Monday, July 20, 2009

To My DQS7 Partner

I know this is a little early, but I'm leaving on vacation tomorrow and may not be online for a few days, so I thought I would leave you a little note right now.

Thank you so much for making me a little quilt. I am so excited to receive whatever you make. To give you some ideas of what I like, I've made a mosaic of some of my favorite favorites.

You can look through my Flikr faves too. Some of them are inspiration ideas for the future, but many are quilts I really like. As you can see, I love all kinds of pieced and appliqued and everything in between quilts. I love simplicity with lots of white and pops of colours, and I also love super bright and busy quilts. If I were to give you a word to work from, it would be "cheerful".

You can also look through the swap quilts I've given and received in the 6 - 12" mini quilt swap over at Flikr -- I have loved all of those. And the doll quilts and coasters I've made. They've also made me happy.

Basically, I live in Saskatchewan, where it is winter for 6 months of the year, and I'm in a house that has beige carpets and beige walls, which I didn't choose and can't really change (although I do occasionally paint a wall anyway). So anything that brightens and cheers our little world is good with me. Above all, have fun. I'm sure if you enjoy making the quilt, I will enjoy receiving it. Thanks!

Instead of Packing, We Did This Yesyerday . . .

It started innocently enough . . .



But soon enough things got messy . . .



And it ended with me stripping the boys down and soaking them with the hose before I would let them in the house (although they still had to have a bath to get the mud out of their hair -- Saskatchewan mud is black and thick and sticky . . .perfect for wheat and canola. Not so perfect for getting out of white carpet and fine blond hair).

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Stash Sunday

Due to my lack of a camera, or of new fabric, I haven't posted a Stash Sunday in a long time. But just recently, since I sold a quilt last week, I bought this fabric to fill in its spot (um, what's that? Was I supposed to be stash busting? Ooops.)

Presently I am planning to use it to add some different fabric to Aaron's I-spy quilt when I get to it, unless we have a boy, then it will be the new baby's quilt, and some extra patches will go into Aaron's I-spy quilt as well.

This is "Oh Boy" by David Walker. I picked it up in a fat quarter pack from Pink Chalk Studios. Kathy must have an extra in with Canada Post or something, because this fabric arrived super fast.



Since I was paying for shipping anyway, and I am thinking of making some storage containers of some kind for the boys, I picked up these cute cars, too:


As always, you can see what other Stashers are playing along on Tamara's blog, 1/4 of an inch .

Now I should get to my cleaning and packing, since we're leaving on summer holidays in two days.

Friday, July 17, 2009

PSST! Sign ups are open for DQS7!


dqs7 button.
Originally uploaded by rachelgriffith
There might still be room! They are cutting off entries at 200, which should be sometime later today.

If you don't know what this is, its a really great swap. Everyone is given a person to send a doll quilt to, like lots of swaps. But the fun part is that it is not reciprocal (as in,your person is sending to someone different) so you don't know who is sending you a quilt. You just sort of leave "hints" around the internet about things you would like, and your partner decides what to make you based on those hints. Meanwhile all the members post photos and blog about what they are making, and you never know if its for you or not until you receive your quilt in the mail. How great is that?

I have never had the courage to enter this amazing swap, but I decided I had to do it this round, and that I had the time in August to make something suitably amazing, after the flurry that was June and is July.

Anyway, you can go here to sign up, if there's still room.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

What have I been stitching up?

I'm glad you asked!
First, my June Threads Together blocks are done, but not sent yet. Alison asked us to make cross blocks, with as many or few crosses as we wanted. She sent a fun collection of reds and some tone on tone whites and solid white to work with.


Next my Craft Hope quilt. You will remember I was making a quilt to send to an orphanage in India. This is the quilt I'm working on for that. It just needs the binding wrapped around from the back to the front and attached and its ready to go, which is good because it needs to be in Texas in 11 days. I used lots of big, elaborate prints, which sort of reminded me of Indian sari fabric. And since I have two boys, I decided to make something pretty and girly, but hopefully something that won't show dirt too badly.



I really liked the simple design I used for the Craft Hope quilt. So much so that I've decided to use the same design for a quilt for my friend Lisa's baby that is due around the same time as mine. I started one really crazy, complicated quilt in all reds and black and white polka dots and dark blues. Then I remembered that Lisa likes more muted colours than I do, and that I wanted to finish the quilt before she goes back to Bogata in Sept, so I decided to cut into my Heather Ross stash instead to make something soft, sweet and simple. For you other fabric junkies out there, I picked up 2m of green West Hill horses for the back.


