Quilting and Cardmaking

Final "After Christmas Sew Along"

2012-01-26T18:59:00.000-08:00

This week marks the end of the After Christmas Sew Along. I loved having one day set aside every week to sew - and even though I might have other days to get behind the machine, this one was sort of carved in stone.
I was hoping to have the whole day to work on my latest Work In Process (WIP) - the Scrappy Dresden Plate quilt-along. I had bought the ruler and cut and sewn a few strips to try out the Dresden Plate pattern before Christmas, and even though I wasn't sure I was going to take part, I couldn't pass it up. Sew, the plan was to work at making the 12 plates that I needed for the January installment - and then the phone rang. My mom is pretty seriously ill, and my sis needed me to help out, so that meant the end of my day-long sewing adventure. I did manage to finally get some stitching and even the pressing done, and parts of 3 different plates sewn together.
There's not a lot to show for it, but I figure I can sew most any day - but my mom's not going to be here forever, and she's definitely MUCH more important!
I do have a picture or two of my progress - check out the pile of sewn parts, and some of them pressed and ready to sew:

First FNSI of 2012!

2012-01-20T22:17:00.001-08:00

Today was the first Friday Night Sew-In for 2012! I signed up for it about a week ago, not knowing then that today would be of the busiest, craziest days I've had in a long, LONG time.
However, I persevered, and I managed to get about 90 minutes of uninterupted sewing time tonight.
One blogger that I follow (Eagles' Wings Quilts) had mentioned that she'd seen a Scrappy Dresden Plates quilt along, and she signed up for it. I tried not to look, but you know the saying, "Resistance is futile!" - and I fell for it... I had half-heartedly decided a few weeks ago that I wasn't going to make any New Year's resolutions, but I did hope to finish a few UFOs (UnFinished Objects ) before I started a new project, and breaking that promise to myself on Jan. 16th didn't sit too well... until I realized that I had already cut a number of "blades" for a Dresden Plates quilt on Dec. 28th or 29th, so technically, it wasn't a NEW project! Guess what I worked on tonight? The Scrappy Dresden Plate quilt! I didn't get a lot accomplished, but I made a good start. See for yourself!

After Christmas Sew Along Part 3

2012-01-20T13:24:00.000-08:00

This has been a really crazy week here, so I'm glad that I got some sewing done on Monday, because I haven't really had a chance to do any since.
Way back in November (the 19th, to be precise), I worked on a strippy donation quilt. I had made a lot of blocks with 4 strips per block, that were then sewn together, alternating up-and-down with side-to-side. Well, I hadn't really counted how many blocks I had made - and wow! did I ever have a lot of blocks! The top that I made then barely made a dent in the pile! So, this is strippy quilt, version #2. This time, I decided to put the blocks on point, and I really like the look. Obviously, I haven't got a lot of the top completed, but seeing as tonight is Friday Night Sew-In night, I just might get a lot more done then (I've learned not to count on anything this week though, so don't hold your breath!)
Oh, right, pictures! There's just the one - the section I've completed, and a few block sets, waiting to be added on:

Birthday cards!

2012-01-18T06:53:00.000-08:00

I love making cards!
I love having time to make cards!
Unfortunately, there hasn't been enough time to make any cards in a while...
I needed a few birthday cards to give to people at church on Sunday, so late Sat. night I realized that I'd better find my craft room. It's neater than it was last week - just have a LONG way to go yet!
When you have only enough time to make a few cards before bed, you want to make it short and sweet - so I check out some of my favourite card-making blogs for inspiration. Saturday's blogger was Marisa at Rosemary Reflections. My cards didn't stray far from the originals - did I mention that it was late?
So, without further ado:

I usually don't keep track of all of the proper product names, so all you're going to get is: some embossing folders, Spellbinder Nestablities, another punch, a stamp from Michael's $1.50 bin and SU ribbons, cardstock and designer paper.
Thanks for dropping by!

Placemats!

2012-01-09T18:49:00.000-08:00

I love when I can combine 2 things into one - and that's what I'm doing for this post.
Our quilt guild offered to make placemats for all of the clients that get Meals on Wheels - they will be receiving them sometime in February. We were to turn them in at the meeting earlier this evening.
I had 4 different ones cut out, and had planned to assemble them all today. By doing that, I'd also qualify for the After Christmas Sew Along - Monday is the day set aside for crafting our project for this week.
Well, "they" say that "...the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray...", and that's been the case here today! It's a good thing that I can still drop off placemats up to the end of the month, because only 2 got finished... but they look really good! The one on the left is brown and 2 shades of aqua; the one on the right is 2 shades of green and a cream fabric; they're both displayed by my long-suffering husband... and he does it SO well!

After Christmas Sew Along

2012-01-05T08:21:00.000-08:00

Here we are, 5 days into January, and already I can't believe how quickly life is flying by! (The years are too! 28 years ago today, I gave birth to my first-born - and life has never been the same!)
Monday Jan. 2nd was the first day of the After Christmas Sew Along - and I did manage to get some sewing done - just haven't had time to blog about it....
Before Christmas, I participated in an ornament swap with some ladies from a quilt forum that I'm part of - I knit 7 pairs of teeny mittens, and I decided to add a mug-rug to each set as well. I had just bought a Dresden Plate ruler, and I was very excited about the design possibilities - including using the wedges side-by-side in a straight line - that became the base for my mug-rugs. Well, I got so excited with each bit of Christmas-sy fabric that I found; I ended up cutting "just a few" wedges from each fabric. I think I could do a DP quilt with all the wedges that I cut! Making 6 mug-rugs didn't even put a dent in my pile, so making a few more was first on the list to do; I also had cut parts for some Christmas pot-holders, so I thought I'd stick to the theme and make them up as well.
I finally got the little bit of needed handwork on them done this morning, so I finally have the pics to show for my ACSA post:
I decided to share a pic of the mitten ornaments too.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T17:22:00.000-08:00

Thank you for checking my blog regularly - I hope that this will be a wonderfully blessed year for you!
I hoped to get these last 2 items on the blog last night yet, but things didn't go quite that way....
So, the next best thing is to post them today!
The card is one that I made for a friend at church, and the quilt is the one that showed up in my last post - it's ALMOST done! It needs to be pressed yet, and there's at least one border to go around it, so you'll have to check back here one more time to see the final quilt!

BDSI update

2011-12-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well, it's 9:30 p.m. here, and I've had a few hours to work on my Raven Stars quilt. I've finally assembled all of the half-square triangles that I need, and also the brown and white star points.
I was really hoping to have more of the full-size blocks assembled, but I'll have to leave that for another day. They should go together quickly now that I have all the separate units constructed. The proof:
I needed to do a bit of trimming on most of the blocks, so that slowed my progress just a bit - now that's mostly done, so I should be able to assemble a bunch of blocks before I hit the sack - have to wait for our son to get home first....

Boxing Day Sew-In

2011-12-26T11:28:00.000-08:00

I've had a very hectic month - trying to finish up some special quilts, making 3 different sets of Christmas cards, and being available to help out wherever my parents needed me. Now, the cards are mostly sent out, the quilts have been finished and given to their recipients, mom and dad are going to have a quiet few days and I even managed to do a bit of Christmas baking to share with our neighbours!
So, now it's the day after Christmas, and all of the pressure is off - but, if you know me well, you know that I can't just sit around with my hands in my lap. I was checking out the quilting blogs I read regularly, and noticed that Amy (A Quilting Sheep) had a notice on her blog about the Boxing Day Sew-In. I wasn't sure if I was ready to get behind the sewing machine just yet, but when I looked at my UFO pile, I knew I had to sign up.
One of the quilts I really want to finish up is Raven Stars. I started it as a quilt-along, and fully intended to finish it a long time ago, but life just seemed to get in the way.
So, this is where I was with it this morning:
Check back later to see how much I've accomplished!

I've made a few cards too...

2011-12-20T14:30:00.000-08:00

I've finally had a little bit of time to make my Christmas cards! Now, they may not make it to your mailbox by Christmas, but I did want you to know to keep an eye open - you never know what may show up! Wish I could send one to every one of my blog readers....
So, for those of you that won't be receiving your own personal card, have a look at what you're missing out on:

I used the new Stampin' Up set "The Sounding Joy" - I varied the cards a bit with various cardstock colours and a few embossing folders.

So I was wrong.....

2011-12-17T11:38:00.000-08:00

Last week's Friday Night Sew-In wasn't the last one for the year after all - there was one more, last night. I never have to go looking for a project to do - I have at least 5 quilts at various stages of completion...
I've had blocks cut for a cute quilt for quite a while, but I decided that it would have to wait until I had some much more urgent ones completed first. I have finished piecing the tops of most of them (I'm waiting for batting to go on sale so I can finish them), so I gave myself permission to start this new one.

