Happy May! Fresh Sewing Day and Just Three

1. Apron for daughter, 2. Road to fortune blocks, 3. Magazine project, 4. I'm in a magazine!, 5. Lucky Stars BOM, 6. Madrona Road Baby, 7. That Stash Bee-April, 8. Crafty Cooks Apron Swap9. Not available

Just a few finishes for this month.  It was good to take care of the things that had to be done like bee blocks for That Stash Bee and the apron for my secret partner in the Crafty Cooks Apron and Recipe swap.  I also finsihed my Madrona Road challenge with Madrona Road Baby.  And I finally got to talk about my magazine project and see that published project in the actual magazine!!!!!  My Lucky Stars BOM squares are coming together nicely as are the Road to Fortune blocks.  All in all a good month.

Just Three Goals for April...  check, check and check!

1.  April Bee Blocks for That Stash Bee   2.  Make a baby gift quilt for clever son and his lovely girlfriend.  3.  Finish my Madrona Road challenge quilt which is now officially on the design wall.

What about May?
1.  bee blocks for That Stash Bee and since I am in charge this month, they are already done!  That was easy!  2.  May Lucky Stars Block  3.  At least 4 more Road to Fortune Blocks.  

No worries!  I can do this!!!!

Linking up with Lily for Fresh Sewing Day and with Tracey for Just Three.

I didn't plan this one but now it is a finish!

Daughter left a really long voice mail message the other day.  Among other things she said she was completely out of Dad's homemade Rainforest crackers and it would sure be nice to have some arrive in the mail.  Then she dropped  a giant hint that she could really use a second apron.  She is an apron girl and wears an apron whenever she cooks or bakes.  I have to say that it is a good thing she wears an apron because she is very enthusiastic in the kitchen and stuff tends to fly around.  She thought a second apron would be a great idea for when one is in the laundry.  Now I knew that my mum made Emily her go to apron and I knew that Em likes that style.  Reversible and with pockets came the full request.  Oh boy.

I called Mum and asked for the measurements of the apron she copied to make the first apron.  Mum made the first apron as a copy of an apron she got when she was only 10 years old.  We are talking a serious antique apron because Mum is having a birthday today!!!!!  Happy birthday, Mum!

Anyway, here it is.  Full apron, petite size, with pockets, reversible.  Very cheerful.  And the package is in the mail.  Crackers too.  It was so windy yesterday when I took these pictures that I had to pin the apron to the barn wall!  I should write this up as a tutorial.  Note to self.

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

On the design wall... something for baby

Every now and again clever son and his lovely girlfriend need a baby boy quilt gift.  I wonder who they contact for that?  The request was for safari animals and blue, green and brown or combinations of that sort and apparently this rug is to be in the baby's room.  So I got busy.  I ordered a few things like the crazy brown print (something from Timeless Treasures)  and a few prints from the line, Life in the Jungle by Doohikey Designs for Riley Blake. I think the brown print really works.  It screams safari without being too much.  I used quite a few different greens from my stash.  Oh.  The design is sort of Lemon Squares from Fresh Lemon Quilts.  Not exactly but sort of.   I love doing squares in squares for baby quilts.  And I will be stitching the binding on in front of the TV tonight.  Baby quilts are fast!

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday!

That Stash Bee... my month

May is just around the corner and that means that it is my turn at choosing a block for That Stash Bee.  Such a dilemma!  I finally decided to go with a classic... The Depression Block.    The tutorial I have linked to has lots of details but in reality, it is a pretty simple block.  This is a perfect scrap busting block as you can make it super scrappy.  I want my bee buddies to think black and white tv when they are making the blocks.  I used Kona White and stuck with that for the white portions but went super scrappy in greys and blacks for the rest.  I think it will be quite striking when made up.

I cut my squares at 4" and then trimmed the HST units down to 3.5".

You need:
 8-4" Kona White squares and
8-4" black/grey squares for each block.

The block finishes at 12" or 12.5" unfinished.  I pressed the seams open.

That Stash Bee is  the first bee I have joined and the whole idea is that we use our own fabric when making the blocks each month.  This saves a ton of postage for everyone and I think is a pretty stress free approach to an online bee.  It will be great fun to receive blocks in the mail!  I cannot wait!

