We have a winner!

So, seems like a LOT of people wanted to get their hands on the amazing FQ bundle of Oh Deer fabrics I was giving away.

Without further ado, here is the winner:

No 617 was Carla G.

Carla, I will be emailing you this evening to get your details.

Thanks to everyone for entering and for your lovely comments, and especially to the fab Julie of The Intrepid Thread for sponsoring.

Celebrating 2 Years: A Giveaway!

Can you believe its been two years since I started blogging? I can't! What a journey it's been, and I've loved (almost) every minute of it. I've learned absolutely tonnes and I've made great, great friends along the way, both near and far.

I don't want to spend too much time reviewing, so I just put together a little collage of some of my very favourite projects in the last couple of year. I had a bit of a hard job picking them but lots of fun looking back through 2 years worth of pictures.

So, to celebrate, I have an amazing giveaway for you courtesy of the very generous Julie of The Intrepid Thread.

I have been swooning over the lovely fabrics just recently arrived in her fab shop and eventually picked some Oh Deer by Momo for the giveaway prize. This lovely bundle of 13 (yes, 13!!!) Fat Quarters in gorgeous fresh, cool greens, blues and browns will be the prize for the winner:

Are you swooning yet? I know I am. These have little boy quilt written all over them, in my book! If you want to buy some, you can find the full collection here. You might also like to check out Chicopee and Field Study which just arrived.

So here's the entry info. This is thank you giveaway for all my lovely followers so you can have 3 entries by leaving separate comments for each on this post:

1. Leave me a comment telling me what you would make with these fabrics
2. Like The Intrepid Thread on Facebook or sign up for the newsletter and leave a comment letting me know you do.
3. Followers of my blog or Facebook page get a bonus entry - just let me know how you follow, whether on GFC, Reader, Email or Facebook. New followers can enter.

Please note that I have had to change my comment settings to deal with high volumes of spam. This means I no longer accept anonymous comments - you need to have a have a Google account or Open ID. Please please leave your email address in the comment unless you are absolutely sure you not a no-reply blogger.
If I cannot contact the winner, I will redraw. Entries are open until 9pm (Irish time) on Sunday evening 27th August and winner will be drawn randomly. Duplicate entries will be deleted.  Only comments on this post will be included in the draw.

Enjoy!

Pouch progress

Not much sewing this week in my house. Bad back and excruciating physio session mid week put paid to sitting in front of my machine, or cutting fabric. The only sewing done till yesterday was some cross stitch. But yesterday, I felt a lot better and decided to make a start on my pouch for the Pretty [little] pouch swap.

Since this would be a small item, it didn't require lots of cutting, standing pressing fabric, or manipulating large swathes of a quilt top through the machine. Minimal opportunity to aggravate the back. Perfect.

After getting my partner assignment, I decided that she would like a zippy pouch rather than a frame purse, and there was lots of scope in her "likes". I decided to go with brights for the front of the pouch, and to try to include something else from the list on the back. I played around with a few different ideas for the front until I came up with this little diagonal rainbow of colour. (excuse some of the photo quality - taken at night on my phone) Each little square of colour is 1.5" square - I love tiny piecing! I used Kona Charcoal which is just so gorgeous and dark  and the colours really popped against it.

 I then took myself off to the sofa and dug out my perle cotton. I spent a very pleasant few hours stitching this up in front of the tv, although I did have to change my purple thread, because the original I picked was too dark against the Charcoal. 

So the front is now completed. I hope my partner likes it but if not, I won't have any trouble giving this pouch a home myself :-) Now, on to thinking about the back....

P.S. Seeing as I hit my 2 year "blogiversary" this week, I might just be celebrating in the next few days. Keep your eyes peeled for a giveaway :-)

Trial and Error

In the last couple of weeks I have decided to join a couple of swaps. I'm in need of some small scale fun projects at the moment, seeing as how the bigger quilts are posing a little more of a challenge to me and my sore back. Plus, I love doing swaps, its great to push yourself out of your comfort zone a little and make for someone else's taste.

First up, myself and Geraldine decided to do a little private swap between us, but I am still mulling over the design element here so piccies on this one yet.

