craft south recap

I am embarrassed that it took me a MONTH to gather a few sentences about my amazing, incredible, indescribable weekend in Nashville attending Craft South, with none other than Anna Maria Horner and Heather Ross (insert squeals here).

I attended with my bestie Samantha from Toronto.  We used our 40th birthdays as an excuse to the husbands to do this.  Yes, I have milked this birthday for all it is worth and then some.  I have no shame.  We then got my good friends Kelly (Kelby Sews), Angela (Cut to Pieces) and Michelle (I like Orange, too) to join in the fun.  Kelly lives in Franklin, TN, so we all came a day early and had a girlie pow wow at her house the night before!  So much fun.  Including the incredible quilt swap I talked about in my last post.

( I want everything in Kelly's sewing room. All the things!!)

Friday night, the weekend began with cocktails and appetizers at a local restaurant.  I sat next to Heather (that's what I call her now. Heather.  My buddy.).  You know, no biggie.

And then here is Anna Maria checking out (and COMPIMENTING!) my handmade clutch. Gah! 

Then it was off to the temporary studio to settle in for the weekend.

Okay, I am at a loss for words (weird, eh?). I have stopped and started a commentary about 10 times.   How to describe this weekend?  Essentially, this weekend was 25 amazing ladies, hanging out in a studio full of hand stitched inspiration, in close quarters with my two Quilting Rockstars.  I told my husband that it was like if Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora had invited him to their place for the weekend to jam in the garage and hang out.  Yah.  That cool.

(God, I hate this picture of me.  WHY DIDN'T I TAKE A DECENT PICTURE?!?!) 

We went for dinner at Anna's HOUSE.  I mean, she said to us as we entered, "go ahead and throw your stuff on our bed!"  Talk about down to earth and folksy!  We hung out with her family, who were amazingly welcoming and who actually performed a concert for us- songs written by her eldest son and his friend, along with other favourites, performed by the "boys", Anna's husband and daughter.  Talented and creative just like their mother.

Then Anna Maria and Heather took the time to draw us each a picture of whatever we requested, to embroider later.  How amazing is that???

Speaking of original art, back in January (my, ahem, ACTUAL birthday), my husband had ordered me a Heather Ross custom family portrait for my gift.  I had been in contact with her about it and it was so incredibly great to be able to have her give it to me in person.  I love it so much, and how it captures my family and our life right now, scampering around in the minivan.  I have it framed and on my wall at home.

(I know it looks like Heather is trying to cop a feel in this picture, but I assure you, 

she is far too classy to attempt such a thing)

So we stitched.  We learned. We were inspired.  We laughed.  And time passed FAR too fast.  I gained a love of needleworks that I didn't know I had.  I look forward to incorporating more of it into my crafting in the future.

So, in short, if you ever have the opportunity to attend Craft South at some point, I have one word for you-  GO!!!!!

finished quilt and the best gift ever

So Michelle (ilikeorangetoo) and I decided ages ago to do a swap, and planned to do it in person while together at Sew South. It was meant to be something small- a pouch, oven mitts, whatever, but a bunch of stuff happened this year for both of us personally, so it looks like, unbeknownst to the other, we both upped the ante!

I decided to make her a quilt, using my scraps from her favourite fabric line ever, Good Folks by Anna Maria Horner.  I didn't have much, so improvised a design based on my Liberty iPad mini cover I made, and both inspired by this mini quilt I saw on Pinterest.

I used a variety of low volume fabrics for the background, quilted it in swirly loops reminiscent of flight.  I named it "Migration", and even made a groovy label ;)  The back is a silky soft AMH voile, of course!

In return, I too received a quilt.  But not just ANY quilt.  A freaking epic all voile masterpiece that was entirely HAND QUILTED.  Are you kidding me???

I died.  I certainly cried.  I was so overwhelmed by her work and her generosity.  This is the first quilt I have ever had made for me, and it is so, so precious.

It was even touched and admired by The Great One herself!

And it has been getting plenty of use at my home.  Thank you again, Michelle, for this incredible gift.     You must really like me.  ;) xoxox

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!

teacher gifts

It's the last day of school today, so along with the sheep happens bag and yarn I gifted to one of my kids' teachers, I made a couple summer totes with some Anna Maria Horner "stacked" fabric in home dec weight.  This book-inspired fabric is the perfect choice for a teacher, wouldn't you say?

I accented the handles and lined them with a couple other of her coordinating prints.  Then filled them with summer goodies- a water infuser, some chips and Smarties (for helping make my kids so smart!) and a gift card for them to choose some summer reading.

I made the totes without a pattern, just sewed some rectangles together, made a gusset bottom, lined and added a slip pocket.  Sometimes simple is best!

Blogging will be sporadic for July and August as I will have 3 energetic little people wanting my attention on my days off!  Plus heading out to the lake for some family R&R :)  But,  I do hope to sneak in some regular sewing while I am there.  I have a stack of quilt tops meant for the cottage bunk beds that need quilting and binding!  Plus a couple secret swap projects that I plan to finish up.  So, hopefully some good things to show you once routine is restored. 

