Hang around here long enough and you're bound to know that I love sewing up FPP patterns designed by Juliet @The Tartankiwi and I often test new patterns for her. When I was sent her new book to review (you can read my review here) I HAD to make up one of the 12 patterns and it HAD to be - The Highland Cow.
Flicky, my daughter, is home from St Andrews University for the summer and she's brought a few sewing repair jobs with her. The first one I tackled is a frayed seam down the centre back of this tweed coat. Flicky did a quick hand-sewn repair job on it with black thread so she could continue to wear it - it's still cold in St Andrews ;D - and this is how looked when it was passed over to me.
On a recent trip to Pins & Needles on Manhattan's Upper East Side (explore the store with me here) I came face to face with this Cotton + Steele Melody Miller B&W Typewriter fabric.
There's two things my daughter Flicky loves, really loves - red Solo cups and Skittles.
My friend Karen Moore Haynes knows she loves the solo cups and text me as soon as she saw this flannel for sale in Joannes. I text straight back "oh yes please, get me 3 yards".
Flicky, my daughter, was home for Chrismas - she's in her third year at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She had a plan to make two quilts during her two-week stay as well as celebrating Christmas and New Year and she succeeded. When it comes to hard work and sheer determination she is indeed her mother's daughter.
Last week I flew over to St Andrews, Scotland to celebrate Flicky's 21st birthday with her. Five days of fun with some of my kids is just the ticket when I'm missing home.
If you've never visited St Andrews, or Scotland for that matter, it's absolutely beautiful with tons of history but also quite bleak and very cold. I've put together a few photo collages from the weekend.
There was lots of food and drink and a fab spa day at the Fairmont resort.
My son, Joe and his partner Katie joined us and, as it was their first visit to St Andrews, we did the touristy bit showing them around the town.
The University
The Castle...
...don't you love a loo with a view? (centre pic below)
and crawling through the tunnels underneath the castle was a lot of laughs too, though I think there were moments when we were laughing just so we didn't cry.
The Cathedral
Love this selfie of us all at the top of the Cathedral Tower.
The Gin Tour
We also visited the local brewery and gin & whisky distillery, Eden Mill, where we may or may not have sampled four G&Ts each as part of the Gin Tour.
If you're a gin girl (or boy) I highly recommend the gin tour. All the Eden Mill gins are abs delish, the guys at the Eden Mill were super friendly and I think you can tell from the pics we had a lot of fun there.
Eden Mill Gins
Original gin - citrus and seabuckthorn - forget the lime slice add some pink grapefruit
Love gin - tastes of berries and citrus - try it with raspberries
Oak gin - tastes of whisky - great with an orange slice
Hop gin - tastes of beer - add a sizzling chilli slice
And on Sunday, Flicky's actual 21st birthday, there was even a birthday cake...
...with candles that Rob and Colin, Flicky's two housemates helped her blow out.
It was over all too soon but I was almost glad to get back to slightly warmer weather on the US east coast and slightly pained in the knowledge it'll soon be just as cold or colder here too.
Happy 21st Birthday Flicky xxx
If you'd like to read more about St Andrews you can click through to my previous posts on the images below:
Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)
This post may be linked to some great Linky Parties, always a great source of inspiration too. If you click through to my 'Fave Linky Parties' page you can see where I like to share my work.
I have a friend, let's call her Jacqui, and she always shares with me anything crafty she thinks I might be interested in. Back in August she shared a Purl Soho email about a 'new' 50-year-old linen yarn Linblomman and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted it. Yes, I wanted it, I didn't need it, I just wanted it. I actually sent Jacqui an email asking her to stop sending me scrummy stuff to look at, it's just too much temptation.
Five weeks on I still wanted that embroidery yarn and in my book that's no longer a whim to be ignored, but a wish to be acted upon. Purl Soho have been out of stock for a few weeks but after having brunch today in Noho with my besties Em and Amy I took a chance and nipped into the store.
I couldn't believe my luck, the Purl Soho staff were putting sales labels on newly arrived boxes in front of me as I asked tentatively about its availability. It was obviously meant to be so I bought one box of each of the three colourways: Neon; Pastel; and Flora & Fauna.
The story behind this linen yarn is that it was made in the 1960s in Sweden, the factory closed down and the yarn, hidden away in a haberdashery stock room, has been rediscovered fairly recently. It is just as beautiful and strong now as it was then.
Linblomman (Swedish: The Flax Flower) is distributed by Linladan (Swedish: flax barn)
Wondering where you can get this yarn in the US? There 's only two US stockists:
Purl Soho - in store, NYC and online (read about one of my visits to Purl Soho here); and
Bolt, Portland, OR - in store (read about my visit to Bolt here).
So what am I going to do with my beautiful linen threads?
Admire them?
Stroke them?
Stash them away for another fifty years?
No ... I'm going to use them.
Remember those Dropcloth Samplers designed by my friend Rebecca Ringquist that I bought in Bolt, Portland (a Linblomman supplier, how did I miss these yarns in the store that day???!!!)? Well, I'm taking the samplers and yarns on a plane journey with me next week when I head back to Britain to celebrate my daughter Flicky's 21st birthday. I don't know what I'm more excited about, seeing some of my kids or using my newest crafty acquisitions ;D
And Jacqui, keep sharing those crafty temptations, you're absolutely right, why should you suffer alone?!!! x
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This post contains Amazon and Craftsy affiliate links for which I am paid compensation on click-through purchases (at no additional cost to you). Otherwise, the post is for informational purposes only and all opinions are my own.
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As the Yuma QAL is coming to a close, I'm ready to share my own Yuma quilt's photoshoot.
I'm a huge fan of smooth quilts - my usual method for laundering my quilts is a machine wash then tumble dry till half dry then press till fully dry and smooth as new.
This quilt had other ideas, I guess there's always one! The 100% cotton Quilters Dream Request batting and the American Made Brand solids shrank at different rates during the first wash, and no amount of pressing can fix it - and yes I have tried. So let me introduce you to what's only my third ever 'crinkly' quilt!!!
The quilt's for my daughter, Flicky, to remember this summer and looking forward to all the future summers we're yet to share, I love you so much Flicky x
'For all the summers yet to come.'
I hope you've enjoyed the #yumaQAL, I've had fabulous feedback about all my #yumaQAL tutes from lots of you who are making Yumas but particularly about my piecing and joining rows tute. I've created a link page for all my Yuma tutes and posts, and you can link to it here or via my tute page in the sidebar but for one last time here're all my previous posts links:
Last week I had the best news, Ivete and Andrea @Gotham Quilts like my solid Yuma Quilt so much they're now selling it as a kit so you can make my quilt yourself. I'm happy dancing at the great blog post they wrote about it too!!!
Angie @Gnome Angel also wrote a fab post in the last week about losing her sewjo while making her Yuma. Hopefully, normal service will be resumed for her very quickly, but I did do another happy dance when she featured my solid Yuma in her post and said it's her fave :D
The original free Yuma Quilt pattern is available here and if you make a Yuma be sure to share your work on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc using the hashtag #yumaQAL. Even if you're not making your own Yuma click through to the Instagram #YumaQAL and take a look at what everyone else is up to.
YUMA QAL SCHEDULE
Each week another blogger will be sharing their #YumaQAL experiences with you.
Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)
Disclaimer: Gotham Quilts supplied the fabrics used at a discount price to mbCD otherwise this post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs and opinions are my own.
