Joshua

Early Friday morning we welcomed Joshua William into our family.

He arrived 4 days early and a nice a small 7lbs 2oz.  He is sweet and beautiful and we are deeply thankful to God for his and my health through the pregnancy and birth.

I have been busy snuggling my little one, while some very wonderful people take care of my other children for awhile.

We are blessed.

Sock Monkeys, Bias Binding, Power Outage

My friend Laura pieced this Sock Monkey and passed it on to me to quilt for the PCC Sew a long.

 All the sock monkey fabric was donated by Fat Quarter Shop and the others from our stashes.

I quilted it with straight lines vertically, horizontally and diagonally.

 It turned out pretty cute!

These are two are nice big double sided receiving blankets with bias binding.  So soft!  These fabrics all came from another friends stash.  Do you like the multicoloured bias tape?  Using up what we had :)

The other day it was so, so windy here.  I don't ever remember having such high winds without it being stormy.  I snapped this picture of our youngest two playing while the power was out.

I've finally learned a few basics about our camera.  I never used to be able to take a picture in the dark without flash but now I can!

My "ugly fabric" project

I bought this fabric years ago for one of my first quilts and somehow I was convinced by a fellow quilter that it was nice.  It's been sitting on my shelf since looking ugly at me and now it's gone!

It has become a sling type holder for my neighbour's catheter.  It snaps around the bars under her wheelchair, keeping the catheter off the floor and easy for her to reach.  And she can't accidentally wheel over it any more.

Love that I have my Kamsnaps pliers!

Maybe it's not so nice to make something for someone else out of fabric you don't like but no one ever sees it.  I thought it was a good way to use it up.  :)

First finish from my FAL list!

Solids

I didn't buy too much fabric in the past year, just tried to use what I had.  That worked fairly well but I used most of the solids I had on hand. 

Yesterday the UPS truck arrived with my box from Connecting Threads.  Exciting times I tell you!  17 - one yard cuts of various solids and two large spools of thread.  I don't have a specific project in mind for any of it, but it is sure nice to have a stash of solids on hand.

The solids from Connecting Threads are decent.  They aren't quite as silky as Kona Solids but they work well for a sewist on a budget, don't bleed when you wash them and they do offer a variety of colours.  I'd love to have the whole range of colour!

Have you worked with the solids from Connecting Threads?  What did you think?

PS Melissa has become my photographer.  She did pretty well for inside photos at night didn't she?

Finish Along (FAL) Quarter 1

This year Katy at The Littlest Thistle is hosting the quarterly Finish Along.  Just in time to motivate me to list and work away at what I need and want to get done!


1. An "ugly fabric" project.  My neighbour is in a wheel chair and asked me to make something to hold her catheter under her wheel chair.  I've made one before so it should a quick project.

2. Quilt this Sock Monkey quilt for the Pregnancy Care Centre Sew-along.

3.  Make myself another dress!  Found this fabric for $2.50/meter :)  I'll be using the same pattern as my last dress but making it a bit shorter to wear with leggings and with 3/4 length sleeves.

4.  Quilt this baby (finally!).  I was working on the blocks at last years quilt retreat and I really want to take the finished quilt this year.

5.  Another quilt for the PCC.  A couple friends and I sorted through a bunch of fabric and came up with a bunch of possible projects.  We'll see how much we get done.

I'll keep you updated!  Will you be linking up too?  

Scrappy Strings Quilt - Finished!!

This quilt began in the Spring of 2012 as a project for the kids to work on.  We made a few blocks in Spring break that year and a few more in the summer. Then this past summer it came out again and I had hoped to get it done by November so we could give it to my in-laws for there 35th Anniversary.  But...it takes a lot of 6" blocks to make a big enough lap quilt!!

The back made out of scraps of blue

As it happens, they celebrated their 65th and 66th birthdays yesterday and today so I sent it to them for these wonderful milestones.

