Sleep Apnea

Hi.  I'd like to share a site with you pertaining to Sleep Apnea.  If you've never heard about this, take a look at this site.  Lots of great information.  Many people don't even realize they have it.

www.sleepapneacontrol.com

Let's try this again

It's been a long, long time!

My daughter and her husband increased their family of 3 to a family of 5 in February of 2015.  My first granddaughter Hailey became the big sister to an adorable baby sister, Sadie May and a handsome little brother, Liam Raymond.

Gosh, are they fun!  The doctors decided they needed to arrive early as they weren't gaining enough weight.  Sadie May arrived first weighing 3 lbs 15 oz and Liam Raymond weighed 5 lbs 6 oz. They  spent some time in the Neonatal unit of our hospital and then were able to come home.

Although this isn't a recent picture, it is one with all 3 of my Grandchildren in it.  Those pics are hard to create with all 3 of them always going in different directions.

Once I found out that twins were coming, I started to plan what quilts I would make for them.  For Sadie I knew I wanted to use a 'Swoon' block as my starting off point and add borders until I felt it was a good size for a baby quilt.  My daughter said the colours she decided on for Sadie were rose and teal.  Well, I just happened to have those beautiful colours in Bonnie and Camille's fabric collection, Ruby.

Next is Liam's quilt.  I used Fig Tree & CO's Mini Sail Away Pattern and added borders to compliment the colours in the boats.

I backed both quilts with white flannel for warmth and a cozy feel.

I embroidered their name on each quilt to make them extra special and I'm so happy they are used every day.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you're having a quilty day!

It's been a while

Merry Christmas

It's been a long time.  This year a member of my family took sick and after 6 months, has passed away.  I miss my Dad dearly.  He was the first man I ever loved and taught me so many things.  I cherish each and every day I was able to spend with him.  So lucky I had 53 years with him. :-)

I'm currently working on 2 baby quilts as my daughter and her husband are expecting twins in March.  I've chosen Fig Tree's mini Sail Away as the starter for the baby boy and will be working on a swoon baby quilt for the baby girl.  Yes, a boy and a girl!!  Very excited and can't wait to meet them both.  I'll show pictures of the quilts in a bit.  I really need to get quilting.  For my first grandchild, I embroidered her name on her quilt and will do the same for the twins.  Love the thought of them all bundled up in a quilt made especially for them by Nana.

Bags

 

I decided to try making some small makeup bags from my scrap bin.  I laid out scraps I thought would go together and started cutting the pieces.  I believe these 2 bags I made recently were all from the same fabric collection, which I think is why they turned out so nicely.

 

The pattern is Zippy Strippy by Atkinson Designs.  

atkinsondesigns.com

I love this pattern.  The bags are so cute and always turn out so nice.  Terry's tips are very helpful too.

Hope you're having a wonderful week. :-)





I heart quilting!

Heart Baby Quilt

 

 

I saw a heart layout for a baby quilt using Moda Candy charms on Moda Bake Shop. (http://www.modabakeshop.com/2014/02/big-hearted-quilt.html#more. 

 As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make a heart quilt using the candy charms I had purchased...so here is what I made.  I used 1 pack of Scrumptious candy charms for the heart itself and part of another for the borders. Scrumptious is by Bonnie and Camille for Moda ... are you familiar with Camille's blog?? ... you really need to have a look ...) http://camilleroskelley.typepad.com/simplify/

To showcase the delicious fabric, I chose white tone on tone as my background. I first started playing with fabric colour placement and this is what I decided on.

 Once I decided on the placement of colour, I cut 2.5 inch white tone on tone fabric squares to border the vibrant charms.

 I started sewing the squares together and then began sewing the rows together.  It just makes you smile to see a quilt top coming together.

 

So pretty!!

Next, I added a 3.5 inch white border on all sides.  I knew I wanted to add more colour, so I decided to add a candy border to the top and bottom.  This in turn changed the square into a rectangle, which is how I like my baby quilts.  I thought it still needed some more length and I chose to add another 3.5 in border to the top and bottom.

 

 

I love this fabric and I'm so pleased with how this has turned out. 

Happy quilting everyone!



A finished Valance

I've been sewing and pressing all afternoon and my valance is finally finished.  It may not be perfect, but I'm very pleased with it.  Have a look and see what you think...:-)

 

I've also been working on another project.  A Paula Vaughan pattern.  This has also been taking many hours and I'm so enjoying it.  It's very rewarding to see your picture growing with every stitch!  Here is what I've completed so far.

 

Happy crafting everyone!

I love star blocks

 

I love, love, love stars!!  Star blocks, that is. When I see a pattern using stars, I just gravitate toward it.  The stars in the sky are very pretty too, however, fabric stars are currently occupying my mind.  My mother wants to make new curtains for her kitchen and we were trying to decide what we should make.  Mom has some blue fabric that she thought she was going to use in an Ohio Star quilt (see stars are a passion for us) ,but we started cutting the fabric today to make a valance for her kitchen door.

