30th birthday

Here is the 30th gift from my sister Sarah. It is 14 inches square. She talks about it more on her blog SewJoy.

I absolutely love it.

It's even better in person. So colourful.

Here is what I made my friend Mary whose birthday is tomorrow. I already gave her her presents whent we went out for a birthday supper together on Saturday. Thinking of making these to sell in my Etsy store (whenever I can find time to make stuff).

These mugs have Lady Grey tea in them - see the blue tea label coming out of the mug? Lady Grey is what we usually drink together.

Official end of box 3

Here are the rest of the photos that didn't want to upload earlier today and officially ends box 3 of presents.

Another quilt book. I like the one on the cover but am a little scared of doing the binding.

A little snowman stocking.

And here are some of my presents being put to work. The fabric basket and snowman hanging beside my machine and the pin cushion waiting for pins (I use it to put my safety pins in as I take them out when I am quilting a top). The little polka dot pail is there too, although I haven't decided what to put in it - it's just so cute it gets to stay on my crowded table.

Quilt Tops

Remember the Recipe for Friendship charm pack my mother bought me? Here it is with the jelly roll from the same line that I bought myself. It is lap size. Just need to quilt it. Think I will just stipple it and sell it on Etsy. I haven't added anything new to that in a while.

This little quilt is for me. I bought a half yard of this Frida Kahlo fabric a couple years ago and I finally had the courage to cut it up. I had planned to use it a different way but ended up with this simpler design. Frida is one of my favourite artists but her work isn't really for kids so I don't have any hanging in our house. Will take my time quilting this one to make sure I love it.

Close-up of Frida.

Another close-up. When this is finished it will hang near my sewing area. She is such an inspiration to me.

Finished Projects

Here are a couple things I have finished.

My daughter helped with this doll quilt for her cousin. She pieced some of the blocks and decided where the blocks were going to go. It was mailed yesterday so hopefully it will arrive next week.

I just did stipple quilting over the whole thing since the blocks aren't exactly square.

Close-up.

Here is the back. I used a piece of Northcott flower of the month fabric - gladioli was for August (her birthday month).

This is a little apron I made my daughter. It has a pocket in the front and she enjoys modeling it as you can see.

The end of Box 3

My computer is only letting me get some of my pictures out of iphoto today. Who knows why. Anyway, I am able to show pictures of the 2 quilt books my sister gave me yesterday and today. I actually took pictures of finished and in progress projects but I can't get them to the blog. Hopefully another day.

Here is yesterday's book - Love it! There are several projects in here I will have to do or at least dream about doing.

Here is one of my favs.

And another.

And another. I don't really like the colours of this one and I wouldn't do the flower basket, probably a focus fabric instead and no peachy fabric. Yuck.

Here is today's book - the last gift of box 3 since tomorrow is the big day. Sarah knows I have a thing for fat quarters. Now which project to do first?

Here is a pic of the back cover that shows 3 of the quilts I like. The middle one is nice except for the colour (too much peach again).

I really like the table runners in this book and might be making a few for holiday gifts this year.

Here is the big picture in the book of one of the quilts from the back cover. I really like this (except for the colours of course).

More table runners.



Thanks Sarah for doing all of these 30 until 30 gifts. I can hardly wait to open the last gift tomorrow morning. I have really enjoyed all the gifts. I used my sketch book last night, the kids and I have been using the muppet utensils and the little fabric basket has been filled with threads and emptied a few times now. Need to get my thread shelf up and do something with all the wonderful fabric. Thanks again Sarah.

End of Box 2 and the beginning of box 3

Sunday marked the last present in the second box. Here is the rest of what was inside. 2 Quilting Arts magazines - very enjoyable.

A notebook and a piece of mistyfuse.

Some old handkerchiefs. What am I going to do with these?

On Sunday was these 2 pieces of fabric. Love them.

Monday is the beginning of the last box.

Gift for today was another Quilting Arts magazine. Something else to distract me from actually quilting.

It arrived Sarah! Here is gift #30 waiting for Friday. I wonder, I wonder.

I did get some quilting done this weekend and I will try to take some pics and post them later today. I even watched the U.S.Open women's final (yeah for Kim Clijsters!) on the computer at my quilting table so I could get something done.

Some more 30 til 30

Friday was the beginning of the second box of birthday presents from my sister. Here are a couple of the gifts so far.

The first day was this yellow spice rack - although I think it would look good holding lots of colourful thread.

Today, was this beautiful piece of fabric. What am I going to do with it?

Yes, I still quilt!

I know all my posts recently have been about wonderful gifts and fabric. Now it is time to get back to making things. Here are a couple things I have been working on.

I had bought (a few months ago) some vintage 4 patch squares from an etsy store (sorry don't remember who). They had a slight smokey smell so I left them to air out the last couple months and smell much better now. Anyway, I have put them together into this. I will be adding some borders to make it a table runner and to sell in my etsy store. It is roughly 9 x 18 inches.

My daughter did a block exchange with her cousin at the beginning of this year. I had my daughter make extra blocks (I helped with some) to make a doll quilt for her cousin. This is Ellia's doll quilt (was suppose to be a birthday present but is now a few weeks late). It still needs to be quilted, just need to iron the backing fabric and find some time to quilt it.

This is my daughter, Calliope's, doll quilt. Calliope made 10 squares and her cousin, Molly, made the other 10. For both this quilt and the one above, I let Calliope figure out where the blocks were going to go; I didn't give her any advice about light and dark. I noticed she would put blocks with her favourite fabrics together. I sewed the blocks together into the quilt tops but Calliope picked the backing fabrics and will have a say in what quilting is done on them.

Here is what I made with "The Recipe for Friendship" charm pack my mother bought me. I didn't use all the fabrics since I am planning to make a tablerunner with the leftover squares.

Bought the matching jelly roll for the border from A Sunday Girl on Etsy. I have already started to sew the strips around the middle and will post a progress picture soon.

The end of Box 1

Sunday marked the last present in the first of 3 boxes of presents from my sister. I wonder what is inside?

Gifts for the next 4 days. I included the little piece of basket fabric as part of my August 30th gift.

On the 31st I opened this. I laughed a little - I love The Muppets. I am saving these to for when we have cake.

On September 1st, it was this set of notecards based on Japanese prints. I really like asian fabric and these are really cool. Makes me think of Van Gogh who would spend his money on buying Japanese prints instead of food.

My favourite card.

On the 2nd, it was this kleenex holder made by Sarah.

Today's was this little fabric basket. I am using it as a garbage collector. Much better than the yogurt container I was using to collect threads and other bits.
Tomorrow I open the second box...I can hardly wait!