This is a public safety announcement. Please be warned there is a pandemic spreading like wild fire. It is commonly known as the craft bug.

I’ve had this bug for a while now and I have to be honest I LOVE IT! Do you know what’s better than having the bug yourself? Spreading it.

Last summer I started a sewing group and really had no idea how popular it was going to be. Well a year on and we are good friends, meeting up once a week to work on our projects and have a giggle. We have two new members and we have all agreed to try new crafts and teach each other new skills. Last Monday one of the gang, Tracey, gave us a crochet master class.

It was great learning a new craft, look at us all concentrating.

I can promise you there was plenty of laughing once we started to get the hang of it.

Here’s Meg, mine and my mum’s finished granny squares. Not bad for a first attempt huh?

Since The Great British Sewing Bee aired in the UK I’ve noticed that more people are taking an interest in what I do. I’ve had more people enquiring about The Ladies What Stitch, friends and family have been asking me about my current WIPs, even other mums on the school run have started asking me about the sorts of things I make. Until now very few people understood why I enjoyed it so much, but suddenly they’re interested, two of my friends from the school run have asked me to help them make quilts! I mean how amazing is that, I’ve really enjoyed talking them through the basics and helping them choose fabrics. What they don’t know is I plan on showing you guys some photos of their finished projects.

Lisa, a good friend of mine posted this on Instagram a few weeks ago and it made me feel really proud.

Since posting this photo she hasn’t stopped knitting, her and her mum Jacki are teaching themselves to crochet too.

How great are the phone case Lisa made and Jacki’s little flowers

It makes me so happy to know my friends have finally caught the bug and it’s thanks to me spreading it!

Exciting News! I’m taking part in a blog tour for the first time!

The super talent behind Imagine Gnats, Rachael, is organising a blog tour to celebrate her new pattern – The Roly-Poly Pinafore. Rachael very kindly offered me a spot, I’ll be posting on 31st May, so make sure you pop by and if your really nice to me I might even have a little giveaway (that’ll be another first for me!!)

Here are the blog tour stops. I recommend visiting as many as possible to see all the lovely variations and I’m sure a few other bloggers will be running giveaways too

May 13th Jill Made with Moxie / Stephanie The Crafty Kitty
May 14th Stephanie NeurosesGalore / Cherie you & mie
May 15th Ari Max California / Caila Caila Made
May 16th Veronica SewVery / Tara Girl like the sea
May 17th Nancy owen’s olivia / Adrianna Crafterhours

May 20th Ajaire Call ajaire / Sarah EmmylouBeeDoo
May 21th Laura Craftstorming / Jessica a little gray
May 22nd Frances Miss Matatabi / Nicke kiss kiss quilt
May 23rd Amy formwork design / Kat Sew Chibi
May 24th Joanne Rose & Dahlia / Amanda Kitschy Coo

May 27th Celina Petit a Petit and family / Delia Delia Creates
May 28th Christy a.Amelia handmade / Carolyn Fake It While You Make It
May 29th Bonnie Fishsticks Designs / Maria La Inglesita
May 30th Jane Buzzmills / Kate Things for Charlie
May 31st Polly Jack & GeeGee / Molly Rose & Odin

Oh before I forget you can now find me on Bloglovin Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Last Friday was my birthday, I turned 29. Now to some of you that might not be a big deal, 29 may have passed you by without a second thought but to me it was a big deal, a very big deal. After 29 comes 30, you know the big 3 0. To me 30 is the age you become a grown up, I don’t know why, there’s no logical reasoning, but to me 30 = ADULT.

There are a few milestones in your life that people think make you an adult and to be honest I’ve hit a few of them

- Own my own home
- Married
- Become a parent

I somehow managed to hit all these milestones and still not be an adult and to be honest I enjoy not being adult. So turning 29 felt like the last birthday I had to celebrate before its time to grow up.

Thankfully my hubby understands my crazy way of thinking and made sure I had an amazing birthday. Friday we had a chilled out day, we went to the garden centre and got loads of seeds for the allotment (I’ll give you a proper update on that soon!), then my mum, dad and sister came for dinner.

Sean cooked us a lovely curry and even made me this amazing cake!

I got lots of great gifts from friends and family too.

This hamper is screaming out for a matching polka dot picnic blanket don’t you think?

Saturday was the best bit of all. My birthday present from Sean and the monsters was a weekend break at the spa!! Me, my sister, mum and the rest of The Ladies Wot Stitch (my sewing group) spent the weekend at Hempstead House Hotel. We all had such a relaxing weekend, we had massages, chilled in the pool and ate far too much delicious food.

I would definitely recommend it and will definitely definitely be going back as soon as I can think of a good excuse to escape again!

