Labour......or not!

Well I've had a busy couple of days! I thought I was in labour Tuesday night, spent the night in the hospital and then was told to go home and that it may be another couple of hours, days or weeks. This may sound like a pregnant woman's worst nightmare, but my daughter was born 5 weeks early and spent 15 days in intensive care. So I'm just fine with this baby taking it's sweet time in getting here (and I'm only 35 weeks along now). I picked up this ribbon on Saturday to match the little nursery quilt I made. I have a little rocking horse that I plan on adding this to. (I got the idea from A Cottage Industry)
This is some fabric that I just could not resist buying last week. You can't see it in the picture, but the background is actually pink and pinky-orange stripped. (Like a tie-dye style stripe). I have a few different greens that this would look good with but I've decided to hold off on making it into a quilt or backing. Since I don't know the sex of my baby, there's no point in making a pink quilt just yet. I do love the quilts that Amanda Jean makes over at Crazy Mom Quilts, so I may make something inspired by hers.







And this is a cute Mary Englebreit fabric that I picked up for $2.94 a meter! I have no plans for this, I just couldn't leave it sitting there. It can just sit in my stash for a bit (big smile)
Speaking of my stash, I'm noticing that I've got 2 very different things going on. I have a lot of bright, fun prints and a lot of dark more subdued country prints. I guess it makes sense because I make different quilts for different reasons, it just looks funny to see the fabrics together on the same shelf!

Very Productive Day!

I got a lot done today! The weather here is just terrible; it's cold and windy, we had snow today (it didn't stay on the ground) and we have a snow squall warning tonight. Perfect day to get some sewing done!

I cheated a bit on my list of 5 things to do this week, because I combined two projects. I've decided to turn my pinwheels quilt into the quilt for my sister in law. I'm calling it "Canadian gal overseas" This red fabric is something I'm auditioning to be the boarder. The pic is showing as pinky red, but it's actually a true red. I may add a cream boarder in and then a thick red boarder, to bring it to lap size.

I'm thrilled that this whole top is made from the leftovers of my hubby's quilt top. I found a nice piece for the back. I've also collected a lot of blue jeans from our family. She might like the blue jean backing, especially when I tell her the family connection. Has anyone ever done a jean backing? I'm not sure if they'll be too heavy.








I also made up a little doll quilt for my daughter's baby dolls. She's very interested in the baby coming and has been playing with her dolls a lot lately. I've made this quilt to match the quilt for the nursery, which I finished binding today. I used some crazy school print for the back and whatever binding I had lying around.

And this is the bound nursery quilt. I had plans to use this simple quilt to practice my free motion quilting, but after several attempts, I gave up. I just cannot seem to get the tension right on my machine, no matter what I do! What I wouldn't give for a quilting guild right now. When we moved here I searched for one, but the closest I could find was over 45 minutes away, along a very harsh road. (It's closed half of the winter).

I also finished my daughter's cow costume. It's awfully cute! Now I've just gotta cross my fingers that the snow holds off until Saturday.

What I'm up to this week

I've had a very blahh week this past week. My daughter was born prematurely and we're trying to avoid that this time around. So I've been under 'house arrest' for awhile. I thought I'd get lots of sewing done last week but I was just too tired. I seem to have more energy this week so I've made myself some plans!
1) Finish my daughter's Halloween costume (she wants to be a cow!)
2) Finish the baby quilt I've been working on (just needs binding)
3) Work on the quilt for my SIL, who is due home from her tour in less than 2 months
4) Make another couple of doll quilts
5) Work on my pinwheels quilt

It seems like a lot but the weather here is dreary and I need something to perk me up a bit. I'll post tonight with how far I've gotten.

Out and About...

My machine was acting up this weekend and I just got it running again last night. So I don't have any quilty pics to share. I did get the binding finished on my winter houses quilt. I watched Biggest Loser last night and finished it all...3 UFO's to go. But I've also started a Christmas tree skirt and some napkins so I have a few non quilting projects on the go too.
I can't seem to turn these pics! This is what we did instead of quilting/yard work this weekend. There is a great park, right on the beach. This is my hubby and daughter, who can't wait to get there. We played on the swings, ran around and just enjoyed the weather. And I'm glad we did because it was snowing here yesterday! It's still chilly and I've got the fireplace on. We had snow stay on the ground last year Nov. 1st...I'm hoping it holds out that long this year. I don't want to be out trick-or-treating in the snow!

This is the beach as it looked on Sunday. Still looks nice enough to go for a swim doesn't it? I'm planning on doing some major sewing this week so stay tuned.

