Top 3 blogs in all of today

I may have spent a bit too much time this morning browsing the interwebs. But what else are rainy Monday mornings for?

I am kind of in love with the above yellow and blue combination at the moment. And yes I realise it looks like Ikea. But I like Ikea so all is good. 

I found three excellent new blogs. They're not new in a general sense, just new to me. All have now been added to my reader and I heartily recommend going and checking them out (so fun!).

1. A Beautiful Mess. This is an amazing blog. I can't believe I haven't come across it before. It's run by two lasses Elsie and Emma. It's a lifestyle blog "focused on creating a beautiful life". It's crammed full of wonderful photos and advice that make me yearn for nest-making.
2. Scientific Culture. A blog where science and cuteness have snuggled up together. Kate, who writes it, also runs a lovely etsy store selling cute science things she's made herself. A great blog that is full of inspiration and fun things. I look forward to reading more of this.
3. Skunkboy.  A lovely crafty lady writes about her projects and posts beautiful outfit posts.

So there you are. A good way to spend a few hours.

P.s. I made the above picture using PicMonkey.

Exhibition: The Quilter's Guild at Hever Castle

Last Saturday we went to Hever Castle. Hever Castle was the childhood home of Anne Boleyn (the second wife of Henry VIII). It's very beautiful.

Interesting when we arrived we discovered there was a country-side living special event on. There was wood carving! And chickens! (man I long for chickens). As part of this there was also a quilt exhibition run by a local chapter of the Quilter's Guild. I used to a member of this Guild when I was a child (Young Quilters go) so I always like seeing what groups are up to.

There were some cute things hanging in trees.

And on washing lines.

Inside the big tent were lots of quilts made by members.

These were quite nice but the beautiful grounds were too alluring and so we ended up zooming around this exhibit in favour of the outdoors.

We saw a snake!

A wall-hanging for a new-born

Technically I made this two years ago but thought I would share it here now. A good friend of mine was pregnant with her first child and as she was the first of our group of friends to have a child I wanted to make her something special to celebrate it. 

I contacted our friends and some of her old friends from school and university and asked everyone to make a square. 

Originally I was going to make a playmat but when I received some of the squares I decided it wouldn't be suitable for small hands (buttons!) so thought a wall-hanging would work better.

When I received enough squares I sewed them all together. By this point the baby had been born (I had to wait a while for some of the squares) so I was able to add his name to the top. Huzah!

An ABC wall-hanging

When I went to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham I saw a small quilt which had a black and white ABC on a red background. I loved it and so I bought a black and white charm pack and made my own. Mine is longer. I hurriedly whipped it up in a day because I was losing my sewing machine the next day (oh, moving countries has its downsides). This isn't quite finished as I need to put some binding tape around the edges but I think it's really effective. 

It was super easy too. I sketched the letters onto bondaweb (don't forget you need to do them backwards), ironed them onto the charm pack, cut out the letters and then ironed them onto the background fabric. Then I sewed around the letters on the sewing machine.

It is quilted. I used a piece of fleece for the middle, added backing fabric and machine quilted straight lines across it.

I think I might take this to India with me and use it in my lessons. Or something.

Packing the (craft) essentials

So I started to put things I wanted to take to India into my suitcase......

I seem to have no space for clothes....

A jar of love in the post

Last week I received a jar of love in the post! Yay!

Rae sent me this wonderful package:

How cute is that! I love the red packing strips.

Inside was:

It's a jar of marshmallow fluff! So cute! Rae had stuffed the jar with toy stuffing. When I pulled it out I discovered all kinds of wonderful goodies.

I especially love the ring you can just see on the top right. 

Thank you Rae! I love it all!

A special felt birthday portrait

Last week it was my partner's birthday. As a present I made him the above portrait. Of himself. His eyes have come out a little evil-looking. I swear in real life he doesn't look this villainous. His eyes are a strange colour though - grey-like or green-like. So I used grey embroidery thread. But now he looks a bit strange. I may have to adjust it.