Saturday Morning Status

Okay, so normally I write in the evening when bambino is in bed, but since he is entertaining himself in his high chair next to me, I figured I could write a line or two right now before he gets bored!!

I got involved with the Friday Night Sew In and worked away on my blue stash lap quilt.




As you can see I now have all the blocks made but they just need to be pressed. I also finished stitching all the smaller triangle cut offs and will press them and lay them aside til I get inspired to make something of them.. Right now I'm thinking pin wheel blocks into a lap quilt.





This evening once bambino is off to bed, my goal is to sew all the blocks into rows. I'll post again tonight of my progress. I also think I will use this quilt as my 'blue' themed scrap/stash challenge project for this weekend. I'm really enjoying playing with my scraps!!!

Will chat again this evening!

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea

Calm Blue Ocean... CALM BLUE OCEAN!!!! sigh

I would have stayed in my sewing room longer tonight but my sewing machine decided she wanted to be a drama queen and take a hissy fit!!! Every now and then my machine likes to throw a tantrum over the combination of thread and fabrics she is sewing. Well tonight, as I was working on the blue square in square blocks she would get sooky at the end of each solid square where two small solid blues overlap. The thread would break and she would try to suck the fabric down into the hole. I changed the needle twice, changed the threads, and finally did a good thorough maintenance cleanup to the machine.

Apparently, tonight she preferred the lighter polyester type of thread instead of the heavier 100% cotton threads I buy from Connecting Threads. By this time I was just getting too tired to continue sewing. Tomorrow I will hopefully be in a better mood (well more like my sewing machine be in the better mood) to get back to the blocks. I really want to get this quilt top made by the end of the weekend.

I am also planning to get involved with the Friday Night Sew In this year. I have already signed up for tomorrow night. I will more than likely be working on my blue lap quilt. I also am still trying to decide whether to use my blue quilt for the Saturday Scrap Challenge or make up something smaller.

On another note, I think I mentioned last week that we were going to get our family portrait done. Last Saturday we did just that. One of the Mommies in the playgroup I am involved with is an amazing and talented photographer!!! We went to her house for a photo shoot. Here are some of the photos she took!




















During playgroup yesterday Jeannine mentioned to all of us that she is in the process of building herself a website. Once she has her site available I will share it here so you can see how good she is!!!

Well that's it for now... I'm off to look for some new blogs to read and perhaps follow! I love to do that as it is sooo nice to see what other quilters are working on! It is a great form of inspiration!! There is a huge list of bloggers at the Friday Night Sew In blog I would love to read. So I'm off to see what others are working on!

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea

Happy Hump Day!!

ahhh mid week!!! Not long now before the weekend. Although these days, each day is the same as the next while on maternity leave. I still have 3 1/2 months of leave left before I head back to work in early May. Sigh....... where is the time going at all???

I haven't been able to get to the computer the last couple days due to various reasons. One of them being my friend Lesley gave birth to a beeeeautiful baby girl Sunday night. I went over to the hospital to see them last night and to see the new addition to their family. The little girl is just adorable! She is soooo tiny and petite. Geez, when I think of my own little boy it is hard now to imagine him that tiny 8 1/2 months ago. They just feel soooo fragile when they are born. We seem to take extra tender care with them. Lesley and Raff let me hold their daughter for the whole visit. The two of us just sat in the rocking chair and rocked for an hour.

Monday night I was able to get back to the 3rd Hot Chocolate Snowman BOM. I now have all the pieces fused in place and ready to be machine appliqued.





I have sooooo much stash and I'm thinking I'm running out of room for new stuff. There are fabrics in my stash that have been there for YEARS!!! In fact, I have some that I loved when I bought them and HAD to make something out of them, but now after all this time has lapsed I'm tired of seeing them in my stash. They are still very nice fabrics, but well as us Quilters know, textile designs change and we want to keep up with the newest and latest designs!

So I came to an executive decision. It is time I give back to my local community and make some quilts. After reading several magazine and internet articles about quilters doing good for others less fortunate, I decided I wanted to do it too. I thought I would make up a bunch of lap quilts to donate to one of our local women's center. The place I'm hoping will accept the quilts is called "The Irish Kirby House" It is "A Shelter for Women and Children fleeing Abusive Relationships" The type of work I do (when I'm not on maternity leave) is helping to provide housing services to low income families. We also see many women and children who have come from the Iris Kirby House. Most times the mothers and their children flee their homes in the middle of the night with just the clothes on their backs. I found out last summer that a good friend of mine stayed at this house when she was small as she came from a hostile home environment.

So since I plan to hit my scrap containers hard and heavy this year, I'm also going to hit some of the older fabric stash to make up some nice comfy lap quilts. As we all know, snuggling under a quilt makes you feel warm and safe. This is what these people need. Here is the beginning of the first lap quilt. This quilt will consist of 72 6" square in a square blocks.



While I'm making it, I have to cut off the excess fabric that I don't need. Instead of throwing them away, I will sew these up too into another future lap quilt. I'm thinking of making pinwheel blocks.





Well it is after 11:30pm here and I am ready for la la land. I hope to post here again tomorrow evening to show you the progress I am making on this quilt.

Til Then...

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea

Scrap Saturday #2 Results and Other Stuff

Alas! I completed another Scrap Saturday!!! This weekend I decided to make some mug mats. William helped me choose some fabrics!



To keep with the "Blue" Theme for the 2011 Scrap Challenge, here is Mat #1.



