Thursday, May 30, 2013

Fabric Friday


I ordered some fabric from this Canadian fabric shop, Ella's Cottage.    And these lovelies arrived in the mail the other day.  So much fun!  So what do we have?  Some Simply Colour for Moda in the lovely purples.  Those will be a scrub top for daughter because I think it will be fabulous.  Then some cameras... 2wenty thr3e by Eric and Julie Comstock for Moda, some Comma and finally some PB and J, Basic Grey for Moda.

And it all came in a pretty bundle like a gift of fabric goodness!  Thanks Leigh Ann!


Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Random on Thursday... Happy Birthday Grampa!



So my Grampa turned 95 last weekend.  There he is.  The blue ribbon says birthday boy on it.  The cake had a serious amount of flame action by the time all the candles were lit.  My aunt hosted the party at Grampa's favourite place.  Yep.  Tim Hortons.  For all you non-Canadians that is a donut and coffee that is dearly loved by Canadians.  Lots of us were able to make it.  Most of his grandchildren and several of his great grandchildren.  Mum couldn't be there but we took lots of pictures for her.  The staff at Timmy's were pretty nice.  They all gathered around our table in the very crowded coffee shop, made a loud, "excuse me everyone, we have a 95th birthday here!"  Then everyone in the whole place sang Happy Birthday.  It was pretty nice.  Grampa got a little teary, I have to say. Nice!

We thought my aunt was pretty clever.  Host the party at the Tim Hortons, then you don't have to worry about tidying up the house or cleaning up afterwards.  Doesn't matter if the birthday is for a 5 year old or a 95 year old, it works.  Grampa didn't need to have a ball room to play in though.  Just saying.

Happy Birthday, Grampa!

Linking up with Cindy for Random Thursday.


Monday, May 27, 2013

High Street Messenger Bag... finished



Okay.  This was not easy to take pictures of.  This is Amy Butler's High Street Messenger Bag.  I made it for our daughter.  This is actually her second one as I made her one when she was still at university, several years ago.  She asked for a new one and asked for dark blue so it would stand up to lots of use.  I used a navy cotton twill and used a decor weight cotton as the inner liner and then some Prospect Park stripes for the lining.  The last one I made was a lot heavier because I  used a very heavy home decor weight fabric with a canvas inner liner and it was just too hard to sew.  This was a lot smoother.  The bag is still heavy and durable but the construction went so much smoother.

If you have not made an Amy Butler pattern before... hmmm.  Design always great.  Directions are spotty and I should have ignored the zipper installation and done my own thing but that being said, the bag is just snazzy.

I also did away with the tab closure and used my hair tie method with a big and I mean BIG vintage coat button.  The bag features three zipper pockets.  One on the back as you can see just below, one on the inside of the flap and then a third on the hanging inner pocket. The bag also has pleated pockets on the main front body for storing who knows what.  I seriously top stitched the strap for strength and because I just like stitching lots of straight lines.





It won't look floopy for long because she will just cram it full of stuff when she goes off to work.  


Sunday, May 26, 2013

On Sunday...



MMMM.  Smell o vision needed.  Husband made bagels today.  Fabulous.  Most delicious.  So while he was doing this...

I was doing this.  Getting brave with Amy Butler's Messenger bag pattern.  This is the second time I have made this bag and I have to say that even though her patterns are more like blueprints... it went together much faster than I expected it would and in fact, way faster than the one I made several years ago.
Now I just need a picture.



More bagels...

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Some Thrifty Finds...


MMMM, milk glass.  Picked this up at the thrift store for a modest $2.99.  It was seriously grubby but a good scrub in some sudsy hot water set it right.  It looks so nice on this mossy log in the big woods.  And I now have a matching pair of these milk glass candy dishes.  Nice!

I also found a great set of vintage sheets and a pillowcase in good shape.  People sometimes wonder how you tell if a sheet is vintage.  It has to have the vintage vibe.  Like this set.  Crazy, bright florals and then the label will look vintage and will often state "percale".  Yep.  Vintage.  I don't usually buy the bottom sheet but in this case the bottom was in pretty good shape and the store was selling the sheets as a set.  I guess they are wise to those of us who typically leave the bottom sheet behind.  

