BlueberryGabs

Baby in the Hood Jacket

2012-01-29T20:28:00.001-05:00

More on this tomorrow as I need to add three more buttons....but here is my "Baby in the Hood Jacket" - pattern from Handmade Beginnings book by Anna Maria Horner. I used up some of my Farmer's Market stash. It felt good to cut into it! This is size 12-18 months for Little Miss P.

Version with Detachable Flower

2012-01-24T17:26:00.000-05:00

So, I'm having a little fun...

2012-01-22T14:49:00.000-05:00

I love making up these little hats and with some fun photography props I bought, my pics are looking a little bit better:) Little Miss P has too big of a head to be my model anymore:(
I've always personally loved aqua and red together so when I saw this yarn, I had to have it!

Baby Boy Hats

2012-01-22T10:40:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to make up some baby boy hats for my little Etsy Store and just added this one today. I whipped this up last weekend and just added the button this morning. It gives me such satisfaction to knit by hand, photograph it and then seeing it on little ones:) Fun! Might I add...a great stress reliever!

Lined Drawstring Bag

2012-01-08T18:47:00.000-05:00

Do you know how many Polly Pockets are in my house? Probably not....but take a wild guess...feels like hundreds of little teeny tiny pieces strewn about! Ahhh! So, I got to thinking...a little drawstring bag could MAYBE (and I say, maybe:) encourage my third year old to keep them together? Yeah, I know, good luck but it was fun to make anyway:)

I've had this Ikea fabric lying around for the past few years (I know, how bad is that!) and I have made a Bucket hat out of it...but still had lots so I cut into it this morning and voila! I used Jeni's tutorial which is great and in just a few minutes, a new kid's lined drawstring bag was born! I'm tempted to make some more because I'd love a little one to keep my earrings in when I travel ... ooh, the uses for these little bags are limitless.

Jelly Roll "Race" Quilt

2012-01-06T20:01:00.002-05:00

What...a second quilt top in one week? I think I must be dreaming!!! This never happens. Let me back up....I was at my LQS about a month or two ago and while I was browsing the owner asked me if I had ever heard of the "jelly roll race quilt?" I of course hadn't and in fact had never bought a jelly roll before. She said if you like strip quilts then you could make this quilt top in about an hour (well, I took a little longer but it was only an evening)! She said you could find the technique on youtube (just type "jelly roll race quilt"). Essentially all you do is sew all of the jelly roll strip ends together to form one ginormous (nice word!) strip (make sure you cut the first 18 inches off of your first strip so that it will form a nice brick effect). Then making sure you do not twist the giant strip, match your two ends together and sew your long seam. Once you come about two inches from the end of your seam, you cut the strip and then repeat the process once again (join two ends together and sew 1/4 inch seam). In literally no time at all, you have an entire quilt top in an evening. What took a little bit of time is initially joining your strips into one long one but it was easy peasy! Talk about speed sewing once you sew that first long seam.....totally mindless! The finished product should be around 48x64 which is a nice lap sized quilt.

What I learned:
1. Make sure you don't twist your long strip because you need to match up those ends, right sides together.
2. This project is perfect for non-directional prints or solids. I used a Sherbet Pips jelly roll and I do have the prints in two different directions but since it's for my little girls, they can both enjoy the quilt at the same time and have something to look at right!! (at least that's what I tell myself:)
3. Makes a quick, satisfying quilt/gift.

Hope you're having a cozy Friday night!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012

2012-01-01T10:57:00.001-05:00

I made some time yesterday to work on this quilt top. So, in between chasing the girls, meals and nap time, I sewed like crazy because I wanted to get it done. I also had it in my mind that I wanted to make another baby hat so Miss G and I cuddled on the couch and watched some tv. Lets just say I watched a lot of cartoons yesterday:) My husband had to work last night so I rang in the new year with our pets (I know, it sounds crazy) because Miss P was long asleep and Miss G fell asleep on the couch beside me. I'm grateful though because everyone was tucked in safe and sound and it was a nice night!
Miss G had to get in on the picture taking action though. She loves LaLaLoopsy dolls so she had to pose hanging on to her poster which came with her "baby" from Santa.

I think I'll back this one in flannel as it's for the girls. I personally really like a flannel backing not only because it's cozy but it keeps the warmth and that's what quilts are for right?

I hope 2012 brings all of you health and happiness (and lots of sewing/knitting/creative inspiration)! Speaking of which I need to reorganize the 'ol stash so keep posted as I'm going to list some in my Etsy shop. Ciao for now!

Scrappy Circles

2011-12-29T16:36:00.005-05:00

One of the first quilts I fell in love with was this one

Emily of CarolinaPatchworks designed and made it .... I had to have it for my little girl and then once I received it, I had to make it! Thankfully Emily soon developed a pattern and the rest is history!

So this is what I'm up to. I finally cut into the Bliss layer cake I've had lying around for some time now. It really felt good to cut into it.

You know you're stressed when....

2011-12-22T06:40:00.001-05:00

you forget to post the winners of your giveaway on your blog...I won't even bore you with the details....but on to the lucky winners!!

Jenny (okiedokiemama) and C (Christina) have won the Urban Baby Pixie Bonnet and the Erin McMorris' fat quarters.

Thank you to EVERYONE who commented on my little blog and gave me feedback on my Etsy shop! I loved reading all of your suggestions!

Have a great Thursday!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day (December 12, 2011) !!

2011-12-11T22:32:00.000-05:00

Can everyone say "Yeh, today is Giveaway Day" at SewMamaSew!!! It's a day (actually a week) of great giveaways across Blogland!!!

Welcome to my little blog for those of you who have never been here before and for those of you who have...welcome back!!! I haven't been too active on here lately because of my crazy life and little ones but I couldn't miss participating in this great event!

Up for grabs are two great giveaways!!! Two is always better than one right? :)

1st Giveaway: 3 FQs of Erin McMorris' Weekends line

2nd Giveaway: Urban Baby Cabled Pixie Bonnet 0-3 Months (could probably even fit baby a bit longer as I made it long).

In order to qualify for these giveaways, I'd love to hear your feedback on my litte etsy shop called UrbanBabyPhotoKnits All feedback, positive or negative, is welcome. I'd love to hear which hat is your favourite? Is there enough variety? How about the listings...photography, pricing, descriptions? Thank you in advance for your comments!!!

I'll draw both winners randomly on December 16th at 8pm EST. I'm happy to ship internationally. Good luck!!!

P.S. Hope you drop by again sometime!!! Now get going to the next blog and get your name in some great draws!

Unscripted Bee Blocks

2011-12-02T20:17:00.000-05:00

Thankfully I have a bunch of wonderful "co-bee" women who are very understanding as I'm seriously late on some on their blocks. I had a little bit of time the other night so I thought I would work on Sara's blocks for October. She asked that we do two log cabin blocks. This is what I whipped up for her:

I added a few extra strips from my own stash and I love how they turned out. Can't wait to see Sara's finished quilt:)

I've been slowly working on this little poncho for Miss P - it's called the "Lady Gaga" and I purchased it off Ravelry. It turned out a little too short on Miss P so now I'm adding a few inches so it'll fit her nicely.

And by the way, has anyone heard of the "Jelly Roll Race Quilts" - I'm sorry I don't have time to post a pic right now but if you go on Youtube you'll find a tutorial. What I like about it is that it's a great way to use a Jelly Roll, not to mention making a quilt top in a night (some people say they can do it in under an hour). I personally like the non-mitered version as you end up with a "brick/strip effect" - I love learning a new technique to use up those scraps or rolls!

Trying to get the Mojo Back

2011-11-14T22:03:00.001-05:00

Thank you to all of you who have left kind words for me! It really is encouraging to know that perfect strangers/fellow bloggers are kind enough to reach out during this difficult time in my life....again, I'm very appreciative.

I really want to get creative right now (whether it's knitting or sewing) because I've done nothing but deal with my father's affairs and I'm also gearing up to return to work soon. Stress!!! Trying to find the time to work on anything is another thing so I need small projects that I can work on in a spare evening. Knitting is winning out as sewing lately has been out of the question (sorry to my current bee buddies but thankfully they are a very understanding group of women).

I'm celebrating my birthday this week and would love some ideas about a gift. My husband has been asking me all week and I honestly have not been able to come up with anything. I always love good books and so I thought I would ask you about new books you could suggest on sewing/quilting/knitting. I've noticed on quite a few blogs tonight that there are some amazing books coming out in the new year....seem to be in May 2012!!! Can't wait...but until now...would love your ideas....

Have I mentioned how bummed out I was that I missed Quilt Market in Houston. It was going to be the one gift I was going to give to myself before I returned to work this month. There's always next year though:) I've loved looking at all of the posts about it...it looked amazing.

My Dad

2011-11-11T15:49:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's really been a long time since I've been on here. It honestly feels like a life time ago now. So many things have changed.
My Dad suddenly passed away over the Thanksgiving weekend. When the phone rang just past midnight I knew it was bad news....and I knew it would either be my Mom or Dad. It was my Dad. He had been rushed to the local hospital and was asking for me to be there. The nurse said they were just about to put him on life support. I ran to the car, as I live an hour away from him, and drove in complete silence praying like I have never prayed before. It was the loneliest ride of my life. In the middle of the night, foggy and alone. I kept thinking to myself...is he going to be alive or dead when I get there. As I kept playing this over in my mind, I looked up and saw a shooting star. I had my answer. Call it what you will, I believe that that was a sign. I prepared myself for the worst and that's what happened. I walked into the ER and the doctor met me in the family room with my uncle and aunt.
I was escorted a few doors down and there was my Dad. Full of life only 40 minutes before and now he was gone. I just stood in that room beside him saying goodbye, kissing him on his cheek.....not really believing this was real.
So there you have it. I'm sorry to be so blunt but it's really surreal...even thought it's a month later.
I hope my life will get back to the new normal sometime soon but for now I do take comfort that he truly is in peace and in a better place.

Urban Baby Pixie/Gnome Hat & Classic Beanie

2011-10-02T11:16:00.000-04:00

I added these two to my shop...just thought I would share what I've been working on:)

Etsy Shop And Feature

2011-09-29T19:52:00.000-04:00

Holy Crap! I managed to open my Etsy Shop, UrbanBabyPhotoKnits last week and let me tell you what a week it has been. Amongst knitting/crocheting for the shop, two friends requested hats (yeh!) and I made a bunch of hats up for a local photographer in exchange for some pictures of the family! I've been doing this swap/exchange thing for awhile now and really it's fantastic. It's a total win/win as I absolutely love to see my creations on little ones as I enjoy photography AND I receive beautiful photos of my daughters.
I encourage all of you to do something similar....maybe someone out there would love one of your creations, whether it's quilting, sewing, knitting in exchange for something you would equally love...from one artist to another:)
As I'm trying to spread the "love" for my shop, I want to offer 10% off to all of you...code is FLICKRFRIEND10. You can also find me on Facebook

Now for some great news....as I mentioned a few posts ago, Amy from Amyscreativeside contacted me and announced my little wee blog was going to be featured on Sept 30th...as some wonderful person out there nominated me for my work on the Drunk Love Quilt that was finished earlier this year. How cool is that? It's one I'm especially proud of....and it was a gift to my stepson. It makes me feel good because it's something I made (with the wonderful help from my fellow bee members...they were the best) for him with love:)

So thank you to everyone who continues to drop by this little blog and inspires me....and welcome to any of you who are new...thanks for stopping by:)

P.S. I'd love to hear anything you have to say about my Etsy shop....my creations, pricing, photographing, any words of advice are always welcomed!!

