3 More finishes for July

These are 2 pins I made for my parent's anniversary. They are made out of the bridesmaid material that was used 40 years ago at their wedding. I wore one and the other we placed in my mom's corsage. There's enough material (probably close to 5 yards) that something could be made for each grandchild - but what? (Pattern for these flowers is from a Sew, Mama, Sew tutorial - I'll try to link to it at another time).

My son with the sweater I made for him. He picked this yarn and gave it to me for Mother's day. It was one of my goals this summer. First zipper - had to do it 3 times before it sat where I liked it. He loves it and I have enough left over to make him either a hat or a scarf. (Pattern is from Ravelry - I'll link to it at another time too).

New bag for my daughter. She got a Nintendo DSI as her moving gift (she did pay half though) and I decided something so expensive needed a new, padded bag to be carried around in.

Inside.

Tomorrow we start our long journey from Ontario to Idaho. Should be interesting with the 2 kids. Not sure what finishes I will have for August. Maybe curtains and other practical things.

Anniversary Quilt!

Where have I been? I've been stuck in my brother's basement finishing my parent's anniversary quilt. At the time it was a surprise so I didn't want to risk taking a picture of the top. This was my sewing space for the 2 weeks I spent with my brother's family. The ping pong table is a great sewing table.

Unfortunately in the basement I have a buddy. The basement belongs to the cat. She loved having me down there while I put on borders and binding. It also forced me to wash the quilt before I gave it to my parents.

The quilt had a photo session at my brother's house after it was washed. Here is it hanging from the railing.

On my brother's king size bed. It was made for a double bed.

Did I really line all that up? Yes, on all 4 sides. My sister Sarah over at SewJoy made the borders and the blocks with ruby in them. I made the double nine patch blocks, put the blocks together, quilted it and did the binding. Not the best quilt job. There was so many seams that it was hard to get everything to flow nicely under the machine. I stitched in the ditch around every 3 inch square for the main quilting. I would probably do something different now after seeing what it looks like. Next time.

Corners almost matched. This is a bottom corner so it's okay.

The back. Daffodils on her side, fish on his.

Mom and dad opening their gift.

Congrats mom and dad on 40 wonderful years.

I forgot to take a picture of the beautiful label my sister made. I'll try to do that before I leave for Idaho in less than a week!

7 Finishes!

On "vacation" I have been able to get some little things done. These 3 stockings are for my brother, his wife and their new (and 4th) daughter, Sadie. These are staying at my mom's house.

It is highly unlikely that we will make it back "home" for the holidays this year so I also made stockings for my family. Here are my son's and daughter's.

Mine and my husband's.

I have also been working on a sweater for my son. Hope to have that finished next month.

A Gift finally given

Finally saw my Grandmother a couple weeks ago and gave her the blanket I crocheted for her at the beginning of the year. I think she was very touched to receive something after all of the sweaters she has made for family over the years.

A Finish and a Swap

Finally finished my friend's tea cozy. She asked for it awhile ago but I was really stumped as to how to quilt the green fabric. I started with green thread and doing echo quilting, but my machine didn't like the thread and kept breaking it and I didn't really like how it looked. So I ripped it all out and let it sit on my desk for a couple weeks and then decided on the brown thread. I like it, she likes it, it's done.

It goes with the potholder I made for her a few weeks ago. All the fabrics come from her Grandmother who passed away last fall.

If you remember last month I made 2 potholders for a swap. Here are the ones I received at the end of last week. I love them. They are now packed and ready to go to Idaho.

Back fabric.

I won't have as many finishes or blog updates over the summer as I will be pretty busy hanging out with family before we drive to Idaho in August. Hope everyone has a good summer and I'll update when I can.

I've been busy...

... turning these empty boxes...

... into full boxes...

... but I had to make a little time to make a toothfairy pillow...

... for this little guy. Had to have his tooth pulled this morning after an accident Monday at a indoor playground. He was very brave. Now back to packing.

2 More Quilt Finishes for May!

Here it is! The Bargello quilt all finished and ready to go to it's new home.

This quilt didn't turn out as well as I wanted it to. It was made before and after I had my machine cleaned and there is definitely a difference. I'm just happy that it is going to a home that will appreciate it and use it, even with all its flaws. (It's the thought that counts right?)

Here's the back. Some of my favourite fabrics. I hope the new owners will like them too.

Close up of the final border fabric and binding. I love the red fabric and only had a yard of it so the final border ended up being smaller than I wanted. It might be a little small for the queen size bed it is going to rest on. I think Michelle and Kurt will appreciate it anyway. Happy 10th Anniversary, Michelle and Kurt (I know I am a few months early). I will try to get this to you sometime this summer, even if I just leave it at your mom's place for you to pick up. Hope this is a good surprise. Michelle is my awesome sister-in-law who has just started quilting, she's been sewing for years (has made cloth diapers, kid clothes and some toys). Thought you 2 deserved a special gift after 10 years, 3 kids and several life challenges. I laughed a little when Michelle was the only one to leave a comment when I posted the picture of the top (without the borders). She said I could make one like that for them, not knowing it was going to be an anniversary gift. It was always meant for you 2, hope you enjoy it.

I also finished the Ribbon Tree quilt that was the project for quilt day back in March.

Free-motion quilting on the leaves of the tree.

Straight line quilting on the trunk. Ribbon was outlined in brown to help give it some definition.
Back is the same blue as the borders. This was going to be for my mom but I've given her a lot of quilts lately, and then I thought I would keep it, and now I am going to offer it to my brother's family. He is currently serving in Afghanistan. I will get to see him in June when he comes home for the birth of his 4th child. My kids and I are staying with them this summer before moving to Idaho to help with the older children and have some fun.