Have a lovely rest of your Saturday!





Friday, May 24, 2013

Scrub top... all finished


All finished!  A scrub top for our nurse.  This is a really straight forward pattern.  New Look #6817.  I changed it up a bit.  I made the trim around the midriff wider and then added all the top stitching on the pindot trim.  I made my own bias trim rather than using bought because I wanted a more custom look.  I mentioned before that because of all the washing and the stress on seams, I reinforce all the seams especially the sleeves, the side seams at the pockets and also the side seams at the tie back.  Basically any places that will get a lot of stress.  The fabric is some cotton I had in my stash.  It is nothing in particular but it has a really nice hand so it worked perfectly for this purpose.  I think it came with all the fabric I got from a quilter's estate 2 years ago.

It looks pretty nice and I am sure that our daughter will get a lot of use out of it.  We will hand it over when we see her in a week.  I also made her special someone a Man-apron  or Mapron so he won't feel left out but I haven't take a picture of that yet.  It is very manly.  Just saying.

So there it is.. a scrub top finish for Friday.  Linking up with Finish it Up Friday over at Amanda Jean's.




Thursday, May 23, 2013

Random Thursday... Stupidheads... a bird story


 Okay.  So it is a blurry photo.  This is our bird feeder.  It has been modified.  The grey "skirt" is the modification Husband made out of sheet metal to thwart the squirrels.  We call it the "squirt".  Yep.  Squirrel skirt.  It works.  Drives the squirrels a little crazy because they just cannot access the feeder.  He he he.  Don't worry, we feed the squirrels too.  They have a different feeder.  They also have a zillion hazelnut trees for their dining pleasure.

 Do you see all those birds at the feeder?  They are Evening Grosbeaks but we call them "Stupidheads" because they just keep flying into the windows of the house.  They hit really hard and then they bounce up and fly away.  They have really hard heads and they just don't seem to learn from their crashes.  Sometimes they hit a little harder and then Dr. Doolittle aka Husband goes out to work his bird whisperer magic.   I took a picture of this one before he recovered enough to fly away.  Dr. Doolittle was giving him a pep talk.  Silly birds.  Stupidheads.  Kind of pretty aren't they?

Linking up with Cindy for Random Thursday.



Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Making Scrub tops and other works in progress...




When our daughter was young I made her a lot of dresses.  Lots of dresses.  Then she grew up.  Now she is a nurse and every now and again I get a phone call and she tells me that I haven't made her any scrub tops for awhile.  So I got right on that.  I really like making scrub tops.  I shouldn't say that out loud but it is a little bit like making little girl sundresses.  You can get a little creative and it is okay.  For this one I made my own bias trim out of the blue pin dot.  I also heavily top stitched all the pin dot trim.  It looks snazzy.  I think she will like it.  Scrub tops need lots of reinforcing in the seams because they get washed a lot and the pockets will get used a lot.

And other works in progress include all of this on the design wall.  From the left, Depression blocks from That Stash Bee, Road to Fortune scrap buster blocks and my Lucky Stars Block of the Month blocks.

Linking up with the Needle and Thread Network .  And I am back to school this evening for a meeting!  Phew.


Sunday, May 19, 2013

Lucky Stars BOM...


Yesterday I took care of the May Lucky Stars Block.  It came together quite easily.  I did not, however, have my iPad close by so I did not have a colour reference as I cut out the fabrics and put it together.  I think had I referenced a colour picture of the block, I may have made different choices for the various pieces.  Nonetheless, I am pleased with it and they all look just snazzy together!  6 blocks done.  Half way there.


Happy Victoria Day and that means a long weekend.  And that means more sewing and more flower bed weeding. Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Blogger's Quilt Festival... Proverbial Sunshine!

