Blogiversary Thoughts and Giveaway!

I still can't quite believe that I have a year's blogging under my belt. Back last August when I started, I had NO idea of where it would take me, or how much fun it would be. I didn't even tell anyone about my blog for a couple of months and then spent quite a few weeks with just 4 followers - two good friends H and L, my sister and her good friend. Not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that in a year's time I would have close to 2000 followers!

It's been a huge learning process - there have been great times and stressful times. Blogging is fun, but very time consuming - all the more so because I love following blogs myself and all that reading takes time :-)

In the year that I've been blogging, my blog has changed quite a bit. I feel now I have found my niche as I've become more and more obsessed with quilting - and I love the little community of quilters that I've become a small part of, and the great friends I've made - even if I've only met 1 of them in real life :-) Its been so, SO much fun, and I hope it continues to be as much fun next year.

But now to the important stuff! I want to say a huge thank you to every one of you who reads, checks in, and comments on my blog - I really do appreciate your support and I hope that you continue to read and enjoy. So I have a little giveaway! Something nice for your stash :-) Amy Butler was the first fabric designer whose fabric I used to swoon over back when I started out sewing, so its appropriate that I'm giving away some of her "Love" fabric line.


I have 6 pieces of fabric from this range to give away. Each piece measures approx 12" x 20" - a little bit smaller than FQ size.

A nice little addition for your stash - you wouldn't have to add too much to it to make a baby size quilt (like my Across the Sea QAL quilt!), or they would be perfect for a pouch/purse or bag.

I'm keeping this one simple. Enter by leaving a comment if you are a follower - tell me your favourite quilting/bee block/sewing tutorial or resource.

If you want an extra entry blog/Facebook/Tweet this giveaway and come back and let me know in a separate comment.

I'll leave this open until 1pm on Friday (Irish time) and will draw the winner over the weekend. International entries welcome as always. Please make sure your have an email address associated with your profile (or leave your email in your comment if you're not sure). If there is no email address for me to contact you on, I will redraw immediately. Entry by blog comments only.

Enjoy!

Mid-Summer check-in - Summer Sewing project!

Well ladies (and gentlemen!) how are you doing with your summer sewing? Lets have a little mid-summer update and see how everyone is getting on. I've updated the button for this - if you want to replace the old one, please do; if you prefer to keep the older version, feel free - whatever you want. Also if you want to join in now, please do! I'll be doing a little giveaway at the end of August for people taking part.

<div align="center"><a href="http://fairyfacedesigns.blogspot.com/2011/05/summer-sewing-plans-add-yours.html" title="FairyFace Designs"><img src="http://i1085.photobucket.com/albums/j433/FairyFaceDesigns/newsummersewingbutton.jpg" alt="FairyFace Designs" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

I'm quite proud of my mid-term report card :-) I put items from the original list in green to make it easier to read. So here goes:

1. Finish my Walk in the Woods/It's a Hoot quilt for my goddaughter's First Communion. Yay! This was done, delivered and loved by my lovely goddaughter and her Mammy :-) It also got so much quilt love from my readers, thank you to everyone for all your lovely comments on it!


2. Make a quilt for my daughter, the most demanding customer in the world ever. Oh yes, demanding is the word but it was done. At the time I was a little disappointed by the backing but as it spends most of its time being dragged around the garden I think I was being a little precious ;-)


3. Commissioned "Sophie's Dreams" quilt. This quilt was renamed "Summer Dreams". I fought with this one a little bit at quilting stage but it turned out quite lovely and baby's mum was delighted with it!


4. Quilt for my son D. He's now feeling a little left out of the action and asked me this morning could he have a train quilt. Haven't gotten near this one yet although I have the design drawn and its going to be a simple one. I need to stock up on some solids in charcoal and brown for it.

5. My Central Park Skittles quilt. I've pieced half the blocks for this quilt top but had to put on hold for a few weeks to create some time for the Kaleidoscope QAL! I know a couple of people were curious to see how this quilt is going to be laid out - here's a little preview of how the blocks will work.


