Do You Like The Simply Colour Collection As Much As I Do?

Just take a look at all this beautiful fabric I've received from Cotton Blossom Farm.

 
My prize has arrived from the Something New Sampler Blog Hop - 10 x 1/2 yards from the Simply Color Collection by Vanessa Christenson of V and Co for Moda.  I chose 4 graphite greys, 4 lime greens and 2 spicy hot pinks and looking at them I'm really thrilled with my choices, they look so crisp and remind me, for some reason, of sorbet - simply gorgeous.

Now the small problem of deciding what to make with them!!!

Thank you again to everyone involved :)

 

hosted by Amy @the cute life

You can look back at The Something NEW Sampler on flickr

Related Posts:

A Modern Bargello - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 1
Scraptastic & Folded Blocks - The Something New Sampler: Week 2
Reverse Applique & Sashiko Blocks -The Something New Sampler: Week 3
Trapunto & Pinless Curve Blocks - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 4
Machine Applique and Cathedral Windows Blocks - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 5
Selvedge Block and QAYG Quilting - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 6
Strip Sashing My QAYG: The Something NEW Sampler: Completed
Voting Is Now Open - The Something NEW Sampler
A Quick Reminder - Something NEW Sampler Quilt Voting Now Open
Voting Has Closed - The Something NEW Sampler: Winners

Will Ye No Come Back Again? Absolutely, Next September!

Bonnie Chairlie's noo awa', Safely ower the friendly main; Mony a heart will break in twa', Should he ne'er come back again.

Will ye no come back again? Will ye no come back again? Better lo'ed ye canna be, Will ye no come back again?

Traditional Scottish Song

What a week! Flicky and I have had a marvellous time in Scotland where we spent 3 days in St Andrews, checking out the town, being shown around the University and meeting with Admissions and one of the Modern History professors.

Allow me to introduce you to the University of St Andrews ...

And here's some photos of the Cathedral and Castle;

the beaches and golf course;

and the St Andrews town centre.

but these are my favourite photos:

Flicky sitting at the entrance to the School of History, St Katherine's Lodge, where she will be studying

 and Flicky battling the elements, the wind so strong she could barely walk,
but just check out that Manhattan City Quilter carrier bag!!!

The weather wasn't our friend, freezing temperatures, winds and snow, but Flicky loved it.  The University and people of St Andrews made us very welcome and we quickly learnt just how special it is that Flicky has received an unconditional offer from this ancient seat of British learning, who still hand pick only the students that they feel will suit the way of life and study methods.

So Flicky is pretty certain that she will be accepting their offer and we've already booked our trip back for her admission in September.

After St Andrews we headed off to Glasgow via Dundee.  The weather was dreadful but we did squeeze in a bit of shopping and a trip out to the 'Armadillo' to see the English comedian Jimmy Carr, which was excellent but nothing that I can repeat here ;).  Flicky also had her first experience of being caught in a football crowd at Glasgow Central Station - jeering Scotland fans singing "we hate England more than you" to the Wales fans was incredibly intimidating and frightening but I told her to not speak so she wouldn't give away our nationality and we were quickly on our way.  It was the one low point of our trip but at least she's a bit more prepared now for when she encounters that sort of behaviour again.

I did have to take a photo of the sewing machine wall at the All Saints store in Glasgow.  I know this is a regular feature in All Saints stores but I always think they look amazing and yet it makes me a little bit sad that these machines aren't being used anymore.

We spent our last 3 days in Edinburgh, again the weather was too bitter to do the touristy things so more shopping and eating and catching up on some rest and sleep in our beautiful apartment.

 

We did look up at the Castle as we shopped our way along Princes Street
and we enjoyed some delicious Flirtini cocktails

We didn't worry too much about not really seeing anything as we figured we'll have plenty more opportunity to do everything properly over the next 4 years that Flicky's studying here.

Oh and look how much of my EPP Coffins I managed to do ... don't do a close up on my stitches because you'll see everyone of them screaming at you - my appalling eye sight, a smattering of turbulence, narrow seats (yes we fly economy) and an overhead plane light on a night flight don't lend themselves to beautiful, invisible stitches!!!

