my best bud, not to mention the fun you can have with Freudian slips at the name of this flavour, he has been there through traumatic Greys Anatomy, Doctor Who, Lost Girl and Criminal Minds. However sadly the time has come for us to part ways. The scales have tipped too far, my skinny jeans are calling to me and the dent where my bum goes in the sofa can no longer just be called a dent more of a hollow. It's off to the gym I have to go, so wish me luck ladies! I aiming to drop 9kg and no it isn't all ice-cream! but I did turn to the sweet stuff to help quit smoking a year ago and I've not had one since so I am thankful for that. 

Around the same time as I stopped smoking, as a household, we decided to stop buying processed food and eat clean healthy food, it's just a shame my brain can't understand ice-cream and Cadbury's dairy milk aren't actually primal food groups or I'd be a skinny mini by now! 

Hope you have plans for a fabulous weekend and manage to squeeze in some sewing time :) 

Bloggers quilt festival May '13 Throw quilt category

This is my Fairytale Forest quilt and I Love it so I'm entering it into the Bloggers quilt festival.

If you've came over from Amy's place a big hello and feel free to have a look around and stay for a while

A few of you will have seen this quilt before, but I assure you with prints this fun and bright there is always more to look at :D 

It was my first attempt at diamonds and I fussy cut every single one of them from my favourite fabrics that my mum had bought for me as an early Christmas gift in 2011.

I sashed between each diamond with a lovely linen polkadot.

And decided I wanted funky corners too, so thats exactly what I did! 

As I type this post the Fairytale Forest quilt is looking at me from across the room on my armless arm chair (but thats another story!) 

Waiting for me to collect a load more bright and busy prints to make it a friend :) 

I hope you're enjoying the festival as much as I am, I've got Bella on my knee and a cup of tea on the go and I'm intending on not moving from the sofa, unless refills are needed, until it's time for the school run.

Quilty factoids 

New to me techniques - Diamonds and Sashing

Dimensions 57" x 71" or 139cm x 174cm depending on wherein the world you are 

Quilted by Me

Pattern adapted from Kaffee fassett book simple shapes, spectacular quilts (I can recommend this one for eye candy value)

Now head back over to amy's creative side and see the other lovely creations over there :) 

Seeing stars!

Well I've managed to finish not one but two quilts since my last post, needles to say I'm a little impressed with myself! 

This little quilt had been begging me to get my act together and finish it for awhile, so I did the right thing and quilted the heck out of it and put it's binding on :) 

All of the stars are made using scraps of my favourite fabrics.

I really did quilt the heck out of this one! Wavy straight lines running vertically down the quilt give it the most amazing texture.

Then last week I finally got around to playing with the Glimma fabric I picked up from Stash Modern Fabric back in April and I went straight back to do another Giant star quilt 

I'm telling you this quilt pattern is addictive! 

I figured I would back it in, what is in my opinion, one of the best text prints around Britten Nummer from Ikea. I always think it looks clean fresh and modern! 

Then I got my meandering groove on! The star is quilted in white and the background is quilted in a complimentary teal colour so it blends in really well.

Both of these quilts have made it into the etsy shop this evening.

My sewing plans for tomorrow include finishing off the pillow top for the Pillow talk swap over on Flickr and celebrating with Madam that her sats exams will be over and done with! We both have really mixed feelings about 10 and 11 year olds doing exams but it can't be changed so we just support her and make sure she knows her best is good enough for us! 

If any of you have younger ones sitting their first sets of exams this year I hope they coped really well and didn't get too stressed out. 

Hope your having  really good week and planning on entering Bloggers quilt festival at Amy's place!