Super Awesome Mail Day!!

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I am SOOO excited! Guess what was waiting for me at home after a long day at work?  There was a rather heavy parcel from Sarah holding my Japanese charms from her Japanese Charm Swap!  There is just something so awesome about Japanese prints and to have a variety like this totally makes my day.

I have not had a proper look through them all yet, but these six caught my eye immediately.  Frogs! Elephants! Sparkly piggies and adorable bunnies.  Awesome, awesome, awesome.  Thank you, Sarah, for organizing us all!

But wait!  What is this nice little unassuming envelope next to my pile of charms?  Yippee!  It's fabric tape from Mary!  Look!  Look at what is inside!

I can not wait to pack up my next pile of bee blocks and put a little bit of this happiness on the envelope.  Look out, Annabella!  If you are looking for a bit of fabric tape (or bunting or a super notebook cover!) to spice up your home, hop over to Mary's etsy shop for a peek.  Mary, I am super thrilled.  Thank you.

As a general comment from now until about May, I am sorry for the quality of my photos.  It gets dark early here in Ireland and I just can't get home before the sun starts to set.  I will try my best, but can't make promises :)

Granny's Putting Up A Fight

I know you will not going to believe it, but I am struggling to make 2 more granny squares for my Do.Good Stitches circle.  How can that be?  Well, it is true.

I have to change from this tutorial to this tutorial when making these blocks and it is nothing short of melting my brain.  I cut the little pieces earlier in the week so that I would have a quick and easy project for some night after work.  A nice little colorful sense of satisfaction one evening.  Wrong.  So wrong.  My block corners reliably look like this:

I tried to cheat and return to my tried and true tutorial.  I scaled up the blocks a small bit to reach the requested block size and match the second tutorial's requirements, but still no luck.  It's too small. Still, it will not go to waste.

I think I have sorted out the problem now so, once I regain the will, I will give them one more try.  If I fail again, I might just end up sending the lovely Dolores a few bars of chocolate and asking for her forgiveness.

To not toss the sewing machine out of the window, I was looking for a quick sewing fix to bring happiness.  Instead I cut charm squares for the Japanese Charm Swap...

and pulled fabrics from my stash.  I'm queen bee next month in the Modern Irish Bee.  It is time to get things sorted, cut and packed up for the ladies.  More on that next week....

Feeling a bit better now!  I'll try to tackle that granny again tomorrow.  She's putting up more of a fight than I expected :)

Did you sign up for the Japanese Charm Swap?

That's right!  The lovely Sarah has organized a Japanese Charm Swap for those in the UK or Ireland over on her blog.  Sign ups start today (15 August) and will remain open to 25 August or until all places are filled, so be sure to get your place as quickly as possible!

Sarah and I met in a Japanese Charm Swap ages ago.  I'm so grateful too, as that was the start of a great bloggy friendship.  She makes me giggle nearly every day!  Beyond a just a good a laugh. we also scored fabric, of course!  Want to see the goodies we picked up in that round?

Oh, they were yummy!  I think this time I'll put in a little strawberry charm.  I just love this print.  What do you think?  Do I go with the blue or the white background?  

If you sign up, you just might have two of these beauts in your stash in a few weeks time!  Yippee!

What's better is that Sarah is hosting a giveaway for the participants.  I can't believe you're still reading this with all of the excitement on Sarah's page...get over here and put your name in!