 Quilt stats

Name:  Proverbial Sunshine
Design:  Proverbial Quilt, Denise Schmidt
Size:  75" by 78"
Fabric:  Scrappy yellow and grey, with Wild Carrot in Straw, Madrona Road, Violet Craft for Michael Miller.  Bound with Haystack in Graphite from the same line.
Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white

I started making this quilt last summer as part of a quilt along with Krista from Poppyprint making use of Denyse Schmidt's Proverbial Quilt pattern.  I had to think of something to say on a quilt.  It didn't take me very long to figure it out as this has long been something I sing... just because.  I knew it had to be in yellows and greys.  That just made sense. I wanted the letters to be scrappy grey and the background to be a mixture of yellows.  I added in some special yellow prints like the Seed Catalogue fabric, some with clocks and there are even some yellow prints with fleur de lis. My husband is French Canadian, a farmer and has a special interest in the big ideas around time and this one is for him.  I knew that the Wild Carrot print in straw from Madrona Road would be perfect to add into the quilt and that the Haystack in graphite would be the perfect binding.  I just had to make all the words.  So I did.  I worked away at it one word or phrase at a time.  I sang a lot.  How could you not? Then I had a quilt top!   I love it.  I backed it with a vintage sheet with faded yellow daisies.  But when I took pictures of the quilt just the other day, I forgot to take a picture of the back so you are going to see one I took when I finished the quilt with some snow on the ground back in December.  


 The quilting was a bit of a puzzle because I could not decide what to do about the words.  I ended up leaving them alone.  I quilted the sashing in straight horizontal quilting, about an inch apart in Aurifil 50 wt in white.  I waited to do the rest until I opened my Christmas book wish, Angela Walter's book on free motion quilting.  I used the u-turn quilting leading up to words and between words.  The quilting is quite dense in these u-turns and adds a great texture to the quilt.  I will say that the u-turns are not perfect but I really like the look. 







and the back with snow from last December when I finished the quilt....


  I made it for my husband and it brings with it sunshine, love and song.  Proverbial Sunshine.  And a perfect choice for me to enter in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  It feels good.  Did you sing along?  Linking up with Amy for the Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2013.

Spring Blogger's Quilt Festival - AmysCreativeSide.com

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

What's next?



1)  My mum got herself an iPad.  I am pretty proud of her because this is all new technology for her and she is figuring it all out just fine.  Of course she needed an iPad cozy.  So I made her one.  I used a bit of home decor weight fabric that I picked up at the thrift store.

I put a pocket on the back for the cords and stuff.  And now her iPad will stay nice and safe when she is trucking it around with her.



2)  The Blogger's Quilt Festival is coming up and starts on Friday.  I have my quilt picked out for the Festival.  What about you?

Spring Blogger's Quilt Festival - AmysCreativeSide.com

3)  And lastly...
  

It just makes me feel so sad when I cannot reply to the lovely comments people leave.  I had several people who leave comments yesterday that do not have emails attached to their profiles so I cannot reply.  There are lots of instructions on how to fix this... all you have to do is google it.  So if you are not hearing back from people like me when you leave a comment, this is probably the reason.  I know that word press blogs and blogger do not get along so you can also have your email address available on your profile. 

I am going to link up with Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday!  

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Progress?


A few things currently on the go.  Road to Fortune is growing at 12 blocks.  I love the look of this.  The paper pieced blocks aren't too time consuming but this is my slow quilting project and I only do one block a week.  It is nice having a slow project without time lines or plans beyond the one block a week.


I made 2 extra blocks for my month of That Stash bee.  I have been watching blocks in the flickr group.  I cannot wait to see them in the mailbox.  I have this crazy idea to have the whole black and white quilt with one lone triangle of colour somewhere in a block.  I have not decided if I will actually do it but it is somehow most tempting.



The garden is also a work in progress.  I am currently declaring war on buttercups that just love to grow in the flower beds.  And the peonies are blooming...  mmm, just so pretty.

Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for work in progress Wednesday and The Needle and Thread Network too.

Sunday, May 12, 2013

The essential wristlet...


I spent a bit of time making this clutch this morning... the essential wristlet.  This is a pattern from Erin at Dog Under my Desk.  I have quite a few of her patterns and they are awesome in their detail.  She also has a no nonsense approach to zippers.  Husband test drove this pouch after I finished it and told me that the zipper was very good.  Hmm.  He also liked the the feel of the pouch and wondered what I had done to it.  Hmm.  That is the awesome combination of both interfacing and batting.  This little clutch houses a pocket for your cell phone and one for your cards... debit or credit, you decide.  Nice little wrist strap and you are good to go.  I like it!