This block with pink is Sophie's.  When I pulled scraps from my bins I stayed away from pinks and really bright but Sophie insisted and now there are a couple signature blocks from her :)

I quilted a squiggly line in the white strips and then tied the center of the blocks with cotton yarn.  I've never tied a quilt before but I didn't have any inspiration for quilting that part and thought the tying would go with the scrappiness.

I asked them to Skype when they opened it so I could watch their reactions.  Modern technology is wonderful!

Linking up to the first Finish it up Friday of 2014 :)

Sew-along and have a chance to win!

Fabulous Home Sewn is hosting a Pregnancy Care Centre Sew-along!

Is there a Pregnancy Care Centre in your area?  What do they need?  This is what the Edmonton one says on their website: 

  "Part of what we provide for our clients is a big baby hamper full of blankets and clothes. So it is really up to you what you would like to donate. We love receiving quilts, toques, clothes to add to our layettes and all our clients love them as well."

Check out the projects that have been made already in the flickr group.

I'm hoping to work on a quilt or two.  I have one ready to quilt that a friend pieced. 

Fenna is hosting a giveaway on her blog for anyone participating.  Will you join us?

Our Holidays

Wishing you all a Blessed 2014!

I love it when the kids are home for the holidays - a little sleeping in, lots of game playing, visiting, lots of snow and shovelling, a birthday, lots of lego playing, and even some quilting!

Sophie turned 5 on Dec. 24!

Her barbie cake.

We made gingerbread men. 

Sebastian "playing" a game while we are.  He's counting: "One, two, one, two".

I made this mug rug and cup cozy for my secret sister but forgot to take a picture of it so this is stolen from her facebook.
Tutorials are from Skip to my Lou.

In a couple of days I can also share the quilting I've done recently.  I just have to make sure it gets received first.

Now hopefully tomorrow morning isn't to rough for all of us!

New (to me) quilting

It needs some work, but it was fun to try!

December Happenings

Wishing you all a New Year filled with joy.

At the beginning of this New Year I am reminded that I have neglected this blog as of late.  I didn't do too much sewing in December and what I started I didn't finish.  I also lost my camera, which has made me so mad/sad at myself and I am not sure when I can replace it.  In the meantime I'm borrowing Melissa's camera and Gord's phone as my replacement. 

I thought I'd post a few photos of our December to get you caught up and then hopefully shorter and more frequent posts for 2014.

We actually had snow.  Inside and out!

Trying something with snow, chocolate and candy canes.  The result was actually pretty tasty!

Using the snow as candy molds.

Squeezing the chocolate into the molds with ziploc bags.

Put it outside for a few minutes and then pop the chocolates out - yummy!

Zachary preferred to just eat the snow when we were finished.

We have a wintering hummingbird which is kind of rare around these parts.  During our cold snap I was thawing out the feeder four times per day.  It was worth it though!

Putting together a new puzzle.

Sewed up PJ pants for the oldest three.

Benjamin and I made this for Zachary.  It took a few secret sessions in the sewing room together but it really was fun.  The only sewing I did was to sew the 4 rectangles together.  The rest was using fusible web, fabric, markers and buttons.  The we stretched it over a canvas (Dollar Store).  Zachary loves it and Benjamin is quite proud of it too.

Made a star garland with the girls.

Every year we give the kids a bunch of new craft supplies.  I can't decide if it's a really good idea (they make pretty cool stuff) or if I am a sucker for punishment.  They. make. so. much. mess.

Suzanne, here is your picture.  I look like a dork and your welcome. :-)

And if you've made it this far I will show you the real reason for my lack of blogging this year.  8/12 months I have been putting my energy into growing a baby.  This is me on New Years Eve - 36 weeks, only 4 or so to go.  We are all very excited to meet this little one.

Do you like my scarf?  I do!  Thanks Karen - I will wear this one often.

Enjoy the rest of your New Years Day!