I also have three blocks to work on for my two quilting bees. The blue and grey solids are for July for Threads Together, the tone-on-tones are for Lish for the Stash Busting Bee, and the forest animals are for Shannon, who is making a hunting lodge quilt for her nefew. I need to have these all finished before I go on holidays in a week, so after art camp is done, you can know that as well as packing and cleaning, I'll be stitching up a storm.

And this is a sneak peek at something I'm working on now and then when I get the chance -- a quilt for me. These are my Pop Garden scraps from this picnic quilt where I used up almost my whole stash of these fabrics. I've added some of my favorite browns, as well as some fantastic greens I've been generously given in assorted swaps. I made the first block when I was doing a test block for this star block . I'm making 15 more, and then I'll figure out what to do with them once they're done. This one is just to pull out and work on when I don't have anything else with a deadline to sew. Although I might like to finish it in time for the new baby, since I tend to do a lot of couch snuggling and nursing with new babies while everyone older plays around us.


I was being pretty disciplined about doing one major quilting project at a time, but I've found that with the boys at the stages they're at, there are only certain parts of a quilt I can do during the day when they are awake. So if I'm at a spot that requires some thought and concentration and possibly math or a lot of ironing, I can't do it when they're awake. So if I have several projects going, there's always something I can mess around with at any given moment. Hopefully this isn't the beginning of the end of sanity.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Obligatory Belly Photo


So here I am, at 20 weeks pregnant. Half way there!

Yeah, and I have bangs. I don't think I've had bangs since I was in highschool. I"m trying to decide if I like them, or if they're too girly. I think its that the rest of my hair has really heavy layers, so I feel like its too much of a mom cut, or conversely, like what my hair was like in grade 11. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Donna, for getting my camera back to me! Lots of crafty things to post in the next day or so (or just check my Flikr, they're already up there).

Saturday, July 11, 2009

I Was Totally THAT Mother Yesterday.

You know. The one you pity if you have small children and swear you'll never be like if you don't yet have children and never remember being if you're children are 25 or older. Yep, that was me. But what did I expect, going into the city (a 2 hr drive) with a 4 and 2 yr old in tow, at 20 weeks pregnant with a still slightly sprained ankle (no crutches, thank goodness), to buy enough craft supplies for a 4 day Art-based day camp with 25 kids already registered? Well let me tell you, this trip exceeded my worst expectations.

First, we had to stop at the only gas station / resteraunt on the way there for lunch, because we did not get out of town until eleven o-clock. Add Friday afternoon vacationers line ups and a two year old who insists on doing everything HIMSELF and can't make up his mind about whether he wants ham or turkey on his sub with a LONG line-up behind him.

Second, we "had" to stop at the quilt shop in town (the only one I've found this side of Edmonton that carries Free Spirit fabrics -- and I'm just assuming someone in Edmonton does because its just a cool city). Since our local quilt shop has a toy table, the boys insisted that they DID NOT need to bring toys into the store, because fabric stores always have toys. This one had a bin of little legos. Which Aaron dumped all over the floor. And then they started fighting over the legos. And then Aaron discovered, as we were trying to pick up said legos (which included 15 or so lego guys that they had completely taken apart -- like, even removed the tiny arms) that there was a twirling display of needles and pins above his head . . . and I got out to the car to discover that he had exploded his diaper . .

Third, was the actual trip to Michaels to buy craft supplies. Which included many, many reminders that we were only buying things for ART CAMP and that no, I would not buy a volcano kit, or a worm-making kit or a crystal growing kit or a Spiderman colouring book and sticker set or . . . you get the idea. Andrew was finally sated when I told him that we would go to Burger King after this to get supper and hopefully transformer toys. After this the boys decided that the best way to amuse themselves while Mom tried to figure out what quantity of foam to buy was to head butt each other. Then the cart got too full of craft supplies to happily hold Aaron as well (and although he thought it was amusing to jump on the four margerine-like containers of clay, I didn't want clay bursting all over the store). This meant releasing Aaron into a store with long, open aisles and lots of interesting, brightly coloured things at perfect grabbing height. After this came the debacle of Aaron getting a hold of a crayola marker I was using to mark things off my list, lying down in the middle of the aisle in front of our cart and drawing all over his legs. Finally, we were done shopping and came to the check out . . . where only one till was open. And they had bins and bins of shiny plastic toy-like candy dispensers. Fortunately, I had a box of raisins in my bag, and managed to coax him into sitting in the top of the cart while we went through the check out line.

