And the winners are...

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Brit Thursday Sewing Linky. I'm looking forward to reading all your posts as soon as I have a chance! We employed random.org to pick the winners and first was Celine at Espritpatch who wins Liz's lovely bundle of fat eighths...

 

And the next random number drawn was Kerry at PennyDog who wins my two Moda fat quarters... 

We shall be contacting you both over the next couple of days, but if you see this post first please do contact the respective linky hosts to give us your details.

 

Festival Of Quilts 2013

I'm just back from my first ever Festival Of Quilts. It was interesting, and was different in many ways from what I had expected. There were some, but not many modern quilts (as I had been warned by some of you on Twitter!) and I didn't return bursting at the seams with ideas and enthusiasm which had been my expectation.

I spent relatively little on fabric with no real effort to hold back. Some pre-cut Hexies from Simply Solids, a half metre of fabric (more shorts for Theo) from the Eternal Maker (yes, my local fabric store!) and a lovely bundle of low volume FQs from the lovely ladies at Pin It & Stitch, which I'm dying to share a picture of, but can't because they are for the next (secret) X Factor Pillow Swap.

The highlight for me was a reunion with Kim, the lady who first taught me to quilt in Canada 5 years ago, but other than that I can honestly (and somewhat controversially) say that I feel I could garner the same amount of ideas and inspiration from an afternoon surfing the online quilting community. 

It's not that there weren't fabulous quilts there (as you can see from the pictures!) but many (not these ones!) weren't to my taste. The lighting was terrible (as it always is in exhibition centres) which doesn't show quilts off to their best, and with so many quilts to see and absorb in one location, it is a little overwhelming.

Would I go back? I think not. It's a long way from the south-coast and there are so many other things I want to do and see, and so little time. I'd rather spent my money and efforts on something like attending Blogtacular or the next Fat Quarterly Retreat. However I am glad I did it, if only for the experience.

I wonder, am I alone in not being bowled over by the Festival Of Quilts?

 

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky & Giveaway!

I'm thrilled to be able to tell you that as from today the lovely Liz at Dandelion Daydreams is joining me as co-host of the Brit Sewing Thursday Linky.

I was introduced to Liz (virtually!) about a year ago when she was my partner in a Flickr swap and the mini quilt she made me hangs in my sewing room to this day. To celebrate we have two prizes to give away this week. Liz has generously donated a fat eighth bundle of Julia Rothman's Type fabrics

And I have two fat quarters from Moda's Half Moon range to give away



To enter and have a chance of winning one of the two prizes all you need to do is

(1) Post a link to a recent sewing/quilting blog post via the linky below
(2) Follow Dandelion Daydreams on GFC or Bloglovin
(3) Follow Maybush Studio on GFC or Bloglovin

Entries on either blog are eligible to win either prize and the linky is open till 10pm on Friday 9th August. We'll pick two winners at random on Saturday and post the announcement on both blogs over the weekend. UK entries only.

Fancy a badge/ad swap?

 

Are you a blogger or a small business? Do you fancy 31 days of free advertising on this blog? Starting on August 15th I have 5 spots free (total six, one already assigned) to host a 150 x 150 pixel advert for your business or blog on the sidebar just below my GFC.

In return all I ask is that you host my blog badge of the same size on the sidebar of your blog or website (or somewhere where it is visible on every page) I will choose companies/blogs that I think are most relevant to my audience of crafters/homemakers/families.

It really is as simple as that. On September 15th a new set of badges/ads will appear in the sidebar. If you've already taken part in the swap you will be welcome to reapply, but preference will be given to new swappers.

To take part simply email me.

X Factor Swap - Round 6

This morning I came home from the dog walk to discover a parcel from Saskatoon in my mailbox. Saskatoon is about 4 hours from where we used to live in Canada and as Canada is a VERY big country, that makes the sender our former near-neighbour, exciting enough for a Tuesday morning frankly.

