Falling over autumn

(this is a sponsored post)

Apparently, we're coming up to the start of fall (autumn to me in the UK) in the US, and so Craftsy have decided it's the perfect time for a sale.  I think I agree with them.  After all, if it's getting chilly and maybe wet or windy or even, heaven forbid, snowy, what can be better than learning something new?   (Apart from spending time with your sewing machine that is.)

So, the BIG Fall Course Sale is happening right now.  Remember, you can learn from the world's best instructors in the comfort of your home, and there's up to 50% off all ALL online classes! Once you enroll you can watch your classes anytime, anywhere, forever. Hurry, offer expires September 22, 2014 at 11:59 PM MT. 

I've already decided on which classes I want to take, how about you?

Pattern Testing again

One of the people who bravely volunteered to be a pattern tester for Tubix was Joanne who blogs over at Splitting Stitches,  

I have stolen a couple of pictures from her blog to show you what a great job she did.  I hope she doesn't mind.

Joanne had quite an adventure during the making of her quilt and she has written a great post about what she learned about herself on the way. Fortunately, she loves the quilt, or at least, that's what she says in her post about it here. Do go and read what she had to say, and make sure you read right to the end - there might be a giveaway involved - just saying.

Don't forget about the Craftsy special offer I wrote about in my previous post.  You can save up to 50% off on Sewing, Quilting & Knitting classes until 15 September (that's Mrs Nomad's birthday).

It's sale time ...

... 

While I have been spending time with my foot up I have been having fun on the  Craftsy site.  I signed up for two classes, one called Designing Modern Quilts with Weeks Ringle as the tutor, and the other, which I have been watching, but not "doing" yet is Creative Quilting with your Walking Foot with Jacquie Gering as my tutor.  I have been enjoying both of these courses, and love that I can access them at any time at all, forever. Anyway, because I am about to put some of my patterns up for sale on the site and because I have been having such fun, I have signed up to be an affiliate of theirs. This means that I will be paid a small commission on any purchases made by people who click through to them from links on my blog.

So, you're all wondering why my post header says it's sale time aren't you?  Well that's because I can now offer you the chance to buy some of the best-selling  Craftsy classes at bargain prices for one week only.  You can save up to 50% off on Sewing, Quilting & Knitting classes taught by some of the world's best instructors. Once you purchase a class, it's yours to enjoy forever. Every class comes with a money-back satisfaction guarantee!

Now, stop hanging around here reading my witterings and hustle on over to  Craftsy to see what you fancy learning.

Disclosure:  The Creative Quilting course was supplied to me free of charge by Craftsy, and if you click through to them from my website and purchase something, I will receive commission.

Ouch!!!

I have just got back from the doctor who has confirmed that I have gout which is a form of arthritis apparently. After Friday my foot got worse and by Sunday was swollen to about twice it's size, bright red, and painful doesn't even begin to describe it!  He thinks it's caused by some other pills I've been taking, even though I've had those for years.  I have to stop those, but take the anti-inflamatories and the painkillers he's given me, keep off my foot and keep it raised for a week and that should clear it for now.  Then I start the pills again and we see what happens! I'm feeling sorry for myself!

The winner .....

... of this great book

Well, before I tell you the name of the lucky person who will receive a copy of this e-book, I want to explain how I chose someone.  This review was posted on my blog here, and also on the Yorkshire Modern Quilters blog.  All the comments on my blog are numbered, but those on the other blog are not - hmm, must get that sorted out before the next review.  So all I did was allocate numbers to the comments on the YMQG blog running straight on from those on here.  That gave a total of 49 for Mr Random.org to chose from, and the number he chose was

and no.45 is Harrysmum, who said

I will send Harrysmum an email, but congratulations to her and thank you everyone who took the time to enter.  I will have another book review and giveaway in a couple of weeks, so do keep coming back and checking to see what you could win next time.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

Yesterday I went to the Great Northern Quilt Show, where I met up with loads of friends. Susan who is over here on holiday from Australia at the moment and I had arranged to have coffee together, and QuiltHaze joined us, which was lovely.  Susan was just as I had imagined she would be, and we did a little shopping together as well as looking at some of the quilts.  We arranged to meet some other friends of mine for lunch, but it was all so busy we managed to keep missing each other. Unfortunately, I am currently suffering from some form of arthritis in one foot, so I was not able to stay as long as I would have liked, but as you can see, I did manage to do a little bit towards helping the economy!

