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!