I also joined Round 5 of the Pretty {little} pouch swap. I've never taken part in this swap before, but have seen lots of the lovely things made for it and can't wait to get started. When picking the pouches for my mosaic, frame purses featured heavily so I decided I needed to learn to make them myself.

 I duly ordered some supplies last week (thank you to those of you who gave me lots of tips on where to go over on Facebook - you know who you are!) and they arrived today. So I picked out some pretty fabrics and got started.

I started with the smaller frame, thinking it would be more straightforward and used a combination of Kristie's tutorial and Lisa's to make it. Unfortunately I didn't quite get the pattern template right - I left too small a seam allowance which mean that the top of the purse was not quite full enough for the frame. Annoying because the rest of the purse looked fine and was really quick and easy to make up. I also found the glue a bit fiddly to apply but think that's because I my fabric didn't fit quite right.

In this picture, it looks ok, but its really not! Have a look in the next picture and you can see how the fabric is sliding out - and all the glue I got on the lining!

After leaving this to start drying for a few minutes, I decided that I really wasn't happy with it and couldn't  see myself using it, - mostly because I didn't think the fabric would be secure in the frame with the weight of coins. So I pulled the fabric out of the frame and decided to try another practice run with it in the next couple of days. I think the next attempt will be with the square frame to see how it works by comparison!

I am posting progress pics of what I am working on more often on Instagram (where I am sewfairyface) and Facebook - where I also do a lot of chatting and find it a little easier to respond to people more quickly so I'd love if you joined me over there on either of them. I'm also seriously considering making some changes to the commenting settings here due to the insane amount of spam landing in my email - unfortunately while its filtered out from appearing on the blog, its still being emailed to me - hundreds of them per week! Any suggestions?

Improv wonky house bee blocks

This month was the second in our new Modern Irish Bee, and last week a little bundle of colourful, fun fabric arrived from Agnes. She asked us to make wonky house blocks in any style, any size and using whatever method we wanted.

I decided to make some improv blocks. First up was this summery feeling little house.  The swirly fabric I used for the house made me think of a gingerbread house for some reason, and I pulled out some scraps from my basket to add the little tree and the girl in the window. I still have a bear cut out to applique but didn't really feel it was working in the block so never applied it. I love the wonky, crooked little house and there is room for Agnes to add little details on the doors and windows when she is quilting, if she wants to.

Then I turned to the second block. There was a big strip of deep navy fabric in the pack, so I knew my 2nd block was going to be a nighttime block. This one is pretty simple, but I like the owl and hedgehogs, and the yellow windowpanes - it's a little cozy house in the moonlight :-)

I had lots of fun making these and I hope Agnes likes them! There are a host of lovely wonky houses popping up in the group pool, and I think she is going to have a fab quilt! 

I was also queen bee for July....and I have almost all the blocks back, just waiting for some where people are away on holidays. I can't wait to show you the gorgeousness that has been dropping in through my letter box in the last few weeks!

Welcome The Intrepid Thread!

I'm really thrilled to welcome The Intrepid Thread as a new sponsor to FairyFace Designs!

I'm sure lots of you are familiar with this great fabric shop, run by the super efficient and lovely Julie, but if not, you need to go explore.

I have been buying fabric from Julie for quite a while now and love dealing with her. She stocks oodles of gorgeous fabrics to tempt me, I can buy yardage or fat quarters, which means I can put together my own FQ bundles (which I LOVE)  - and purchases arrive in super quick time, beautifully wrapped with a little note - I just love that personal touch, it makes such a difference when you're buying online. She's brill to answer any questions and the customer service is excellent. This was my most recent purchase - some FQs from Tula Pink's The Birds and the Bees.

The Intrepid Thread is a family business and you can find out a lot more about it  here.

You also should go check out some of the lovely fabric Julie has in stock at the moment:

Sweet Tea by Khristian A Howell

(image from intrepidthread.com)

Cameo by Amy Butler

(image from intrepidthread.com)

And there is lots and lots of fabulous fabric arriving all the time - I can't wait for Aneela Hoey's Sew Stitchy:

(image from intrepidthread.com)

And Bella by Lotta Jansdotter

(image from intrepidthread.com)

So, next time you are in need of a fabric fix, you know where to go.....straight over to The Intrepid Thread :-)