Last weekend we had visitors and as a parting gift one of them left behind a particuarly nasty set of Welsh cold germs.  I had planned to have this blog entry all drafted and ready to go by the middle of the week.  Instead I have spent most of the week sipping Lemsip, feeling sorry for myself and generally not doing anything more energetic than turn the pages of an easy to read book.  I'm feeling over the worst of it today so let's see if I can complete the entry

For those who haven't come across the idea before Foodie PenPals is all about the giving and receiving of a surprise box of food related goodies.  Each month you are paired up with two other people.  One person who will send you a box full of lovely stuff and one person you send a box to.  I find there is as much enjoyment in going around the shops looking for as many goodies as possible that fits in with my partners likes and dislikes and stays within the £10 limit.  This month I sent my parcel to Catherine who blogs at http://soup-tuesday.blogspot.co.uk. Have a look there to see what I sent her. 

My parcel came from Rebecca whose blog is at http://Munchiesandmunchkins.wordpress.com

This is the sight that greeted me when I opened her parcel.  Doesn't it look pretty.

And this is everything she sent me.  I hardly knew where to start with it all, everything was so lovely.

I decided a sit down with a cup of coffee and one of these was needed straight away.  The biscuits didn't survive the journey in the post terribly well but because they were well wrapped up it was easy to rescue them.  Becky said they should stay fresh for several days.  I have no idea if that's correct, they only lasted a day here.  The damage inflicited by the post didn't affect the taste at all, they were delicious.

Welsh chocolate from Caerphilly.  My husband made some comment about how this must be for him as he is Welsh and his sister used to live in Caerphilly.  I did share with him eventually, but only under protest.

We have had a popcorn machine lurking in the depths of the understairs cupboard for ages.  Recently I decided to rescue it but haven't had the chance to buy any corn for it.  It would seem foodie penpals are telepathic as there in the box is a bag of some very special corn.  I'm dithering over what to top it with but there is enough so that I can try a couple of different things.

I love these and Leigh hates them, perfect in my opinion,means I don't have to share.

I'm sure there is a can of coconut milk tucked away in the back of the cupbard.  The next time I'm on kitchen duty (which to be honest isn't very often) this is what we are having for dinner.  I've been using the Very Lazy brand products for years but never come across this before so am looking forward to trying it out.

Something else new to me but we already have plans about how to use it.

Isn't this just so sweet, lots of butterfly shaped biscuits being made here over the coming weeks.

Becky also included a few other bits and pieces but my photos are so blured'm not going to upload them and I can't retake the photos as we have as we have eaten  most of it.  This included some marshmellows and the kebab sticks to toast them on.  If only we had the weather to light the bbq we would have tried toasting them.  We couldn't wait for summer to get here and had a munching session in front of thetv one evening where they went down a treat.  Also some decorating glitter which looked lovely dusted over some buttercream icing on a sponge cake.  I complety forgot to take a photo of that but when I bake it again I'll update with a pic.

I got a mix of the familiar and the unknown, things to use straight away and things to ponder over and plan how to use.  This is just what I hoped it would be all about andthis month's parcel certainly lived up to expectations.
 
 
We have had people to stay this weekend but it has meant that I have had the weekend to myself,mostly.  Why?  Because the people staying are friends of Leigh's and they have spent Friday evening, all day Saturday and all day sunday here  http://exemrs.co.uk/poster2012.html  where they have a layout on exhibition.  They are playing with their Big Boys toys and as I don't  have that much of an interest in model railways I have avoided it as much as I can.  It has meant a day to myself with no commitments at all so I went to Plymouth, not to shop but to explore the bits I never seem to have time for otherwise.  Walked to the sea front, loked around Plymouth Hoe and imagined Sir Francis Drake being there playing his famous game of bowles although yesterday it was a bit windy for that sort of thing.  Walked to the Baribican, past where the Pilgim Fathers set sail for America, explored all the independant little shops in the Barbican area and then back to the Musuem which has an exhibition at the moment all about Chinoiserie in Contemporary Art (the influence of China in Western decorative Arts) which is inspiring.  By the time I caught the train home my head was buzzing with ideas.  I want to figure out a way to translate some of those ideas into ATCs , lets wee what happens over the next few weeks.  
 
