Bastard - the quilt (a musical journey through one quilter's stash)

Go on... let it out. Have a big guffaw at my expense.

It took me four days just to sew the top together. Admittedly not all day, I lost the will to live around 5pm each afternoon.

Before you ask..No I am not reallylearning to love quilt making.

 Although I do like quilt finishing.

 I think I could love it, maybe, if it weren't for all the precision - and the freaking pressing.

But truthfully, making sea stars was way more fun.

 Special thanks has to go to Emma who helped out with all the complicated maths.. and the instructions.. and pretty much everything!

The free quilt pattern can be downloaded on the Ella Blue website and it is called Leaky Boats. They could not be swayed to use "Bastard"  - bizarre ! but that leaves it free for the musical !

Pass the Bex

Dudes, it was long and also short and freakin' steamy and I vomited on the plane for hours !!! There were good friends and diva tantrums and a few near misses on a borrowed scooter.

There was fabric and frivolity, lots of standing and lots of talking.There was the usual madness of sample spree and a bit of new madness just for fun.

I came home in dire need of a Bex and a good lay down.

At the starting line

The whole big adventure starts in a couple of hours and I still have one quilt to finish binding. To be honest, I just ran out of puff. I might finish it on the booth - (it would be a good excuse to sit down).

This is Sewing School (with thanks to Rita for the great photo).

I have made a whole bunch of stuff with it and other people have made some freakingly amazing stuff with it. The suitcases are groaning !

if you want to see it in all it's glory you can pop over to the Ella Blue Website and take a peek.

I won't be blogging while I am away as I am not taking the appropriate devices but I will pop some pics on IG and FB and tell you all about when I get back.

I am going to pace myself and keep my peopler intact this time.

Madness revisited

OK, So I didn't make it back here as quickly as I thought but the excuse is a 100% cotton one.

Introducing Sewing School  (by Me)

This range will shown at Houston at the end of the month and it will be needles down and jump on a plane in exactly 12 sleeps.

 It is the same madness once again, staying up late, getting up early and the brain and explosion of deadlines and to-do's and maybe's. I am hoping for a less eventful trip this time and will be taking extra care of my people-er.

I will do my best to jump back in and share some photos but right now I am heading off to boil the kettle and get back to it.

Yes it is a madness, yes there must be a better way, and no, nobody has the time to think of it.

yestermorrow

That was bizarre! There really is no other way to describe quilt market. I feel like I spent longer on the various flights than I did in America ! The trip was nothing like the leisurely Spring market trip to Minneapolis.

Houston was hot, smelly and busy and we had the most spectacular tropical storm ( a downgraded hurricane) that saw half of quilt market holed up in the Hilton bar for hours. I saw nothing but the convention center, Ikea and my motel room until the day we were leaving - it really was bonkers. (oh and the Hilton bar maybe more than once -networking folks, networking)

This time, Ella Blue had a schoolhouse, where each designer had a short time to speak about their fabric range. I had never seen schoolhouse before and not only was I jet lagged, I was suffering a most explosive tummy bug at the time, so I was talking and clenching both ends at the same time ! I am sure I seemed completely erratic.

I have been home a week tomorrow morning and am back at work and feeding the cats and brushing the dog and every now and again I wonder if it really happened;  the child centre of screaming babies that was the first flight, followed by the incredibly drunken man ejected on the second flight ( along with hymn singing nervous flyer woman and vomiting woman). The crazy speed walking through LAX, the sweet gentleman from Alabama with the best accent ever who helped me schlep all my stuff to the Convention centre and all the crazy wonderful friends and conversations and drop dead hilarious moments. 

I have a bag full of American 'candy' that I am working my way through and a  whole bunch of friends I need to thank for helping me pull all this off, but right now on Wednesday night at 8:30PM - I feel like it is the early hours of the yestermorrow morning. I have dropped my phone in a drain and walked quite painfully into a random thing poking out of the school garden. From this side of the screen things are feeling pretty ragged. 

Goodnight for now blogfriends - and thanks, as always for making all this crazy happen.

A post for Senior Management

Yep, truly ! I got to have another go at this fabric designing stuff. My new range will debut at quilt market in Houston at the end of October. I can't believe I will be heading off to America again. Who am I ? How did I become this traveler ? 

All of this crazy wonderful stuff has come from you guys, every single member of Senior Management, whether you are a brand new lurker or a real life long time reading friend - because you bother to pop in and read my irregular ramblings and you stop and say Hi and you encourage me and you make me laugh. 

I know I have said it before, but look what we have done folks. 

You , me and a blog , un-bloody-believable !