Celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary

Hi folks,

Just popping in to share the card and quilt I made for my parents for their 50th anniversary.

My renewed interest in quilting the last few years is one of the reasons why my card-making has kind of fallen by the wayside. But I'm finding quilting to be a very satisfying hobby at the moment so....that's just the way it is. There's only so many hours on the weekends and, these days, quilting fills those hours.


card details:

• finished size: 6x6 inches
• patterned paper: CTMH Every Little Thing
• stamps: CTMH Every Little Thing Cardmaking Stamps and Thin Cuts

quilt details:

I started this quilt at the "Galentine's Day" workshop at Mad About Patchwork. The pattern is from the "I Heart You Quilt" pattern but I made mine a touch bigger. The original had only 16 hearts but I made this one with 25 hearts, each with two fabrics to represent my parents' 50 years of marriage.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

100 Days 100 Blocks Quilt Along 2018 - Blocks 8 through 14

Hi folks,

I'm back to share my blocks for the second week of the 100 Days 100 Blocks Quilt Along for 2018.

Block 8

Block 9

Block 10

Block 11

Block 12

Block 13

Block 14

I promise, in the coming weeks I'm going to try to bring in some other colours. But I seem to be gravitating towards the oranges and yellows.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Day 7 - 100 Days 100 Blocks 2018

Hi folks,

Just popping in to share my block for Day 7 of the #100Days100Blocks2019 quilt along.

Oh my goodness the pieces in this one!!

As always thanks for stopping by.

I think going forward that I will do a weekly post of the blocks completed for that week. Much easier than remembering to do a daily blog post on top of the official post to instagram.

Day 6 - 100 Days 100 Blocks 2018

Hi folks,

Oops! Looks like I forgot to post yesterday's block for the #100Days100Blocks2018 challenge.

This was an easier one - not too many pieces!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Day 5 - 100 Days 100 Blocks 2018 quilt along

Hi folks,

I'm back to share my fifth block for the #100Days100Blocks2018 quilt along. Yay!

Still going with the oranges!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Day 4 - 100 Days 100 Blocks 2018

Hi folks,

I'm impressed - it's day 4 and I am still sharing my blocks for the #100Days100Blocks2018 quilt along.

I finally cut into two of the fat quarters I got in a mystery Free Spirit fat quarters box from Craftsy a few years back (the four corners and the central, fussy cut block).

And yes, I'm back to the orange dominated blocks again - but now there's also some purple and green!

But I did find a few more packages of fat quarters hiding in my fabric "annex" - with OTHER colours in them. So, they may eventually show up.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Day 3 - 100 Days 100 Blocks 2018

Hi folks,

We're up to day 3 of the #100Days100Blocks2018 quilt along and I'm still keeping up - though I had to patiently wait for someone to wake up from a catnap so I could audition and cut the fabric for this block.

He's pretty darn cute - how could I say no to a cuddle?

Anyways, here's the block!

Once again, thanks for stopping by!

Day 2 - 100 Days 100 Blocks 2018

Hi folks,

I'm back again today to share my second block for the #100Days100Blocks2018 quilt along.

Thanks again for stopping by!

So I've started another quilting project ...

Hi folks,

In case you didn't already know - papercrafting is only one of my hobbies. Lately, I've been spending more time with one of my other hobbies - quilting.

Like many quilters, I'm not content to have just one project in progress at any given time. I have several. In fact, while I've been on summer vacay the last three weeks I've actually been working on four of my currently in progress quilts (there's actually nine in progress - don't tell the other five that I've been spending time with the others).

I've actually finished two of those tops and they are now awaiting quilting. So, that means I just had to start on another one.

I decided last minute to play along with the #100Days100Blocks2018 challenge.

Here's my take on the first block.

I'm hitting up my stash of fabric for this project - aiming to get a varied assortment of colours for my blocks.  I have a bad history with quiltalongs - I never finish them on time and usually fall behind at some point. But I'll give this one a try and see how it goes.

Thanks for stopping by!

Grandma's kitchen - another day of catching up

Hi folks!

Now that I've finished the "Straight as an arrow" baby quilt, it's time to get back to the blocks from Pat Sloan's Grandma's Kitchen Quilt Along.

On Sunday, I had a long overdue quilting day with my friend who had begged me to do this quilt along with her.

We both had a rough day. I was dealing with the repeated launderings of the baby quilt and she was having a difficult time with her piecing. Things were not going well for either of us but we both persevered.

I was able to finish up blocks 8, 9, and 10.

