Gardener's Apron Tutorial

I am guest posting over at Sew, Mama, Sew! today with a tutorial for a quick and cute gardener's apron! The perfect Mother's Day gift, or for your favorite gardener. Also would make a great cooking or crafting apron. Be sure to stop over and check it out!

creative

Me, enjoying and afternoon out with my girls: "I am so lucky to have two such beautiful, smart, sweet, caring daughters!"

LBNL: "And creative, Mom. Don't forget CREATIVE."

:)

scenes and sounds from my sewing room this morning

A happy mess of cut and stacked fabrics in the morning light.



The humming of my machine as I piece some of my favorite (hoarded) fabric...Little Folks! The start of something beautiful :)





A breakfast of tea and Easter chocolates in my belly.



This stack of fabrics in the corner of my eye, distracting me with dreamy thoughts of possibilities....



...and the sounds of happy children playing nearby.
Life is good today! I had to pause to record this moment of pure contentment in my brain :)

Happy Easter, everyone!

can't seem to.....what? oh yah, focus.

Sometimes I feel like my brain is being pulled in 50 directions. And that is just with my crafts! I used to be so good and sitting down and seeing one quilt or project through to completion, but now it seems I am half way into one quilt top when I go and start another, and nothing ever gets finished. I have so many ideas rattling around in my head that when I get an hour to sit and do something, the time is often wasted, standing in my craft room, spinning in circles looking at all the "piles." I need some focus. So when I saw Tracey's post "Just 3 Things" I knew it was the challenge for me! She is hosting a linky party where you write down just 3 crafting goals for the month. Simple! So that is what I am going to do!


Here are my three goals for April:

1. Baste, quilt and bind The Middle Child's FFA2/3 quilt. The poor girl has been waiting 9 months for it, so I want to get it done for her! I even got the back pieced last night (don't mind the nighttime photo):

2. Related, but separate: make a coordinating pillow for her bed.

3. Start a quilt with my new ruler:

(photo and ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful)

I have a bunch of other half finished quilts that I should really work on, but this ruler is calling my name. I have a stack from my stash set aside ready to go. I have a few design options and recipients in mind, but I will get just one sliced up and started.

So, when I have a minute this month, I am going to consult my list and work on one of these things. If I finish them, great! On to something new. If I don't feel like it, that's fine, too. But at least, when I am at a loss, it gives me a place to start. Hopefully less time wasted this month! Thanks for the great idea, Tracey!

Far Far Away quilt top completed

At long last, I have completed The Middle Child's FFA2/3 quilt top!


I used Kate Conklin's Fussy Cut Fairytales pattern, a lap quilt pattern which I then modified to make twin sized. This is a great pattern as Kate uses a stack and slash method which allows you to do fussy cuts with essentially zero wasted fabric. But it is the floating squares border that really does it for me. It is a bit time consuming, but I think it makes the quilt.


I am not yet sure how to quilt this....Kate's is hand quilted but I am not sure I want to take that on. I think I may wait until my Juki arrives and quilt it on that!

My daughter loves it, and has already requested matching pillows!

Linking up to Sew Modern Monday.

hanging in Grand Forks, ND

It was Spring Break this past week, so we packed up the family for a few days and took a run for the border to Winnipeg's American cousin, Grand Forks, North Dakota. Just a 2 hour drive south, it is a favorite destination for a quick Stateside visit with a little shopping.

Now it may not look like much:

(view from our hotel window)

But don't let it fool you! Those North Dakotans know how to party! Check it out- they used to have elephant parades in the streets. Elephants!

Anyways, the main attraction there for my family is the CanadInns Waterslide park.

The main attraction for me, of course, is JoAnn's. Was so excited when all the things I wanted, i.e. Olfa cutter, blades, and DS Quilts fabric, yarn, were on SALE, plus I had a coupon to make it a sale on top of a sale....made for a very happy Mommy.



The fact that I took more photos in JoAnn's than I did of my kids that weekend proves I am a quilter through and through.

That and the fact that all of the carpets in the hotel made me think of quilt designs......



Had a nice mini-break, though every time we go there my family manages to defile the place....one pool puke incident, one restaurant puking, a bed wetting, another pee incident. Seriously, kids! Keep your body fluids to yourself! You may wanna avoid room 906 if you are going there.

Also learned that my daughters seem to think they have testicles. Made loud jokes throughout the weekend about how this or that "hurt their nuggets" while cupping their hands over their nether-regions. What the....???? Such little ladies. Never a dull moment.

Back to routine and reality this week!

The Sweater worthy of a parade

I can't even tell you how giddy I am about finally finishing this sweater. The fact that it FITS and, no modesty here, looks AWESOME, is just the icing on the 10 Layer Cake of Incredible.

My journey/whining about this sweater is well documented: started it back in November, had to restart it 3 times for reasons I won't bitch about (again) now, so it has been a learning process for sure. Basically I could have easily whipped off 4 quilts in the hours it took me to knit this thing. Then there is the little matter of cost....knitting is in no way a cheap hobby, and the yarn, buttons and shipping/border duty charges for the supplies for this were....brace yourself...about $180. Would I ever BUY myself a sweater for $180? Hellz NO! If I were to add up the hours spent in manual labour and add that to the cost, this would be a FIVE THOUSAND dollar sweater.

Good thing it looks like a million bucks :)



What do I love about this? Oh, so many things! First off, the pattern. It is called the Golden Wheat Cardigan, by Veera Valimaki. It was so well written (all the previous mess ups were entirely my bad). Sizing was perfect. Then there are all the little details. I love the asymmetrical shape, and the collar....



......the cute little "side seams" that are not seams at all, but stitched in along the body and sleeves......



.....and, this baby's got back!



While the pattern only calls for a few buttons at the top so it is always worn open, I opted to do buttonholes all the way down. I like that I can wear it closed on chilly days.



And I love the COLOR! The yarn was Madelinetosh Chunky in the candlewick colorway. So vibrant and warm. And so soft! Worth every penny.



The buttons. Dang, I love buttons, but these are perfect. I found them after a quick etsy search, at a shop called shop4craft based in Thailand. Great service!



I can basically go on and on about all the things I love about the final sweater. And I am so RELIEVED that after all that time and effort, I have something that I love to show for it. I didn't even block it because I had to put it on immediately. I plan to wear it every day until it is stinky and smelly, probably even longer. Then I will peel it off for a quick wash and wear it some more. Just call me the Lady in Yellow.



If you want to learn more, there are even more details and ramblings on my Ravelry page.