I figured I made a diaper/wipe tote for my soon to arrive nephew Benjamin, I better make one for my niece Isabella too! Isn't it sweet? I used most of the fabric from the past two quilts I made her. The pink flannel plaid is from a quilt I made her before she was born and other pink is from her Isabella quilt.

Today is my day off and I should be right into the cleaning etc. But no...before I drove the kids to school I had started laying out my quilt I will be sewing up. This was a unplanned project. I was at my quilt show last Friday and some vendors were there from another province and I fell in love with some charm packs(Cider Mill Road by Nancy Halvorsen), there was a pattern for purchase so I bought the coordinating yardage. I finished cutting out the sashing and setting squares last night and couldn't wait to get at it this morning. I will try and get some house work done today but there are no promises!! ;o)

Well, why not? Kaaren from http://thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/ has been a great influence in getting me more involved in the blogging world by joining a few bloggy things like Pay if Forward and a Pincushion swap. I've got the cutest little pattern I wanted to try for a pinchusion and this will be perfect motivation.

This swap has been started by Sandra of http://quiltathome.blogspot.com/

Fun fun!!

Yesterday I made a diaper/wipe tote with some of the same fabrics in Benjamin's quilt. So cute!! This all will be given to my sister this saturday for her baby shower.

So, being a part of my first quilt guild has led me to be involved with my first quilt show. I had four quilts to display. I thought it was so cute that they put Benjamin and Isabella's quilts up together..can we all say awwwwwww ;o) Isabella will get her quilt back this weekend when I travel to attend my sisters baby shower for Benjamin.

Unfortunately I must head off to work. I just want to stay home and sew!!! I have been corrupted by the sewing demons..they whisper to me often, "No, don't clean your house..sew instead" "No, you don't want to go to work, you want to stay home and sew"! ahhh...I must work though, cause I need to by fabric!!!
Have a super awesome week! xo

p.s...I still need one more person to join me in Pay it Forward. See April 19th post for more details :o)

In just the nick of time I've joined parkcity girls first online quilt festival. http://parkcitygirl.blogspot.com/2009/04/quilt-festival-spring-2009.html

I don't have alot of quilts to choose from as I am pretty new to the quilt world. It wasn't hard to pick though as I absolutely love Isabella's quilt! I made this quilt for my niece Isabella for her first birthday and it just makes you smile just like she makes me smile. She is a little angel who I love sooooo much. She was born with gastrocysis(where the bowel is outside the belly) so had a bit of a rough start but has healed wonderfully and is an absolute doll. This quilt is unique as it has a few concepts going as you can see. I got the wonderful *free* applique pattern from http://dontlooknow.typepad.com/dont_look_now/

Here she is with her new quilt and she even let me take it back for a bit for our quilt show that my guild is putting on this weekend. Thanks Isabella...Auntie loves you, xoxoxo

I finished up block 4(march) for A Tisket a Tasket BOM today. I knew the bow was too narrow for blanket stitch so I finally figured out how to do a little button stitch and liked how it turned out!

All four blocks that have been done so far.
I have another person signed on to join me with Pay If Forward...yay!! I still need one more person needed. See my April 20th post for more details

Benjamin's quilt is done! Today was my day off so I went and spent the afternoon with one of my best friends. As we sat chatting I was able to finish hand stitching the binding. My sisters baby shower is next weekend. I am planning on making a diaper/wipe holder with coordinating fabrics. I decided to try something different with machine quilting..leave it to me to not master one and move on to try something new. I tried a little spiraly pattern. Notice I am not posting any close ups, lol. It turned out pretty cute over-all, even with the little flaws here and there "o)
Ummm..well you could click on the pic for a bigger version, which I suppose, will be somewhat of a close up..yikes!
This pattern is from Nancy Halvorsens Baby Winsome book.

Yay!! I just noticed that I have someone signed up for my first Pay It Forward. I just need two more PIF participants. If this is new to you as well, please see my previous post that explains more.

I have joined my first PIF from Kaaren's blog http://thepaintedquilt.blogspot.com/.
The concept of a PIF occurs when acts of kindness are performed without expecting anything in return and are passed on, trusting that the recipients will do the same and Pay It Forward, resulting in a never ending chain of kindness.
By signing on, my commitment is to make and send a gift to the first 3 friends who post a comment to this post requesting to join this exchange and who promise to Pay It Forward to 3 other persons, and so on.