Random Thursday... Duck on a wire

We live in the country.  Our small farm is backed by some wetland and we have a nice pond on our farm as well.  We see a lot of wildlife.  We have a lot of bird action on a daily basis and we have, among other things, wood ducks.  Now wood ducks are a funny kind of a duck.  They look like ducks.  And yes, they quack like ducks but they have a few quirks.  Like... have you ever seen a duck perching on a wire????  I took this picture because I was convinced my husband would never believe me.  I noticed it while I was drinking my morning coffee, just minding my own business.

Those silly ducks kept landing on the wires all morning.  They are not very graceful and struggle with balancing.  We were really worried that one of them would fall down the chimney again.  Yep.  Almost two years ago to the day.  Something about those wood ducks. Apparently they have sharp claws which allow them to perch on branches and so on.  Who knew?

Here is another shot.  Can you see the two of them?  Mr. and Mrs.   One of them is up near the top of the pole.

Here is another bird on a wire picture.  It's a trend.  Linking up with Cindy for Random Thursday.

What am I working on?

I am sort of in the middle of a few long term projects and I am waiting for some fabric to arrive for a baby quilt so what am I working on????  My road to fortune blocks are growing.  I do like these.  One a week until I have enough to say it is done.

The Road to Fortune blocks are great scrap busters but as I am sure you know that paper piecing creates lots of small bits of leftovers.  I throw them all into a bag and the other day, I actually turned the little itty bitties into these...

4" square paper pieced crazy blocks.  I like them!  I am not sure what they will be but I am quite content making more of them!  Sawdust blocks!

Linking up with Lee for Work In Progress Wednesday and the Needle and Thread Network.

I am in a magazine!

Many, many months ago, I was contacted by a magazine publisher about one of my projects.  They wanted it for their magazine.  Who was I to say no?  They sent me some fabric and I remade this round table cover for them and here it is!  In a magazine.  With my pattern.  How exciting!  It is funny to talk about it now since I originally made my mum the table cover a few years ago and then I made this version in January and I am talking about it in April.  The table cover has a simple rectangle/square pattern and is a great scrap project.  It is kind of fun that it is round and what is even more fun is that the cover is the perfect size for our dining room table when the leaves are out.  I think we will end up using it a fair bit.

So there you have it.  My first magazine project.  I am going to go pinch myself!

Crafty Cooks Recipe and Recipe Swap Package!

I am such a lucky one!  I received my swap package all the way from Australia.  Pam, who blogs at Threading My Way, sent me the most fabulous apron!  When I saw it in the Flickr group, I so hoped it was coming my way.  I am a little nuts about Flea Market Fancy.  What do I like about this apron?  Everything!  The fabric and the no frills are perfect.  It is reversible!  Yep, more fabulous fabric on the the other side too.  The ties are awesome and long enough to tie in the front.  Stylin'!

Then there were some awesome extras... some lovely Aussie soap in a sweet little FMF drawstring bag and some FMF fabric bits too.  Pam sent a recipe for Zucchini slice which we will have to try when the zucs are taking over the planet this summer.  Thank you so much, Pam!

Madrona Road Baby

  

Quilt Stats

Name:  Madrona Road Baby

Design: Scrappy triangles... my design

Size:  39" by 46"

Fabric:  Madrona Road with some solids

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in variegated grey

Okay.  This is a finish.  Madrona Road Baby.  This is a guild challenge.  Our fabric got lost so we did not have it in time for the big Modern Quilt Madrona Road Challenge but we did it anyway just for the guild.  I let the fabric simmer on my sewing table for awhile and then I decided to go with triangles.  The first time I made a quilt with triangles.  Don't look too close at the points.  Just saying. I added in some Kona Ash, some white and a nice light yellow from my stash to round out the random scrappy.  I didn't use all the prints from the line.  I was selective.  I carried the quilting out into the narrow border.  I like that.  And bound in the sprout print in graphite.  Quilted in Aurifil 50 wt in a variegated grey.  Nice thread!  I love how the quilting looks from the back.  Diamonds!!!!

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish it up Friday and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story.

Random, it's Thursday

Yesterday I met this young man.  I don't know if you can tell what that open box is in front of him.  See the Olympic rings?  Mmm hmm.  Yep.  That box is for an Olympic medal.  Bronze in fact for the 100 metre
Freestyle at the London Summer Olympics.  This is Brent Hayden and he is from Mission, BC.  He is a hometown boy and he spoke with all of us school principals today.  Nice guy.  Oh.  I held his medal.  It was super heavy.  Never thought I would hold an Olympic medal.  He told us if we took off running with it, he would tackle us.  Just saying.

And if there was ever an Olympic medal for Cinnamon Buns, my husband would win.  Yep.  It's true.

