Espritpatch

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...