I've opened an Etsy Shop!

2011-09-19T21:18:00.004-04:00

Well I took the plunge and have opened up a little shop on Etsy specializing in newborn photo props (hats and cocoons)! I'm really very excited about it. This is the reason the blog has taken the back burner recently and the sewing machine hasn't seen a lot of action:) All of my spare time has been spent in designing, knitting, picking out wool (hand dyed handspun merino wool), photographing my wee one/baby hats, working with photographers...making hats for photographers in getting ready for the shop to open! It's really been a lot of fun!
As you know another one of my passions besides quilting/sewing is knitting and photography...specifically babies in hats! I just love knitting little hats but was tired of seeing cheap quality ones out there. I really think the motto "you get what you pay for" is true. If my babies wouldn't wear it, then I wouldn't make it for you! I've tried to make some fun, funky hats that are made with high quality "thick and thin" merino wool (all except one hat that I make that's an exception)....lots of squishiness, great texture in photographs and super soft against baby's skin all make for a great baby hat!
I hope you get a chance to check out my shop...thanks for your support:) It's called UrbanBabyPhotoKnits.
Here are a few pics of some items I have listed:

A New Facelift

2011-09-02T21:25:00.000-04:00

I received a lovely email from Amy at Amyscreativeside last week informing me that I had been nominated to be featured on her blog!! It came as such great news as I had been seriously considering whether to continue blogging or not. I don't know about you, but there are times when I think to myself, is anyone reading this stuff:) Anyway, this news couldn't have come at a better time. Time for a facelift....a blog facelift that is!!! I knew I had some great pictures for a header but didn't have enough tech savvy to put it together so I contacted Faith of FreshLemonsQuilts and she so graciously put this together for me! Honestly, our quilting community is really generous don't you think? There are really some nice people out there!!
So, there you have it. Now I need to go and knit another baby hat as I'm opening up a little Etsy shop this fall(more on that soon). I just spent the day with the kids at my friend's cottage/beach playing in the sand and water. Did you know sand can get in the most interesting of places? Oh my!!

Unscripted Bee

2011-08-29T20:02:00.000-04:00

I am so excited to participate in my first all Canadian quilting bee-and shall I add, it's women who love modern quilting! Yeh!!

We started up in July, but because of our postal strike, our first block got moved to August. Donna asked for this:

Hope she likes it! I kind of fell short with the height requirement because I ran out of fabric but hopefully she can add a few strips and it will equal her request at 21x24:) I must say I love the colours and fabrics she chose. I think it's going to be a pretty fabulous quilt. Can't wait to see the end result!

What a Dish by Denyse Schmidt

2011-08-27T09:24:00.001-04:00

I have to say, being the big Denyse Schmidt fan that I am, I absolutely LOVE her What a Dish Baby Quilt. If you've read my blog for a while, I've talked about it a lot in the past!

Image from DSquilts.com

I received an email a few months ago indicating all of her DS Baby Line items were on clearance.....well, needless to say I got my hot little fingers on the phone and ordered it right away!!! Well, of course, I am also a fan of her Pretty Squares baby quilt and with that great sale, I bought that one too!!! How many crib sets does a baby really need anyway?!! How bad am I? Oh my....(the only crappy thing is that I don't use the crib bumpers because of safety concerns for babies-why do they continue to sell these things anyway??)

So, currently the What a Dish quilt sits beautifully over the side of Miss P's crib.

I wish someday I could replicate something this beautiful but DS said herself, those concentric circles are made with bias strips....oooh...sounds a little too difficult for me...at least for now:)

Oops, 8 months!

2011-08-22T18:40:00.000-04:00

My little one turned eight months one month ago but I've been late in posting. Here she is in all of her morning glory...

At 8 months, she loves:

- doing what we call the "worm" to get around; she hasn't mastered crawling yet but loves to scoot around and go backwards on her belly.
- loves Cheerios, peas, sweet potato....as long as she can feed herself she's very happy. She's definitely "Miss Independent."
- to babble what sounds like mama and dada but not quite sure it's intentional:)
- to have a bath and play around in the water.
- to wake up happy and cooing. Never wakes up crying which we love:)
- loves to watch her sister sing and dance for her (Miss G puts on concerts for her to the tunes of Backyardigans and Dora. Of course we can't forget when Miss G gets out a toy broom/shovel and sings "rock and roll" for her).

Overall she's such a little sweetie and gentle soul. I'm so lucky to be her Mom. We're so very blessed.

Hats, hats and more baby hats

2011-08-20T13:21:00.003-04:00

See, I really was knitting/crocheting....:)

Congrats to Heather Ross!

2011-08-19T15:15:00.000-04:00

I know many of us are fans of Heather Ross' fabrics/designs. On August 1st of this year, she gave birth to her first baby, a little girl that they named Beatrix. Congrats Heather!!!

I was lucky enough to meet Heather Ross and Denyse Schmidt two years ago at one of her weekend sewing retreats in Vermont. It was really great and I'm so glad I went! I ventured there on my own, first time having left my daughter (she was 17 months at the time)...while it was hard to be away from her, I really needed some Mommy time and that weekend did just the trick!!

I bought some of Heather's fabric/surprise boxes a few years ago from her studio sale; amongst some fabric and notions, she sent a little girl's baby shirt that was size 6-12 months. At the time I thought I would never be able to use it....well, two years later, here is my little girl in Heather's shirt. Isn't life funny?

Mouse Hat

2011-08-18T22:09:00.000-04:00

I know I've really been MIA lately but behind the scenes I've been knitting up a storm. I guess you could say I caught the knitting bug again:o) Don't you go through times like that where sewing takes a back seat and another hobby creeps up again? It's always that way with me.

A local photographer requested a mouse hat so this is what I made for her. It was fun because I never made a hat like this before. I had some trouble with the ear linings and a fellow Raveler (is that what you call us?? haha) all the way from Iceland helped me out with some ideas. How cool is that? The world really is a small place sometimes.

The ear linings were a bit of a pain to say the least as I first tried to duplicate stitch them (never did that before - again, youtube is a great resource) and then resorted to crochet/embroider them on. I think it worked out great in the end but needless to say I spent a whole night on one ear trying to perfect them...ahhhh.

The results are worth it though, don't you think?

I have plans to make one for little Miss P in a beige color...she's a pretty cute model! You know, come to think of it, this hat would be pretty cute for Halloween too.

Have a great night!

Headbands, Knitting, Picnics, Birthdays & 7 Months!

2011-07-18T16:25:00.000-04:00

How's that for a title? Pretty much sums up what's been happening around here lately! There are three family birthdays this month and lots of things to do!! I know I promised a recap of the Single Girl Quilt but I thought I would post since it's been a while:)

Here's just a little headband I whipped up for Miss G. I've always wanted to try out this tutorial (you can find a million on the internet if you google search)...so I took Miss G out, bought some organza and went to town. I still haven't found any beads to go in the middle (which I like better) but I just made do with what I had and these are the results. I think I'll make another for Miss P since she hasn't discovered how to take them off her head yet!

One morning last week, the girls and I were up a little earlier than usual so I took them to a local field and shot some pics. I loved the sun behind Miss G in this shot....shining behind her and of course the look on her face!

The sun wasn't really cooperating when I took Miss P back again on her own. There are some shadows and darkness in these photos but it was still fun though!

Have been knitting up a storm here for a local photographer in exchange for some photos...I'll post those later. Have I mentioned my addiction to both fabric and wool? Oh my....I think I spent some quality time over the past two days on ravelry and have so many projects I'd like to make!

Recently Miss P turned seven months so I've been slow to post these photos but here goes:

Of course two mintues later she tried to rip and eat the paper...Mom has to be quick taking those pics!!

Yeh - A Finish!

2011-07-08T17:37:00.002-04:00

I finished up the quilting and binding on my Single Girl Quilt this afternoon. I'm really happy with the results! I even got Miss P in on the action....she was the perfect little model sitting in the afternoon sun! (it's really beautiful today) Who can resist a cute baby on a quilt???

First off, a little about this quilt:
Pattern: Single Girl Pattern by Denyse Schmidt
Fabrics: Combinations of Pinks, Fuschias and Purples (too many to list)
Dimensions: 41x47 Baby Size (my finished size was a little bit smaller as I made a mistake and used 1/2 inch seams when I joined all of my blocks - oops)
Backing: Hoop Dots in eggplant
Binding: 2 1/4 inch; Kona cotton Raisin
Quilting: 3/4 inch lines
Thread: No. 539 Gutermann

I chose not to quilt through the rings because my background fabric was so dark - and the thread would detract from all of the beautiful fabrics:) (I posted about this last time).

Isn't the quilting fun? I really loved Nettie's quilt (AQuiltIsNice.blogspot.com)last year so I decided to add in some horizontal lines on the third ring just to change things up a bit. I'm so glad I did this as I really love the effect:)

I also went with the same color of binding as the background which I don't typically do - but again, I think this helps the rings to pop that much more.

The backing is super simple - just one print - a great eggplant geometric one.

I've got to run right now as I have some children to feed, but I promise on my next post to include some things I learned alon the way in making this quilt. Ciao!

Weekend Fun & Single Girl Progress

2011-07-06T10:49:00.002-04:00

On Friday, July 1st it was Canada Day here. The girls, my hubby and I got into the Canada Day spirit and spent the day at a local park meeting Care Bears, seals, etc. It was really cute. We later had a barbeque and then saw some great fireworks in the evening. It was the first time I took Miss G to our local fireworks and it definitely didn't disappoint. Her heart was beating fast as she sat on my lap and she squealed with delight....it was awesome!

We had to make do with some lipstick to make a maple leaf on her cheek as we didn't have a tattoo for Miss G....she still loved it! Miss P had her little moose Canada shirt on too:)

Hope you all had a great Canada Day and 4th of July weekend! I`m sad it`s over too soon!

For the last week I`ve been working on the Single Girl Quilt - basting and quilting.

As for the quilting I knew I definitely wanted to try out straight lines because I love the modern effect it gives quilts and I had never done it before. My dilemma was in the choice of thread color and whether or not to quilt through the rings. I actually flickr`d a couple of folks (thanks to twinfibers and imagingermonkey) and came up with using a dark thread to match my background which is Kona raisin and quilting three quarter inch lines. I decided not to quilt through the rings because the thread color was so dark and detracted from the fabrics and overall design of the quilt. If my fabric background had been lighter I would have quilted through the rings.

The lesson I learned with this project is to always go with and trust your first instinct because these were my original thoughts! Of course I didn`t do this originally which meant an evening of seam ripping. Did I mention how much I hate seam ripping...aghhh. Lesson learned!

I`m nearing the end of the quilting so I can`t wait to show you the finished product!

Single Girl Quilt Top Officially Finished!

2011-06-26T14:43:00.002-04:00

Single Girl Quilt Top

2011-06-25T15:01:00.001-04:00

Except for the borders, I'm finished piecing the single girl quilt top. I set aside some time yesterday afternoon (while my husband looked after our little one) and sewed my little heart away. That made me happy...I felt like I got something accomplished! Yeh!

I must admit - I did make a small mistake and sewed the blocks together with a 1/2 inch seam instead of 1/4 of an inch. I couldn't find my pattern with all of this reorganizing that's been going on in my house so I just made the seams a bit bigger. It's fine - it just made the overall size a tad smaller. It's going to be a little playmat for Miss P anyway, although Miss G might steal it away from her little sister (that's been known to happen since Miss P was born!)