6. Finish making my bedroom curtains - they've been sitting half made in my basket for almost a year now and they need to be done! Slowly, slowly I'm getting there. I have one hemmed and the other basted; once that's done I'll be working on the lining. I'll definitely have these done by the end of the month.

7. Baby quilt - I have a pattern idea for a baby quilt that I want to try to make up and if it works, write up the pattern for. Eeek, nothing on this yet and its looking the most likely candidate to get bumped off my list to make way for some other things!

8. Bottled Rainbows QAL placemats. One done, bar the binding, 3 more to go! Haven't moved these on at all but they are definitely still on the to do list.


9. Crazy Scrappy QAL - I'm going to see how many blocks I do with this and then decide how I'll use them. Well, I thought a couple of weeks ago that this wasn't going anywhere for me but I got a flash of inspiration last week and you saw the result on Wednesday. I'm still in love with this!


10. Quilt for my new niece/nephew when he or she arrives in August (please God, all going well). Nothing done yet on this one although I have plans. I also am pretty sure what colours I'm going to be using :-) but won't share that here until baby arrives.

11. Simple Sewing tutorials. I've done a lot of prep work on some tutorials but haven't published them yet. Hoping to get these up and running in the next couple of weeks.


All in all, I'm pretty pleased with my progress so far! I've found my big list really motivating and good to keep the mind focused. I did a few other bits and pieces too which weren't in the original plans, including:

12. I got the Sew Irish Flickr group up and running (thanks to all the lovely ladies who jumped in to join straight away) and its great to see people adding projects every week! I've "met" a few lovely new Irish quilters that I didn't know and we're now planning a meet up at the Knitting & Stitching Show in November. If you're living in Ireland and interested in sewing or quilting, whatever your level of experience, please come and join us!

13. I took part in the Rainbow Charm Swap over at Ellison Lane Quilts and can't wait to get my charms - I'm hoping the postman will bring them next week! And I also joined Fluffy Sheep Quilting's Irish/UK Japanese fabric import charm swap and need to get my charms off this week to Cindy.

Of course, I couldn't help but add a few things to the big project list (being unable to resist some of the fab things going on out there in quilty blogland), so are some new projects to add:

14. Kaleidoscope QAL hosted by the very talented Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy - I'm a little behind on this one as it started when I was away on holidays, but I'm busy catching up! This quilt will be for my friend's new baby boy and I'm really excited to see how it turns out, I think this pattern is so striking and I tried to pick really fun fabrics in varied prints in blue, red and green colourways.


15. Secret project - I have a project that I'm totally excited about but still in planning stages so my lips are sealed!

16. Some other commissioned baby gifts/baby quilts for friends :-)

17. Swaps - I'm hoping to sign up for the next round of the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap and the new For the Love of Solids [a modern swap], both of which look like great fun!

Well, I think that's enough to be getting on with! I can't wait to see what you've been working on. Get linking!

I'm Featured.....on The Name Game!

Ever wonder about my blog name? Want to find out more? I'm really delighted to be featured today on Cindy's lovely blog Live a Colorful Life where she finds out where my blog name came from. I'm really honoured to be in the company of some really great blogs that I read regularly who have also featured on The Name Game - including Crazy Mom Quilts and verykerryberry. You can read about other blogs who've played here. So pop over and find out a little more about FairyFace Designs!

If you're visiting from Live a Colorful Life, welcome! Please have a look around and stay a while :-) You'll find my finished quilts this year in the tab at the top of my blog and you'll find what I'm working on at the moment - a super colourful mini quilt using crazy blocks, the Kaleidoscope quilt and my Skittles quilt - if you scroll down the page further!

Calling all Irish quilters & sewers.....

I think that its great, but kind of sad in a way, that I discovered several Irish sewing blogs I didn't know about through the Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway. I've done lots of searches for Irish blogs but it can be hard to find them in search results. Plus, I have been watching the Brit Quilt Flickr group taking off and thought, really, its time for us to have one too!

I'm also conscious that not everyone who quilts, or sews has a blog of their own, and if you're not blogging yourself it can be hard commenting and interacting. I thought it would be really great if we could get a little Irish sewing and quilting community going on Flickr where people could share photos of stuff they're working on, or have finished, where we could have discussions on sewing related stuff- like where to find supplies etc etc, and - even better - organise fabric swaps and more.

