Scrappy Circles

One of the first quilts I fell in love with was this one

Emily of CarolinaPatchworks designed and made it .... I had to have it for my little girl and then once I received it, I had to make it! Thankfully Emily soon developed a pattern and the rest is history!

So this is what I'm up to. I finally cut into the Bliss layer cake I've had lying around for some time now. It really felt good to cut into it.

You know you're stressed when....

you forget to post the winners of your giveaway on your blog...I won't even bore you with the details....but on to the lucky winners!!

Jenny (okiedokiemama) and C (Christina) have won the Urban Baby Pixie Bonnet and the Erin McMorris' fat quarters.

Thank you to EVERYONE who commented on my little blog and gave me feedback on my Etsy shop! I loved reading all of your suggestions!

Have a great Thursday!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day (December 12, 2011) !!

Can everyone say "Yeh, today is Giveaway Day" at SewMamaSew!!! It's a day (actually a week) of great giveaways across Blogland!!!

Welcome to my little blog for those of you who have never been here before and for those of you who have...welcome back!!! I haven't been too active on here lately because of my crazy life and little ones but I couldn't miss participating in this great event!

Up for grabs are two great giveaways!!! Two is always better than one right? :)

1st Giveaway: 3 FQs of Erin McMorris' Weekends line

2nd Giveaway: Urban Baby Cabled Pixie Bonnet 0-3 Months (could probably even fit baby a bit longer as I made it long).

In order to qualify for these giveaways, I'd love to hear your feedback on my litte etsy shop called UrbanBabyPhotoKnits All feedback, positive or negative, is welcome. I'd love to hear which hat is your favourite? Is there enough variety? How about the listings...photography, pricing, descriptions? Thank you in advance for your comments!!!

I'll draw both winners randomly on December 16th at 8pm EST. I'm happy to ship internationally. Good luck!!!

P.S. Hope you drop by again sometime!!! Now get going to the next blog and get your name in some great draws!

Unscripted Bee Blocks

Thankfully I have a bunch of wonderful "co-bee" women who are very understanding as I'm seriously late on some on their blocks. I had a little bit of time the other night so I thought I would work on Sara's blocks for October. She asked that we do two log cabin blocks. This is what I whipped up for her:

I added a few extra strips from my own stash and I love how they turned out. Can't wait to see Sara's finished quilt:)

I've been slowly working on this little poncho for Miss P - it's called the "Lady Gaga" and I purchased it off Ravelry. It turned out a little too short on Miss P so now I'm adding a few inches so it'll fit her nicely.

And by the way, has anyone heard of the "Jelly Roll Race Quilts" - I'm sorry I don't have time to post a pic right now but if you go on Youtube you'll find a tutorial. What I like about it is that it's a great way to use a Jelly Roll, not to mention making a quilt top in a night (some people say they can do it in under an hour). I personally like the non-mitered version as you end up with a "brick/strip effect" - I love learning a new technique to use up those scraps or rolls!

Trying to get the Mojo Back

Thank you to all of you who have left kind words for me! It really is encouraging to know that perfect strangers/fellow bloggers are kind enough to reach out during this difficult time in my life....again, I'm very appreciative.

I really want to get creative right now (whether it's knitting or sewing) because I've done nothing but deal with my father's affairs and I'm also gearing up to return to work soon. Stress!!! Trying to find the time to work on anything is another thing so I need small projects that I can work on in a spare evening. Knitting is winning out as sewing lately has been out of the question (sorry to my current bee buddies but thankfully they are a very understanding group of women).

I'm celebrating my birthday this week and would love some ideas about a gift. My husband has been asking me all week and I honestly have not been able to come up with anything. I always love good books and so I thought I would ask you about new books you could suggest on sewing/quilting/knitting. I've noticed on quite a few blogs tonight that there are some amazing books coming out in the new year....seem to be in May 2012!!! Can't wait...but until now...would love your ideas....

