Yeh! Mail!

These little lovelies showed up today in the mail. I honestly couldn't help myself after I saw Ashley's Chicopee Quilt.

So vibrant and modern....simply beautiful! I was inspired to buy a fat quarter bundle (which I never do) from PinkCastleFabrics and it was on sale!! Yeh! It arrived in record time which is nice living in Canada:) I especially love these two prints:

Since I'm a knitter as well, I was always curious about the "Mystery Boxes" on Craftsy (you order them on the last day of the month). So, in August, I took a chance and ordered a $50 mystery box. This is what I received:

I definitely love the needles and the Bulky yarn but I'm not sure about the sock yarn as I've never knit socks before....but maybe I'll try? Not sure. I'm still glad I took a chance and purchased mine and heh.....worst case is I trade for something different on Ravelry! (This month I'm making a conscious effort at trying to be as positive as I can be:) This past week, my oldest daughter started JK - full time, every day! Big changes! She seems to like it but the drop off is difficult for her. I wish my Mom could have been there to see her on her first day of school, but I'm sure she was watching from above!

My youngest daughter turns 22 months at the end of this month (which is unbelievable) and she is talking up a storm....forming sentences for some time and saying the cutest little things! When her sister was having a melt down the other day she said "sister crying" "sister crabby" - it honestly made me laugh and kind of stopped her sister in her tracks! They're so sweet and I remind myself on a daily basis that I am blessed to have them in my life!

Miss G found this "little wormy" at the tree planting ceremony in memory of my father this past weekend. She made him a little "home" with a leaf before we left the conservation area. She is so attached to animals/insects and she sometimes talks about being an "animal doctor." Here is a pic of Miss P on the weekend looking mischievous!

Oh, and like I needed another WIP, here is the start of a DS Spools Quilt. Have you checked out Svetlana's version? GORGEOUS! So, I started off by doing a "sort of stack and slash/improv method" to avoid having to cut out all of DS' templates. This picture is of the same "block" just turned on its side. I will be making other types of blocks but I think I like what I've come up with so far.

I think my major problem is that I love to start up lots of WIPs and then I find I have no time to complete all of them!! Crazy!! How do you manage your WIPs without becoming distracted by other possible WIPs....I swear I have "Sewist ADD" .... haha. Any tips would be appreciated!!! Have a great Tuesday!

Preschool Teacher Gifts

My daughter's last day of preschool was on Friday. Unfortunately I didn't have it all together to give her teachers a gift but thought I could make up for it this coming Tuesday:) I wanted to make something handmade but debated on whether to make them some ruffled key fobs that I saw on EmptyBobbins blog post here So on Friday while the girls were in school I set out to make up a bunch. Shea used Alex's tutorial which by the way is really cool but I just couldn't get my ruffles to come out the way I'd like them to. I have a little bit of a perfectionist streak so if I give a handmade present I want it to look as professional as it can. I even tried to hand baste the ruffle piece but inevitably when I would go to sew it on the fob with my walking foot, the spacing of the ruffles just didn't look good. Oh well....back to the drawing board. So I thought....pouches! I had seen Noodlehead's tutorial for her open wide zippered pouches and thought these would be perfect. I whipped three up over the course of yesterday afternoon and evening and am really happy with the results.

So far I've learned I like the feel and body of using fusible fleece (I did that with this one):

Don't mind this picture as it looks like the top is not even....just the way I took the photo. Here are the other two:

The last pic is one I'm still adding the finishing touches to...it needs a zipper tab

. Happy Labour Day Weekend!!

Modern Scrappy Bits Swap

I joined the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap awhile ago. For this secret swap, we were asked to make one small handmade item (either pouch or pin cushion) and to send our swap partner a fat quarter's worth of scraps. Seemed pretty easy and something I've been wanting to do! My partner didn't state a preference so I decided to make her a boxy pouch because I love them myself! I hadn't made one before so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try something new. There are a lot of "boxy pouch" tutorials in blogland but not a lot of them are necessarily lined which I personally prefer for the finished look they have. Here's what I came up with for my partner. This is side one:

Quilt Con Block Challenge

My humble little Quilt Con Block will be featured tomorrow on the Modern Quilt Guild website. The winning blocks will be used to make a quilt which will be raffled off at the Quilt Con Conference in February. The other blocks which have been submitted will be used to make charity quilts for the Austin Children's Shelter. How's that for a "win win!"

I have to say I love the colours for the Quilt Con Logo...bright and modern!

What I've been up to...

I'm not going to lie to you....things have been really quiet on the blog front because since the death of my parents (one four months ago and one ten months ago) I just haven't felt up to it. I've been creative here and there behind the scenes so I thought these pictures tell the story. First up...the start of a future beach blanket -

A Hello Kitty Pillowcase Dress for Miss G -

My QuiltCon submission -

A few hats for my Etsy shop -

My first Pillowcase to go with a quilt I made Miss G a few years ago -

Some Unscripted Bee Blocks:

Thanks for stopping by!

First Pillowcase Dress

Whipped this up last night for Miss G. It's an OwlyBaby Pattern that I purchased from Etsy called the "Betsy Pillowcase Dress." Thought I would make each of my daughter's a little summer dress. It was a good pattern but I had to alter it a bit as my daughters are on the petite side. My 4 year old loves Hello Kitty and I've had this fabric lying around for some time now so I thought it would be the perfect choice for her. Of course when she realized I had made her a dress this morning she wanted to wear it to school and it was too long....so out came the stitches and some altering later it was all done. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my morning while getting them ready for school...but heh, she's one happy girl!

I got a chance to work on French seams which I only ever did one time before. I didn't have any problems with the help of Youtube! Love that! I also made some homemade bias binding for the armholes which turned out well too. I'm going to make my 19 month old daughter one from some Denyse Schmidt fabric...can't wait to see how it will turn out!!

Hope you're enjoying a great day!

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Spring 2012

I know I've been away for some time now but Amy's Bloggers' Quilt Festival has inspired my post today. Recently my Mom passed away which has been absolutely devastating. Needless to say my family and I have been trying to get through these last weeks minute by minute, hour by hour. I am an only child and have now lost both parents in a span of 6 1/2 months. I say this not to sound like a victim but because I truly am amazed how life as we know it can change in an instant. I am trying to stay focused on the love that my Mom has always given to me, my husband, two stepsons and our two little girls. That is what saddens me the most....they only were able to know Grandma for a precious 4 years, and in the case of my youngest daughter, 17 months. I try to keep her memory alive every day with them so they can always know they were thoroughly adored by their Grandma. I never knew in making this quilt that it would hold such special significance now. I made this quilt, my second official quilt, back in 2008 as a Christmas present for my Mom. Looking back, it certainly isn't my best work, but it was definitely made with lots of love.

The pattern is from CarolinaPatchworks.com and is called Scrappy Circles Quilt. What I loved about the design is that it is improv circles. I have always loved circular quilts, in fact, I am obsessed with them....whether it's the design or quilting with circles. Love it! Here is a picture of it draped over my daughter's crib once I was getting ready to give it to Mom for Christmas...had to take a couple photos:)

Again, the pieced back is very simple...literally just a strip of fabric pieces from the Woodland Bloom collection (layer cake used for the pattern).

It was also my first time stippling....so you can see how densely it was quilted...oops!

I knew that when my Mom passed away I wanted to bury her with something wrapped around her signifying my love for her.

My first quilt, which I never even photographed, was given to my Dad as a Christmas present in 2007. It too was buried with my Dad as a sign of my love for him.

Thank you for letting me share the story of this little quilt. Here is one last photo of a Scrappy Circles Quilt top I made earlier this year using Bliss.