But more excitement awaited, inside was my pillow cover from the X-Factor pillow swap. If you aren't familiar with how the swap works, everyone contributes a cushion and then after secret voting you are assigned a pillow according to how highly your own contribution was rated by other swappers.

I let my parcel sit on the kitchen table for a good 10 minutes. I love this part of the swap, where like Schrodinger's cat, several possibilities simultaneously exist before you open the package...

I made some tea, unloaded the washing machine and waited for a quiet moment before I opened it and I was astonished at what came out of the envelope! There were 3 or 4 pillows in the swap which I absolutely loved and I never expected to receive any of them, but I was wrong!

This pillow was made by the very talented Lisa and I LOVE it. How cute is the fabric and that fussy cut Dalmation dog and the quilting is perfect. I photographed it in Theo's room because our sofa is looking rather tatty, but it's not staying there - something might happen to it n the night!

 

Lisa's pillow is so lovely I'm actually a bit embarrassed to show you the one I contributed, but here you go...

 

The next round is low volume and I think I have a fairly good idea of which design I'll be making. I'm hoping I might be able to pick up an appropriate fabric bundle at the Festival Of Quilts later this week. Anyone else going?

 

South-coast breakfasts : The Deck

After six months living on the Sussex coast we are still seeking a great weekend breakfast venue, so as part of an occasional series on some of the hidden eateries in our area, I thought I'd document our journey to find the perfect weekend breakfast.

This week it was the turn of a cafe which was a tip off from a local dog walker. The Deck occupies a fantastic location in Emsworth marina and from the moment I heard about it on Monday last week, I was ready to love it.

It's 10 minutes from our house, parking is easy, the view is cracking and they are even set up to accommodate dogs. I won't lie, before we arrived I thought we'd found our breakfast nirvana. 

The cafe is set in the heart of a lovely buzzing little marina with a view out on to the deck houses and yachts moored in the basin. Lots going on even on a Sunday and plenty for a the dogs and boy to view happening. The styling of the place was perfect, with a sweeping glass deck to take in the views and a lower patio with quirky touches like an old dinghy planted out with herbs.

However as much as I want to be able to write only positive things about this lovely little cafe, it's impossible to ignore the fact that the service we experienced veered between disinterested and plain bad. We spent most of the time wondering if we'd come at the wrong time (11am) the wrong day (Sunday) or perhaps sat in the wrong place (the downstairs). Tables took forever to be cleared, tea arrived with juice spilled in the saucer, milk wasn't topped up, food choices weren't available and the general vibe was that the staff would be happier without customers to bother them.

Food wise, we tried the croissants (excellent) the Big Deck breakfast (also good) and the poached eggs on toast (I've had better) along with juice, tea and coffee. We might have ordered more if anyone had asked us what we wanted, but no one seemed to care, and ultimately we left feeling a little deflated.

So much potential, such a great location, but why oh why do us Brits get it so wrong with service? We're hoping it was a glitch, we certainly think it'll be worth a second crack at the whip in a few weeks, but until then, it seems our quest for a great breakfast goes on....

Brit Sewing Thursday Linky (1st August 2013)

After mentioning last week that I have no quilts in progress (a teeny bit of a lie) I spent this week rumaging amongst my UFOs and salvaging forgotten projects. I finished up a forgotten lighthouse cushion which I started last year as an experiment in improv piecing and abandoned because I got bored with it. I stuck a back on it and the result looks a lot better on our spare bed than it did shoved in a corner of my sewing room...

Then I dug out Theo's neighbourhood quilt which also got cast aside when I grew bored of building houses.  I have now realised I could actually finish it quite quickly with a little effort and dare I say it actually have it ready to give to him on his 2nd birthday at the end of the month? So the challenge has been set. I'm going to get it long-arm quilted which leaves me a fortnight to finish back and front. Expect to see significant progress next week!

Oh and for those of you wandering about my skirt... It's horrible! It probably warrants a post of it's own about blindly following online tutorials, but I'll save that for after I have salvaged the material and turned it in to a skirt I'd be seen dead in. Full story will follow...

So what have you been sewing this week?