Wishing you all a fabulous summer (or winter, in the other hemisphere!).

xoxo Kristie

my new favourite quilt.

Okay, it is not so new.  I have been sleeping under this for a month or more now.

My favourite Anna Maria Horner Good Folks fabric.  Pieced with love on a weekend away in Atlanta, it will always remind me of that trip and bonding with my quilty friends.

Quilted by the amazing Krista in an all over loop pattern.  The texture is perfect on this monster sized quilt, a large king at 120" by 90".

Buttery voile on the back, so soft on the skin. It is the perfect weight for summer. I love how it welcomes me to bed every night.

My favourite. Now I just need to make me some matching pillowcases and shams :)

 

June already?

Not sure how summer snuck up on us, just glad it finally arrived.  The days seem to fly by around here, and I am looking forward to slowing down somewhat over the summer months to enjoy....just enjoy everything.  Some time soaking up this view will be in the cards:

 

We bought a cottage :)  So, SOOO excited!!  As you may recall, we had a family cottage that was destroyed in floods here a couple summers ago.  With it, there has been a mountain of  paperwork and bureaucracy to work through.  We were finally at the point where we could start to rebuild.  BUT, then more forecasts of floods were made (which, thankfully, did not occur), and an ice storm caused more damage for some properties.  And we decided, enough was enough.  Time to make a move to a new, more sheltered area.  While we will miss our friends at beach, we are looking forward to this new chapter.  Life is good :)

And a new cottage means new bed quilts to make!  That should keep me busy for awhile.

While I haven't been blogging much, I have snuck in some crafting here and there.  If you follow me on Instagram (I am there under Kristieocd), you have seen some of these.  But here is a few more of the things that I have made for my new muse, my sweet peanut of a niece! So, in addition to the quilt and sweater she has scored, here are a few other items I have made for her of late.

A wee knit hat for her noggin, using my baby eyelet hat pattern and adding a crochet flower.

 

A voile dress.  No pattern, just went with it, much like the one I made for LBNL's birthday.  Used some crochet trim for the hem and the shoulder straps, and a button closure on the back.  Will be nice and light, and hopefully fit, in the warmer months ahead!

Some onsies, made with t-shirt transfers.

My sister is a bit OBSESSED with New Kids on the Block, U2, and Teemu Selanne of the Anaheim Ducks (and formerly a Winnipeg Jet).  She has a keenly developed sixth sense entirely related to finding and meeting celebrities, and as such has had several run ins with Teemu, Donnie Wahlberg, and even can be seen chatting up Bono in the latest U2 documentary about the band, which was partially filmed in Winnipeg.  It is quite comical how she pulls this stuff off.  So of course I had to take the opportunity to dress her offspring in NKOTB and U2 gear. This one reading "New Kid on the Block" and another that says "Achtung Baby" after the U2 album.  Of course, the first gift my niece received was her very own baby Jets jersey!

Have a great day, back again soon :)
Kristie

Atlanta trip- the sewing

I had one goal and one goal only while in Atlanta: work on my Good Folks king quilt.  And...I even finished the top!!

I have had this bundle of Good Folks for almost 3 years, and was too paralyzed to cut it.  I knew I wanted something special just for me.  Finally, I decided it was Time.  And go big or go home....how about a king quilt for our bed?

Being a king quilt, I wanted larger blocks to keep things proportional.  And, I am not gonna lie to you, I didn't want to spend a million years cutting teeny tiny pieces, so that by the time it was done, I hated the thing. Besides, Anna Maria's fabrics look amazing in larger chunks.  These blocks finish up at 15" each.

I am happy to say (and I have witnesses), that not only was I gushing and giddy the entire time that I was sewing this top, I didn't even utter a single swear word during its construction.  True story!

It came together much faster than I had even dared to dream it would.  But I was on a mission.  Juki and I went hard!

I decided to use a mixture of low volume fabrics as my neutral, and this is one of my favorite parts of the quilt.

I bought a bunch of buttery Little Folks voile for the back.

 

This baby finishes up at 120" by 90"!  It will be sent to Krista to do some quilting magic :)

because I was in a bad mood.

I had a bad day today.  Not exceptionally bad or anything, in the grand scheme of life, but enough to make me cranky.  And you wouldn't like me when I'm cranky...(as she turns green...Hulk reference).

I blame it on work.  It was a bloody, messy day.  Okay, I am a dentist so "bloody" isn't anything to get alarmed about.  But it was bloodier than necessary, in my opinion, and I just didn't like it.  On the plus side, it was a half day, so I got to go home at lunch time to sulk and eat sugary things to console myself.

I had a good shower to wash off said blood (ha ha, kidding...sort of) and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.  But I felt like I wanted to be prettier.

If some Little Folks voile can't cheer a girl up, what can?

I grabbed a couple strips that I had in my stash and got to work.  Within a half hour, I had made this infinity scarf.  Seriously, instant gratification.  If you look you can see that my hair is still wet from the shower!  It was that fast.

