The End

of the great PJ sew down of 2011. Total was 6 pairs of PJ bottoms, 4 sets of PJ's and 1 nightgown. We are set for winter! And the greatest thing? Every last bit of the fabric was from my stash!

My girls are the same size so I made 4 pj pants for the 2 of them to share.

The only way to get her to stand still long enough.  "Show mommy how old you are."

He doesn't know how old he is, I guess.
The red stripe was necessary so I could get a pair out of this fabric.

And the short sleeves were necessary on this one.  So glad to use up all these fabrics!

Have a good week!  I'll be back with a few more sewing projects later this week.  DV.

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Alisa

For the Bloggers Quilt Festival I've decided to re-publish a post from May of this year.  This quilt is the favourite I've made in the past year.  It now resides in my living room and it's sure a cheery quilt!  Thanks for stopping by.  Come again!

***

This past Monday our family headed out to "The Ranch" for the day. It was a holiday and we were celebrating my b-i-l's birthday. "The Ranch" is a 100 acre piece of land my b-i-l and s-i-l bought about 5 years ago. They've slowly been turning it into a really unique place to live. They raise organic chickens, turkeys, pigs and now llamas too! My kids (and us) love going to visit. We just can't get out there often enough. (It takes about 1.5 hours to drive there.)

It was a wonderful relaxing day and the perfect place to take photos of my newly finished quilt.
Of course I couldn't find my camera at the moment so my s-i-l's snapped the photos for me. They are really super sister-in-laws even if they call me a quilting dork. That dog is Rusty. How nice of him to pose for me.
Carol even got out a prop for me. I told you, I have great s-i-l's.
The back. I was not planning to have that strip in there but I didn't have enough of the flannel. Now that it's done, it does look fine.
A very old out-building. I love it!
And, just to be really cool, on the back of Charlie (or is it Badger?) When I told my husband I was taking my quilt along to take photos of it at the ranch he though I was a little weird. "What are you going to do, take a photo of it on the back of a horse?" Well, yes I think I will!

Quilt Stats

Size: 72 x 84 inches

Fabrics: mostly Freebird by Momo as well as some solids and near solids from here and there

Pattern: from Seams to Me by Anna Maria Horner

Changes: I changed the construction of one of the blocks. She instructed the quilter to applique squares on squares. I figured out the measurements to piece it instead. Easier and saved on fabric.

This quilt is one of my favourites to date and it is in use already. My husband likes it because he fits under it.

I'm just adding two more photos. These were taken in our back yard and I find them a bit more true to the actual colour of the quilt.

I have to share!

We received two beautiful handmade gifts this week!  I give a lot of handmade gifts but don't often receive them so this was very special!

A little vest with cabled owls across the front:

And a set (also owls!) with a hat that'll go with the sweater or vest!  This was from my friend who I made this quilt for.

 

Thank you Vanessa and Laura!!

Bits of my life in pictures

Multi-tasking at it's best... Having coffee with Alisa via phone, nursing, and Sophie reading with me.

Book character day at school.  Robin Hood and Kate Wetherall from The Mysterious Benedict Society (Highly recommended books btw).

Our two (?) redheads :)

Enjoying our beautiful fall weather!

Our little guy with the quilt I made for him.  

I'll post pictures of his room once I have it all put together.

You Colour My World Quilt

Made with love for my sister-in-law Karen (the other one.)

Karen picked out the fabrics herself which made this quilt a little more challenging, in a good way.

I didn't follow a pattern, just squared up each block at 15 inches. This made for fun, relaxing piecing.  I had planned to do straight line quilting but I decided to meaner quilt it.  The brown floral is flannel and I found that on some seams it was starting to fray.  Hopefully by meandering it the seams stay where they are supposed to and won't fray any more.

We bought about 10 yards of fabric. I had just enough for both the front and the back. There is only a small pile of scraps left. That is such a good feeling.

I call this quilt "You Colour My World" because it is, well, colourful. And because Karen is one of those people that colours my world. She's not only my s-i-l but a great friend too.

