The flimsy isn't so flimsy now :)

The flimsy from this post is now a completed quilt measuring 42" square :)

No tucks in the back but a few of the quilted sections are a touch droopy, lol.  Hopefully the recipient will have the quilt on a baby or in a crib, rather than hanging on a quilt design wall ;)

A few small finishes, and a "flimsy" ;)

Quilt top (flimsy!) for a bun that's almost done cooking in the oven ... to be backed with a minty green minky-type fabric - I have enough fabric left in these prints to make some small gifts to go with the quilt - I'm thinking a taggy blanket, a pair of slippers (if I can figure out how to make them, lol) and a crocodile stuffy :)

./insert mini rant:  I HATE BLOGGER "formatting".  I can't get it to post the proper text beside the proper photo, and "wysiwyg" formatting is BS, because wis is definitely not wig.  BLECH.   ./end mini rant

A few small finishes - the Halloween fabric was a large scrap given to me by Nancy ... and I made these zipper bags to use up the last of this pink floral fabric - the flamingo bag is lined with the same floral. 

Sailboat quilt finished :)

Sailboat quilt finished tonight - it's in the dryer right now :) The backing is red/white/blue stars on a white background - all the colors that are in the quilt - very pretty!

Here's the next little quilt I'm working on - a baby quilt for an expectant niece :D  The backing is minty/limey green chenilley/minky type fabric - I got it at Joanns during our last trip - I hope it's as nice to sew as it is to touch - it's sooooooo soft!

Ladybugs and a sailboat :D

This is what I made with the "extra" (small) sailboat block :)

Here's the ladybug book thong (bookmark) I made @ Nancy's house today - I got the ladybug beads and findings @ That Bead Lady in Newmarket (Ontario) - the black, red and crystal seed beads were "stash" :)  This little guy measures 13" long - it's even cuter in person than the photo shows (imnsho!) :)

Come sail away ...

come sail away with meeeeeeeeeee :)

I decided not to add the r/w/b border as I didn't have quite enough for the border and backing.  That's OK - the quilt looks quite lovely as is, if I do say so myself!  I don't know if I'll have time tomorrow to sew (doctors appointment in the morning, visiting a friend in the afternoon) but hopefully I can at least get it sandwiched and basted!  It really does look quite pretty, and I'm glad I reverse colored a couple of the blocks for fun - especially the first block of the last row, lol.

Vegas bound :)

Not me, unfortunately, but it's on my Places to Visit list!  Our neighbours are headed there so I whipped up a couple of bags for L - I hope she likes them! ;)

BTW --- Happy Birthday Jenn!!!  I hope you're enjoying your birthday dinner party :D

A bit of progress before bedtime :)

The first 2 rows assembled and sashed (and containing a major error that I fixed the fast way, not the right way --- shhhhhhhhhhh don't tell!) - I'm loving the rick rack water detail, lol!

A necessary evil when paper piecing - paper detritus!  Fortunately I used such a tiny stitch length (30 on my Singer - totally impossible to froggy stitch, lol) that the paper practically falls off :D

Nancy I think this sashing fabric will work just FINE ;)

I got the last of the sailboat blocks finished today - notice that 2 of the blocks have reverse sail colors (on purpose) ... and notice the little block @ the bottom right - he has a special direction in life ... ;)

Here's the sashing fabric we ended up with last night, and the border fabric I picked up @ Joanns last month.  They certainly seem to work well together!  Off to cut sashes! 

Sailing off the edge of the earth, lol

I think these boats are trying to find the edge of the earth!  ;)  5 more blocks done this morning - 4 more to make.  Tonight I'll hit the fabric store after yoga and pick up the sashing fabric, so hopefully tomorrow I can start assembling the quilt top!

My car fabric arrived yesterday - lovely service, as always, from QuiltFabricCloseouts.com - no affiliation, just a very satisfied repeat customer :)  One week from placing order to receiving fabric - keeping in mind I'm in Canada and I ordered from the States, that's a good turnaround time!  Soon I'll be able to start working on the car play mats I want to make :D  I guess I need to pick up some Hot Wheels cars to accessorize the mats, LOL!

Heeheeeeee!!!