The pattern is called "Super Zig" and I found it online; it's FREE at the LecienUSA website! I got a lot of the blocks sewn together and trimmed, and even got a few rows started before I almost fell asleep sewing a seam - definitely NOT a good idea!
I'm going to sign off now so I can check out a few of the other blog posts - enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Last FNSI for the year!

2011-12-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

If it's Friday night, it just may be FNSI night! (I know, it's Saturday now...) I had such wonderful plans to finish a quilt, but I did manage to get some of it done - and hopefully I'll just have the binding left to finish tonight.
My mom was diagnosed with cancer a few months ago, and she's just started undergoing some "lite" chemo - she's doing really well, but the room where the chemo is administered is quite cool. Do you think a handmade quilt would help? I sure hope so!
I used a Moda Mill House Inn jelly roll from Fig Tree Quilts that I've had for almost 2 years. I went to my favourite (and quick and easy) "Split Decision" pattern; got the top assembled last week. I used my Friday night for the border and getting the quilt layered and ready to quilt. And the quilt? - here it is:

Christmas Time is Here....

2011-12-05T19:19:00.000-08:00

... so goes the song from one of my favourite Christmas specials - A Charlie Brown Christmas. I know that it's only Dec. 5th, but just a few days ago, it was Oct. 29th.... I blinked, and suddenly it's only 20 days till Christmas!
I really love this time of year, with all it's special sights, sounds, smells and cards.... Right! Christmas cards! Yikes - I need to make some cards!
I have a number of different recipients - quilting friends, church friends, family, special friends... and you KNOW that you can't give the same card to all of those different people, so I bookmark special cards that I find online; when it gets close to Christmas, I check out my pics, and decide which cards to make for which group of people.
I made a few green and white and snowflake cards for my quilting friends; the multi-coloured Christmas trees, and the "candle" cards are for my newspaper customers (I deliver our weekly newspaper to approx. 110 people). And those other people on my list? Hopefully I'll have enough time to make cards for them soon! Check in here in a few days to see what I've come up with!

Finally have the quilt top done!

2011-11-19T12:33:00.000-08:00

Another Friday Night Sew-In has come and gone, and what do I have to show for it? A quilt top! I've been working on it for a few months, off and on (I think I've shown some of the blocks on a previous FNSI post). I'm not exactly sure that it's big enough - it's supposed to fit a single bed, and I don't have any single beds... So, I hope it's big enough to actually start quilting!
And the picture (it's definitely scrappy!):
I was hoping to start another project - I'm doing a hand-made ornament exchange with some of my online quilting friends, and part of it will be a quilted object. Sorry I can't say more about it just yet - but you never know who'll be reading your blog!

I must be crazy!

2011-11-14T11:03:00.000-08:00

Here were are, just a few weeks shy of Christmas, and I have a pile of to-do items as high as my head. Kind of typical for a lot of crafters... So, what did I do to make that list just a wee bit shorter, you ask? Well, truth be told - absolutely nothing! I actually started another project.
It's not my fault really - last week was kind of a tough week, and I just headed out to one of my local quilt shops - I had $10.00 worth of "coupons", and I needed a specific kind of fabric to make ornaments for my quilt group's ornament exchange. That's all I needed - honestly! Well, I did want to pick up a pattern too, but that was it. And then I saw the rulers on the wall, and the Dresden Plate ruler started calling my name.
I've never made a Dresden Plate quilt before, but I've recently seen a few tutorials showing how easy they are to make using the rulers and a sneaky sewing method, and it looks SO do-able. So, I bought the ruler too... and when I got home, I had to cut a strip of fabric, just to try the ruler out - that's my story, and I'm sticking to it! The next thing I knew, I had cut about 20 strips, so then I had to cut the wedges... and now I have this on my table:
I don't know if you can see my fancy "turntable" cutting mat under all of those wedges - I won it last spring in our local shop-hop, and it was exactly what I needed to cut all of these pieces. So, I'm off to do some sewing! What do you have on your schedule today?

Starting November with cards!

2011-11-07T19:20:00.001-08:00

What's this? 2 blog posts, back to back, with birthday cards in them?! What is going on? Well, it's like this - I painted my craft room a few weeks ago, and life hasn't been the same since! I have a tiny spot cleared on my cutting table, and it's where I've been doing whatever crafting I have time for - and that doesn't seem like much time lately. I've been working on 2 or 3 quilts, but a lot of that has been cutting parts - not too exciting! I hope to have fabric-related pics soon, but I'm hoping that you'll be SO amazed with my cards that you'll totally forget that I haven't posted quilty stuff for a few weeks. *crossing her fingers*
So, on to the pics! The first card uses my new favourite stamp set, Delicate Doilies. I stamped them using Cherry Cobbler, Kiwi Kiss and Close to Cocoa inks; I mounted the stamped panel on Close to Cocoa C/S, and then mounted it onto the Kiwi Kiss card base. This is going to be the card for my mom's 83rd birthday Nov. 8th. Happy birthday mom - we love you! The second card features a stamped motif; brads mark the 3 visible corners. That panel is applied to C/S with a piece of Designer Paper glued onto it. A label and a petite oval from my collection of Nestabilities draw your eye to the sentiment, and a ribbon ties the whole card together.

One last October card....

2011-10-31T17:14:00.001-07:00

I had to wait to post this card, because I wanted the recipient to get it before she saw it here. Now that I know she's seen it, I can pop it up on the blog. I CASE'd one of her favourite card-makers (whiterockmama from Splitcoaststampers), but you'll have to check her post to see the original. Okay, I'm done stalling - I know you want to see the card! Here it is:
I used a punch along the side edge of the front panel. The flowers are the 3 smallest layers of my Nesties Mega Carnations with some branches made with the SU bird punch. I used more Nesties for the scalloped oval and oval (which also got the dot-ty treatment with a Cuttlebug folder); a rectangle of designer paper on top of a matching piece of card-stock, some sheer ribbon and half an hour of work - and you finally have a special birthday card for a special person!

October cards

2011-10-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

I've needed a few new cards this month, and haven't posted many of them. I'm posting 2 birthday cards, and also a sympathy card (I needed it too...).

Klosjes!

2011-10-29T19:13:00.001-07:00

Like many bloggers, I follow a number of blogs, mostly card-making and quilting ones. One of the quilters I follow had a friend offering 12 weeks of guest posts and give-aways. Who wouldn't sign up to be part of that? Some lucky folks won sewing machines, or Fat Quarter bundles, or any number of quilt-related goodies. While I didn't win any of the "big" prizes, I was a winner of a wonderful secondary prize! Grandmama Jane offered the winner from her post a collection of "Klosjes" (which is Dutch for "spools")! All of the blocks are hand-sewn(!), and she sent me an assortment of blocks, some joined together already, some singles waiting to be joined up, and then a LOT of bits of fabric with sections drawn onto them, ready for me to cut out and sew together!
It's kind of a crazy-busy time for me right now, so I haven't had a chance to do anything with them yet, but I'm counting down the days till things settle down a bit. The best part is that all of the fabrics are either red, white or black (or combos of those colours) - and I LOVE that combination! Here's a pic of the sections Grandmama Jane had sewn together, plus some of the separate blocks:
She also included some fantastic Christmas fabrics, but they've been put aside for a special project, and can't be revealed just yet...
Thanks again Grandmama Jane!

FNSI Oct. 2011 version

2011-10-22T05:21:00.000-07:00

How can it be almost the end of October already? I haven't even really started thinking about crafting Christmas gifts yet! Sorry kids, you aren't getting handmade gifts this year....
I've been swamped the past month or so - we have a new crafting group at church, with the emphasis on charity donations (quilts, afghans, hat and mitten sets, etc.) and so much of my time has gone to prep. work for that group. I've also recently painted my crafting space, and I'm still trying to find my way back!
I did make sure to keep track of one of my on-going projects, and that's what I worked on last night. I saw a picture of a really great quilt on someone else's blog, and I loved it enough to try to make one on my own. I've cut strips of fabric to make 2 1/2" x 8 1/2" 'logs' - then I sew four of them together, press and trim (if needed) into an 8 1/2" square, and voila! a quilt block. When you have a bunch of them, you sew them together, making sure to twist them so that the stripes alternate from 'up and down' to 'side to side' - it makes great texture.
I haven't actually sewn any blocks together yet, but I got a lot sewn up last night. The pics are of my starting pile of cut fabrics, and then some of the completed blocks:

Shower gift

2011-10-18T08:05:00.001-07:00

Earlier this year our church started hosting bridal showers for any members getting married. Sometimes there's a wedding registry to shop from, sometimes we all just chip in for a gift card, and then there's the "We really don't have anything - whatever you give us will be perfect!" kind of shower. That was the case the last time. That's the kind of shower that encourages creativity - my favourite kind! The couple has white dishes, so I made a set of 4 placemats, and then decided to make 4 coasters (they don't match) as well.
Their wedding was last Saturday, and I'm excited to know that the placemats are now going to get a good workout!