Today I am sitting with my foot up and feeling sorry for myself, but I do have a magazine to read, and what looks like a great book called Essential Guide to Modern Quilt Making to read.  There's a funny story attached to this book.  About a week ago, Aunt Marti, from 52 Quilts in 52 Weeks had a giveaway for this book, which I entered.  A few days after that I bought the book from Amazon, completely forgetting about the giveaway. It was delivered on Friday and then yesterday Aunt Marti announced the winner.  In my blog reader, I get the name of the blog and the first few words of the new post, and so the first words I saw were telling me the winner was from the UK.  I thought it would be just my luck to win, (after all, I know I've got two eyes, but that doesn't mean I can read two copies of the book at once) but luckily it wasn't me.

Also today I will hopefully package up 200 of these, and send them off to the US for the 9-patch swap I'm in.

As for tomorrow, well that is when I will ask Mr Random.org to draw the name of the person who has won this great book, so you still have time to enter on my previous post, here.

Book review and giveaway

I'm sorry, this giveaway is now closed.  You can see who won here

(This book is published by Martingale Publications, and all the photography shown is by Brent Kane.)

As its title suggests, this book contains quilts designed by well known bloggers from around the world.  There are 19 stunning quilts included, all with very clear instructions, plenty of diagrams and templates where necessary.

The book starts off by stating the main rule about modern quilting, which is that “there are no rules”.  So, anything goes really in terms of shapes, colours, designs and quilting, and this is certainly borne out by the quilts which vary from minimalist, such as Petal Pod to quite the opposite, like Scattered and from a modern take on a traditional quilt such as Rainbow Stashbuster to improv piecing seen in Improv Color Blocks.

When I read the book, I loved the tips that are often included such as how to sew a smooth curve.  I also like the fact that many of the quilts also show suggestions for optional, pieced backings.  This is not something I’ve ever done before, but I can definitely see myself trying them in the future.

You will also learn something about each of the contributors, as they have all written a little about themselves and you can visit their blogs to see more of their work.

Which are my favourite quilts?  That’s not easy to answer as I really love Trees, which I could see in all sorts of Christmas prints and Starflower, which I think would look great in plain colours.  Then there’s Petal Pods which I’d love to make in shades of orange and raspberry, and Knots, which is calling (actually it’s shouting) out to me to make it in aquas and blues.

Now all I need is a magic wand to make my days longer so I can make them all.

As a reward for reading all this, Martingale Publications are offering an e-book version of this book to one of you. All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me what colours you would choose to make one of the quilts from this book. If you are a member of the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Group, leave another comment telling me so for an additional entry into the giveaway.

The giveaway small print:

1.     This giveaway is open to everybody, wherever you live, BUT please remember to make sure I can contact you if you are the winner.

2.     If you are a no-reply person, you will not be entered unless you leave an email address in your comment as I will not be able to get in touch with you.  (Note, if you are a Google+ person, you will be no-reply).

3.     This giveaway will also be available on the Yorkshire Modern Quilters' blog.

4.     The giveaway will close next Saturday, 30 August.

5.     The winner will be selected using Mr Random Generator.

Telfie ...

... ooh, look, our toes decided to join in the selfie craze yesterday after our wonderful spa day.  Guess which toes are mine and which are Mrs Nomad's.

Spa day ...

...   woohoo.  Today Mrs Nomad and I are off for a mother-daughter day of pampering and being spoilt at a local hotel's luxury spa. Massages, facials, manicures and pedicures are all on the agenda.   I am soooo looking forward to this.

We'll also have lunch in the Champagne Bar there, and to heck with the diet, even though it's weigh-in night at my slimming club later.

Two weeks,

a fortnight, 14 days.  However you want to look at it, I can't believe I abandoned this poor blog for that long.  Where on earth has the time gone, and what ever have I been doing with myself?  Well, I think the truth is that I've been going through a lazy patch, which means I haven't really been doing much, so there was nothing to blog about.  However, that's all changing now.

One thing I have been doing is making these cute little 9-patches.  I have joined a swap being organised by Barb, and she has a wonderful tutorial here showing a great way to make these blocks which will end up being 3" finished squares. The idea is that we will each make everyone in the swap a pair of blocks. There were originally 24 of us in the swap, but we needed 25, so I said I'd go in twice - after all they're only small blocks aren't they - which means I need to make 100 blocks. No problem, they're only small aren't they? Then someone said why didn't we all make 4 blocks for each person.  The majority thought that was a good idea, so now I have to make 200 blocks - but they're only small, aren't they! I have realised that it takes almost the same amount of time to make a block, whether it is a 3" or a 6" or even a 9" block.  Next time I decide to volunteer for extra duties, please someone gag me so I can't say the words.  Mind you, I love the blocks I'm making and think I am going to have a problem when it's time to send them off to Barb to be redistributed.  So far, I have 110 made plus 16 almost made.