I have been waiting for a while now to share this with you so here goes…

Nearly a year ago I decided to start a sewing group, which is still going strong. We are a motley crew and I love them all to bits. We vary in skills and confidence with our sewing but we always have a giggle, we call ourselves The Ladies Wot Stitch.

Hayley is pregnant and due very soon, we are all excited to meet the baby and a few months ago I came up with the idea of making a gift for the baby from all of us. Only Tracey and I had ever made a quilt before so we needed to keep it pretty simple so that everyone could get there blocks done in time. We decided on a log cabin design, all the Ladies each made 2 blocks using fabrics that either reminded them of Hayley, or that they thought she would like. I made one block and put the quilt together.

Can you guess which block I made?

We used bold colours for the backing and scrappy binding to finish.

Monday last week was our last meeting before Hayley was 37 weeks so we thought it would be a great time to give her the quilt. I think we were all a little nervous to see what she thought of it. Thankfully she loved it! She was really surprised and kept telling us how much she can’t wait to wrap her new bundle of joy up in his quilt!

Hi, remember me? So I guess I’ve been Bad Mrs Blog lady for quite a while now. I’m very sorry I’ve been a bit of a slacker but I have valid reasons (honest).

I was a busy bee with Mother’s Day orders at the beginning of the month and then basically since then my flat has been one giant germ. Me, hubby an the monsters have all had tonsillitis, colds, “other stuff” or a combination of all three, seriously not pleasant. Now we seem to just be a snot factory (mostly monster no2) but that I can deal with.

Anyway enough of the grim details, I just wanted to say that I am still breathing and working, if you follow me on Instagram you’ll know I’m not lying and if you don’t follow me you can find me @jakandgeegee.

The main project I’m working on right now is a HUGE secret (shhhh don’t tell anyone) and I’m not working on it alone. I’m totally excited about it and can’t wait to show you the whole thing but for now here’s a sneaky peek.

Well I best be getting on with it so I hope you all have a lovely Easter weekend however you’re celebrating. I’m spending most of mine in my pjs sewing, bliss!

If you regularly ready blog you will know that I get most of my sewing essentials from Hometown in Rochester. Since I really got into sewing, especially quilting, Marion and her team have always gone above and beyond with their brilliant customer service and advise. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve gone in there with my two noisy monsters in to and Marion or another member of staff have kept them occupied while I spend a good 10 minutes deciding which shade of pink matches the current project I’m working on.

I don’t think I would have been so confident to try new things over the past two years if I hadn’t had the support of the Hometown ladies.

This is why today I couldn’t have felt more pleased for Marion. Today was the opening day for Hometowns new, larger store. They haven’t moved far, just a few doors down Rochester High Street but what a difference! The store is much larger, allowing for much more fabric and other goodies to be beautifully displayed, there is plenty more browsing space as well as a shiny new classroom which I am sure will be in regular use.

I’ve got a poorly Monster no1 off school today but I really needed to pop to Hometown and grab a few bits. I decided to go there before picking up Monster no2 from nursery which meant I needed to be at the shop for when it opened. We arrived at the shop just before they opened the doors so it turned out that Monster no1 was the first customer! Marion greeted him with a big smile and announce she was so pleased such a loyal customer was the first to visit the new shop. She made him feel really special letting pick a free fat eighth for being the first customer, she even asked to take his photo.

How chuffed does he look!

And this is the fabric he chose. He’s asked to make a cushion with it so an afternoon soon he is going to attempt his first proper sewing project. I’m so proud he is interested in sewing, who says sewing is for girls?!

If you leave nearby you should definitely go and have a look round Hometown, I managed to spend a small fortune in no time at all, I got a friends birthday present and Mother’s Day presents too! Although sometimes online shopping can be cheaper you can’t beat your LQS, it’s a great place for inspiration and advise along with all your at stitchy supplies.

When I was younger my parents always taught me “never speak to strangers”. Then when the age of the Internet hit us they always told me “never arrange to meet up with strangers you meet online”.

Well sorry mum and dad, I have totally disobeyed you! I regularly talk to strangers at craft fairs, quilting shows, my local LQS as well as on twitter and Instagram. Last week I was really naughty and arranged to meet up with someone I talk to on Instagram!

A while ago I posted a photo on Instagram of my LQS and it transpired that it was also Rachel of House of Pinheiro’s LQS too! We were both quite excited about this and began chatting about our favourite shop. We agreed we should organise a sewing morning, with a little trip to Hometown (our LQS).

Well last Friday we finally did it. My lovely mum and dad had a play date with the monsters so I could spend the morning chatting and sewing with Rachel. I had such a lovely morning getting to know her, she is a warm, fun person who loves sharing her passion for all things crafty, if you haven’t visited Rachel’s blog you definitely should, she makes beautiful clothes but also likes to write about her other craft projects too.