I'm really glad I had a chance to work on curved seams. Once I found a method that worked for me, it was no problem. (The best way I've found to piece the inner and outer backgrounds to your rings is to first crease each piece in the middle (as suggested in the quilt along and DS' instructions) and place a pin - then match up your ends and pin, THEN go back between your three pins and pin appropriately. This avoids your ends not matching up/fabric overhang once completed.)

I'm still contemplating making a bigger version using my DS stash. We'll have to see. I'd also love to do this pattern using solids. It would look really cool!

The single girl quilt pattern is a great project to work on in stages given the tedious nature of using pattern pieces but the results are definitely worth the effort!

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T09:20:00.000-04:00

Ok, I admit it, I was jealous of my husband and three year old...don't they look like they were having a great time as Mommy and baby P took lots of pics!!

Happy Father's Day!!

WIP

2011-06-15T08:25:00.000-04:00

Here are those string blocks I was talking about in an earlier post. I started this project some time ago with the intention that I would slowly do a block here and there using up my scraps and then someday make a picnic blanket or play mat.

What's your vote?

2011-06-14T11:25:00.011-04:00

You know those scraps I've been cutting into two inch squares? Well I decided I would focus on various shades of pink, orange and yellow and make up a quilt for my youngest daughter..yes, you're right, another quilt on the go!!
I love love love the colors Faith used in her Lemon Squares quilt (wish I would have bought it...oh well). Isn't it gorgeous!!

Here are some of the designs I'm thinking about:

Then there's this one which Ann Marie S made from The Funky Bag Lady. I love the use of patterns and solids:

So what's your vote? Would love to hear your thoughts!!

What to do with scraps?

2011-06-11T20:38:00.006-04:00

There's the million dollar question! My scraps have been accumulating and at one time I bought some scraps so I could save them for a strip quilt. I've made some blocks here and there but it's still a WIP. I'd like to eventually make a picnic quilt out of it. There's tons of bright and cheerful prints.

Then there are those pesky little scraps so I thought - why not cut them into 2 inch squares? I was shopping in the States this past week and saw Accuquilt's 2 inch square die....now I know it's being lazy, but I bought it! I was in Joann's, they had a sale, need I say more? :)

This afternoon I decided I would take a handful of scraps, run them through the Accuquilt and voila, here they are. These are literally just a handful - paying no attention to colors, patterns, nothing.

I'd love to hear people's thoughts on what kind of blocks/quilt to make. I do love a postage stamp quilt using a solid (I like white personally) to break up the patterns. That's just one thought....and then there's the color scheme to think of. I am partial to red, pink, orange and yellow....then there's always red and aquas and I've even seen red, light pinks and aquas which is pretty. What are your thoughts?

I leave you with one last question...can you identify this fabric for me?

I think it might match the crib sheet I just bought my little one from Dwell Studio (Paperdoll line). I'd like to make a matching crib skirt and thought the pinks might match because they're very light and subtle. I've also thought of a shot cotton or Moda Crossweave to change things up a bit. What do you think?

6 Months

2011-06-02T22:10:00.000-04:00

My wee one just turned 6 months recently so I had my little photo shoot with her and her sister the other day. I dressed them up and they had lots of fun on Miss G's big girl bed! I am always amazed with the connection they already have. Little Miss P completely lights up when she sees her big sister and makes all kinds of sounds to get her attention. Then they look into each other's eyes and laugh and giggle. Already!! It honestly makes me melt....and in those moments I remind myself that I am soooooo lucky to be their Mom:) It's these moments that we must cherish!

A Day in the Life....

2011-06-01T20:04:00.002-04:00

Well it's been a few weeks since I've blogged last and a lot has been going on. Unfortunately, it hasn't been all that interesting re: sewing and quilting! We've had two sick pets, some wisdom teeth removed, strange rashes and car repairs! Kinda crazy - but the pets are now on the mend, the teeth are gone and my stepson's mouth is healing and the car is in the shop. All is well, but I do think it was kinda weird/funny that I was syringe feeding almost everyone in my house last Friday!

As for projects, I whipped up this little hat for Miss G recently. I've had the Lazy Day pattern for quite some time now but finally pulled it out and made a "test" hat using some Ikea fabric I had laying around. This one turned out a little too big but my three year old will eventually grow into it. What I love about it is that it's reversible. She's asked me to make her another one using Hello Kitty fabric:)

I've had one last block to make for Shea for the Pieced Together Quilting Bee II. I honestly don't know why I haven't finished it before
now because I've never been this late before for anyone!! I really need to apologize to Shea but I think that with all of the changing rooms in my house, some worries about family and taking care of my little ones - well you know the rest. I hate when something is nagging at you and you avoid it....well I guess that saying is true "the more you resist, it persists!"
So, I made Shea's block this afternoon using Moda's crossweaves. Shea's color selection is bold and beautiful in my opinion. I really like how my block turned out because it really was made improv style!

Her only request was that the block was made with 90 degree angles, no wonkiness....squares, rectangles, or strips. I hope she likes it!
I have to run right now because my little one is not wanting to go to bed and my husband and I would like to watch a movie together (which is a rare thing these days:)
More tomorrow!

Blogger's Spring Quilt Festival

2011-05-15T19:53:00.000-04:00

It's that time again...yeh! It's the Blogger's Spring Quilt Festival!! I personally love the opportunity to peruse the many blogs out there and see everyone's work, not to mention gaining inspiration for future projects! (like I need more of those:)

My submission for the Blogger's Quilt Festival is my Drunk Love Quilt that I made for my stepson. I had been promising him this quilt for some time so I was happy to complete it this February. It's already well loved as he sleeps with it under his duvet every night!

This work was a combination of blocks from my virtual quilting bee, Pieced Together II, and my own. I can't thank the women enough because all of their blocks were wonderfully made! As you know, the Drunk Love Quilt pattern is a Denyse Schmidt (my fav!) design - some of the blocks are taken right from her pattern and some of the blocks (near the end of my block making:) were improvisationally made.

I really learned a lot in making this quilt. In an earlier post, I summarized my "lessons" or "things to consider," but I think they're worth repeating here. I hope you find them helpful.

Concentric Square Quilting

I started off with quilting these squares working from the centre of the block and outwards. My biggest mistake was in not rolling my quilt tightly enough while quilting and maneuvering it. I found I was stuffing the quilt through the arm of my machine and it was take an excessive amount of time to quilt each block with all the twisting and turning - especially working from inside the square and outwards. What I realized after struggling with over half of my blocks in this manner was that if you rolled your quilt tightly it was a lot easier to pass it through the arm of the machine. Duh! It seems obvious but I think it's worth repeating for those of us out there who have done the same thing!
Once I started rolling it more tightly, it became a lot easier to quilt the actual blocks. The second thing I changed was that I began to quilt from the outside of the block and worked my way inward. I preferred this method much more as it was easier to maneuver around the block at first and you could envision your overall concentric square quilting (hope that makes sense). I found I started to not quilt as densely and left the centre block (especially if it was a big square) unquilted so that the pop of colour was left untouched and you didn't see a bunch of white thread. Again, just a matter of personal taste, not necessarily a right or wrong thing.

I wished that when I began quilting it I had left some of the centre blocks untouched. Having said that there are some blocks that I think really look cool from the back - ones that were densely quilted.

I also think it's important to consider what effect you're wanting to achieve in terms of the concentric square quilting. I decided not to free motion the squares and used my walking foot so that I could achieve a more straight line effect. One is not better than the other - again just a question of personal taste. Since I decided on straight quilting lines, I wish on some of my initial blocks that I quilted parallel to the seam lines. When I look at some of the first blocks I quilted, my eyes are distracted by the quilting instead of some of the last blocks I quilted.
Wow, I must sound really picky:) Don't get me wrong! These are just some of the things I felt that next time I wanted to think about first before I tackle concentric square quilting again. (I do have another drunk love quilt in the making...)

Machine Binding Tips

My two "go to" tutorials for bindings are CrazyMomQuilts and RedPepperQuilts
Rita at RedPepperQuilts actually talks about not only bindings, but tackling machine bindings. I too am not a fan of sewing anything by hand. That's probably taboo of me to say (haha) since I know a lot of you enjoy the process of sitting down and hand sewing a binding. I admire you! I have tried both methods of: 1. First attaching the binding to the back and machine stitching the binding to the front and 2. Attaching the binding to the front, pin the back and stitching in the ditch in the front (which attaches the binding to the back-Rita at RedPepperQuilts' method). I thought I would try Rita's method for this quilt and I love the result! I used my Accuquilt Go Fabric Cutter to cut out the 2.5 inch strips (my favourite is 2 1/4 strips but heh, I have the cutter and it's nice and convenient). Once I had my binding strips attached using Amanda's methodI then pressed them in half and using a 1/4 inch seam, attached the strips to the FRONT of my quilt. Once I ironed this, I then pinned the back so that the fold of the strip just barely overlapped the sewing line that you had just sewn. As Rita suggests, I then stitched in the ditch along the binding on the front. Now, I have to say there were definitely some spots that I didn't always catch by stitching in the ditch so I had to go back and attach....but that was just a matter of paying attention to how I pinned it. I found that at first I was folding back the binding to much and then once I stitched in the ditch, the sewing line was almost in the middle of my binding and not at the outside edge. I ripped this out, made sure that I didn't over fold my binding to the back and voila, a much better result!

The corner were sometimes tricky but I know that once I'm able to practice a bit more, they will become easier. The trick to corners are to pin, pin, pin.

Piecing the Back
Can anyone say....make sure your back is big enough before you pin and quilt! Sure, I know this is quilting 101, but I ignored that little voice inside my head that said, I think it might be a little too small and proceeded anyway! Ah...those voices are there for a reason aren't they!! haha While I didn't do this before on any of my other quilts, I did on this one - and let me tell you what a pain in the you know what it was to correct. I won't bore you any longer with this story...enough said:) I'm happy to say that after all of that correcting, the end result is still really nice and you can't tell as I simply added a few extra seams here and there of the same fabric so it's pretty continuous! Lucky!!

So, there you have it. Thanks for visiting - hope you come back soon!

Big Girl Room-It's a Start!

2011-05-13T14:23:00.001-04:00

We've been working hard all week with all of the room changes in our house. My husband finished painting Miss G's room on Tuesday afternoon and her furniture arrived that same day. Miss G was so excited to say the least! We've been trying hard to "talk up" her "big girl room" because as most kids she was pretty attached to her old room (her little sister, Miss P has now moved into it). Even before we moved the furniture in her room that night, she had Miss P on her blanket reading her stories - it was very sweet!

I wanted her room to be bright and cheery so went with a purple, pink and lime green ("celadon" by Benjamin Moore") combination. I love her duvet...I love how modern it is and it pairs up so nicely (which was by accident) with her Hello Kitty sheets:) I bought the duvet at BouClair.

Miss G loves to colour and have tea parties so a trip to Ikea was in order for her new table and chairs (Kritter series).

Ikea also has great inexpensive curtains so I bought some white and green polka dot ones - I think they're so cute. We also have a spot to read to her as I included this little club chair (which used to be perfect for breast feeding by the way).

Here's a pic of my little Monkeys, husband included (haha) pretending to be asleep in the big girl bed!

