sunday stash

hello and happy sunday to you all!!

this week i am hosting sunday stash, thank you finding fifth :) it's a good week for me to host it as there has been quite a bit of fabric coming through my door!

yes christmas fabric!! ( i love christmas!!) and 5 yards of yummy linen. all my sewing at the minute is christmas sewing, getting ready for the many craft fairs i've got lined up. i was browsing through pinterest as you do and spotted the dear mr. claus fabric by cosmo cricket and i fell in love with it, but of course it's an old collection, so it was quite hard to find, but i persevered and found it :) and the linen, cause you can never have too much linen!!

i always hear people talking about their local quilt shop and i'm always soo jealous cause there isn't a good one here all the fabric shops here seem to have old fuddy-duddy fabrics, buut i finally found a good one it's about a half hour drive and it has like modern, current fabric!! it has avalon!! so i had to come home with some because it's soo rare to see proper fabric here haha and of course some solids.

normally i don't like jelly rolls but i have a plan for this one and also i want  quilts made of  each one of bonnie and camilles collections and happy go lucky was getting hard to find, so i decided to snap it up before its gone!

now add your sunday stashes up so i can look at pretty fabric!!

rachael x

purple spotty elephant

so there was some interest in the low volume swap, so i thought i'd go ahead and run it!

OK details we need 27 people plus me to make 28 people from the UK and ireland (or if there is enough interest a bigger swap of 56) and then we all buy 1 yard of low volume fabric (or 2 yards if 56 people)

sign-ups will be open from 2 november - 6 november

once everybody has signed up you get to go and look at pretty fabric and buy 1 yard of low-volume-y goodness! we are looking for modern prints and no solids, with a good scale for cutting into charms. and all 100% high quality cotton fabric please :)

once you have chosen your fabric upload it to the flickr group, be sure to check there are no doubles of fabrics before you purchase yours!!

this swap will be 5 inch squares and from a yard of fabric you'll get 56 squares there is a great tutorial over at oh, fransson on how to cut them.

get your pretty little charm squares over to me for the 2nd december, include in your parcel a pre-addressed envelope, now that's important so make sure you include it!!
I will return your packages (assuming everyones arrive on time) on 9 december. for shipping i will send you all an email asking for the cost of shipping via paypal.

ok all sound good? great, just leave a comment that you want to join :) and lets get swapping!!

rachael x

p.s oh and spread the word, more people equals more fabric!!

p.p.s can you totally tell this is my first organized swap? haha

w.i.p wednesday

*can i just say THANK-YOU for all your lovely comments on my last post, seriously the quilting world has the nicest and sweetest people, so THANK-YOU :)*

it's a cold, grey, wet and windy day here the perfect excuse to stay inside in comfy clothes with my sewing machine and netflix!! do you remember this quilt from like ages ago, well it's been sitting basted for months, so i thought today was the perfect day to quilt it :)

ahh i love it and can't wait to finish it!!

question: would anybody be interested in a low volume charm swap??

rachael x

linking up with WIP  wednesday

a wall jumped out behind my car

yay! its monday and i have no college!! and it's (kinda) sunny! double yay!!

i may have got a bit carried away with the a beautiful mess app

you may have noticed at the top of my blog that a new little button has appeared, yes i have opened an etsy shop! see i would like 'the floral suitcase' to be my business, it's like soo scary putting that out there, but i'm slowly learning not to be scared anymore. i also have a facebook business page, i don't use normal facebook but it is soo fun for business purposes.

i regularly attend craft fairs to sell all my handmade items and i have to say i love doing craft fairs you meet soo many great people and they also get your 'business' out there. when most people see my stall they either think i didn't make all the items or i'm just doing this as a hobby, which makes me feel kind of stupid. by telling you all this i'm hoping it will give me the courage to tell people that no it is not just a hobby but that it is my business!

