Who's a Lucky Girl!

Lots of goodies having been arriving at Chez Moi!

It's not very often I win a give-away. The lovely Roz was hosting one to celebrate her 500th post and was giving away etui's (needle cases to you!). I won!

I  love it!  Thanks's Roz.  I'll treasure it always!

The following day I received a squishy from Heidi in Germany.

Sorry -  not a good photo.  My sewing room was in full sun when I took this.

When I've finished machining together red and white strings, I'm hoping to start on a sort of Lego quilt like Tonya's. I've been going through my strips/strings and think I've got enough for a lap quilt, but lovely Heidi sent me these.  I love the Halloween one. Thanks Heidi. Can't wait to start using them.

Then someone gave me this.

I'm not too sure what to make of it.  Although the colours are great, and it's beautifully made, every single piece of fabric is poly or Viscose and the shiny black is imitation leather.  Interesting mix of colours and I like the concept, but .......

The back is denim

and although it's small, it's heavy!

I'm going back to those red and white strings, but I'll leave you with a photo of a lovely clothes shop in Brantome.

More soon.

A Decision Has Been Made

The Old One does have his moments.

He helped out once before and, of course, being a Leo, was right.

I'm cutting more foundation blocks - 24 to be exact.

Just hope I can get it finished by October.

Stay tuned!

More soon.

Red and White Strings - Help Needed Please

Here's the proposed layout.

It's on a double bed and The Old One thinks it needs another horizontal row. I think if I do that I'll need to add another vertical one. Which will mean cutting another 24 9" muslin squares!

What do you think?

ADDENDUM : I can't add borders.  I'm not going to use batting.  The quilt will be too heavy. So I'm going to back it with a flannel sheet, use the pillowcase method and then do some decorative stitches, or use buttons, to stabilise it.  So do I add more rows, or do I leave it?

What's red and white and stringy?

No - not Liquorice!

Remember this?

I was getting a bit disheartened as the fabrics are all the same and I thought it was getting a bit boring.

I put out a plea on the Stashbuster Yahoo Group asking if anyone wanted to get rid of some of their red and white stash.  After all, the purpose of the group is to get rid of stash isn't it?

I received an email from a lovely lady in Illinois saying she'd willingly send me some of hers as she'd grown tired of them and didn't think she'd use them.

Woot!

Look what arrived the other day. 4lbs of fabric!

<3 those "heart strings".

The quilt is back on the floor and I'm cutting and

sewing again.

I've got so many projects on the go at the moment it's a bit overwhelming. So it's nice to sit down and do some mindless piecing.

If you read the Quilts 4 Leukaemia blog, you'll know that Quilt #32 was made for a little boy called Morgan. Sadly he became an angel in April and his mother is trying to raise funds for the children's ward of the hospital where he was treated. When this quilt is finished I'll be sending it to her so she can auction it.

More soon.

Friday Afternoon in Brantome

A couple of weeks ago I did a post about Brantome on a Friday afternoon, after the market had finished.

Today I had to go into again to post a parcel to a little girl in the UK who has been waiting patiently for her quilt.

This time I was too late for a quiet stroll round a nearly deserted town! The place was heaving, even at 3.00pm

The old church which is being restored (I talked about it last time), but a lovely shot showing geraniums.

Then I walked over the bridge towards the Abbey and spotted these gorgeous flowers, in boxes hanging from the railings.

Oh look! The little children from the Centre Sociale (they look after the kids during the day) were performing a flash dance.

It's the wedding season in France and Brantome has been the venue for lots of very very smart, Parisian style, weddings

You can tell how smart it was.  The sapin de mariage is usually a pine branch decorated with paper flowers in the wedding colours. However, these are bamboo with fine gold ribbons and delicate decorations.

Outside one of the many tourist shops. This particular one is owned by a friend of ours.

English tourists enjoying a late lunch by the river (I heard them talking so I knew they were English!)

and some riverside shots.

The last shot of the day before I too wilted in the heat and braved a very hot car.

More soon.

Wordless Wednesday