rose hip

speechless in San Francisco...

...two weekends ago, we drove down to Seattle to watch our daughter Stefania and her soccer team play against a local Washington state team and, while we fully intended to drive down to the Oregon coast for a few days, we decided to extend our little holiday and kept driving south to finally end up in California -- to be more exact, in the Napa Valley and San Francisco area (what a beautiful corner of the world!...) We were so close to California when in Southern Oregon and we were having such a good time, that we simply couldn't resist stepping into California for a bit... After two long days of driving (long, that is, when there are four children in the car with you!...), we finally made it back home from San Francisco late last night.

I was only able to check my blog at the beginning of the road trip, so when I got to San Francisco and was able to access my blog again, I was left absolutely speechless and tickled pink by all your comments on my giveaway post!! I am so happy that so many of you joined in... and the best part for me: there are so many new blogs for me to look up now!... Because of  your great response, I've decided to add another berry bundle to the draw (3 instead of 2) to improve your odds of winning. So, give me a day or two for post-holiday regrouping and I'll be back with the berry bundle winners...

Ooooo... I can't wait!

berry bundle giveaway...

"very blueberry"  bundle

"strawberry picnic"  bundle

...yup, it's giveaway time again!... I will be giving away two berry fabric bundles -- all you have to do is simply leave a comment here as to which one of the two bundles above, "very blueberry" or "strawberry picnic", you prefer... There is more than enough fabric in each bundle to make these berry patchwork tops; most of the pieces are fat quarters (approx.) and there are even a few half-yard pieces in the strawberry bundle. Each berry bundle collection is made up a lovely mixture of both new and vintage fabric and has about the same amount of fabric: just short of 6 yards. I've uploaded more photos of both patchwork tops here to help you decide. I will be away for the next few days so I will pick winners in about a week's time (next Saturday). I will stock my Etsy shop with more of these yummy berry bundles after the draw. So, do have a good week and do join in on the fun!

resurfacing...

...quite literally -- after coming back from a very scruffy but fun camping trip a few days ago, I holed myself up in my basement work space to sort through and organize a huge mountain of fabric (quite literally!) that has been growing on the floor for a while now... half way into it, I realized that, short of getting rid of a ton of fabric, extra shelving was needed -- so be it,... new shelves were bought, installed and quickly filled... and my work space is becoming a much happier place!

Since my last post, I've also been putting together fabric packets for my two berry patchwork tops (sneak peek above)... I thought this would be my fabric packet giveaway post until I realized that I had to replace one of the prints used in the blueberry patchwork because I didn't quite have as much as I thought I did!... Once I've done that and taken some photos of the "edited" blueberry top so that I can show you, I'll be ready to roll with my giveaway which should be my next post... Yay!... I can't wait -- hope to "see you" there!

summer berries...

...do you find yourself thinking of summer in terms of the different berry seasons... you know,... red strawberries in the garden tip you off that summer is finally here; the greens of the garden might still be fresh and spring-like (and for the most part pest-free!), but the days are definitely getting warmer and the prospect of all of those summer days ahead is so very exciting! When raspberries ripen, mid-summer is here and the days are as long and hot as can be and the living is glorious if you're lucky enough to be by water!... Ready-to-pick blackberries and blueberries tell us that summer is in its last chapter... always bittersweet... summer is resplendent in its maturity as its greens, reds and purples are deep and rich, but the shorter days make our thoughts skip ahead more and more towards September...

For a few days in the last couple of weeks, I found refuge from our unusually hot Vancouver summer in my cool basement amongst my many piles of fabric and came across two berry prints that I've had stashed for quite a while now: the red strawberry print and the blueberry print you can see in the mosaic above. (I've always thought of the red fabric as my strawberry print although my daughter recently pointed out that there are also raspberries scattered here and there in the pattern which I've never actually noticed before... Hmmm, it must be those big daisy-like flowers that made me only think of strawberries!)

In an effort to use up fabric that I've had lying around forever, I decided to compose patchwork tops around each of these two berry prints and came up with what you see above (more here...) I'm off this week on a camping holiday and when I'm back in 10 days or so, I will make bundles of enough of the 20 or so prints to make each of the patchworks (mostly as fat quarters) and offer them as blog giveaways and perhaps even stock my Etsy shop with a few of them... 'Hope to see you then and have a good blueberry and blackberry season!