Project overload!

2011-10-16T17:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so most of the overload is because I haven't posted anything lately - sorry about that! Of course, I may just have to post every day for a bit....
It's probably time for a "card" post - and I haven't had a lot of time, or space, to make any new ones - until last night. I needed a birthday card for someone at church today, and I had a few parts pre-cut, so that's the way I went.
This card is cut long and skinny - a little untraditional, but that opens a few more design opportunities. I used a little piece of DP that I got at the summer sale at Up The Street scrapbooking, and I paired it with a few pieces of C/S - the colours are in the DP too. Add a flourish from a set I bought somewhere, once upon a time, stamped twice without re-inking in between, a Happy Birthday sentiment from Close To My Heart, finished off with a few brads, and we have a birthday card! Kind of pretty too, if you ask me!

...and she's done!

2011-09-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

I finally got my newest Margo handbag done! I was hoping to get her finished for the Sept. 2011 FNSI, but I got a little side-tracked...
She's finished now, and is packed up and ready to go to DH's nephew's wedding this weekend. She just "happens" to go perfectly with my dress!
Enjoy the pics, both of the front, and the inside. I love all of the inner pockets! and the ones on the front are great too!

Sept. 2011 FNSI

2011-09-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Well, that was a big disappointment... I had grand plans to sew myself another Margo Handbag from Lazy Girls Designs for this Friday Night Sew-In. I was doing well at the start; so well in fact, that I decided to make 2 purses. It made a lot of sense - if I was going to be going through all the steps, I might as well do it for 2 purses - but hey, wouldn't it work even better for 3? I can tell you now, NO! it doesn't make any sense at all... I sewed the wrong parts together, or I got the steps in the wrong order, and ended up having to unpick seams. The upshot of it is: I have parts of 3 different bags all partly done, and nothing to take to church tomorrow!
I have a few pics - one of some of my fabrics, and one of the process - and any further progress will show up here sometime soon I hope! The fabrics are all from Robert Kaufmann's Fusions lines - the 2nd pic gives a better look at the colours.

Something fun....

2011-09-14T20:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted any cards lately, probably because I haven't made any lately! Life has just been WAY too crazy around here... and this Friday is FNSI, so I need a non-sewing post urgently!
I thought that I had posted this card already, but I can't find it in any recent posts, so it's fair game!
I found this stamp set at Len's Mill Store, for the exhorbitant price of $3.99... I have lots of stamp sets for cards for adults, a fair number for cards for little kids, but not many stamps for the 6-25 year-old crowd - until I found this one, of course! I see that I forgot to tag it it with a sentiment, but I guess that makes it more flexible!

The top is done!

2011-08-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

I spent most of the day working on Jeff and Anne Marie's quilt, and I'm happy to say that I finally got it finished tonight! (It needs a good pressing...) So, tomorrow it's off to the quilter's house - that should give her enough time to finish it so I can get the binding done in time for the wedding!

August FNSI

2011-08-20T10:13:00.000-07:00

Another Saturday, another Friday Night Sew-In report...
We have a wedding to go to at the end of September, and I'm making a quilt for a wedding gift (I'm safe - they don't know I have a blog!) I picked up the fabric a few weeks ago at Sew Creative - this quilt was on display, and I knew that it would make the perfect gift!
The pattern is a freebie online (Sweet Caroline: http://www.clothworks.com/pattern_download.asp?ID=271) the only thing that I'm going to change is to not add the blue strips at the top and bottom of the quilt.
I managed to get all the nine-patch blocks made up, and I'm well on my way to completing the snowball blocks. I should have it done in time to get it to the quilter's by mid-week!

Another card from a few weeks ago...

2011-08-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

Is anyone else's summer as crazy as mine has been? I figured that with a smallish garden (too wet this year) and no kids at home any more, I'd have a long, slow summer - with lots of time to accomplish all sorts of things....WRONG!!!
My garage door has 1 coat of paint on it, hoping to get the 2nd coat on sometime this week; I've managed to get a bit of sewing/quilting done (got the baby quilt all finished and delivered to DD#1 to give to the parents-to-be), and also did a bit of baking and canning for last week's fair in a nearby town (we don't have a local fair here any more).
I don't think I've even spent more than 3 hours all month making cards! I had a brief, energetic spurt, and managed to produce a few cards, but that's all. The worst part is, what has happened to all my wonderful free time?
But, before I get too philosophical (I don't want to lose all my readers!), I decided it must be time to post a card - and here it is! I've been working (slowly) at cleaning up my craft-room, and I came upon some half-finished cards and the elements to finish them, nicely tucked away in a plastic bag. So, a bit of time, some glue, mini brads, and a sentiment stamp or two, and I have another card to send to someone. Without further ado - I give you:

And now for something completely different....

2011-08-05T20:07:00.000-07:00

Every so often I get in the mood to make a mini quilt - and the urge has hit again! Two or three years ago, I made a bow-tie quilt (http://delawarequilts.com/BOMs/BowTies/index.html), and when I made the block with the little triangle sewn onto it, I saved the little triangles that get cut off. I saved them, thinking that at some point in time, they just might come in handy - and boy, did they come in handy!
The individual blocks are approximately 1 1/4" square! Check out the link to see how the quilt should look when made with full size pieces (http://www.museum.state.il.us/muslink/art/htmls/ks_piece_logbarn.html) Here's mine - it's approximately 11 1/2" x 9 1/2"

Oh look - it's a card post!

2011-07-28T15:58:00.000-07:00

It feels like a long time since I posted a card... actually, it's only been 33 days. So, I took some pics of cards I've recently made, and I'll share one of them here - I'm saving the other 2 for another time. It just seems like forever since I actually MADE a card.
There's a lady that used to go to my church; she always had a smile on her face, and was so welcoming of anyone and everyone. Now, she and her family attend a small church nearer their home - they feel needed there, and feel God calling them to be a part of that congregation.
It was her birthday earlier this week, so I made and sent her this card:
I used some Cosmo Cricket DP that I've had for a few years, and the birthday sentiment is from CTMH. I can't remember what set the motif is from, and I'm too hot and tired to run upstairs to check it out, so you'll have to be as puzzled as I am, OR you could check out the SU online site (that will only work if it's in the current catty though). A few brads and some bits of C/S that I found in my scraps box, and voila! a card! That actually wasn't too hard - I may try it again sometime soon!

Another Friday Night Sew-In

2011-07-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I just might survive this week - lots of family stuff going on, and the weather! it's almost unbearable....
But, good things have happened this week too, so I'm truly thankful for that. Celebrating with the latest FNSI has helped too!
I had such grand plans for this month's sew-in, but they say that "the best laid plans of mice and men something-something" - I forget the rest, but you know what it means - everything went out the window! I did well to find an hour or two last night to work on a quilting project.
I am a member of an online quilting group; one of the members posted a comment the other day about a 4-patch posey project - that got me wondering what a 4-patch posey was, so I googled it, and found that it's similar to a "stack and whack" - any non-quilters reading this will have to look it up. I had an odd piece of fabric that I'd inherited at our quilt guild's last yard sale. I had no idea what to do with it, so I tucked it away. Well, I came across it Thursday, and thought I'd give the 4-patch posey a try.... and I think it came out fairly well! I've included a pic of the fabric so you can see what I started with. Basically, you cut 4 identical patches of fabric, cut them into 4, then take all the bottom left corner blocks, put them together; do the same with the other 3 block sets. Then you take one pile, and give each block a twist. Make sure that each section twists the same way. Sew them together, and voila! a 4-patch posey block!
Some of the blocks worked out better that others, but I've chosen a few to show you here. Just don't ask me what I'm going to do with the "new" blocks - I have NO idea! I might make a warm wishes quilt with them, but that's the only thing I've come up with so far. I might just leave it for the August FNSI!

I've got to stop doing this!

