Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!

We sure had a great Christmas, and boy has it been busy around here. I hope you all had a great Christmas too - and if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope that you at least enjoyed some well deserved time off.

I am not going to be around much for the next week or so. We are off to Ottawa for a hockey tournament. The bags are packed, and we are ready to go.



I thought I would show you a picture of our bags, so I have something somewhat crafty in this post. I used the Amy Butler "Weekender Bag" pattern to make that top one.

I just love that bag!! I made it about a year ago, and it has even gone through the wash (hence the reason why it slouches). Overall, it was a fairly easy pattern to make - although there were a couple of spots where you had to sew through MANY layers of fabric and interfacing all at once. I know that I broke a few needles along the way, but other than that, there were no major mishaps.

The house is a pure disaster, and at this point, we have no time left to worry about it before we go! Kinda crummy that we will come home to a messy house ... so perhaps I should go and clean a little???

Anyway, Santa was good to all of us, and since I made one more last minute gift, I will show you that too. A camera strap for my SIL. She is an AMAZING photographer ... and she has one hefty camera that she lugs around everywhere. Now she can have a little more comfort around her neck.



Anyway - all the best to everyone for the new year ... and we will chat again in 2011!!

A last minute gift, and the realization that minkee is messy

I decided earlier this month that I wasn't going to sew a ton of Christmas gifts this year. BUT, a couple of days ago I saw a really cute dress. I would love to give credit for where I saw this really cute dress ... but of course now I can't find it : (

Anyway ... it was from a pattern made over here.

Of course, one thing led to another, and the next thing you know, I had purchased a pdf pattern! I have a neice who is 1 and a half, and I thought this would be so super cute on her.

I started this last night, and to be honest it sewed up really fast. I used a 21 wale courdorouy for the outside, and a minkee type fleece for the inside. I had no idea how messy (aka evil) that minkee would be. I am literally covered from head to toe right now with white fuzz. So is the outside of the vest! I took pictures so you could see what I mean.






I am about to throw it in the wash to get rid of the fuzz ...

Now that I have been sidetracked, and have successfully completed the project, I am going back to the quilt a long : )

Happy Birthday to me : )

Today is my birthday : ) YIPPEE!! I like my birthday this year - next year, perhaps not so much. This year, I turned 39. I have no idea why the idea of 40 kinda freaks me out, but it does. I am full of great food, and ice cream cake, and almost ready to snuggle in for the night with a good book!

I actually did not sew today ... I was a cutting and crocheting fool.

I cut out all the squares for Cara's quilt a long from these:



and from these:



I now have 42 squares .. one step closer to starting to sew. I still need to cut the lattice strips and the background.

I have to tell you, I had a hard time when I thought about cutting them. I have been collecting (or rather hoarding), and these are some of my most sacred beauties. But we buy fabric to use it right?? I am still telling myself this over and over. It was a little liberating to cut into it. AND I still have tons left, so I will have more to use for lots more projects.

I will tell you more about the crocheting another day : )

Have a great night!

It's time to pick a winner ....

So, before I actually tell you who the winner is, I just want to say again that I am so super pleased that so many people came by and gave some pillow love. I started blogging not realizing what it would do for me. I have met some great people, I have sewn things that are totally outside my comfort zone, and I have had sewing encouragement and support!

So, without futher ado, the winner of the pillow is:

comment #136: Maxwells



The winner of the Nicey Jane fat Quarters is:

comment # 384: Anne



And, the winner of the Sanctuary half yards is:

comment # 95: Barncat



Thanks to everyone that entered!! I am off to email the winners now, but if you see your name, please feel free to contact me with your mailing info.

I had a couple requests for a pattern/tutorial .. and I actually don't have pictures to make one up, but maybe we can do a new pillow loosely based on this one in the new year?????

So ... I am well over 300!!

458!!!! That is so far above my expectations. I wasn't even really sure I would hit 300 comments to be honest. Thanks so much for showing my pillow some love.

Since it is more than 50% above the 300 comments I was hoping for, I am going to give more away than I had planned. I am also going to leave this open until midnight tonight ... so the winners will be announced sometime tomorrow. Likely not until the afternoon.

If you haven't entered yet, please scroll down and make a comment on the post below (not this one).

So - here are the other two (you heard me) prizes I am going to add to the pillow, so we will have 3 lucky winners.


(3 fat quarters of nicey jane)


(2 half yards of Santuary)

Talk to you all tomorrow!!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!!!

Sew Mama Sew was the reason why I started blogging. I really owe a huge thanks to them! I have met some wonderful people through blogging, and it all started because of Sew Mama Sew!

Anyway ... on to the good stuff! I am giving away this fabulous pillow cover. For ease of mailing, I am not going to send the pillow form, but they are easy enough to pick up on your own.

All you need to do is leave me a comment (international peeps are welcome too). If you want an extra entry, you can become a follower - but you don't have to. If you are already a follower - then just let me know!



I will leave this open until December 17th, and then Mr. Random Number Generator will pick a lucky winner.

