Sew Much Happy News

Oh my.... where to start. I've been away from the blogsphere for a few weeks now, and so much has happened. I've been working on a secret project, and now I can finally blog about it. I made a special quilt for my sister for her birthday. I have been working on it for about a month now. It is called Field of Flowers, and I made it from a Moda Jelly Roll from the Celebrate Spring line. It was so easy to put together, and fun. I just love the colors as they are so cherry and fun. I knew that she would love it! and I'm confident that she is pleased with it. The quilting was a challenge, as this is by far the biggest quilt that I've made. I stitched in the ditch on the diagonals , and then stippled all the setting triangles, and did some little doodles on the center strips.

Mom helped me finish the quilt, with all the hand stitching for the binding, and then I helped her finish her quilt. Hers is a Nautical theme made for my Dad, and their boat. We had a couple of great quilting sessions while working on these quilts. Next we will have to open a quilting shop!


After finishing my quilt, I was sad to have finished, and eager to start another project. I have a project in mind, but haven't been able to find the fabrics. Mom bought fabrics to make a quilt for a friends baby. It will be sweet, with blue dinosaur fabrics and lots of bright colors too. We had a quilting day on Friday, and we actually quilted and sewed all day long, we didn't even get dressed. It was a blast, and we got so much done. Mom worked on her Dinosaur quilt, and I had no project..... but I got my creativity going and decided to give myself a challenge. My Aunt had sent a bag of scraps to my mom, and I went through it, sorted it by colors, and picked out some that I liked. I made 12 nine patches out of 4.5 inch squares, and then cut the nine patches in half again twice. It is really cool. I don't have any pictures yet, but I am hoping to get some today, as I work on it some more.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and we (Mom, Dad, V and I) decided to go out for a boat ride. There were 2 huge icebergs out in the bay, and we wanted to get a better look. So we took a cruise out on the bay. Well, we were almost right up to the icebergs, and we were just chatting away, Mom and Dad were up at the front.... and we were sitting in the back. V told me how much he had missed me this past week, and I said me too, then he said "no, I've really, really missed you.... Will you marry me?" OMG...... I nearly fell out of the boat!!!! I AM TOTALLY SURPRISED, EXCITED, HAPPY!!!!! OF COURSE I SAID YES..... SO WE'RE ENGAGED!!!!!! The ring is beautiful, it's a three stone diamond, that matches my necklace. So pretty, and just perfect. We had a beautiful boat ride, and needless to say we spent the evening celebrating with my Mom and Dad.




Whew.... I think that's all for now! I'll have to post again later with more updates of the quilting and knitting. Happy Canada Day to all!!!!

Finally a Finished Project!

It seems that it's been a while since I've finished any knitting projects, but finally I do have something to show! My Monkey's are done. I love them. They are the best fitting socks that I have knit myself so far. The Sea Wool is so nice and soft, and really seems like it will wear well. The pattern goes well with the varigation in the yarn. I will definitely be buying more Sea Wool.


I had a very busy weekend. My mom and I went to a quilting technique class all day on Saturday. It was great. We didn't make anything pretty, but we did learn a lot, and also had fun too, so well worth the 3 hour drive to attend. On Sunday we both sandwiched quilts that we are working on. It's so much better to work together, and well, lets just say I never would have been able to get done what I did without Mom's help. Mom's are just the best! Picture are to come, when the quilts are completely done. I still have some more quilting to do on mine, and Mom has to quilt hers entirely.

Today, I am home from work as I am feeling very yucky. I know I am sick when I don't sew or knit or anything all day. I am up and about now, but can't really commit to any one project, so I'll leave it all until I feel better. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have my creative mojo back!

I'm Back.....

OK, so I have been absent lately, but I have an excuse. I have been doing a lot of gift sewing, so I haven't been knitting much, and I've been doing lots of gift sewing for blog readers. So now you can see the reason for my lack of blogging. I have gifted all my projects so now I can post pictures and talk about them. My last post was the lap quilt that I made for V's mom. She has received it and it thrilled with it. Whew! I'm glad because I really didn't know what colors to choose. She's not a real girly girl, so light pinks and pastels really wouldn't cut it. So, I went with a darker palette, colors that I loved.

The project that I was working on for my Mom is this quilted wall hanging. I really loved making it. A friend of mine, had made one and showed me. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for my Mom. She loves lighthouses, and boats and stuff. It will be really nice at their summer house on the ocean.

Yesterday I had a fun day, shopping for scrapbooking stuff, and I also went to the LYS. Yay! I did well, and I didn't spend too much and I got lots. I didn't photograph my scrapbooking haul, but this is what I got at the LYS. A skein of Fleece Artist Sea Wool in burgundy, a new set of US1 bamboo DPN'S, and two balls of gorgeous Italian bamboo yarn. It's so soft! which I found hard to believe, as bamboo is so fibrous. It's so nice and cushy. I'm not really sure what I'm going to make, but I am thinking they will be for my Sock Pal, as she does live in a warm place, and like natural fibers. We'll see. Maybe I'll really spoil my pal and make two pairs. Who knows, there's so much knitting on my to do list, and I also have another quilt to make. Busy times.