We still have to put up Miss G's decorations on her walls and move in some of her toys (so we can get them out of "toy central" which used to be our living room!), but I wanted to show all of you what was happening so far...I'll take some more pics soon.

Winners

2011-05-13T13:05:00.001-04:00

I think Blogger has been on the fritz this week because I did a posting about the winners of my Mother's Day contest and it since has been deleted. So, here goes again:

1. Amy Butler Daisy Chain fabric - TwinFibers who wrote: "I hope you had a great Mother's Day! :) Thanks for the giveaway! "

2. Amy Butler Martini Dots fabric - Stephanie who wrote: "Happy Mothers Day! And thanks for the giveaway :) "

3. MoMo Wonderland fabric - Alison who wrote: "Oh, I've always wanted some Wonderland. I've never seen it in person. I just had a baby in January and so Mothers Day was extra special this year. She is so precious! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity."

I'll email you ladies for your addresses....thanks again everyone for stopping by my blog and entering the giveaway!

Giveaway Winners

2011-05-11T21:37:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the late posting, but I do have some winners!

Winner of the Amy Butler Daisy Chain fabric
TwinFibers,
"I hope you had a great Mother's Day! :) Thanks for the giveaway!"

Winner of the Amy Butler Martini Dots fabric
Stephanie,
"Happy Mothers Day! And thanks for the giveaway :) "

Winner of the MoMo Wonderland fabric
Alison
"Oh, I've always wanted some Wonderland. I've never seen it in person. I just had a baby in January and so Mothers Day was extra special this year. She is so precious! Thanks for the giveaway opportunity."

Ladies - please contact me with your addresses!!

Thanks everyone for stopping by and entering my giveaway!!

A Little Mother's Day Giveaway!

2011-05-08T16:55:00.003-04:00

Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful Mother's Day! It's a beautiful sunny day here which is really nice for a change:)

As promised, I put together a little giveaway for 3 people. I have some Amy Butler fabric from her Daisy Chain and Midwest Modern lines.

I also have a little Momo Wonderland scrap pack - 8 charm squares and various scrap pieces. All you have to do is leave your contact info and I'll draw the winners on Tuesday May 10th at 8pm EST.

Thanks for stopping by!
Cheers!

Knitting Needle Roll & Crochet Hook Roll

2011-05-07T10:38:00.003-04:00

Knitting Needle Roll, a photo by BlueberryGabs on Flickr.

Remember this knitting needle roll I made a few years ago? It's now getting too stuffed with all of my needles so I made a matching crochet roll to go with it yesterday. It felt good to get a "to do" item off my list of things to finish, not to mention organizing all of my crochet hooks ( I still have to track them all down but I put a few in for the pic).

I used the following dimensions:

Exterior fabric, Lining & Fusible Fleece: 10x11
Pocket Lining: 6x11
Ties: 2x15
Fabric: Amy Butler Wallflowers and Moon Dots in Cherry
Seams: 1/4 inch (1/2 inch around the perimeter before turning inside out)

What I love about it is that it's cute and functional!

Flying Geese in a Rut:)

2011-05-06T11:24:00.006-04:00

I worked on this block for Cheryl yesterday. It is severely late (hope she understands) but it's done!

She asked for either a 12.5, 12x18.5 or 18.5 block so I chose to do the 12x18.5 block. She sent a variety of yellow and white fabric. It's only my second time making flying geese so I chose this method (2nd one in the tutorial which yields 4 geese out of one square of fabric). I don't know what my problem was because it is an easy tutorial but I must admit I had to rip a couple seams out and redo a second time (I've since straightened that last triangle on the bottom left. I think it was just the day I was having:) I still need to complete Shea's block and then I'm caught up with bee blocks.

As you can tell from my lack of blogging, I haven't had many finishes lately. Amidst some worrying about family (but all is well now which I'm so happy to report), we're trying to transition my oldest daughter into her new room so the little one can move into her room. This has meant my stepson will be moving into our basement bedroom which he is thrilled about....talk about changing spaces!!! I've been busy planning and shopping. I can't wait to have it all finished and show you some pics. We're going to start painting hopefully this Sunday and her "big girl" furniture will arrive on Tuesday. She's pretty excited about it.

I just haven't had any sewing "mojo" lately but believe me I have a lot of finishes to complete...not to mention all of the knitting I need to do. I'd like to get my Single Girl Quilt done so I can add it to Miss G's new room. I also want to make a little crochet hook/needle roll because with all of these room changes I needed to move/organize my fabric and yarn stash - so now I'm on an organizing kick!

For Mother's Day, my husband bought me a beautiful, Namaste Monroe bag in Lime, a circular needle case and a needle case (small and large cozy)....Yeh! I can't wait for them to arrive. I thought the Lime would be a nice color boost!! I'll post a pic when they get here!

Can I just say a BIG THANK YOU to all of my readers (all 57 of you) for stopping by my little corner of the world and saying hi!!! I've just reached over 10000 hits and I must say it feels really nice. I came across Flickr and all of the various blogs back in 2008 when I was off on mat leave with my first daughter. It introduced me to a whole new world which has left me incredibly inspired. I only have one local friend who shares my interest in modern sewing and knitting so it's really great to have all of you out there to share ideas, projects, etc. So, thank you! I'd like to have a little Mother's Day weekend giveaway so stay tuned.

Oh yeah, I want to share something cute that Miss G said to me as I was driving her to day care this morning. I was singing Lady Gaga's Pokerface song...and she says, "Mommy, you can just "hum" you know"(she didn't say the word but hummed). I don't think she likes my singing:( I had a good laugh!!!

I'll leave you now with a pic I took last night of Miss P...those beautiful blue eyes...make me melt every time.

Netbook Sleeve

2011-04-25T12:00:00.000-04:00

My stepson's girlfriend asked me to make her a Netbook Sleeve so I immediately thought of the tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson. You can find the tutorial she made here. She designed hers for laptops so I just adapted it for a netbook.
Here is the finished product:

Of course I ended up making two as the first one was a little too snug! (I'm going to keep it for myself and use it for my Kindle and plug).
I'm going to share my fabric dimensions with you so that you can make yours on the first try:)

Flap: 9.5 x 5.25
Main Panels: 10.25 x 13.25

Another thing to note is that her tutorial asks for you to place the fuzzy side of the velcro on your exterior panel at 2.5 inches from the edge. I found 2 inches worked best for me. The finished product still allows for a little extra room which is nice but not too much so that the netbook slides around.

Elizabeth's tutorial is really great! A Netbook sleeve is a really nice functional thing to have and it allows you to showcase some of your beautiful fabric you have on hand!! I used Amy Butler's home dec weight.

Hope you had a fabulous Easter. E.B. stopped by our house and dropped off some chocolate eggs, Hello Kitty sandals and stickers for Miss G. She was quite excited as this was her first offical egg hunt!

5 months

2011-04-23T20:28:00.000-04:00

I know I've been MIA for awhile...life just sneaks up on you sometimes and then there aren't enough hours in the day:) So, what's been up in my world you ask? Well my little one is now 5 months. Yesterday I made all kinds of strange faces and funny noises so that she would lay patiently (haha) while I took a load of pictures of her.
Here's just a few.

Mainly I've been knitting and crocheting these days...more on that later.

In terms of sewing, I'm making a netbook (laptop) sleeve today. I'll take some pics later! Hope you're having a Happy Easter weekend!

Those Scraps!

2011-03-30T17:34:00.001-04:00

I've been a fan of BumbleBeansInc. Waverunner quilt for some time (she's working on a pattern I hear!) so I thought I would use up some of my Drunk Love Quilt's scraps and see what I could come up with. Here is a block or two so far. I personally LOVE improv quilting...so freeing!!

I love how when you turn a block, you get a totally different feel.

Sewing up long strips will make a nice long wavy block.

More later...

My Baby's 3!

2011-03-28T14:23:00.006-04:00

Well, technically she's not a baby anymore as she's turning 3 today!! I can't believe how fast time has passed!! We had her first "friends" birthday party over the weekend at the Little Gym. She and her friends loved it! They ran around the gym with those little high pitched squeals....made me laugh so much as she typically is shy in social situations. That's why I was a little nervous - I didn't want her to be crying at her own birthday party. Phew!

In total there were nine kids and it was a perfect size...a combination of some friends' kids and her friends from her day care.
I had to post this picture even though it's a bit blurry...so colorful and she's soooo happy!

How cool is this cake? I wish I had one when I was her age!! I found a woman who lives locally - who is incredibly talented - and we ordered everything via the internet/email...easy peasy! The characters were so detailed and the kids absolutely loved it!

Daddy had to help with that last candle.

Who doesn't love bubbles? (again, sorry for the blurriness)

When we got home, she had to put on some new dresses and reach for her balloons!

Did I say how much she loves Hello Kitty! She's obsessed. Hello Kitty everything. One of my friends bought her some pajamas - so off went her shirt and on went her pajamas, her princess dress and then a summer dress...and she went to bed like this too!
In this pic, she's asking me - "can I eat my three Mommy" - and then she said, "no more pictures" - well, I guess Miss G!! I took enough....did I tell you I'm a little obsessed with taking pictures myself!

I took this picture of some crayons - well, just because...they're pretty! (have I used enough exclamation marks now in this post!!)

Did I tell you how Miss P just slept through the entire party...how lucky am I! She really is an awesome baby! We're so blessed and I never forget that.

Little Miss P decided to roll over for the first time for her sister's birthday...I was uploading some pics this morning when I looked over - and there she was on her playmat, flipped from her back to her tummy and holding her neck up high. She's been rolling on her side for a while now but she never managed to roll over completely until today. It's kind of cool that it's her sister's birthday today.
After some shopping this morning, and feeding Miss P, we messed around with the camera a bit.

So, thank you for indulging me here - especially today! A fellow blogger recently got flack for writing about her life - someone said she wasn't genuine or real and that she was trying to portray her life as perfect. Well, life is not perfect but I too, as Camille, choose to share the positive things in my life on this blog. Life can suck at times - we all know that. In fact, we got some really bad news an hour before our daughter's birthday party. Kids can be a handful, babies and eye infections, colds, runny noses, weight gaining issues (baby and Mommy!!), sleep deprivation, life stressors.....but like I said, I want to focus on the positive here and keep the "not so nice" stuff more private.

Cutest Little Dress

2011-03-22T14:24:00.002-04:00

Okay, I should really be doing things like cleaning my house, thinking about what I'm going to make for dinner, you know - those fun things! But, what am I doing you ask? Surfing etsy, flickr, blogs, etc. I just can't help myself...when a Mom gets a few minutes to herself, and in my house these days, they are few - all I want to do is relax and surf the net. Usually I like to sew, but I just don't have the energy as I was up with my little one last night.

However, I did find the cutest, little knitted dress pattern for Miss P...here it is if you're interested. It's called the Sadie Dress....I think I'm going to have to have it! Sigh..

Single Girl Quilt Along - Ring 1 & 2

2011-03-18T20:24:00.003-04:00

Ring 1 & 2 a photo by BlueberryGabs on Flickr.

