One Flower Wednesday!

It seems like Wednesday keeps sneaking up on me before I'm ready for it!  I've got a two year old with a pretty good cold so we had a fairly quiet and uneventful afternoon.  I took advantage of that quiet time to clean and organize a corner shelf in our living room and finish up this weeks flower!

I only have 6 or so fabrics so each week might start to look the same but I think it will look super cute when its done.

I might start piecing more of the flowers together so I can have a better idea of how many more I need to make for the table runner.  It should be interesting when I get the top done since I have no idea how to finish off and back a paper pieced project!!  Until then I'll just keep working on my flowers one at a time.

Thanks for stoping by and I hope you are having a great middle of your week!

Party Monster Quilt!! Work in Progress.....

Two and a half years ago my Sister-in-Law and I took a quilting class at My Sewing Room in Calgary, it took me over a year after the course was over to get up the guts to finish my Bug Quilt.  My Sister In Law got back into crocheting and the Party Monster Quilt was set aside until last week when she asked if I wanted to finish it.  Of course I jumped at the chance - its such a cute quilt its a shame to have it not be finished!  Not that I am one to talk since I have no less than THREE unfinished quilts waiting for me to get to them in my basement - but I digress, this is about the Party Monster Quilt not my serious lack of finishing quilts!

If the Party Monster Quilt looks somewhat familiar, its because its the same nine patch pattern as the Monster Quilt I made for my nephews baby shower back in April.

The monsters make me laugh - they are just so cute!!!

The little pinky/red Monster in the centre block is beyond adorable and so are the big bees!

The backing is a nice bright orange with outlines of the same monsters from the front.  

It has already been 'mostly' quilted.  All the major blocks have been 'stitched in the ditch' but I'm not sure what I am going to do across the 9 patch blocks.  I have been pondering doing more ditch quilting but part of me is thinking this quilt would look cute if I sewed diagonally across each 9 patch block and have it mix up all the parallel lines a little bit.  One day I would LOVE to try some sort of free motion quilting but I don't think this quilt is the one to try it out on - let the monsters be the centre of attention and the quilting just be the background.

Hopefully I can add this to the stack of my UFO's that I have that are mentally kicking my butt lately and have it done fairly soon if the kids let me get some sewing done!

Zippered Purse Pouch Attempt!

I love love LOVE little zippered pouches, always have!  They are fantastic for change, coupons, pens... pretty much anything that is small you can keep in a little zippered pouch.  Every time someone blogs about making a zippered pouch I get a pang of longing to make one myself but zippers scare the bejezus out of me so I've stayed away from them for a long time.  When I did my little road trip to The Quilting Bee in Olds Alberta a few weeks ago I picked up an Atkinson Designs 'Cash and Carry' pattern for four different little zippered pouches and came with a kit to make the large pouch and then I could conquer my fear of zippers.  After trying to figure out how to use fusible fleece (yet another thing I haven't worked with before!) I got to work!

It came with instructions on how to cut down a zipper - have I mentioned before that anything to do with zippers scares me?!?!   Well after reading and re-reading the instructions at least 10 times I started hacking away at the zipper and finished the ends with a binding strip.  What do you know.....zippers aren't so scary anymore!!  ;)

All the pieces of the pouch getting ready to be sewn together...

The finished pouch - I had to tweak it a few times before I got it to how I liked it.  I messed up somehow with how long I had the length of the pouch and how small I had the zipper so I had some weird bumps that I managed to cut off and make a little less wonky.  

Because it uses the fusible fleece its actually lined in the same black fabric although you can't really tell - I think its super cute!

I think this pouch would have taken me 30 minutes max from start to finish if I didn't have two girls running around the house and one infant that either wanted to eat or be held (and was SCREAMING the rest of the time) so it took me almost all afternoon to get this pouch completed.  

Mr C letting me know that he was not impressed with my sewing time today...

Today was the first time I've been back at my sewing machine in quite a while and I really enjoyed it - hopefully Mr C will let me get some more sewing done soon!  

Thanks for stopping by!  

Birthday Party Goodness!!

