Oh, The Possibilities.....

Triangles, squares, and strips. Oh My!!

Spring is in the air and my creative juices are flowing! I finally had a day to myself where I had some extra energy and I honed in on my monochromatic themed project. I have had the material and the plan for this quilt for almost two years now. It is destined for the back of our couch so my sweetie and I have something to snuggle into on a cool night. I may be overextending myself though.....I have a baby quilt to do for a cousin, a quilt to make for my niece in honour of her graduation from fifth grade to middle school, and some very, veeeeeeeery late christmas sock animals. All to be finished before May 19. I do love a challenge!

I think the last sewing project I worked on was this quilt last year. Very good friends of mine welcomed their second child into the world, a beautiful, healthy boy. I was overjoyed to be invited to his baptism, and made him a tummy time quilt to mark the occasion. I chose to alternate the "friendship star" patch with a solid block of old fashioned Pooh material. I don't know what the baby thinks of it, but I love it!   

And just so the big sister wouldn't feel left out, I made her a new friend. Every girl needs a sock friend.

I was very happy to finally finish a birthday banner for my dad. I started it last year then was sidetracked by putting on a show, getting surgery etc. and never got it done. I buckled down and had it ready for the day this year. Turned out rather well too.

I think I am going to make Spring Cleaning more of a Spring Finishing this year. I have a very bad habit of moving on to a new project before I have finished the old one. The end result is I have a room full of half finished projects, and I'm starting to feel overwhelmed by it all. So my plan is to make some lists (I do so love lists) prioritizing the unfinished projects  and I am going to get them done....I hope. No. I know!!! 

"The best laid schemes of mice and men..."

My Nest Is Best!

I am happy to say that move in is complete.....for the most part. I am sorry to say that I have to organize some things before I can bring the rest of my books and sewing supplies from my folks' house, but the main bulk of my possessions are home!

I am fully into the nest feathering phase. Drapes and knick knacks and pictures, Oh my! I am having so much fun, and despite his comical grumbling I think my sweetie (A.K.A. the Boy) is having fun too. Chez Nous is actually starting to resemble a home. Who knew?!

I finally finished a king size quilt that I have been working on for the better part of ten years this week. It was one of the first quilting projects I attempted outside of sewing class. Up to the start of it, the biggest quilt I had finished was a tummy time quilt for my niece. I don't know what it was about it, but I would always pick the project up, work on it for a couple of days and then back it would go into a bag in the closet for another year.

My folks headed off down to Arizona today, so I thought it was the perfect time to set a deadline as the person the quilt is intended for is my cousin in California and I figured it would be a lot cheaper to ship it from the Old Pueblo than Toronto! I love a good deadline. It got my ass in gear. The layers got pinned together, the quilting was accomplished and the binding was finished up, all by Wednesday. Dig me finishing with days to spare, I must be growing up or something!

Hmmm, back to work I suppose. I am in the process of putting all our DVDs, Blu-rays, Cds, and video games into binders so they take up less space. Staples sells CD sleeves that will go into any 3-ring binder, so I got some attractive looking storage for our collection instead of those tacky, zip up versions from the past! I have huge motivation to get this done as the Boy (A.K.A the big meanie) wont let me bring all my beautiful books over until I have space to unpack them. Imagine....being logical...Some people's boyfriends! Oi!

Happy Weekend to all!

Oh! The moving!

I am in the final countdown of a move and I cant wait for it to be over. There is just too much to do and not enough time to do it in. I swear I am going to drive the people in my life nuts, that is if I don't put myself in the nuthouse first. On the upside at the end of all this craziness I will be living with my sweetheart. I just need to keep hold of my temper so I don't drive him away in the process.

I just found the blog of a fellow quilter and fabric designer called Tula Pink. She is AMAZING! And as soon as I get some sleep and figure out how to add a link I will!! I must say I am in serious fabric lust for her new prince charming collection. It will be mine, oh yes! It will be mine.

Not much else to report. between work, nest feathering, and class my crafty work has been the part of my life to give. Another two weeks and all will be well. I just have to keep remembering that!  This too shall pass. Sun is warm, grass is green. Or as my sister says, "sky is green, grass is blue." Mantra, mantra, mantra.

I think it is time for bed. I do believe tired blogging is the equivalent to drunken texting.....it's usually painful to the reader and embarrassing to the sender. My humble apologies to any who stumble across this.

At last.......

I figured out how to get the pictures in! I tried a little while ago and I couldn't get them to load. but here they are at last. I am very happy with the results.

This is a quilt for baby Owen. I think every little guy and gal should have a comfy spot for tummy time, which I understand is not pleasant for some. This finished up at about 45"x45" and has already had the seal of approval by wee Owen himself!

I made a dolly quilt for Owen's big sister Allison. I didn't want her to feel left out. I put it together using the scraps I held on to from Allison's tummy time quilt and Owen's, (yes I plead guilty to being a scrap rat, which is like a pack rat only the bits and bobs I keep aren't shiny). It finished up at 14"x14".

I have a collection of teddies that I bought for a screaming deal, so I gave them each one to go with their blanket.

I am happy to report that Allison promptly claimed both teddies and took turns naming them and tucking them in the toy quilt for a nap! 

It has been a busy few weeks. I am back at work after a long convalescence from surgery. I have started a new acting class, that is a blast so far. And last but certainly not least, I am preparing to move in with my sweetie! 

On the crafting front, My Renaissance Fair-ing sweetheart is in need of a new gambeson. So my mum and I, (with some help from the man himself) are putting together a very posh one! 

A gambeson, as I had explained to me a few days ago, is a quilted, long-sleeved tunic that is worn under chain-mail armour. I am hard at work today quilting the individual pieces of it with a celtic knot-work motif......what was I thinking?! It is going to look awesome when it is finished, but oi! Why do the really creative ideas always wind up being so very labour intensive?

Oi!

Why are some bad movies like horrible crashes? We want to look away, we want to go on with our day and our lives, but some kind of morbid curiosity compels us to keep staring. I am watching Motherhood on the movie network and it is so very very FAKE! There are some redeeming performances in the movie, but for the most part the interaction is completely unrealistic. I have spent the last hour or so being more irritated than entertained......and yet I just can't bring myself to flip the channel or better yet, turn off the idiot box completely! Oi!

I have spent a lovely, lazy Saturday surfing the net and finding some inspired organizational ideas. The spring cleaning bug is biting, I have the urge to purge the stuff not being used and chase those dust bunnies out of town. Look out winter dirt, there's a new sheriff in town. Maybe. Perhaps I'll get a cup of tea and sit down until the urge passes!

Every Journey........

They do say that every journey begins with a single step. I don't know my destination, but I look forward to sharing the trip!


I'm a crafty kind of gal. I have dabbled in many different craft forms from macaroni wreaths to counted cross-stitch, scrap booking to card making, scrunchies to quilts. I can never seem to stick to just one, although I always come back to quilting. I thought I could use the blog format to share my ideas and hopefully gain some insight and/or inspiration from other crafters when I am stuck. 


I have a lot of ideas of what I would like to do, unfortunately I am the teeniest bit technologically challenged. With your patience and the help of my tech savvy sweetie we'll whip 'Odds and Ends' into shape.


I'm currently working on a doll quilt made from leftover scraps. I shall post some pictures when I figure out how it's done!