Espritpatch

Aunt Pitty Pat is hosting a fun swap, the Disappearing 9-Patch swap, and I have signed up for it! Look for the icon below on her blog: The swap is officially closed because there are already 40 swappers signed up but she is still taking swappers. Go and check out if you wish to join the fun, the blocks are due at the end of July 2009 in USA. Celine

I have always been attracted by hats and used to try some on each time we would go to the nearest department store with my Mum when I was little. However I had never try my hand at making a head piece. While browsing the Internet to find hat courses or books a little while ago, amazon had next to nothing but I found the How2hats website which has quite a few ebooks to download. I ordered the Feathered Creations ebooks and made the fascinator below today. I used white and platinum sinamay to make the hat although it is difficult to see the two tones on the picture. I will give to my Mum this week-end to wear at the wedding with her white and silver dress , hope she likes it! I have also started to cut the black and red/wine sinamay to make a fascinator for me. I saw a design in John Lewis this week-end which I thought looked nice so this will be my inspiration. I hope to finish it tomorrow as the wedding is fast approaching. Celine

Today was a catching up day when I finished a few things that I had started this month. First I finished the hem on the skirt I am planning to wear at the wedding on Saturday. I had the black skirt below that I wanted to jazz up a bit. I have removed the black panels in the skirt to replace them with some red ones, using some fabric I had bought in India a while back. From here: to there I then decided to be adventurous and to make a top with the panels I had recovered from the skirt. I have used the same red fabric for the straps. This is the final result which I find slightly too plain or maybe boring. So I have bought some lace, organza and net this week-end and will try to add a few bubbles to the top. Watch this space for more! I've also finished this month BQL challenge, which is due by tomorrow. Just in time. I had completed the top at the beginning of the month and had left it aside for later. It is now done. A fun one to make with the 3-D element. The blue fabric is a lot...

If you have never visited Geta's blog with her marvellous shadow trapunto and lovely kaleidoscope quilts, in addition to lots of great tutorials, there is no better time than now. She is having a giveaway to celebrate the launch of her ebook . Go and check out, I am sure you will find lots to marvel about. Enjoy! Celine

The brioche lived to their expectation and we had a nice breakfast this morning! I made some cufflinks to my DH for Father's Day (2 pairs) but hadn't blogged about them or even posted a picture in case he found out before the day. It was the ideal present as we were away on holiday, so it was easy to pack and take with us alng with the 2 cards Maxime made for Daddy (one at playgroup and one with Mummy). Daddy didn't even found out before the Day! I ordered some Scrabble tiles and dictionary pages on Pat 's Artfire shop. I then selected 2 words that I thought were appropriate for my hubby on the dictionary pages I received. It was very good to get pages from an English/French dictionary, very relevant to us! I stuck the page on the back of the tiles and then cut around before covering it with Diamond Glaze to have a glass effect on the tiles. I didn't a second pair printing vintage maps from "important" places. The glaze has taken the sharpness of the map o...

After the chore of food shopping this morning with 2 children, I spent a bit of time in the kitchen to bake some chocolate and some toffee brioches from the Bread book by Liz Herbert I had presented on my blog a few weeks back. I tried the recipe a few days ago but didn't have the right yeast so they ended up flat and heavy to eat. Not good. So I decided to try again after buying the right yeast and this time it seems to have worked. They look yummy anyway, we'll taste tomorrow morning for breakfast. I have also worked on some sewing. We are going to a wedding next week-end and I need a 2-piece outfit to wear on the day. I have quite a few dresses in my wardrobe but can't wear those at the moment. I also had a boring plain black skirt that I have decided to try to customise with some dark red fabric that I had bought in India a little while back. I started to take the skirt apart a few weeks back but didn't post about it then as I wasn't sure where it was all going...

