Pics of my Nesting

Happy Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and I decided to treat myself this year! Women should do that sometimes, don't you think? - especially on this momentous milestone I've reached:)

On Saturday, I ordered a quilt I've been wanting a lonnnnng time - if you have followed me you'll know I'm a big fan of Denyse Schmidt's What a Dish quilt. Love, love, love it! I ordered it in Ecru - yummy is all I can say! Can't wait. You can find a picture of it here.

On Monday, I ordered an Accuquilt Go fabric cutter. As you know, all of blogland has been having numerous giveaways, but unfortunately no luck here...so if you can't win one, I bought one! I ended up choosing the 2 1/2 strip die, the circles and the rag quilt die. I know the strip die is going to come in very handy when it comes time to cut quilt bindings that's for sure!

Still waiting for baby to arrive here. I'm 39 weeks tomorrow and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little one....will it be a boy or a girl? I'm not sure but I'm leaning towards a boy...of course little Miss G still thinks she's going to have a baby sister. All we care about is that the baby is healthy so a boy or girl makes no difference to us!

I'm still knitting up a storm..I'll post a few pics later as blogger isn't cooperating right now.

Pics of Concentric Square Quilting

Concentric Square Quilting

I'm finally in the process of quilting my stepson's Drunk Love style quilt aka Denyse Schmidt. I knew I wanted the quilting to be concentric squares as it highlights the style of the quilt/blocks. I never imagined how much a "pain in the you know what" it would be! Stuffing your quilt through your machine at every turn of the square is difficult and time consuming. Again, love the effect but unless you're quilting with a long arm, it can take some time and a whole lot of patience to complete this on a home machine. I think if it were a baby quilt, it would be a lot easier! Maybe it's just that I'm a bit rushed as I'm about to give birth in two weeks and the patience factor has gone out the window:) Could be! I almost stopped and started stippling but I didn't - I'm going to stick with it! I like to try new things and I want it to look good.

Any tips/thoughts on how you quilt in concentric squares would be appreciated:) I'll post some pictures later today!

Reversible Baby Shoes

I love baby shoes...and this pattern came in really handy as I wanted shoes that had invisible seams and were reversible. My only caution is to make sure you do leave a big enough opening for turning as these wee little things are a bugger to squeeze through a small opening!!(read instructions!!) I learned the hard way-almost put me in labor-haha

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!!