Espritpatch

Merry Christmas to all. We have horrendous weather conditions here with lots of snow and difficulty to drive on the roads around the village. We'll have a nice family meal tonight and we are hoping to see Santa.... I have 2 Christmas finishes as I finished Baby Daughter stocking yesterday evening and my Christmas Table Runner. My last 2 OPAMs for this year! No pictures to post yet but hopefully soon. Enjoy the festive season! Celine

I haven't posted pictures of my framed hexies for a little while, so here you are! A lovely geisha I received from Geniene in October: A very elegant fan I received from Vicki in November: A watering can I sent to Diane in November: Only 4 sleeps until Christmas... will stocking #2 be finished on time? Until later, Celine

Tomorrow is last day at school before the Christmas break so we have been baking some Lebkuchen with Big Boy to give a few to the teacher and assistant as Christmas presents. Celine

Two years ago I made a Christmas stocking  and present bag for Big Boy, finishing the bag on Christmas Eve. I had bought lovely patterns from New Zealand, all applique is done with Bondaweb. When we decorated the house last week we got them out with the other Christmas decoration. And I decided that although at 22 months, Baby Daughter doesn't mind so much not having her own Stocking, I would try to make her one before Christmas. So that was my project for yesterday Sewing In night. I got as far as cutting the stocking and sewing the front together. This wasn't too bad considering how late I started. I will try to cut the pieces on Bondaweb tonight as I would really like to finish the front of the Stocking by tomorrow evening, watch this space! Celine

is tonight.. Are you joining in? I'll try to get something progressed, even slightly! Celine

I can't believe it has been 3 weeks. Where has the time gone? Well first there was our birthday week-end spent in rainy France with friends. 6 adults and 6 kids under 5. We had a great time and despite the horrendous weather preventing any outside activities, we managed to have fun and to prevent boredom. Quite an achievement! Then there was the catching up on our way back and the work getting crazier and crazier (still the case now). And of course, the dramatic Sunday where Big Boy was taken down to the A&E of our local hospital in an ambulance because of a fish bone stuck in his throat. Lovely salmon dish homemade for our Sunday lunch which ended up in a drama. It was so scary to see him in so much distress. All ended well, after the whole afternoon waiting in A&E, we got home and he was fine. Not sure when we'll have fish again though! I got up absolutely drained and exhausted and it took me the whole week to recover of the shock I think. Last week-end, Mum and he...

I have finally finished my framed hexie for October this week, a bit behind this month. I stitched the same rose I did a couple of month ago because Linda's theme is Roses. I used a romantic rose fabric that I bought a few years ago for the backing. On Saturday, I spent the day with my quilting group. I didn't do as much as I thought I would. I managed to finish sewing one Candle mat for the swap organised by Michele on the Quilting Gallery. I only need to hem stitch the binding by hand now. That shouldn't be too long. You can actually do 2 mats from a pack of charms. I didn't use charms but fabric from my stash. I followed the instructions and ended up with 2 middle sections so I decided I would do 2 mats and use one as a Christmas present. I cut the second one on Saturday but haven't sewn it together yet. See you soon Celine

Last minute OPAM for October, a good month for me! I have sent out my potholders and my ornament to America today. Completed the swap on time, just! I went for the Dresden Plate patterns for the potholder using an assortment of red, cream and cream Christmas fabric and leaving a little penguin in the middle of the plate. The ornament is an original creation inspired from some items I saw in a decoration shop in Holland earlier this week. I decided on a garland of Christmas trees in linen type fabric, spelling out NOEL (Christmas in French!). I had bought some lovely ribbons in Alexandra Palace earlier this month and found on perfect for the occasion. I really like the result, and if I manage to find more time (smile!) I might experiment further with the idea.What do you think? Celine

I started piecing this quilt top at the Annual Mystery Night in 2005 at my local Quilting Store. The plan for the night was to arrive at the store around 9pm on a cold November Friday until 7 am on the Saturday morning before heading to the local cafe for a well deserved full English breakfast. My Mum had attended a few of the nights with me but she wasn't there at that particular one. We started with a warm-up project until midnight before switching to the main project until the morning. The night was always well attended and a lot of fun and no, nobody ever fell asleep despite the quilts available to snuggle under. This quilt was the warm-up project. As per the name of the night, we didn't know the pattern until the end. We were sent a list of requirements and then worked through each step until the final design was revealed. I managed to piece the whole top by midnight. I was then pregnant with Big Boy (not knowing he was a boy yet) that we had nicknamed our "L...

Next Friday Night Sew-In is on Friday 19 November., you can join on Heidi's blog . Now, this is the indulgence night from pre-school here that I like to attend. Good fundraising opportunity as well as lots of pampering opportunities. So I shall try to get going with some sewing after my pampering. See you soon! Celine

 Just finished my hexie flower for this month. And I'll also show you my progress on the Pot Holder pass 5. See you soon! Celine

Didn't achieve much on Friday for the Sew-In Night. Hubby came back from a couple of days away for work just before the kids went to bed so when it was all quiet and I could have sewn, we had a chat for a while, catching up with the week. So when I eventually sat down to start something it was already quite late. I only started cutting out squares for my candle mat swap. At least I have chosen the colours. Yesterday night, we watched the Apprentice from last Wednesday and after finishing the ironing, I managed just a little bit of hand sewing, enough to finish my second OPAM this month. It might not seem like an OPAM because the quilt was almost finished (and it has been in my blog banner since I started blogging) but it is an OPAM to me. I made "In the Samurai's Steps" for a competition at Hever Castle, Kent (UK) 3 years ago in September. It is all hand applique (needle turn) and hand quilted. To display the quilt I had to sew 3 little velcro strips so since the...