2011-07-04T18:34:00.001-07:00

I currently have at least 4 or 5 quilt projects on the go (and I know that you're waiting for the pics of the completed eyelet quilt), but I couldn't help myself.... DD#1 has very good friends that are expecting their first baby. Obviously, every first-born baby needs a quilt...and, seeing as DD#1 doesn't quilt (she doesn't even have time to sew on buttons most days), the project was mine.
The nursery is going to be done in greens, browns and oranges, which is PERFECT, because I had just the right quilt pattern and fabric. So, I ordered the fabric, and Canada Post ended up in a labour dispute - soooo, no fabric arriving....
BUT, the post office employees are back at work, my jelly roll showed up, and I had a holiday weekend in which to assemble a baby quilt.
I love the Split Decision quilt pattern - it goes together quickly, and looks great!
I hope you agree! It's ready to layer, quilt and bind, so you know what I'll be doing for the next few days.
As well, I've got my eyelet quilt sashed, and I'm ready to put on the border. I'm not sure how to go about quilting it yet - it's really bulky where the pinwheel points come together. I'm thinking, I'm thinking....

A few new cards

2011-06-25T06:46:00.000-07:00

I have a friend that loves to use cards with a hand-made look. She has a birthday coming up, I decided to gift her with an assortment of cards.
Most of the cards are without sentiments - that way, she can choose the occasion and the appropriate card.
Here are 3 of the ones I've already made. One is obviously a birthday card, and the others - who knows?

I'll hopefully have some quilt-related pics later!

Friday Night Sew-In June 17, 2011

2011-06-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

Wow! The past 3 weeks have flown by - and while I have accomplished a lot, there's not much to show for it.
Last night was the latest installment of FNSI! I had a project started earlier this week, and had great plans to finish it last night - and then the post office went on strike. I am the coordinator for the delivery of our local newspaper, and while most of the papers are delivered inside the town limits by a great team of carriers, a lot more of them go to the rural areas through Canada Post. The news has to go out! So, I have spent the better part of the last 2 days driving up and down country roads and highways, making sure that most of our subscribers get their paper. And that seriously cut into sewing and crafting time :-(
BUT, I did manage to get all the blocks done for my newest quilt! One of my online quilting friends had made a cute baby quilt using eyelet fabric and a soft print. I've been wanting to make one too, and finally managed to find the perfect eyelet fabric. The holes in it are very small, so no way for a baby to get fingers caught in it. It took me longer to find the print, but I found fabric after our last quilt guild meeting (we meet in a quilt shop), so got it home. washed and ready to go. So, there's a pic of the fabrics (forgot to take pics of it until after I'd cut it up), and one of the finished blocks. I'm still debating how to put it together - sashing maybe, with the prints for cornerstones? or just sashing? It's going to be too small to just sew the blocks together, plus I think it needs a break between the blocks. Suggestions, anyone?

Netherlands quilt show

2011-05-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

There's a small town near here that hosts an international quilt show every year and this year's country was the Netherlands. Seeing as both my parents were born there, I had a really good reason to go!
I went with my mom and a friend, and we all enjoyed the show immensely! Of course, like all good quilt shows, this one also had vendors.... mostly Canadian, but 2 from Holland as well. Now I can buy from Canadian shops any day of the week, but Holland is a little tougher - I can go to any shop here and see/feel the fabric quality; obviously, that's a bit trickier "across the pond". The fabrics were really nice, and quite a few were homespun types.
Well, you can guess the rest - I came home with fabric and ribbon too (I keep telling myself it's for my card-making, but I'm not sure I want to use it!). And, seeing as I love and collect all sorts of sheep-related items, I had to buy the fabric pack with the sheep fabric in it - and it's the very traditional Dutch blue colour.
I can hear you - you want pictures! Have a look:
The blue and white fabric on the far right is the sheep fabric.

FNSI May 20th edition

2011-05-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

Last night was the monthly Friday Night Sew-In, and I had PLANS.... I was hoping to get a big part of my Swirlygig quilt done, and I did get a couple of blocks done and joined up. I've got all of the #1 blocks done, and a few of the #2 blocks, so that I could put a few rows together. I ended up with almost enough blocks for the first 2 rows - and hopefully, I'll get all of the block #2 blocks finished today yet. Monday is a holiday, so I might manage to get the top done then - we'll see! Block #1 is the green, white and yellow, and block #2 is the white star on the green. The rows aren't sewn together yet, but that's a minor detail!

Friday Night Sew-In part ?

2011-05-17T11:05:00.000-07:00

This Friday, May 20th has been set aside for the next Friday Night Sew-In. If you remember, on the last FNSI I started a new, very quick, quilt (Split Decision), and managed to get a number of blocks cut and sewn. Well, I'm happy to announce that I've managed to get the top put together! Here it is, being so competently displayed by my taller-than-me husband:
It almost took me longer to lay it out than it did to sew! I'm not really sure that I'm thrilled with the layout - I had it spread all over the dining room floor, but I think I mixed a few blocks up when I picked them up to assemble the top. I know the saying though - "Finished is better than perfect", so I may just let it go....

Mother's Day card

2011-05-13T14:17:00.000-07:00

It was Sat. night, and I realized that I hadn't made any Mother's Day cards yet! A quick peek through some of the cards I've seen online helped me come up with a design. One of the scalloped borders from Nestabilities, some sponging, stamping, trim and half-pearls and Voila! my Mother's Day card. The stamps are from Verve and CTMH.

It's FINALLY done!

2011-04-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to make this "Quarter Quilt" using one of Kaye Wood's patterns for quite a while now..... I was sure that I could whip it up in a weekend - and if I hadn't been interrupted a kazillion times, I might have done it. But, I put the last stitches in the binding tonight, and voila! a new Quarter Quilt for the spare room. It even matches the comforter quite nicely! Of course, the comforter will be coming off when the nice weather finally makes it's way to us.
The last QQ I made was flowery and I used a rose-red fabric - and seeing as the spare room is most often used by my son, I thought it needed something a little more manly.
I loved how this pattern went together too - there's a "twist" in the instructions, and I thought that was the most fun part - but you'll have to order the pattern to find out what the twist is! The first pic is a close-up of the fabrics and the pattern; the 2nd is a pic of it on the bed.

New cards....'cause I'm all out.....

2011-04-26T08:19:00.000-07:00

I don't seem to have a lot of time for card-making lately, so my box is getting low in some categories - especially the "Thinking of You" kinds of cards. I have a few friends that are going through some tough times, mostly because of serious illness - and a "Get Well" card just isn't appropriate.
I took some time on Saturday evening to make a few - and here they are:
I used my Cuttlebug for both cards - to emboss some of the cardstock and also to cut the oval shapes. The white one went into a church mailslot, and the brighter one is going in the mail today.......

Friday Night Sew-In

2011-04-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Sometimes these monthly Sew-ins sneak up on me - sometimes I know that it's coming, and yet, when it's actually Friday evening, I have nothing planned.....
I have SO many quilt projects on the go right now, plus 3 formal dresses that I need to have finished for May 2nd - so, lots of sewing to do - I just have to pick one, right? So, I totally ignored all the things that need to be done now, if not sooner, and I started a new project! I saw a few pictures a few weeks ago, for a quilt called Split Decision - it looks like so much fun, and basically needs a jelly roll (a package of fabric strips, all cut 2 1/2" wide, by the width of the fabric) - and a ruler and cutting tool. I just happened to have 3 jelly rolls, so after Eeny, meeny, miny, moe - I chose the Lily and Will set of fabrics and started cutting the appropriate lengths. Then, it's just a matter of sewing the bits together, and pressing the seams - and voila! a whole lot of blocks for a great quilt!
I haven't had a chance to put any of the blocks together, and some of the blocks haven't even been made, but I have a great start on what's going to be a beautifully soft quilt. Here's the proof....
I'm going to leave the parts out - that way, if I have a few minutes while supper is cooking, or while I've got a few minutes before I have to leave for a meeting, I can sew a few parts together, and next thing you know - I'll have a top! Keep your eyes peeled!

Birthday cards - part 2

2011-04-15T21:59:00.000-07:00

After a really crazy few days, I finally had time to sit down at the sewing machine this evening - or so I thought. Today (Fri. Apr. 15th) is Friday Night Sew-in, and I was getting ready to start my project, when I realized that tomorrow is the birthday of a very special friend - and I had no card for her! That would never do (she knows that I make cards, so a quick trip to the store wouldn't do...) - so I grabbed my cheat sheet - a print-out of cards that I've found on the 'net; cards that fit my style of card-making (I occassionally add in a few that will stretch me a bit, too). Forty-five minutes later, I had 4 cards - only one is going to be just right for tomorrow - so the rest will go into my file.
I'm not really happy with the 2 on the left - the circle / oval is too bare, and the whole card just doesn't flow the way the original did, but they'll work for someone (and I'll try to fix the bare spots...and add bodies for the butterflies!). I'm not sure that the bottom right corner card will work for my friend - it seems a bit "manly", so she'll get the top right side one. I bought a Xyron a few months ago - I've had problems "gluing" tiny bits onto cards, especially when I'm using individual letters, so that's why I bought the Xyron. It's been sitting in it's box ever since, but I got to try it out for the ribbon - and I'm quite pleased with the end result!
Check back here tomorrow for the results of my FNSI - I started a new project, and I'm excited about it!