Oops.  I see a thread that needs clipping.

Hope you had a great mother's day!  I did.  Nice and lazy. Phone calls from children.   Blueberry crumble too.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.


Happy Mother's Day!



Happy Mother's Day!  Yesterday we actually went to a Church Garage Sale.  They are the best!  I picked up 3 vintage aprons for 50 cents each!  Seriously!  How much fun are they blowing on the barn wall?  Can you see that the yellow gingham one has smocking?  The seamstress even smocked the rick rack around the hem.  Very fancy!  Husband bought a giant pussy willow tree for $3 and we laughed about the Lily of the Valley plants that had been potted up individually and were for sale.  I look out the front window at the Lily of the Valley taking over our universe!  I have to get out there and attack them with the shovel and the wheelbarrow.

Have a super Mother's Day.  I am actually going to get some sewing done today.


Saturday, May 11, 2013

I picked a new winner...

I feel bad that I am picking a new winner but after trying all sorts of ways of finding how to contact Tori Lee and since she has not contacted me.....  It is Kathleen's lucky day!!!!  


True Random Number Generator  173


Friday, May 10, 2013

We have a winner!




Thank you so much to all of you who have left an astounding 716 comments!  And people live in such interesting places from all corners of this earth! Seriously!!!  Welcome to all of my new followers and a big thank you to all of you have who follow along as I ramble about stuff!

Without any further ado the winner of the Noteworthy charm pack is Tori Lee!

True Random Number Generator  219Powered by RANDO

and I follow you now

G
Edited to add.... Tori Lee you are a no reply blogger so I will need you to contact me tonight or I will pick another winner!  Thanks!

Edited to add... Not having heard from Tori Lee, I picked a new winner!  



I will be sending off an email to get contact information!  Congratulations!!!!

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Does this have anything to do with quilting?



How exciting is this?  Bangle bracelets that look like measuring tapes!  Be still my beating heart.  I found these in a little shop in Victoria.  Brass and resin.  Made in India.  Perfect for quilters.  Guess what I am taking for a door prize to my quilt guild meeting tomorrow?  Yep.  Perfection.  I bought 3 of them.  I might have to keep one for myself.



And this picture is for Mum who wanted me to look for this in Victoria.  A new statue of Emily Carr, the famous Canadian artist and that is the Empress Hotel, behind her.  Emily had a pet monkey and that is what she is looking at on her shoulder.  I love her wee dog too. So there you go, Mum.  I didn't forget.

Linking up with Cindy for Random Thursday!  Don't forget my giveaway and all the other giveaways over at Sew Mama Sew!

                       Live A Colorful Life

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Instead of sewing I was....


Last week I traveled a bit but I didn't get much sewing done at all.    I didn't travel far but far enough that it felt like I was on a vacation.  It wasn't a vacation because it was a conference on vulnerable readers.  It was a fantastic conference, just saying.  But even better was that it was over in Victoria and the weather was beyond splendid.  Now Victoria is the provincial capital of British Columbia and is an all round beautiful city.  So instead of sewing, I was learning about what do about getting all our wee kiddies reading and then when the conference was over, I was getting to walk and walk and walk in places like this.  I did find a quilt shop too.  Of course I did.  Satin Moon Quilt Shop to be exact.

Little bit of scooter fabric on sale!!!!!!  And some Aneela Hooey grey, low volume.  Nice!

So... don't forget to enter the giveaway and welcome to all my new followers!!!!  There are too many comments to answer!  What a lovely problem!

Monday, May 6, 2013

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!




Happy giveaway day!!!  I have a charm pack of Noteworthy for one lucky quilter.  All you have to do is leave a comment telling me where you live for one chance and you get a second chance for following!  Don't forget to follow with Bloglovin or email because google reader will depart soon.  Please leave your email if you are a no reply blogger.  Thanks and good luck!  I will ship anywhere!

I will pick a winner on Friday, May 10, 2013 after 7 pm Pacific Daylight Time.

Check out all the other giveaways at Sew Mama Sew!