April Finishes!

Finished this afghan last night. Original design but I ran out of yarn and there wasn't anymore at the store so I had to improvise the end. This will be in my Etsy store sometime this weekend. Baby afghans and quilts are on sale for the whole month of May in my Etsy store!

2 potholders. Unfortunately not the ones for my potholder swap partner (which need to be mailed by next Friday). The one with a green border is for my friend Mary. The fabrics used belong to her grandmother who passed away in the fall. The other will be in my Etsy store sometime this weekend.

You know it's been a good day of quilting when...

... your butt hurts from sitting so long. Which is exactly how I felt yesterday after a very busy day at the sewing machine. I was going to work on something to giveaway but then I got totally distracted by a bunch of projects that needed to be worked.

I finished the last 4 blocks for my son's preschool teacher's quilt. All 4 have be sewn together into the last row. I am going to try and quilt it in sections since this quilt is so big (each block is 16 inches finished).

Here are the last 2. Trying to figure out when I want to have it done by. I have several possibilities. May 7th is her birthday (and also the Friday of teacher appreciation week), May 12th is my last board meeting; June 4th is the last day of school and June 6th is the graduation picnic and probably the last time I will see her. Which deadline will I have it done for? I was aiming for June 6th but maybe I will get it done sooner than that.

Trying to get caught up on my string blocks. Here are the first 3 for March that I did on Thursday.

Here are the last 4 for March which I did yesterday. They have since been sewn together in their row and attached to the first 2 rows. This week I need to do the 7 blocks for April and then I will be caught up.

While I was working on the string blocks on Thursday, I decided I would also get back to working on the bargello quilt - add a string, sew on a strip. I was happily doing this when I looked at the bargello and realized I had been adding strips to the wrong end of the quilt. Luckily I had only sewn on 5 strips. Out came the seam ripper and eventually all the mistakes were fixed. I decided to finish the quilt Friday night.

Here it is. Needs some borders and then quilted but then it will be DONE! It was actually going to go the other way but my husband and I agree it looks "happier" this way. I am going to do very simple quilting (stitch-in-the-ditch), since it is the pattern and fabrics that make this quilt awesome.

Here's a close up of the fabrics. Love it. Not sure on the borders yet... any ideas? On my first bargello I did a piano key border with the leftover fabrics but I know I don't have enough to do that this time. I have some of the fabric that is just above the purple that may end up being the first border (it has blues, greens, purple and orange in it so I think it might work).

Earth Day - Green Up!

Happy Earth Day Everyone! Yes, this is post #100 but we will get to that later. Reanna Lily Designs has organized a post on her blog about how quilters are Green, calling it Green Up! Here are my submissions.

I made this quilt for my brother, Christmas 2006. I think everyone has t-shirts lying around and making a t-shirt quilt is nothing new. What makes this quilt special is that the t-shirts are ones he designed.

This is one I just finished today and is another popular idea. This is a little bag made from one of my daughters old dresses (think she wore it when she was 2). I absolutely loved the fabric and couldn't donate it or pass it on to any of our nieces when she outgrew it. I kept it for a few years and recently decided to make myself a little bag out of it.

It's much smaller than it appears in the first picture and will only fit the essentials. When I told my daughter what I made the bag out of, she paused for a moment and then exclaimed, "You Reused!", glad the message is getting across.

Close-up of the beautiful fabric. I came across another one of these dresses in a thrift shop a couple years ago, and even though it wouldn't have fit my daughter, I almost bought it so I could have more of the fabric. I restrained myself but now I wish I had so I could have made a bigger bag.

I'm working on a couple little things so I can have a giveaway this weekend to celebrate my 100th post and 1 year blogiversary.

And remember Earth Day is Everyday!

Post #99

Post #99, and no quilts in it! This is more of a what happens when it's after midnight and you have all the things pictured above in front of you? You drink the hard lemonade, smell the mod podge fumes and blame them the next morning for your creations.

Here is what was on my desk this morning. My mother collects stamps and I have a lot of extras lying around. Once the stamp has been taken off the paper, she can't donate it. This is a little project I have had lying around for awhile but just haven't done it. Still need to do the backs, but I really like them. They are little lined paper notebooks.

This one is probably my favourite and I think I'll keep it.

