It's all about the little things

Grocery store flowers

Couldn't pass them up. It doesn't look like much wrapped up but . . .

Definitely brightens my day! I hope you had a great weekend.

Week In Review - Quilting - Day Five

Close . . . but no cigar. I have more unfinished quits in my craft room than I really want to admit but these are two that I will fess up to. Really, the tough part is done, I just need to get my quilt on.

The pink girl top is my latest. The square boy top below has been finish for almost two years now. Yikes!

The problem is I love starting a quilt. Buying the fabrics (definitely my favourite part of the whole process), cutting the fabrics, and creating the layout are my top 3 things I like to do. I don't love sewing it together because I am a bit of a perfectionist and want the edges and corners to line up just so. I find this part stressful:)

I think posting these might actually make me get my ass in gear. Ok, here is my pledge. I will quilt and bind both of these tops within the month. So on April 25th you can visit me here to see if I completed my challenge. Wish me luck!

Week In Review - Quilting - Day Four

 

This one was an absolute shot in the dark. I didn't follow a pattern and this was the first time I had ever made a full coloured quilt (no white). I also think this might have been my first quilt with straight stitching instead of stippling like I usually do.

This was made with all Amy Butler fabrics. Back then I wouldn't really dare to mix designers or even different lines from the same designer for that matter. Now I am all about mixing it up! 

Maeve sleeps with this quilt every night (which I love). And in the past when she was a bit younger she would yell to her mom "I need Mere's blanket" if by chance it had fallen off of her:)

Week In Review - Quilting - Day Three

 

 I love Jasper's quilt. This was actually another commission; for a cute little boy with a preference for orange. Lisa, Jasper's mom, gave me full creative control and let me do whatever I wanted. 

Sounds like a dream project but let me tell you, there was a lot of second guessing on my part because I wanted it just so.

I the end, I love how it turned out. Clean, modern, and fresh! 

Week In Review - Quilting - Day Two

 

A cheater quilt is this guys official name. This is actually one piece of fabric for the top and I quilted lines along each edge of the square. 

You would think this would be a short cut to all of the work that goes into a normal pieced quilt but that is not the case. Sandwiching the layers together and quilting straight lines (without a walking foot) took forever!

I believe this was the first time that I added in a ribbon detail for the little person who received this quilt to drag it around from here to there. This was also the first time that I used a plain coloured binding fabric which I think is a nice complement to the busy pattern. 

Overall, a nice departure from my usual style. I liked it so much I made the exact same quit but with the animal fabric on the back in green. For some reason I can't remember who I made that quilt for. Let me know if it was you:)

Week In Review - Quilting - Day One

 

First up is B's quilt. I actually followed a quilt pattern which is unusual for me. I tend to just go with the flow but I wanted to try something new with this one. 

Even though I made this over two years ago, yellow and grey is still one of my fav colour combos. I did an over quilting on this one and the tight stippling makes for great texture through out.

More to come . . .

Week in review

So I think you can all tell that I jump around quite a bit from different types of things that I am into from one day to the next. One month it might be flowers, then I might jump back to quilting, then to cooking, you get the picture. What I thought I would do every now and again is take an entire week to feature projects that I have made from a certain craft category.

First up is quilting.  

I have actually recieved a few emails from new readers specific to my quilts so that is why I am starting here. Tune in all this week to see past quilts that I have made and a few that you haven't seen before!

I hope you enjoy my Week In Review feature!

Rainbow layered caked

As much as I would love to take credit for this amazing idea, I can't. I actually saw it on the web at Whisk Kid but just never got around to making it. I am definitely glad I took the plunge. It was so fun, and look at the results!! 

I made it for Friday night family dinner and had everyone guess what was inside before I cut into it. Layered chocolate and vanilla, oreo cake were a few of the guesses. I don't think anybody assumed that this is what was inside:)

The kiddos loved it! Even Maddie, whose not quite one and is the healthiest little eater I know (his moms a naturopath, he comes by it honestly) was chowing down. I was a bit fearful that the thought of food colouring might turns the mom's away, but everyone was game.

Unfortunately, this was a late night project so I do not have any decent process shots but I will definitely be making another one of these soon and promise to document it step by step.

Enjoy!

Healthy Eating . . .

I am really going to try this time. I swear:)

I actually worked from home today which made it easy to eat 3 square meals. There are often times when I am at the office where I will go 7 hours without eating which I know is really bad for your metabolism.

Today I was good . . . tomorrow we will see. I have packed my lunch so I am half way there. I just need to remember to grab it from the fridge.

p.s. I am loving daylight savings. As hard as it was to get out of bed today, I took the photos above at 7:00 p.m.!!

Party central

Flowers, decorations, good food, and loop bags. What more does a good party need?

Throw some cute kiddos in there and you have it made.

B had a blast. If it was up to her, the party would have gone on all night. She cried when each person left:)

Happy 2nd birthday B!!