Eddie the Elephant

Ohhhhh. I love this guy.

I made this big guy for my son. So very cute and cuddly (both the elephant and the kid).


Made from Knitted Toy Tales by Laura Long, like the pig and kitty. But I confess this guy is my favorite so far!

I used some Vanna's Choice yarn in silver grey for his body, and did the fabric accents on his ears and feet with some Sherbet Pips scraps I had left over from my Pips quilt. I stitched it in with a lime green Perle 8 cotton thread, since red and green are my guy's favorite colors (well, ALSO blue, but hey...).

He and Eddie are already best friends and Eddie has been awarded a place of honour on his bed :-)



I THINK....I may just be ready to move on and try to knit a sweater. Once I finish up a few more quilty WIPs!

Four

I admit I am a little flabbergasted that my baby is now FOUR. And a gorgeous, spunky little thing she is!
Her favorite thing in the world? Her worn and well loved Kitty. As you can see, I have had to perform some serious surgery on this thing to keep it in one piece! Luckily I was able to track down a second one as her birthday gift before the original completely dissolves!

So, a Kitty Party we had! First up, these adorable invitations by my BFF Samantha. We met back in dental school, and on top of her practice and 3 kids, she also runs TWO online companies selling her amazing personalized paper products, Jack and Addy and Paper by Paperdolls. You know, in her spare time. Lucky me, I am the recipient of all sorts of her gorgeous crafts, including these amazing cards. Even the envelopes were perfect!
My girl also has some of the best teachers in the world at her Montessori preschool. One of which is Mr. Ken, who also has recorded several CDs of his original children's music- in English, Spanish AND German! The tunes are super catchy, and some of the English ones can be found on iTunes here- if you have kids, go give him a listen, the songs are awesome! He also does entertainment for children's birthday parties. AND since one of his songs involves a "silly kitty", Last But Not Least insisted he come to her party. Along with his artist sidekick, Ben, they provided face painting, music, magic tricks, and adorable kitty folders full of original coloring pages of the characters from his songs. They were awesome!!!



As each child arrived, they received some kitty ears to wear. Faces were painted, coloring colored, and we also had a Kitty Adoption Center, complete with official Adoption Certificates.
After laughing and dancing with Mr. Ken, it was time for CUPCAKES! They were iced in LBNL's favorite color, orange, and topped with a variety of sprinkles and little flag toppers with a kitty and the number 4.
Presents were opened, balloons and loot bags were distributed, and the fun was over all too soon!

Love you sooooo much! You will always be my baby :-)

"Hoppy" Easter!

Hope everyone enjoys a lovely weekend :-)

Just though I would share a cute Easter/spring find with you all. I just ordered myself the pdf for this adorable printable rabbit garland from Hello Clementine:

(photo by Hello Clementine)

It comes with a series of rabbits and clothes that you can cut out and use to dress them, paper doll style. I printed a stack for my kids and it kept them busy for hours. HOURS, I say!!

So much fun.

You can also request the already dressed "bonus bunnies" for free with your order, which I printed onto transfer paper to make this cute little tank top. A super quick and easy project!

" Hoppy" Easter!

The Christmas Swap that never happened

Does that title sound ominous?

Well, it has been a bit of a misadventure.... Back in October, I signed myself up for an informal Christmas swap at Little Miss Shabby's site. I was paired up with an nice Australian grandmother and we were to each send "a homemade gift, a delicious treat, an unexpected surprise, some fabric bits and a holiday card," all to be sent by December 1. Due to Australian Customs, it was requested I not send food so I actually ended up doing a few homemade gifts. Anyways, I gathered it all up, took my photos and shipped it off in November so it had extra time to make it across the ocean.

Well.

It never arrived. It appears that it is lost on a deserted island with Tom Hanks or something, but certainly not at Sue's in Australia! I am kind of cheesed because I worked pretty hard on this at that crazy time of year... Anyways. And to make the whole experience that much more frustrating, I never did receive my gift either. My partner had a string of medical and family issues come up which of course have not been in her control. Last I heard, at the end of January, she was planning to mail it off "soon"... still no sign of it, though. So I guess you can say that this hasn't been the best experience. Has anyone else had swaps/bees like that??