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of the Yorkshire Modern Quilt Group that I belong to.  Unfortunately, Scrappy couldn't make it this month.  I was late, which meant there was no space on the table I usually sit at, so I joined the so-called "naughty table".  Oh boy, I now know why it's called that - there was far more talking, joking, and most importantly, laughing than sewing going on round this table.  As one other person said at one point, "I have just spent the last half-hour or so laughing instead of sewing".  That summed up the day.

On the domestic front, Dad is now the proud owner of a shiny black mobility scooter.  He bought it on Thursday, after checking that he was happy "driving" it and that I could dismantle it and get it into the car, and we had our first outing with it on Friday when he had optician and audiologist appointments.  It all worked well, and will at least mean that he can now get out of the house rather than being stuck in all the time.  Since he was ill, he has not recovered the strength in his legs and can barely walk now, so this will make a big difference to him.

After a few weeks of glorious weather, it's all changed this week and has gone to being wet quite often, windy most of the time and relatively cool all the time, with temperatures well below average.

So now, I think I'll take myself back to my sewing machine to make some more 9-patches.

Hello ......

.... I'm still here, but are you still there?

Dad is well on the way to recovery now, and this morning he even got up, showered, dressed, downstairs and had his breakfast on his own and is intending to do his own lunch too, so I think he's on the road back to independence.  I have recovered from my laryngitis, and also from the bronchitis which followed it, so I think I too am on my way back to what passes for normal around here.  Thanks to people who have emailed me to check on me since I've been so quiet.  Talking of quiet, there was a funny side to Dad being ill and me losing my voice.  Dad is pretty deaf and wears hearing aids in both ears usually, but not when he's in bed, so just imagine the fun and games we had trying to communicate when he had no ears and I had no voice. Also, one day, I had to go round to Mrs Nomad and forgot to take my mobile phone.  When I got there, their front gate was locked although I could hear them in the back garden, but I couldn't make them hear me.  I went home and sent her a text that went along the lines of "why the bleep, bleep, bleep is your front gate locked?"  She rang to say it wasn't locked, but I needed to have pushed harder, but why didn't I just shout? Hmm, ever tried shouting with no voice?

On a different not altogether, remember this quilt, made by Vicki when she was pattern testing Tubix for me?

Well, just look at it now

all bedecked with pretty ribbons.  Vicki decided to enter her quilt (now called Orange Slices) into her county fair and won a blue ribbon and also Reserve Champion award for it.  Well done Vicki.  In fact, she entered 13 items across various categories, and won 10 blue ribbons, 2 red, 1 white, a Grand Champion, 2 Reserve Champions and an honourable mention.  Obviously a talented lady.  If you go to her blog you can see all the items and loads more eye candy too.

So, what's my excuse ....

... this time for being absent from the blogiverse?

Well, last weekend I went down south to stay with my son's family for Mr D's 8th birthday.  We had a good weekend, but I must confess that pizza, birthday cake, chocolate brownies and cheese sandwiches did not do my diet any good!

When I got home I found that my father was not well, and Mr Fixit and I had to help him to bed.  He had a pain in his chest, and could not stand up or walk.  This happened about 10 days earlier too, but that time he fell and couldn't get up.  We called an ambulance that time who took him to hospital where he was kept overnight but they weren't sure if it was a heart attack or not.  This time, I called the doctor out.  It is still unclear what the problem was, but it was possible that he'd had a heart attack, but it was by no means clear.  Anyway, long story short, Dad has been in bed all week with the doctor coming in every day.  The doc now thinks he has had a virus or an infection of some sort.  I've been going in and checking on him, making sure he is drinking water, etc, all week.  Yesterday he felt better and got up for a short time, and Mrs Nomad cooked him some pasta and a light sauce, and he managed to eat some, so she is now taking credit for the fact that today he managed to get up and come downstairs, He is obviously on the road to recovery now thank goodness, but still needs a lot of looking after, so that's why I've been quiet again.

Oh look ...

... I'm at it again.

Why do I never learn?  If I think  I don't like it after a couple of rows, why do I think I might like it when it's three-quarters finished?  So here I go again, busily un-quilting!

Proud grandmother post coming up ....

.... I have 3 grandchildren, The Professor, age 16, his brother, Chatterbox who is 12, and their cousin (who used to be known as Little Person when he was young, but he's too grown up for that now, so I think I'll refer to him as Mr. D.) who will be 8 on Friday.  Recently they have all made me feel very proud.

The Professor recently came 3rd in the whole of Britain in a maths challenge that all schools were involved in.  The funny thing is that he hadn't even told his parents he was in the challenge, let alone the results.  His mother only found out when she saw the award certificate in his room and asked him about it!

Chatterbox was selected by his school, along with a couple of others, to represent his school in a literary project, where they were going into other schools and talking to younger children about literary things. Afterwards his headmaster wrote to his parents to praise how well he had acquitted himself and to quote some wonderful comments from the other schools about him.