September brings many things, the end of Summer, the start of Fall and my oldest daughters birthday!  Miss S turned 4 a week and a bit ago and today we had her family birthday party with my husbands side of the family complete with the Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, Great Grandparents and one set of friends who are practically family!  Its sad when you say you are going to have a 'small' birthday party and it still has 20 people at it!  And 20 people in a 1500 square foot house is nothing to sneeze at!  

I have always purchased a cake either from Safeway and Sobeys since I'm always worried that my cake wont turn out, I run out of time, or I don't trust my decorating skills.  This year I decided to suck it up and bake a cake for Miss S and she was thrilled to help me.  We picked up a butterfly cake pan from Michaels and with a little help from Betty Crocker made a pretty cute cake that tasted pretty good too!  Not too bad for my first decorated cake if I may say so myself!  

Its amazing what a little licorice, Swedish berries and candy hearts can do!!

My fantastic SIL came over early and did the decorations.   Shes super party planner extrodinare and I was so glad to have the help with decorations. I really dropped the ball on this birthday party this year and ran out of time to get it all done.

Miss S had asked for a butterfly cake so we decided to go for a butterfly theme.  My SIL got the butterfly wings at the loonie store and then made the body out of construction paper and the antennae out of pipe cleaners - super cute!!

 There were butterflies over the windows...

Butterflies above the pictures....

And even a butterfly hanging from the roof!  

Miss S had a fantastic time and I'm so glad I'm done birthday parties until July of next year!  On to the Cousins birthday party in a few weeks!

The Versatile Blogger Award!!!

Earlier this week (on my birthday actually) I was awarded The Versatile Blogger Award from Erica at Vicrace Designs, Thanks Erica!  Its awesome to know that people are enjoying what I have to say!!

There are rules to this award...
1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself on the post.
3. Pass the award to fifteen bloggers that you think deserve it.
4. Lastly, contact all of the bloggers that you've picked for the award.

Here are seven things about me...

1. I {heart} my minivan.  I've had it for a year and with three kids its been nothing short of spectacular and uber handy!!!
2. Once upon a time I had a six pack - no not of beer but my actual stomach had real honest to goodness chiseled abs.  Sadly after three children my six pack has turned into a bit of a keg....!  ;)
3. I got married at 21 and have been married for 9 years.
4. My dream vacation would be 7 days in Disney World followed by two weeks in Hawaii to recover from the whirlwind park experience. 
5. If I had to choose between never having a Coke to drink again or never having chocolate I'd chose the Coke!! 
6. I wish I was a more organized person but I'm working on it slowly.
7. I'd love to be able to qualify and run the Boston Marathon.

I have chosen 15 blogs that I feel deserve this award:

1. Cluttered Quilter
2. Creative Confessions
3. Yankee Valley Stitcher
4. Chatterbox Quilts
5. Hilachas
6. City House Studio
7. The Craft Bot
8. My Handcrafted Home
9. Grey Cat Quilts
10. Spun Sugar Quilt
11. Journey of a Quilter
12. A Sisterly Connection
13. Sewing in the Wendy City
14. Obsessively Stitching
15. Cat Patches

Thanks again Erica! And thanks to the new followers that I have to my Blog!!  

One Flower Wednesday!!

How can it be Wednesday already?!  I swear I was desperately trying to get my flower done yesterday for one flower Wednesday but I guess that was last week.  Someone stop the time train - I want off!!

I attempted to work on my flower while nursing Baby C and can honestly say that trying to feed a hungry baby and handing a sharp needle made for a few close calls so from now on paper piecing will be a non-baby handing activity!  And to clarify - Baby C was not harmed in the production of this weeks flower....!

I guess I should come clean - I wasn't able to make a complete flower, I made the petals and the centre but I wasn't able to get them sewn together but I will have it done for next week I promise!!

Until next week my friends.....!

Also I need to apologize to everyone that has left comments the last week or so - life has been a little crazy with preschool, a brand new baby, an 'independent' two year old, and a shift working husband!!   I haven't had the 'quiet' free time that I need to respond to emails and actually make sense (otherwise you would probably get a discombobulated reply that reads like I just finished a bottle of wine!!).  I will definitely respond its just taking me longer than I would like!  Sorry again!

