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!

#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

"think positive" quilt

I am a little behind on blogging about Christmas gifts made, and in fact I forgot to take photos of some altogether!  But today I will share my favourite, a quilt 2 years overdue.

I promised my sister and her husband a quilt when they were redecorating their t.v. room.  My sister is not much of a "quilty person", so I wanted her input on the design and colours. A year passed and I finally got a top made.  I decided on an improv cross/plus design, for several reasons- 1. their faith, 2. my sister is a chartered accountant, and 3. at the time, my sister and brother in law had been in the midst of a long, difficult struggle with infertility and adoption.  I called the top "think positive" and…again it sat in the closet for months.

And then- a baby.  A baby!  My sweet little niece. It all came out positive after all!   And then the top sat longer because, of course, a baby quilt took precedence :)

All of a sudden it was Christmas again.  Doh!  So I basted and did some wonky grid quilting, and did some of the WORST machine binding of my life (not sure what the heck happened there), but hey, done is better than perfect, right? And they seemed to like it regardless.

And seeing as it has been -30 degrees Celsius for much of December and January, I hear this has already been put to good use!

a quilt for the plaid baby

One of my favourite quilty friends, Kaelin of The Plaid Scottie, welcomed a beautiful and healthy baby girl, Merida, into the world this past week!  There are a group of us who chat daily on Facebook about quilting and basically every other issue known to man (and some I am sure no one else has ever dreamed up), and we have been excitedly awaiting this moment since the pee hit the stick ;)  Even before Merida was conceived, Kaelin had put her order in for the Coolbreeze sweater I showed you here.  But in addition to that, the group of us decided to, naturally, make her a quilt.

Angela quarterbacked the whole thing (and I pinched all the finished quilt pictures from her site, with her permission of course).  After much discussion we opted on a paper pieced square in a square block that could showcase our collections of cute and precious fabrics, perfect for an I Spy quilt!  Oh what fun watching this come together!

There were about 10 us making this quilt for Kaelin and her "plaid baby" as she is known to us; Angela, Cherie, Cara, Michelle, Kelly, Ali, Amy, Rene, Elena, Tracey and myself.  Merida's nursery theme is "The Fabulous Mr. Fox" so there is definitely and abundance of fox-themed fabrics present.  These are the blocks I contributed!

A big shout out to Angela for quilting and binding this baby to perfection!

We are all so thrilled for Kaelin, and wish her and her new little family all the best.  And we hope Merida inherits her mother's appreciation and love of good fabric!! I am sure this is a good start ;)

Bloggers Quilt Festival: Heartstrings

Well, I finished up another quilt and decided to enter it in the hand quilting category in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!  Welcome to any newcomers via Amy's blog, hope you are enjoying the festival!

Unfortunately, this quilt has a sad story.  It was made for a co-worker and her husband who recently suffered a late miscarriage of their first baby.  They had been trying to get pregnant for ages.  They were devastated.  I felt helpless.  I made a quilt.

I called it Heartstrings because, the situation pulls at my heartstrings, and, it is literally a heart made out of strings.  I decided to do a colorful heart, representing hope and love, against a dark, blank background.

For the quilting, I used a rainbow of Perle cotton.  I chain stitched on the words "love lives forever in our hearts" and then did echo quilting around the heart perimeter in a variety of different stitches.  It is simple, but effective (I think!) against the grey.

On the back, a cozy flannel that has been in my stash since before I officially HAD a stash!  The binding is a grey polka dot from the LQS, hand stitched in place.

Simple, but I hope this quilt provides some comfort.  Thanks for visiting!

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Spectacle quilt

It's that time again- the fall edition of the Blogger's Quilt Festival has begun over at Amy's Creative Side.  I have mine listed in the baby quilt category! Can't wait to peruse the quilty goodness in Blogland!  Welcome to any newbies to my blog, and thanks for stopping by :)

A newly finished quilt to share with you today.  Isn't it funny that when fall hits and everything around me starts to wilt and die, I always seem to get a surge of creativity?  Lately I have been ON FIRE, people!  Sewing this and that, knitting my brains out, and a bunch of quilts coming together.  Lovin' it.  Just wish there were more hours in a day!

And I THINK this may be my new favoritest quilt of all time!!  (Yes, this is the part where I start to get all braggy.  But seriously.  Check this out. )

I can't think of a single thing I don't like on this quilt, or that I would do differently if I had the chance.  Which is rare for me (overanalyze much?).   I made this for a baby boy on his way into the world, but I am thinking that he may get a Gap gift certificate instead ;)  It all started with inspiration from this quilt, by Blue Elephant Stitches.  Now I am usually a girl who digs symmetry...total Type A personality, like to control everything, so on and so forth.  But that said, my favorite quilts to make, or look at, for that matter, are often the ones that have very little rhyme or reason.  

This one was just like that.  I took some scraps in blues and greens out of the overflowing bin, cut them into triangles, and decided to use two tones of grey to piece them together randomly.  I used Kona-something (charcoal?) and Alexander Henry Heath.  I had no plan, just assembled the top row by row, and had so much fun in the process as I slashed and hacked and stitched away.

I knew the quilting should be unstructured as well, and decided on a wonky free flow grid, somewhat mimicking that in the Heath. I used a light blue cotton thread, which of course I ran out of half way through the vertical quilting.  Le sigh.

Well, as often is the case for me, unexpected mess ups stimulate creativity (i.e. being too lazy to go to the store to buy more matching thread, I came up with a Plan B).  So, I decided to add some turquoise and goldenrod thread lines to the grid to fill in the spaces, and a small segment of hand quilting as well.  In the end, I think this adds so much to the finished product, we are just going to pretend it was a product of genius instead of laziness, okay?

The binding- I used a Sunkissed Sweetwater texty print cut on the bias.  I am normally one for hand stitched binding, but have dabbled in machine sewn too, with little success.  But this time- total triumph!  I used a WALKING FOOT, people...geez, whey haven't I tried that before??  Made all the difference.  It turned out perfect.

Last but not least- the backing!  How fun is this?

What is it?  It's a piece of a sheet, bought at Winners (Canada's equivalent to TJ Maxx), made by Colin and Justin.  What can I say?  It makes me so happy. Perfect amount of funky fun for this quilt. And I have plenty left for another (or two!).

This quilt measures in at about 40" by 50".  Annnnnnd I think that's all I have to say about that.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Kristie :)