It's Hip to be Square!

After months of wet, miserable weather we are, at last, enjoying some lovely sunshine and the gardens are bursting into life.  This also means that son, K, is being deluged with calls and messages wanting gardens attended to. Daughter, J, is settling into married life (which is not much different from how it was before): and all is well (photos next time, hopefully).

Below is the finished project I hinted at last time. It's my Tag Square Bee quilt that was started at the end of 2010. The blocks are from quilters all over the world, except for the one at the top, centre, which I made. I also sent a block to each of those quilters to incorporate into their quilts.

It's the second, and biggest, quilt I've finished to date and will grace the bed in the spare room, after it's been washed (there's a lot of handling involved in hand quilting - and the odd spilt cup of tea - resulting in general grubbiness!)

I think the shadows on this photo are great.

It's backed with an old sheet, with the mini signature blocks (one from each quilter) stitched onto the back of their respective larger blocks. With this big project out of the way I can concentrate on one of my other major works-in-progress: which I usually do alongside smaller, quicker ones (for more 'instant' satisfaction).

Zipped purse made for stall at talk. Organic cotton samples and recycled orange zip.

Last week, I gave a talk about my crafting, to the Ladies Group I run locally. I was a little worried - mainly that wouldn't be able to make it interesting enough - but considering I talk to them every month to open our meetings I had no reason to be nervous. So I wasn't really. But I had no idea I could talk for so long without stopping, because I'd never tried before (and I'm known for not talking much). The ladies seemed to enjoy it, asked lots of questions and gave lots of compliments. I sold a few items and had commissions for a couple more, but more importantly, made people aware of what I do. In fact, I thoroughly enjoyed it and wouldn't be averse to doing it again to another group.

Handbag made from left over upholstery fabric from my mother plus other scraps

The cherry on the cake came the next day when I checked my emails and found I'd made my first sale from my Folksy shop (2 sales actually, to the same person). I was buzzing for the rest of that day and felt like I'd finally 'arrived'. Hopefully, other people will feel confident to order now that someone has broken the ice. I had lots more 'views' of my items too, which I'm putting down to the fact that Mothering Sunday is fast approaching. I should really re-stock my shop now - I didn't have much in it to start with - but that's one of the less enjoyable parts of this 'business'.

Bye for now
Teresa x