Feeling much better.  Thanks, Anna Maria, for never failing to bring a smile to my face!  I owe you one.

The va-jay-jay quilt

I wanted to make something fabulous for my co-worker's new baby girl. We have worked together for years, and she has recently gotten into quilting herself. She is a fan of strip quilts and straight line quilting, so I thought I would make something different, outside her comfort zone, with lots of curves. I saw this quilt by Jenny and thought it the perfect pattern!


The nursery was to be done in greys and yellows, so I decided to combine these with some pink for the quilt. I pulled out my Quick Curve Ruler and cut up some of my precious Little Folks voile for the project, paired with Kona charcoal. This was my first time using the ruler and it was a breeze to use. Love it!

I cut and pieced, added a border, and used some Aurafil thread to do some pebble quilting on all the grey bits, new to me, and incidentally, very time and thread consuming! I ran out midway and had to wait 3 weeks for my new spools to arrive. I left the voile pieces unquilted to remain soft and silky to the touch. Then I did a few rows of hand stitching along the borders using Perle cotton thread to finish it off. I had a lovely time finishing the hand quilting and binding while at the lake.


But here's the thing. At some point along the way, I got it in my head that the blocks looked like...well, vaginas. And, being pink, fushia and yellow, they kinda looked like vaginas with various degrees of infection.

That's a hard thing to get out of your mind, once it's there.

So, when it was all said and done, I held it up to my husband skeptically, telling him my views ("yah, you are kinda right!"), and asked if this thing was even giftable. Well, that was when the unexpected happened. Last But Not Least spied the quilt, and declared with all the passion that a 5 year old can muster (which is quite a lot): Mom!! I love it! It is your best quilt ever!!

Huh?

I ignored her, thinking it would pass, but brought her along with me to be my quilt holder for some photographs. Between each and every one, she would give the quilt a mighty embrace:


And she pleaded, please Mom, can we keep it?? Pleeeeeeeeeeze?

In the end, who can resist that face? So, the quilt was granted as hers, and she took it outside to play with her lake friends, spending 3 full hours playing variations of Twister and leap frog with the quilt. No word of a lie! THREE HOURS. Worth its weight in gold. Who'd've thunk it?



And at dinner time that night, as we feasted on a gourmet meal of hot dogs and Kraft mac and cheese, LBNL declared that while dinner was superb, it was the second greatest thing Mama made that day, after the quilt ;)

So, it looks like I will be cursed with looking at that va-jay-jay quilt for years to come! And I have started a new (and anatomy free) replacement quilt for Baby Kiera!

Shared today for some giggles at Quilt Story and at Sew Modern Monday.

Mother-daughter quilt collaborations

I was thinking that I would make Last But Not Least a doll quilt for Christmas, using the design she drew as she was so excited about it. But, seeing as my kids have the attention span of goldfish and in 6 weeks she would likely not even remember, I thought I would instead make this a "together" project that we could work on over the weekend, between ballet, tap, hockey and several hundred loads of laundry. You know, life.

So we started by pulling fabrics to represent her purple, pink and yellow color scheme- I love how well the Anna Maria Horner print goes with the Hope Valley! We chose some Erin McMorris that I have been hoarding for 2 years for the back.


Next, I made a quilt sandwich and bound it up with some of my favorite yellow seed stitch fabric. Then I ironed some Heat and Bond to the back of strips of fabric, and then had the girls cut them up into nice wonky squares, just like in the "design"!

Last But Not Least then used her drawing as a guide and instructed her sister as to where the squares should be placed. I gave them a press and then sewed them onto the sandwich, ticker tape style.

Voila! A completed doll quilt. Smiles are free.

When asked if she was happy with the quilt she designed and help to make, her answer was, "It's nice and all, but I think my picture looks MUCH better." Can't win 'em all. To be fair, she was cranky and suffering from separation anxiety from Kitty, who was in the wash due to an unfortunate swim in the toilet at some point in the midst of all this fun. Life.

Well, for those of you who have more than one child, you know what comes next.

The Middle Child announces, "Don't I get to make a quilt?"

Of course you do. Fair is fair.

She is all about princesses and puppies, and since I have a huge stack of Heather Ross FFA2 that I am still planning to use to make a quilt for her bed (eventually), I suggested we start there. She selected the fabrics she wanted and got to work making a design of her own. But don't forget the pink puppies, Mom! Out comes the Pips.


I made this one wonky long cabin style, kind of like the blocks I had started with the Ghastlies. I must have been in a wordy mood that day as I chose another text print for the binding here, by Sweetwater (though I am too lazy to get up and go look at which one). For quilting, I just did some straight line quilting around the edges, because, let's face it, at this point it was time to make supper already.


The Middle Child was very pleased with the result (no critiques at all this time!).

So, my friends, that is the tale of 2 minis, made with my daughters, on a sunny and crispy cold Saturday afternoon. Probably the most fun I have had quilting in a very long time. And that's what it's all about!

Linking up at Canoe Ridge Creations and Quilt Story.