 

Time For Ice Cream

Dandelion Daydreams
Scrappy Flowers
The third block in the quilt-along mystery was a revamped version of shoo-fly.  I have never made half-square triangle blocks by the method used here.  Bascially it's cut two squares of fabric, place them right sides together, mark the diagonal, sew 1/4" each side of the diagonal, cut on the diagonal, trim to size if needed.  It really is as easy as it sounds
 
 
Artist Trading Cards or ATCs as they're usually called, are a way for people to swap small pieces of artwork without making any huge commitment.  They have a fixed size of 2.5" by 3.5" but apart from that the only limit is imagination.  They can be fabric likethe ones above or they can be drawn or painted or sculpted or any other way you can think of to get an image onto a card. 
I recently sent a set of four cards off to someone in New Zealand and in response got these little beauties from Sandy in the USA.  I think they are wonderful.  They look great stood up on some mini stands so that iI can admire them each time I come into the room.
 
 

Inverted Star

I said as soon as Sunny had confirmed she had received her block I would show a full picture of it.  She got it yesterday so here it is.  I'm so glad she likes it.  have a look here http://blockswapadventure2.blogspot.co.uk
 to see ho  

 
 
Last November I spent a week visiting my mum and during that time investigated a few quilt shops I hadn't come across before. One of the places we discovered was Sew Creative at Wroxham Barns. In theory we had only gone for a look around but somehow all sorts of things fell into my basket including a fat quarter pack of a fabric range called Dandelion Daydream. That pack has sat in my stash for the past seven months waiting for just the right project to come along. Well, The Quilting Gallery's Beginners Quilt Along is just the right project and one of the versions I am making is based around this fabric, but four fat quarters won't go far. Yesterday I rang Sew Creative and asked if they still had this range in stock. Luckily they did. I ordered enough to see me through several more blocks and it arrived this morning. Yes that's right I placed a telephone order late yesterday afternoon and they got it all cut and packed and in the post so that it arrived this morning. I am so impressed. Service like this makes for customer loyalty and I will be using their service again.

Well worth a visit www.wroxhambarns.co.uk and www.sewcreativequilts.co.uk
 
 

Peek Over the Fence

This week's block from the Beginner's Quilt Along at http://quiltinggallery.com is a variation on the Rail Fence block. The blocks are published every Thursday but because of the time difference I don't get to see the new block of the week until late Thursday evening so mine will usually be made on Friday or even over the weekend.
 
Last week only two fabrics were required for the block, this week four are required.  Each of my variations has the two original fabrics from last week and two new fabrics.  These new fabrics will also be used in upcomming blocks so that eventually all the blocks in a quilt will be linked by a common fabric theme.

To see more of this week's blocks by other people have a look at www.flickr.com/groups/beginners-quilt-along/
 
 

Play a Game of Hopscotch

Michelle of The Quilting Gallery  http://quiltinggallery.com  has arranged a Beginner's Quilt-Along starting June 7th and continuing until September 13.  Each week she will release one pattern block, 13 blocks in all.  The quilt along is designed with novices and beginners in mind but as I have never done a quilt along before and it never hurts to go back to basics occasionally I thought I would take part.  Above are my three different colour versions of block 1.  I cannot decide which I prefer, I'll have to wait until more blocks are completed before I decide on my favourite colour scheme.  Images of other people's blocks can be found at www.flickr.com/beginners-quilt-along/
 
 
One Foodie Penpal parcel sent and one received.  The one received is lovely, more about that on reveal day at the end of the month.
 
 
I joined Block Swap Adventure

blockswapadventure2.blogspot.com
 
for the same reason I became a Foodie Pen Pal.  I love the excuse to get to know new people and it doesn't matter if it's shopping for all those goodies that I would never buy for myself or being forced into a quilt shop because I need extra fabric to make a block it's all good fun.  Leigh says I have enough fabric to open a small shop so how come I don't have enough to make one 12.5" square block is a mystery but anway extra fabric was required.  I chose a pattern called Inverted Star and the pic shows just a corner of it.  My partner for the month is Sunny from the USA and once she has received the block and is happy with it I'll publish a picture of the whole thing.

 
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