What do you think? Interested?

If you haven't used Flickr before, you should definitely check it out. I have really only become active on it since Christmas - at Fi's suggestion - and I love it, there are lots of fun things going on including swaps, e.g. the scrappy pincushion swap. It doesn't require the same amount of time commitment that blogging does and its a little more instant in some ways. You upload your photos and then contribute them to groups you are taking part in, and within the groups there are discussion threads etc. Check out http://www.flickr.com/groups/britquilt/ to see what I mean.

So, please, if you are interested (and I hope you are!) no matter how much, or how little you know about sewing or quilting, whether you're super-experienced or just starting out - please come over to www.flickr.com, set up an account (its free!) and join the Sew Irish group at http://www.flickr.com/groups/sewirish/and lets get a little community going.

If you need help getting to grips with Flickr drop me an email to fairyfacedesigns@gmail.com and I'll do my best to help you out.

Stylish Blogger Award!

This is a slightly guilty post! I have been nominated by no fewer than 5 great bloggers for the Stylish blogger award in recent weeks and promised them all that I would blog it shortly...but life and sewing seemed to always get in the way. So I want to begin by thanking those people - you should really head over and check out their blogs, they are simply fab!  They are: Mary Jo @ Crafter's Notebook, Val @ PinkPlease!, Becky @ My Fabric Obsession, Pam @ Quilting Square One and - last but not least a lovely new Irish blog - Marie @ Ree Raw

Part of the award is sharing 7 things about myself. As you know I'm a little reluctant to post too much personal info outside of my crafting on this blog but here's a little more info about me!

1.  I have only been crafting and sewing for 2.5 years.  I started teaching myself to knit when my daughter E was a baby in her quiet nap periods and quickly fell in love with all things crafty.I had never sat behind a sewing machine, not even in school, until I took up a night class in September 2008.

 2.  I sew on a gorgeous Pfaff Expression 2.0 machine which I bought last November. I just adore this machine, particularly compared to my previous machine which was an own brand basic entry level one from Lidl - although, I do have to say that that machine did serve me well as a total beginner. I'm still discovering lots about the Pfaff and love all the functionality and the precise controls on it. And it is perfect for quilting :-)

3. I have 2 gorgeous children, a little boy D who's almost 5 and a little girl E who just turned 3. There are only 20 months between them. I'm still in survival mode!

4. I played violin for many many years and was starting to prepare for a teacher's diploma when I found out I was pregnant with D and just couldn't manage the practice any more. It's something I would love to return to when my kids are older.

5. I am a voracious reader (most of the time!) My absolute favourite authors of the moment are Margaret Atwood, Maggie O'Farrell and Kate Atkinson. I'm also a big fantasy geek and have read The Lord of the Rings at least 20 times, and love discovering new series.

6. I work full time in an extremely busy job. People who know me through work are always shocked that I am "creative" in my personal life as they would see what I do as the antithesis of a creative job (and no, I'm not an accountant! :-))

7.  I am constantly frustrated by the limited ranges of fabric and quilting supplies available in Ireland. I buy almost all my fabric from the USA - particularly "designer" fabric. Certainly, it has improved in the last year, but don't get me started on the cost! I dream of being able to walk into a shop in Cork and being able to browse around through LOTS of lovely fabric and supplies and find what I want, at a reasonable cost. (Ooops, sorry, small rant there!)

The other part of this award is to nominate 6 other great blogs for it. I'm nominating these blogs as recipients for this award - they are all blogs that I have come across in recent months, that I really enjoy reading and get lots of inspiration from!

Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle

CityHouseStudio

My Crafty Crap

Felicity Quilts

SewCraftyJess

Sara @ Sew Sweetness

So there you go - some great long weekend reading for you! Enjoy! And thanks again to the lovely ladies who nominated me :-)

Blog Awards!