I am not a fan of crazy funky prints like this but I have a very good friend who does! She is probably in hospital right now either having her baby if she hasn't already delivered. I decided since she is going to be going through a few crazy months with 2-3 hourly feedings, there are times when she is just going to want a little break and rest between feedings.

I plan to give her this mat along with a funky mug (which I still need to pick up) and some nice teas as a little "Welcome to Mommyhood" gift!

And well, after making that one, I wanted one for myself! LOL I decided to dig down into my scraps again and hauled out some fabrics to make Mat #2!!!



I love this coffee fabric so much!! I only had a fat quarter of it. I am now going to hunt around to find some more of this fabric to make a couple more! I have a few other coffee themed embroidery designs so I can make each mug mat different!

Tonight I also got a start on the 3rd Hot Chocolate Snowman BOM. I got all the pattern pieces traced out on steam a seam and got a little start on fusing them to some of the fabrics. Here is a photo of the yummy fabrics and the snowman I'll be making this week!




(hmmm not sure why this photo is like this as it was shot face on... hope you don't get a crook in your neck looking at this one!!)

I am finishing up early in my sewing room tonight as I want to get into my pjs and settle down to watch Masterpiece Theatre. I will take out my knitting for the next hour or so while watching the show.

Tomorrow I'll put on my thinking cap to come up with an idea for next week's "Scrap Saturday"!!

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea

A little giveaway!

As I was sneaking around some new blogs, I came across this great blogger who is giving away some DELICIOUS embroidery floss!!! You can enter to win by going here.

She is also starting a new monthly stitchery pattern right here!! If you want a chance to win these flosses then head over by clicking on the her button below!




I will be posting my "Scrap Saturday" results a bit later today. We are invited to my aunt and uncles for turkey dinner around 1pm so I only have a little bit of time to grab a shower, wash out the baby bottles, and grab a quick little breakfast. Trevor gave me a nice chance to have a little Sunday morning sleep in.. ahhhh what a sweetie!

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea

Finish Friday

The second Hot Chocolate BOM snowman is complete!!!



I just love how he turned out! Trevor looked at them this afternoon and asked "so what are the snowmen holding?"

I said: "mugs of hot chocolate"

He Said: "Isn't that like suicide for snowmen"?

I said: "Good point. They drink hot liquid and melt. Poor buggers!" LOL


Last night I started putting in mind what I wanted to make for my "Scrap Saturday" project. I am thinking of making myself a cute little mug mat. I will pull the fabrics in the morning and probably by the evening I will have it complete. I will show you the status later on.

Right now it is after midnight here on Friday night. Baby woke up about 20 minutes ago for his midnight snack bottle and is off to bed again. That means I too am heading off to la la land. I am very pleased with what I accomplished tonight in my sewing room. All that is left is to make the little spacer hst row and those squares are already cut and ready to sew together. I am hoping to take out the new snowman sometime next week.

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea

Snow Day Means Snow Day!!!

I noticed our snow storm was already beginning at 6am this morning when William woke up looking for a bottle. The snow was coming down so soft and pretty and sticking to the trees. If it was any lighter outside I would have taken some photos as it was just beautiful. So far we have about 30cm of snow (roughly a foot of snow), but we are expecting another 20cm before tomorrow afternoon. Winter has finally arrived here on the island!

As the day went on the snow got a little bit heavier and the winds picked up a little. But before the winds got too bad (and its still not that windy out right now, just a little blustery) we took William out in the snow to experience his first snowfall. He was bundled up like a snowman and he was speechless at first as he didn't know what to make of all this snow stuff falling from the sky and making his face wet and cold.






(Alexi preferred at this point to be snuggled back on her big pillow in the warm kitchen under the desk than out in the weather)!!


The snow was too heavy to try out his new sled Santa gave him for Christmas. I was hauling with all my might to move him. I finally had to give up!


(I did get to try out my new winter hat I got for Christmas. Nice and warm!)

When we put him down into the snow he just wasn't happy!!!! In fact he was downright UNhappy!!! Can't say I blame him! The snow is VERY heavy.



It is the perfect snow for making snowmen! Perhaps tomorrow Daddy will make him a snowman out on the front lawn.

Since it wasn't the greatest of days to be out and about, it was however the perfect day in my warm and cozy sewing room to play! I set up the playpen for William and his toys and then Mommy and Nana played with their toys!!!



I am making a Hot Chocolate Snowman BOM quilt for William. The finished size is 59" x 59". I bought the blocks almost 2 years ago, but only made one block. This year I will make it and finish it!



This is the second block. Well here are the pieces to make the second block.



And now here is what it will look like once all the pieces are machine appliqued down in place!





I got a good start on the satin stitching before supper and depending on how quick I can replace all the velcro pieces on William's 15 bibs, I might work on it a bit more after that! Yep... the velcro have worn away all its holding ability and now I have to take off all the old stuff and replace it with new stuff. The bibs just don't stay on around his neck anymore. In fact he can haul those things off himself. He is drooling so much now, and with Tooth #3 making its appearance he is a HUGE drooly bag right now!!!!

So on that note, William was just put to bed for the night. Daddy is on monitor duty tonight, which means Momma gets to go back to play in her sewing room without any disruptions... ahhhhhh.. hmmm perhaps later on I'll even pour myself a nice glass of Shiraz wine!!!

Quiltingly Yours
Andrea