I too, want to make a star valance.  I hope these pieces of fabric will soon be a new valance.  Love the colour blue,  we both do!

 

 

I'm making this valance from fabrics I already had on hand.  One is a medium  blue, although the lighting kind of makes it look navy, the other fabric is a grey with a light blue paisley pattern.  I want the blue and grey blocks to pop, so I'm using white on white tone fabric for the backing and to make the rest of the valance.  Let's hope it turns out the way I see it in my mind.  Fingers crossed!

 

Because it has been snowing here all day today, I'm making a roast of beef with potatoes and carrots roasted on a pampered chef bar pan.  Yum!  Can't wait for it to be cooked. Hope you're having a wonderful sewing day too.

Blessings Blocks 4,5 & 6

 

Here are the latest blocks from the Blessings Quilt.

 

# 4 Log Cabin

 

# 5 Mosaic # 15

 

#6 Split 9-Patch



 

These blocks are only 6" finished, so the individual pieces aren't very big.  These blocks weren't difficult but I'm sure there will be others that will be more challenging. I'm so happy I chose Double Chocolat for this quilt.  I'm loving the colour combinations!

 

Happy quilting.

 

 

 

Blessings

Blessings Quilt Blocks

 

Here are the first two blocks of the Blessings Quilt I'm participating in.  This quilt was introduced to me by Jackie from 'The Fabric Cupboard' located in Moncton, NB.  Jackie attended Quilt Market in the spring and thought this would be a wonderful project for anyone who enjoys quilting.

 

I absolutely love The Fabric Cupboard.  The people are so nice and they have a wonderful selection of fabric, notions, thread....etc.  The first time I visited this shop, I just couldn't stop staring at all of the yummy fabric.  I've continued to visit several times since.

 

Jackie emails one block to us each week.  I chose Double Chocolat by 3 Sisters for Moda to create my Blessings Quilt.  The collection is gorgeous!

 

I guess they decided to eliminate block #2, so these are the first two so far.

 

 

Hope you're having a wonderful day!

Christmas Gifts

 

I made a few quilted runners as gifts for Christmas this year.  It was so fun sewing them.  I didn't decide until later in the year that I was going to do this, so I only made 3.

 

I used Stampin' UP fabric with some neutral to make this runner.  I haven't actually delivered this gift yet.  I'm hoping they like it.

 

 

This runner was made using a deeper red for the stars.

 

I made this for a friend who visited Paris and loves everything related to Paris! 

I'm so pleased with each runner.  I love planning the project, choosing the fabrics and enjoying the results!

Happy New Year

 

 

Welcome 2014.  I'm hoping you will bring many wonderful moments and happy times.  I've been on vacation since Dec 14, 2013.  But alas, tomorrow I must return to work.  This morning I decided I needed a new bag to carry lunch and such with me. And of course, I want it to use tomorrow!  LOL!  Sooooooo....this is what I spent my day working on.  I sewed a new bag and decided to go with the Chevron style.  I used some fat quarters from 'Metropolitan Fair' by Barbara Brackman for Moda.  The lighter color fabric I believe is' Chelsea Manor' by Bunny Hill Designs for Henry Glass & Co. 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out.  I may need to make a scrappy quilt using the Chevron design while using up some of my bits and pieces of left over fabric.

 

 

It was a beautiful, sunny day here in NB.  However, quite cold.  Walking on the snow sounds like crunching Styrofoam.  This is a pic of the winter wonderland that is my backyard.

 

 

 

Hope you've all enjoyed the beginning of 2014!

 

 



Quilt love for a gorgeous new baby boy

Hello,  I know it's been almost a year since I've posted but my cousin has recently given birth and I've made a new quilt for the little one.  Ronan was born last week and this is the quilt I decided to make for him.  In this first picture I'm laying the blocks out to see what colour combinations that look best.  The pattern I chose was Camille Roskelley's design 'Dilly Dally'.  I love this pattern.  Camille has the most wonderful patterns that she has designed and sells on her website.  The fabric collection I chose is called 'Grow With Me'.  I just love the colors in this collection.

 I added a teal border.

 

 

This was hand quilted by me and I was really pleased with the design that happened to show through from what I decided to quilt around..

My daughter was kind enough to hold the quilt so I could take some pictures.

 

 

                                         

 

I sure hope Ronan enjoys this quilt made especially for him with lots of love.

Easy Peasy Runner

I found a wonderful tutorial for a runner on Amy Smart's blog http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2010/08/table-runner-tutorial.html. Thanks Amy for posting such awesome tutorials!!  Amy's instructions are very clear and detailed.  I've made two runners since I saw her tutorial and they were easy and fast.  The blue, yellow and pink runner is for my sister as she just painted her kitchen and I thought this would be very nice for spring and summer.

