In the Olden Days...

This has become one of my four year old son's favourite expressions of late. Although he does have a real fascination for all old transportation equipment (I know way more about old street car systems and antique farm machines than I ever thought possible!), what he really means is anything that existed before him.

This gift for a new baby does not quite meet his definition, but it was completed early in 2011. I have just been too disorganized to actually cram him in a box and send him to his new baby owner. I have dreams of creating the perfect care package for my friend (who is now a mother of 3!). I'm all thoughts and no action these days. Good intentions at their worst.

I did however, get organized enough to make a donation to the Canadian Red Cross to assist in Japan!

This sweet elephant fellow is from Last Minute Patchwork Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. Making him really took only the 4 hours designated in the book and he was not tough to make...even for a 3D impaired lady, such as myself! Now my cute boy would like one for his very own. The highest praise indeed!

D-day

Time for the { Urban } HOME Goods swap mail day. I have been mostly finished for a few weeks now, but have been procrastinating with the mail out. I am super anxious that my partner like what I've made. Oi - the pressure!

I noticed that my partner (who participated in the last UHG swap) has listed a sewing machine cover twice in her list of asks. One of her comments indicated that she wanted a cover that was closed on the sides for maximum dust protection. I surfed the net and found a good tutorial at Notes from the Patch. I made a few small adjustments to suit my own purposes, but followed the instructions for the side pockets exactly. Love them. They would be a great little spot for scooping all of the little bits of sewing equipment out of the way in a hurry. BEGONE stitch ripper! BEGONE rotary cutter. I think that my partner sews in her living room, so I would imagine quick clean-up would be key.

My partner's "likes" also included turquoise and vintage. I happened to have some vintage linen with turquoise polka dots - MMmaaaaaAAAAAnnn, I hope that she doesn't dislike dots.


In an attempt to keep the scale of the swap reasonable, we were instructed that we are only allowed to add one "small" handmade treat in this swap. I had a hard time picking, until I saw a post at the Martha Crafts Dept. I am very happy with my choice. Hope that my partner is too! I opted to stretch the cross stitch over an artists canvas (again!) because I like the clean, modern look. It could easily be dropped into a frame if preferred.

Dear swap partner, I hope that you are happy with your treats. I had a great time picking, plotting and making them!

Why we are having pizza tonight...

268 - 4" hourglass squares


Half of which are currently carefully laid out on the dining room floor....


Tonight I must keep the 3-year old boy out of the dining room and off of the quilty mess. I must "randomly" lay out the rest of the squares and then create orderly little stacks to be pieced for a quilt top.

My lovely husband is celebrating his 40th birthday this year. I was so flattered when he told me that he wanted a quilt. He loves these Kaffe fabrics...and so do I!

Can I deliver this quilt by a Friday deadline? It seems doubtful. I would at least like to have the top pieced for that lovely man. It would be nice if he had an actual gift to open. I would really do almost anything to make certain that he enjoys his BIG day. He's a bit nervous about 40, and I want to make sure that the day is filled with happy, loving memories.

I love you sweetie! I'm racing to finish on time....but I know that you really know me. I'm always running late. You love that about me, right? RIGHT???

Everybody out of the dining room! No time for dinner preparation! Quilting-palooza all week at my house!

On the precipice...

I am so close to finishing 4 or 5 projects. I have been working feverishly and completing nothing (thus the quiet blog).

Here is one small completion:

Donna gave me a collection of Japanese fabrics in 5X5 size. I knew that this fabric would be a big hit with a certain 3 year old who happens to a have a hole in the right knee of nearly every pair of pants that he owns. I wondered how this could be until I saw the boy dragging his right leg behind him as he pushed toy trucks up and down the sidewalk last weekend. Oooooohhhh! So that's why! All this to say - there is a cute new patch on my son's jeans. Quick "project" done!

More to come later this week, but then there will be blog silence since I will be off to Holland for 10 days! Tulip-a-palooza!

Birthdays and breaks

Hope that everybody had a great long weekend! Not only was it the Easter long weekend, but at our house....it was also my birthday long weekend. Yippee! I love to drag out a birthday celebration for as long as humanly possible. Much longer than is appropriate really.

It was eerily calm at our house this weekend. This was not by accident. It was one of my birthday "gifts" from my husband. You see, I have a habit of scheduling every free moment, but he organized a "non-planned, do what you want on a whim" kind of a weekend . Let me be clear - I am scheduling my life with things that I love and with people that I love, but sometimes a calm, quiet, non-scheduled weekend is just what one requires. It was strangely liberating. We spent a lot of time outside doing nothing of any importance, but full of sunshine and enjoyment!

I must confess, however, it turns out that I don't just sit still well...so I spent much of the weekend with some hexagons in my hands. This was a completely directionless and relaxing task. I'm not really sure what I will do with these hexagons. I had imagined making a wall hanging and taking it into my office at work to fight off the BEIGE. Not sure if that's what I'm going to do now. Work has been busy and sort of yucky lately (temporarily, I'm sure!). Not too sure if I want to subject my lovely hexagons to work and the beige. Is it crazy to be protective of scraps of fabric made into hexagons? Probably! Perhaps they will become a lovely cushion for home???

As you can see, my son is very keen on all of the colours. Here he is helping to model my hexagons:

Here I go...back into real life. Luckily, the weekend is not far away...

Bunting goodness

I have been wanting to make some bunting for my son's room for quite some time...and here it is finished and on the walls:



Cute, non?

The entire house (well nearly!) was painted this beige colour when we moved in. It was not offensive, but lately I am finding it dull, dull, dull (and then dull some more). It could be that there has been very little natural light, but it could also be that the beige is dull.

Don't these cheery little flags go a good way in brightening up the room? I suppose that I could just bite the bullet and repaint the room....but I haven't! In the meanwhile, this bunting makes the room cheery enough for a three year old again.

There is even a bit of his favourite fabric (Tot Town by Michael Miller). Yes...I had only very small scraps left so I had to add some solid in to streeeeeeeetch the Tot Town scraps far enough for 2 flags.



You may recognize that I have used this fabric before for the boy in quilt format. He insists on using the "back" as the top, because he can look a the large piece of construction machine fabric. Hmph.


He has a point though...it is nice to look at such bright colours!