The Big Pink Fig GIVEAWAY Winners!

I got the Strike Off's for Miss Modd while I was away! It is so cute! I'm really excited to make some with things with it and I think you will be too. I'll show more later when the real stuff comes. If you are a shop and want to order it wholesale you can get it here:

Henry Glass

Brewer

Checker

EE Schenk & Co.

Christensen Wholesale

Foust Textiles

Halks

Needlecraft Inc.

New England Quilt Supply

Rubenstein & Ziff

Troy Textiles

CANADA:

Suzie Q Textile

Telio & Cie

AUSTRALIA:

J. Leutenegger Pty. LTD

DENMARK:

Stof Textiles

ENGLAND:

Ebor Fabrics LTD.

Now, let's get down to business:

The Winners 3 winners of The Big Pink Fig Giveaway for my 2010 pattern pack are:

Abbey, Jenn WIth 4, and The Urban Child.

The Grand Prize winner who will receive a yard of each print of my new line, my 2010 patterns, and some gifts from abroad (Eiffel Tower, Jamie Oliver Cook Book, and some Buckingham Palace goodies) is HEATHER (Jordan and Heather Humbert). Congratulations!!!

All prizes will be shipped out as soon as I get them! Probably Mid-October :)

Winners, send me an email to pinkfigdesign@gmail.com so I can get your info.

Thanks to everyone who followed me on my trip to Europe and who commented. My intention was not to make you jealous, but to get you excited to go with me next year!

So, who's coming? I'll have more info on the price and exact dates for you soon, but I am planning a 10 day trip to London where we will be doing pretty much everything you saw here and maybe more! Plus you can add on a Paris extension. The dates are to be decided, but I am thinking of going to The Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace in London in October rather than The Festival of Quilts. It is run by the same company, but has a larger variety of crafts! Keep checking back for details.

Finally...The Festival!

OH my goodness! Blogging is exhausting when you do it consistently!

Here it is the Grand Finale of my trip...The Festival of Quilts in Birmingham England:

Amy Butler - Front and center. I love her so much! I didn't have to touch this picture up at all. She and her husband David are amazing and so nice!

I loved seeing them at the Festival.

They LOVE ROWAN Fabrics over there!!!

Moda is also a favorite and was in almost EVERY booth I walked past...Hey! I know this designer...LILA!

Here are some of my favorite quilts. I'll start with my #1 favorite made from vintage Barbie Doll Dresses:

I loved this one too. I think it's because of the hearts:

This one is a little more traditional and it was soooo Pretty! I was blessed enough to be stationed right across from it and it blew my socks off! It took 1 year to complete:

I don't know if you can see the detail in this one, but it was really cute and original. It had old keys, scissors, and other cool objects sewn into it.

These are Antique Quilts. There was one in there from the 1800's priced at 4000 pounds! That's like $6000!

Here I am:

and me and my mom:

Thanks Mom! I couldn't have done it without you. If there is one thing I learned about my mom, it's that she can pass out brochures like nobody's business!

I love you!

That's it! Check in tomorrow night to see who won the contest!!!

Warwick Castle

Sorry, I wasn't feeling so hot yesterday. Here is Warwick Castle:

(This is a borrowed picture, so it's kind of small)

We didn't get to go inside because it closed every day about half hour after the Festival of Quilts ended and we just couldn't get there. But they had a ton of cools stuff going on outside. It was mostly for kids, but I still enjoyed it!

I heard a rumor that some of the Harry Potter scenes were filmed here. I think it was maybe those

fabulous meals they have in the great room, but nobody could confirm that for me.

A little more Shakespeare

Okay, I'm home now and I have got to wrap this up! But I love looking back because it was so much fun!

Here are the rest of the pics from Stratford on Avon. I felt like I was walking around Hogsmeade and Harry Potter was going to walk out of a shop at any moment! It was so charming!

Shakespeare's Theater!

I was dying to go inside, but it was closed.

I have Warwick Castle tomorrow and the Festival on Friday, then the it's done!

