Let's Get Acquainted Blog Hop 2013

I can't believe this week is my week on the Blog Hop!

I have been focused on getting ready for Scout Camp that starts this afternoon, and it passed me by!

So..... me....

Well, I am lone mum to 3 wonderful and totally gorgeous boys:

We have lots of adventures together, including to the Olympics 2012, camping and tramping through lots of National Trust houses!

Apart from my 3 boys, fabric and quilts are my passion!

I started quilting 17 years ago when I was an undergraduate student in Leicester. During my time at school I only took one sewing lesson - I was much more focused on maths and physics. But during my first year of a degree in Physics with Astrophysics and was visiting a friend when I saw a quilt design in a magazine, that moment changed my life!

When I got home I bought a cheap sewing machine and started making a king size quilt - I cut out all the shapes with a pair of scissors! It took an age to complete, but I was bitten by the bug!!

The rest as they say is history!

Since then, through lives ups and downs I have always had a fabric stash, a sewing machine or 16 and now a passion for sharing my fascination with as many people as possible through teaching!

I had always hand quilted my quilts, which takes time. But at the beginning of last year I needed to make a quilt super fast, so I taught myself Free Motion Quilting. Now I am obsessed with the texture and design FMQ can give you. The way it changes the quilt!

My focus moving forward is to complete a City and Guilds in Machine Embroidery Level 3 through distance learning. I am hoping it will feed my addiction to surface design and texture!

If you want to see more of the quilts I have made, have a look here.

Don't forget to check out all of the fabulous other quilters on the Hop today:

Karen @ Karen, {Novice} Quilter

Anne @ PlayCrafts

Rachel @ Let's Begin Sewing...

Jan @ Sew And Sow Farm

Anna @ Quilting Along The Grain

Cath @ Wombat Quilts

Sarah @ {no} hats in the house
Christen @ Love by Hand
Julie @ 627handworks

Thanks for stopping by!

Ps I am very sorry I haven't been able to post the winner of the give away on my blog. It will be on Monday when I get home from Scout camp!

FQR - all about me!

In less than 3 weeks I will be packing up my sewing machine, supplies and overnight bag to head off to Fat Quarterly Retreat in London!

I am beyond excited about my weekend away!

To get to spend a whole weekend with fellow fabric addicts and quilters is a dream come true!

On the Fat Quarterly blog they suggested we write a bit about ourselves..

Well this is me:

My gorgeous eldest son took this yesterday - I am very camera shy, but he was was good with his grandads camera I let him take a photo!

So three things about me:

• I am a sewing teacher, teaching adults basic sewing skills as well as patchwork classes in Arts centres around Gloucestershire. It is a job I love.

• I am also a Scout leader. The weekend before the retreat I am on camp with 300 Scouts aged 5 3/4 to 70! It has made me giggle going to Baden Powell House for the Retreat!

• Lastly by no means least, I have 3 monsters aged 5, 7 and 11 who keep me on my toes! They are my world.... although I am often told to not kiss them in public and to walk 5 paces behind!

That is me... well part of me!

Can't wait to meet everyone on our wonderful Retreat!