What an interesting Blog. Thank you. It has made me think about my family phrases. Ooh and my grandmother was a tailor and she taught me to sew. She used to make me dresses and if I wasn’t available for a ‘try on’ for the length of the belt – she would wind it round her ‘ample’ waist and if it fit she would say that will fit our Sooney (my childhood nickname). I was like a lathe and it would go round me about 4 times!!! Little did I know I would grow up to do the same for my granddaughter…. and I look more like my Nan than I like to think (haha), ‘ample’ waist an’ all……

Ok – you have done it. After reading this, I MUST get the quilting done on the quilt for my daughter made out of her late dad’s rugby shirts. (it was meant to be her birthday present a year ago, and a Christmas present before that…..) Hoping it can be a Christmas present this year. Thank you. xx

Good luck Christine with your show, a nerve wracking time!! Hope you get lots of lovely visitors and raise plenty for your charity.

Haha, Christine, you sound like me! I have so many crafts I have dabbled in/with too. Currently making Luna Lapins, soooo fiddly. Thankds for thre interesting Blog.

This book sounds brilliant. Have looked on Amazon but they don’t have it. Where can I buy it? Please xx

I do hope your hubby is fully recovered now, that must have been an awful experience for both of you on Christmas morning x

The book looks a lot of fun, and your description of using it does too – thank you for the entertaining blog on it x

I’ve never heard of the Quilters YearBook but I want one, it seems like just the thing to push me along on my quilting journey. I’d like to know where I can buy it too.
I also have an obsessive need to write things down, thank you for sharing.

P.S. I hope your husband feels much better now and I wish him the best health.

I enjoyed reading this Christine but, I should confess, my pleasure came (at least in part) from an increasing feeling that I might be relatively ‘normal’ 😉

Having just moved house and had to give away a lot of unused stationery, I think I could say I was a stationery addict too. I’ve recorded most of the things I have ever made for sale (patterns, making instructions, time taken, materials used, costs), but your blog has made me realise that there is so much more I could be doing with quilting notes. Thank you.

I found this very interesting because I believe that quilting (or any other craft for that matter) is therapy, but maybe for slightly different reasons than yours.
I too have suffered from depression several times over my life. When my husband was suffering with cancer I was a beadworker (still am on occasion – I had not discovered quilting then!) and had been attending a regular class. When he was well enough, my husband would almost push me out of the door to go to my class – simply because he could see that the two hours I spent there took my mind away from what we were living through. When I thought it through, I came to the conclusion that, if you are concentrating on making something, you cannot be concentrating on your troubles, whatever they are. Crafting kept me sane after he died.
I know that I am not good at sitting doing nothing – indeed it can make anxiety set in. If I get to that stage (as I did the other week – I had been trying to set up the craft room and had been telling myself I didn’t have room for sewing) I MUST sew. It doesn’t matter what it is – hand or machine, patchwork or wholecloth – but I need to do something. So I set up a folding table in my lounge (I live on my own so don’t have to worry about getting in anyone else’s way!) and pieced a throw together. I just need to quilt it now!
We all do what we need to do. Happy quilting and thank you for sharing. xx

I love Abbie Searle’s Mystery Quilt .. a BOM with a secret .. that’s availabe in our online shop and one I am taking part in. Waiting each month for the surprise to arrive is something to look forward to. All in all I think it’s worth the investment, either BOM or Mystery, and even after only one block I have learnt so much from it too.