Today I got a letter from Canada Post that the "investigation" into my package has been closed, the package officially lost, and at least I was issued some insurance money for my postage spent and supplies. So, I am closing that book but thought I would share the photos of the stuff I had made!

First up: I found out Sue was a tea drinker, and likes antiques. I thought a quaint little quilted tea cozy would be the ticket: The tea cozy applique is basically copied...I mean inspired by one I saw at Patchwork Pottery. I appliqued a little tea pot on the front, with a button knob on top. It doesn't show up the best against this busy fabric, but I free motion stitched "steam" coming out of the spout: The back sports a little string of patchwork with some hand quilting detail. I used Moda's Breakfast at Tiffany's, as her fabric preference was shabby chic and she specifically mentioned this line. Luckily, a quilt shop across town carried some, so I was able to pick it up, along with some extra which I sent in her fabric bundle. I used a little loop of this sweet lace at the top. Next up, a yarn wreath. As you may recall, I made a stack of these yarn wreaths here. Well, I was sure to make an extra for Sue, who said she decorated for Christmas in mostly cream and gold, with little splashes of red. As a little extra treat, I thought these adorable hexie cards were the perfect gift for a fellow quilter. Best of all, they were a free download, found here. I printed them onto some thick glossy white card stock, paired a stack of them with some luscious chocolate brown envelopes and tied them with a ribbon. Finally, along with a fabric bundle, I included a hand stamped Christmas card. So, there it is, in photos if not in hand. Maybe it will resurface someday??

Mother Nature's mood swings

Monday looked like this: sunny, 15 degrees Celcius (about 60F), t-shirts and puddles......

This morning, I woke up to this:

Come on. Really???

{sigh} Off to grab a shovel....

Vintage sheet quilt top

Got this one sewn together..... ....it makes me smile. Have a great weekend!

WIPs on this lovely Wednesday

Here are a few things I have cooking over at my place. I normally hate to have too much on the go, I prefer to see something through until it is finished, but lately I have been lacking some focus and have been actually enjoying having a bunch of things to work on at once! First on the list, a finished HST baby quilt top (and back), set to be basted, etc: (Pssst! Can you see the GRASS in the background of this photo?? It's yellow, but at least it isn't covered in snow any more!)

Fabric cut and ready to roll for my Rainy Days and Mondays Quilt for my youngest daughter's upcoming birthday. Also did a couple test blocks....am trying not to doubt myself and just go for it: I am working on an extra completely unnecessary simple quilt top with vintage sheets, just because it feels spring-y and makes me smile! Part way through knitting this sweet little elephant for my favorite boy: And I still haven't forgotten that I promised you a tute for this album cover. It's coming! So, that's what's up in my neck of the woods! Sharing with Lee over at Freshly Pieced.

Manitoba in April

Last weekend, as part of our Spring Break fun, we headed to our cottage to spend a night. It is about an hour north of the city, and is not winterized so it has no plumbing/furnace/insulation in the wintertime- a bit of "roughing it." It does, however, have a wood stove, which, on a warmer winter day, gets the place amazingly cozy, and is perfect to roast up some marshmallows! We picked a gorgeous, sunny day, with temperatures above freezing, and had a blast. The perfect temperature for snowball fights, actually! There is always more snow at the cottage than at home, but seriously....it is APRIL and the drifts were up to the roof!! The older two kids just walked right on up and thought this was the best thing ever: As you can see the drifts alongside the cottage are taller than the fence! When at the top...best to just take a sled down onto the lake, right? Why not decorate some normally unreachable tree tops? The side of the drifts were the perfect place to tunnel and make some snow forts. And after all the outdoor fun, why not snuggle by the fire under my New Wave quilt? Don't be alarmed, this week was a "warm" one, above freezing and sunny, and most of the snow in the city is now melted. There are even a few promises of spring....patches of green grass, the sound of Canada geese flying home overhead.....hard to imagine but all this snow will likely be melted and we will be swimming in that lake within 8 weeks! Bring on Summer!!