If I get more than 300 comments, then I may just have another little prize since I already feel bad that not everyone can win. Perhaps some fabric love????? I haven't got a picture, since I really don't know if we will reach 300, but I promise I will pick out something nice.

Now, please make sure I have a way to reach you if you win. If you have a no reply comment, then just include your email. Thanks for dropping buy and GOOD LUCK!

A discovery!

Our family lives in a house that was built in 1849. It has been slowly updated over the last 12 years. Room by room.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to re-do our son's room. We had painted it before he was born, but there was a blue carpet in the room that looked to be in okay shape, so we left it.

Well, this past weekend, we repainted his room, and we decided to replace the carpet with hardwood knowing that the hardwood under the carpet was probably in pretty bad shape.

My husband ripped the carpet up tonight and look what was underneath!



Someone spent a ridiculous amount of time hand painting the floor! Now, we are still going to replace it - it is totally not something that we would keep = but I thought I would show you all just for fun. Here are a few more close ups.





Each one of them is different! Crazy! Now, please excuse the dirt - I wasn`t going to clean before taking the pictures knowing full well it was about to be ripped out!

Now, I haven`t done a whole lot since the last time I posted. I had to finish up the secret santa project - and I didn`t really do anything else until it was done. I told you about that I think. Here is the finished project.



Now that it`s finished, I am ready to start Cara`s quilt a long!!! FUN!!
If only the fabric I ordered had arrived ....

Pillows are done!

I have finally finished both pillows. I should really stop making two pillows for this swap, since it just makes my life more difficult! It makes me have to choose which one to send.

I am 99% sure I am going to send this one:



It got a lot more love in the flickr pool. But, just to show you the other one:



I was really quite proud of myself on these pillows. I not only put in piping, but, I also put in an invisible zipper! I have put in both piping and an invisible zipper before, but never both together. I do have to say there may have been some curse words that left my mouth, but I think it looks just great.

I also got my very first custom sewing job. One of my daughter's friends has asked Santa for a purple house coat, with polka dots. Her mom has searched high and low for one to fit the bill, but can't seem to find one anywhere. So, I am sewing one. FUN! Let me tell you, it wasn't all that easy to find fabric either. The craziest part is that this sewing job has to be done after hours since my daughter can't see me sewing it.

To all of you in the U.S., I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving!!

I changed my background

As you can see - I changed my background in blogger. I may change it back, I don't know yet. Will you tell me if you hate it? Or love it?

The reason I changed it was because of the pictures. In the layout that I had before, the right side of pictures was always cut off. Totally annoyed me.

I don't really have much to say today, but I can show you what I have been playing with lately.



This machine has been sitting in my parents basement for the tons of years. I know it's been a really long time because the instruction video was on a VHS tape!! HAHAHA. My mom had never even opened the box. I decided to break it in for her. Let me tell you, threading that bad boy is a challenge. I almost gave up about 8 times, but in the end I prevailed.

I ended up serging the edge of the pillows that I am making right now. FUN! Now I am trying to dream up more things to make, just so I can use it more. I don't really have a finished picture yet, but I have finished one pillow. I even put in piping and an invisible zipper! Right now it is raining and dark, so I will try to show you soon.

Have a great night!

Trying a new background for pictures.

I have always been a little envious of people who take really great pictures. My pictures are "meh" most of the time. I know that good light is key, and that is my biggest problem. Natural light obviously is better than not. I also understand that my backgrounds could be better ... the floor, the counter ... B O R I N G.

So I am trying something new. What do you think?



The subject isn't all that interesting. It's just the piping that I have prepared, but not yet sewn into the pillow for the pillow talk swap. I think I like it. You may be seeing more of it around here.

I can also show you a few mugrugs. They seem to be all the rage right now. You see them everywhere! I have sent out a couple recently. Two went to my swap partner in the scrappy mug rug swap, and two went out on a side swap.











I should have my pillows done soon, so I should be able to show you some progress before you know it.

Pillows!!!

Everyone needs a good pillow. The more you have, the better. I especially love making new pillows since it can totally change your look without a ton of work. Actually I think I may be due for some new pillows myself, which is perfect timing, since I joined the pillow talk swap on flickr.

Once again, it's a secret swap, but this time my partner doesn't know who I am, so I can share. She did say that she likes bright and modern, but I don't think that gives away too much since a lot of people feel the same way. She didn't add much more than that, so time for lots of creative freedom on this one!

I didn't plan ahead very much. I knew I wanted to do smallish squares, so I started cutting. As I was cutting I started laying them out on a piece of white fabric.



And because I cut too many, I also started laying them out on top of a ruler.



I thought they both had potential, so I made two pillows. So far, this is what I have.





Please excuse the dark pictures from last night, and the late afternoon shadows from today! I figured outside was better than inside - even with the shadows. It shows the colours much better, but there are a lot of shadows.

I am pretty pleased with both pillows so far. I will just have to decide when they are done which one to send! Which one do you like better?

I have received my placemats!!

My placemat swap is now complete. I received some FANTASTIC placemats from Lael today. I LOVE THEM SOOOOO MUCH! The little fish, the linen, the handstiching. Perfection.





