Dino Buddy Quilt

My washing machine and dryer have been working overtime today trying to get the Dino Buddy Quilt all nice, pluffy and ready to go for when the baby makes his grand entrance (possibly sooner than later with the way I've been feeling lately....) but I've still got four weeks to go so we'll see how it goes.

After washing it shrunk a little more so its still a little smaller than I thought it would be - approximately the size of a large square receiving blanket - but its super soft and I keep having to shoo the girls off it since they are already trying to claim it as their own...!

See - here comes Miss L trying to get a quick snuggle in-between pictures!!

The back - I'm pretty happy with how it turned out - the seams don't match up but thats ok - everyone is allowed a little wonkyness now and again!!

I think I still need to wash it a few more times - the lint that I keep finding in the dryer and the lint that comes off it when I shake it outside are scaring me from actually laying it down inside!  I think a few more goes in the washer and all will be well!!

Dino Buddy Rag Quilt - COMPLETE!!!

I can now say that after years of wanting to I finally completed my first rag quilt - and I think its super cute!!!!

I have been cutting the fabric for the Dino Buddy Quilt for the baby over the past few days (even had Miss S help with the lint brush yesterday!) with my Accuquilt and tonight I sat down and figured out the inner workings of a rag quilt and pieced it all together.  I've been wanting to make a rag quilt for at least 5 years but I always get sidetracked and move onto a different project - now that I have my Accuquilt I'm glad I waited since it was actually quite easy (and much easier on my fingers after reading some blogs and hearing how time consuming it is to cut the individual fringe on each square).  

Once I had all my squares cut out I had to figure out my 'random' pattern - I LOATE doing random patterns....I tend to overthink the simplicity of them and worry that the dot fabric is too close to the square fabric and that I have too many blues and not enough greens in one corner.  That being said I promised myself once I laid the fabric down I could only make a few changes before I had to stick with what I had down on the floor - otherwise I would have been there all night arranging fabric!!

I guess I overestimated the size of the finished rows - it wound up being quite a bit smaller than I thought it was going to be.

After I had all the rows pieced togehter I realized that it was WAY too narrow and way too long.  Thankfully I cut just enough extra squares to add as boarders on the outside edges of the quilt.  Then I had to dig out the cutter and cut the backing squares for the 16 extra Dino squares....

All the rows in their pieced goodness....!!

Whats a quilt project done by me without a screw up?!!  I mean its a miracle that I made it as far as I did with this quilt before I made a mistake.  I have never done a rag quilt before and couldn't figure out how to piece the rows together - and apparently I pieced the wrong sides together.  Thats ok, a few seconds with a seam ripper and I was back in action and the one and only screw up was behind me!!!

The finished Dino Buddy Quilt!!!  I'm quite happy with it.  I need to throw it in the washing machine a few times and then take it outside so I can get a better picture of it but I'm quite happy with the way it turned out.  Its a little wonky in size but I figure that will be hidden a little better when I wash it tomorrow.  Next rag quilt I'll put batting in since this one is pretty flimsy BUT I'm not really planning on using it as his full time blanket - just a throw for when hes on the floor, a stroller cover, or when we just need a blanket for him for snuggle time.  

The back - I decided to do the left and right edges as the dark green to mix it up a little bit - plus I ran out of fabric so it was the next best thing!!

I can knock off one more thing on my Work In Process List which is a good thing since I've got so many things I want to do and at least 5 blankets that I have in various stages of completeness that I need to finish.

Its so awesome to get this blanket done, I lost my sewing mojo for a few weeks but it seems to be coming back.  I just need to find a better corner of the house to set up my sewing stuff in since its such a pain to have to set it up and tear it down off the kitchen table each time I want to sew.  Maybe I'll take over the bonus room and be able to watch the big screen while I sew!

Darn Hail......

Well, at least it wasn't me that killed the big tomato plant - it was the hail.....the hail and the wind that kept knocking it down... I'm pretty bummed since there are some pretty good tomatos on it already.

A closer look of the carnage!!  I might be able to salvage the single stalk in the middle but all the offshoots need to be cut off, I'm just having a hard time going through with the actual cutting...... 

BUT - there is a glimmer of hope on my deck - my nieces tomato plant that I was terrified of killing is actually sprouting a flower that might actually turn into a tomato!  I totally wasn't expecting this.  I never thought the little plant would survive in my care, hopefully it will do well over the next little bit until I hit my SIL's house again and bring my niece her (not dead) plant!!

Apparently I CAN grow strawberries though!  I have three big pots that have all given at least a few strawberries that the girls have been able to eat and all three have a ton of blooms on them and quite a few strawberries that are growing!  I'm super excited about these - so are the girls they keep asking to go out and water them and can't wait to eat them!  I still have to plant them in a planter box since I don't think they'll survive the winter in their original pots but I can deal with that closer to the fall.

I might bust out my AeroGarden in the fall so the girls can have another try at growing Tomatos and I don't have to worry about hail, wind or lack of water with that!  Plus its pretty neat to be able to eat fresh tomatos in the fall and winter.

Rag Quilt - Progress!!!

Well I got some cutting done last night and ran out of steam - its amazing how that can happen when you are almost 36 weeks pregnant!!!

I was able to cut up the 6 fat quarters that I want to use as the main body for the quilt and zip them through the rag quilt die for the Accuquilt in no time.

I quite like the fabric combinations that came in the fat quarter bundle.  I'm just going to arrange them in a random pattern on the quilt top and then edge the entire thing in a dark green flannel I picked up tonight.

