Strip Bees - United at Last!

So last weekend I took a little trip to London, to meet with the wonderful Strip Bee Ladies for the very first time.  

Packing my suitcase was a bit deja vu, because our original meet up was planned for March. Just hours before I was due to fly, Jen, our host for the weekend fell and broke her shoulder and we had to cancel. She couldn't have done it if she tried! 

So meeting up took on extra special meaning, and my goodness did we have a wonderful weekend.  First I met Amy in London and we took every opportunity to be tourists.  We just had to dive in to the M and M store to see the M and M wall, which I think would make a wonderful quilt. 

Of course we had the obligatory trip to Liberty, and then we headed to Chocy Wocky Do Dah, a wonderful chocolate shop, with cakes like you've never seen before.  I think this one was my favourite.  

We also visited The Cloth House which is even more beautiful on the inside.  Check out their brand new website, which even has video footage of the store, to some very 'folky' music! 

We also happened to be walking past Hamley's Toy Store, and I knew they had lifesize figures of the Royal Family on display upstairs.  So we endured the noise, flying toys and crowds to see Her Majesty in all her glory - isn't she fabulous!  

The next day was the day were we were all 6 together, hooray!  And we had a wonderful afternoon receiving our quilts.  They started off a year ago as just one strip, which everyone then added to.  Here's some shots of the Big Reveal.

And finally, here we all are with our quilts, on a glorious sunny summer's day. 

I had such a fantastic, special weekend.  It was so wonderful meeting everyone, and Jen looked after us like Kings.  I can't wait to do it all again, hopefully one day very soon!  

Sarah x

Linking up with:

Siblings Together Quilt WIP

It's not long till I'll be attending the Fat Quarterly Retreat, and I really wanted to take a small quilt with me to donate to the Charity Siblings Together.  

Time is not on my side, but I gave myself 2 hours one morning to stitch up what is to be the central panel of a cot quilt.

The plan is to give it a fairly wide pink border, and I have some hot pink dot backing on order.  I'm also going to attempt to FMQ this one, which will be a first for me on a *real* project!  

I'm then going to use bright orange for the binding, and fingers crossed, hopefully it will be a fun, vibrant and happy quilt that will provide some comfort to a child less fortunate than my own.  It really feels good to be giving something back.

Sarah x

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Swapsies

Not sure if 'swapsies' is a real word, but I like it and I did indeed take part in a little swapsie with the very talented Hadley.  

You see, Hadley was kind enough to offer to make me a name badge for the pending Fat Quarterly Retreat, even though she knew I was pressed for time and couldn't take apart in the official swaps.  Well look what came through the post last week!  

Not only do I have a Tula Pink themed name tag on an official looking clasp, I also have a co-ordinating coaster, both complete with hand embroidery.  Lucky, lucky me, I can't wait to wear it at the Retreat - thank you so much Hadley!!!

Well such a kind gesture just had to be reciprocated and it didn't take me long to come up with an idea for Hadley.  You may recognise this owl from her blog... 

And I just knew I wanted to *attempt* to make him in fabric form.  So a bit of quilting and applique later, this is what I came up with.

I also put my Bernina to the test and after a lot of programming, managed to create some embroidered writing...

Which I attached as a little banner, using French knots.  The fabric went a little crinkly, but I kind of like that, it looks like it's flapping in the wind!!  

I just love the quilting community, everyone is so generous, in so many ways.  I was so touched that Hadley offered to make me a name badge, and it was so much fun making this mini in return.  Roll on the FQR :-)

Sarah x

Linking up with:

Sunday Stash

It's been about 3 weeks since I've been back now from my fabulous trip to NYC, and I'm still stroking and admiring my shopping purchases.  So it's about time I shared them with you, and what better way to do it than linking up with Sunday Stash with Mollie Sparkles.  Here's my haul.

I think I pretty much maxed out my luggage limit coming home!!  Here's some close ups.

Laminates

I didn't think I liked metallic fabrics, until I came across this one!

 And I couldn't resist this Liberty bundle.

My dear friend Chrissie also very kindly gave me these gorgeous charm packs, bursting with gorgeous prints. 

  

I picked up this cross stitch mobile phone cover in Purl Soho - I'm so excited about this!  This will be the perfect portable project for my holidays.  

Another of my favourite useful purchases is this Sewline Pen - it has white chalk, pencil and a pen, all in one.  

I now need to find homes for all of these gorgeous things, and I'm fast running out of space!  A nice problem to have though...

Thank you for stopping by!

Sarah