Those Scraps!

I've been a fan of BumbleBeansInc. Waverunner quilt for some time (she's working on a pattern I hear!) so I thought I would use up some of my Drunk Love Quilt's scraps and see what I could come up with. Here is a block or two so far. I personally LOVE improv quilting...so freeing!!

I love how when you turn a block, you get a totally different feel.

Sewing up long strips will make a nice long wavy block.

More later...

My Baby's 3!

Well, technically she's not a baby anymore as she's turning 3 today!! I can't believe how fast time has passed!! We had her first "friends" birthday party over the weekend at the Little Gym. She and her friends loved it! They ran around the gym with those little high pitched squeals....made me laugh so much as she typically is shy in social situations. That's why I was a little nervous - I didn't want her to be crying at her own birthday party. Phew!

In total there were nine kids and it was a perfect size...a combination of some friends' kids and her friends from her day care.
I had to post this picture even though it's a bit blurry...so colorful and she's soooo happy!

How cool is this cake? I wish I had one when I was her age!! I found a woman who lives locally - who is incredibly talented - and we ordered everything via the internet/email...easy peasy! The characters were so detailed and the kids absolutely loved it!

Daddy had to help with that last candle.

Who doesn't love bubbles? (again, sorry for the blurriness)

When we got home, she had to put on some new dresses and reach for her balloons!

Did I say how much she loves Hello Kitty! She's obsessed. Hello Kitty everything. One of my friends bought her some pajamas - so off went her shirt and on went her pajamas, her princess dress and then a summer dress...and she went to bed like this too!
In this pic, she's asking me - "can I eat my three Mommy" - and then she said, "no more pictures" - well, I guess Miss G!! I took enough....did I tell you I'm a little obsessed with taking pictures myself!

I took this picture of some crayons - well, just because...they're pretty! (have I used enough exclamation marks now in this post!!)

Did I tell you how Miss P just slept through the entire party...how lucky am I! She really is an awesome baby! We're so blessed and I never forget that.

Little Miss P decided to roll over for the first time for her sister's birthday...I was uploading some pics this morning when I looked over - and there she was on her playmat, flipped from her back to her tummy and holding her neck up high. She's been rolling on her side for a while now but she never managed to roll over completely until today. It's kind of cool that it's her sister's birthday today.
After some shopping this morning, and feeding Miss P, we messed around with the camera a bit.

So, thank you for indulging me here - especially today! A fellow blogger recently got flack for writing about her life - someone said she wasn't genuine or real and that she was trying to portray her life as perfect. Well, life is not perfect but I too, as Camille, choose to share the positive things in my life on this blog. Life can suck at times - we all know that. In fact, we got some really bad news an hour before our daughter's birthday party. Kids can be a handful, babies and eye infections, colds, runny noses, weight gaining issues (baby and Mommy!!), sleep deprivation, life stressors.....but like I said, I want to focus on the positive here and keep the "not so nice" stuff more private.

Cutest Little Dress

Okay, I should really be doing things like cleaning my house, thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner, you know - those fun things! But, what am I doing you ask? Surfing etsy, flickr, blogs, etc. I just can't help myself...when a Mom gets a few minutes to herself, and in my house these days, they are few - all I want to do is relax and surf the net. Usually I like to sew, but I just don't have the energy as I was up with my little one last night.

However, I did find the cutest, little knitted dress pattern for Miss P...here it is if you're interested. It's called the Sadie Dress....I think I'm going to have to have it! Sigh..

Single Girl Quilt Along - Ring 1 & 2

Ring 1 & 2 a photo by BlueberryGabs on Flickr.

Combos of pink, fuschia, plum and purple

*So far the best way I've found to piece the inner and outer archs 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 (wow, hope that makes sense to everyone:) This avoids your ends not matching up/fabric overhang once completed.
I only had to rip out one outer arch because when I reached the end, I had at least a 1/4 inch overhang and it didn't look good.... once I did the the way I suggested...ends matched up perfectly and you have a nice finished block.*

The Colour Purple

What little girl doesn't like the colour purple? I know if you ask my daughter she immediately says "pink" and "purple." While I've been waiting for my single girl fabric to arrive (backround fabric came yesterday - yeh!), I decided to continue working on a rag quilt for her in various shades of purple.

Have you seen Rita's Poseidon quilt - I absolutely love quilts made from solids so this was my inspiration. I thought the frayed edges of a rag quilt could look like the white borders of the Poseidon and the squares could be in varying shades of purple.

Tips for Rag Quilts

Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Chain piece - absolutely is a time saver and an efficient way to piece your squares. Sew from one corner to the next diagonally in your square and do not stop at the ends - place your next "square sandwich" under the presser foot and continue sewing from one side to the other.

2. Fold as you go- A quick way to achieve accuracy in piecing these rag squares is to simply fold the top fabric diagonally by hand (before you place all three layers together) and use that line as a guide to sew from one corner to the next. Who needs to press or mark? Why? An extra step is not necessary! You can always do improv style which I've been known to do:)

3. Flannel - I like to use flannel in between my squares of Kona cotton and minky fabric. It not only adds softness and warmth to your quilt but an extra layer which will add to the overall "fluffiness" of the frayed edges. I have used batting which is fine too but you need to cut your batting squares smaller as they do not fray - again, an extra step!