More Layer Cake quilt-along blocks

2011-04-13T22:35:00.000-07:00

Somewhere along the line, I got a bit derailed and then completely behind and mixed up.... I'm finally starting to get caught up again, and sewing/quilting is a little higher on the priority list. Last night, I spent a bit of time cutting block parts, and tonight I got 2 more LC quilt-along blocks put together. I have the last one cut, but ran out of time to get it stitched tonight yet - but, tomorrow's another day!
I've enjoyed the process of making these blocks - the problem is that you have to decide on your layer cake long before you know what any of the blocks are going to look like. You're really at the mercy of the block designer, and your layer cake. Most of the fabrics in my layer cake were very "busy" - lots of design, lots of colours - and that made for a few blocks that I'm not really thrilled with. The way to get around that is to wait until all of the blocks are posted, and then, very carefully, choose your fabrics. I've done that before, but this time I wanted to be at the same stage as everyone else - and you're only eligible for prizes if you stay with the group. Oh, didn't I mention that there were prizes? Sorry! Not that it really mattered in the end - I didn't win anything.....
At any rate, here are the pics of the last few blocks I've finished:

My current project!

2011-03-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Every so often, I get inspired by certain projects, and I realize how easy some of them would be to make, if only I did a bit of prep work. So, now when I start a new project, I cut at least one 2 1/2" strip of each of the fabrics I'm using - and then I set that strip aside. I do that with any Fat Quarters that I buy, as well (and I can't seem to go to any kind of quilt show or shop-hop without buying at least a few FQs!)
The best part about making those strips is that when I want a quick project, I can grab those strips, and I can quickly get a lot done it a short time - and seriously, how long does it take to cut an extra strip when you're already cutting 30 or 40 for another quilt project?
I saw an online request for quilts that are desperately needed for an organization, and as I was trying to decide on what specifically to do, my pre-cut strips started calling my name.... I had seen a picture of a really fun quilt online, and I had printed it off for reference. All it really needed was a lot of 2 1/2" strips, cut into 8 1/2" - 9" lengths. Sew 4 of them together, press all the seams to one side, and trim the finished block to 8 1/2" square. Then, arrange the blocks however you want!
Here's a pic of a few completed blocks, and some of the strips, and the other pic is the layout I'll probably use:

More new cards!

2011-03-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

How can it be March 15th already? My days have been so busy lately, and yet, I can't really point to anything significant that I did... maybe because I've been spending whole days in the church library, inputting all of our resources onto a computer program. We're finally joining the 20th century!
I have had some sewing time, just don't have anything to post yet. I've stolen a few moments here and there to make a few cards though, and that's what you get to see today.
I'm hoping to send a box of things to the garage sale at my local scrapbooking store, so I've been going through magazines and assorted pictures of cards, trying to decide what to keep and what to sell. These 2 cards were from one of those magazines (can't remember which one) - they're both "Thinking of You" cards. I tend to send out a lot of these - they work for so many situations.
The little chipboard frame came from a sheet of frames that I got from Close to My Heart about 4 years ago - I never even opened the package, and was going to put them in the yard sale too, and then found this card.... so, the frames stay here for now!

I did it again...

2011-02-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to post last night about my Friday Night Sew-in, and I totally forgot (plus, someone was playing games on the computer, so I couldn't post...)
At any rate, I got the strips cut for my Raven Stars quilt-along, and I worked on a sample that I'm doing for Kaye Wood.
I'm happy to say that all of the fabrics for both of these projects came from my stash. I'm trying hard not to buy fabric for the stash unless I know exactly what project it's going to be used in, and so far, so good! (I hear that the Central Park fabrics are going to be in stores here soon though, so I just might have to ignore that resolution LOL)
I know, I know - you want pictures! The brown, pink and white is for the Raven Stars, the blues and yellow are for the Quarter Quilt sample, and the 3rd pic is what I accomplished so far.

Latest "block lotto" blocks

2011-02-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

The ladies on the quilt forum that I'm a member of have had a block swap for a few years; last year we changed it to a block lotto. Unfortunately, participation has fallen off a bit lately, so, to mix things up a bit, we were supposed to make two blocks for Dec./Jan. One block was supposed to be the Pinwheel Block from Victoriana Quilters, and the other one was a Sunbonnet Sue block - and we got to chose the block! I found one with a few flowers, and finally put the finishing touches on it last night. It's on it's way to the winner of the lotto, but I think I'm safe posting it here:

New cards....

2011-02-13T19:30:00.001-08:00

Two new cards for today - a birthday card, and a sympathy card. I really don't like making sympathy cards, but sometimes you need them....
Both of these cards were CASE'd from Splitcoast albums, but, as the saying goes - "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" - and I was really impressed by the cards that spawned these two.

The birthday card was from a CAS challenge to use flourishes, and the sympathy card is from a member's gallery - she had a whole page of white/cream tone on tone cards.

Block #8!

2011-02-09T07:50:00.000-08:00

I think this has to be a record - block #8 was posted yesterday, and I had it done by the time I went to bed! I also finished a few log cabin blocks that I needed for a swap, so yesterday ended up being pretty productive!
What's that? You want pictures? Okay - here they are!

The mainly red and purple block is #8; the pink and brown is for my Log Cabin quilt, and the black and white is for my swap partner.

What Was I Thinking?

2011-02-06T18:53:00.000-08:00

As if I didn't already have enough on my to-do list, I just signed up for another quilt-along (Amy - you started something!) It's called Raven Stars, and you can check it out by clicking on the button. It's done up in 3 colours, and I should be able to find the fabric I need for it in my stash - which is a good thing seeing as the price of cotton is going to be going up significantly!
Also, I saw a request on someone's blog - there are a number of people working together to make quilts for folks devastated by the recent floods in Australia. I'm going to check my orphaned blocks - ones that I've received in swaps, ones that I've made to check out different patterns, etc. - I should have a bunch to send. I've been so blessed - it's a small thing to give up a few blocks!

The pictures you've all been waiting for...

2011-02-05T06:59:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I had a real sewing binge - I quilted two throw quilts, got all kinds of blocks sewn, started a new quilt....and I haven't really had a chance to sit down at the machine since. That all changed yesterday. I didn't want to get farther behind on my layer cake quilt, and I had two challenge blocks that have to be in the mail no later than Monday (my own deadline).
So, without further ado - my 2 layer cake quilt blocks:

I'm not too happy with the second block - I'm trying to use up my scraps, but almost all of them were just too narrow or short, so it is what it is.

Birthday cards

2011-01-29T17:12:00.000-08:00

I love it when special people have birthdays - that means that I get to make special birthday cards!
Here are 2 that I've made in the past 2 weeks - one is for a very special friend, and the other is for my (baby) sister. It's obvious that I really like using embossing folders, and I also seem to be on a pink "kick" - I think I've used some pink on every card that I've made in the past 2 weeks! Here they are:

A bit of this, a bit of that....

2011-01-16T19:43:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to be a better "poster" of updates - and I'm realizing that my original intention to blog quilt-making posts alternating with card-making posts may not work too well every time. I usually make multiples of card designs that I really like, so when I need a card, I can just grab one from my box. You've probably already seen 4 or 5 like it, so what's the point of putting up another one? So.... you might be stuck with quilt-type posts for the next entry or two (or 3...).
So, what's up, you ask? Well, there's the new "Layer Cake
Quilt-along" button on my sidebar. I'd noticed it on the blog of another quilter, and it sounded really fun! You buy a "layer cake" (a collection of fabrics from a quilt fabric line - usually about 30-40 fabrics - cut 10" square) - then, every 2 weeks, you go to the website to check out the newest pattern that's been posted. You decide which of the fabrics you're going to use, and you make the block and post a picture of the block to the quilt-along site. If you post within a certain time, you become eligible to win prizes. This is the first block of the 5 I've completed so far.
I've also started a quilt that really grabbed my attention the first time I saw the pattern. It's called "Costa Maya", and it looks a lot more complicated than it really is (or at least I hope it is!) Hopefully, this will link you to a picture of the pattern: http://www.kayewood.com/item/Costa_Maya_Quilt_Pattern/834/p3c57 - I've had the fabric in my stash for a bit, so I haven't broken my resolution to not buy more fabric until I finish up a few projects. Here are the 2 blocks that the pattern will build on:
There is another border to go on, and then the magic of the block begins! I'll be posting a few more pictures of the quilt-in-progress - you'll have to keep checking this space!