my most popular items are my animal cushions and these aren't even all of them, i have loved making each one and making them all a little bit unique. I have been running my business for a few months now and i love everyday of it, some days are harder than others but it's worth it to be working at something that i am passionate about and want to do, i'm still in the early, learning stages but each day i ;earn something new and have so many great people helping, and supporting me through it all :)

probably my most favourite cushion ever!!

rachael x

p.s this post took me 3 hours to write

and the winner is...

when you run a competition you have to pick a winner, ditzy me forgot this fact so I'm a couple days late announcing the winner but without further ado the winner is:

                                                                          Janice

Well done!! I'll get that pattern sent over to you right away :) and because a post without a picture would be boring, here is some watercolour trees.

rachael x

p.s can you totally tell I wrote this on my ipad??

ooh a new quilt-a-long!

megan from city stitches is hosting her very first quilt-along with her very first pattern!! i'll definetly be making this quilt because it's sooo a.m.a.z.i.n.g!! wanna see?

it's called hemispheres and you can get it here it's curves which i've never attempted but will definetly give this a go, its too cool not to!

here is the schedule:

Oct 21: Color and Fabric Choices/Cutting Tips

Oct 28: Piecing with Pins

Nov 4: Piecing with Glue

Nov 11: Piecing Freehand/Curve Master

Nov 25: Quilting

Dec 9: Link Up

Dec 10-12: Voting

Dec 13: Grand Prize Award

ooh and guess what there are prizes, yaayy!! tammy from marmalade fabrics is giving away the grand prize of a rainbow stack of 40 robert kaufman kona solids, good, huh?

GIVEAWAY

megan has given me the hemisphere PDF pattern to giveaway today to one of you lucky people, all you have to do is leave a comment and i'll pick a winner on friday.

join the flickr group  http://www.flickr.com/groups/2357757@N23/ and use #hemispheresqal on Instagram also check in with the other bloggers for more chances to win :)

Oct 8: Alyssa pileofabric.com
Oct 9: Lindsey lrstitched.com
Oct 10: Christina thesometimescrafter.com
Oct 11: Jennifer knottedthread.com
Oct 12: Sara sewsara.blogspot.com
Oct 13: Emily esposetta.blogspot.com
Oct 14: Angela cuttopieces.blogspot.com
Oct 15: Rachael thefloralsuitcase.com
Oct 16: Shannon littleluvins.com
Oct 17: Kelly craftytwinmommy.blogspot.com
Oct 18: Shannon masteringtheartofbeingme.blogspot.com
Oct 19: Diane fromblankpages.blogspot.com

check out megans blog for more details and to get a really cool button!!

rachael x

the sock theory

so have i ever told you the sock theory? i don't think i have. it's the theory that if you wear mis-matched socks, you'll have a really good day, and if you wear matching socks, you'll have a bad day. you should  try it, it's a totally full proof theory haha!

it's been very quiet here, i have started 'college' and i'm always soo tired, but i think i'm working out a routine. the reason it has been so quiet is this:

incase you can't tell it's homework coursework, now i haven't had to do homework for about 5 years so it's definetly a shock to the system. oh i'm doing graphic design, just incase i haven't told you all :)

i can show you my finished hat, it's been finished for like ages, commence posy picture taking...

i actually brushed my hair for this photo, and you totally can't tell haha. also you can't really see the hat but you get the idea, i've already started on my second one :) and can i just say this hat was a total lifesaver at cub camp, three days and no shower, it covered my icky hair perfectly!!

now for some pretty fabric...

this is lottie da by heather bailey, when i first saw this collection, i was just kinda 'meh' about it, but the suddenly i just had to have, i like really love these.

oh and i couldn't resist the birds from waterfront park!

also this totally awesome book arrived as well

now i'm not an improv-y person, but i completely love this book, it make me want to go all improv-y, i've already put it to good use

see there has been some sewing!! i just have to sew the binding on and then there will be a ta-dah! moment.

oh it's nice to be back, i have sooo much to tell you all :)

rachael x