3 month catch up

Hello friends!  Anyone still out there?  Has it really been 3 months since I was here?!?!

To state the obvious- life is busy.  Blame it on the kids.  When I started blogging they used to take naps and go to bed at 7:30.  Fast forward 4 or 5 years and they are up late doing homework after a full evening of hockey, ringette, dance, playdates and so on.  Not a lot of time for Mom!  But it's all good. They are fun and quirky little humans and I am just going with the flow and trying to enjoy and keep my head above water.

But today I have a day off- it's my birthday :)  Woohoo!  So far that has meant crossfit, getting cranky and tired kids to school, several loads of laundry and painting cabinets.  Do I know how to party or what? But while the paint dries, I am taking a break, having a cup of tea and some chocolate almonds and am going to chat a bit about my projects over the past 3 months...and you are going to have to cope with mostly crappy iPhone pictures, usually taken late at night in my bathroom.  Nice!

So, there has been knitting.  Knitting is my go-to these days as it is portable and can travel with me on the chauffeur circuit.  Made this cozy fall sweater:

And this one:

Started this one:

And just finished this one, which I am wearing today for the first time, yay!

Also knit myself this hat:

And made a good friend at work this shawl for her retirement. I think I need one, too!

I haven't done as much sewing as I'd like.  I had a 2 month no-sew hiatus but managed to get these in before and after that time.

The HOPE quilt.  This is a special one to me, made for a little girl in our community, Mackenzie, who was diagnosed a few years ago with Batten's disease, a terrible hereditary illness where a once completely normal child begins to suffer increasing seizures, motor loss, mental impairment and loss of sight until they are eventually lost to the disease.  There is no cure.  Mackenzie's family has been working hard to raise awareness for Batten's at their blog Mackenzie's Hope.  They are such an amazing and positive family. I wanted to give them a little "hope" back!  So I put together this happy rainbow quilt for her, quilted with hearts.  It was a pleasure to make and to give.

After my unintended quilting break, I felt the need for a quick instant gratification project.  I had received this gorgeous pack of Liberty hexies from my bestie Sam so I had my first go at putting those together.  I arranged them into a larger hexie shape, appliquéd it to some Kona Snow and did some grid quilting to add some texture. I now have a lovely mini quilt to go on my soon-to-be sewing room wall!

We have also been busy with crafts of a different variety: renovations.  We are fixing a few final things in our home, including converting the front living room to a sewing/craft space for me!  Yippee!  I think I will sew so much more if I don't have to make a production of hauling everything out and cleaning up each time.  Hoping to get that done in the next couple months.  The bigger renovations are happening at our cottage, which had water damage due to a hose that broke in our fridge and ruined most of the flooring and then some.  We have decided since the place is getting ripped apart that we might as well also do some other updates we had wanted.  So we have been busy scouting out lighting, painting cabinets, making curtains, choosing new counters and vanities and faucets and all sorts of fun stuff.  Really excited to see the finished product!


More to share, but that's enough catch up for now.  Hope you all are well!

Kristie

a pile of finished quilts for the cottage

Of course getting a new cottage last summer meant that I "needed" new quilts for every bed (and any other possible surface).  And it just so happens my girls have a pair of bunk beds in the "girls' room".  Four twin quilts were in order!

I decided to do coordinating but not matching quilts.  They will all be in one room so I wanted a bit of a colour theme but not looking too....orderly ;)  Keeping it carefree! So, I planned two quilts using Briar Rose for The Middle Child's bunks, and then two quilts in a variety of yellows, oranges, pinks and greys for the bunk beds for Last But Not Least.  I got 3 of the 4 pieced by last November's Loon Lake retreat....but then they sat...and sat...

Well,  while enjoying a lot of this over the past few weeks...

....I have managed to baste, quilt and finish these three!

Only one of the Briar Rose ones done, but here it is:

Did a bit of a lattice, and quilted it with an all over daisy and loop pattern.  Bound it in some Flea Market Fancy green seed print and made a simple but cute cottage label, just using a Sharpie.

Then it was on to LBNL's quilts.  I kind of favour these, I admit.  First, a granny square quilt with some stippled quilting:

Loved how the orange binding on this quilt matched the front and AMH back so perfectly.  Again with a label.

And finally, a fun equilateral triangle quilt!  Straight line quilting along either side of the seams for this one.

A happy yellow Kate & Birdie binding and one of my favourite backings...love those big pink flowers! And another label!  Go, Me! ;)

And here are the two coordinating ones together.  Love how they compliment each other.

Phew!  Now it's time to sit back and drink some wine and have a rest, wouldn't you say??  Back to the lake I go!

my favourite mini quilt

Yesterday was my best friend Michele's 40th birthday!  I am sure she loves me sharing that with the world ;)  But hers is extra important to me- she survived a rare SCAD heart attack a few years ago, so after having had to face the possibility of losing her, I am all the more grateful to have such an amazing friend in my life.

