Hand quilting with Lynz and Julie

On Saturday I had the great pleasure of a visit from not one, but two blogging friends!
Here is Lynz from Domestic Light and Magic and Julie from Forest Poppy (with me in the middle). Don't we look happy? That is mainly down to the yummy chocolate cake we are devouring! Julie made the most amazing and delicious chocolate cake and brought it with her.
Both girls live about half an hour's drive from me and we have been planning this day for a while. Julie and Lynz wanted me to give them a bit of a starter on hand quilting, as they hadn't really tried this before (and I have done quite a bit).
But first of all they indulged me by looking through a big pile of my old quilts and my pincushion collection, before we started on my stash. I then pestered them with endless "do you know what this fabric is?" questions, in the hope of gaining a bit more current fabric knowledge (I am truly hopeless).

And Lynz very sweetly gave both Julie and I these very cute pintoppers (2 each!). Lynz made the bee and little Chookie made the flower, didn't she do a great job?! They look perfect in that cactus pincushion (not one I made, but bought at a market stall in Italy years ago).
After lunch we got down to the serious business of hand quilting. Both girls had brought along a cushion cover to try out with, and they picked up the basics really quickly (it isn't hard!).
I did get them to give me advice about my 'computer' quilt too, and, after a bit of experimentation, I finally know what I am doing with it. Thank you so much, dear readers and commenters, for all your valuable advice after the last post. I am going to keep you guessing as to whether I am taking any of it or not ;)
Last, but not least, we then had an expedition to Linlithgow (5 mins drive away) to visit both of the fabric shops there. And I am pleased to say that we all helped the local economy along a bit!
What a fun day! I was completely exhausted after saying goodbye and heading home. But we are going to make this a regular get together, with maybe some crocheting next time!!

Do you recognise this fabric? Just have a look to your left and right ... Yes, it is the backdrop to my blog! And also to this lovely blog.
It is from Riley Blake's Happiness range, and as soon as I saw it I just had to have it. And then I had to order a few bits more to make the postage worth while *staring upwards, tunelessly whistling* ...

This lovely package came from Celtic Fusion Fabrics. The little birdie fabric is another Riley Blake in the same range, the Cloud 9 one in the middle I have lusted after for the last few months, and the same for the Ruby Star Rising that I kept seeing on Lily's Quilts and Sarah Pings and Needles blogs, and the piece to the right is a Lecien - Vintage Art Store by Susan Gower (see I am learning!).
And Gwen from Celtic Fusion Fabrics popped in those 2 Cloud 9 bits as an extra treat! She has done this before when I have ordered from her which is very sweet and a definite encouragement to be a loyal customer!

I haven't had time for much new crafting this week, what with a busy Saturday and getting on with Felix's quilt, but I had to make a trip away last week and wanted a small portable project to take with me. Do you remember when I made the beautiful Miranda for the Babies in Brazil project last year? Well I had promised to make more dollies, and as I have a surplus of brown tapestry wool that doesn't really work (colour wise) in my african flower blanket, I thought I would have a go at corcheting a doll.
I got this pattern out of Nikki Trench's Super-Cute Crochet book. It is a great book, but my only complaint would be that she doesn't give dimensions for any of the patterns. Consequently, I thought this was going to be a much bigger doll...

But actually she is really diddy!!. But very cute, all the same.
Jonathan thinks she looks like Sinitta! So that's what I'll call her.
I think Sinitta could do with a few pals, before I send her out to Jessica. And no, I am not going to crochet a tiny Simon Cowell! But these tiny dolls have given me an idea ...
I may surprise you next week with a couple more dolls to celebrate a most momentous British event!