Now, I sent her some too. I totally forgot to take pictures before I sealed the envelope. But - Lael just posted some, so I hope she doesn't mind me posting them.



She had requested circles, red and blue. I tried my best to incorporate all those things when I was doing them.

Anyway - so much for posting every day huh?? How about I try 3 times a week?? That may be a little more realistic : )

potholders

I received my potholders today in the potholder pass!!





AND there are two cute little hexie ornaments too.

Aren't they great?? The craziest thing is, I had the same partner in this swap as I did in the Savvy Seasons Swap!!! Two totally different swaps, organized by different people = with tons of participants, AND she got me twice. huh.

Anyway, I am thrilled because I think they are just fab!

I also worked a little more on my scrappy mug rug swap. I made another front (modified cathedral windows from a tutorial over at Spotted stones). I am really happy with the front - but the quilting I did on the front looks weird on the back because I clearly need a lesson in lining things up!





Ignore the binding that I haven't sewn down yet : )

Anyway - I tried picking out the quilting - but it just left very visable holes in the fabric (I know they were tiny - but you could totally see them) ... so I just left it. I am not sure if I may just keep this one for myself with all its faults - and make another one just like it.

Alright - I am off for a full hockey weekend!! Talk to you next week.

NaBloPoMo

So are you game?? NaBloPoMo - or in other words, National Blog Posting Month??

I heard about it on Kerri Lynn's Blog "Freckled Whimsy". I don't know if I have that much to say. And I know that I won't be able to blog every day this month. I am leaving Friday for an away hockey tournament for my son. But, nonetheless, I am going to try and blog a little more than I have over the last little bit.

I will start by showing a partial finish, and a start that I didn't mean to make.

You know that I have been enjoying my swaps lately. So, I will tell you that I have two more on the go. For the mug rug swap, my partner didn't post a mosaic, but she did provide some ideas. She said that she liked bright colours. I thought about a lattice type mug rug. I looked through my stash, and picked these fabrics:



You will notice that I had cut up some squares?? WELL .. this is where the "start" that I didn't mean to make comes in. Apparently I don't know how to calculate things very well ... and didn't take into account that it takes four squares to make one block. I figured out my final size based on 1 square, not 4 - so my final result is 4 times the size it was suppossed to be:



Maybe I can use this as a pillow instead!

So then, I made the right size ... and here is a little mug rug - front and back, obviously not finished. I still have to put some side borders on the front.



Maybe if I can think of something to say tomorrow ... you will see me again : )

hemming a pair of jeans near killed me ....

My husband asked me really nicely if I would hem a pair of jeans for him. I said sure, I should be able to do that!

I think he asked me 3 weeks ago, and for some reason I was scared (it may have had something to do with the last time I tried to hem a pair of jeans).
Anyway, about 3 days ago, I started by measuring the length, then I cut carefully, ironed and pinned again .. then the adventure began.
To make a long story short, I broke 3 needles, ripped it out about 4 times and let them sit for 3 days before I defeated them! I have successfully hemmed, and I hope I never hem again.

Now, on to something better ... I received my Savvy Seasons Swap Present!!!

I went to the post office to pick up the mail ... and low and behold there was a package for me!!! A package that looked suspiciously like something that may be a handmade item??? I thought to myself ... could it be?????

To be honest, I could barely contain myself ... I wanted to rip open the package in the parking lot with my teeth. It was a probably a good thing that there was sooo much tape on it!! It made me race home and frantically take pictures before destroying the package. I used brute strength, and some teeth, and then finally grabbed some scissors to wrestle the package open. I paused briefly to take a picture of a great ornament and wrapping job.



I read the note quickly, because my mom always told me that it was rude if you ripped the wrapping off first, then I tore off the wrapping paper like a 3 year old (little bits may have been flying into the air).

There were some giggles, some girly hand clapping, and even a little squeek, when I saw what was inside.




I am super pleased with everything, and want to send out a huge THANKS to my swap partner!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

some sneek peeks

So much of what I have been working on lately, is for semi secret swaps. Semi-secret because I know who my partner is, and they know who I am. We chat about likes and dislikes, and can show sneek peeks - but the final product can't be revealed until the partner receives the goods. This way there is an element of surprise involved.

So ... since I can't show you the whole thing, here are some peeks.









I am almost ready to mail them off ... so in a couple of weeks, once they reach their destination - I will show you the goods.

Creative Festival

I went to the Creative Festival in Toronto last night. It's a yearly fall event at the Convention Centre that has supplies for Quilting, beading, scrapbooking and stamping. I am sure there are other things too = but you get the idea.

They have lots of vendors, and I went to "look" around. Of course I couldn't leave without a few purchases.









I have been doing lots of little projects for swapping, but since they are semi secret swaps - I can't show you!! We are matched with partners, and can chat amongst ourselves and show sneek peeks - but can't show the finished product until it has been received.

Other than that, I did start this last night. It's going to be a pincushion. As you can see - I still have lots of handstitching to do. I am really slow at handstitching, but I really enjoy it!