It's good to be back though, although I love doing EPP, I'm very, very happy to see my sewing machine again!

For details of other fabric, yarn, trim and notion stores that I've visited around the world along with the NYC stores I love, exhibitions and events I've attended and wonderful people I've been lucky to meet click the links below or in my side bar :D

Voting Has Closed - The Something NEW Sampler: Winners

Voting for the Something NEW Sampler has closed and my first try at a QAYG quilt came in a very respectable second.

I'm thrilled with my prize donated by Cotton Blossom Farm - 10 x 1/2 yards chosen from the Simply Color Collection by Vanessa Christenson of V and Co for Moda.  I've had a great morning looking over the fabrics and finally choosing 4 graphite grey, 4 lime green and 2 spicy hot pink designs and now I'm thinking through what to make with them.  I want to say a very big thank you to Cathy at Cotton Blossom Farm and please do check out the web store, they've got some great fabrics to choose from.

Amy @thecutelife has done a smashing post detailing all the winners and you can read all about it by clicking the link below:

Something New Sampler Winners!!

I've had a really fun time doing this Blog Hop, learnt lots of techniques and made new blogging friends, special mentions go to:

Amy for organising the Blog Hop; 

the girls who wrote each of the tutorials - Amy, Heidi, Chelsea, Jess, Lindsay, M-R, Heidi, Alyssa and Becky;

Cotton Blossom Farm for donating my scrummy prize; 

everyone who has commented and joined in via my blog and flickr 

and a very special thanks to those of you who nipped over to Amy's blog and voted for my quilt.

Thank You Everyone :)

 

hosted by Amy @the cute life

You can look back at The Something NEW Sampler on flickr

Related Posts:

A Modern Bargello - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 1
Scraptastic & Folded Blocks - The Something New Sampler: Week 2
Reverse Applique & Sashiko Blocks -The Something New Sampler: Week 3
Trapunto & Pinless Curve Blocks - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 4
Machine Applique and Cathedral Windows Blocks - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 5
Selvedge Block and QAYG Quilting - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 6
Strip Sashing My QAYG: The Something NEW Sampler: Completed
Voting Is Now Open - The Something NEW Sampler
A Quick Reminder - Something NEW Sampler Quilt Voting Now Open
Voting Has Closed - The Something NEW Sampler: Winners

A Quick Reminder - Something NEW Sampler Quilt Voting Now Open

A very quick post just to remind you all that the voting for the Something NEW Sampler Quilt closes tomorrow, Friday, 22 March.

My entry is for my QAYG Something NEW Sampler Quilt

If you haven't already voted you can do so by clicking on the link below and then clicking the 'VOTE' button that's ON TOP of the photo of the quilt that you want to vote for.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE IN THE SOMETHING NEW SAMPLER LINK-UP

Thank you to everyone who's voted for me or for any of the other quilts in the Link-Up :)

Related Posts:

A Modern Bargello
Scraptastic & Folded Blocks - The Something New Sampler: Week 2
Reverse Applique & Sashiko Blocks -The Something New Sampler: Week 3
Trapunto & Pinless Curve Blocks - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 4
Machine Applique and Cathedral Windows Blocks - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 5
Selvedge Block and QAYG Quilting - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 6
Strip Sashing My QAYG: The Something NEW Sampler: Completed
Voting Is Now Open - The Something NEW Sampler

So Long Google Reader - What Does It Mean For Bloggers? PROBABLY NOT A LOT!!!

For the last few days I've been watching and reading a whole heap of craziness across the Internet over the announcement that Google Reader won't exist after 1 July 2013. What does this really mean to us bloggers?  In my opinion, the answer is 'probably not a lot'.

Will your Blogger/Wordpress account still exist? - YES

Will you still have your Google Followers? - YES

So what exactly does Google Reader do? - It allows you to easily access/read all the blogs that you follow.

How will you read your blogs once Google Reader doesn't exist? - Simply change to another reader such as Bloglovin or Feedly.

These other readers already exist, it takes only seconds to sign up for them.  Hey, you can really go mad and sign up for both of them and even stick with Google Reader too for now - there's no Reader Police checking how many you've signed up to and are using - which is what I've done just to try them out and see which I like best.

