Mama's got a new bag....and online shopping oops!

Do you ever find that you have so many things that you want to blog about that you just don't write about any of them? That's the way I've been feeling for the last week....so apologies in advance for a rambling post....

First...my sweet friend, Darci, was kind enough to feature me in her Sewer's Interview Series last week. If you didn't get a chance to see her post, pop over, say hello and you can read all about yours truly. Thanks Darci!

Second, I finally made myself a new purse. You know how it goes, right? The cobbler's kids don't have any shoes...well this sewer had a purse that was literally falling apart.

My new purse...Pattern is Mini Miranda from Lazy Girl Designs.

I used fabric from my stash (my 4-year old picked out the Hope Valley...she's got good taste), and I used my favourite Amy Butler Full Moon Dot for the lining, and a linen cotton blend for the contrast. Pattern is Mini Miranda Bag from Lazy Girl Designs. I love it.

Third, good news and bad news about online shopping. Good news first. There is a fabulous new online shop located right here in Northern BC. It is so wonderful to have a shop close by that has yummy modern fabrics. (Sherbet Pips, anyone? And yes, I did buy a couple of charm packs last month and the Jelly Roll is calling my name).

New Fabrics from Fishskin Fabrics

Bad news?!? Impulse shopping with a pregnancy brain. I placed an order last week and it arrived in 2 days. (Okay, I'm still in shock about the fast shipping. Anything from the US takes literally weeks to get up here).

But unfortunately, I ordered 4 metres of Kona Snow when I really wanted Kona white, and my impulse Kate Spain purchases are not the colours I expected. I was looking for gray, aqua and yellow and I got brown, green and acid green. Oops. I wish I had just filled my cart with the Sherbet Pips yardage she has in stock. Do you ever have online shopping regrets?

Anyway, if anyone wants to swap any of the Kate Spain below I'm interested. I'm up for offers...I have a half metre of both in the photo below.

Kate Spain Central Park and Fandago (1/2 metres) up for swap.

And finally, in pregnancy news...I have 3 weeks to go, 1 quilt retreat this weekend, 1 baby quilt to finish quilting and bind, and 1 Moses Basket to finish recovering. Do you think I'll make it?

Doll Quilt 10 Complete

I finished my little quiltie for Doll Quilt Swap 10 just in time for the International Shipping Deadline. I love me a deadline.

Doll Quilt 10

I added a couple of more birds to the centre to try to take away from it looking like a 'face'. Once someone pointed it out on flickr, I just couldn't stop thinking of a face every time I looked at the quilt. Hopefully I fixed it....although I'm not sure it really did. Again, that deadline was looming...

Dresden Plate Centre - I think my partner likes birds and toadstools.

I pieced together a back from a fat quarter and some scraps. I even hand-stitched the binding on (which goes against my new love of machine stitching) because I think I read somewhere in the official rules and regulations that we're supposed to do it the traditional way. It actually turned out really nice and I can see that it is worth the effort on special quilts.

Doll Quilt 10 Back

Quick Quilt Stats:

Approx. Size:     23" x 23"

Pattern:             Dresden Plate (tutorial from Oh Fransson)

Fabric:              Yellow and Aqua from my stash, background is a linen blend

Binding:            Rainy Days and Mondays by melimba & beccabury by Riley Blake

Close up of quilting - I stitched in the ditch around the dresden, and fmq in the background.

I'm so thankful to have this one off my plate. And I'm looking forward to receiving my own quilt soon. Okay, not that soon, as Canada Post is officially the slowest postal service in the world!

Spicing Up the Kitchen Swap Received!

I received a beautiful package from my Spicing Up the Kitchen Swap partner, Amy, last week. (Amy blogs over at amylouwho). I've just started to follow her blog...check out her gorgeous bird quilt. It's lovely! Anyway, Amy made me a gorgeous Dresden Plate table topper to go with my retro red kitchen table.

I love, love, love dresden plates. Especially ones with red polka dots.

I love the way it looks on the table.



I have my dad's old chrome kitchen table - the table topper is perfect!



Amy also made a diaper pouch and some burp cloths for our new baby. I'm thrilled to have some new baby items. With this being baby #3, the poor little babe is going to have to get used to hand-me-downs.

Thanks Amy for the thoughtful baby items!

The backing fabric is perfect too.

Even the back looks amazing. My daughter loves the apples and pears.

Thank you so much, Amy. I love them! And thanks to Darci and Erin for organizing a wonderful swap. I love the kitchen theme and the short turn-around time for making and sending items. I'm definitely up for Round 2!

Back Online!

We came back from a quick trip down south to visit the Grandparents, and our Internet died! It is amazing just how much I can get done when I`m not constantly checking flickr, blogs, etsy, ebay, etc, etc. But we are now back online, and I`ve been working on a few projects.

I quilted that baby quilt from my last post. I used Nettie`s tutorial for straight line quilting. Let`s just say that I`m no Rita from Red Pepper Quilts. The lines are what I`d like to call ``organic.` Part of me wants to pick some of them out, but the 34.5 week pregnant part of me decided to leave them as is. I am letting go of my perfectionism.