Another project from the to-do list finished!

2011-01-06T17:44:00.000-08:00

A long time ago, I finished a few quilt tops, and actually got them pinned with their batting and backing, and then had to put them aside while I worked on bridesmaid's dresses.
Now that all the frantic busyness that always seems to accompany Christmas celebrations is done, and everyone is back home again, I finally had some time this week to work on "old" projects. What better time to pull out these ready-to-quilt projects? I seem to remember the earth toned quilt being relatively large, and the more pastel-coloured one more of a child's quilt, but they both ended up about the same size - perfect for a throw on the couch, or a kid's quilt. The earth-toned quilt pattern is called Woven Ribbons, and the pastel-toned one is a disappearing 9-patch:

A slightly late Christmas gift!

2011-01-03T18:46:00.000-08:00

I've been making cards for about 6 or 7 years now - and when I look back at my first efforts, I feel like hanging my head in shame... some of them are a little on the pathetic side! Hopefully, I've improved a lot!
I've given cards to all kinds of people, sometimes for the oddest reasons - but hey, if I make the card myself, it doesn't cost anything, right???? I must be doing something right, because my MIL called me a few months ago, wondering if I had any birthday cards that she could buy from me. I quickly made 2 or 3 to add to
the few I had in my box, and showed her the different options
available then. She bought all of them!
I have no idea if she has any of them left, but I decided to make her an assortment of birthday cards so she'd have some to send or give, AND, they'd be her Christmas present this year. (Do you know how hard it is to buy something for a senior that she hasn't already JUST bought?)
I finally managed to clear a spot on my craft table on Sat., and within an hour and a half, I had 10 cards made! Some of them are made using my quick go-to card designs that I've already posted here, so I won't show them, but here are 5 of the different cards she's getting, thanks to ideas from a few online card-making friends! I've used a lot of different techniques - embossed designs with my Cuttlebug, unique shapes cut out using some of my new (Christmas gift!) Spellbinder dies, watercolouring, and designer papers. The pink card used a new embossing folder with large daisy-type flowers and swirls - I used a pink marker to colour in some of the daisies - and I like the look!
Now the challenge is to get all my supplies back in their drawers.......
AND, Happy New Year to all my readers!

Butterfly wall-hangings

2010-12-28T16:49:00.001-08:00

A very dear friend of mine is trying to downsize a bit. She and her husband moved into her parent's home just after they passed away, so she inherited many of their "goodies". As well, she and her husband farmed for many years, and that always seems to end up making a collector out of you (ask me how I know!)
One day she showed me boxes of dainty lady's handkerchiefs that had been given to her mother for various occasions. The handkerchiefs were still pinned into their original boxes, and she estimated that some of them were at least 90 years old! She had no idea of what to do with them - she didn't think that any of the local "thrift" shops would appreciate them, so donating them wouldn't be an option. I have seen several craft ideas incorporating hankies, so I showed her a few pictures, and the crafting began. She has a daughter, daughter-in-law, and 2 grand-daughters.
The idea was to fold the hankies, then stitch them onto backing fabric so that the hankies looked like butterflies. That was the easy part! I finally ended up stitching fabric strips around the blocks, using colours that closely matched the variegated threads I'd used to stitch the hankies in place; then I bordered each block in brown to simulate windows. I added 4 hanging loops at the top, and the 4 women received their wall-hangings for Christmas! Brightly-coloured handerchiefs work a little better, but each one seems to have it's own personality.
Here's one of the wall-hangings:

Christmas quilts!

2010-12-26T13:59:00.000-08:00

My youngest daughter has also been bitten by the quilting bug, and has become a great quilter in a very short time! This past spring, she suggested that we make quilts for her sister and brother, who both live 3 hours away from me. We each picked a few patterns, and then compared notes. We decided on 2 quilts from the Aug. '09 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. We raided our individual stashes, and had a few fun days auditioning fabrics in several local quilt shops. She spent 2 days here, as we first cut all the required parts of fabric, and we spent the 2nd day sewing merrily away! She made the quilt for her sis, and I made my son's quilt.
I know that I finished "my" quilt at 2:00 a.m. Christmas day..... and she may have finished hers at about the same time - but, they were completed, wrapped and "under the tree" when we opened our gifts later that afternoon.
Do you want to see what we made? Well, here are the Christmas quilts (we lovingly refer to them as "hugs from home"):
As you can see, they were put to good use:
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas - we did!

Some more of the things I've been busy with...

2010-12-10T21:39:00.001-08:00

My oldest daughter would have my head if she read my title - you can't end a sentence with the word "with".... and I've almost done it again!
Moving on - I may have mentioned before that I belong to a quilting group on the internet. We have a number of swaps going on at any given time, the latest being an ornament swap. This was my ornament for this year. It's made from craft felt, and the little stocking has jewel-toned metallic floss stars stitched onto it, and the cuff has gold metallic floss French knots. The word "joy" is also done in the gold floss. The stocking is stitched on using my sewing machine's blanket-stitch; the ornament's 2 layers are also stitched together that way.
I've also been quite busy trying to get my Christmas cards made. I deliver our town's weekly newspaper every Wednesday, and every Christmas, I add a Christmas card as it gets closer to the 25th. Last year, I decided that I'd make all 70 cards that I need for my route's customers. I have an ornament-shaped paper punch, so I used it to punch out various different bits of designer paper. I drew a "hanging string" with a fine silver marker, and then glued on the ornaments. A sentiment stamp at the bottom, another one inside, and I'm good to go! Now I'm all ready for the extra 48 hours I asked for, so that I can finish up all my Christmas projects! Here are a few of the cards:

Pictures, pictures - I've got pictures!

2010-12-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

After having been absent from blogland for a while, I have come back with lots of pictures to share with you! Of course, I can't share them all in one post - I'm going to drag it out for a bit (that way I don't have to work on any new projects, and you won't know the difference!)
Seriously though, when I uploaded my recent project pictures, I discovered that I had done a lot more than I thought - go figure!
So, for today, I'll share a few birthday cards I've made in the last week or two:
The top one is CASE'd from my friend Anja. I chose 3 colours of cardstock and matching ink, and stamped a field full of flowers, then added a birthday "banner" with a lacy edge from one of my decorative punches, and finally, a butterfly with 2 small pearls for it's body.
The second card is softer, with it's muted colours. I reverse-masked the center of the card, stamped it with a scripted stamp, and then shaded the edges. Using the same soft purple, I stamped some vines in the top corner, and then punched out a few flowers in matching cardstock. I stamped them with the same script stamp, distressed them a bit, and made centers with large brads. Finally, I stamped the sentiment with the soft purple - and voila! two birthday cards for some very special ladies!

you've all been SO patient!

2010-11-20T15:10:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry it's taken so long to post a new submission - I couldn't access my account for some reason. That said, I don't have a lot to show for that whole time. I have lots of quilt projects on the go, but not much completed. But wait! I do have a kids quilt that's almost done!
A friend posted a link to a you-tube video - it's for a 10-minute quilt block. It looked fun, and easy, so I took advantage of my local quilt shop's anniversary sale, picked up some fun kid's prints, and this is the result:
I might add a narrow border in the green fabric, and then the binding will be the same green.

A card for a friend

2010-09-13T07:34:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who's going through a pretty rough spot right now, and I wanted to let her know that I think she's stronger than she thinks she is - but, if she needs a shoulder to cry on, mine is there for her.
The C/S is the new In Colour "Pear Pizazz" but the pink and yellow are scraps. The quote is from a bundle of encouraging sayings that I have, and I used one of my new Nesties to frame it. I also lightly stamped the vines from Vintage Vogue over the sentiment.
Hope she knows how much we love her!

One last post for August

2010-08-31T08:17:00.000-07:00

I figure I'm on a roll, so I'll post one last card for the month. This is one I made for a friend's birthday. I recently bought a small butterfly punch, and spent about 15 minutes punching butterflies out of all sorts of DP and C/S that I'd stamped. I also finally broke down and bought the corner punch to go with my Scallop Trim straight line punch. Add a pair of oval Nestabilites stamped twice, a sentiment, and it's set to go. So, without further ado, here's my card:

Oops! I forgot to post my Fri. night pics!

