31+ reasons to be happy

I'm home alone tonight! I will sell at three outdoor craft fairs in Aug-Sept so the family was kind enough to leave me alone with my sewing machine for the night to get some serious sewing done. I am enjoying myself. The timing for my new quilt fabrics arrival couldn't have been better. I had a little Christmas by myself opening the two envelopes stuffed with fabrics, 31 pieces to be specific (more pics in my flickr). I also made me lentils (which the family do not eat) served with rice and feta cheese on top. Which I ate in my bed in front of the TV. Freedom!

Rebuilding the zoo

I got an invitation to a small craft fair here in town in August 15th which I could not say no to, even though it came on a very short notice. So I have made myself busy cutting pieces for animal portrait pouches. They are my bestsellers whenever I sell at craft shows so I am trying to build a little zoo for Autumn and Christmas fairs. I try to be efficient and make A LOT to be able to make those quilts I'm dreaming of soon. However I AM very happy to be going out to meet some customers in person again! I thought I'd make some key fobs with birds like these, I need something to hang on this ikea tree I got at the thrift store.I have done some shopping, just to make my mailbox happy :) It must want some exceptions from the white envelopes with complete boredom inside, don't you think? But the first happy envelope that came was a very welcome surprise from Moogsmum, who decided I needed some of this gorgeous cloud fabric after I had left an enthusiastic comment on her blog. She made this gorgeous quilt with it, you see. I love it so much, thank you!The lovely ribbons above I got from a German web shop called farbenmix.
I also found HEATnBOND in a Finnish web shop, I want to try out if it is any better than the Vliesofix (at least I think it is that) I buy from a local store. The glue keeps coming off the paper of it, which makes me go crazy. This stuff is what I use for my appliqués :) Are you all familiar with it, or would you be interested in a photo tutorial on how to use it (/how I make my appliqués)?

New shop

While rearranging I once again realised what an awful lot of fabrics I own. And what a small part of them I actually use. I have a great supplier of English quality cotton fabrics (Liberty, Designer's guild, William Morris, Laura Ashely...) here in town so I keep buying fabrics. Some of them are seconds, many just sample pieces to bargain prices. Sometimes I just cannot leave them behind, I know you fabric addicts know what I mean! So I decided to open up the SykoFabScrap shop, an idea I've been pondering for a long time, to ease the burden on my shelves and maybe get room for those new fabrics I need to buy.... And share the joy of course, the main purpose of my business! I will be adding new stuff regularly during the following weeks.

Thank you all for the input on the pattern question, I might end up making a Christmas pattern booklet with several designs in the end.

*edit* I forgot to add the breaking news that the first two poppies on our patio showed their pretty faces this morning, how we have been waiting! I am about as crazy about flowers that I am about fabrics, but there is more magic into poppies. Isn't it amazing how a tiny poppy seed can grow up to something like this?

Auction is up!

The Craft for China charity auction is now up, for one week only! Please follow this link to see the quilt I donated. There are a lot of gorgeous arts and crafts, please take a look, get yourself a piece of art and help orphans in China! If I had any money to spend I would most certainly invest it in this piece by Rob Ryan. You also have a great chance to snatch Little Red Riding Hood & Wolfie by Linda C Norton, too cute!!!

Go here to read more about the fund raiser.

Bright head(ing)

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Big E learned how to ride the bike she got for Christmas so we had a very happy Sunday. I decided to take on my crocheting project again, after abandoning it for some time (after 8 hexagons I realized I had made them all wrong so I had to take a break...). The blanket is now the size of a small doll quilt so it will take "some time" to finish it, but I'm in no hurry, this is supposed to be my relaxing, slow project. T says the colours are crazy, but I like it, and I am using white in all of the hexagons to lighten it up.


I went fabric shopping last Friday, I needed fabric for more bird scarves (will be available in the shop tomorrow Tuesday) and I found this aqua ribbon to a bargain price so I bought a few meters. And found a (p)syko way of displaying it :) The mobile in the background is from painted fish studio.

Wishing you all a joyful work week!

*edit* If you are a lover of dots, take a look at Julie's blog dedicated to dotty things. She features my piggy cushion today in very good company!