I could have used these little peepee teepees when my boys were infants ... HA!!!  These are for our niece Daniela, whose bun in the oven should be done cooking next month :)  We don't know if she's having a boy or a girl, but if it's a boy, she'll be ready ... LOL!!!

Tutorial here :D

Book him, Dano!

Post topic ---> Hawaiian hula zipper bags (completed today) ---> lame, I know ;) 

Paper pieced blocks for a project I'm working on ... I need to make another 10 (or so) blocks - the patterns were free from the Quiltmaker website, but I think they've since removed them.  There's one more sailboat design that I'll also be doing.  And rick rack will be making an important appearance in the finished project ;)

A small milestone :D

I've been stuck in a weight loss plateau since mid-July but finally the dam broke, and at today's weigh-in I finally lost another pound (ok, 1.2 pounds, lol).  That takes me - BMI Calculator-wise - from obese to overweight.  HAHAHAHAHA I'm "only" overweight - how exciting!!!!!!!!!!!  

It's very handy being married to an electrician ;)

We're slowly redoing the paint/flooring/etc. in the house - in the spring we had some carpets replaced and the downstairs repainted - today hubby started new lights and fans on the first floor.  As you can see by the photographs, he had a shadow *ahem* *ahem* - not too ironic that the shadow is an apprentice wireman ;)

Hubby assembling the ceiling fan for the family room ... with shadow ;)

Hubby installing a hall light.  Shadow is out of photo range ;)

Hubby putting together another hall light fixture - I call this one The Worker and the Shirker - check out the stairs ;)

Bonus photo (a bit blurry because I took the picture through the screen) - our oldest son bbq'ing steak and chicken for supper ... his girlfriend Alex is sitting in the lawn chair, and Nick is wearing socks and sandals as a tribute to his dad ... ROTFL!!  As I've been informed, it's not possible to bbq without beer - who knew? LOL!

Halloween and Christmas :D

A couple more completions --- 5 gift bags ...

... and some Halloween bibs.  The two small ones on top are for the bun in the oven that's arriving next month - to go with the Thanksgiving and Christmas bibs already completed :D

iEggs and iTurkey :)

Egg cozies I made as a gift - tutorial available here :)  These were a bit of a pain in the a$$ to make because my free-arm was too big and I had a hard time doing the last seam.  I had to pull out the Husqvarna to use as it had the smallest bed of my several machines, lol.  I love how these turned out!!  The lining is the same fabric as the outside, and they're batted with Warm and Natural :)

These bibs go with the Christmas ones I made yesterday, and are part of a gift set I'm working on.  They're backed with brown chenille (which you can see peeking out behind the turkey fabric).  These put a smile on my face - TURKEY BIBS!  ROTFL!!!

P.S.  Congratulations California!!!  Well done :)

Bibs and bags :)

Finally some finishes - stash-busting Christmas bibs and gift bags :)

A wee bit of shopping ...

Hubby and I went to Buffalo this long weekend - partly as a celebration for our 25th anniversary (on Tuesday), but mainly because I love going there to shop @ Joanns, LOL.  Here are a few bits and pieces I picked up during our trip ;)

This is the fabric I chose for a baby quilt I'm making for an expectant niece.  The green fabric at the bottom is similar to minky - it's unbelievably soft - baby will enjoy snuggling on it!

The green fabric (back) is what I picked to go with the floral print.  The floral was given to me by a friend, and I cut it into 10" squares for a quicky donation quilt.  Hopefully there's enough of the green for the alternate blocks and backing :)

The train print is from a Hobby Lobby visit a year or two ago.  I found the blue stripe fabric yesterday to co-ordinate with it.  This will likely be a donation quilt so it'll just be a simple 1 patch with alternating train/stripe blocks. 

I think I need more hours in the day ;)

Cutest kids travel blanket tute EVER :)

This is one of the cutest tutorials I've ever seen - Kathy @ Merriment Design posted this, and I fell in LOVE :)  Project is now officially on my To Do list :)

Pics are Kathy's, and are posted with her permission - thanks, Kathy!

Selvages - serious FUNNAGE!

