Goodbye Quilts

These two quilts are going to the church nursery. They've both been hanging around here for quite some time. I'm happy I'll be able to see them every week :-)

Pajama Party

This month Sew Mama Sew has been having a Pajama Party and I am finally finished these three pairs. Somehow they've taken me 10 days to make. Such is my life!



This is this morning. Um, yeah, they are already slept in. Carolin isn't too excited about getting her photo taken.



Deanna's quite fine with it. I bought the polar bear fabric for $2.15 per metre. Yes, that cheap! Then I bought 3 different coordinating prints for the front and back panels. I appliqued one of the polar bear motifs onto the front. I realized after that they should have been a bit higher. Too late!



This is tonight. Melissa was at school when I took the other photos. Not such a great photo either. It was getting dark. They really do love each other this much.



The whole crowd! Carolin is still not wanting to be on the photo. The pattern is my own. I started with a Butterick pattern many years ago and have changed it so much that it isn't nearly the same. It is a very basic pattern but that really works for me. They are comfortable and fit great.

Nursing Cover

I made this last week for a friend as a very (like 4 months late) belated baby gift. I made a pocket on the front so that the cover can be folded up into it as a compact package. The only mistake I made was I didn't make the pocket with right sides in and out so now when you fold it up you see the wrong side. Oh well, it doesn't affect the use of it.

Something New

I am so excited to be starting on this quilt! It all started a couple of years ago when I was in BC and Alisa and I went out for the day (great things happen on days like that!). We went to the quilt store in Abbotsford and they were selling all their sample fabrics by the pound. And there wasn't just a few piles but 3 tables piled high! What a find for us who love scrap quilts! Anyways, these bright and colourful fabrics mostly came from there and I've been making this in my mind for a long while already so it feels very good to start on it.

Here everything is...all ready to start sewing:
The first blocks - I love it already!My intention is to put it on an old couch in the kids playroom and then cover the throw pillows in solid bright colours.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Thrifty Threads #4

I've been wanting to try making a little girls dress from a man's shirt for a long time now (over a year!) and just never seemed to get around to it. I tried it last week and it turned out so cute. I used the same pattern as the last dresses I made but just lined the pieces up on the shirt so the buttons go down the front. Then I added a little applique to make it special :-)
I intended them to look like modern flowers but they look very much like balloons...The model :-) It's too big for now but should fit in the spring and summer next year. She is such a stinker!
Here are a couple links to some tutorial online that I'd like to try sometime too:
I really love this one and
The shirt dress

And I had to share with you my exciting finds this weekend. We have a great little second hand shop nearby and I found this beautiful periwinkle wool blanket for $4.50. I have ideas mulling in my mind of making a winter coat for my 6 year old...I also found this sheet in great condition that'll make a good quilt backing or... We'll see if anything else comes to mind.Thanks for looking!

Life around here

Here are some tidbits from the last week or so...

Last week was the first week of school. A big adjustment for all of us. Early mornings and long days... The kids are loving it but also noticing that they just don't have enough time to do all the things they want to at home :-( Here they are...grade 1 and Kindergarten (how did they get to be so big anyway?)
I got a whole bunch of small apples from my neighbour. Last month I made a batch of apple sauce and this time I tried apple juice. It turned out pretty good but I think I'll have to tweak the recipe a bit. And a little sewing... I tried my hand at a receiving blanket like Alisa has done. It makes a great baby gift! I found a great tutorial for cutting strips for binding. I was trying to fold my meter into a square on my little table (I'm getting a bigger one soon!) and it just wasn't working and this was easier than I thought it would be.

The Playpen Quilt

It's finally finished. I sewed the binding down on Sunday and did a 'photo shoot.' I wonder what my neighbors think of me.



I used 7 fabrics from Wonderland by MoMo. I also used a linen that I've had in my stash since I was 18 (really 13 yrs! I bought it in Brazil.) As well, a repurposed cotton/linen dress shirt from Gord, a vintage fabric that I've had for a number of years and a brown cotton that is left over from another project. How's that for a mixture.



The binding is a burnt orange solid. It's from Fabricland. I really like the quality of their 100% cotton solids.



I'm really, really happy with how it turned out and is making me excited to make other things. But first I have to finish the playpen project.



The back is part of a thrifted sheet. I love it! It was too white and bright so I tea-dyed it to get it more muted. It worked perfectly.