Clearing Out!

It's a long weekend here and while it would have been lovely to spend some time away somewhere relaxing I have instead been hard at work cleaning out my house. It's long overdue and I can't believe what we have been living amongst. Some days I feel like I'm suffocating!

The catalyst for this hive of activity is a piano! Yes, I have been fortunate enough to be offered (cheap) a lovely old piano for the kids and it gave me all the motivation I needed to create some space. And it's tough I tell you - I'm allergic to dust and digging about in storage boxes and old stuff turns me into a eye streaming, sneezing mess. But it's all worth it - I have one whole room back AND we have cleaned out every cupboard to make more room.

I have also neatly boxed my excessive fabric stash into colours which kind of freaked me out - didn't know I had that much! At least I know where everything is now. I must say I'm very jealous of those with 'studios' or 'sewing rooms'. All that space to spread out..... sigh!

Of course there has also been time for a bit of sewing! I'm hand piecing my cushion/pillow front for the Pillow Talk swap.



My partner's inspiration mosaic indicated that she was quite fond of scrappy, pieced work and colourful blocks. I'm enjoying looking at some old style blocks and giving them a bit of a modern twist.



So far I quite like it and it's such a nice way to finish the day!

Swaps and stuff!

I think it's really time to get back to this old blog of mine. I miss blogging and I have so much to share which is what it was meant to be about after all! Life has been very different (and stressful) in the last 12 months but I feel like it's coming back to some kind of normal.

Lucky I have had my sewing! It's a great distraction and I have been consistently busy with swaps and some work for magazines and another book project (yay). A couple of patterns have also found the light of day with quite a few more coming - if only there were a few more hours in the day!

I love the swaps. I get to connect with such a great bunch of clever and funny people and I just love the challenge of making something for someone I don't know and coming up with something new. I'm a massive fan of the doll quilt swap which is just about to start again- 200 swappers this round so it's pretty popular. But recently I have done a few new ones.

The { Urban } HOME Goods - a modern swap was organised to make things we'd like for our homes. My partner Scootin' Annie had a few requests but one was irresistible to me.



She also revealed that she wanted a pouch for her DS. Done!



And you should see what I got from my partner Mari.



Isn't it all just fabulous!! That coffee cosy is just perfect!

A few posts ago I had a little giveaway to celebrate 100 posts and the very lovely and patient Jenny from ohjoh won. I finally finished her prize and was able to hand it over last week.



The design is very inspired by the amazing and beautiful work of Sue Spargo who came to Amitie last year. She is visiting again soon for any of those interested in doing one of her classes.

Jenny is a local so popped into Amitie while I was working. She has a pretty bad fabric addiction like me so it seemed ideal to meet there.



So I may be quiet here but I'm still making things. I promise to post more often and maybe I'll go back and do a retrospective to show you some of the things I have made over the past year. In the meantime I have a cushion to get onto for another swap!