Linking up with Random Thursday over at Cindy's.

What about those works in progress?

Madrona Road Baby... almost finished!

Since I am a weekend quilter during the school year, I had some catching up to do this past weekend.  I was able to crank out the Lucky Stars April block... Black hole.  These are starting to look snazzy together.

I also stitched the Madrona Road Baby triangle fest together, sandwiched and quilted.  I even got it bound but I have not taken a picture of the finished quilt yet.  Maybe I can sneak out in between rain showers today. Don't look too close.  This was my first attempt at triangles and my points need work.  Just saying.

Bee blocks for That Stash Bee... done and mailed.  And my Crafty Cooks Apron Swap package is in the mail!

Road to Fortune quilt is on track and growing.  Not bad for this weekend quilter.  Linking up with the Needle and Thread Network and Lee at Freshly Pieced.

Pop over to Quilt Story today...

One of my quilts is being featured over at Quilt Story today.  Pop on over and say hi!  Thanks, Heather and Megan!

On the design wall... Bee blocks!

On the design wall.  Rainbow star blocks for Valerie for That Stash Bee.  Valerie asked for your favourite star block in rainbow colours.  I waffled a bit.  Hemmed and hawed and then this morning cranked out two of these.  The block pattern is from Faith at Fresh Lemons Quilts and it is called another star.  I do like this block and made a quilt of just these blocks a few months ago.  Hope this fits the bill!  I will be popping these off in the mail tomorrow.  The blocks finish at 12"  square.  Perfect!

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Random Thursday...

Please excuse this cell phone picture but instead of sewing last weekend I was visiting with some mountain sheep along with our daughter and her special someone.  I went from total spring weather at home to snow storm central.  Yuck!  We had pedicures in Jasper.  That was fun.  Then we debated the merits of beauty vs. practicality.  Beauty won.  We spend the afternoon shopping in Jasper in sandals with our brand new toes in a snowstorm.  So funny!  We had very cold but very beautiful feet.

And wouldn't you know it!?  We visited a few quilt shops.  The one in Jasper is closing!  Shocker!  But they had a big sale and I found these Anna Maria Horner fat quarters that came home with me.

Sheep to toes to fabric.  Yep.  Random.  Linking up with Cindy for Random Thursday.

Text Swap!

This is a very texty week.  I received this lovely bunch of charm squares from the all Canadian text fabric swap.  56 of them I think.  Oh man!  There are just so many lovelies in this bunch and I have no idea what the plan will be for them but it was just so much fun to be part of this swap.  Many thanks to Barb at the Quilting Barbie for organizing all of it.

I think this might be the start of something with some more all Canadian swaps to come.  With the price of postage, it just makes sense.  For these charm squares, the postage was only $2.20. Not too bad.  Rumour has it that low volume fabrics might be up next!

And why am I thinking this is a texty week?  This week at my guild meeting we will be swapping text fabric fat quarters!!!  Woo hoo!

Happy Tuesday!

It's a wrap!

I signed up the Crafty Cooks Apron and recipe swap as I have mentioned.  After spending some time stalking my partner, I hope that I have managed to create an apron that meets her needs.  I hope she likes it! I used a some Kate Spain fat quarters from the line Cuzco along with the mauve print which is something from my stash.  The apron has wrap around ties and extra deep pockets that are string pieced.  All the seams are french seams so there will be no raw edges to fray in the wash.  

I am quite happy with it.  I have to get the package ready to mail.  I have already tucked a few recipes in the pockets.  I couldn't decide on just one.  

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story!

Design Wall Monday!

Triangles!  Just about ready to have the strips of triangles sewn together but I did absolutely no sewing this
past week!  I was off visiting daughter and having way too much fun.

The design wall is however, hosting this baby quilt made from Madrona Road fabrics with a healthy sprinkling of solids.  I have triangles on the brain lately!

Linking up with Judy's Design Wall Monday!

Look at them all!

My Mum and I went out to visit the biggest "junk" collection we have ever visited.  It's on an old dairy farm out in the country not far from our wee farm.  It's called Granny and Grumpa's and there is building after building full of stuff.  Unbelievable quantities of stuff.  These photos were of all the mini and toy sewing machines.  Would you look at them all!?  The funny thing was that even if I wanted to buy one of these little babies, we never did see anyone that might want to sell one to me.  But we were escorted around the barns and buildings by a very friendly orange cat.