The second runner I just finished today is for my daughter and her husband.  They just bought a house and I wanted to make them a runner for their kitchen table as well. 

These runners can be made mainly with scraps of fabric you have.  The largest piece of fabric required is for your backing and you could even piece that if you wanted to.  The sky is the limit with this type of runner.

Everything was stitched using the sewing machine except sewing down the binding which I sewed by hand.  I'm so pleased with these that I already know I want to make more.  Well, I'll need one for my kitchen too. ;)

Brown and Turquoise

A few years ago my daughter mentioned that she would like a quilt.  I asked what colours she would like and she immediately said brown and turquoise.  I asked what pattern she wanted and she said "I want the same one that is hanging in Nana's room".  I asked if that would be the log cabin.  I showed her what that would look like and sure enough, that was the one she was thinking of.  My Mother has a quilt rack shelf that hangs in the computer room and one of the quilts is a log cabin.  Here is a picture of the quilt I'm currently working on for my daughter.

  I've surely received my love of quilting from my Mom.  She has been quilting for quite a few years and it has only been about the last 10 years that it's become all I really want to do.  My Grandmother also quilted and we have pictures of she and her sisters all sitting around the quilting frame working on a pretty quilt with ladies holding umbrellas.  Mom says it is called 'Colonial Lady'.  Thanks Mom!

Hope you are all enjoying whatever project you are working on this week and happy sewing!!

Baby gift

One of my daughter's friends had a baby and I wanted to make something for him.  I decided I would knit a sweater and make a taggie baby block.  This is
for the sweetest little boy whose name is Talon.  Below is a pic of what I made.


The sweater is a 12mths size and the pattern is from Cabin Fever.  This is a top down cardigan and sooooo easy to make.  You can add different borders or panels to make the sweater just what you want it to be.  This is the 4th sweater I've made 3 using this book.  They just turn out super cute!!  And ... the best thing about the pattern is the only sewing you have to do is under the arm and it takes about 10 seconds to do.  Who doesn't love that???

I also added a handcrafted tag to the taggie block.  I think whatever you make deserves a cute hand crafted tag.

Hope you are having an awesome day!!

Taggie Baby Block Toy

 I saw this toy in the Winter 2011 issue of a magazine called 'Quilts and more'.  In the article Scrap Lab,  3 designers are challenged to make a project with a certain set of materials.  Camille Roskelley designed a baby cube which I thought was super cute and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make one.  Here is my finished project.

I added the ribbon tags made of satin ribbon and grosgrain ribbon.

As soon as I finished this one which is made using 5" squares of fabric, I thought I smaller one might be cute too.  So I decided to make a block using

 3 & 1/2" squares.  So you can see the difference in the sizes here are both of the cubes below.

I tried free motion quilting on the large cube and on the smaller cube I just did some regular machine stitching.  I love both of them.   I just know I will be making more of these adorable items.

Baby Toy

 

Cute baby fabrics huh??  I'm making a baby toy.

I chose pieces of ribbon to go with the colors in the fabric.

6 pieces of batting as well.  Come back tomorrow to see the finished product.

So sorry...

Hello!!  I'm so sorry to everyone who signed up as a follower of my blog, but yesterday in trying to clean up some buttons I mistakenly deleted my followers.  Can you tell I'm really not sure of blogging design and buttons???  I can post but that's about all.  LOL!  I really didn't mean to, so if someone could tell me how to retrieve that or fix it I would be so grateful.

I'm going to be taking pictures this weekend of some upcoming projects that I will post soon.  Thanks for your patience.  This Mon-Fri job gets in the way of my fun.  But it also pays the bills...which is a really great thing!  Allows me to buy new fabric.  Yay!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Here in my neck of the woods they are calling for 10-15cm of snow tonight and tomorrow so I'll be staying in where it's cozy and sewing and crafting. 

Hugs,
Cathy

Walking a new path

Hi.  I just wanted to let you know I'm no longer a Stampin' UP! demonstrator.  I still love stamping but I've decided to concentrate on my passion... sewing and quilting!!!  You may still see cards from time to time but my focus will be whatever I'm working on at the time.  Hope you still want to check in.

Baby Quilt

Hi.  This is a quilt I made for a new mother, Amy, at work.  She was having a boy so I chose green, blue and yellow to make her quilt.  I sort of chose 'Trip Around the World' as my pattern and decided to quilt X's through the blocks.  I think it turned out well.  I had learned a new way to attach the binding from my mother's friend Mary-Ellen so I tried it on this quilt.  Wow!!  It made it so much easier when joining the beginning and end.  You can't even tell.  You would think it was just where I joined the binding strips together as I was sewing them together.  I really love making quilts.  I'm making a log cabin right now for my daughter who is getting married this fall.  Hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to show you it as well.

Have a great day,

Cathy