I jumped on the selvage bandwagon a few months ago, and have been saving them since then.  Today I made my first selvage project - it should come as no surprise (right, Aubree?!) that I made a zipper bag, LOL.  I'm sure that over the last 30 years of sewing I've thrown away MILES of selvages.  DAMN - I wish I'd known way back when, how much fun they are to sew with, and how cute they are!  Selvage eye candy and inspiration can be found here and here and here :D

 

Another finish - some gift bags (2 + 5) made to use up some stash Christmas fabric :) 

A few small finishes :)

Thanks Barb!  My friend Barb (tinkquilts) recently sent me a luscious flamingo FQ - it immediately jumped under Bella (my 1953 Singer) and Cinderella'd into a couple of notebook covers!  I would have gotten 3 covers if I hadn't miscut TWICE *argh*.  I still have some pretty scraps of the fabric for a future project - thanks Barb!!!

Here are a couple of recent finishes - a set of zipper bags with a matching notebook cover (tutorial here), along with a gift bag - sorry Miss Aubree, my love affair with zipper bags is still in full force, LOLOL!!  The notebook cover has a built-in ribbon bookmark - seen below - a nice touch - thanks Roslyn and Moda!

Notebook covers - tute by Blossom!

Hey Angela - I don't have to eat a bug ... HA!!!  Private joke - don't ask :D  I just finished up 2 little (5"X3") notebook covers to try out a tutorial I found - the tute was written by Miss Blossom, the daughter of Jenny of Elefantz - it worked out perfectly, and each one only took a few minutes to make :)  Thank you, Miss Blossom, for a very nice tutorial!!  

Bag 1 of a 4 bag set :)

I'm working on a special set of zipper bags using some fabrics I was given and some co-ordinating fabrics I bought - here's the first bag - it's soooooo pretty!  When I get the other bags done I'll make zipper pulls to go with them - my one thumb is a bit too chewed up (aka psoriasy) to do fiddly jobs right now - it needs a few days to heal, lol. I hope the other bags go as well as this one did!

Singapore Jane = a brilliant lady!

A personal preference of mine is that zipper bags (which I love, and which I love sewing) be finished properly inside and outside - with no raw edges.  There are many tutorials online for this technique - here's a great one.   

When the zipper in a zipper bag is in the middle(ish) rather than at the top, it's a whole new ball of wax.  Other zipper bag aficionados (likely a rather small subset of sewists in general, LOLOL) would agree, should the question be posed in their general direction.  Suffice it to say, it's a production to do this bag "properly", and tonight, I'm happy to say, I learned how to do it from the inventive and creative Jane in Singapore - tutorial here :)  I had a rough time with the bag - many seams were ripped, many seams were basted as a test run, and I forgot to sew the tab in at the zipper pull *oops*.  However, I ended up with a sweet centre-ish zipper bag that's fully lined on the inside, with no raw edges.  Jane - you ROCK!!  Thank you for not being satisfied to do an average job on the bag, but to come up with a great technique that I'll certainly be using again and again!  Now that I know what I'm doing, I won't have problems the next time :D

Happy, I am!!

I forgot to post this earlier ...

L-R = Kim, Matt, Jamie --- Kim is my big brother, Matt is his son, and Jamie is Matt's girlfriend - this photo was taken (by my SIL, Heather, I assume!) when they were in Florida earlier this year! 

A 3" x 4" scrap ...

was all I needed to decide to make this zipper bag, lol.  I love using up bits and pieces of fabrics and trims :D

A couple of finishes for the donation box - 2 kitty cat pillowcases, and 2 zipper bags :)

Getting back on track ...

recuperating from my (hernia) surgery - I'm getting better but yesterday a weird pain started, so hopefully it goes away soon.  It doesn't seem critical but it is fairly painful - I go for a follow-up with my surgeon on July 19 so hopefully I can hold out until then.  Rather annoying to have a setback during a slow but steady improvement!

Here's a tote I finished tonight, along with some zipper bags I finished last month - I'll include one or two of the zippies with the tote as a set, and the extras will be donated to the shelter for fund-raising.  The tote is a Dandy tote from Dandelion Quilts - I cut mine 2" wider than the instructions because I like my totes big :)

Have a peek here for a spectacular loaf of bread I baked today, and the pasta salad I made yesterday - - if I wasn't on a diet I would have eaten the whole loaf and at least half of the pasta salad, lol.  SERIOUSLY!!  Holy crap they were good!