Combos of pink, fuschia, plum and purple

*So far the best way I've found to piece the inner and outer archs to your rings is to first crease each piece in the middle (as suggested in the quilt along and DS' instructions) and place a pin - then match up your ends and pin, THEN go back between your three pins and pin appropriately (wow, hope that makes sense to everyone:) This avoids your ends not matching up/fabric overhang once completed.
I only had to rip out one outer arch because when I reached the end, I had at least a 1/4 inch overhang and it didn't look good.... once I did the the way I suggested...ends matched up perfectly and you have a nice finished block.*

The Colour Purple

2011-03-16T12:10:00.004-04:00

What little girl doesn't like the colour purple? I know if you ask my daughter she immediately says "pink" and "purple." While I've been waiting for my single girl fabric to arrive (backround fabric came yesterday - yeh!), I decided to continue working on a rag quilt for her in various shades of purple.

Have you seen Rita's Poseidon quilt - I absolutely love quilts made from solids so this was my inspiration. I thought the frayed edges of a rag quilt could look like the white borders of the Poseidon and the squares could be in varying shades of purple.

Tips for Rag Quilts

Here are some of my thoughts:
1. Chain piece - absolutely is a time saver and an efficient way to piece your squares. Sew from one corner to the next diagonally in your square and do not stop at the ends - place your next "square sandwich" under the presser foot and continue sewing from one side to the other.

2. Fold as you go- A quick way to achieve accuracy in piecing these rag squares is to simply fold the top fabric diagonally by hand (before you place all three layers together) and use that line as a guide to sew from one corner to the next. Who needs to press or mark? Why? An extra step is not necessary! You can always do improv style which I've been known to do:)

3. Flannel - I like to use flannel in between my squares of Kona cotton and minky fabric. It not only adds softness and warmth to your quilt but an extra layer which will add to the overall "fluffiness" of the frayed edges. I have used batting which is fine too but you need to cut your batting squares smaller as they do not fray - again, an extra step!

4. Accuquilt Go Fabric Cutter - I got to pull mine out and use my rag quilt die for this project. I do like it a lot but I don't enjoy picking out the loose threads in between the die. With the Accuquilt, you can cut double layers of flannel, up to five-six layers of cotton and single layers of minky fabric. The edges come out pre-cut which is awesome! No cutting by hand!! My only critique about the Accuquilt is that I wish the rag dies came in a size approx. 7 inches. The 5.5 inch die is a little small for my liking in terms of the finished rag block size (rag quilt squares are too close together as the finished size is 3.5-4 inches depending on the size of your seam - I use 7/8 of an inch, some people use 1 inch) and the 8.5 inch die is a little too big. I prefer to have finished squares at least 5 - 5.5 inches like this project I did in the past.

I didn't have my Accuquilt then and cut my fabric the ol' fashion way; I used 7 inch squares to start with...love the finished square size and LOVE the softness of Heather Ross' poplin fabric. It was a great way to use some of my Mendocino fabric and it's great for kids!

Okay, off to feed my little one and maybe spend some time cutting out my Single Girl template for the outer arch...wish me luck!

My First Feature!

2011-03-13T15:35:00.004-04:00

Heather from Modern Day Quilts contacted me the other day and said she would like to feature my Drunk Love Quilt on her blog. I was so excited!! At lot of love was put into this quilt by me and my virtual quilting bee friends for my stepson.

None of my work has ever been featured before so I'm really excited and honoured to tell you the truth! Thanks Heather!! You've really made my day!

Pagegirl Hat and Oranges

2011-03-10T19:56:00.001-05:00

Well it's been another wild day here with two little ones, but they're now both in bed so this Mom can breathe a sigh of relief:) In between drawing, feeding, cooking, and watching Dora, I managed to make Miss G's pagegirl hat a little bit bigger today. Once I coaxed her to try it on several times to see if it fit, she wouldn't take it off! Go figure!! She ran around all afternoon wearing her new hat and her princess dress...oh my!
Did I mention she's almost three and full of personality:)

Crocheting is something I learned when I was about 9 years old and to this day I'm amazed how quickly things are to make. Mind you, I only crochet baby/toddler hats, not clothing...clothing I usually knit. It's very satisfying to have something completed in an hour or two.

Miss G's hat is a little bit different because I had to add those few extra rows so the "visor" part of the hat is not as well defined, but overall I think it looks pretty cute.
I used Mission Falls Cotton yarn for both hats. I'm so sad that my LKS will no longer be carrying it as I think it's being discontinued. I'll have to find something similar because it's my absolute favourite for baby hats/clothes.
By the way, I had to include a picture of this orange that I cut up for our breakfast this morning. I was struck by the beautiful design in something so simple. Pretty!

Single Girl Quilt - Curves

2011-03-08T17:50:00.001-05:00

I must say I was a little nervous about trying these curves but so far so good! All I did was crease the centre of each piece, pin it and sew....I was happy that all of the seams matched up perfectly! (sigh of relief) Yeh! I didn't add any extra seam allowance when I cut out my template...and again, I just used my rotary cutter...no tracing here!

Thank you to everyone who helped me decide on the colour of the backround fabric. Kona Raisin was the overwhelming choice! It's on order and now I have to patiently wait for it to arrive...which just gives me too much time to think up new quilt possibilities....not good for a fabric diet:)

I also finished up another pagegirl hat for Miss P and as for Miss G - her hat turned out a little small so I will be adding a few more rows and hopefully that will fix it...more pics to follow!

Updated Hat

2011-03-06T09:15:00.001-05:00

Miss P is growing so quickly that I decided to make another pagegirl hat for her in a bigger size. It comes together quickly and if you've noticed on my blog...I love babies in hats! To me, there is nothing cuter! Here is a pic in the smaller size. I think I'll try to spend some time today in making her older sister one in fuschia.

Thanks to everyone who left comments about the Single Girl Quilt! I ordered some Kona raisin from Fabric Shack yesterday! I agree - it provides nice contrast with my other fabrics, not to mention the fact that it is definitely outside of my usual colors I quilt with which will be nice for a change. The only thing I'm wondering about is the quilting and thread color. I'd like to go with something that matches the raisin, which is dark, but if I quilt in the rings with such light colors - what will I do? How will that look? We'll wait and see I guess!

Raisin vs. Plum for Single Girl Quilt?

2011-03-04T10:17:00.000-05:00

What do you think of these two: Raisin(top) vs. Plum(bottom)?

Background Choices

2011-03-03T21:09:00.004-05:00

I've made 2 quarters so far of the Single Girl Quilt (I'm making a baby size). I'm waiting on some other fabric to complete the other 2 quarters so I thought I would decide on my background fabric. As you can see I have a variety of pinks, fuschias, plums and purples for the rings. The background possibilities are:

1. Plum (top left)
2. White (top right)
3. Baby Pink (bottom left)
4. Pearl Pink (bottom right)

I've also tossed around the idea of a chocolate background as well?? What do you think? Would love to hear your ideas!!

Sorry for the pics....it's night time here so not the best lighting. Pearl Pink shows up very subtle.

Drunk Love Quilt - Finished!

2011-02-26T16:50:00.003-05:00

Yeh! It's finished! I'm so happy with how it came out and boy, did I learn a few lessons along the way! Here it is this morning pre-washed in the snow. I couldn't wait to take a picture of the finished product:)

As I was getting it ready to be washed, Miss G had to "jump" all over it and insisted I take a picture of her so this is for her...

Where to start with all of the "lessons" I learned or "things to be considered"....

Concentric Square Quilting

I started off with quilting these squares working from the centre of the block and outwards. My biggest mistake was in not rolling my quilt tightly enough while quilting and maneuvering it. I found I was stuffing the quilt through the arm of my machine and it was take an excessive amount of time to quilt each block with all the twisting and turning - especially working from inside the square and outwards. What I realized after struggling with over half of my blocks in this manner was that if you rolled your quilt tightly it was a lot easier to pass it through the arm of the machine. Duh! It seems obvious but I think it's worth repeating for those of us out there who have done the same thing!
Once I started rolling it more tightly, it became a lot easier to quilt the actual blocks. The second thing I changed was that I began to quilt from the outside of the block and worked my way inward. I preferred this method much more as it was easier to maneuver around the block at first and you could envision your overall concentric square quilting (hope that makes sense). I found I started to not quilt as densely and left the centre block (especially if it was a big square) unquilted so that the pop of colour was left untouched and you didn't see a bunch of white thread. Again, just a matter of personal taste, not necessarily a right or wrong thing.

I wished that when I began quilting it I had left some of the centre blocks untouched.
Having said that there are some blocks that I think really look cool from the back - ones that were densely quilted.

I also think it's important to consider what effect you're wanting to achieve in terms of the concentric square quilting. I decided not to free motion the squares and used my walking foot so that I could achieve a more straight line effect. One is not better than the other - again just a question of personal taste. Since I decided on straight quilting lines, I wish on some of my initial blocks that I quilted parallel to the seam lines. When I look at some of the first blocks I quilted, my eyes are distracted by the quilting instead of some of the last blocks I quilted.
Wow, I must sound really picky:) Don't get me wrong! These are just some of the things I felt that next time I wanted to think about first before I tackle concentric square quilting again. (I do have another drunk love quilt in the making...)

Machine Binding Tips

My two "go to" tutorials for bindings are CrazyMomQuilts and RedPepperQuilts
Rita at RedPepperQuilts actually talks about not only bindings, but tackling machine bindings. I too am not a fan of sewing anything by hand. That's probably taboo of me to say (haha) since I know a lot of you enjoy the process of sitting down and hand sewing a binding. I admire you! I have tried both methods of first attaching the binding to the back and machine stitching the binding to the front and also attaching to the binding to the front and stitching in the ditch to attach the binding to the back (Rita at RedPepperQuilts' method). I thought I would try Rita's method for this quilt and I love the result! I used my Accuquilt Go Fabric Cutter to cut out the 2.5 inch strips (my favourite is 2 1/4 strips but heh, I have the cutter and it's nice and convenient). Once I had my binding strips attached using Amanda's method
I then pressed them in half and using a 1/4 inch seam, attached the strips to the FRONT of my quilt. Once I ironed this, I then pinned the back so that the fold of the strip just barely overlapped the sewing line that you had just sewn. I flipped it back to the front as Rita suggests and stitched in the ditch along the binding. Now, I have to say there were definitely some spots that I didn't always catch by stitching in the ditch so I had to go back and attach....but that was just a matter of paying attention to how I pinned it. I found that at first I was folding back the binding to much and then once I stitched in the ditch, the sewing line was almost in the middle of my binding and not at the outside edge. I ripped this out, made sure that I didn't over fold my binding to the back and voila, a much better result!

The corner were sometimes tricky but I know that once I'm able to practice a bit more, they will become easier. The trick to corners are to pin, pin, pin.

Piecing the Back
Can anyone say....make sure your back is big enough before you pin and quilt! Sure, I know this is quilting 101, but I ignored that little voice inside my head that said, I think it might be a little too small and proceeded anyway! Ah...those voices are there for a reason aren't they!! haha While I didn't do this before on any of my other quilts, I did on this one - and let me tell you what a pain in the you know what it was to correct. I won't bore you any longer with this story...enough said:) I'm happy to say that after all of that correcting, the end result is still really nice and you can't tell as I simply added a few extra seams here and there of the same fabric so it's pretty continuous! Lucky!!

Phew....now I'm done! Hope these little tidbits were in some small way helpful to any of you out there. I guess each quilt is a journey!
I want to say a big "THANK YOU" to all of the ladies from the Pieced Together Quilting Bee 2 who helped me to make blocks for this quilt! Without them, there would be no Drunk Love quilt!!
I can't wait to give it to my stepson tonight!!

13 Weeks and Counting

2011-02-23T15:18:00.000-05:00

I'm obsessed with baby photos...can you tell?

