Completions :)

Here we go - some of my recent completions, in no particular order :D

Jungle quilt finished for my niece Jenn, as part of a gift set :)

Here's the gift set ready to be packed for mailing - taggy blanket, 2 bibs, croc stuffy and the quilt.  This set was mailed yesterday, so I hope Canada Post doesn't go on strike, ARGH!

Some paper pieced potholders I finished for 2 challenges - to make 5 "p" projects in May for a Yahoo group, and for Allie's Christmas Through the Year challenge for May :).  The set itself will consist of veg/potato/meat/dessert/pizza, but I didn't have pizza fabric to finish the pizza block - will get it soon :)

Here are the backs of the above potholders - as you can see, I used backing fabric to match the front theme - I'm so witty :D 

This is what the actual sets will consist of - notice the pizza block @ the bottom, LOLOL!  I thought the block was so cute I HAD to add it to the sets :D

I went to take photos of some finished projects tonight, but the camera battery died, so it's charging right now. Will get more pics tomorrow after we get home from a family get-together :)

In the interim, here are a couple of photos I did get ...

Friends of ours are expecting their first grandchild next week, so I made baby Albany a quilt, and have a taggy cut out as well.  The binding and backing are the same co-ordinating print (you can see the binding on the left).  The off-white blocks are vanilla chenille - YUMMY!  I should be able to get this finished tomorrow so hubby can take it to work on Monday and deliver it to grandpa - aka his co-worker - in time for Albany's arrival :)

Here are the bits and pieces to finish the jungle quilt set I'm doing for my niece - the camera died before I could get a photo of the quilt, which was finished a few days ago.  The taggy is backed with the same brown minkee as the croc, and the bibs are backed with vanilla chenille.  If I can find a mailing box I'll mail the set on Monday - Canada Post better co-operate! 

After I get Albany's set finished I can start working on Graci's quilt - she's a special little golden who will soon be arriving at my brother and sister-in-laws house - her new forever home :)  She's not old enough to leave her momma yet,  but her June 17 arrival is certainly eagerly anticipated :)  Aunt Sandra and cousin Zoomer are making her her very own girly cage quilt :D  (Photo unabashedly stolen from my SIL's blog, lol).

The jungle quilt is almost finished ...

I got the quilting done yesterday, and will try to do the binding tomorrow/Tuesday.  I whipped up a little bib with some scraps - it's backed with creamy chenille and embellished with some green ric rac :)

Today we went to a friend's house for a get-together to celebrate our Godson Gabriel's 7th birthday - I whipped him up a boy-y zipper bag and tucked some cash in it :D

I tarted it up with a dragon zipper pull - I thought that would work well with the snakes :)

Quilting guides - who knew?

This post about a quilting guide on a walking foot, led me on a bit of a google investigation about quilting guides, which then led me to my box of "what the hell are these sewing bits and bobs for??!!!" items, at which point I discovered that I have a quilting guide and the appropriate foot+ankle combo to actually USE the thing :D I gave it a whirl, and these were the result - I gave them to Amanda last night to take to Blue Hills next week, for the kidlings :)

Thank you Katherine (a fellow Canadian, and fellow lover of patchwork, linen and vintage :D) for the "tidbit" on your post that led me to a pretty exciting discovery!!

FNSI - a few highlights :D

Last night was May's FNSI (Friday Night Sew-In) - Nancy and NoBlog Amanda came over to my sewing dungeon armed with sewing goodies, fabrics and an extra machine and we got busy :)

Some highlights ;)   Here's Nancy doing my bidding (stitching something for me on the free arm) ...

... Nancy having to remove a button she accidentally tried to SEW OVER ...  ROTFL!!!!!!! 

Nancy busily stitching away :)

 Oh, look!  Nancy's Scandinavian Stitches Kajsa Wikman's pillow!  So sweeeeeeeet!

Amanda cutting out her pillow applique pieces ...

Amanda preparing to stitch her applique on her pillow ...