Thanks Carla for reminding me about this place and you will have to check it out for yourself because my description will just never do it justice. You have to see it.  Really!  Which little machine would you take home?

Friday Finish... Soft and Pretty in Pink

 Quilt stats

Name:  Soft and Pretty in Pink

Design:  Wonky Stars 10.5" blocks

Size:  66" by 74"

Fabric: stash fabrics

Quilted: by me with Aurifil 50 wt in white

I finished this  during spring break.  This is a quilt I made as a gift for a dear lady.  She really loves pink and roses and all those soft florals that I had lingering in my stash from years gone by.  I have been calling this quilt "holy pinkness" but think I should actually come up with something soft and romantic to call it.  It was fun to make because I was really able to embrace the pink and the flowers and just let it happen in all its femininity. I used a variety of backgrounds for the wonky stars and solid pinks in several shades with low volume prints in pink and white.  The binding is a tone on tone floral print from the stash and the back is a pink on white print.  Holy pinkness!  I cannot show you the label but there is one.  I free motion wrote a message.  I love doing that.

Quilted simply on each side of the blocks in Aurifil 50 wt in white, this quilt will be perfect for a soft snuggle quilt on the couch while having a nap or watching a movie.

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday!

  

Work in Progress Wednesday!

I started playing with my Madrona Road guild challenge fabric.  It looks like a big mess of triangles now but I actually have made more progress but haven't taken a picture.  It is destined to be a baby quilt.  I added some pale yellow, some white and some Kona Ash to round out the prints.  Finally this is more than a pile of fabric!

I also have made 7 of these Road to Fortune Blocks!!!!

And I really love how the blocks come together. It makes me want to make blocks that just have have this pattern.  It would be pretty easy to do.  I will put that on a list!

Lots more works in progress on the go but I will keep it simple! Oh!  That reminds me!  I won a giveaway the other day from Hadley's blog... Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle.  I won all of the bag patterns designed by Sara at Sew Sweetness!  Eek!  How much fun and a whole lot of work in progress projects to come!!!  I think this will be the first one!  

 Linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced and the Needle and Thread Network too!

It's a pillow cover and it's modern

I made this on the weekend.  It is a 16" by 16" pillow cover and I made it for a guild challenge.  Let me tell you about that.  Our guild, the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild, is having a display booth at the Ridge Meadows Quilt show in May.  We were asked to take a traditional quilt block and modern it up in a 16" by 16" format.  These little minis will be on display at the quilt show in an attempt to show what modern quilting might be.  So.... with that being said, what did I do?  I made 4 little blocks, called picket fence.  Then I placed the 4 little blocks in lots of Kona Ash.  Lots of negative space.  Then I quilted it heavily in straight lines with a variegated grey Aurifil 50 wt in 2 directions but not everywhere.

What makes it modern?  Hmm.  Fabric choice for sure.  Use of solids. Modern fabric choices for sure.  Use of negative space.  Lots of quilting to add texture.  It is modern because I say so.  That's a good reason.

 I  used some Anna Maria Horner, some Henna Garden by Sandi Henderson, some grey herringbone print from Sweetwater's Reunion line and some Madrona Road text fabric along with the Kona Ash.  Then I bound it in Kona Charcoal.  Yum.  The back has a zipper and more Henna Garden.

I am calling this one done.  And I really like it.  The zipper went in super easy on the back too.  Proud of that one.  I love the quilting.  

Fresh Sewing Day!

1. Miss Maggie Bunny, 2. Lucky Stars BOM, 3. I Spy 224, 4. Flea Market Fancy Featherweight Cozy, 5. Bee Blocks, 6. Fat Quarter Mini for guild

Here are a few of the things that kept me busy this past month.  March flew by.  Not sure where it went.  But I know that I still have much to do in April.  Nothing like the start of a month to set some goals.  In March I set myself some goals that are all done!  I forgot to actually link up with Tracey for the Just Three linky so maybe that will be a goal for April!

1.  March bee blocks for That Stash Bee.2.  Finish the pink wonky star shabby chic gift quilt  Finished but not yet revealed!3.  At least 4 more Road to Fortune blocks.  I think I have 7 now!  Yay!  I started the month with 2!!!
Just Three Goals for April...
1.  April Bee Blocks for That Stash Bee2.  Make a baby quilt for a friend of clever son and his lovely girlfriend3.  Finish my Madrona Road challenge quilt which is now officially on the design wall.
Linking up with Lily for Fresh Sewing Day and with Tracey for Just Three.