Second post today

I thought I'd do a second post and show the things I've been writing about. Here's my wonky winter houses. I'm almost finished the binding and then I can tick this one off my UFO list. I'm thinking of making a pillow case (for my chair, not for the crib) and maybe a wall hanging to go with these. I had a lot of fun trying out this new style of quilting. It really cured the boredom I sometimes have doing piecing (especially if all the blocks are the same). Tonya offers so much help and so many detailed tutorials that this was pretty easy to pull off. Check her out here.
These are those bonus pinwheels I've been working on. I found a second baggie of navy and blue triangles, which are now also becoming pinwheels for this project. I'll admit, I didn't do much to these, not even square them up. I should have enough to make a throw size quilt for my friend's summer wedding. I'm still thinking of sashing and boarders....stay tuned.

Lastly, here is a picture of the quilting frame my Hubby bought me for Christmas last year. He just HAD to put it up on the wall last week before our Thanksgiving guests arrived. I keep meaning to use it, but I get impatient. The cool thing about it is that it rolls the top, batting and backing for you, no basting required. If you despise basting like I do, then this is a very good thing! The only down side to it is that although it can change size (from baby quilt to king), and lay flat, it doesn't fit under any of my basement furniture. Hence the wall display :)

This weekend my in laws are coming up for my father-in-law's birthday dinner. He has a lot of food allergies, so luckily we're going out for dinner (I can't handle the stress of cooking for him, someone is always double and triple checking that I'm not using any of his 'banned' foods). I have some shopping to do at the farm near by and we have to clean up all of our summer stuff and put it away for the winter. When the snow hits here (and it did on November 1st last year), it hits hard. I love the fall, but there's something magical about the first snowfall that I always look forward to.

Cindy's Canadiana Quilt

Here is the beginning of the quilt I'm making for my sister-in-law's return from her tour of duty. She was originally sent to the Mediterranean on a peace keeping mission but her ship got sent to help out with the pirating problems in Somalia. I know things have been tough for her, and my brother misses her terribly, but we are so proud of her. So, since their wedding quilt won't be done in time for Christmas, I thought I'd make her a throw in honour of her tour. I was originally going to do all rail blocks, but now I'm thinking I may throw in some solid reds and solid creams. I have a baby quilt I made a while ago that I embroidered Canadian maple leaves on, so I may do that in the cream squares. I'm almost finished my wonky houses (just binding!) and this quilt is next.
This is the view off our side deck. I missed so many of the beautiful leaves. We're going up to the mountain tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be able to take my fill of beautiful fall pictures.
I've gotta get working on my daughter's cow costume...it's so close to being done.

Day and Night plus my new winter baby quilt

The first pic is of my Day and Night quilt, which I am really happy with. (That round object is my pregnant belly..oops!) I bought this fabric to re-make a quilt that my Grandma made, but I pre-cut some of it wrong and then didn't have enough to do her pattern. Luckily, there was enough of the flower and blue to do something else with. I'm thinking of using the wrongly cut squares and triangles to make a large pieced boarder.
The second pic is from the House, Home and Pantry group. The picture doesn't do my bright happy homes justice! I've got my camera back, so hopefully this is the last of the camera phone pics. I've put the homes with a dark blue background for the sky and made white snow for the ground. I'm thinking of embroidering snowflakes in the sky and doing some swirly free-motion quilting in the snow. This really doesn't go with my nursery at all, but it's fun and I just love it.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our family this weekend. My Mom's visit last Thursday totally re-energized me. And then my whole family came up for Sunday, which was such a treat.
I had my newly finished quilts out to accommodate all the over night guests and they were very popular. I also started a new throw sized quilt for my sister in law who is deployed right now and will get home right before Christmas. It's red and white scrappy rails.

UFO total: I've had to put my Orange Crush quilt aside because I don't have a backing. I know it's silly but I want to use a pieced back and I can't find the right stuff in my stash.

Still working on my Carolina Crossroads.
2 tops waiting to be quilted (including OC)
4 tops in progress (wonky houses, day and night, pinwheels, red and white rails)
I've also challenged myself to make nicer labels for my quilts, so I'll have to spend some time on this.

Thanks to everyone who's stopped by!

Scraps & Shirttails, and 9 new projects

Yippee! I received my copy of Bonnie's book yesterday and spent the afternoon reading it cover to cover, then picking 2 quilts I'm planning on making in January. I've even put fabric aside in bins for them. Then I worked some more on my wonky houses. I'm still trying to decide if I should make a crib quilt or a wall hanging. Any ideas?