Amanda getting to the final assembly ...

Amanda's pillow (she's going to do some final touches at home), and Nancy's pillowcase (she's already posted the finished case to her blog) :)

My FNSI contribution - I'm working on a travel set as a gift, and got 3 of the items done for the set - 2 zipper bags and a boxy bag :) 

Looking forward to June's FNSI, wooooooohooooooooooooooooo!!

Jungle quilt "flimsy" (top) finished :)

Tomorrow I sandwich :D

Here are some bits and pieces of a project I'm paper piecing for a challenge - 5 "P" projects in May, for the Yahoo group 25weeks :D  I'll post a photo when all 5 pieces are completed - hopefully by May 31!

Wine totes :)

Inspired by my friend Angela's beautiful creations (here and here, for example), I decided to whip up a few Sewing Republic wine totes from this tutorial.  Cute and easy!

Yesterday's work :)

Blogger has been down since last night so I wasn't able to post these until now :)

Here's a zipper bag I made to use some bits of fabric and the remnant of a piece of lace from a recent purchase @ Quilt a Bag in Markham - they tied my FQ bundles with lace so I'm reusing it :)

Here's the quilt set I'm currently working on - I put the blocks on the design wall last night.  The first 4 rows are now sewn and assembled - will post another photo later.  The jungle fabric is Jungle Baby by Kate Honovar - I got a set of 4 x 1/2 yard cuts from a lovely seller on Etsy, and the brown TOT is from Joanns. The quilt will be backed with brown bubble minky :)   I hope you like it, Jenn!

Later in the evening - here we go - rows 1-4 done, rows 5-7 to be completed :)

These early mornings are wiping me out, lol

I've been out walking by 8:00 a.m. for the past few weeks so I've been getting up relatively early (early for ME, that is, LOL).  I'm always up before the alarm clock goes off @ 7:45 - this morning I was up at 7:00 - it sure does make for an early night tho - by this time I can't stop yawning, and I can barely keep my eyes open!  My how the mighty (night owls) have fallen! ;)

Here's a cake zippy I made today - the lace is a piece that was used to tie the FQ's I bought recently @ Quilt a Bag, so it's a "salvaged" bit - the other half of that piece will be used on a different zippy.  This will go to Blue Hills :)

Here's a close-up of the zipper pulls I finished redoing tonight (to fix stringing errors or make minor changes) - now the zippies are in my gift box :)

These will make a very lovely gift :)

All done and ready to gift :D

We heard from MacIver Dodge this morning - the car fuel gauge broken.  They're giving hubby a rental vehicle until they get the part and fix it.   (Later in the evening) ... he just drove home in a MINI VAN.  OMG.  His brand spanking new Dodge Challenger hemi-powered muscle car died and they give him a soccer mom loaner.  #notappropriate!

In the #stolenphotos category - my sister took this photo recently and I stole it - isn't it gorgeous? 

A hockey post???! Sort of!

 I'm trying to finish off some projects I have "kitted" (prepared and ready to sew) in a basket in my sewing room - here are two zipper bags I had ready to sew - both will go to Blue Hills :)  I have 4 more ready to work on, then I need to make more kits, LOL!

Here's a project I also had kitted up - it was going to get done eventually but I got news today (person of interest, note that today is the day after Mother's Day, hehe) that kicked my butt in gear to get these done quicker! ;)

48+ hours later and we're still without a car

The car broke down @ on Saturday (when we had only had it for 4 days), MacIver Dodge Jeep was notified, and it was picked up by the towing service and taken to the dealer before 5:00 p.m.  48+ hours later we're still without a car, and MacIver called late this afternoon to say they didn't know what the problem is.

I'm surprised that they didn't even offer hubby a loaner vehicle, in view of the fact that we have a DEAD + NEW car.  That, plus the fact that the car died so quickly after we got it, has me worried - this doesn't seem like a good omen at ALL.  #colourmenotimpressed!

