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!!!