In knitting news, not much happening. Roza's Sock #2 is progressing, but slowly. I had to frog once. Yesterday, after my trip to the yarn store I had almost 2 hours to kill and Roza's sock was with V in the car. So naturally, I had to knit, so I cast on for a pair of Monkey's with my new Sea Wool. I don't know if it's the yarn, or the new needles or a combination of both but OMG, I'm in love. The yarn is so soft and squishy, and the needles are nice. They are shorter than I usually use, but so much easier to knit with. They are nice and warm, and the yarn slips on and off them nicely. Good purchase. I am loving the Monkey pattern too. Fun, easy to remember, and pretty to look at. The pattern shows of the perfect dying as well. Look's like Roza's socks may be on the back burner, or at least the side burner.

Well, that's it for me, hopefully I will be a better blogger now. Happy Mother's day too!

Finished Mother in Law Quilt

Sorry Mom, no peeks of yours!!! You'll have it soon! More finished projects to come, soon I promise.

I've inspired - now I need to get motivated!

So, I don't know if you've read other postings on the blog, or follow, but a while back I had posted some FO's, one being my Tiddly Winks Quilt that I had made for my sister (who loved it by the way, and sister #2 is now requesting a quilt for her Birthday in June). Well, my lovely mother wrote a very nice comment about how I was a chip off the old block and how I had inspired her to get her machine out and get sewing and make a quilt for her little God daughter. Well, it turns out she's gone right to town on the quilting, and went home and whipped up this cute flowery quilt. I just love it, and I know it's perfect for little Isabelle. Good work Mom! I love it, and now you are motivating me to get out my unfinished quilts and finish them up. So with that being said today I bring you some in progress pictured of my, up to now, mysterious Paisley Craze Quilt. It's not done yet, I still have a million hours of hand sewing (why oh why do I punish myself??????), but this is just an idea of what it looks like. I am about three quarters of the way through piecing the border, then it's finish up the #$%*! hand stitching and then it's just assembling, quilting and binding. You know it's really the little things in quilting that take the most time.

Now, this picture is kind of crappy because I had to put it on the bed to photograph it, as the border is almost the exact shade as the hardwood floor, so that will explain the bumpy, lumpy look, but at least you get the idea of the design. The next shot is a closeup of one of the 9 paisley's in which I have completed the hand stitching. As you can see, I chose gold, as there are streaks of gold in the pinky, purply, orangy inside border and dots. It brings the gold out in those. Overall I am pleased with the look so far, and I can't wait to get it done. Soon.....

In other crafty news, and still with no picture my Calender quilt is like 99.9% done. I am almost done hand sewing the binding on the wrong side. As I mentioned before it's the little jobs in quilting that are the most time consuming, boring and tedious, but as they say if you crave the result enough you will get through it. So I just keep looking at the pattern picture and trying to motivate myself.

In Knitterly news, not too much exciting happening. Sock #2 has still not been cast on yet, it appears that I may be suffering a wee bit of the second sock syndrome but I intend to put a stop to that either today or definitely tomorrow as we have a three hour car trip ahead of us. The Jane Pullover has almost another full sleeve, but I am confident she will have two sleeves before the end of the day. I'll find little intervals of time between my house work and dinner preparations to get some knitting done. Yes, dinner preparations, DB came home yesterday and told me his boss will be coming over for dinner tonight. Nothing too fancy, after all, it is a week night and short notice. So we are having spinach salad with peppered goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette, Penne pasta with a spicy Italian sausage and cherry tomato sauce, and last but certainly not least poppy seed angel food cakes with a berry coulis. Not bad for last minute Eh??? Hopefully this will score some good points with DB, and bring on the ring!!! Oh, I am a dreamer. Well, enough dreaming I gots lots to do. Catch ya later.

Rainy Day Monday

Two things to cheer me up on a rainy Monday. First, my Star of Bethlehem plant bloomed, just one bloom so far, but it is so pretty. It almost looks unreal. To me it looks like those sugar decorations that might be on a wedding cake. Second, my Tidly Winks Quilt top is completed. I am pleased with the result. Now I just have to find a nice flannel to back it, and then do the whole quilting thing. Ariann is moving along nicely, however I can't do too much at once, as she gives me a bad pain in my neck. Tonight my mission is to complete the November and December of my calendar quilt and sew the rest together. That too needs some backing, so a trip to the store is in my future. It seems that I am really getting into the whole quilting thing. I am finding myself planning my next 2 or 3 projects. This could become another crafting addiction, along with my knitting, card making and scrapbooking..... not to mention costly. I guess I could be spending money on worse things! And besides, now all of my family and friends (and me too!) will have great knits, comfy quilts, and beautiful handcrafted cards for all special occasions. All I need is more time and of course more money (I guess we all do!).