This one might go to my mother, if she wants it. She always needs a place to make lists or jot things down. She also collects royalty items, so I was thinking of her when I crafted it at almost 1am last night.

It's no tv week here and I thought I would be going to bed earlier and doing more quilts. At least I am being creative. Maybe I am just getting ready for Idaho. 1 am here is only 10pm there. That's not late at all!

An April Finish - Finally!

I make quilts, right? Well, my daughter is learning how to knit and I couldn't just sit and watch her and not do it too, so I knitted up this little bag for her to carry her knitting around in. The handle is crocheted since I was done with knitting by the time I got to that part. I usually knit 1 item a year, although I might try making socks this year (just something I've always wanted to do).
I thought it looked a little plain, so I hand appliqued on these little ladybugs cut from some flannel fabric I had. There's 5 on each side.

Doing the ladybugs got me thinking about another project that needed to be appliqued. I'm sure I'm doing it all wrong, using the wrong thread... but hey I'm doing it. This is part of a pattern my sister created and this is all you get to see for now. She likes to do hand applique and I ALWAYS use my machine so this was a learning experience but fun. Only 6 more trees left on this one. What do you think Sarah?

And yes, today is my 1 year blogiversary (?) and I'm still on the fence about a giveaway. Life is a little crazy here trying to sell our house and find a new place in Idaho, plus all the other normal everyday things. I had an idea last night and we'll see if I get it done. My 100th post is coming up too, so I'm sure I'll have a giveaway.... eventually.

Spring Break Shopping

Last week, we were home visiting family and I was able to sneak out for an afternoon and do a little shopping. Of course I made my way to both local quilt stores but I only made purchases at one of them. Here is what I got at Three Gables.

2 charm packs. I used one of these charm packs in the quilt I made for my daughter. I really love the fabric and couldn't pass it up.

2 fabrics from the "Greetings from Canada" line that came out in 2008. I am getting a nice collection of these fabrics. Both are 1/2 metre cuts. Trying to find a pattern I like to use all my Canada fabrics; until then I will keep buying it when I see it.

Another 1/2 metre. I love this yellow. I made a quilt using a charm pack and jelly roll that is in my etsy shop. It is the "Recipe for Friendship" line.

A fat quarter that I just couldn't resist. I think there are so many possibilities with this fabric that I can hardly wait until I decide what to do with it.

This is bundle of scrap fabric that I got for $3.00. It's a great deal as some pieces were fat quarter size or bigger.

Here is what was in the bundle. These are just inside the door on the bench and would make a great, cheap gift for any quilter you might now (I don't think she offers these online). They are organized by colour or theme.

This piece was also in the bundle. Isn't it beautiful? I might just iron it and frame it. Very Monetish.

I had bought all the above fabric when I saw a quilt made with this pattern on the wall. The one on the wall was in blues, yellows and tans and looked much better than this.

Here is the quilt that was on the back of the pattern. This quilt requires 12 fat quarters and I have a special collection of fabrics that have been waiting for a pattern like this. I will save this quilt for Idaho as I have many projects I need to get done before we move.

Works in Progress

We were able to make it up to Ontario to visit family this past week. However, I spent some time quilting today. I also bought some fabric up north which I will share later this week. Here is what I have going.

Bargello quilt is well on its way. This was taken before we went on vacation. I added 5 more rows to it today but 4 of them were 1 inch strips so I didn't take another picture.

This is a quilt I found in my stash. It was still in 2 (the fence and flowers were separate). It still needs the stems and leaves of the flowers to be attached, so all I got done today was to sew the 2 main pieces together. Green for the leaves and stems is ironed. This quilt is an original design.

Close up of the bow-tie flowers.

This is a pin quilt for my mother. I didn't get it done in time to take it with me but I quilted it today. It needs squaring up and trimmed. I am only going to trim the back polyester fleece and use the extra flower border as binding. I only stitched in the ditch so it will be easy for her to put her pins in and out of the quilt.

Here is the back. I used polyester fleece with no batting. I had made one with batting and cotton fabric back for her Christmas pins but she said it was a little thick (but still useable). Hopefully this one is thinner and will be easier to use.

Did anyone else notice that I am almost at 100 posts and the 21st of this month is my 1 year blogiversary? Does that mean I need to have a giveaway? Guess I will have to think up something. Any ideas?