Fourth, we arrived at Burger King right at 5 pm and had to wait in a long lineup that was filtered through one of those maze-like contraptions that just happened to have three bars running along it that were perfect for Aaron to climb up and down on. We got to the counter to discover that there were NO toys at all, never mind transformer toys, and Andrew started wailing. To try to distract him and get him away from the poor workers who were just starting their supper rush and really didn't need to hear his howling, I grabbed our cups and we went to get drinks. Aaron grabbed his drink before I could put a lid on it and spilled it all over the floor. So there I am, pregnant, with one child wailing "WHY DON'T THEY HAVE TRANSFORMER TOYS? MY PLAN IS RUINED!", and a second child, covered in blue marker that I still haven't wiped off, now soaked in red Fruitopia, cheerfully wiping the floor with paper napkins. Fortunately this Burger King had a play place with a glassed in room and some seating, so we sat in there, I got Andrew calmed down eventually (after a stern, "I know you are disappointed and you had a cool plan that is ruined. You have had a chance to express that. Now eat your food and enjoy the play station.") and we did manage to eat with minimal hassle (aside from Andrew's inevitable "Why are there seeds on my bun? Who is going to swap their bun bottom with my bun top?" panic), and they did eventually play, and Andrew even made a friend.

When his new friend left, he sat down, discouraged and said, "We can leave now. My friend is gone." I suggested that he could meet some of the kids who had just entered the play area and he said, "No, mom. I can only make one friend in a day. That is enough."

Finally I got them bundled into the car and we could drive home.

On the bright side, I did find a copy of the Spring/Summer edition of Stitch magazine , and I just might have picked up a lovely bundle of bright, hand-dyed felted wool and a few fat quarters . . . but let's just keep that between friends, shall we?

Monday, July 06, 2009

Craft Blog Linky

Alison at cluck, cluck sew is hosting a linky to all the craft bloggers that want to join up and "meet".

If you are here from that linky, I would like to say welcome, and please scroll down a bit. My blog is usually full of lovely photos of things I have made, but right now my camera is MIA (well, more accurately MIW - Missing in Winnipeg), so my blog has been sadly mainly photo-less for the last two months. I am almost finished a roll of film, so there should be some quilty goodness soon.

Anyway, welcome, and I look forward to meeting you all. Feel free to drop me a note somewhere and say hi.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

I miss my camera.

Its been two months now since I left my camera in Winnipeg. I'm feeling a big lonely without it. No Flikr photos, no pretty pictures for my blog, no photos of boys in just underwear and superhero capes, or of their cute new matching swimmers (Aaron had to have the same shorts as Andrew). No photos of my new bathmat, or the progress on my Craft Hope quilt or my new scrap quilt or . . . sigh.

Well, in two weeks I'll be back in Winnipeg and I shall pick up my camera. Sorry for the lame blog of late, but its just not the same without my camera. Who knew an inanimate object would become such a big part of my day to day life, or that I would become so used to telling stories with pictures as the punchlines.

Ah well, I've almost got another roll of film finished, then there will be a few photos before I go on vacation. That is, when my foot heals, and I can sew and drive again . .

Friday, July 03, 2009

New Workout

Anyone want to join me in a great workout that will totally tone your upper body and core? I've only been doing it for two days and I can feel the results already.

Its called CRUTCHES

Yes, that's right. I sprained my ankle. At 19 weeks pregnant. Thank goodness I'm not at 29 or 39 weeks pregnant. It was the loosening ligaments thing that got me.

You see, I'm naturally loose jointed to begin with. So much so that I used to have problems with my wrists spontaneously slipping slightly out of joint when I was a teenager. Not so much that I would be in a lot of pain, just enough that I couldn't carry anything in that hand. My cousins are all gymnasts, but I only inherited the flexibility, not the co-ordination, of that side of the family.

I digress. Anyway, my hips started to loosen up at the beginning of this week, which means I'm a bit off balance. Then I took the boys for a long walk and wore out my leg muscles. Then I got in an argument with my son about pickles and he wouldn't go to his room, and as I marched him down the hall our feet got tangled . . . and next thing I knew I was propped up on the couch with a bag of frozen peas on my ankle.

Yesterday I thought it wasn't too bad, so I kept walking on it. But because I did it kept getting worse, so this morning I crawled everywhere until the drug store opened and Dave could get me crutches. Fortunately its feeling better today.

So send fast healing vibes my way.