Our meeting got me thinking, would I be happy if my monsters (when they were old enough to use the computer of course) wanted to go and meet up with a stranger they had been talking to online? My initial answer was no, but then after thinking a little more about it I’m not so sure what I would do? The Internet and the way we use it has changed massively over the years, it’s made the whole world smaller. Since joining this amazing virtual craft community I have made friends across the globe and if my bank balance would allow it I’d love to travel the globe, meeting them all in person. So I guess if my monsters had the opportunity to be a part of something as fun as this then maybe, just maybe, in the right situation I would let them meet up with a stranger. I mean how else can that stranger become a friend?

So, I’m sitting here in my little sewing corner, surrounded by strips for the #scrappytripalong quilt that I’m making for hubby and I can feel myself slowly getting more and more wound up with my seams.

I’ve never thought of myself as a perfectionist but instead have always had the attitude of “just do your best”, but as I look at these little squares, not quite perfectly matched up a bit of me inside crumbled. Why do I spend hours coveting the perfect seams of my fellow sewing bloggers an IGers?

I guess somewhere deep down we all just want to be perfect, we want to be the best at something. Then it hit me, does hubby really care about how perfect those points are when he is snuggled up on the sofa under his quilt with a beer in hand and watching a film? Do the monsters care if their quilts are not a perfect rectangle when they are busy using them to make tents for there adventure to the North Pole (also known as the hallway). Well obviously the answer is a resounding No. So why am I putting so much pressure on myself and zapping the fun out of this quilt along the way??

Now I’m not saying I’m just not going to bother at all but I mean we can’t all be perfect, “just do your best” is good enough for me. I know the people who receive my handmade gifts always have a big smile on their face and are grateful that I have taken the time to share my love by spending my time on something just for them. At the end of the day that’s all that matters and you never know, maybe one day my points might actually line up!

I had a very happy mail day yesterday, my order from Sew Fresh Fabrics arrived. You can find Sew Fresh Fabrics on Etsy here, they offer a great service and delivery is nice and quick.

Yup isn’t it pretty! Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander FQs!! I have been waiting to get my hands on this lovely collection for a while now, but haven’t been able to find the entire collection easily available in the UK (the lovely Justine over at Simply Solids had it but she sold out before I could place an order

I don’t know about you but I find myself sewing all the time yet rarely make anything for myself/hubby/house. I make gifts for extended friends and family, complete orders but somehow last year I didn’t really make much for myself. I did start a few projects but they just got shelved, waiting for a spare few minutes of my time (when does that ever happen?!). I guess it’s the same as builders/plumbers or other trades, they do brilliant work for everyone else but their house is always last on the list.

Well I’m trying really hard to change this habit and actually finish some “me” projects. I love sewing for fun as well as work, it’s nice for there
to be no deadline, on the other had these WIPs need finishing!

So far I’ve completed two projects, the first was a simple Liberty print jersey skirt that I just had to put elastic in the waist band.

It’s nothing too fancy or complicated but they are so comfy. I adapted the pattern from this tutorial to make it.

The next finished WIP I’m really pleased with. You might remember back in October last year I went to the Knitting and Stitching show with my mum and picked up some AMH Field Study from The Village Haberdashery stand. I’d planned to make it into this great AMH bag, to use as my new day bag, Christmas soon arrived and so the bag got put to one side.

It is finally done!!! What do you think? I finished the lining at our Ladies Wot Stitch evening last night with the help of my mum and friend, Tracey. The pattern was pretty straight forward to follow, although a little wordy for my liking, a few more diagrams would have made life a little easier but I would definitely make it again.

The only niggly thing I found was when sewing in the lining pocket walls the pattern left raw edges showing inside the pockets. I really didn’t like the idea of this so mum and Tracey suggested adding some binding to the raw edge and putting the pocket walls in upside down.

I think it looks great like this, it gives a nice tidy finish to the pockets and adds a little flash of the leopard print to the inside. I love the way the bag turned out and have already filled it with all my crap!

It feels so good to start ticking things off my make list ( I do love a list) so the next WIPs to finish are -

Scrappy Trip Along quilt for Hubby
EPP cushion for my living room
Top secret gift project ( I will reveal all soonish)
Architextures quilt for me

Technically the Architextures quilt isn’t a WIP as the fabric hasn’t arrived yet and I haven’t even decided on a design but I’m just really excited for it to arrive so I can play with it!

Have you looked at your pile of WIPs lately? If you’re on Instagram why not show us what you’ve finished by using #finishit2013 you can find me on Instagram or Twitter @jakandgeegee, I’d loved to see you projects so feel free to tag me or say hi.