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Saturday 12 June 2010

Mini delight and my BIG NEWS!

Look at this adorable mini quilt I just received from my swap partner! Thanks so much Mary!

I love the fan shape. If you remember, this mini quilt swap had special rules attached - it couldn't be rectangle or square and had to be only black and white and 1 colour. I have been so amazed it how original and creative everybody has been. I was expecting lots of circles but instead there has been a whole array of interesting shapes and ideas. Check out the Flickr group pool. The mini quilt I sent Mary was featured in this post.
I also love Mary's incredibly neat black blanket stitch around each section of fan, and her use of 'bling'!
It came all the way from Portland Oregon along with all the cool stuff below.
Mary made me a cute card case as well as sending that lovely 'spiced tea' fabric (which looks so american), and a 'Portland oregon' badge. This is the first swap I have taken part in and it has been so much fun and a great way to meet other quilters.

I am very excited to be taking part in the next Doll Quilt swap which is a very prestigious Flickr group swap. I feel very privileged to be able to take part. It is a secret swap, so I will know who my partner is but they won't know who is making for them. We will get to know who are partners are tomorrow.

Now, some of you regular readers might be feeling a little let down at this point. Was my promised BIG NEWS just that I got in the Doll Quilt Swap?
Well don't worry as I am about to reveal all...

Last Sunday we went to see a house and just decided there and then to buy it! But it is not just a house, it is actually a bungalow with a large barn and 7.25 acres of land! So we are about to become smallholders!
It is near Linlithgow, which is a lovely wee town just outside Edinburgh (with it's own patchwork shop, actually!) and even better, our place is about a mile from the beaches at Blackness, which is just along from the Forth Rail Bridge on the Firth of Forth. It is only a half hour drive to the shop so I will still carry on working there as normal.

We have all sorts of plans for the land; we might grow lavender or willow, we will hopefully have some chickens, maybe some pigs and goats too, we can grow our own vegetables, I could have a studio, even do workshops there one day...
The bungalow is smaller than our current house but we could easily extend it or even knock it down and build a fabulous environmentally friendly house one day. It is all VERY exciting. Only problem now is that we need to sell our house.
So this week we have been decorating like crazy (trying to cover up all the damage caused by living with 2 destructive boys, plus Felix's 'grafitti wall' - sigh...) so we can get it on the market by the end of next week. I think we are winning, only youngest son's room to finish plus a fair bit of paintwork. The photographer comes on Tuesday so Monday will be spent doing finishing touches (and probably borrowing lots of fancy merchandise from the shop!).
Speaking of youngest son, Jacob, he's really not keen. He will be 18 in August and really looking forward to his forthcoming, ID unemcumbered, social life. So he is looking for a flat to share.
That's fine by me, I think it will be good for him (plus I can have his room for my sewing room!).

So there you have it, I whole new dawn for us as mini farmers. I did say I would never leave the city again, but there you go, I am nothing if not contrary!
Finger's crossed, everybody, that the whole thing goes through okay and we manage to sell our house!!!

8 comments:

  1. Oooooh!! Envy!! My mum and I were just saying today how fabulous it would be to have room for hens and maybe a goat and a pig! Linlithgow is lovely, too, good luck with the selling!

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  2. Ohhhhh you're off to live the "Good Life" (one of my fav tv programmes)
    I love your swap too - aren't they just so much fun and rewarding.
    I've just packaged up my 2nd swap - Strawberries - it was a lot of fun!
    Best of luck with selling . . . How is the market over there? We've picked up here, however, the 'recession' didn't hit us as hard as the UK or USA.
    Cat

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  3. Very best of luck with selling the house! I am sure with your flair for design the house will look its very best and will not be there long! good luck getting it all ready. So excited for you !!

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  4. Your new place sounds idyllic! Good luck with the house selling.

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  5. Hope everything goes well for the house sale, it is sure to do well, such a lovely old house. I have loved staying there, but am looking forward to walking to the 'beach' and helping out with the hens/goats/pigs - really!
    Showed Dad the photos and looked a google earth so he has got some idea of where it is and how much land there is. Good Luck - lots of love x

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  6. Good luck Jo! Sounds fabulous! With work being only half an hour away i'm sure you won't feel like you are "trapped" in the country! I am quite sure you will sell your house VERY quickly. It is such a fab house with a lovely garden, has the advantage of being at the end of the row and those types of houses don't come on to the market very often - i'm sure it will be snapped up!!
    Good luck!
    p.s. loved the "swaps"!
    Lots of love, Sarah V
    xxxx

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  7. Fantastic news about your new house! It will be such an adventure to have all that land and do so many things! You must keep us up to date ;)

    The quilt that you got from your swap partner is very creative and original. If you ever need more black and white fabric you might find this one useful (http://thefabricloft.co.uk/item/Flights_of_Fancy_Garden_Trellis_Black/10/c19)

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  8. We used to live in a lovely cottage in Philpstoun which must be very close to your new home. We loved visiting Blackness and I often looked longingly at the smallholdings around there. There's lots of things I miss about the Linlithgow area altho' it is lovely over here in East Lothian too.

    I do hope your house sale goes well. What a fantastic opportunity to play around with all that land and space. Juliex

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