2010-08-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

One of the conditions of the Friday Night Sew-In is that you have to post pics of what you worked on, if you want to be eligible for prizes. Of course, after I signed up and posted the announcement here, I found out that I have to have a Flicker account for my pics, so I'm debating whether to go that route or not.....
In the meantime, I'll show you what I worked on:
Of course, I didn't get all of this done on Friday, but I did manage to get a good start on the 4 bridesmaid's dresses that I made. I'm VERY happy to announce that all 4 dresses were finished in good time for today's wedding.
Liz and Jason - Congratulations on your wedding! May God bless you as you start your married life together.

Friday Night Sew-In

2010-08-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

I've seen these buttons on a few quilting blogs that I read, and tonight, I'm jumping in with both feet - first time for me!

Check this out for more info: http://handmadebyheidi.blogspot.com/2010/08/signup-for-august-friday-night-sew-in.html

Baby Quilt - finally!

2010-08-19T17:43:00.000-07:00

Waaayyyy back in early April, I mentioned a baby quilt that I was working on. I finally got it quilted and bound, just in time to enter in the Melbourne Fair (100th anniversary!). I'm so thankful to have received a first prize ribbon, but don't get too excited just yet - it might have been the only pieced crib quilt entered.....
Anyway, you want to see it, right? Every square measures 2" - a fact that I'll check out more carefully next time, before starting to cut the fabric!
I bought all the fabric on the same shopping trip, but I bought the kite backing fabric first, just 'cause it was cute. I found all the pastels in the next store, and discovered that they pretty much matched the colours in the kite fabric, so it was obviously meant to be!

This is a first for me!

2010-08-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

I've been making cards for a few years now, and I'm finally getting a sense of what's really "me". I've tried a lot of different techniques - some became favourites, some didn't - and then there was the list of "things to try someday". One of the things on that last list was watercolouring images. I've been quite content to stamp images and leave them as they are (whether stamped in one colour, or stamped using markers to get multi-coloured images), but watercolouring images has always been shoved to the back-burner. Then a friend gave me a sheet of watercolour paper (the trick to get good effects), and, coupled with the right images and the need to create a male-themed birthday card, voila! my first watercoloured card! I used the pick-up truck from SU's "Countryside" stamp set, and using a small paintbrush and a bit of water, picked up some colour from a few of my SU ink pads. The sky was sponged to resemble clouds. A length of ribbon, a sentiment from CTMH, Ruby Red and Black C/S mounted on Very Vanilla, and I have a "male" birthday card!
Stay tuned to this spot - I'll be posting a few other things in the next few days...

It's not a quilt - or is it?

2010-08-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

I get frequent e-mails from Kaye Woods, who is a quilting teacher and pattern designer. She was looking for quilters with blogs - she'd send me a free pattern and I would make the pattern and blog about it. Sounded good to me!
The pattern that I got was a new concept - it's called a Quarter Quilt, and is basically a quarter-sized quilt (duh!), but it looks like a quilt that's folded up at the foot of the bed. It's only one layer though, so you don't get the bulk!
My husband chose the fabrics for it, and I got busy - and I mean busy - it seemed like all of a sudden I needed to do 5 things at once! But, I finally got it finished tonight, and here are some pictures of it. I really like how it turned out!

Wedding invitation

2010-07-26T09:07:00.000-07:00

The is one of the wedding invitations I did a few weeks ago. The bride chose purple and orange for her colours, and I wasn't to sure about the combo, but it works!
The embossing folder is 'Victoria" - perfect for any kind of romantic
project.

This is what I've been up to....

2010-07-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

Boy, this summer is going by so fast! I've got my running shoes on, and I can't keep up...
I have had a few minutes here and there to do a bit of sewing, and I did an order of wedding invitations too. I'll have a great new quilted project to share with you, hopefully this week yet, but for now, here's my latest effort:

It's called a Margo Handbag, and it's a Lazy Girls design. I've made a few of her designs before, and I really love them. This has got to be my favourite! I used two coordintating batiks for the outside, and just a tan "blender" fabric for the inside. It zips shut, so you don't have to worry if it tips over - your goodies will be safe!

2 new cards - finally!

2010-06-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how much time has passed since my last post! I knew it had been a busy month, but I guess this proves it, huh?
To compensate, I'm posting 2 cards!
The first one is made with some SU DP, and I picked the Cameo Coral from it for the oval. Then I stamped the stems and leaves from the set "In the Spotlight", added flowers from a random flower punch and tucked in a strip of Old Olive that was punched with one of SU's new border punches. I'll add a sentiment to it when I'm ready to use it.
The second card is one that I made at this season's final Tues. evening stamping group - we'll start up again in Sept. The card is one that my sis designed (we each come to the evening with a card design and all the elements for everyone else to make one too) - we had our choice of letters, so I chose "a" - I think I know someone who's name starts with an A.... A fancy border punch, DP, some cute flowers and brads, a few bits of ribbon - and voila!

I can finally post this quilt!

2010-04-26T13:51:00.000-07:00

A very special friend of mine was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. We share a number of quilting friends, so I asked a bunch of them to help make a quilt for Pam, to let her know that we were thinking of her, and praying for her. The weeks passed, and I started getting quilt blocks in the mail - it was so much fun! I ended up with 29 blocks, plus a special label which I ended up making into a block. The quilt has 15 blocks on each side, and was beautifully quilted by one of the members of our quilting group. Pam loves butterflies, so a few people made blocks with butterflies on them, and the quilting motif also has butterflies. The only requirement for the quilt blocks was that it had to have pink in the fabric. My block is the 3rd down on the right side of the white-bordered side.
Pam got the quilt this morning, so I can finally post the pictures of it here! She has just finished her treatments, and hopefully is cancer-free!

a sympathy card...

2010-04-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

I find that I need more sympathy cards lately.... I don't like having to make them, but I know they're so appreciated.
The wife of the minister that married us passed away last week after a short illness. I saw a card on a site somewhere, and realized that I probably have all the items I'd need to make it.
Here it is:
I bought the copper paper a few years ago at The Stamp Shack in Galleria Mall (or whatever they call that mall now...) - I ran it through the CB; the C/S is Soft Suede from SU, and the DP is from SU too. The emblem is one of the "tiles" from CTMH's Damask Tiles, and I just printed the sentiment onto some C/S.

a birthday card

2010-04-12T20:38:00.000-07:00

I have two friends and a family member with birthdays this week, and since none of them know each other, they'll all be getting the same card - it's so much easier that way!
This card is a total CASE of a card on the Splitcoaststampers website - I just can't remember who to give the credit to - if you REALLY need to know, let me know - or you can just CASE my card! Here it is:
I still had some Groovy Guava, one of SU's "In Colours" from 2 years ago, so I've used it all up making these cards (well, I have bits of it left, but not enough to make a card from). I used Very Vanilla for the light panels, and stamped the heart onto the GG C/S, cut it out, then stamped it again onto the VV C/S. The GG heart is mounted on pop dots over the heart on the VV C/S. I used Groovy Guava and Close to Cocoa inks for the stamping, and each of the pieces are mounted on Close to Cocoa C/S. I also had a bit of GG designer paper for the first panel.

This is what I did last week...

2010-04-03T09:55:00.001-07:00

I have so many quilting projects that I NEED to work on, so you'd think that going to the quilt shop would be helpful, right? Well, actually, no, it isn't! The quilt shop was having a sale, and they had some really cute kid-friendly fabrics in 4 different colours! It just so happened that earlier that day, my cousin called, and mentioned that her daughter is expecting a baby in a few weeks, which of course means that I need to make a baby quilt (you see, I have nothing better to do with my time...)
I have a fun quilt pattern that I use when I need a quick, cute quilt, and one of the sale fabrics had just a bit left - EXACTLY the amount I needed for this quilt (I think it was a sign!) So, I bought it, and then a few hours later, bought some more, and in two days, I had this quilt fabric washed, ironed, cut and the entire quilt assembled! Now it just needs to be quilted. It ended up being too big for a crib quilt, so the fabric I bought later is in the process of being made into a lovely baby quilt, and this will be a bigger, kids quilt for the local women's shelter.
The baby/crib quilt that I'm still working on, is made up of lots of tiny parts, so you'll have to wait for pictures of it - sorry!

Here's another card....

