Where did the week go?

I lost this weekend. Friday evening I came down with a sinus cold and I spent most of the weekend reading (read about 300 pages of 3 different novels - finished one of them). Didn't touch the sewing machine or any knitting. Did a little crocheting on Sunday. The cold is pretty much gone, but now I have a sore throat and almost no voice.

Monday, my son and I made these yummy cookies for Valentine's day. They have peanut butter in them and are delicious. I made these at Christmas with chocolate kisses on top. Thanks to my parents for sending the chocolate hearts. Wish I could share these with you:)

I did get back to quilting yesterday (partly because we had no internet) and even finished one wallhanging but I didn't get any pictures taken. Today was full, with dentist appointments for the kids and errands (ran out of yarn for the crocheted baby blanket). Home for an hour before I head out to get my daughter from school.  At least I found out this morning that I won a giveaway over at Sew Take A Hike. Thanks Penny. Can hardly wait to receive the fabric in the mail!

Now, it's time to grab 2 cookies (without my son seeing?) and get ready to go. Maybe I'll take some pictures later this afternoon, or maybe not til tomorrow.  I am almost finished a couple other things so hopefully tomorrows post will have 3 finishes!

Link Land

I don't have much to show you, so I thought I would send you off to a few different places.

 Voting has begun for the Love Nest Quilt Contest at Gen X Quilters! Click here and go vote for your favourite (mine is #30 - no pressure to vote for me, vote for the one you like best:)

Next Friday is February's Friday Night Sew-In. Click here to sign-up. 

Another week and I still haven't bought any fabric. My husband has challenged me to go the whole year. I know this just isn't possible and suggested Mother's Day. We'll see how long I can last. Click here to read how everyone else is doing on their diets.

Hopefully I'll get something done this weekend so I'll have something to post Monday.

Wednesday is a work in progress

Of all the things I take pictures of, the most difficult to get right is anything with yarn. It never seems to turn out the right colour.

 Here is a blanket I am working on. A custom blanket, requested to be Granny Smith Apple green. And it is, in real life. This is close, but kind of dull. No flash.

 Here is the same blanket taken with the flash. Way too bright. For every good yarn picture I get, I must take at least 5. I've tried taking pictures at different times of day and different places - although I don't take them outside until they are completely finished. I would hate for the yarn to fall in some dirt or for the piece to come off the needles/hook.

 Here are the socks for my sister. I finished the heel to the first sock last night. This picture was taken with the flash and is close to the right colour, a little dull but close.

 Here they are with out the flash. Hard to see the stitches and the colours look blah. Oh well, I guess taking pictures of yarn is a work in progress.

 My quilt table overloaded with 5 projects waiting to be quilted and some other projects that I am playing with instead. Maybe I'll tackle this tonight.

But I think I will just look at this.

Batting practice?

My son enjoying some packaged batting.

Love Nest!

After seeing Annemarie's post on January 24th, about the Love Nest Quilt Contest, I knew I wanted to enter the quilt I finished last fall for our bed. Since I posted about it more than 2 months ago, I need to create a new post. Now we all get to enjoy looking at it again. The original post can be found here.

Here is the huge quilt. We only have a full size bed but I made it extra wide so we have plenty of quilt to cuddle up under. The pattern name is Twiggy (found here) and I have kept the name even though I changed it up a little. I added the borders and the appliqued birds. I also used just my most favourite fabrics and not a layer cake as suggested.

 Here it is on our bed. The main Twiggy pattern covers the top and the extra borders go down the sides.

 Close up of the borders. I only outlined the blue triangle and center square when I quilted.

 Close-up of the top. I outlined the green stems, birds and added details to the leaves. I free-motioned on all the cream fabric.

The back. My then 4 year old son, helped me by taking the outside pictures. My husband and I are holding up the quilt. I still love this quilt and it is nice to finally be sleeping under one of my own quilts every night.

Thanks to Annemarie for hosting this contest. Go and check out the other quilts - they are all so beautiful. Voting goes from February 10th to 16th at Annemarie's blog Gen X Quilters.

A few finishes and a Thursday night sew-in

First, a couple of finishes for this week.

 Baby boy blanket #1, bound and pictured.

 Baby boy blanket #2, also bound and pictured. This one will end up in the etsy shop by this weekend. The first one... probably won't. I messed up on the back. I didn't think the backing fabric was directional but it is. Deciding whether it is worth fixing, or if I should just save it for the next giveaway. It's not a big deal, a baby isn't going to care which way the trucks go, but I do. Oh well. Guess I need to triple check next time.

 Last night was a busy night. My husband was out hanging with work friends so I spent over 3 hours at my sewing machine. It was nice. Finished my daughter's doll quilt. Just did stitch-in-the-ditch around the blocks.

 She picked this flannel for the back from my stash.

 Off to school this morning to show it off. Had to use flash for these pictures as there wasn't enough daylight here that early. She seems very happy with it, although she thought it was going to be bigger.

 Also finished this Laundry Day quilt last night. It will also get posted in the shop this weekend. I have the fabrics ready to make some more of these, just need to finish some other projects first.

 Borders ironed, cut and sewn on last night. Now it is ready to be quilted.

 Also got the borders on my February UFO. Terrible light this morning. It looks great in person. Maybe I'll have to hang it on the line outside for a better picture. I think what stopped me from finishing this quilt before was that I wasn't sure how I wanted to attach the leaves and stems. Thought about it last night as I was sewing and think I have decided so I am looking forward to adding them very soon.

I also got 2 quilts basted and the backs for 2 other quilts completed last night. Looks like I have a busy weekend ahead of me.

5 weeks, no fabric bought! I am so proud of myself! Only 3 weeks left. Go see if everyone else stayed on their diets this week.

It's #10 for February!

Judy has picked the next number for the UFO Challenge and for February it is #10.

 #10 for me is this bow-tie flower garden that I designed. All it needs are the leaves, stems and borders and then it will be ready to be quilted.

 Went through the stash today and picked the fabrics for the stems and leaves, backing fabric is in the middles and border fabric is on the right. I think the top and fabrics will need a good ironing first.

 In my search this afternoon, I also came across this top made of some vintage fabrics. Of course it needs a good ironing too.

 Love the vintage cheater fabric.

 Found more vintage fabric in the stash. Dark brown for a final border. White fabric will be the back and binding.

 My daughter got her quilt top together this evening. I thought it was going to be a doll quilt for her, but she informed me that she is going to give it to one of her cousins. How sweet. I need to quilt it and then she is taking it to school on Friday for show and tell.