This quilt is my entry for Stitched in Color's "Celebrate Color' contest this month.  I really, really wanted to get it done in time and I did!

Linking up to Sew Modern Monday.

Things That Make My Heart Sing

Or I could call the post "My Ordinary Life."  Either way they are both true.

Sometimes I feel that this blog isn't a fair representation of what our lives are like.  To be honest I spend way more time in my kitchen than in my sewing room.  And, I like cooking and baking just as much as sewing.  Today I took some snapshots to show you what my kitchen looks like at least once per week (usually twice.)

Gingersnaps

.

My helpers.

Unedited photo of what my kitchen really looks like.

Cinnamon Buns on the rise.  These ones aren't for us though.

Pasta sauce simmering.

Music to listen to.

And that, my friends is what makes my heart sing.  A warm house, healthy and happy children, baking in the works and supper on the go.  God is good.

Don't get me wrong here.  Things don't always go well.  Hard things happen and are happening.  But God is good in allowing wonderful, everyday things to happen too.

KCWC Days 5 & 6 ...

... looked more like this.

This is me.

One of the gorgeous views. 

My gorgeous sister-in-law (one of the Karens!)

View of the Black Diamond Ranch.

Gorgeous, crispy morning.

God's handiwork.

Yup, those are frosty mushrooms.

Coldwater River.

Cows.  Wow, what a caption.

Alpacas.

The other three s-i-l's.

And yes, I did do some sewing too.  Finished this nightgown for Carolin.

Great times were had.  And a lot of eating and relaxation too.  Looking forward to doing it again!  Thanks so much s-i-l's for being so great!

KCWC Day 4

Today I continued to sew my way through my pile of cut out pj's. Again, I would have liked to get more accomplished but it wasn't to be. I sewed up this pair of pj's for Zachary and a pair of pj pants for Benjamin. Ben is not a willing model these days, especially if it means going outside into the light to get a photo taken. His are matching to Zachary's pants. They like that.

A few years ago I received a few boxes of fabric from one of Gord's aunts who sewed alot when she was younger. In the box was about 10 metres of this fabric on a bolt. I've made 3 complete pairs of pj's from it and now these 2 pairs of pants. Benjamin is tired of this fabric by now but I am determined to sew from my stash and use this stuff up.

The stripe is a knit that I bought a couple of years ago at Fabricland for $2/m.  So, very thrifty pj's.   I like them and so does Zachary.  In fact he didn't want to take them off and proceeded to bike in culdesac with them on.  I wonder what the neighbors think?

Thanks for following along on my sewing journey!  Kind of boring sewing, but blogging about it is keeping me motivated.  Thanks for the comments!  I'm going to continue sewing along this week but I'll not be posting.  I am going away for 2 days with my sisters-in-law to 'the Ranch' for a fun weekend of crafting (for me that is sewing), chatting, quading, walking, enjoying the great outdoors and each others' company.  I am looking forward to it!


And Suzanne, I'm looking forward to chatting on the phone with you next week. :-)

KCWC Day 3

Not as much as I would have liked to get done, but three pairs of pj pants.  Not the most glamorous fabrics but all from my stash.  That's exciting!

Meet Sebastian!

Our little Sebastian came into this world on Monday, September 26 at 5:30am.

He was born at home while the rest of the family was sleeping.  The kids woke up shortly after to a new baby brother.  It was so special!

So excited to have a little brother!

That same afternoon he started to have trouble breathing so we called our midwife who took us straight to Emerg.  He came down with Group B Streptococcus Sepsis and was on antibiotics for 2 weeks.  By the end of the first week I was feeling pretty ill too so I spent a night in the Emerg and found out the next day that I also had GBS in the blood.  So, there we were, both on IV antibiotics in the hospital.  Not where we expected to be but where we needed to be.

 

Nice hat!

It was a long and tough two weeks but our Heavenly Father carried us through.  Praise God for the health care that we have here so we could be looked after so well and can be home now together as family of 7!