Happy Halloween

Little Miss G went to her first Halloween Party at an openhouse at a gym near our house and of course went trick or treating at her daycare on Friday and tonight! She was a busy little girl!! She called her costume a "jaguar" - which makes me smile as I'm sure she gets that from her books or Dora. When her Dad dropped her off to school on Friday, she kept saying, "I don't wanna go trick or treating" - by the end of the day, her tune had changed and she was pumped! "Mommy, look at all my tweats" - "lets count them." She makes me laugh!!

After her party tonight, we just went to a few neighbours as this was her first time going out. She was so shy at first-"I'm scared Mommy" and then once the neighbour would close the door she'd say "trick or treat - thank you."

Don't you just love it when children's faces light up and they give you the best smile:) Hope your Halloween was fun too!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Amy is hosting the Fourth Blogger's Quilt Festival (Oct 29-Nov 5, 2010). My submission for the festival is a quilt I finished this past August. It's actually a very special quilt as I dedicated it to our baby who is to be born next month and for the baby we lost last Christmas due to a miscarriage. It truly was a cathartic experience in finishing this quilt as I finished it on the eve of what would have been our baby's due date (August 2nd). It's a bright, happy, child like quilt which brings a smile to my face when I see it. My 2 1/2 year old daughter loves it too as it sits in her room waiting for her brother or sister to arrive (4 more weeks or sooner who knows:0)

I used Allison's tutorial from CluckCluckSew; she titled her quilt the Raw Edge Circle Quilt. What I like about it most is the circular quilting which was new for me - I had admired circular quilting for a while so this gave me the opportunity to try it out. I loved that it was free form and not perfect! The raw edges also add some nice texture to the quilt. I ended up backing the quilt in flannel which I had not done in the past as well. Makes it nice and cozy and "snuggable." (I'm making up words as I go along:) I machine binded the binding which I know goes against the "rules" of traditional quilting, but I must say I really do not like hand sewing. I do have to practice this form of attaching the binding but love how time efficient it can be - especially when you're excited to finish your project.

So, there you have it. One of my favorites. Thank you for taking the time to drop by my little blog and hope you have a chance to stop by again:)

Make sure you stop by Amy's blog to check out all of the other entries...they're amazing and inspirational!!

Car Seat Cover - Girl Version

A few posts ago, I made a boy version of this car seat cover as we don't know what the sex of our baby is. You'd think I'd remember that I had used a big bowl to round out the corners, but again, baby brain hit and I used a CD! Unfortunately, the sides touched the ground which would ultimately mean a dirty car seat cover - as the winter is approaching, this would drive me nuts!! As much as I hated to do the sides again, topstitch and reattach the straps - this is what I did and I'm happy with the results.

So, note to self, remember if you make this for your baby or as a gift, use a big bowl to round out the corners of your fabric:)

As for the fabric, I used Amy Butler Garden Maze in Brown and Happy Dots in Apricot from her Midwest Modern line. Bright and cheerful, don't you think?

Pieced Back - Drunk Love Quilt

Here's what I came up with today! I added some Monaluna Mingle to add some extra interest to the back. It's the only patterned fabric in the whole quilt. I like it because it's modern. Your thoughts?

Drunk Love Quilt Top - Finished!

These days I'm just excited to get some things done! The Drunk Love quilt top has finally come together - now I just have to come up with the backing which is today's project.

I have to say I love Denyse Schmidt's quilts, but going from a pattern can just be plain time consuming so most of the blocks that I've added are just improvised - which is more my style! The women from the PTQB came up with the rest. Beautiful!!

Stylish Nursing Covers - more pics

Blogger just isn't cooperating with me today so here are some pics of my pink nursing cover.

Stylish Nursing Covers

Another baby item to check off the list! I made the pink nursing cover when Little Miss G was born, but also needed a boy version for this time. I like this tutorial but altered it slightly as the D rings I had lying around were a bit smaller. If you make yours straps thicker, I do think they work better so it's something to keep in mind.

The Amy Butler Charm series nursing cover (blue/brown seeds)works out to about 26x38 and the pink graphic fabric is slightly smaller as I had used a different tutorial a few years ago. Speaking from experience, the wider the nursing cover the better as a nursing Mom wants lots of coverage for her and her baby!

I like how in this tutorial she suggests using fabric covered boning and sewing it just underneath your first 1/2 inch turned hem. This makes the boning impossible to shift around. She also trims off a tiny bit of the plastic in the boning from each end so you are left with casing that completely covers your boning -this secures it nicely and doesn't allow it to poke out the ends!! I didn't do this for my first nursing cover and wish I had.

I also had a chance to use some of my fabric labels which makes the covers look "boutiquish" - I've seen these nursing covers cost upwards of $50 in a baby boutique! Thanks to Jessica from TwinFibers as she suggested Namemaker.com as a place to make your own personalized fabric labels.

Happy Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada! We took little Miss G to the pumpkin patch recently - the kids got to pick out their own little pumpkin. Little Miss G has been so excited talking about going to the "punkin patch" because she saw one of her favourite cartoon character do the same thing recently! She and her Daddy picked one out and she held on to it for dear life...her prized possession!

Don't these pics get you in the mood for fall? I love the bright colours, apple cider, cool evenings....totally cozy:) She loves running in the leaves and recently brought some home so we could trace them for a gift for her "gandma" - how cute:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

If it's a Boy - Car Seat Cover

The anticipation is killing me of course as we don't know what the sex of our baby is and I'm due next month. So....what does a woman do? Make two of everything!! Now, don't go thinking I'm totally crazy, I'm just making a few key things in both genders:)

(The top picture is taken from the back of the car seat; bottom picture is of the front)

I saw a tutorial by Allison at CluckCluckSew and at Make-it-do.com. They're both great tutorials and I used them equally in figuring out the dimensions for the baby's car seat. It really was easy to make up but I must say I'm not a big fan of sewing velcro. A couple times of ripping out the seams and now they're good. I went with pieced handles to make it a little more interesting and if I tell the truth I ran out of navy fabric!

These car seat covers are really nice especially in crappy weather and when you're just not open to people touching your baby (see Allison's post about "aka greeter deterrents"-spoken like a true mom)- not to mention the fact when they're sleeping and you just don't want them disturbed! That's why I chose navy blue as the inside fabric.

Happy Monday!

Wonky Star Block and Drunk Love Quilt Top

Jessica from Twinfibers requested a "wonky star" block for the PTQB2 (September). She provided us with fabric from the Rainbow Garden Collection by Prints Charming. Super soft and really colourful! It was my first time trying out this block. It was quite easy and I love the effect. It turned out quite symmetrical in the end which I hadn't initially intended but I love the look of the pieced border. Hope Jessica enjoys it!

I've also taken a picture of my Drunk Love style quilt (since it's a sunny fall day)which is going to be a gift for my stepson. My month in the PTQB2 was in July and with the exception of 2 blocks, these are what the group of talented women came up with. I'm still waiting on a few blocks and I need to make up more as well since my stepson is quite tall!!

How's your Friday going? Mine has been filled with some household chores, a little sewing and some rest....I'm 8 months pregnant and counting:)