Have I mentioned how bummed out I was that I missed Quilt Market in Houston. It was going to be the one gift I was going to give to myself before I returned to work this month. There's always next year though:) I've loved looking at all of the posts about it...it looked amazing.

My Dad

Wow, it's really been a long time since I've been on here. It honestly feels like a life time ago now. So many things have changed.
My Dad suddenly passed away over the Thanksgiving weekend. When the phone rang just past midnight I knew it was bad news....and I knew it would either be my Mom or Dad. It was my Dad. He had been rushed to the local hospital and was asking for me to be there. The nurse said they were just about to put him on life support. I ran to the car, as I live an hour away from him, and drove in complete silence praying like I have never prayed before. It was the loneliest ride of my life. In the middle of the night, foggy and alone. I kept thinking to myself...is he going to be alive or dead when I get there. As I kept playing this over in my mind, I looked up and saw a shooting star. I had my answer. Call it what you will, I believe that that was a sign. I prepared myself for the worst and that's what happened. I walked into the ER and the doctor met me in the family room with my uncle and aunt.
I was escorted a few doors down and there was my Dad. Full of life only 40 minutes before and now he was gone. I just stood in that room beside him saying goodbye, kissing him on his cheek.....not really believing this was real.
So there you have it. I'm sorry to be so blunt but it's really surreal...even thought it's a month later.
I hope my life will get back to the new normal sometime soon but for now I do take comfort that he truly is in peace and in a better place.

Urban Baby Pixie/Gnome Hat & Classic Beanie

I added these two to my shop...just thought I would share what I've been working on:)

Etsy Shop And Feature

Holy Crap! I managed to open my Etsy Shop, UrbanBabyPhotoKnits last week and let me tell you what a week it has been. Amongst knitting/crocheting for the shop, two friends requested hats (yeh!) and I made a bunch of hats up for a local photographer in exchange for some pictures of the family! I've been doing this swap/exchange thing for awhile now and really it's fantastic. It's a total win/win as I absolutely love to see my creations on little ones as I enjoy photography AND I receive beautiful photos of my daughters.
I encourage all of you to do something similar....maybe someone out there would love one of your creations, whether it's quilting, sewing, knitting in exchange for something you would equally love...from one artist to another:)
As I'm trying to spread the "love" for my shop, I want to offer 10% off to all of you...code is FLICKRFRIEND10. You can also find me on Facebook

Now for some great news....as I mentioned a few posts ago, Amy from Amyscreativeside contacted me and announced my little wee blog was going to be featured on Sept 30th...as some wonderful person out there nominated me for my work on the Drunk Love Quilt that was finished earlier this year. How cool is that? It's one I'm especially proud of....and it was a gift to my stepson. It makes me feel good because it's something I made (with the wonderful help from my fellow bee members...they were the best) for him with love:)

So thank you to everyone who continues to drop by this little blog and inspires me....and welcome to any of you who are new...thanks for stopping by:)

P.S. I'd love to hear anything you have to say about my Etsy shop....my creations, pricing, photographing, any words of advice are always welcomed!!

I've opened an Etsy Shop!

Well I took the plunge and have opened up a little shop on Etsy specializing in newborn photo props (hats and cocoons)! I'm really very excited about it. This is the reason the blog has taken the back burner recently and the sewing machine hasn't seen a lot of action:) All of my spare time has been spent in designing, knitting, picking out wool (hand dyed handspun merino wool), photographing my wee one/baby hats, working with photographers...making hats for photographers in getting ready for the shop to open! It's really been a lot of fun!
As you know another one of my passions besides quilting/sewing is knitting and photography...specifically babies in hats! I just love knitting little hats but was tired of seeing cheap quality ones out there. I really think the motto "you get what you pay for" is true. If my babies wouldn't wear it, then I wouldn't make it for you! I've tried to make some fun, funky hats that are made with high quality "thick and thin" merino wool (all except one hat that I make that's an exception)....lots of squishiness, great texture in photographs and super soft against baby's skin all make for a great baby hat!
I hope you get a chance to check out my shop...thanks for your support:) It's called UrbanBabyPhotoKnits.
Here are a few pics of some items I have listed:

