All Dressed Up ....

.... but we had somewhere to go!!

I tend to focus on my crafting/sewing on my blog, but thought perhaps it was time to add in a little bit of personal/family stuff.

If you've been dying to see me (ha ha!) - here is a photo - but please excuse the funny looking others in it!

It was taken just a few weeks ago when we went to a family wedding. The clan consists of me, DH (Z), DS (emoboy) & DD (dancing-girl).

Z and I met when we both worked for the same company, but bizarelly only got together as a couple when we were both about to leave it. That was in Jan. 2000. He proposed on my birthday that year whilst we were sitting beside a pool in Tunisia. I valiantly put him off until Nov 2001 when we tied the knot. He is the Managing Director of a Plastics & Rubber Consultancy company - and as we like to tease him, he's "big in rubber" - in more ways than one!!

Emoboy has just turned 16 and is awaiting his GCSE results next month. He has taken: English Language, English Literature, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Divinity, French, Design & Technology, History and Geography. He is hoping to start studying for his A'levels in September and ultimately (after University) discover a drug to cure the world of Cancer and AIDS.

Dancing-girl will be 5 in September and will be starting Primary School (Reception) full time then. She was a much wanted baby who couldn't wait to be born as she popped out onto the bathroom floor whilst Z was on the phone to the Ambulance Service!! And she seems to have been in a rush ever since. She is on the go for 12 hours a day - but luckily has always been a good sleeper at night (she takes after her dad) so we get a bit of a break from her chaos. She sings and dances all the time and has a great imagination.

And then there's me! What can I say? I'm the oldest of 3 sisters. As a teenager I wanted to be a vet - but was never a high enough achiever academically for that to be a real option. I have indulged my passion for horses over the years by working as a groom and also on a Thoroughbred Horse Stud. It was great following the foals from conception (in some cases) through to their first outing on the racetrack.

I started sewing at school - as I was of the generation where the girls were taught Needlework and Cookery, whilst the boys studied Woodwork and Metalwork - the lucky beggers. Throughout the years I've done some dressmaking (including the dress for my first wedding) and made basic items such as curtains and duvet sets.

It's only been since I've been at home with Dancing-girl that I've dusted off my sewing machine and started sewing again. I love being part of the Blogging community and find Flick a daily inspiration.

Well best get back to it - I have a couple of swaps to work on (but more of them another time)

See you all soon
Leah xx

Charity Quilts Updates

As you all know, some time ago I joined a couple of projects designed to make quilts for charities.

The first was TallGrassPrairieStudio's Project Improv.

I made 2 blocks for this project - a red/aqua one and a pink/orange one. Well, the quilts that my blocks are part of have now been finished. I think that my blocks hold their own amongst the others.

The second was the Bushfire Quilt Project organised by CampFollowerBagLady, set up to provide victims of the Australia Queensland bushfires a little wrappable comfort.

I sent 6 blocks in the end and these appeared in 2 seperate quilts.

In the end over 100 quilts were produced by this project alone (by quilters all over the world) and they have now gone to Victoria to be distributed.

Being part of this project really makes you appreciate what you have.

SewConnected3 - June

This was the Belgium month of SewConnected3 as both ladies sending fabric live there - and are the only 2 other 'Europeans' in the group.


ForTheJourney sent fabrics with an autumn/fall theme and wanted something made that was both geometric and modern.


In the end I plumped for a pattern which I later found to be called Bento Box.


I reversed the fabrics in opposing corners and am very pleased with the results.






Craftywaffles set a much harder challenge. She wants a "Bubble" quilt!

I was sent a selection of Shabby Chic fabrics in pinks and greens that were to be cut into circles and attached to the plain white background.

She helpfully provided a list of tutorials that showed different methods of achieving this. After thinking long and hard about what I would like to do and then honestly about my sewing abilities I plumped for attaching the circles with Bondaweb and then used a stitch on my machine that gives a traditional blanket stitch effect.




The 'design' I went with was a mix of 2 circle sizes spreading out from a larger circle - the idea of which was to give the impression that the smaller bubbles were being blown out of the biggest bubble.

I'm Back!!

Hi there everybody. Did you wonder where I was? Probably not but I can dream!!

There were 2 causes of me being away so long.

The first was that we lost our internet connection. We eventually found out that the router had had it - so we had to get another.

Secondly in the middle of the internet business we moved house. We had been trying to sell for 2 years (with DH commuting aroiund 3 hours every day!) but eventually secured a part-exchange on a new build. It's not our first choice of home (we prefer old with character) but it got us moved in time for DD to start primary school in September.

The bonus is that I'm allowed the smallest bedroom for my sewing - yeah - no more dining room table for me (well I actually do need to buy a table and some shelves for it first!!)

I do fancy seeing if I can sell some items at the local Farmers' Market - so what sore ofthings do you think I should focus on making?

And I've already signed up for 2 swaps!!