My Sewing Nook!

This is part two from my post from yesterday.  My wonderful husband and kids surprised me with an amazing serger for my birthday on Sunday and while the girls were sleeping we managed to put together a sewing nook in the corner of our basement.

The 'Before' Picture

My Husband was too quick for me to get a real before picture but I ran upstairs and grabbed the camera for as much of a 'before' picture I could get!  Its an unfinished basement but during the day the light is good and I'm on the lookout for a good light I can get to really brighten up the space at night.  

 The new serger in its place of honour on my storage tower.

 The complete Sewing Nook!

Sorry for the dark picture - we need to put in a few more lights or something down there but when you are actually sitting down at the table its fairly bright.  I have my storage towers on the left, my serger is on the black tower (which is actually an entertainment stand that I pilfered from the corner of the basement that wasn't being used).  My sewing table is open with the leaf out and I have my Brother sewing machine all ready to go.  Under the table is my SIL's sewing machine that I need to give back to her.  I have my accuquilt in the corner of my cutting table (forgot to put my cutting mat on the table for the pictures but its on there now).  Under the cutting table is my old Singer sewing machine along with a few extra totes of fabric.  I have my accuquilt tucked away in the corner along with all the dies that go with it - I may have to find a better place to put the dies but for now I think they are out of reach of little fingers.

The pink and white quilt that is on the wall was a baby gift for my oldest from family friends - I thought it brightened up the space really nicely so we put it up rather than having it tucked away in a box that we don't see often.  

 Storage Storage Storage!!!  

On the left is a storage tower with 98% stuff I need to get rid of and the other 2% is stuff I need to organize.  Its got a little bit of yarn, some knitting needles, disney crafting stuff, my marriage licence (should probably put that in a better spot!!!), some scrap booking stuff and some other odds and sods that I need to go through.  The small white storage tower has all my sewing stuff in it - thread, needles, scissors, fabric, odds and ends.... I still need to go through it and organize it but its so nice to have it all in one place!!  The black storage tower has my kits, jelly roll fabric, and all my 'nice' fabric!!  I've put my junky fabric under my cutting table but I want to be able to see my nice fabric and be inspired!

My rulers are super close to my cutting table and ready to go at a moments notice!

My sewing set up!

And finally where the magic happens!  My sewing desk and my Brother sewing machine. The quilt that is hanging up behind my machine is my very first quilt I ever made.  I took a quilting class with my Costco special Singer sewing machine (that was 10x louder and clunkier than anyone else's in the class!)  and I love that its up to remind me of how far I've come.  Not to mention its the only quilt I've completed that has 'grown up' fabric - all my other quilts that I have made have been baby or kids blankets with CRAZY fabric so its nice to have something pretty to look at an be inspired by.

Its definitely a work in progress, I'm still on the lookout for something that I keep my scissors, cutter, pins and a few other things on my table while I'm working but for now I'm quite happy with my own little space!

Happy Birthday to me!!! Sewing Goodness....

Today is my birthday - part of me can't believe I'm 31 years old and part of me feels much older some days (apparently having 3 kids will do that to you!).   I'm very proud of what I've accomplished in my first 31 years and I can't wait to see what the future has for me and my family.

My husband is working late today so he and the girls gave me my lovely birthday gift yesterday - this is it:

I'm sure those of you that sew know exactly what it is, but for those of you that don't its a Bernina 1300mtc Serger/Overlocker!!!!!

I've been wanting a serger for a long time but never had one, and now that I have one I'm TERRIFIED of it!!  The last serger I used was in middle school and was like a $200 special that only serged and didn't have any bells and whistles on it whereas this new serger does a ton of stuff and I'm scared to even try to thread it let alone use it!  That being said I've got a date with my new toy this afternoon and I'm hoping between the manual, Youtube and my mad skills I'll be able to figure it out without hurting it or myself...  ;)

Its soooo lovely - I have the best husband ever!!  Can't wait to use it!

