Wow!

Well, where to start? I'm sitting in the lounge upstairs, with my snug rug over me (a brilliant invention - and one of the best birthday presents ever!). I'm waiting for the postman to arrive - I'm expecting several packages. One of the packages I'm expecting / waiting for is the block of the month from Antique Angel (http://www.antiqueangel.co.uk/). I saw their full page advert in the September edition of British Patchwork and Quilting, and liked the look of a couple of the quilts in the advert. I signed up, and have been cursing myself and the 'stupid idea' ever since! The blocks can involve some very small pieces, which means the piecing can be rather tricky. However, I don't regret my decision - except for the fact that I check the site to see when the blocks are being sent out, and have now seen another new block of the month on the site which I really like the look of! It has been a really good experience for me, as it is making me try different piecing methods, and use techniques that I wouldn't otherwise have tried (Suffolk puffs, for example - they don't really do anything for me).

Possibly you are looking at the date and time I am writing this post. Well, true to form, I have got a cold just before half term. I've fought it as long as I could, but I'm now croaking and coughing; people at school wouldn't thank me for passing it on to them in time for the holiday, so I'm staying at home. I thought I would take a bit of time to update the blog.

For those of you who don't read the British Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, the title of this post refers to the November edition of said publication. I've won the star letter for the month! This means that I've had my letter published, along with the pictures I sent in with it, and for being the star letter, I also get some fabric! I was quite delighted when I read the magazine, and saw it! I had received the publication a day or two after my birthday, and I read it in bed. I had been thinking of skipping to the end of the magazine, but then decided to read it all the way through from the front to the back. The letters page is right at the back, and I didn't realise that I had been published at first. I saw a picture of a quilt (the Celebration quilt), but it wasn't until I saw the quilt for Thomas that I realised that I was looking at my own creations!

Having re-read the letter (several times, just for good measure), I suppose I feel like I might have misled people into thinking that I had made the quilts and the aprons all in the summer holiday. That was not my intention at all, and people looking at this blog will see that the quilts were completed within the past 15 months. It wasn't until I re-read the letter I realised how some people might read it - it was not done deliberately however.

I've been busy with the block of the month projects recently, and also with finishing mum's kimono panels - I'm quite pleased with how they have turned out. I've also mentioned the aprons - so here is a picture of one of them.

The apron was a project featured in P&Q, and I didn't like the colours of the one in the magazine at all, but I thought that I really needed an apron, and I saw that the pattern had possibilities. I used charm pack squares for the aprons, and this worked well, although the seams do not always match up, because the size of the squares is approximate. However, if I let myself be worried by imperfections, I would never make anything! I've made five aprons in all - 2 for me, one for mum, one for Caro, and one for Joan (my mother-in-law). I still have several other projects on the go - but information about those will have to wait for another time, as I can hear the bed calling to me...