Espritpatch

I finally managed to finish 3 stacks for the Block Lotto this morning, just before the deadline. I had cut the fabric during the Friday Night Sew In but hadn't finished putting the stacks together for some reasons. Anyway, I did just that this morning helped by Baby Daughter sitting on my lap and wanted to help feeding the fabric through the sewing machine. After all she will be 2 very shortly so it is about time she starts! I took pictures of the blocks with my Blackberry and the colours are not very nice but at least I have finally managed to transfer the pictures on the computer so that I could post them here and on the Block Lotto blog . I haven't won the lotto but there were an impressive 376 blocks made, which means I only had 3 chances in 376! Never mind, the blocks were fun to make. New block for the February lotto will be announced tomorrow, should you be tempted... Celine

I have finished block #3 of the Civil War BOW: Seven Sisters. It was relaxing to do the reverse applique on the train to and from work. Block #4 is nearly done as well so maybe I can actually catch up with this BOW... Celine

At the beginning of the year, Barbara Brackman started a new blog and BOW to commemorate the 150 anniversary of the American Civil War. The first block reminded me of Dear Jane blocks and look easy enough so I decided to succumb to temptation and join in. The blocks are "huge" to Dear Jane standards as they finish at 8'' compare to the 4.5'' from Dear Jane! It is now Week 4 and I have completed 2 blocks so far: Catch me if you can from Week 1 North Star from Week 2 Seven Sisters from Week 3 is drawn and I should do the reverse applique on the train this week Texas Star from Week 4 (this week) is cut and in the process of being put together I had quite a lot of fabric left over from my Underground Railway quilt, still in doing as I bought far more than I needed so I am using the leftovers from that WIP for my new BOW. Celine

I finally finished my first block for this month new BOM Birdie Stitches and I really like how it turned out. Now I can wait for block 2. Bring it on! Celine

Well I didn't get home until after 9pm last night and I hadn't had dinner by then so I started my Sew-In night very late. Although I did some stitching on the train back hime so I guess that could count towards last night achievements? So I finish stitching the first BOM from  Little Miss Shabb y on the train and when I got home last night, I started cutting squares to sew around the block. While I was getting my fabric out, I also cut some pieces of bright fabric with the intention to make some blocks for the Block Lotto . Can't believe it has been one year since I last played. It was getting near midnight once I'd done my cutting so I went to bed with the intention to get up early enough (7am) to go to a gym class this morning. And although I had lots of trouble getting out of bed I was so proud of myself that I went! I will try to sew up my squares this afternoon to finish the first BOM before the second one is revealed. Watch this space!

I was running late with the holidays for the swap so I have sent my December one to Sue earlier this month. She wanted anything which goes with blue. Although I was sending to Australia, I was inspired by the weather we had in this part of the world and by our ski holidays so decided to do a snowman. My January for Doris is lot brighter with a pink butterfly. She wanted a girlie hexie with butterfly, cat or fairy on it. I have done a collage of the hexies I have received so far in the swap. My collection is growing and is beautiful. As you might have guessed from the picture, I have asked for a oriental theme and black/red colours. Celine

Heidi  and Bobbi  are continuing to organise their monthly Friday Night Sew-In. The first one this year is this coming Friday 21 January. Will you join in? Celine

I've been tagged by Caren at As The Thread Breaks . You want to check her blog, her banner to start with is awesome and that Alzheimer's Art Quilt is coming out lovely. Her "View from the Phoenix" that she entered in the Blogger Quilt Festival is really good as well! If you have been tagged and want to participate, there are a few rules: 1. Tell your readers who tagged you 2. Add a link to their blog 3. Think of 3-5 people who you think deserve this award. Inform them and post directions on your blogpost. Please don't tag people who already have 3000 followers. The goal of this award is to get more publicity to blogs that are good, but not well known. Thank you. So I have picked a few lovely blog for you to visit, here they are: Barbara Barb Cathi Valentina Check out their lovely blogs, that will take you around the world in quilting and knitting. Celine

I recently joined a new blog: Sew It's Finished created by two talented Australian ladies Dawn and Wendy . The aim of the exercise is to tackle our pile of UFOs and post our finishes to share with others. The idea is also to encourage each others to finish items that have been waiting a little too long. Who hasn't got any of those? Well, when I first started patchwork, I couldn't understand why people would have UFOs. Why move away to a new project before finishing the current one, how naive was I then.... I guess the Internet (and temptation for new projects) were not as widespread then plus I hadn't been in any swaps yet. Anyway, a couple of years down the line, I probably have more UFOs that I would like to admit but I thought joining the group would help me keep motivated and focused. Let's see if it can work! My first project that I will post about is a Macintosh Rose I started last year for my Mum, I was vaguely hoping that it would be a Christmas gift but ...

Finally I am able to post pictures of my two OPAM for December that I finished just before Christmas. I know Christmas is well and truly over and everyone has probably had enough of Christmas projects by now but I'll still show you! First there was Baby Daughter stocking which got finished a couple of days before Christmas. She didn't really care about it (yet) but I was pleased to be able to hang it before Christmas.  Big Boy helped me picked some of the fabrics for the applique, he was very proud. Then there was the table runner that I started over a year ago and quilted in the autumn. All I had left to do was to finish hand sewing the binding. Well I did just that on 23 December and we managed to have it on the table for our family dinner on Christmas Eve. You can see it here with a tray of mini mince-pies! I didn't do much more during the holidays but since coming back I started this gorgeous BOM Birdie Stitches from  Little Miss Shabby that Barb had po...

Happy New Year! We are back from our holidays now. We had a great family Christmas and the kids have been spoilt by Santa. Then we spent a wonderful week skiing in the Alps. We had gorgeous weather, blue sky and sun and cooold (down to -12oC). It was absolutely great and Big Boy was so good. He felt so confident on his skis and obtained his Bronze Mouse from ESI, which was really good for his second week of ski lessons. Baby Girl enjoyed the snow as well and had great fun pulling her sledge behind the flat. I so wish the holidays could have lasted for longer! Anyway back to work today and to "normal" life. We tried out our Christmas present (Wii console) tonight with hubby and had great fun. I just hope it isn't going to drag me away from sewing too much. I promise I'll post pictures of my holiday finishes very soon. Until then, why don't you check Barb's creations blog on my sidebar. She has already completed 2 BOMs for January and they are gorgeous. I have...