At this time, I don't know what my 3 gifts will be, but I can promise you a gift made by me and from my heart that I will send to you within the next 365 days. By signing on, what YOU then have to do in return is to Pay It Forward by making the same announcement and commitment on YOUR blog.

I'm so excited to be participating in this exciting venture. Who will be my 3 pay it forward recipients be??? Can't wait to find out ;o)

On another exciting not..I have baby Benjamin's quilt all basted..good thing cause I have to have it completed by Thursday!!!! Will try and get some machine quilting done on it tonight.

Hope everyone had a great weekend, xo

Sometimes it's just nice to see quick progress. I was thinking yesterday I would like to make something that could be done in a day or two instead of weeks. So I was looking through the Nancy Halvorsen "Baby Winsome" book yesterday and decided to make the diaper/wipe holder. I used the coordinating fabric I had left from the "baby winsome" quilt I have in progress. I wanted super quick results so used the zig zag stitch on most of the applique...I won't do that again ;o) Anyways, it turned out pretty dang cute. I put two empty wipe holders in it to see how much room and it can easily fit a wipe container and a couple of diapers(depending on size)

Two projects done in one week..woohoooo! This is a first :o)

Today was my day off and was I ever glad to have the whole house to myself and SEW! I usually plan errands etc for my day off but I told myself today I was spending a good part of it in my sewing room. I completed the machine quilting this morning and sewing on the binding. While having a lonnnng conversation with a friend of mine and watching a little t.v. I completed the hand sewn part of the binding..yay! I just need to add a label to the back. This quilt is for my sister who is due in June :o) Now I have to get on to the next one for her.

I will definately make this quilt again in more "traditional" baby colors for either girl or boy. I had some Baby Genius Grow Up charm squares to use up and applied it to this quilt. They weren't what I expected when ordering and was kind of stumped with what to do with them. When Jodi from http://www.simplythisthatandtheother.blogspot.com/ posted this pattern at the Moda Bakeshop http://www.modabakeshop.com/ I knew what I would use them for. It was the first time I did prairie points. I still have a long way to go with accuracy for machine quilting but I am getting the hang of it. I really hope there is a class offered on this sometime. I am in a small town where there is not much opportunity for this stuff....so for now, trial and error it is ;o)

Here is my March Tisket a Tasket block.

This is one of the quilts I am making for my nephew. I am following a pattern from the moda bakeshop. I am starting to machine quilt it today....*deep breath*


This is another quilt I am making my nepew(he is not born yet, he is still in mama's belly-last post). It's a quilt pattern I am doing out of Winsome Baby by Nancy Halvorsen. All the applique(baby name) and stitchery is done. I just need to get the border fabric and the top is done!

I should have had something blogged last week but could not find my battery charger for my camera! I had to get serious about the search before it was found. My son can be a great help at times with clean-up..but where things get placed in clean-up can be a bit random..lol.

My post today isn't sewing related but I will have one within the next few days. I have to show you last months Tisket a Tasket block and a sneak peak at TWO baby quilts I am making my beautiful baby sister(below).

We had a nice easter weekend that was made extra special by a visit from my sister and her boyfriend. I am known in my family as the "one who takes the pictures" and she had asked if I would take her pregnancy photos instead of her having to pay a huge amount of money. So, we did it and I am so please how they turned out. She wanted them in black and white which is my favorite. I just bought a black shower curtain(couldn't find a black flat sheet in walmart), cleared out a spot in my living room and tacked the curtain to my wall and voila a studio space was all set.

Sadly, I have had my camera for over a year and still don't know how to use all the extra features and relied on the automatic settings..lol. We ended up with almost 50 keepers. I am posting just a few....isn't she beautiful :o)

I am slowly making progress on a baby quilt. I wish I had more time to sew :o( Lately, I have been saying repeatedly, " I don't want to go to work..I just want to say home and sew"! lol I am excited to see how this turns out. I am using a super awesome tutorial from the moda bakeshop. I will post about it when this is complete.

I did have a day off yesterday and time was made to go to my little quilt shop that is 20 mins away. There is not much around where I live for fabric. I am heading to the "big city" this weekend and hoping to check out some quilt shops!!

I got some much needed white and grabbed a few fat quarters that I thought would be sweet in a baby quilt and some charm packs. The fig and plum is planning on being turned into a runner using the same pattern I used previously(posted) for my dear friend..."just because".