For the big 4-0, she put in a request over 6 months ago- admiring the mini quilt I have at the cottage with and Emerson quote, she asked if I could make her something similar with a quote that has been a mantra of sorts for her since her heart attack:

"Do not let yesterday take up too much of today." 

For months I waited for my inspiration to strike.  How to make the quote and the fabric come together into something inspiring and beautiful.  It stumped me.  Then I got to thinking about life, and how we are all made up of these random experiences, some good and some bad, but how they all meld together to form us as a person.  How often it starts out one way and then takes on another path, a diversion.....about all the colours and textures that make up a life.  Kind of magical.

I set out without any end plan.  I just started piecing bits of neutrals together.  Got out some fabric paint and stamps.  Pieced some wonky letters in colours where I wanted impact.   Tried my hand at  some embroidery.  And slowly brought it all together. The more randomness I added, the more cohesive the piece started to look and the more I liked where it was going. And here is the end result!

The quilting included some new frontiers for me, and I went with the same carefree attitude I had with the piecing. I channelled my inner Krista Withers and started filling negative space with swirls, pebbles, lines.  The quilting is dense and the resulting texture is amazing.

Added sections of clamshells and waves and used touches of hand stitching to accent the stamped letters and to outline the pieced ones.

On the back, the London subway map fabric (to represent time she spent living in England). And some hanging sleeves with a birthday message :)  For the binding, I continued with the scrappy theme.

It was gifted yesterday, and Michele declared it was her favourite gift she received (which pretty much brought tears to my eyes).  Then we had a lovely afternoon at the spa....now I am HOPING this is indicative of life in our 40s?!?!

Happiest of birthdays, Michele xoxox

quilt journey: Angela's quilt!

The #quiltjourney continues, where a group of seven of us quilty friends are mailing pieces of quilts across the continent to be added to, eventually forming a whole quilt filled with love!  I wrote about the start of my quilt, and my addition to Cara's (IG: meamom) as well, and today I will share Angela's quilt so far!

Many of you know Angela- she blogs over at Cut to Pieces.  I love this girl.  So talented and more than that, just a sweet, loyal friend with a wicked funny sense of humour (my favourite!).  Anyways, I was sent these two awesome pieces from her and Cara as the start of her quilt.

Both with lots of colour, bold and graphic.  And both already pretty large!  I loved them both, but honestly was having a hard time visualizing how they would tie together, not battling each other but in harmony in the quilt.  So I decided to do a bit of a "bridge" to allow some transition.

First job: picking fabrics with my trusty sidekick ;)  I used lots of my hoarded favourites like Katie Jump Rope, Heather Ross and AMH.

Next was determining design. Angela has written an amazing book on curved piecing called A Quilter's Mixology which modernizes the Drunkard's Path block.  Not sure if it was a wise move or totally delusional one, but I decided to add some curves to the curve guru's quilt!  And while the other sections sent to me where predominantly colour with pops of white, I opted to do the reverse, but inserting curved stars of bold colours into a white background.

I began by making modified drunkard's path blocks in 3 sizes.  I trimmed them such that the edges of the coloured fabrics would feather together to form the stars.

I then came up with a random arrangement of them onto 3 sides of one of the previously made sections...

....and pieced them all together with white.

In the end, I didn't attach the strip of blocks on the right- I will send them along to the next quilters in line and they can decide accordingly.  But, I am happy with my "touch", and hope Angela likes it, too!

don't pass out: I finished a quilt

It has been ages. This is actually my first quilt finish for 2014, aside from my Basic Binary mini.  This one is nothing fancy at all- basic patchwork using a sweet Parisian double gauze fabric gifted to me by Alison ages ago.  I pieced the top in about 30 minutes back at Loon Lake, along with some other tops that are all still sitting in a Tupperware, unfinished, in my messy sewing area.

But I thought it was time to complete SOMETHING, so I dug out this one, meant for a baby girl born last fall, and basted it.  I quilted it with cathedral windows.....

....and backed it with an adorable Alexander Henry Monkey Bizness fabric that had the perfect colours and style with its cute flea market scenes.  Love it.  Panicking and wishing I had stashed more ;)

I also had one of those blissful moments that only quilters can understand, when you look in you stash for binding and find the perfect match, not knowing where or when you bought it, or what the heck it even is, other than PERFECT.  See?  Stashing justified.  I hand bound it while enjoying a quiet, rainy afternoon on the deck at the cottage.

A simple quilt, just perfect for a little baby girl with a French Canadian heritage.  Baby Renee was named for her departed grandmother, who had an inspiring 4 year battle with inflammatory breast cancer, but did it all with grace.  She passed away in 2010, but had a blog about her journey, which has since had some entries by her eldest daughter.  Renee was an amazing writer.  The link is here if you would like to read it- bring a tissue. A great quote that stuck with me:

"It's like getting into a boat that is just about to sail out to sea and sink. There are no life rafts, no floats and no one gets out alive. Rather than trying to ward off the inevitable, why not accept it and enjoy the trip?"