Mr D., pictured here

recently won a Leadership award at school. Doesn't he look pleased?  I know he was very excited about it. It is his birthday on Friday and I am going down for the weekend, which I am really looking forward to. 

I must be getting old ...

... there is no denying it any more.  For years I have needed glasses for reading and glasses for driving but last week I had my annual eye test and found that really the time had come for some all-day-every-day ones and I had to give in and get some varifocals.  To me, that means I am now, officially, old.  How has that happened when I know I only turned 30 about a year ago!

There is one good thing about it though - the world is far more detailed than I had realised.  Trees have individual leaves rather than just a green cloud round the branches, small flowers have petals, etc.  There is also a bad side to all of this and that is that I can see the dust on the furniture!

At last ...

... here is my finished Tubix.

and a close-up so that you can see what Big Bertha did to the flimsy,

and just to make absolutely sure that you're bored with it, here's the back.

I used all Kona plains for this quilt, and love how I was able to get the 3-D effect of the tubes/cubes with them.

Colette's Tubix

Oh look, here's another Tubix.  This one was made by Colette, who blogs at What About Rheema who was another of the great people who tested the pattern for me.  So, without further ado, may I present Tropical Shores

I can really see why she has called it that, and if you click to enlarge the picture, you will see that the turquoise border even has little bubbles on it.  I love This version and think it's a great colour combination for a summery tropical quilt.  Thanks Colette for doing a wonderful job for me, even if you did have a few (unnecessary, as it turned out) worries about colours running when you washed it 

I finished sewing the binding on my own version of the quilt this afternoon while watching today's matches at Wimbledon ( Go! Andy) so I've just got a few more ends to bury and then I can show mine too.

Sue's Tubix

Today I wanted to show you the Tubix quilt made by Sue who blogs over at Sue W Sews.  Sue is another quilter who lives in the UK, and for a while she lived quite near me, although we never managed to meet up. When I asked for some testers for my Tubix pattern, Sue was actually the first person to volunteer.  A couple of days ago I received an email from her with a picture of her finished flimsy

I think it looks great, and I love the red binding that is pinned on just to check the length. I also love how the colours she used just makes her Tubixes (I just made that word up as the plural of Tubix) jump out from the background. You can read Sue's thoughts on the pattern in her blog, here. Now she is trying to decide about her backing and also about the quilting.  Thanks Sue for doing a great job of the testing for me.

Time for Tennis ...

Wimbledon Fortnight started yesterday, and as you can see, I'm all ready for it.  A quilt binding to handsew and a bowl of strawberries. Strawberries and cream are traditional when you are at Wimbledon, although I did hear that they are charging a small fortune for them there.  Personally, I'd rather be sitting in my comfortable armchair eating mine and watching it all on TV than on a hard bench, possibly in blazing sun, or, more likely, this being England, in the rain, eating them.   Go Andy!

On another note, remember my worry about this quilt not being acceptable for the Tour de France challenge? (You can read it here, if you are interested.)

Well it seems that what I had interpreted as a "rule", ie using a light background, was only a suggestion, not a rule.  I must therefore offer my apologies to QuiltHaze for misinterpreting things, and also to Margaret, for misleading her.  I am truly sorry both of you.  I am also delighted that Wheel of Fire will be in the Challenge show after all.

Tour de France challenge

 Ever heard of the Tour de France?  It's a cycle race round France (and part of the UK this year) and will be starting in Yorkshire for the first time ever.  It's quite a big thing for us, so there's all sorts of exhibitions and activities connected with it and our quilt group has been invited to exhibit quilts.  The challenge is that they all have to be on the theme of "wheels" so this is my contribution. 

I drew this up in EQ7 and it is paper pieced and machine quilted.  I was feeling really smug that I have actually finished this before the due date which is next Saturday, but just now I went back to the group's blog to get the link address for you, and read the instructions again.  There are four rules to this challenge as shown below: 

1.     The theme is Wheels, and can be interpreted and made however we want.  

Yep, I'm OK here, cos this has got round bits in it and spikes, just like a wheel.  Hey, Lynn and Gail, just check out my pointy bits there!

2.     The colour s should be bright with a white or light neutral background.  

Oh heck!  I've used bright colours, including yellow to represent the winner's yellow jersey, BUT, my background is not exactly white or light.  Mind you, it is a colour called charcoal, which is lighter than black.  Do you think that'll count?

3.  It should have a hanging sleeve.  

Yep, done that too.

4. The deadline is  June 21st which is the date of our June meeting. 

I'm ready a week early.

Hmm, three out of four isn't bad, but I have a feeling this might not be accepted.  I'll keep you all posted.