Mother's Day stitching. And a whine ;)

OK, wine, not whine, LOL.  Two wine bottle bags completed - a third is cut out but I didn't have ribbon for the ties :D  I finally figured out, I think, how to crop photos - YAY!

Here's another boxy bag completion - this one went right into my gift box :D

Here's a (cropped!  YES!) close-up of the zipper pull :)



I had a pretty productive Mother's Day, lol!

Happy Mother's Day ... and a tidbit :)

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and moms-to-be out there - I hope you have a wonderful day, and that your kids and husbands are as grateful as they should be, LOLOL. 

Our Mother's Day plans changed a bit yesterday when the new car (we got it brand new and have had it for 4 days, LOL) died as hubby pulled into the garage.  He tried to restart it, as did the warranty/roadside assistance people. Unsuccessfully.  So - off it "floated", back to the dealer who is of course closed until tomorrow.   Hubby is in good spirits and we assume the problem is something small.  Thankfully DS2 was armed with his camera phone for photographic documentation!!! ;)

Yes, we have VIDEO!

Floral boxy bags, revisited :D

Revisited because I got the zipper pulls done, lol.

A lovely find - a quilty/bag store in Markham, Ontario :)

My friend Nancy - crafty maven that she is!!! - recently discovered a nearby treasure - Quilt a Bag in Markham, Ontario (just north of Toronto).  We went for a visit yesterday - what a lovely store, and such lovely ladies there - hi, Phoebe, hi Ann!  Nancy did a great blog post about them here - they're in the process of updating their blog and website, so I'll be keeping an eye on it for goodies, and I'm planning on taking a class there soon - this project really intrigued me - you should have seen it in person - OMG it was incredible!

I bought 2 packages of FQ's (5 in each), 3 Japanese linen "scraps" (11"x14"), 2 packages of sweet leather flower grommets and 2 Sunbonnet Sue zipper pulls (hi, Mickie, heeheee!) :)

Here's a close-up of the leather grommets and the SBS's ...

... and here's a close-up of the linen prints - I got 2 hedgies and the food print - perhaps there are Japanese zippies in my future? ;)

Dear 16 year old me:

This was sent to me by a friend.  People of my generation (late mid early 60's) baked in the sun and used baby oil to fry our skin.  I'm a redhead and didn't spend a lot of time actually tanning but I never used suntan lotion, and had many major burns.  KIDS - don't do that now - it's BAD BAD BAD!!!!!  Take 5 minutes and watch this video - the information you get from it may just save your life, or the life of someone you love!

What I've been working on when I wasn't pouting :D

 Two boxy bags - the lining is a lovely bright pink print :)  I need to make the zipper pulls for these bags before I consider them as finished - these will go into my gift box :)

I spotted a linen zipper bag online and liked it so much that I had to make a similar version - here's mine :)  You can't really tell from the photo but the bottom is boxed (tutorial here).

Here's the zipper pull I made for it :)

Hippos and giraffes can fly :)

And right now they're flying towards Ottawa ;)

Edited to add:  apparently I mixed up the pieces of the sets, and put a giraffe with the hippos, and a hippo with the 'raffes.  EEEEEK!!!  LOL!

RIP beautiful 2009 Dodge Challenger :(

 

My husband decided to trade in our beautiful and MINT Dodge Challenger for a different model.  I loved the "old" car.  I picked out the old car.

I do not like it's replacement, and have spent the last few days cursing.  Not very ladylike, but very necessary.  He deserves the car he wants so I'm glad he got what he wanted.  I just really really REALLY hate the colour - BLECH.  Out of respect for DH I will refrain from complaining vociferously, and will only complain intermittently.  That's the best I can do :D (It's hard to tell from the last photo, but the car is a burgundy red - it's not red, and it's certainly not the beautiful red of the old car - that's what I'm so upset about!)

P.S.  To be fair to him, I should add that the old car didn't have a hemi motor, and the new one does - that's the main reason for the trade - he really really REALLY wanted a hemi :D