Espritpatch

Yesterday evening, I finally finished stitching my 6th 7th block of Life is Beautiful: "Life is divine chaos, embrace it" That's certainly how I feel some days with  little ones.... This week I also received a star from Dena for the [3x6] Mini-Bee on flicker and this morning I received these 2 lovely hexies flowers from Natalie Celine

I haven't made hexies for a while but the last couple of days, I was busy making some flowers for the swaps I am in. I first made this 2 flowers for Lorraine for the Inchy Hexie Swap . She has asked for blue and yellow. And then I made this flower for Judy for the Craft Forum swap. She wanted pale yellow and pale blue. I found a lovely Easter Bunny for her. I also received this lovely spotty flower from Shirley from the Craft Forum swap. Celine

I have finished my Circle of Geese in pink for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge . I didn't have enough pink in my scrap box so I had to dive into my stash as well. The "pink bubbles" at the top is a fabric I have used in a number of quilts and also in Miss Strawberry Shortcake book bag. The strawberry on the left is from a "Strawberry Shortcake" fabric that my Mum has used to make a teddy bear for Miss Strawberry Shortcake. The little red and pink spots are from a fabric I used to make Miss Strawberry Shortcake outfit for her own special photo shoot last year. The little hands come from my stash and is so appropriate for Baby Girl. Yesterday I also managed to piece a crazy block in the hope that I will finish embellishing it by Saturday night for the CQ Journal 2012 . Celine

I am so glad I have added Michele's blog to my reading list. She is organising yet another game, the Halloween See Saw: working in pairs to have a lovely Halloween *something* by October. Are you game for it? If so, head over to Michele's blog here and make sure to sign up before 15th April. You have until end of April to make your centre block. I have signed up. I have a range of Halloween fabric in my stash and one Halloween WIP but no finished project to decorate my home so this is just what I need. So come and join us! Celine

I was browsing  the internet late Sunday last week, blog hopping while I was trying to get Baby Daughter to sleep and came across the Mini Modern Mystery Round Robin hosted by Michele . Now I haven't done a round robin for years and I thought it be nice to join in but maybe I didn't need yet another project... However, there wasn't much time to think the pros and cons as the deadline for signing up was this exact day. Since the starting block was only a 6' size, I thought I'd join in and see what happens! I was delighted to have an email from Michele the following day welcoming me in the group but I then had to decide of which centre block I was going to make. I had a vague idea to work from and draw a few blocks on paper last week (yes I know this is old-fashioned but I don't have EQ or some similar software!) and moved to fabric to produce the centre block below. As for the fabric I knew that was a great opportunity to use some aqua fabric I had acquired fo

Last week, I stumbled across this post from Sinta about her BOM Rehab programme that she was planning to launch and I thought it was a very good idea to help me keep focused on some of my WIP which could easily turned into UFOs. So I have decided to join her on her rehab program and will see how I do. Do you have BOMs that are in progress or in the waiting stage that you'd love to see getting somewhere? Why not join the club then and get some encouragements from fellow BOM addicts? Check over Sinta's blog and see if you want to join in as well! I have a couple of BOMs that I have started and so many more that I have saved "for later". These are my in-progress one that I should really concentrate on finishing before starting a new one: the Birdie Stitches BOM from last year where I have the last 2 month to stitch the Civil War BOW from last year that I have only started (I think I have about 8 blocks out of 53) the Shabby Roses BOM where I have stitched about 

Finally yesterday I finished sewing the last stars I needed to do for the [3x6] Mini Bee Sampler quilt . I had make mistakes in the direction of the fabric so I had to unpick and redo, that's why it took me almost all week to finish it all. But they are now done so I can send them off next week. This one is for Lisa: This one is for Melissa: This one is for Karin and this one is an extra: Here are all the stars that I will be sending off together: And here is the star I received from Anna a while back. I also got started on my Circle of Geese in pink for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge last night, I've only made one quarter so far but I don't have that many pink in my scrap basket so I'll have to raid my stash to be able to get 12 different pinks. I can't believe March is nearly over already and the Easter school break will start very soon. Celine

Today I had planned a big shopping trip to a fabric store but unfortunately it was very foggy when I got up so I decided it would be better to cancel than take a risk on the road with Baby Daughter. The shop is quite far so it would have been a long trip. Of course the fog cleared up by about 11 am but it was too late to set up by then. So I had to make do with online shopping instead ;-) I REALLY needed some fabric! Anyway, yesterday evening I finished sewing a Dear Jane triangle that I had prepared in February: RS 4 Dutch Apron. I am now at: 114,7,0,2437. I don't have any block or triangle prepared to sew so I need to get back to the cutting table. Celine