One of my good friends is getting married next summer and I think I'm going to turn all those leftover pinwheels into a quilt for her wedding. I'm thinking of setting the pinwheels with sashing. Once I finish a few more blocks I'll have to audition fabrics (stay tuned, I'll need help!).

I've picked a barns quilt to make for my living room, started a day and night wall hanging for my daughter's room....somehow my new "quilts in progress" total has jumped up to 9! yes, 3 of those are still in the planning process, but yikes...I'd better hope this baby sleeps a lot.

My Mom called early this morning to say she was on her way to my house for a girls day. The only bad part about moving up here is that we're about an hour and a half from my family. This is the girl who had trouble moving out when I got married and actually cried and missed my old bedroom. Anyhow, we really need a girls day. I can't wait to go shopping, have some lunch and just relax with the 2 most important girls in my life. My daughter has actually been waiting at the window for Grandma for the last 20 minutes.

I'm going to edit this post later...I haven't had time to take any pics yet!

Break Day!

I slept in this morning and when I finally woke up (only because DH was leaving for work) I decided to give myself a break day. I was up late (late for me these days is 10 pm) working on my Carolina Crossroads and it's no where near finished. I've been working on my UFO's and only have two left that I'm planning on finishing this year. So today is a play day! I think I'm going to try the Night and Day quilt I saw this weekend on Quilt Hollow. And try a few more wonky Tonya houses. I'll post later about whatever I do.

Here's a pic of my fabric basket. I've seen them on tons of blogs lately. They're loads of fun. Thanks for the pattern Pink Penguin!

1 finish, 1 almost and a new challenge

I've finished my blue basket weave and I used Finn's tutorial as a guide for the binding. It's not perfect, but I've only ever used double fold biased binding and loved the idea of using straight cut binding. Finn uses 1.5" strips and I used 2" because that's what I had. Anyhow, the binding turned out great and I'm really pleased. Thanks Finn! And if you need help binding, or just want to see a new way to bind your quilts, I'd recommend checking out her post( and the rest of her blog while you're there, it's awesome).

My almost finish is the UFO I found in my closet last week. I used some very soft cotton for the backing, so it was a bit difficult to quilt. But I've got a start on it and in a few more hours it should be ready to bind and give away.

My new challenge comes from joining Tonya's new class "House, Home or Pantry". I've been a fan of Tonya's wonky houses and letters for a long time and when I saw that she was starting a new sew together, I thought I'd give it a try. I had some free time this afternoon and pictured below is my first attempt at a wonky house. I know I said I wouldn't be doing anything new until these UFO's were done (and I do still have one to finish) this one uses scraps. Besides, I'm out of triangles to sew together, so I can keep my houses and letters near the machine.

With our Thanksgiving this coming weekend, I don't think I'll get too much quilting done. You'll know if I do get things done, my housework has fallen by the wayside and my house will be a wreck for the weekend! Since I'm not supposed to travel, my whole family is coming here. I can't wait to show off what I've been up to.

Binding and Pining

I had myself a super sewing day yesterday and finished quilting my blue basket weave! I also made binding and have more than half the quilt bound....yippee! Today I'm hoping to baste a throw for my sister (the UFO I found in the bottom of my sewing cupboard), finish binding the basket weave and maybe, maybe start quilting the throw. I can't believe all the finishes I've had. It's going to be a bit deflating when I finish all these UFO's and go back to piecing tops one at a time. On the bright side, I've got tons of leaders and enders to use :)

I can't wait to recieve Bonnie's book! I know the second it arrives, all other things will be put aside so I can completely devour it.

Will this quilt ever get finished????

I am still working on my Carolina Crossroads by Bonnie quilt for my brother and sister in law. This corner looks a bit wonky, but I love how the baptist fans look. It may not have been the best quilting choice for the tiny sqaures, but it's an easy design to hand quilt.
My problem is that I'm working on this quilt somewhere between 3 and 10 hours a week and I'm starting to feel like it will never be finished. I know that whenever it does get done, it'll be a big accomplishment for me.
My husband got me a quilting frame for Christmas last year and I'm planning on using it to do my next hand quilting project.
My plans for today include some baking, quilting and going out for a walk, if it stops raining. I have a boarder to add to my orange crush quilt, a backing to iron and I want to do some more work on my blue basket weave quilt. Not too sure if I can get all 3 done while my daughter naps, but I'm going to try.