Single Girl Quilt Along

2011-02-21T09:21:00.000-05:00

I've joined the Single Girl Quilt Along! I'm excited to use my DS pattern as I've had it for some time. At first I was going to use some of my Fresh Cut fabrics, but decided to do something totally different at the last minute. I've been swapping for some plum/purple fabrics recently and decided to use those in combination with some light pinks and fuschias. I really like my choices so far (except for the AH print and MM dots(brown/pink) as I think the scale is too big). Taking pictures of your fabrics really gives you a different perspective - so it jumped out at me once I saw the photo. I think I'm going to do this more often.

I used template plastic to trace out my pattern pieces and instead of tracing them onto fabric and then cutting them out with scissors, I opted to use my rotary cutter and proceeded carefully as the top and bottoms of the pattern pieces have slight curves to them. Way easier as I hate tracing things out. I'm making the baby size quilt so I need four pieces of fabric for each pattern piece. I have half of my fabrics cut out so far...marathon last night while the baby was napping and Miss G was visiting her Grandma's for an overnight for the first time! That's a whole other story:)

My plan is to intersperse the colours throughout the rings. I'm finding I don't have enough plum/purple fabrics and I really need to be on a fabric diet these days! I put a posting about this on flickr as I'm willing to swap for some scraps. Each pattern piece is roughly 3.5-4 inches square and I'm needing 4 pieces in total of each piece of fabric. I'd love to have some Anna Maria Horner as she has quite bold colours in her lines...Chocolate Lollipop, Bohemian for example. The SG pattern doesn't really call for great quantities of fabric (at least for the baby size), just a variety.
You can find the Single Girl Quilt Along flickr group here
Just ask for an invitation and take a look at all of the inspiring photos!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T11:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentine's to you! Hope everyone has a wonderful day - treat yourself and others well:)

Here's Little Miss P who is 12 weeks old today...hard to believe! We feel so blessed to have her in our lives.

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

2011-02-12T16:40:00.000-05:00

Little Miss G is all excited about Valentine's Day and specifically Tinkerbell. Her Dad recently took her shopping to a hardware store and came home with a Tinkerbell sleeping bag. For the past few nights, she's been "camping out" in her room - all I can say is "whatever works" when it comes to bedtime routines!

Amidst our Tinkerbell Valentine's all over our dining room table, I made her some Valentine's barettes that I saw here. I have to say they are the easiest things to whip up and they are so cute! All you need is a little bit of felt, a 3/4 inch barette, some pinking shears and a tiny bit of emroidery thread.

I'm thinking I might make some for the girls in her class and attach it to their Valentines and maybe some lollipops for the boys. Seriously, these barettes are so cute!

Quilt Story Block Party

2011-02-06T14:01:00.005-05:00

I'm so excited to submit my quilt block to Quilt Story's Block Party! I've never entered any type of contest for my quilting/sewing before!

I have had a fascination and love for all things circular when it comes to quilts. I'm also a huge fan of Denyse Schmidt so when I came across her "What a Dish" baby quilt a few years ago, I fell in love! I loved the palette and best of all the design! I was lucky enough to have met her and Heather Ross in August 2009 when I attended the Weekend Sewing Workshop in Vermont. Of course I had to ask her, how did she make the What a Dish quilt. She said that it was bias strips that were appliqued on to the quilt blocks. In my mind, I kept thinking....wow that is a lot of work....just look at how many concentric circles there are in that quilt! Beautiful, but a lot of work!!

I know a lot of people make their circles a la Dale Fleming (six minute circle technique) and I loved Dioramarama's Tutorial that I came across a few years ago. Personally, I love the finished look of a pieced circle. I looked around the internet and through Flickr but I never came across a pieced circle that had more than two rings in it. This is when I happened to see Quilt Story's posting about their Block Party - I knew this was the inspiration I needed to make a block with concentric circles - something I've never done before!!

Here is my submission...what do you think? I'm thinking this should be made into my first tutorial. As for this block, I think I'm going to turn it into a pillow for my daughter to go along with this quilt.

Dilemma...need your input!

2011-02-04T12:19:00.003-05:00

Remember this quilt?

Notice the leaves on the ground? That's how long it's been since I've tackled the quilting on it!! It was supposed to be given to my stepson as a present for him LAST YEAR and it still isn't completed! Now, to be fair, I have been busy with having another baby and all, but I can't hide behind all of my excuses anymore:) Ahemmmm..(embaressed look on my face)

I'll be totally honest, I have been avoiding it! The quilting process is driving me crazy and I've run into a few problems! I'm turning to all of you and the Workshop in Process participants (over at NaptimeQuilter) for input.

I'm having a heck of a time quilting it because doing concentric squares on my machine is a killer! I'm having to stuff the whole quilt through the arm with each turn of a square...it ends up taking me way too much time. I feel it's a completely daunting task. I can't imagine having to still do another 15 squares of this quilt! At this rate, it will be a present for my stepson next year! Ahh...

Here is a pic of the quilting:

Now, I have to say, I really like the look of this particular square but they're not all like this one.

I guess the issue I have is that if it's supposed to be linear it should look that way....

Another issue is the back. I must have pinned it a bit off. I know I could still fix it by adding a few extra rows on the side and bottom but I'm afraid when I finally square it up before adding the binding, it's going to look funny.

I have found the name of a woman who has a long arm machine that I could rent. I have to say I'm seriously tempted to rip out all of my quilting and just stipple it. That's one solution.

Another thing I've considered is to rip out the quilting and do free form concentric squares a la Malka Dubrawsky (stitchindye.blogspot.com). Here is an example from the cover of her book (bottom right):

I bought one of those Heras Quilt Markers and thought I would give it a go before I do anything rash - like ripping out the entire quilt. If that works, I could always free form my squares following the marks giving the look of using a walking foot (hope that makes sense).

So, what do you think? I'm leaning towards the Heras marker route first....ripping it out, fixing the back and freeform square quilting would be my second option. Of course the thought of all of that seam ripping makes me cringe and then I'm wondering if ripping it out, will you see the old marks? Would love to hear your thoughts!!!

Sisterly Love

2011-01-27T14:10:00.000-05:00

Today is just one of those days when you have to remind yourself that indeed you will get through it and that they are adorable! One has a cold, won't sleep and is generally miserable (poor little one) and the other one just wants to eat all the time and has a lot of gas!! :) Lots of crying here and "pick me up Mommy" but I'm sure you can relate - we've all had those days. All I can say is thank God for cartoons and other distractions...

I'm crossing my fingers that I get some sleep tonight because Grandma is coming tomorrow and I can't wait! She will keep Miss G busy - yeh for Grandmas!

Dresden Blocks

2011-01-26T16:18:00.001-05:00

November's block in the PTQB is for Sarah. She has requested each of us to complete a full Dresden which I've never done before. Unfortunately, I've been behind on making it but finally completed it this morning. I've worked on it in little bits since Monday night and mailed it out this afternoon. Sarah chose a variety of fabrics in aquas, greys and oranges on a Kona ash background. I love her color and fabric choices. I think they make these blocks much more modern using a traditional pattern.

Sarah put together a really great tutorial which you can find here.

First I cut out all of the fabric pieces using her Dresden template. You then fold them in half with right sides together and iron. Once that is completed, I simply chain pieced them sewing the top ends together thereby forming a Dresden.

You end up with a nice little banner of Dresden pieces that you have to hide from your 2 1/2 year old because she thinks they're hers!

Next, you press your seams open, turn right side out and sew each side together to form your Dresden plate.

Once you've made two tiny snips into each piece as suggested by Sarah, turn them under using your iron, you have a nice circle. Sew around the circle and the outside edges of your Dresden plate and you are done! Voila!

By the way, I am so excited to have figured out about image placement in Blogger. It always drove me nuts that Blogger would place my photos at the beginning of my posts and not throughout. Well, it takes me a while, but then I realized all I had to do was update my editor under the settings section. So much better!!

How did she know?

2011-01-26T14:32:00.004-05:00

My daughter came home last week from her daycare with this picture in tow. How did she know that these are the exact colors I'm drawn to right now with quilting! I'm loving Kona sage and plum...two new favourite colors. Sage is absolutely gorgeous in person. There is also a similar match with Moda Bella Teal. They both match perfectly with Flea Market Fancy blue seeds (it was a hard one to match). Some fabric swapping friends and Kathy from Pink Chalk Fabrics helped to color match for me....very much appreciated! Thank you ladies!!

Heather Ross - Dogs for Swap

2011-01-20T10:53:00.004-05:00

Heather Ross - Dogs for Swap
Originally uploaded by BlueberryGabs

I've been saving these if I had a baby boy, but as you know had another little girl in November. I've posted these on flickr in a swap pool, but thought I might blog about it as well. They need a home!

I also have some of the Heather Ross Equestrian/riding gear, Blue Horses and Fish from her Lightning Bugs & Other Mysteries collection.

I'm planning on making the girls some more baby quilts and am looking for:

Flea Market Fancy - Blue or green seeds (who isn't looking for them:)

Kona Cottons-(cactus, tomato, banana, coral, sage, mango, lagoon, bone, robin egg)

Anna Maria Horner Little Folks Voile - solids and in blue/purple colorways

My flickr pics are here showing you all of the fabrics I have to swap.

If anyone is interested just email me at jodym7(at)yahoo.com (gee can you tell I'm eager to get started on those other projects- I'm shameless, I know but I'm into destashing right now. I've been on a buying spree and need to stop!). Have a great day!!! Thanks!

Petal Pillow - Pic

2011-01-16T09:25:00.001-05:00

Here's another view

Petal Pillow

2011-01-16T08:54:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting a quick and easy project to spruce up my home. I've admired Allison's Petal Pillow (tutorial here)for some time so yesterday I thought I would give it a go. I loaded up one of my daughters in the car (of course it was a blustery snowy day) and off to the fabric store we went. I bought half a yard of cream felt and some thread.

While the girls had a nap (same time? Wow - never happens:), I pulled out my accuquilt and used my circle die. I'm really glad I did buy that particular die as I love all things circular when it comes to quilting and fabric! The accuquilt worked great on the felt. I was able to get in three pieces at a time with perfect results - not a lot of waste too. Allison's tutorial called for 3 1/2 inch and 2 1/2 inch circles but I just used 3 and 2 respectively. I definitely ended up using more circles than expected but in the end I think it looks pretty good.

I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the pillow this morning even though I still have to add one little piece of felt in the middle to finish the flower.

The finished dimension of the pillow is 17 inches with an envelope style back. It's great because I was able to recycle it as it was not being used and had some ugly fabric on it (what was I thinking:) Presto, new and improved and adds a touch of femininity to our living room. My little girl loves it and now wants a purple one for her room - go figure! I was thinking I would recycle another rectangle pillow in the house and make three little flowers side by side for her.

I was out shopping the other day and these kinds of pillows are everywhere - felted in different shapes and patterns. I kept picking all of them up and saying - wow, I could make that!

Why I Quilt

2011-01-13T16:13:00.003-05:00

Need I say more? (she's 7 weeks old already!)

You can read about this quilt in this post.Happy Thursday!

