Thursday 20 June 2013

School's out for summer!

Another school year has come and gone. My little girls just keep getting bigger and bigger, and are now done with senior kindergarten and 2nd grade. We had a fantastic school year with the best teachers. I think we were all a little sad to see it come to an end.

So I thought I would share with you the gifts I made for these wonderful ladies who spent most of the last 10 months with my girls.

Back in February I ordered some scarf kits from Pink Castle Fabrics. I bought one for me, one for my mom, and the others were for the teachers. I knew they would be the perfect gifts.

In March, I showed you the 2 scarves I made for my mom and I.

I made one with this colour combination for Emilie's 2nd grade teacher:

 

And I made 2 of this colour combination; one for Noémie's SK teacher and one for the EA who worked in Emilie's class.

 

Because I work part-time at the school, I am lucky enough to get to know my kids' teachers and the school staff. These 3 ladies are very special and we are so thankful they have been a part of our girls' lives.

Now let summer vacation begin! I just hope the weather will co-operate!

 

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Not what I was expecting

Last weekend was not at all what I expected it to be. Most of you might remember me mentioning I was going to a retreat at my mom's. Well, unexpected things came up and I ended up spending my weekend with my husband and kids instead.

I did spend Friday morning and evening at my mom's with my quilting buddies though. And during this time, we did manage to pick out our UFO for our challenge! I am sure some of you are dying to know which of my projects got picked out of the bag....

Ta da!

 

It was my Friendship Star bed quilt.

The last time I worked on this quilt was March 2012. I talked about it in this post.

I got stuck after putting on the second border... It ended up a little wonky so I was nervous about continuing on to the last border. After some consultation with my mom/quilter, I decided it will be fine but never got around to finishing it.

So here we are over a year later and it still isn't done. I am really glad this quilt got pulled out of the bag. I would really like to put it on my bed! So now the goal is to have it done before June 2014 so I can get my $10 back!

I will post a picture of the completed quilt top, hopefully within the next month! In the meantime you can check out this post for a few in progress photos.

 

Thursday 13 June 2013

A new challenge

I am headed to my mom's in the morning for an in-town retreat with my quilt group. We will be sewing together all day Friday and all day Saturday. We get to go home to sleep on Friday night, but there is room to sleep if we decide to stay overnight!

We are going to start a new challenge while we are together this weekend. The goal is to finish a UFO. So we each have to bring 4 to 6 UFOs, all packed up in separate bags. We will each take turns putting our UFOs into a black garbage bag. Someone will pull out one of the UFOs. The challenge is to completely finish this project before June 2014.

As extra incentive we are also putting money in a jar. I think we said $10 each. If you complete the challenge, you get your $10 back. If you fail to complete it, your money is divided amongst the others who did meet the challenge.

So here are my UFOs:

 

Triangle lap quilt: needs borders, quilting, binding and label

 

Batik bed quilt: needs borders, quilting, binding and label
Friendship Star bed quilt: needs last border, quilting, binding and label
Scrappy Bargello lap quilt: needs to be pieced, borders maybe, quilting, binding and label
Dresden Plate bed quilt: blocks need appliqued circles, needs to be pieced, quilted, binding and label
Garbage quilt (QAYG): I think it needs 7 more rows...

There you have it. Some of these UFO's are from my blogging days and some are from before that time. I picked 6 UFOs I think would be fun to do and that I feel like finishing.

I will let you know which one I pick and you will surely be able to see the progress throughout the year. Have a great weekend!

 

Friday 7 June 2013

WIP Friday?

I know it is Friday and I should be showing you a finish but time just keeps flying by and I am just not getting around to blogging as often as I would like. I am guessing this is a sign of things to come seeing as school is out in 2 weeks.

I am doing a lot of sewing lately, just running out of blogging time. So I am here today to share with you some WIPs. (I apologize for the low quality photos... I have been taking them with my iPad and it is so dreary and rainy here that it is hard to get a good photo even when I try!)

First up is my Granny Squares:

I am using a Jelly Roll of Kate Spain's Serenade And following this Moda Bakeshop tutorial. I do have 10 blocks done now, only 10 more to go.

Earlier this week I realized I am behind in the BOM my quilt group is doing. June is my month so I first worked on my appliqué block so it will be ready when I share the pattern with everyone:

Then I worked on Sherrill's appliqué block:
 

Those two block still need to be stitched down. I now have 4 blocks done and I am 2 blocks behind, not too bad!

 

I have been having so much fun with all of these blocks but they have to be pushed aside for now so I can work on teacher's gifts. Thankfully I already know what I am making and it won't take too long.

Have a great weekend!

 

Saturday 1 June 2013

Log Cabin

I finally finished my 5 year old daughter's log cabin quilt.


It took me about a year from start to finish which isn't too bad for me considering it is a bed sized quilt.  My mom quilted a beautiful pantograph quilt on it. I love the texture it adds to the quilt.


I put a lovely flannel on the back.


And used a great purple for the binding.



Her room is pink but her favourite colour is purple.  It adds a lot of warmth to her room.
Although it is a little warm right now for the flannel back, she absolutely wanted it on her bed right away!