A New Facelift

I received a lovely email from Amy at Amyscreativeside last week informing me that I had been nominated to be featured on her blog!! It came as such great news as I had been seriously considering whether to continue blogging or not. I don't know about you, but there are times when I think to myself, is anyone reading this stuff:) Anyway, this news couldn't have come at a better time. Time for a facelift....a blog facelift that is!!! I knew I had some great pictures for a header but didn't have enough tech savvy to put it together so I contacted Faith of FreshLemonsQuilts and she so graciously put this together for me! Honestly, our quilting community is really generous don't you think? There are really some nice people out there!!
So, there you have it. Now I need to go and knit another baby hat as I'm opening up a little Etsy shop this fall(more on that soon). I just spent the day with the kids at my friend's cottage/beach playing in the sand and water. Did you know sand can get in the most interesting of places? Oh my!!

Unscripted Bee

I am so excited to participate in my first all Canadian quilting bee-and shall I add, it's women who love modern quilting! Yeh!!

We started up in July, but because of our postal strike, our first block got moved to August. Donna asked for this:

Hope she likes it! I kind of fell short with the height requirement because I ran out of fabric but hopefully she can add a few strips and it will equal her request at 21x24:) I must say I love the colours and fabrics she chose. I think it's going to be a pretty fabulous quilt. Can't wait to see the end result!

What a Dish by Denyse Schmidt

I have to say, being the big Denyse Schmidt fan that I am, I absolutely LOVE her What a Dish Baby Quilt. If you've read my blog for a while, I've talked about it a lot in the past!

Image from DSquilts.com

I received an email a few months ago indicating all of her DS Baby Line items were on clearance.....well, needless to say I got my hot little fingers on the phone and ordered it right away!!! Well, of course, I am also a fan of her Pretty Squares baby quilt and with that great sale, I bought that one too!!! How many crib sets does a baby really need anyway?!! How bad am I? Oh my....(the only crappy thing is that I don't use the crib bumpers because of safety concerns for babies-why do they continue to sell these things anyway??)

So, currently the What a Dish quilt sits beautifully over the side of Miss P's crib.

I wish someday I could replicate something this beautiful but DS said herself, those concentric circles are made with bias strips....oooh...sounds a little too difficult for me...at least for now:)

Oops, 8 months!

My little one turned eight months one month ago but I've been late in posting. Here she is in all of her morning glory...

At 8 months, she loves:

- doing what we call the "worm" to get around; she hasn't mastered crawling yet but loves to scoot around and go backwards on her belly.
- loves Cheerios, peas, sweet potato....as long as she can feed herself she's very happy. She's definitely "Miss Independent."
- to babble what sounds like mama and dada but not quite sure it's intentional:)
- to have a bath and play around in the water.
- to wake up happy and cooing. Never wakes up crying which we love:)
- loves to watch her sister sing and dance for her (Miss G puts on concerts for her to the tunes of Backyardigans and Dora. Of course we can't forget when Miss G gets out a toy broom/shovel and sings "rock and roll" for her).

Overall she's such a little sweetie and gentle soul. I'm so lucky to be her Mom. We're so very blessed.

Hats, hats and more baby hats

See, I really was knitting/crocheting....:)

Congrats to Heather Ross!

I know many of us are fans of Heather Ross' fabrics/designs. On August 1st of this year, she gave birth to her first baby, a little girl that they named Beatrix. Congrats Heather!!!

I was lucky enough to meet Heather Ross and Denyse Schmidt two years ago at one of her weekend sewing retreats in Vermont. It was really great and I'm so glad I went! I ventured there on my own, first time having left my daughter (she was 17 months at the time)...while it was hard to be away from her, I really needed some Mommy time and that weekend did just the trick!!