Mid Century Modern House Block

2011-01-08T13:48:00.006-05:00

Jacquie from TallGrassPrairieStudio is a member of our Pieced Together Quilting Bee 2 and she had requested a mid century modern house block for her month. I must say I was a little nervous about coming up with something as I hadn't made houses before....you can make them as simple or complex as you want them! She gave us plenty of real life examples of mid century modern homes which were really helpful. After a few sketches, I came up with this one - it didn't come out exactly as planned as I had planned a third roof line and a window but in the end, this is what I came up with (here's the inspiration photo). I had hoped the roof edges would have been a bit longer but I wanted to keep to Jacquie's request of making an approximate 4 inch block house. I ended up piecing improv style as the thought of paper piecing (which crossed my mind) didn't excite me too much given I'm a sleep deprived mama right now:) (6 week old baby girl)

I love Jacquie's choice in fabrics. I can't wait to get her book later this year!!! Yeh...another modern quilting book for my library!!!!

Breaking Out the FMF Stash!

2011-01-03T15:39:00.005-05:00

It's a New Year so it's time to break out the highly coveted FMF Stash....ooohhhh my!! I've collected it for awhile now and have only used it in small quantities in my projects but I've decided it's time to start making those quilts I've always wanted. First up is Ashley's Modified Bento Box. Awesome tutorial! I absolutely loved her quilt and knew I wanted to make one similar for myself. I've made up these three blocks so far and am still going through my stash for colour choices. I think I'm going to need to order some more Kona Cotton which is a bummer because you know when you're inspired you just want to get moving!! I need to remind myself one of my resolutions was to be more patient so here's my first exercise in patience:)

Will keep you posted.

A Look Back at 2010

2010-12-31T12:55:00.003-05:00

Fresh Quilting

2010-12-29T15:36:00.004-05:00

Fresh Quilting by Malka Dubrawsky (blog: stitchindye.blogspot.com)was on my "must have" books for 2010. It arrived right before Xmas and I couldn't wait to dive into it. Let me say, it did not disappoint! I love Malka's use of colour - I guess that's why she calls it "Fearless Colour, Design and Inspiration." It really has inspired me to use more vibrant colours in the future!
I'm intrigued by Malka's twinkle (aka circle) quilts and pillows. I know nothing about fabric dyeing but have begun to read up about it. I broke out Malka's other book "Color Your Cloth: A Quilter's Guide to Dyeing and Patterning Fabric" and started looking online at different blogs. I highly recommend r0ssie.blogspot.com as well.
In looking more closely at Malka's twinkle quilts/pillows, I realized that they are really an optical illusion. What looks like circles that are appliqued on the fabric are actually circles dyed onto the fabric squares. It's called itajime shibori which is a Japanese method of dyeing fabric. You can read more about this method on r0ssie.blogspot.com . She also sells the itajime products in her etsy shop.
Malka wrote an article about this method for Quilting Arts magazine in January 2009 which I have since ordered last night! I can't wait to find out more about it as I love all things circular when it comes to quilting.
Have any of you tried this method of fabric dyeing? I'd love to hear about it. What's inspiring you lately?

2010-12-29T15:26:00.002-05:00

And the Winners Are...

2010-12-18T15:22:00.004-05:00

How funny is this picture?!! Little Miss G came home from daycare on Friday with this card and a Christmas present for Mommy & Daddy - which she insisted we open right away. Inside was a clay handprint she had made in her class with "2010" written on the bottom. A total keeper!!! I loved it!

Thank you so much to all 197 of you who visited my blog and entered the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! Giveaways are great aren't they!! I must say I truly benefited from my own giveaway as I learned of so many great new blogs and loved your suggestions for baby sewing/knitting patterns!! Thank you also to those of you who have become followers!

The winners of the nursing cover and car seat cover are Stephanie who wrote:
AWESOME giveaways!!!

A few of my favorite baby patterns/tutorials right now:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/64182785/san-francisco-window-boxes-lap-or-baby
http://www.bitofwhimsydolls.com/item/Butterbean_PDF_Pattern/229/c46
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/04/basic-stuffed-animals.html
http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/03/cloth-baby-rings.html
http://everydaycelebrate.blogspot.com/2010/03/tutorial-color-fabric-book.html
http://www.cogknition.org/patterns/wave_of_babies_booties/

and Kristen
who wrote:

These are wonderful...I have been eyeing them for a while, wanting to make both a car seat cover and nursing cover but just can't find the time. My little one will be coming any day now and there hasn't been much sewing around here!

Congratulations ladies! I've sent both of you an email requesting your addresses so I can get these out to you asap!

Have a great weekend everyone:)

Sources of Inspiration: A Mosaic

2010-12-16T19:09:00.007-05:00

I put together this mosaic today as these photos provide me with inspiration for the New Year. It also reminds me of the many unfinished projects I have on the go!! I'm really bad for coming up with new ideas but not finishing the projects I already have on the go!! Maybe that should be one of my New Year's resolutions:)

PS...the missing mosaic tiles can still be accessed on flickr.

1. bento box, 2. Red Aqua QIP, 3. Circle around quilt, 4. Fence Stripe Baby Quilt - Pink and Green detail, 5. Added border, 6. mermaid quilt top, 7. What's a girl to do?, 8. finished mermaid quilt, 9. quilt top, 10. red and white Hop Skip and a Jump baby quilt, 11. Bri's 20th Birthday Quilt, 12. my quilt, 13. Aviary-quilt-top, 14. Drunk Love Baby Quilt, 15. What a Bunch of Squares Baby Quilt, 16. darcy's quilt-detail, back, 17. Quilting detail, 18. Coin quilt, 19. circle around quilt, 20. modified bento box quilt back, 21. Up In The Air Quilt- Detail - Back Detai, 22. argyle_pillow_2, 23. IMG_6457, 24. For Jen 2008, 25. Orange & Aqua

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

2010-12-12T21:09:00.006-05:00

Starting December 13th, it's Giveaway Day at Sew Mama Sew - I'm happy to participate in this year's giveaways. Up for grabs is a car seat cover for the little one in your life and a nursing cover. As you can tell by my posts (for those of you who are dropping by for the first time), I recently gave birth to a baby girl 3 weeks ago. My husband and I opted not to find out the sex of the baby - so I crazily made almost two of everything to be prepared:) You can read about the making of these items in these posts - here and here.. They are very practical and make nice gifts as well!! I use my "girl versions" all of the time!!

I'll draw two winners on Friday, December 17th at noon EST. Don't forget to leave your email/way to get in contact with you! To keep it interesting, I'd love to hear your suggestions/links to your favourite baby patterns - whether knitting or sewing = hats, sweaters, quilts, you name it, I'm interested!! I'm happy to ship internationally.

Thank you for taking the time to drop by my little corner of the world! Hope to see you again (feel free to become a follower) and I'll definitely check out your blogs as well!

Proud Mama

2010-12-11T14:28:00.004-05:00

Okay, okay, I can't help it! I had to include some more photos of my new wee one as I'm just so in love:) I'm a big fan of infant photography so these are some photos that were taken professionally. All of the photo props were made by me!

On another note, please check back on Monday, Dec 13th for some giveaways as I'll be participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day this year! Check out the details on their website here.

It's a Girl!!

2010-12-05T19:41:00.001-05:00

After 39 weeks of waiting and wondering, Little Miss P was born on November 22, 2010 at 1:46 am weighing in at 7lbs 1oz and 20.5 inches long! We feel very blessed with the new addition to our family:) It worked out so well...my OB was on that night, we were moved to a very nice delivery room and we had wonderful nurses. Ten minutes of pushing and Miss P was welcomed into the world! I was completely shocked as I was convinced we were having a boy!!

Life is very busy of course - I know I don't have to tell you Moms out there! Not a lot of sleep, but she is a very good baby. I'm lucky to have my Mom help us out too. Can't wait to share some more pics soon....off to feed baby:)

Pics of my Nesting

2010-11-17T16:16:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday

2010-11-17T10:18:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my birthday and I decided to treat myself this year! Women should do that sometimes, don't you think? - especially on this momentous milestone I've reached:)

On Saturday, I ordered a quilt I've been wanting a lonnnnng time - if you have followed me you'll know I'm a big fan of Denyse Schmidt's What a Dish quilt. Love, love, love it! I ordered it in Ecru - yummy is all I can say! Can't wait. You can find a picture of it here.

On Monday, I ordered an Accuquilt Go fabric cutter. As you know, all of blogland has been having numerous giveaways, but unfortunately no luck here...so if you can't win one, I bought one! I ended up choosing the 2 1/2 strip die, the circles and the rag quilt die. I know the strip die is going to come in very handy when it comes time to cut quilt bindings that's for sure!

Still waiting for baby to arrive here. I'm 39 weeks tomorrow and anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little one....will it be a boy or a girl? I'm not sure but I'm leaning towards a boy...of course little Miss G still thinks she's going to have a baby sister. All we care about is that the baby is healthy so a boy or girl makes no difference to us!

I'm still knitting up a storm..I'll post a few pics later as blogger isn't cooperating right now.

Pics of Concentric Square Quilting

2010-11-11T08:51:00.003-05:00

Concentric Square Quilting

2010-11-11T07:49:00.004-05:00

I'm finally in the process of quilting my stepson's Drunk Love style quilt aka Denyse Schmidt. I knew I wanted the quilting to be concentric squares as it highlights the style of the quilt/blocks. I never imagined how much a "pain in the you know what" it would be! Stuffing your quilt through your machine at every turn of the square is difficult and time consuming. Again, love the effect but unless you're quilting with a long arm, it can take some time and a whole lot of patience to complete this on a home machine. I think if it were a baby quilt, it would be a lot easier! Maybe it's just that I'm a bit rushed as I'm about to give birth in two weeks and the patience factor has gone out the window:) Could be! I almost stopped and started stippling but I didn't - I'm going to stick with it! I like to try new things and I want it to look good.

Any tips/thoughts on how you quilt in concentric squares would be appreciated:) I'll post some pictures later today!

Reversible Baby Shoes

2010-11-01T12:34:00.006-04:00

I love baby shoes...and this pattern came in really handy as I wanted shoes that had invisible seams and were reversible. My only caution is to make sure you do leave a big enough opening for turning as these wee little things are a bugger to squeeze through a small opening!!(read instructions!!) I learned the hard way-almost put me in labor-haha

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T21:45:00.004-04:00

Little Miss G went to her first Halloween Party at an openhouse at a gym near our house and of course went trick or treating at her daycare on Friday and tonight! She was a busy little girl!! She called her costume a "jaguar" - which makes me smile as I'm sure she gets that from her books or Dora. When her Dad dropped her off to school on Friday, she kept saying, "I don't wanna go trick or treating" - by the end of the day, her tune had changed and she was pumped! "Mommy, look at all my tweats" - "lets count them." She makes me laugh!!

After her party tonight, we just went to a few neighbours as this was her first time going out. She was so shy at first-"I'm scared Mommy" and then once the neighbour would close the door she'd say "trick or treat - thank you."

Don't you just love it when children's faces light up and they give you the best smile:) Hope your Halloween was fun too!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2010-10-29T21:24:00.005-04:00

Amy is hosting the Fourth Blogger's Quilt Festival (Oct 29-Nov 5, 2010). My submission for the festival is a quilt I finished this past August. It's actually a very special quilt as I dedicated it to our baby who is to be born next month and for the baby we lost last Christmas due to a miscarriage. It truly was a cathartic experience in finishing this quilt as I finished it on the eve of what would have been our baby's due date (August 2nd). It's a bright, happy, child like quilt which brings a smile to my face when I see it. My 2 1/2 year old daughter loves it too as it sits in her room waiting for her brother or sister to arrive (4 more weeks or sooner who knows:0)

I used Allison's tutorial from CluckCluckSew; she titled her quilt the Raw Edge Circle Quilt. What I like about it most is the circular quilting which was new for me - I had admired circular quilting for a while so this gave me the opportunity to try it out. I loved that it was free form and not perfect! The raw edges also add some nice texture to the quilt. I ended up backing the quilt in flannel which I had not done in the past as well. Makes it nice and cozy and "snuggable." (I'm making up words as I go along:) I machine binded the binding which I know goes against the "rules" of traditional quilting, but I must say I really do not like hand sewing. I do have to practice this form of attaching the binding but love how time efficient it can be - especially when you're excited to finish your project.