Pema Chodron

A Buddhist nun describing life

A lovely sentiment that fits in rather well with my less stress project, I think. 

Have a great day and enjoy the trip, my friends!

K  

basic binary mini

Have you guys seen the book Quilt Lab by Alexandra Winston of a2(w) yet?  I have to say, it is one of the coolest concepts in quilting books that I have ever seen.  It basically marries science and arts, with a series of science based quilt patterns and projects.  With each project, Ali gives a short "study hall" science lesson on the concept behind the quilt.  After spending 8 years in science based university studies myself, this totally appeals to the geek side of my brain, but even if the extent of your science knowledge is what you've picked up watching Big Bang Theory, you wold still love this book.  Case in point:

Basic Binary pattern.  You can put SECRET MESSAGES in your quilt!!  Now, how cool is that??  I knew I had to start here.  I knew nothing about binary but here is what I learned- all letters are represented by a series of seven 0's and 1's in a specific sequence.  In my mini quilt, I represented the 0's with black fabrics, and the 1's with colours (in this case, aqua, yellow and orange).  So, what looks like random improv piecing actually has an ENCODED MESSAGE!!

I used seven rows (of varying lengths, to add interest) and then the letters line up in columns.  So, for example, the first column is 100010, which is the letter b.  Want to know what my message is?  You can go HERE on Ali's web site and use the table to figure it out yourself......


.........but if not I will tell you.  It reads:

"buy wife flowers"

HA!  I love that I can now use quilting to send subliminal cheeky messages to The Hubs!  Now, I have to say it has not yet been successful, but I have faith.  Just you wait!

To quilt this, I used wonky horizontal lines to add to the random feel, but the vertical lines are planned- "buy" is quilted in blue, "wife" all in orange and "flowers" in yellow, with the two spaces quilted in match stick lines of all three colours.

The binding is a black with metallic gold print called Barcelona.

I geeked out the back using a piece of a glasses print sheet, and I added sleeves for hanging.

It now hangs on the wall, just waiting for The Hubs to decode it......I'm not holding my breath.

#quiltjourney

I am so excited about this project!!  A group of seven wonderful quilting friends have decided to do a Travelling Quilt Bee.  What is that, you say?  Well, each of us starts a quilt top, in their own style/colors.  The piece is then mailed to the next person on the list, who adds to it,  adhering to the general feel of the quilt but adding their own flair.  In the end, a finished quilt top is returned to you, passed from friend to friend and made with love- the ultimate Friendship Quilt!

We have named the project "Quilt Journey" and I am sharing it with some people I have come to know well and love dearly over the past few years: Angela (@cuttopieces), Kaelin (@theplaidscottie), Michelle (@ilikeorangetoo), Cara (@meamom), Cherie (@wright_cherie) and Rene (@luv2kreate). On IG we are using the hashtag #quiltjourney.  Each of us has done our first part and mailed it on, and I have also done my section of Cara's quilt.  We have a month or so with each....I am already impatient to see it develop!!

Very exciting, but also very scary.  Because this Type A girl has to relinquish CONTROL.   Yes, no Ms. Bossy Pants allowed in this project, gotta go with the flow.  And also, for the other quilts, I am going to have to try new things outside of my comfort zone to be true to the style and wishes of my friends, as we all have our own styles and tastes.  And the added pressure that they are all going to see my crappy seams and piecing, lol!

This is going to be GREAT. :)

My first job for MY quilt top was to pick a colour palate.  I had fun going through my stash, and decided on purples, pinks, navy and shots of lime green, with lots of low volume fabrics mixed in:

Next, it was time to pick a STYLE.  Hard one.  After much debate (and with the song "Let it Go" from Frozen on repeat in my head), I decided that if I was going to relinquish control, what better type of quilt to start than an improv style one??  I made some paper pieced blocks in the "x" style I used for my latest Epic Bag, and put them together in a wonky manner, irregularly spaced:

To this, I added a side border, using some of the same fabrics.

I love some of the cheeky (very ME) details....like the words in this bit of text fabric added (designed by my friend Berene @happysewlucky on Spoonflower).

Can I just say how much I am loving this so far?!?!  Ultimately, I hope everyone adds chunks of improv blocks in their own fabrics and styles and adds their signature to my quilt top!  I am sure it will be fabulous.

I think one of my FAVORITE aspects of this project is that we also send along a journal.  Inside, we can write whatever we want, really- inspiration, fabrics, colours.  What we are doing in this season, the weather. Thoughts about the person the quilt top belongs to. And so on. A little bit of a diary of the process to look back on for years to come!

So now, whatever the outcome, it is out of my hands and in the mail to its first destination, Rene in Texas!  Have fun with it, friends!  xoxo