4. Accuquilt Go Fabric Cutter - I got to pull mine out and use my rag quilt die for this project. I do like it a lot but I don't enjoy picking out the loose threads in between the die. With the Accuquilt, you can cut double layers of flannel, up to five-six layers of cotton and single layers of minky fabric. The edges come out pre-cut which is awesome! No cutting by hand!! My only critique about the Accuquilt is that I wish the rag dies came in a size approx. 7 inches. The 5.5 inch die is a little small for my liking in terms of the finished rag block size (rag quilt squares are too close together as the finished size is 3.5-4 inches depending on the size of your seam - I use 7/8 of an inch, some people use 1 inch) and the 8.5 inch die is a little too big. I prefer to have finished squares at least 5 - 5.5 inches like this project I did in the past.

I didn't have my Accuquilt then and cut my fabric the ol' fashion way; I used 7 inch squares to start with...love the finished square size and LOVE the softness of Heather Ross' poplin fabric. It was a great way to use some of my Mendocino fabric and it's great for kids!

Okay, off to feed my little one and maybe spend some time cutting out my Single Girl template for the outer arch...wish me luck!

My First Feature!

Heather from Modern Day Quilts contacted me the other day and said she would like to feature my Drunk Love Quilt on her blog. I was so excited!! At lot of love was put into this quilt by me and my virtual quilting bee friends for my stepson.

None of my work has ever been featured before so I'm really excited and honoured to tell you the truth! Thanks Heather!! You've really made my day!

Pagegirl Hat and Oranges

Well it's been another wild day here with two little ones, but they're now both in bed so this Mom can breathe a sigh of relief:) In between drawing, feeding, cooking, and watching Dora, I managed to make Miss G's pagegirl hat a little bit bigger today. Once I coaxed her to try it on several times to see if it fit, she wouldn't take it off! Go figure!! She ran around all afternoon wearing her new hat and her princess dress...oh my!
Did I mention she's almost three and full of personality:)

Crocheting is something I learned when I was about 9 years old and to this day I'm amazed how quickly things are to make. Mind you, I only crochet baby/toddler hats, not clothing...clothing I usually knit. It's very satisfying to have something completed in an hour or two.

Miss G's hat is a little bit different because I had to add those few extra rows so the "visor" part of the hat is not as well defined, but overall I think it looks pretty cute.
I used Mission Falls Cotton yarn for both hats. I'm so sad that my LKS will no longer be carrying it as I think it's being discontinued. I'll have to find something similar because it's my absolute favourite for baby hats/clothes.
By the way, I had to include a picture of this orange that I cut up for our breakfast this morning. I was struck by the beautiful design in something so simple. Pretty!

Single Girl Quilt - Curves

I must say I was a little nervous about trying these curves but so far so good! All I did was crease the centre of each piece, pin it and sew....I was happy that all of the seams matched up perfectly! (sigh of relief) Yeh! I didn't add any extra seam allowance when I cut out my template...and again, I just used my rotary cutter...no tracing here!

Thank you to everyone who helped me decide on the colour of the backround fabric. Kona Raisin was the overwhelming choice! It's on order and now I have to patiently wait for it to arrive...which just gives me too much time to think up new quilt possibilities....not good for a fabric diet:)

I also finished up another pagegirl hat for Miss P and as for Miss G - her hat turned out a little small so I will be adding a few more rows and hopefully that will fix it...more pics to follow!

Updated Hat

Miss P is growing so quickly that I decided to make another pagegirl hat for her in a bigger size. It comes together quickly and if you've noticed on my blog...I love babies in hats! To me, there is nothing cuter! Here is a pic in the smaller size. I think I'll try to spend some time today in making her older sister one in fuschia.

Thanks to everyone who left comments about the Single Girl Quilt! I ordered some Kona raisin from Fabric Shack yesterday! I agree - it provides nice contrast with my other fabrics, not to mention the fact that it is definitely outside of my usual colors I quilt with which will be nice for a change. The only thing I'm wondering about is the quilting and thread color. I'd like to go with something that matches the raisin, which is dark, but if I quilt in the rings with such light colors - what will I do? How will that look? We'll wait and see I guess!

Raisin vs. Plum for Single Girl Quilt?

What do you think of these two: Raisin(top) vs. Plum(bottom)?

Background Choices

I've made 2 quarters so far of the Single Girl Quilt (I'm making a baby size). I'm waiting on some other fabric to complete the other 2 quarters so I thought I would decide on my background fabric. As you can see I have a variety of pinks, fuschias, plums and purples for the rings. The background possibilities are:

1. Plum (top left)
2. White (top right)
3. Baby Pink (bottom left)
4. Pearl Pink (bottom right)

I've also tossed around the idea of a chocolate background as well?? What do you think? Would love to hear your ideas!!

Sorry for the pics....it's night time here so not the best lighting. Pearl Pink shows up very subtle.