2010-03-09T16:31:00.000-08:00

I have a card to share today that came about after I made another one - I had used my Cuttlebug to punch out a scalloped oval, and then I realized that I could use the leftover piece as a frame for another oval. I stamped a flower-head design on a white oval, and then stamped it again without re-inking it. I mounted it on a deep copper-coloured metallic paper, and pasted the teal frame on top of it - and ta-da - another card!

my stash project

2010-02-25T09:31:00.000-08:00

I belong to a quilter's forum on the 'net, and really enjoy the challenges that are posted. Our last one was to create any project, using only fabrics from our stash. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I had this many reds - the beiges, creams and tans are useful for so many things, so I don't have to apologize for them!
The challenge ran from Jul. to Dec. '09 and, in typical procrastinator style, I finally got around to sewing it together in Jan. - but, now it's done! Well, mostly... I still have to put a border or two on it, and then quilt and bind it, but you know what I mean. Now the challenge is to decide who the recipient is going to be!

a birthday card for Rebecca

2010-02-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

I have all these stamp sets on my shelf, and I decided that I'd better either start using them or get rid of them - so I grabbed a set at random, and this is one of the cards I made.
This set is very versatile - I think I made 6 different cards with it, and I could probably make another 5 or 6!
I originally put the cards in my box, but I've sent out a few since then. I just noticed last night that it's Rebecca's birthday on Sat., so I grabbed my box, picked this card, and just before I put it into the envelope, I realized that I should share it here first. I know that Rebecca doesn't even know that I have a blog, so it's safe to post it here!
Happy birthday friend!

Now that's bright!

2010-01-26T22:08:00.000-08:00

I got a few quilt tops done in Dec. but didn't have time to get them quilted. Now that most of the busyness is over, I can get back to some quilting. I pulled out another child's quilt, and quickly stitched it in the ditch, sewed on some binding, and stitched that down with a decorative stitch. I managed to get it done in time to bring it to our Jan. quilt guild meeting, to donate to the Women's Rural Resource Centre. They always have a need for quilts of almost any size, and I thought a bright one might make someone's day!

Look at what I made this morning1

2010-01-18T19:30:00.000-08:00

A friend opens her house almost every Monday morning for anyone that wants to come to make cards. We each bring our own supplies, and coffee and tea are provided. We always have a wonderful time - we see what everyone else is making, and we get inspiration from other cards, magazines and the other ladies that are there. Sometimes, I don't get any of my scheduled projects done, but that's fine, because I've usually picked up a new card idea, or I've spent the morning looking through my friend's magazine collection (and believe it or not, sometimes I get quilt-y inspirations from card-making magazines!)
This morning was no exception....
On Sat. night I randomly pulled a stamp set off my bookshelf, and challenged myself to make a card with that set - and if I couldn't find any inspiration, the set had to be donated to charity or sold, so that's what inspired this card. I chose the two blues for the left-side panel, and then used the coordinating inks, plus the dark brown that I used for the key, and randomly inked up my "Linen" background stamp; I also used the same 3 inks to stamp the different elements for the top panel on the left. A quick punch created a slot for the top panel to slide into, and a brad holds it in place. A bit of ribbon in the same brown finishes the details on the card - hopefully it's "manly" enough for cousin John's birthday!

This quilt is finally finished!

2010-01-12T07:58:00.001-08:00

I heard of a local group that was in need of some quilts, so I started madly pulling fabrics from my bins. At that point, I didn't really have a plan, just wanted to see what inspiration struck. I had lots of fun fabrics, but it wasn't until I started checking out quick-quilt options that I decided to do the tried-and-true Split Rail Fence.
I thought of making it "on point" (the blocks are set on the diagonal), but I didn't have a lot of fabric left over when I finished cutting the blocks, so I very carefully cut my precious bit of leftover navy fabric - and then realized that I had cut most of the fabric the wrong size, and now didn't have enough to set the blocks on point. So, back to doing just a straight layout. I sewed several strips, and then when I started laying out the strips, I realized that if I turned every other strip "upside down", I'd get an interesting secondary pattern - navy or green pinwheels.
I also no longer had fabric to use for borders or matching binding, so I used some leftover backing fabric, but, as the saying goes, "Finished is better than perfect!" and that's what it is!

From a card-making evening....

2009-12-21T08:32:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so long - between a need-to-do list that seems a mile long, and being down with bronchitis for almost a week - well, you get the picture!
Anyway, I was at a friend's house a few weeks ago for a card-making party, and we did this fun card. It looks really complicated, but it's made from 1 piece of cardstock, and with a bit of attention to what folds where, some fun papers and a bit of stamping, we end up with this! The first pic is the card closed, and in the 2nd it's open.

It's not a card or quilt!

2009-11-30T13:27:00.001-08:00

I went to a Christmas card-making workshop last weekend, and one of my favourite projects from that day is this:
It's a pillar candle, to which we added the rose swirls, using tissue paper, and then very carefully "warmed" the candle so that the paper bonded to the candle. The candle sits on a small glass candle dish, and then on a base, which we also made that day - it's a large can of beans, covered with a section of crimped cardstock, and a strip of designer paper and a ribbon and Voila! - a beautiful gift!
I have a few more projects from that day to share, but I'll have to leave them for another day.....

new swap blocks

2009-11-03T07:15:00.000-08:00

I was going to say that I couldn't believe that it had been almost a month since I last posted anything, but then again, I do seem to recall that October was extemely busy, so.....
Thankfully, I finally was able to do two of my favourite things lately - shop for fabric, and create with fabric. I belong to a quilting group on the web, and we currently have two different swaps going. One is a straight-up swap with a partner (you consult with your partner to find out the size she wants, and any theme or colour preferences) and the other is a block lotto - one person chooses a particular pattern, decides on the colour scheme, and then, at the end of the month, she draws the name of one of the block-makers, and that person receives all of the blocks that were made that month.
The blocks here are my block for the lotto, which was a Christmas Star block, and the second one is for my partner, who is making a Christmas quilt, and wanted a Christmas-sy block. I don't have any block designing software, so I go to a site that offers over 1,000 block ideas! I chose one that wasn't specifically a Christmas block, but done up in red, white and green makes it look like Christmas.

World Card-making Day!

2009-10-09T14:25:00.000-07:00

I know it was on Saturday, but I figured everyone else would be posting their pics then, and no one would remember my absolutely beautiful cards! (hahaha) I actually did make this card on Sat. but it was almost midnight, and I didn't think anyone would be looking for it then. Besides, I wanted to post the pic of my table-runner before that, so now that you've all seen it, I can finally post my card....
I needed a few birthday cards, and I love this layout, so I made about 4 of them in 10 minutes. I just got some new DP and the new In Colour cardstock from Stampin' Up, so I put them together and voila!

My table runner

2009-10-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting a table runner for a while now. I have an oak dining-room table, but it needs to be refinished, so it's generally covered up. I have a Dutch woolen tablecloth, but sometimes I just want something a little less "heavy" on the table. I've made a few runners, but they always were for someone else. I finally sat down last week, found a pattern that I liked, and made this one! It was designed to have "points" at both ends, but I ran out of one of the fabrics I needed, and I decided that square ends would be just fine. I love the saying "Better done than perfect" - it's one I can live with!

A Birthday Card

2009-09-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make a card with a realistic-looking sky, but I found out it wasn't as easy as it looks! I've finally figured it out though, and I'm quite pleased with the result:

not quite a quilt...

2009-08-29T17:43:00.000-07:00

This is a quilted wall-hanging that's been "in the works" since last summer, but I finally finished it last week. I know someone that's interested in it, but if she changes her mind, I'll finally have a new decor item for Christmas!

Card or Quilt?

2009-08-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm really new at this - I've just spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to post a new entry... Why do the kids all go away just when I need them?
But, I'm here now, and I'm debating whether to post a card or quilt project today, because I have both. If I share just one today, I'll have something left for another post, and that will be a good thing!
I guess it will be a card - and this is my latest one:
I love the combination of Kraft cardstock and black ink, and the Stampscapes stamps are among my favourites. The size of the panels means that the card has to be a square one, but I like mixing things up sometimes!
I'll be posting my quilt project in a day or two - stay posted!

2009-08-03T12:09:00.001-07:00

A friend of mine has been bugging me to start a blog, so here it is (finally!) I do a bit of quilting, and some card-making, so that's mostly what you'll see here.
You're very lucky, because today, I'm actually going to be posting 2 quilts I just finished. A quilting friend heard about the need for quilts for girls in an African orphanage, and decided to take on the challenge of providing a quilt for each of the 33 girls! Seeing as I have lots of bits and pieces of fabric, I decided to give her a hand, and make a few for her - so here they are:

The first one is called a disappearing nine-patch, and the second one is a variation of Easy Street. Both were made from scraps, and I've found that I really enjoyed the process!