I was really thrilled to be tagged twice this week by two extremely talented ladies, Sheila of Bluepatch Quilter and Noga of Noga Quilts for the Liebster Blog Award



Thanks so much ladies! To accept the award I am to do the following:

1) If you are tagged, and you want to accept, then create a post on your blog and add the leibster blog pic.
2) Link back to the person who gave you the award and say if you accept.
3) Choose 3-5 of your favourite blogs to tag, link these in your post too and tell the lucky people they have been tagged.

The aim of this award is to bring unknown good blogs to light, (less than 50 Followers is ideal), therefore, please don't tag somebody with 3000 followers!

So, here goes - some great, maybe not so well known blogs that are really worth checking out:

1.     Patchwork Delights: I love Fiona's style, she comes up with fab ideas, sews beautifully (I love her little mug rugs!) and even though I've never met her, I feel like I know her, we've had lots of crafty link ups and chats through our blogs and she's been so generous in sharing information and advice!

2.     Lisnaweary Quilts:  Gorgeous quilts, tutorials - most recently on Moda Bake Shop with her fab quilt -  and a lovely interesting blog about quilting and life in general which I really enjoy reading :-)

3.    The Mom Blogs: My friend Lory, a published author and feature writer, blogs about the fun and challenges of being a mom of 2 small boys in rural Ireland. I have lots of "me too" moments when I'm reading her posts and sometimes I even feature in them!

4.   Sticks and Bubbles: I found Diana's blog through her comments on some of my posts and I love reading it - her voice is so distinct, her projects are stunning and she makes me laugh :-)

So, go check them out! You won't  regret it!

New Year's Challenge - I need your help!

OK, so in this post I am shamelessly asking for your help!

I found a fab challenge through a blog I read and decided I would like to take part. If you get selected as one of the finalists, you get to work with one of 12 amazing crafting bloggers - what a fantastic opportunity!

I entered my Charlotte Bag as my initial project - I am really proud of it, its all my own design, and I love the shape of it and the long strap.

So I would really love if you could do just 2 things for me:

1. I know I have lots of regular readers who are not signed in as "followers" of this blog. I would really love if you could follow the link in the sidebar to Follow my blog.

2. Click on THIS LINK for the competition site.

Then scroll down through the thumbnails and click on the photo of my bag (its no. 56) to link back here.



Thanks so much!

Sarah

PS. - I am working on something nice for a giveaway next week - keep an eye on the blog and/or my Facebook page for news!

2010 - My Favourite Things



My Favourite Makes of 2010

2010 has been good to me, with lots more ups than downs!

In the real world, we, like most other people, have battled with reduced income and general stress brought on by recession woes, but we are extremely lucky to both have good jobs. We've continued to find our way (slowly at times!) through the maze of parenthood, but that has brought joys far in excess of its undoubted challenges. We have had two new additions to our extended family, my gorgeous niece and nephew. We have seen lots of our family and friends, although we'd always like to see more of them. Overall, its pretty positive, looking back :-)

On a personal note, 2010 has been really great for me. I started this blog back in August and set up a Facebook page for it soon afterwards and I have been overwhelmed at the response I've gotten. Its really lovely to read people's comments and to get emails from them about things I've made. I've really enjoyed sharing my crafting and participating in the online blogging and crafting communities - there are so many extraordinarily talented people out there, I am in awe of some of them!

I am slowly but surely discovering a new creative confidence in myself and defining my own style in terms of design and colour. I think the thing I am most thrilled about is that so much of what I have made this year was from my own head - the blankets, the handbags, the taggie comforters. I am also pretty amused that I cannot, just cannot seem to follow a pattern exactly any more. I now tweak and adjust and generally make a pattern suit what I want it to do, which is something I would not have had the confidence to do 18 months ago. Not that I think I can improve on all these patterns, mind, its more that now the patterns are a starting point rather than an end point for me.

So to round out the year nicely, I want to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who reads this blog, to my wonderful husband & kids who never complain when I pull out the sewing machine, to all my friends who have supported me and given me advice, and most especially to my fab friend Helen who has been there giving me advice and great ideas since before the start of it all, and who we can't wait to see in January - lets just hope its not a hat-trick of visits cancelled due to snow! Thanks hon xx