Sewing for therapy~

Yesterday was a day I needed to duck into my sewing room. It has been extremely stressful for me with selling the house, we are still going through the conditional phase and not knowing which way the buyer is going is getting to me. So after I got home from work and supper was done I announced, " I NEED to go in my sewing room" I wasn't sure what to do but I knew i wanted to do something that was instant gratification. I had printed off a template from here: http://www.colorfulkisses.com/2008/09/how-to-make-your-own-canvas-bird-art.html a few days ago and decided to go ahead with a little project I had in mind. This will be a little wallhanging i will hang in my sewing room. Isn't he a HOOT! ;o) Fatique started to hit me and I left it at this point....will try and finish it up this weekend.

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On another note...today is Mr. Greer and I's 17th anniversary :o)

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Have a good weekend everyone, xo

Caught up and a cute little parcel :-)

I have to be honest, I just wasn't "feeling the love" for Block #7 for the Tisket a Tasket BOM. In fact, I skipped right over that one when I was catching up with the blocks. Then yesterday I took on the "dreaded block", lol. As always the challenge is finding the fabrics you want to use, I decided on a green fabric I really love for the basket. I had actually bought this fabric to go with my wonderland bag I made a few months ago. Once I had my little sheep on, I fell in love..even before I added the stiching etc. Then when it was all done, I fell more deeply in love..I think this might be one of my favorite blocks. I mean.....

......who couldn't fall in love with this little cutie <3


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A few weeks ago I made my first Etsy purchase. I ordered 2 charm packs from Sew Deerly Loved a.k.a http://lovelylittlehandmades.blogspot.com/ Kerri has been the inspirational in me loving aqua and red together, she has made so many gorgeous projects using these colors.


Here's a peek.

Who doesn't love little Gnomes, piggies and polk a dots!!

Look at the little guy...some cute, huh?

I'm thinking these charms may be seen in a pinwheel quilt...we shall see ;o)

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We had a serious buyer for our house, we'll know today if she accepted our counter offer. It's been very stressful the last few weeks and our lives are in limbo right now. Thank-god for my sewing room, I have been feeling much better the last few days where I have had the opportunity and time to get in here!!!

Incoming!!

I haven't been able to get in my sewing room as much as I would like this summer, but I have been trying to get some projects done like my Tisket a Tasket BOMs. I managed to fall a way behind and have been trying to get caught up. One more block to do and I am good to go!!

BLOCK #5

BLOCK #6

BLOCK #8

I finished a wall hanging last night, nice to have a finish!

(you can click on pic for larger image) Close up.
We had my mom and Isabella here for a night. Here is a pick of her with my kids Jacob and Emma. We sure do love her....

...and she sure does bring smiles to our faces. I mean, how could she not??

My Aunt is a beautiful sewer and when she emailed me some pics of a baby quilt she made for my cousins new baby girl I just knew I had to share it with you guys!! My Aunt lives far away from me :o( We have often talked about how we wish we lived closer to eachother so we could sew together, I could learn so much from her!!

I just love this quilt. She pieced the top and did the freezer paper applique method. She said she used satin stitch on the applique so the characters would "pop". We are canadian and my cousin and his wife moved to the USA a couple of years ago...I just love how my aunt added the beavers with the canadian flag for them.

A close of up of the cute little duckie :o)

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)

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.

Isabella's quilt is DONE!!

Today I had the day off and was able to complete the binding. The only mistake I made about the binding was to think "oh I'll just go and buy the binding when I am ready"...guess what? I went to get some more pink for the binding last night and it was all gone!! So, it was between the blue and the green..I chose the green as it was softer and I wanted to keep it "girlie"

Doing that little swirly tail on the bird was the scariest part! I had to follow the line I drew first with COLORED thread..looks good, just don't look too close..lol.

I even added a label. I printed mine after a few attemps of using the permanent ink pen or whatever you call it. It would either run or I would mess it up somehow. So, I opted to use some printable fabric sheets I had. MUCH neater job. Isabella's Bday is sunday : )

This was my second stippling project and I have to say it was a much better job than my first try. I did have a few bumps in the road along the way, a few times incorporating the thread ripper. Sometimes I felt like a car losing control...lol..seriously I would be motoring along and new I was off course and I was going to crash somehow..but I always got myself on track. Great way to learn..trial and error. Overall I am so happy with it. This quilt makes me smile. I can just see her little finger pointing to the flowers and the bird.

OH....and big blog excitement. Crazymomquilts commented on my blog today...can you say I was so excited!! I obsessively check her blog everyday, she is so amazingly talented and so inspiring. Thanks again Amanda Jean : )

Sewing down the applique process has begun for Isabella's quilt! Is it a bad thing that I would rather not go to work today and just stay home and sew!!

I am taking Kellie's advice ( http://dontlooknow.typepad.com/dont_look_now/ ) and using blanket stich for the applique to ensure longevity as this will be toted around for a few more years I suspect. I plan on having the blanket stitching and the quilt sandwiched and hopefully started on the machine quilting by the end of the weekend!! Her bday is next saturday so I better get cracking.