So, there you have it. One of my favorites. Thank you for taking the time to drop by my little blog and hope you have a chance to stop by again:)

Make sure you stop by Amy's blog to check out all of the other entries...they're amazing and inspirational!!

Car Seat Cover - Girl Version

2010-10-28T22:59:00.004-04:00

A few posts ago, I made a boy version of this car seat cover as we don't know what the sex of our baby is. You'd think I'd remember that I had used a big bowl to round out the corners, but again, baby brain hit and I used a CD! Unfortunately, the sides touched the ground which would ultimately mean a dirty car seat cover - as the winter is approaching, this would drive me nuts!! As much as I hated to do the sides again, topstitch and reattach the straps - this is what I did and I'm happy with the results.

So, note to self, remember if you make this for your baby or as a gift, use a big bowl to round out the corners of your fabric:)

As for the fabric, I used Amy Butler Garden Maze in Brown and Happy Dots in Apricot from her Midwest Modern line. Bright and cheerful, don't you think?

Pieced Back - Drunk Love Quilt

2010-10-18T17:16:00.003-04:00

Here's what I came up with today! I added some Monaluna Mingle to add some extra interest to the back. It's the only patterned fabric in the whole quilt. I like it because it's modern. Your thoughts?

Drunk Love Quilt Top - Finished!

2010-10-18T09:32:00.005-04:00

These days I'm just excited to get some things done! The Drunk Love quilt top has finally come together - now I just have to come up with the backing which is today's project.

I have to say I love Denyse Schmidt's quilts, but going from a pattern can just be plain time consuming so most of the blocks that I've added are just improvised - which is more my style! The women from the PTQB came up with the rest. Beautiful!!

Stylish Nursing Covers - more pics

2010-10-15T13:08:00.002-04:00

Blogger just isn't cooperating with me today so here are some pics of my pink nursing cover.

Stylish Nursing Covers

2010-10-15T12:26:00.003-04:00

Another baby item to check off the list! I made the pink nursing cover when Little Miss G was born, but also needed a boy version for this time. I like this tutorial but altered it slightly as the D rings I had lying around were a bit smaller. If you make yours straps thicker, I do think they work better so it's something to keep in mind.

The Amy Butler Charm series nursing cover (blue/brown seeds)works out to about 26x38 and the pink graphic fabric is slightly smaller as I had used a different tutorial a few years ago. Speaking from experience, the wider the nursing cover the better as a nursing Mom wants lots of coverage for her and her baby!

I like how in this tutorial she suggests using fabric covered boning and sewing it just underneath your first 1/2 inch turned hem. This makes the boning impossible to shift around. She also trims off a tiny bit of the plastic in the boning from each end so you are left with casing that completely covers your boning -this secures it nicely and doesn't allow it to poke out the ends!! I didn't do this for my first nursing cover and wish I had.

I also had a chance to use some of my fabric labels which makes the covers look "boutiquish" - I've seen these nursing covers cost upwards of $50 in a baby boutique! Thanks to Jessica from TwinFibers as she suggested Namemaker.com as a place to make your own personalized fabric labels.

Happy Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-10-09T10:05:00.003-04:00

It's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada! We took little Miss G to the pumpkin patch recently - the kids got to pick out their own little pumpkin. Little Miss G has been so excited talking about going to the "punkin patch" because she saw one of her favourite cartoon character do the same thing recently! She and her Daddy picked one out and she held on to it for dear life...her prized possession!

Don't these pics get you in the mood for fall? I love the bright colours, apple cider, cool evenings....totally cozy:) She loves running in the leaves and recently brought some home so we could trace them for a gift for her "gandma" - how cute:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

If it's a Boy - Car Seat Cover

2010-10-04T15:01:00.001-04:00

The anticipation is killing me of course as we don't know what the sex of our baby is and I'm due next month. So....what does a woman do? Make two of everything!! Now, don't go thinking I'm totally crazy, I'm just making a few key things in both genders:)

(The top picture is taken from the back of the car seat; bottom picture is of the front)

I saw a tutorial by Allison at CluckCluckSew and at Make-it-do.com. They're both great tutorials and I used them equally in figuring out the dimensions for the baby's car seat. It really was easy to make up but I must say I'm not a big fan of sewing velcro. A couple times of ripping out the seams and now they're good. I went with pieced handles to make it a little more interesting and if I tell the truth I ran out of navy fabric!

These car seat covers are really nice especially in crappy weather and when you're just not open to people touching your baby (see Allison's post about "aka greeter deterrents"-spoken like a true mom)- not to mention the fact when they're sleeping and you just don't want them disturbed! That's why I chose navy blue as the inside fabric.

Happy Monday!

Wonky Star Block and Drunk Love Quilt Top

2010-10-01T14:48:00.000-04:00

Jessica from Twinfibers requested a "wonky star" block for the PTQB2 (September). She provided us with fabric from the Rainbow Garden Collection by Prints Charming. Super soft and really colourful! It was my first time trying out this block. It was quite easy and I love the effect. It turned out quite symmetrical in the end which I hadn't initially intended but I love the look of the pieced border. Hope Jessica enjoys it!

I've also taken a picture of my Drunk Love style quilt (since it's a sunny fall day)which is going to be a gift for my stepson. My month in the PTQB2 was in July and with the exception of 2 blocks, these are what the group of talented women came up with. I'm still waiting on a few blocks and I need to make up more as well since my stepson is quite tall!!

How's your Friday going? Mine has been filled with some household chores, a little sewing and some rest....I'm 8 months pregnant and counting:)

Heart Block

2010-09-15T20:38:00.000-04:00

August's PTQB2 was a block for Samantha. She requested a 12.5 inch block that represented Valentine's Day. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is a heart but I could not decide on how to make my block. I surfed the net for hours for inspiration as I wanted something a bit more untraditional. Then I remembered I had a pattern for a Scrappy Pieced Heart and went to town. Once I read the instructions a few times (you know what that's like:)it quickly came together and this is a pic of the result. I love taking my pics outdoors but only made it after 7 tonight so it's a little dark! Oops!

Not much blogging/creating going on here as I've been back and forth to the doctor for the past few weeks and just can't seem to shake this chest virus I have! Really makes a pregnant woman miserable...I've coughed so hard that I've strained an abdominal muscle and honestly this hurts more than the cough! Baby is okay, but mama is falling apart!! Oh well, enough whining...gotta get my little one to bed...

Nesting

2010-08-30T18:23:00.000-04:00

With a few months to go before the birth of our second child, I thought it was time to make a little teddy bear for her/him. I brought Little Miss G to a yarn store in the area on the weekend and of course she announced she wanted a "purple bear" as well....so now I've been suckered into making two teddy bears:) I'm using the pattern from Erika Knight's book in Simple Knits for Cherished Babies. The bears are supposed to work out to approximately 6 inches tall...just wee ones but the yarn I've chosen is super soft as it's a cashmere blend.

So the knitting bug has bitten and I'm off to work on the bears. Did I mention it's well over 30 degrees celsius here with a humidex of over 40 - I've sent my stepson off to buy me some ice cream...way too hot for this pregnant mama:)

Giveaways and Worthy Causes

2010-08-24T20:35:00.000-04:00

Wow, blogland is full of great giveaways and causes this week!! Check out Heather's awesome giveaway which ends this Friday, August 27th. It's for an AccuQuilt Go machine/cutter and three dies. How cool is that?! I would really, really like to win that one!!

Also, check out Alissa and support ActionKivu which supports women in the Congo by offering sewing workshops to women so they may support themselves and their children. These women have been through unimaginable atrocities including rape which NO woman should have to endure, let alone their children! Alissa has some great giveaways depending on the amount you donate. Check it out! I know we have a wonderful blog/sewing community so lets come together and support this worthy cause.

Orange & Aqua Quilt Top

2010-08-14T14:46:00.000-04:00

I'm embaressed to say I started this quilt top several months ago, but now that baby number 2 is on the way, I'm inspired to get some WIPs done!! The last two weekends I've slowly worked on this and finished up this afternoon. I love the colour combination...bright and cheerful. One of my favourite blocks is of the fish in bags in the corner. I've only had a small amount of this HTF fabric so wanted to add a little something extra. If I end up having a boy, I think this little quilt will be perfect....and if it's a girl, no prob....all girls love orange don't they:)

The inspiration for this quilt was here and here. Ashley and Allison are two of my favourite bloggers!

I have some ideas for the quilt back so I need to get started on that and then choose a binding. It will be a generous size at the end because each square is 10 inches unfinished and there are 30 blocks in total. It took me a little while to track down all of these fabrics and I think they work well together.

A Little Lovey

2010-08-07T09:15:00.000-04:00

My little girl loves her "babies" so I thought I would whip up this little rag quilt for her. I used some of my Mendocino fabric, some flannel to sandwich in between and some soft minkee for the backing. I have to say after having made a rag quilt with cotton batting in between, my preference is flannel as it has a softer overall effect and adds to the fullness of your rag cuts.

It's easy, peasy, and came together quickly!

For My Little One - A Dedication

2010-08-02T19:17:00.000-04:00

This is a bittersweet day for me as it's the day my baby would have been due. I had a miscarriage on Christmas Eve last year. Let's just say it was a very painful experience as they misdiagnosed me at first and told me I lost the baby, only to find out two days later the baby was alive (via ultrasound) and then a week later it was confirmed I indeed had a miscarriage. I still have that image of the heart beating on the ultrasound in my mind. Usually I would not share this information in blogland but I feel I cannot ignore this day and not tell you about it....I know a lot of bloggers talk about "keeping it real" so this is what I'm doing with you today. I thought I was fine with August 2nd approaching until last night when I was finishing this quilt .... actually it was cathartic. Now that the tears have subsided, I want to focus on my blessings, which includes my husband, healthy 2 year old and 2 wonderful stepsons. I am pregnant again, 6 months this week, and our baby to be is due in November.
This is a happy quilt for my new little one but it's also for the one that is no longer here. Thanks for letting me share!

Another Drunk Love Quilt!

2010-07-11T20:31:00.000-04:00

July is my month for the PTQB2! I'm addicted to the Drunk Love quilt by Denyse Schmidt but I thought this time I would make a "male" version and use greys, blues and greens. My stepson, Christian asked me if I would make a quilt for him for his birthday so I knew exactly which one I wanted to make!! I made him pour over the Kona Cotton Colour Card (just what every male wants to do:) and help me select his colour scheme. I think the colours are really going to pop judging by the first block I made today. I have a great group of women in my bee so I know it's going to be fantastic!

What are everyone's thoughts on using flannel as a backing versus cotton? I love the look of cotton better but to tell you the truth I find quilts don't always give me the "cozy" factor unless you're under them for a long time! Flannel tends to warm you up right away....hmmmm. Dilemma, dilemma.....I'd love to hear your thoughts!