Stratford On Avon

After visiting The Cotswolds we went back to London for one more night at our Luxurious Grand Royal Hyde Park hotel:

The foyer was grand, the rooms were really small and just okay. Who cares whe you're in London, right?

Then we headed to Warwick to stay in the Hilton which is really, really close to the Cotswolds, but really really far away from the convention center. Can you tell I had no idea what I was doing when I planned this trip! I probably could have saved my self a lot of money and time, if I had a clue. I'm sure everyone here has been making fun of the silly American girl with 200lbs of luggage. They are all probably thinking,"she really needs to get a clue!"

I won't show you the Hilton, because it's not that great, but we did some really cool things while we were in Warwick, so I'm really glad we stayed there. First...

I never thought I would get a chance to see this! Stratford on Avon, Shakesperes birthplace:

I have more, but the festival is about to end and I have been blogging during the slow times :) I'll show more later of Stratford and I think you will really like Warwick Castle. I'm flying home in the morning and won't be able to blog, so I think I'll extend the contest a few more days. Keep checking back!

Lunch at the Cotswolds

What could be better than Paris and London? The Cotswolds...



This little heart with an arrow and some faded initials was carved into the sides of one the houses. Soooo sweet.



We went to 3 little villages in The Cotswolds, and it was hands down my favorite of the whole trip! An absolute fairyland and some of buildings could be as much as 600 years old.




I don't have to say much to convince you that you NEED to come here for a visit:



LOVE...love...LOVE The Cotswolds

I Love LONDON

What do you do if you only have 1 day to spend in London...I have no idea, but this is what we did!

At the top of our lists was MOM: see the changing of the guard at Buckingham palace CHELSEA: eat at books for cooks for lunch and Jamie's Italian for dinner, catch a glimpse of Will.

We arrive in London at 8:30am, go to our hotel change clothes, hop on a double decker bus:

I fell in love with LONDON at first sight!

We arrive at the palace at 9:45. What? The changing of the guard is only every other day??? Oh blast! But guess what, the Queen is on Holiday, so we get the special treat of going inside the castle to see the state rooms. No photographs please. It was so pretty, so elegant, and it smelled really good! Outside of the palace in the garden we could take pictures, but there wasn't much to see, accept for this...

OH YAAA!

Just kidding, he wasn't there.

We still have time to make it to Portobello road to eat at Books for Cooks (I promised a friend I would go there). Arrive at Books for Cooks at 11:30. What? It's closed on Mondays??? Crap! Still, Portobello Road is really, really cool!

(sorry about the butt shot of that guy) AND to the man in the window...I SEE YOU! Open the door and give me some food!

Even the toilets look cool. My mom kept asking people, "Where is your restroom?" and they had no idea what she was talking about. It was funny!

This is a men's clothing store and these are a lot of vintage sewing machines:

WOW!

I don't know what this, but I like it:

Really old and really expensive tea pots:

(I asked)

I'm pretty sure I need to live here at some point in my life:

Right about now I look like I've been riding on the top of a double decker bus for 2 days straight, but I don't care. I'm HUNGRY!Sooooooo, we take a taxi to Jamie's Kitchen.That cost us a pretty penny, but we got there just before the dinner rush:

Have I ever told you how much I LOVE JAMIE OLIVER? No...well then, I'm kind of obsessed. Not in a love sick way, just in a way that I might freak out a little if I ever got to meet him. He's my kind of celebrity. Down to earth, funny, and he really, really cares about people. Plus he can cook! Sadly, he wasn't there, so I did the next best thing and took a billion pictures of his hip Italian restaurant and wrote him a note! Do you think he'll respond? If he does, I'll let you know.

Jamie's YUMMY Italian:

I licked the plate. His Bruschetta was out of this world:

FUNKY fries. GOOD!

Dinner at last. YUM!

How did it get to be so late? We haven't even seen Westminster Abby!

Here it is at dusk:

Big Ben:

And a really crappy picture of the front of Buckingham Palace:

I AM SO TIRED.