I bought some of Heather's fabric/surprise boxes a few years ago from her studio sale; amongst some fabric and notions, she sent a little girl's baby shirt that was size 6-12 months. At the time I thought I would never be able to use it....well, two years later, here is my little girl in Heather's shirt. Isn't life funny?

Mouse Hat

I know I've really been MIA lately but behind the scenes I've been knitting up a storm. I guess you could say I caught the knitting bug again:o) Don't you go through times like that where sewing takes a back seat and another hobby creeps up again? It's always that way with me.

A local photographer requested a mouse hat so this is what I made for her. It was fun because I never made a hat like this before. I had some trouble with the ear linings and a fellow Raveler (is that what you call us?? haha) all the way from Iceland helped me out with some ideas. How cool is that? The world really is a small place sometimes.

The ear linings were a bit of a pain to say the least as I first tried to duplicate stitch them (never did that before - again, youtube is a great resource) and then resorted to crochet/embroider them on. I think it worked out great in the end but needless to say I spent a whole night on one ear trying to perfect them...ahhhh.

The results are worth it though, don't you think?

I have plans to make one for little Miss P in a beige color...she's a pretty cute model! You know, come to think of it, this hat would be pretty cute for Halloween too.

Have a great night!

Headbands, Knitting, Picnics, Birthdays & 7 Months!

How's that for a title? Pretty much sums up what's been happening around here lately! There are three family birthdays this month and lots of things to do!! I know I promised a recap of the Single Girl Quilt but I thought I would post since it's been a while:)

Here's just a little headband I whipped up for Miss G. I've always wanted to try out this tutorial (you can find a million on the internet if you google search)...so I took Miss G out, bought some organza and went to town. I still haven't found any beads to go in the middle (which I like better) but I just made do with what I had and these are the results. I think I'll make another for Miss P since she hasn't discovered how to take them off her head yet!

One morning last week, the girls and I were up a little earlier than usual so I took them to a local field and shot some pics. I loved the sun behind Miss G in this shot....shining behind her and of course the look on her face!

The sun wasn't really cooperating when I took Miss P back again on her own. There are some shadows and darkness in these photos but it was still fun though!

Have been knitting up a storm here for a local photographer in exchange for some photos...I'll post those later. Have I mentioned my addiction to both fabric and wool? Oh my....I think I spent some quality time over the past two days on ravelry and have so many projects I'd like to make!

Recently Miss P turned seven months so I've been slow to post these photos but here goes:

Of course two mintues later she tried to rip and eat the paper...Mom has to be quick taking those pics!!

Yeh - A Finish!

I finished up the quilting and binding on my Single Girl Quilt this afternoon. I'm really happy with the results! I even got Miss P in on the action....she was the perfect little model sitting in the afternoon sun! (it's really beautiful today) Who can resist a cute baby on a quilt???

First off, a little about this quilt:
Pattern: Single Girl Pattern by Denyse Schmidt
Fabrics: Combinations of Pinks, Fuschias and Purples (too many to list)
Dimensions: 41x47 Baby Size (my finished size was a little bit smaller as I made a mistake and used 1/2 inch seams when I joined all of my blocks - oops)
Backing: Hoop Dots in eggplant
Binding: 2 1/4 inch; Kona cotton Raisin
Quilting: 3/4 inch lines
Thread: No. 539 Gutermann

I chose not to quilt through the rings because my background fabric was so dark - and the thread would detract from all of the beautiful fabrics:) (I posted about this last time).

Isn't the quilting fun? I really loved Nettie's quilt (AQuiltIsNice.blogspot.com)last year so I decided to add in some horizontal lines on the third ring just to change things up a bit. I'm so glad I did this as I really love the effect:)

I also went with the same color of binding as the background which I don't typically do - but again, I think this helps the rings to pop that much more.

The backing is super simple - just one print - a great eggplant geometric one.