Almost done...

I also got inspired to do some work on my quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 10. I machine appliqued the centre yesterday and made the backing. Now to just sandwich, baste, quilt and bind. Perhaps this weekend...

Doll Quilt Swap 10 quilt top complete.

We`re finally getting some spring weather up here in the great white north. But there is still at least 5 feet of snow in the yard. My daughter was outraged yesterday that the snow didn`t miraculously melt with the first day of Spring. How do you tell a 4-year old that green grass is a long, long, way offÉ

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Note: For some reason, my laptop keyboard has decided to use the french settings this morning. That É is really supposed to be a question mark. I`ll figure out how to fix it today and I promise to fix this post asap.

Percy the Tank Engine...aka Quilt Basting Assistant

Yesterday I attempted to baste a quilt while my kids were awake. Percy decided that he needed to help.

Percy the Tank Engine 'helping' with basting a quilt.

Oh, and if you're wondering about the quilt in the photo...the blocks are from here. Yes, a full year ago. But I'm working on all of my UFO's....I promise.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my SUTK swap projects. Sorry I didn't respond to you individually...it was just that kind of week. But I appreciate and value each and everyone of them! Thanks for reading.

Edit: Go check out Cheryl`s post about quilting with kids in the house.

Spicing Up the Kitchen Swap

I just participated in a fabulous new swap over on flickr called Spicing Up the Kitchen. The swap is organized by Erin and Darci and there is an amazing pool of quilters participating. My partner received her goodies yesterday, so I can finally spill the beans about my projects.

Placemats, hotpads and magnets.

I was lucky to get Darci as my secret partner. It was a bit intimidating to have one of the Swap Mamas to sew for, but Darci is so sweet (we've swapped fabric a few times before this) I was more than happy to make something for her new kitchen.

The only problem was that Darci had pretty specific requests: I-Spy placemats for her two daughters and green. I was pretty sure that if I posted any of my progress photos to the flickr pool she'd know immediately that they were for her. Instead, Erin and I decided to lead her along for a bit. I posted a photo of bright rainbow colours and kitchen prints. Darci specifically said, No kitchen prints.



Okay, time to fess up...I'm not sewing with these fabrics anytime soon. But they are pretty, aren't they?

In truth, I pulled out some favourite fabrics and kept the design simple. I didn't want the images to be lost in a complicated design. And because I'm pregnant. My brain is mush.



I finally cut into my FFA2. Isn't sleeping beauty sweet?



Darci plans to decorate her kitchen with green, so I made her and her hubby each a green placemat to coordinate with the girls. It might be a bit of green overload (I'm wishing I used aqua for the binding) but I figure Mother Nature likes green overload too and she's a pretty good designer.

It turns out I have a pretty good green stash of fabrics - here are 35 different charms.

To complete the package, I made a couple of pot holders and some fridge magnets.

I added some aqua to these...it isn't easy being all green!

I love the fridge magnets - very easy to make and a great way to use some favourite fabrics.

These were so fun, quick and easy to make. I need some now for my kitchen!

I'm so happy that Darci received the placemats yesterday...I was beginning to look like a complete swap flake because I hadn't posted any sewing to the flickr pool. I was worried I was actually going to have to make something out of the fabrics I posted.

Set of four placemats for Darci.

Thanks Erin and Darci for a fun swap. I can't wait for round 2. And of course, to receive my goodies.

Blue and Brown Whirlygig

I'm thrilled to show you another completed UFO! This one was started 2 years ago for a friend's wedding present. 




 

  Obviously, I am not opposed to sending late gifts. My mother causally suggested that I might consider sending some nice pottery the next time I get invited to a wedding. My husband agrees - he strongly encourages me to make small projects because they actually get finished.

This one is a good twin size. I forget the actual dimensions, but honest, it fits a twin bed perfectly.

Okay, back to the quilt. My other friend and I decided the we would each make half of the blocks in a variety of blues and browns. (I blatantly stole that idea from Amanda Jean...this quilt of hers was the inspiration. Here are the template measurements). All of my friend's blues and browns coordinate perfectly, while mine were much more scrappy. Together I think it is a great mix.

Ahhh...I love to see those KJR fabrics in an actual quilt instead of just on my shelf.

Since we don't live in the same town (or at that time, even the same province), she mailed me her blocks and the backing, and I sewed all of the lovelies together. I quilted it with a simple stipple. Say that three times, Simple Stipple, Simple Stipple, Simple Stipple!

The back...I'm loving a pieced back these days. We decided on a tropical print since they got married in Hawaii.

There was a point in the last two years that this quilt sat in my pile of UFOs that I really hated it. But now that it is finished, I'm really happy with the final product. My husband suggested that we keep it. While I was pretty tempted, I didn't...I dropped it off on my trip to Vancouver earlier in the month.

It feels great to check another one off the list!