I have decided that I'm not going to put batting in the middle of the layers - its mostly going to be a throw blanket that will go down for tummy time or to cover the stroller so I don't need it to be too thick.  Plus I figure since its my first one I'll keep it somewhat simple so I don't get too caught up in the details so I can finish it before the little guy makes his appearance!

Rag Quilt Planning

So my super awesome SIL went on a trip to the west coast for a wedding last weekend and along the way she stopped to scout out some fabric at some fabric stores along the way.  I NEED to go on these trips with her since she comes home with the cutest, awesomest, most lovely fabric that I can never find in Calgary.  She also finds the sweetest fabric bundles - I can never find good fabric bundles for kids - so I think she and I need to head out for a girls trip to get some fabric for me and build up her yarn stash (because stash building is more fun when its done in groups!!).

Not that I need yet ANOTHER project on the go I've fallen in love with some flannel that my SIL brought back from BC and I decided to make a cute little Rag Quilt for the baby (yes I'm feeling bad that hes not even born and I've made him one blanket already, pondering another one and my oldest still doesn't have her baby blanket done yet - but I digress!!!).  I've been dying to make a rag quilt for years but I've always done other things with my fabric rather than make a rag quilt so now is the time to give it a try!

I'm going to use the green dinosaur fabric as the backing so its all the same fabric and then I'll use the 8 fat quarters as the top of the quilt. I'm thinking that I'm not going to put batting in between the fabric or should I?!  (If anyone wants to weigh in and give me some 'to add batting or not to add batting' advice it would be greatly appreciated!!!!!) to keep it a little lighter.  I still haven't figured out the dimensions of the quilt but I'd like it to be a little bit bigger than the Tumbling Dots quilt I made a few months ago so he can use this quilt a little longer.

I bought the Accuquilt 5 1/2 inch rag square die - everything I have read or when I have spoken to people they say that this die is the most fabulous thing ever since it saves so much time when assembling a rag quilt.   I was forewarned to make sure that I have my lint brush handy since the die will create a TON of lint.....maybe I'll make sure my vacuum is close by too!

I think I'll start tackling this blanket tomorrow night when the girls are in bed - I'm really looking forward to being back sewing again!  I just need to finish planning how I want the quilt top to look with the 8 fabrics - pattern or random - and how big I want it then I'm ready to go!!!

I haven't killed the Garden yet!!

Well for someone that has anything but a green thumb my little garden is almost thriving!!!  I still need to put my strawberries in a proper planter but they are doing really well in their little pot they came in so I'm still pretty happy.

A tomato!  A REAL tomato!   Too bad the leaves are super dry and look dead but the plant itself seems healthy.

My tomato plant - it looks a little decrepit but its got quite a few tomatos on it.  I guess the plant doesn't have to look pretty to get some good fruit going!

Strawberries!!  The girls where thrilled to eat these (I had to sneak one for myself but thats the only one I've had) and keep looking outside every day to see if there are more that they can wash off and eat.

My nieces tomato plant.   I think I'm the most proud of this little plant because I haven't killed it yet!!  

I'm really looking forward to next year when I can really get going with the planting and actually being able to work in the dirt a little more.   For now I'm super happy with my little piece of gardening paradise  in our backyard and I'm loving the fact that the girls are learning that not all food has to come from the store!  

WOW - its been a while.......and I bought some FABRIC!!

Holy cow, I can't believe its been as long as it has since I last posted - sorry everyone.  I had a ladies night at my house a few weeks ago so all my sewing stuff got packed up from my dining room and banished to the basement.  It was actually quite nice to have my dining room back as a dining room but I'm really really really missing my sewing.  I'm in the process of cleaning up and changing the bonus room around so I can have my sewing stuff up there rather than on the main floor.  I've taken some 'before' pictures - hopefully I can get it done in the next few days so I can post my 'after' pictures!!

Onto the fun stuff - I couldn't help myself - I bought some fabric yesterday...... I went into Traditional Pastimes to find a Rag Die for my Accuquilt but managed to come out with three things of fabric (OMG!).   Aren't they just LOVELY!?!?!

The first is a fat eighth pack (I thought it was a fat quarter pack - ah the joys of baby brain and shopping with an almost two year old and an almost four year old!!).  Its by Moda and is the Ruby collection.   I'm not 100% sure what I want to make with this fabric but I'm thinking a cute little lap quilt for someone for Christmas would be wonderful.

The next is a Moda Jelly Roll and the fabric is Full Circle.  I have a super cute 2 for 1 Jelly roll book that I might be able to make two lap quilts out of this roll (along with some accent fabric) that I need to check out.  

Its reds, creams and blacks - super cute!!

Finally I got an amazing fat eighth bundle in Soul Bliss by Amy Butler - I LOVE this fabric.....its soooo happy and so cheerful and so fun!  I was pondering a Jo Morton fat eighth bundle but my four year old kept coming back to the Amy Butler bundle and I started envisioning the skirts, purses, small blanket.....ect that I can make for the girls with this fabric and before I knew it I was at the checkout with the fabric!

With the exception of some simple accent fabric I am SO done buying fabric for the next little bit - unless I find some cute boy fabric since little dude is going to need some cute stuff when he makes his grand entrance in a little over a month.  I have a bunch of blankets that are on the go (including a quilt along I am almost 4 weeks behind on!!!!!)  so I need to get my butt in gear and get moving on finishing those so I can get going on some of this wonderful new fabric....