Fat Quarterly Retreat

Hello

Since I'm going to the FQ Retreat next weekend I thought I'd join in with the getting to know you linky party.  I watched in envy last year so I bought a ticket as soon as they went on sale this time round.

I'm Sarah, a 40yr old (well almost, my birthday is tomorrow) Scot living in the East of England.  I'm married to a wonderful bloke and we have a 6yr old son and a 3yr old daughter.  I work part time as a forensic scientist which I love.

I've always sewed or embroidered (my mum is a fantastic seamstress and taught me when I was young) but that tailed off after the kids were born.  Then when the little lady was about a year old I was looking for a new hobby and I stumbled across quilting and off I went.  and through quilting I've rediscovered my love of sewing in general.

I'm coming to the retreat with two friends Jill (The Nocturnal Stitcher) and Anna (who doesn't blog).

Below is one of my most recent and favourite quilts, Starburst.

I love bright, rich colours and have a soft spot for star blocks in general.

This is me

But as a result of some pesky health stuff by the time of the retreat I'm probably going to be looking more like this

So if you see me in one of my little hats please say hi.

I'm doing
Crochet with Laura Taylor
Free Motion with Trudi Wood
Portholes with Lu Summers
Blog Design with John Adams

See you soon!
Sarah

Q2 Finish along results

Time to link up with all the other lovely finishes.  I laid out my hopes for the quarter here - one apron, three quilts and a cushion.

And amazingly, despite having done almost no sewing for the past month (because of pesky health stuff and a complete kitchen remodel) I completed four out of five!

I've previously blogged about the memory quilt I made my aunt, and the Starburst quilt I made for my friend's wedding.  Both were well received which was great.

I also finished the apron for the Crafty Cooks Apron & recipe swap which was great fun and good to do something different.

My final finish is a quilt for my Mother-in-law, Jill.  When she came to stay at Christmas she asked if I would make her a quilt so I said I'd do it as a birthday present.

We have totally different tastes in fabric so this quilt is much softer and more muted than others I've made but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I used a jelly roll of Athill Range by Cabbages & Roses and quilted it in a loopy design using a Gutermann variegated thread.

It was finished in time for her birthday at the beginning of June but it still hasn't made it to the post office (hangs head in shame)!

So all in all I'm very pleased.  I'm not joining in with Q3 because of the pesky health stuff but I may be back for Q4.

Bye for now

Sarah

Definitely NOT a quilting post

I know those of you that stop by here occasionally do so for quilt & sewing related stuff so I just wanted to let you know that this post will not be about that.

I've thought long and hard about whether to post this here are it was never my intention for this space to be too personal but rather a record of my sewing exploits.  But sometimes things happen and life gets in the way of your plans and I just decided I'd rather be open.

In the middle of May I found a lump and after a battery of tests it was confirmed on 31st May that I have breast cancer - only a small tumour but it has spread to my lymph nodes.

Needless to say it was a bit of a shock - the whole 'why me?' stuff went through my head - I'll be 40 next week (not exactly the present I was after!) and I have two small kids.  But after a few days and a few tears we got over the initial bombshell and started to get on with things.

The initial plan was surgery followed by chemo but further scans revealed a number of additional tiny tumours, which doesn't change my prognosis but did change the treatment plan so now it is chemo first.  I started last Friday and although I wouldn't do it by choice it wasn't as awful as I feared.

I'm lucky that it has been caught early, that I have an excellent chance of survival and that I have a wonderfully supportive husband, family and group of friends.

And I live close to a centre of excellence for cancer treatment and have a fab oncologist who has arranged for me to have my second dose of chemo on Monday 22nd July rather than Friday 19th July as originally scheduled so that I can still go to the Fat Quarterly Retreat - woohoo.

So in all likelihood I'll be the one wearing a selection of little hats.  And guess what - you can even get Liberty print chemo beanies!  Every cloud.........

Right, there we go.  Now that is dealt with normal sewing service can resume!

Take care
Bye
Sarah

Claiming my blog

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I'm late to the whole claiming my blog malarkey because of a whole lot that is going on just now.  But better later than never!