Your blog isn't going anywhere, you don't need to tell your readers where they can follow you now (how many posts have you read over the weekend telling you just that information and asking you to click to follow them at their new location?!!!).  Your blog will still be sat on Blogger or Wordpress or whatever platform you're already using.  

I don't believe that you'll lose Google Friend Connect Followers either - this is another separate Google application and not directly connected to Google Reader.  This doesn't mean they won't ever make other changes that could affect this application though in the future. 

Of course, you may lose some readers if they don't move to a new reader themselves but do you think they're not going to that?  Are any of us really going to stop reading all blogs, forever?  I don't think so.  It's up to the individual to move to a new reader and they can quickly have their old Google Reader blog list transferred for them by the new reader system.  

You as the blogger don't have to do a thing - though as a reader you'll probably want to move to a new reader yourself so you can carry on reading all the fab quilty posts out there (how many reads can you have in one sentence?) ;)  As I type this post my favourite new reader is Feedly - I'm enjoying using it over Bloglovin via my laptop but I haven't tried either via my phone yet - that's a task for tomorrow.  I'll let you know which I settle on as I go.

I wanted to type this post to try to alleviate some of the confusion/worry that seems to be out there right now.  This latest Google change isn't a disaster for any of us, but who knows what they'll do next?!!!

 

Laminated Zipper Pouch

Sorting through photos on my laptop I found some that I haven't shared with you before.  Last April I did a course at The City Quilter, Manhattan, taught by my friend Andrea Deal 'Laminated Zipper Pouch' and here're the results:

Laminated Echino (Japanese Imported) - Owl/Deer patchwork with red flowers and Echino Dots - Pink. Linen/Cotton designed by Etsuko Furuya for Kokka (Japanese Import)

I love this toiletries bag and have used it over and over - regularly throwing it into my oversized handbags to keep all those girly bits and bobs together in one easy to grab place.

I promised myself that I was going to make more, lots more, you know as you do when you attend a course and I even bought several laminated fabrics ready to make them but I've never got around to it.  Something else on my 'to do' list.  Well, maybe when I get back from Scotland? ...

Disclaimer: 
This post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.

   

Red HSTs - My April Challenge Block for NYC Mod Quilt Guild

The April Challenge Block for my NYC Metro Mod Quilt Guild is a red Half Square Triangle - as easy as that.  Just make a 5.5" (to seam down to a 5") HST using a solid or tone on tone red alongside a print of my choice.  For each HST I take along to the next Guild meeting I get that number of chances in the raffle to win all the HSTs brought along by everyone.

So here's the quickest, easiest Challenge Block I've made to date

I've used Kona Solid Red and Philip Jacobs Iris and Peony.

Didn't even take 5 minutes - now that's the sort of challenge I really enjoy!!!

Related Posts:

NYC Mod Guild Blocks

NYC Mod Guild: April Block of the Month

Related Pinterest Boards:

Quilty: My Challenge Blocks

Quilty - NYC Metro Mod Guild Challenge Blocks

And you can click this link to see all of my NYC Mod Quilt Guild Bee Blocks and Challenge Blocks/Quilts.

 

 

Voting Is Now Open - The Something NEW Sampler

Voting has now opened for the Something NEW Sampler Link-Up.  You can view all the final quilts here at the cute life and place one vote for your favourite quilt finish (be sure to click on the vote link above the photo as it's very easy to vote for the wrong quilt).  Voting closes on Friday, 22 March and the winner will be announced on Saturday, 23 March.

I've entered my QAYG Something NEW Sampler Quilt into the final link-up selection and there's lots of other great quilt finishes there too.

Don't forget voting closes on Friday, 22 March so be sure to hop over and place your vote before then :)

Something New Sampler Quilt Voting

Related Posts:

A Modern Bargello
Scraptastic & Folded Blocks - The Something New Sampler: Week 2
Reverse Applique & Sashiko Blocks -The Something New Sampler: Week 3
Trapunto & Pinless Curve Blocks - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 4
Machine Applique and Cathedral Windows Blocks - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 5
Selvedge Block and QAYG Quilting - The Something NEW Sampler: Week 6
Strip Sashing My QAYG: The Something NEW Sampler: Completed  

Linking To: