Get a load of this beauty! My very good friend Rachel made it for me. It arrived in the post today I'm well chuffed with it.

Today's blog is dedicated to Helen from the quilting group I go to at Ostletwistle, she told me today that she checks my blog regularly and has noticed that I haven't blogged for a while so ta dah! This blog is especially 4 U!

Not only do I think that Ostletwistle is a fab name for a town but get a load of this, our quilting group is in the Immanuel Hall. I don't know about you but to me, the name conjours up the finest images of Lancashire.

This card arrived earlier this week its from Diana Hale in Auburn, California.

And here's another! This one is from Barbara Lockwood, Brookdale, California. It was from a swap I did with the theme of Mermaids.

I posted my cards out to people yesterday and I will post pictures of them here in a few days. I wanted to give people time to receive them before I show the world. I thought that if I posted them now it would be like giving people their presents before Christmas.

What do you think to this little number? I joined an Art Deco fabric postcard swap, so far I have made a freezer paper stencil, ironed it onto my black fabric and then rubbed a brown Markal paintstick over the top. When I've cut the card to size there won't be any space left top and bottom and only a small amount to each side. I'm stuck now, I don't know what to do as regards finishing it, so any suggestions are gratefully received. Ideas so far are; stitch a tall, Art Deco vertical line pattern up each side, put a little glitter on, overlay with a sheer fabric, do some quilting around the spaces within the design. If anyone has any preferences or new ideas please feel free to share them.

Well that's all for tonight folks, we have our grandson living with us at the moment (he's 15 months old and beautiful) but I know we'll be on the go by about 6.30 am so I'm off for an early night. Na night, sleep tight x

Today is a monumentus day, because today, I have received my first fabric postcard ta dah! It is from an American lady called Deb Martin. We signed up to do a mermaid fabric post card swap and this is hers, it shows her mermaid which has just dropped its comb and mirror and gone to hide behind a rock. Best pull my finger out and finish my cards now!!!!!

It doesn't take much to make me happy these days!

well what do you think to this piece? tee hee. It's the beginning of a bag for my cutting mat and ruler. Aren't the colours FAB? I dyed them myself!

It would appear that I'm full of cliche sayings as my friends often remind me. One of them being my excuse for being behind with my college work; "Its not the end product its the journey to get there."

So I thought I'd use my saying while I'm out and about travelling with my kit! When its finished the writing and feet will hopefully become trapunto. Failing that 'll resort back to the old faithful applique... watch this space, ha ha ha, chuckle chuckle chuckle.

What a bundle of cuteness this is my grandson Leon, isn't he georgous!

I see you!

my friend Janet put me onto this Noah's Ark quilt, it was designed by Lynette Anderson. Its taken me 6 weeks to backstitch. I started it for my niece who is due to have a baby in November but when I showed it to her I don't think that it is her cup of tea. Hey ho not to worry its just a good excuse to do another... and I am! I have started a foundation pieced farm animals one, I've almost finished 12 blocks; one good rainy day should see it finished. Then all I need to do is finish my City and Guilds work ready for September ha ha ha there goes another rib!

I bought this groovy little gizmo from a quilting shop in Scarborough, its a fab bit of kit. It works like a kaliedoscope, you look through the small end and whatever you're looking at is transformed by the prism end. This means that if you look at one quilt block through it you can see what a whole quilt would look like. More exciting though from a City and Guilds perspective just look at ramdom things and get zillions of ideas for new squares. I got a really good effect by looking at someone's cardigan sleeve, unfortunately I couldn't draw the idea as I was in a meeting at work...

I thought that I'd add the wrapper picture so that you can all see what the effect is supposed to be like.