I have managed to complete 3 of my "Another Star" by for the [3x6] mini-bee on flicker. This one is for Dena This one is for Anna This one is for Constanze The others are still work in progress but I should hopefully be there soon! Celine

I haven't posted for a while because I have been busy, doing what? Well I am not quite sure. We have all in turn been infected with an awful virus, some feeling more awful than others... We are not completely recovered yet but I am really hoping it is on its way out. As a result, my sewing time has been considerably reduced and I haven't progressed much. But I did it! I completed one Dear Jane block this week. I had prepared the pieces for A-10 early in February in the hope to sew it while we were at my Mum's for a few days but I only picked it up this last Sunday. I sew my block over 2 evenings and it is now finished: applique and reverse applique. I have also added the sashing on A-3 yesterday evening. I am now at 114,6,0,2426. 55 more blocks to finish the centre and 3 more blocks (A1, A2 and A4) to complete Row A. I need to keep going if I ever want to finish my Dear Jane! Celine

Today was Mr Cars party with his friends in a local soft play area so Mummy had to bake more cakes. He choose the football for his party so I made little football cupcakes to put in the kids party bag, which were fun to make but a little time consuming! and I also did a larger one to put the candles on: The kids had a brilliant time, playing and dancing etc so Mr Cars had trouble going to sleep tonight! The birthday cake baking season and the birthdays season is now over for a while thankfully! I think I need a little break from baking cakes and more likely decorating cakes with kids theme! I have also managed a little sewing (not much) and have done my test block for the [3x6] Sampler quilt mini-bee . I am in the "Star" hive and I had trouble decided which star to make until I stumble across Fresh Lemon quilts blog and her lovely Solstice Stars series . I choose the " Another Star " pattern and I love how it turned out. This will be the star I'll make

I finished my blocks for the [4x5] Modern quilt bee yesterday evening. I used the Bento box pattern for this quarter after I made my test block with pink Kaffe Fassett fabric last week. Most of my swap partners asked for aqua, which I didn't have in my stash so I had to do some online shopping before I could do my blocks. Here are the blocks: First block for Jill our caretaker who wanted aqua, a touch of red and a white background Second block for Karen who wanted aqua, red and a white background Third block for Anna who wanted bright scrappy and a white background Fourth block for Jennifer who wanted aqua with a light grey background Fifth block for Megan who wanted aqua, lime and a grey background Sixth block is a surprise block in aqua and white And all the 6 blocks together! Now that I have made these blocks and enriched my stash with some aqua fabrics, I am thinking that they look very cool and I might *need* a quilt in aqua for the summer.... No, I can't start a n

I stayed on my machine late last night, chain piecing blocks for the Mini Scrap Basket swap - round 2 . Deadline for posting the blocks was today and I made it to the post office before the mail was collected so my 30 blocks are now on their way to America to be swap over.  I really like the effect of those string blocks  and I hope there will be at least another round as I would love to collect more blocks. I have been able to use some of the fabric that Michele sent me as extra during the pot holder pass and I think the blocks made with those fabrics are gorgeous (I have kept a couple for me!) I will have 43 blocks when my swap arrives back but I think I would need more to have a lovely colourful lap quilt. Celine

We had a terrible night with Miss Strawberry Shortcake being sick in her bed and ending up with me while Daddy was away, not much sleep for either me or her so today is quite slow really. But today is also a big day since it is Mr Cars' birthday. So Mummy had to bake a cake of course. Orders had been placed already. He wanted a brownies, as this was also the favourite cake of my Dad, his grand- dad and he loves it too. A brownies is of course yummy but it isn't very easy to decorate since you can't really take it off the baking tin in one piece as it is still soft and runny inside. Instead of using my usual square tin, I used a round one which landed itself very well to making a football. So here is his birthday cake ready for tonight and hidden away. The presents are also hidden all over the house and the clues for the treasure hunt are ready. Practising reading in French as well as having fun! He should have a good evening. Then we'll make another cake at the week-e

This month colour for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is pink so I made 2 Bento Box blocks with pink fabric from my stash. The first one, pink bubbles is a fabric I have used in a few kids items, lastly in Miss Strawberry Shortcake bookbag for pre-school. The second fabric is a FQ that I bought a while ago but had never used. The tiny pink hands are so appropriate with the recent arrival of Baby Girl. And here is a picture of the 2 blocks mixed together. I will link this post to the first Pink Scrap Happy Day on So Scrappy blog I also did another pink Bento Box block with some Kaffe Fassett fabric that I am using in my (forgotten,waiting) Farmer's Wife quilt. This block was my test block for the [4x5] Modern Quilt Bee . I will be making Bento Box block in different colour schemes, one for each member of the Hive. Watch this space for more Bento Box Block! Celine