Yesterday we also organized the unfinished basement a little better and now I have a sewing room for all my sewing goodness.  I took before and after pictures and I'll post them tomorrow (hopefully along with something serged to prove that I conquered the threading today at least!!).  Its going to be so wonderful to have a space somewhere with all my sewing stuff together.  Its still a work in progress but its a fantastic start to a wonderful Mommy cave!!  

Today is also International Talk Like a Pirate Day -  Happy Arrrrrrrrrh to you all!!!  ;) 

One Flower Wednesday!!

Wow - Wednesday already?!  Between my oldest starting preschool three days a week, my 2 year old going though a serious bout of the terrible twos and trying to get used to minimal sleep from our newborn I'm having a hard time keeping my whits about me let alone remembering what day of the week it is!!

Its been a while but I managed to get a flower down for the first time in months!!!   I foresee more flowers in the near future since its so hard to get my sewing machine out and sew with Mr. C who gets a little fussy at night.   I did manage to get a new project started the other night but ran out of fabric so I need to move onto plan B and see what I can do to make my fabric stretch to make it work a little better. I'll post more about that when I figure out how to finish it.

And now for my flower.....

Thanks for stopping by!!

I found a new Fabric Store.....and added to my fabric stash!!!

I finally made it out to a quilt store that I have been wanting to hit FOREVER yesterday and it didn't disappoint!  The Quilting Bee is located in Olds Alberta (about an hour and ten minutes north of Calgary) and is a fantastic little quilt shop.

I totally forgot my camera otherwise I would have taken some pictures of all the cute displays that they have set up and all the beautiful quilts that they have on the walls, maybe next time I'll remember it!

I left the girls to play with my Mom at her house in Carstairs and Baby C and I went for a drive to Olds to find the quilt shop (as much as I love my girls, I find fabric shopping less than relaxing when I'm trying to chase a 4 and 2 year old around making sure they don't touch everything!!).

After wondering around the shop for what seemed like forever and picking up and putting down at least 10 different kits that I wanted I finally decided on a pouch pattern kit and a civil war reprint fat quarter bundle.

The pouch pattern has instructions for 4 different types of zippered change purses.  I figured that once I made a few (including the one that came in the kit) I might be able to make them for birthday or Christmas gifts for some of the ladies or the nieces in my family.  Who doesn't love a cute change purse?!?!  ;)

I have always loved bright crazy fabrics but lately I've been admiring Civil War reprint fabrics and fell in love with this 6 pack fat quarter bundle.  Not sure what I'm going to make with it but it will go great with the Kona solid in cream that I got a few months ago!!

I'm hoping to get my sewing area all sorted out in the next few weeks so I can have a permanent place set up for all my sewing stuff.  Hopefully I can get some good before and after pics of what I'm planning on doing with the space!

My Latest and Greatest Creation.......My Son!!!

This isn't a crafty post but it is definately about my latest and greatest creation - my Son!!!  

The newest member of our family was born on August 23rd at 4:08am, weighed in at 7 pounds 11 ounces and was a whopping 20.5 inches long!  He is absolutely gorgeous and perfect in every way!! 

Mr. C hanging out in his bouncy chair having a bit of a break!

Big Sisters S and L absolutely LOVE their little brother!!  This is after they first met him at the hospital.

C is a fabulous baby, hes super easy going and puts up quite well with his big sisters requests to hold him all the time!  He loves to snuggle and thankfully is a pretty darn good sleeper for a 2 week old!  My husband went back to work Wednesday for the first time in a month and my first two full days alone with three kids under the age of 4 actually went really well.  I even managed to make a quick trip to the mall with all three kids yesterday and we didn't forget anyone or anything (except for forgetting to close the van door the entire time we were shopping but thankfully everything was still in the van when we got back to it - lesson learned, do not trust an almost 4 year old when they say they shut the door!) or have any meltdowns!    

Its been a full month since I've posted anything and almost that long since I have sewn anything.  Thankfully I have a craft night planned with my SIL tonight and I'll be able to work on one of my projects that I have on the go.  

Thanks for hanging in there with me with my month off!  Hopefully I'll be back to sewing and posting lots more soon!!!