Baby Gift

Whipped this up for a friend at work who is going off on mat leave on Friday...she's having a baby girl:)

Some better pics - outside

My husband humoured tonight by holding on to "his quilt" outside.  The lighting inside was so poor last night so this gives you a better idea of the colours.  And yes, those are his feet peeking out below:)

FINALLY...(doing a little dance)

 This quilt top is FINALLY done! I know, I know, you've seen a thousand pictures of it in its various stages (thanks for humouring me:) but I finished up that last row and it feels really good!

Pillowcases

I whipped these two pillowcases up for my daughters yesterday. I love quick projects! While we were in Florida, I stopped by the Daytona Beach JoAnns store and the girls picked out these flannel fabrics. I bought 2 yards of fabric and a roll of 2 inch wide ribbon and Bob's your uncle! It couldn't be simpler! Here's what I used: 1 yard of fabric (I didn't use a contrasting fabric for the band for these pillowcases) and 2 inch wide ribbon for the band border. For the main part of the pillow, the fabric is cut at 27 inches and 9 inches is used for the band. I used 2 inch wide ribbon for the band border. I used Missouri Quilt Co's tutorial which is brilliant! However when you reach the very last step of sewing your 2 seams (length of pillow on one side and short side; an "L" if you will), I used French seams so that all of the seams are enclosed! Don't shy away from them as they are super easy to do! Here's how you do it: With right sides facing out, sew down the length of the pillow and short side with a 1/4 inch seam. Yes, that's no mistake - you are sewing on the right side of your pillow. Trim the one corner because you next turn the pillow inside out - now you will be sewing on the wrong side of the fabric. Using a 3/8 inch seam (the next line after the 1/4 inch mark on your sewing machine), sew down the same two sides. Turn right side out and admire your work because your raw edges of your seams are now enclosed and cannot be seen!! You won't have any fraying when you wash your pillowcases! I used French seams on these pillowcases because I was using Flannel but I'd have to say I would definitely use French seams on any pillow I would make because it makes for a professional look to  your work!

Well gotta run....have a 5th birthday to host....and have some last minute things to get done. Happy
Saturday!

 

 BTW: Is anybody having problem on blogger with uploading images and then altering the size....all of my images are coming out small; when you used to upload you'd have the choice of the size but on this new version, it doesn't give me an option. Any thoughts?

An Update

I first have to say thanks to those of you who still drop by my little blog to see what I'm up to. Haven't done a lot of sewing lately or knitting as I've been sick, there's been some birthday planning for my now 5 year old and we've been to Florida and back. Since I'm at home this week with a yucky eye virus I got to some sewing this morning. Now I'm sure you must be sick of this particular quilt since all I seem to do is show postings where just a few blocks have been done......not a lot of progress I know....but it is coming along....really, I swear:) I actually had my husband sit on the couch so we could "try out" the length for size. Looks like I've got another row of blocks to do because it only comes to the base of his ankle....and that's not really cozy is it? Here are some pics .... they tell the story...


Love the colours in this whale photo....I've been inspired to make an "ocean" quilt for the family. Bought some fabric on my trip and have added it to the "to do" list. Uh oh..
Gotta love Disney at night...we went for one day over the course of our trip.
Cupcakes for Miss G's class.

Amy Butler Lecture - Quilt Con 2013

When I first started getting back into sewing in 2006-2007ish - I came across Amy Butler's website and was blown away by all of her handbags and designs! I was bitten by the AB fabric bug and have never looked back! I mean come on, who doesn't love a great handbag?? ;) So, needless to say, I was looking forward to actually seeing Amy Butler in person at her lecture at Quilt Con this past Saturday! The title of her lecture was "Creating Your Unique Color Story." I was already really excited to hear about her fabric design "process," but I certainly never expected her to "speak to my soul." I know that sounds, as she says, "a little dodgey" but that's exactly what she did! Amidst her beautiful photos from her recent trip to Egypt in December 2012, she spoke about recently attending the "Ignite" conference in New York. It was a weekend full of inspirational speakers on how to live life intentionally and authentically. Doesn't that sound awesome? She shared her personal vulnerabilities in expanding her work to include a new online magazine, Blossom which recently debuted. She said "when fear knocks, you're meant to go through it anyway." Isn't that so true? Scary for sure, but exhilarating and inspirational on the other side:) Who can't relate to that whether it be your creative process, personal or professional life? I don't know about you, but a healthy sense of fear/hesitation can be the exact thing that makes you try something new, keep you on your toes and expand your horizons! It can be so freeing! I know I have personally done that recently regarding my professional life and it has really felt good to do some new things and get out of the "safe and comfortable" zone. The key message of her talk was this:
 She displayed these absolutely drop dead gorgeous photos of her trips. She said what she does is groups the photos that really speak to her (maybe they're just plain beautiful or they evoke a certain feeling) and looks for colour themes. She said she then puts collages together and colour matches them with paint chips(she said she gets hers usually from Lowes). How cool is that? I'm definitely going to try this sometime. Next, she starts to draw images pencil/pen and then her assistant will match up the paint chips and produce something digital for her. And voila....this is where she starts with her fabric collection. This is obviously a simplistic paring down of the process and I hope I've remembered everything she said, but hopefully you get the idea:)


 

Amy is so awesome!

 I loved her message in that whether you're new to sewing/designing, no one sees colour like you do. We are each unique and there can only be one of us. So go out and try something, be authentic and see what you come up with! Trust your instinct and intuition. Okay, I couldn't resist, I'm not usually a groupie but after such an awesome lecture, I had to meet her in person and tell her so - so she was doing a book signing and I got this picture taken. How funny do we look! Amy is so tall and I'm so short so she sat on a stool when this picture was taken:)
 Not only is she beautiful on the outside but it's obvious she's beautiful on the inside as well! Okay, by the way, isn't Craftsy cool! Well, they're extra cool now because they've put all of the Quilt Con Lectures on their website for FREE.....check them out! Here's Amy's lecture (courtesy of Craftsy) Oh yeah, and by the way, I said I would never really get in to sewing clothes...maybe baby ones but never adult size....well, now I have to take back those words! I'm going to try her pattern, Liverpool, in tunic size. So cute! I think it was seeing everyone in Texas wearing cool boots and thinking this tunic would look so good with them! Now, off to shop for some boots!

Quilt Con was AMAZING!!!

Back in December, once some more of my father's estate was taken care of, I eagerly wanted to do something for myself. I had dreamed of going to Quilt Con but knew that registration for the classes had begun back in August. I looked into it and became discouraged that there were only waiting lists being taken for any of the workshops that I was interested in. Cut to - saying to myself - are you crazy, you have to go and you have to make this a girls weekend. My two best friends and I haven't been in the same place for literally 6 years...yikes!!! One lives in Phoenix and one lives in Ottawa - opposite ends of the US/Canada! Having some faith, we all managed to pull it together and meet in Austin on Thursday!!! It was SUCH AN AMAZING WEEKEND! Even though my friends do not share the passion I do for quilting/sewing/knitting, we managed to have lots of fun time together and I was able to attend the conference and do everything I wanted to do too! (exhale....) Since I have SO MUCH TO SHARE, I've decided to do little bits and pieces over the next week so tonight I thought I'd share with you some of my favourite quilts showcased at Quilt Con. Such beautiful work ladies!