I've got to run right now as I have some children to feed, but I promise on my next post to include some things I learned alon the way in making this quilt. Ciao!

Weekend Fun & Single Girl Progress

On Friday, July 1st it was Canada Day here. The girls, my hubby and I got into the Canada Day spirit and spent the day at a local park meeting Care Bears, seals, etc. It was really cute. We later had a barbeque and then saw some great fireworks in the evening. It was the first time I took Miss G to our local fireworks and it definitely didn't disappoint. Her heart was beating fast as she sat on my lap and she squealed with delight....it was awesome!

We had to make do with some lipstick to make a maple leaf on her cheek as we didn't have a tattoo for Miss G....she still loved it! Miss P had her little moose Canada shirt on too:)

Hope you all had a great Canada Day and 4th of July weekend! I`m sad it`s over too soon!

For the last week I`ve been working on the Single Girl Quilt - basting and quilting.

As for the quilting I knew I definitely wanted to try out straight lines because I love the modern effect it gives quilts and I had never done it before. My dilemma was in the choice of thread color and whether or not to quilt through the rings. I actually flickr`d a couple of folks (thanks to twinfibers and imagingermonkey) and came up with using a dark thread to match my background which is Kona raisin and quilting three quarter inch lines. I decided not to quilt through the rings because the thread color was so dark and detracted from the fabrics and overall design of the quilt. If my fabric background had been lighter I would have quilted through the rings.

The lesson I learned with this project is to always go with and trust your first instinct because these were my original thoughts! Of course I didn`t do this originally which meant an evening of seam ripping. Did I mention how much I hate seam ripping...aghhh. Lesson learned!

I`m nearing the end of the quilting so I can`t wait to show you the finished product!

Single Girl Quilt Top Officially Finished!

Single Girl Quilt Top

Except for the borders, I'm finished piecing the single girl quilt top. I set aside some time yesterday afternoon (while my husband looked after our little one) and sewed my little heart away. That made me happy...I felt like I got something accomplished! Yeh!

I must admit - I did make a small mistake and sewed the blocks together with a 1/2 inch seam instead of 1/4 of an inch. I couldn't find my pattern with all of this reorganizing that's been going on in my house so I just made the seams a bit bigger. It's fine - it just made the overall size a tad smaller. It's going to be a little playmat for Miss P anyway, although Miss G might steal it away from her little sister (that's been known to happen since Miss P was born!)

I'm really glad I had a chance to work on curved seams. Once I found a method that worked for me, it was no problem. (The best way I've found to piece the inner and outer backgrounds to your rings is to first crease each piece in the middle (as suggested in the quilt along and DS' instructions) and place a pin - then match up your ends and pin, THEN go back between your three pins and pin appropriately. This avoids your ends not matching up/fabric overhang once completed.)

I'm still contemplating making a bigger version using my DS stash. We'll have to see. I'd also love to do this pattern using solids. It would look really cool!

The single girl quilt pattern is a great project to work on in stages given the tedious nature of using pattern pieces but the results are definitely worth the effort!

Happy Father's Day

Ok, I admit it, I was jealous of my husband and three year old...don't they look like they were having a great time as Mommy and baby P took lots of pics!!

Happy Father's Day!!

WIP

Here are those string blocks I was talking about in an earlier post. I started this project some time ago with the intention that I would slowly do a block here and there using up my scraps and then someday make a picnic blanket or play mat.

What's your vote?

You know those scraps I've been cutting into two inch squares? Well I decided I would focus on various shades of pink, orange and yellow and make up a quilt for my youngest daughter..yes, you're right, another quilt on the go!!
I love love love the colors Faith used in her Lemon Squares quilt (wish I would have bought it...oh well). Isn't it gorgeous!!

Here are some of the designs I'm thinking about:


Then there's this one which Ann Marie S made from The Funky Bag Lady. I love the use of patterns and solids:


So what's your vote? Would love to hear your thoughts!!