Yummy fabrics giveaway at QuiltQua . This is a tell your friend giveaway so go and check the website and tell the world. Competition will be fierce I am sure for such lovely fabrics! Jackie is celebrating her birthday and also have a very generous giveaway with 4 beautiful prizes. Helen at HugsnKisses is giving away a complete set of pattern for her next stitchery BOM Twas the Night before Christmas. Have a look Enjoy your visits! Celine

No I haven't fallen from the face of the Earth, just been enjoying a short holiday in Spain on the Costa Daurada with my family. First holiday for Charlotte and a nice family break before I go back to work in less than a month. The weather was lovely and the days were filled with beach activities (sandcastle building and jumping in the waves for Maxime, tasting the sand for Charlotte), swimming-pool dips and children entertainment (2 days in Portaventura, lovely amusement park where Maxime couldn't have enough, face painting in the hotel and mini disco before bed time). In summary, a relaxing but tiring holiday. Thankfully we have come back to the UK to find that the weather is really pleasant too. I have been spending the last day or so trying to catch up with everything and am not there yet! Anyway, I have managed to sew a few more blocks for the blocklotto . I have now made 9 for this month. 3 Shoo Fly, 3 Friendship stars and 3 Churn Dash (that I had completed before the hol...

The weather is nice once again but almost too hot. It is around 25C in my sewing room. Anyway, I have only managed 3 blocks for the blocklotto today. I have completed the 3 Churn Dash ones and am now cutting more white on white fabrics for the background of my other blocks. Maybe I'll manage a few more blocks before bed time tonight if I have enough energy left! Time to go and prepare dinner to feed the family before the evening routine... See you later! Celine

My friend came over from France with her 6-month old son, spending the last 2 days with me. We had fun catching up, chatting and doing not much with 3 children up to 3! Her son is really lovely but so much bigger than my daughter. It is amazing how much difference 2 months can make at his age! Charlotte is actually 4 month today! Before she came, I had managed to finish the top of my little quilt for the June's challenge from the BQL list. Just need quilting and finishing off. Just for you now, here is the picture of this work in progress: This month on the blocklotto , we are choosing our blocks (traditionnal) but they have to be made with 30s fabrics and WOW as a background. I have choosen which blocks I will make now: 3 shoo-flys which were one of the monthly block a couple of months ago, 3 churn dash and 3 friendship stars. Patterns will be adapted from the quilterscache website from Marcia Hohn's free patterns. This is a great resource for quilters with thousands of bloc...

I have finally managed to find some time to play with fabric again! Yeah... While watching TV last night I have managed to finish fusing my hens for my grand-mum's quilt. Ready to be sewn now. I have also managed to start the block for June BQL. The top is nearly done. Need to add the outside borders so a picture should hopefully follow soon-ish. And I have started to reorganise my stash in the boxes I bought in IKEA last week since the shelves are already up on the wall. Thanksfully I have my lovely son's help to unfold and refold the fabrics to put in the boxes. What would I do without him really. Pearls of wisdom from a 3-year old lovely boy: "I am helping you very well with your fabric Mummy! No, don't take that fabric it's mine. No I can't get ready for dinner Daddy I am helping Mummy with her fabric" Celine

As the title says, no sewing done in the last 2 days unfortunately. I spent the day out on Friday with my daughter. We went fabric shopping first where she was the attraction of the shop. I am so happy that I have found the background and backing fabrics for my Auntie's quilt. I choose a light lilac for the background and a violet for the background. I am all set and ready to go now. More unpicking to do before I can start sewing everything together again. I also bought so bright green and yellow-green fabric and some doted background fabric to make a baby quilt for my friend's little boy. Hopefully I will be able to finish this one before his first birthday in December (even though it is not started yet). Then I went to 2 other craft shops and ended my trip in IKEA where I bought some shelves and boxes to try to get my never ending collection of fabrics - also known as extensive stash organised. Everything is in the wardrobe in the bedroom to become my daughter's one when ...

Weather has been so nice lately that I haven't made much progress on my current projects really. We had a very nice week-end with our friends enjoying the sun and each others company while the kids enjoyed the paddling pool in the garden. Went for a stroll in Cambridge on Sunday but it was very busy! I have cut a few more pieces for the for the mystery quilt from the Chain-A-Spool group. I have cut all the scrap pieces, now need to cut the background and the accent fabric. The instructions for next step has already been published so I will be able to start sewing as soon as I have my fabric cut! Maybe I would better catch up with boring housework if I want to try to find a little bit of free time to play with fabric! Celine