I am sure you are bored with this quilt by now, but I am not! I love it, so much so that I entered it in the weekly competition at the Quilting Gallery. If you feel incline to do so, you can go and vote for my quilt here . Fingers crossed! Tomorrow is Friday Night Sew-In so hopefully I should have pictures of other projects to post soon! Celine

This week-end, I finished sewing the binding on Big Boy Hungry Caterpillar quilt. I am really happy about how it turned out and Big Boy loves it, so does Baby Daughter. So Big Boy slept under his quilt for the first time last night and I know that I now need to make a bright quilt for Baby Daughter. That will be Maisy! On Friday I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show in Alexandra Palace with my friends. It was great (even though we only really had time to browse the shops) and of course I made a few purchase: a rug for my son, some wool to make a frilly scarf for myself and some for my Auntie as a Christmas present, a fingerless gloves kit for my other Auntie as a Christmas present, some Decopatch paper, some yummy ribbons, two patterns from Australia and of course some fabric to make a few clothes for Baby Daughter. Celine

I have finally finished my hexie flower for this month so it will be on its way to Australia on Monday: and yesterday I received not one but two lovely dotty hexie flowers from Joanne. Yummy! Celine

When Baby Girl was really tiny, Cathy came over for the day while she was in transit in Stansted. She brought me some personalised baby bodysuits that she had made. I thought that was a very sweet idea and I have used it a couple of times since. It is great for all this time when you want a baby present but you don't have time/want to make something as big as a quilt. Every Mum that I have given personalised baby bodysuits or pyjamas have been delighted and found the idea very cute. Celine

This week, I had to swap my day off from work so I was at home yesterday. I decided to have a go with my quilting frame again and try to quilt the Hungry Caterpillar quilt. I had decided that I would quilt that top on my frame so it had been folded and put away since I finished piecing it in June. So yesterday hubby installed the frame and I did put the Hungry Caterpillar on it. It took me only 1.5 hours to quilt it (it is a single bed size). I think it might have taken longer to prepare everything that to quilt actually. Today was our quilting group meeting, where we had 2 guest speakers. We first had Baby Girl (never too early to start) attending while her "Spiderman" Big Brother went to a birthday party. Then Spiderman came as he didn't feel good at the party and didn't want to stay. So he spent the rest of his day with our quilting group, playing Lego and drawing. I took advantage of space to square my Hungry Caterpillar quilt and sew the binding on. I now to...

The theme of the weekly contest on the Quilting Gallery  is Teddy Bear. So I decided to enter a quilt I made as baby present a few years back. The pattern is from a book called "Patchwork Bears" by Dorthe Jollmann - a must for bear lovers. All the quilts entered in the contest will be visible from tomorrow and you have until Sunday to cast your vote . I have also signed up for the Candle Mat Swap. I thought the pattern was really cute. Do you want to join in as well? Go and register before 5 October. Celine

OK I meant to post this all of last week and never found the time... Last year when I went to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, I ordered a quilting frame for my machine from Freestyles. The frames are made in England by a gentleman who started his business after making a frame for his wife. Anyway, the frame got delivered in October and I was really excited about it and was ready to post how great it was on my blog BUT... it brought me nothing else than frustration and anger unfortunately. Now, this is nothing to do with the frame and I thought it wasn't, I thought it was just me. I had tried the frame at the Festival and it was so easy to quilt on it. Anyway, I spent a few week-ends trying and getting frustrated and annoyed until I decided to concentrate on other projects. The frame stayed in the conservatory for a while (and it was a painful sight really) until it was moved to the garage to make more space. So this year, when I went to the Festival again, I went to see th...

is on 15 October. Go over to Heidi 's blog to sign up. Celine

Millie  is generously giving away a GO! cutter and 3 sets of dies. If you really must, go and enter the competition. Celine

Amy is organising a potholder pass again but on Flickr this time. I joined round 2 during the spring and received 2 beauties from her directly. She is now doing round 5, just in time for Christmas with the little extra of an ornament. Should be fun! So I had to sign up for the swap yesterday evening. Would you like to join? Be quickand go to flickr  to sign up before Saturday. And if you don't want to join make sure to go and browse the photostream of so many lovely potholders created for the first 4 rounds. Celine

We had one of these lovely autumn day yesterday, cold in the morning but with glorious sunshine, very energising for a Saturday. Plus it was the first week-end since the end of July where it was only the 4 of us and no plans at all. I woke up early and went to do the shopping in our newly reopened and bigger supermarket where I bought a few good quality white T-shirts to experiment with. Back home I asked Big Son if he would like to help me paint on some T-shirts for Mummy and Daddy. Of course that was an exciting perspective since it would normally be forbidden. I was even going to allow Baby Girl to help but she refused to wear her apron so she was sent in the garden to help Daddy tidy up. Toddlers can be so stubborn or maybe it's only mine... We started by painting on the back of Daddy's T-shirt  and then placed some cut out letters before leaving to dry in the sun. We then tied Mummy's T-shirt to a piece of wood and painted as well. We left it to dry in the garden...