Block 8 - Grandma's Apron Applique is not something I do very often but I'm quite pleased with how this one came together. Pro-tip: drop the speed of your machine to it's very slowest AND use a very light foot on the gas pedal and you will do just fine.

Block 9 - The Kitchen Window

Block 10 - Recipe Box The pattern for this one suggested using a different setting than the one in the pattern. So I did.

I still have more catching up to do. Blocks 11, 12, and 13 have already been published. Block 14 is due out Wednesday. I probably won't get to them again until next weekend. Busy week ahead!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

Another day - another quilt finished

Hi folks,

Just thought I would pop in and share another baby quilt I finished yesterday. I actually quilted, bound, and signed it all in one day. Unheard of for me. But it IS a baby quilt - so it's small.

The kit was titled "Straight As An Arrow" and I purchased it from a vendor at Quilt Canada in Toronto this spring. There were a couple of mishaps along the way.

Mishap number one was a cutting oops thanks to poorly written kit instructions. I was able to source the fabric I messed up from another another vendor and completed it just fine.

Mishap number two was a marking oops. I marked my Argyle quilting pattern with a Chaco blue chalk pen style liner. Big mistake. They didn't come out in the first wash, or the second, or.....you get the idea. I think it was the eighth washing when I finally decided that the blue lines were mostly now invisible on the white rows. I actually lost track of how many launderings this quilt endured - and how many different cleaning products (even lemon juice!). Anyways, the end result is that the the orange arrow fabric actually faded a bit from the original colour.

Anyways, it's done and has been left with my neighbour (along with two other quilts) for her daughter to choose from as a gift for her baby due this week.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

When hobbies collide

Hi folks,

Back today to share another finished quilt that actually made use of some of my paper-crafting tools!

Here's the finished quilt - it's the Sweet Dreams Little One Nap Quilt by Wilmington Prints.

The lower left block? That's where my paper-crafting tools came in handy.

I wanted to applique the baby's name in coordinating fabrics so I pulled out my Block Alphabet Thin Cut dies from Close To My Heart to make the task a little easier.  

First, I ironed some Heat 'n Bond Lite to the back of my fabric, then I simply cut out the letters with my dies and Cuttlebug. Ironed them on to the quilt and then machine sewed them in place. Ta da! Easy peasy!

What HAVE I been up to?

Hi folks,

Wow... I took a peek here at my blog and realized I haven't posted in quite some time.

Paper-crafting is but one of my many hobbies and I've been devoting more of my time to one of my other hobbies recently - quilting!

Would you like to see some of my recent finishes? How about THIS week's finishes? Three baby quilts!

These two use the same fabric charm packs - Lullaby by Moda with some white Kona thrown in. I just quilted them each a little differently so they would be different. Not sure to whom these two will be gifted, but I have them at the ready.

Then there is this little ocean themed one -  for our youngest niece born at the end of June (yes, I'm late but my sister doesn't mind).

I have two more quilts already sandwiched and waiting to be quilted. I'll share those when they are finally completed. Oh, and three OTHER tops finished and waiting to be sandwiched. And....and... I've lost track of how many are "in progress" and "in waiting".

And a few others that have been completed and not yet gifted. I'll have to find the photos of those and share them as well. There's one of which I am particularly proud - it's huge and was quilted on my domestic sewing machine.

Anyways, that's what I've been up to in case you are a regular visitor and have been wondering about my absence.

Craft Room Confessional

Hi folks,


So any of you who are regular readers may have seen my post for WOYWW where I bemoaned the fact that I could not find some quilting fabric for which I was searching. Well, I tackled the mess in front of my craft room closet door and found it wasn't there (where I THOUGHT it was). So that meant I was finally able to actually look inside the closet.

gah! nasty!.....all sorts of sundries in here.....top two shelves are packed with fabric (but not the fabric for which I was searching!). The other shelves are a mish-mash of all sorts of stuff. But guess what? That tidy canvas basket in the bottom right hand of the closet? Well, that's where I stashed the wool I bought last spring to resume knitting. And guess what else was in the basket?

Yep - the elusive fabric! Now it just needs to be washed, coordinating fabrics purchased and I can maybe get around to some quilting!

Oh, and while I was at it, I got a bee in my bonnet about finding my Christmas fabrics so that I could use some on some Christmas cards. You may have noticed I haven't made any Christmas cards since June. Well, ONE of the reasons for that was that the next challenge (after the last one I did) over at Sparkle's Christmas card challenge blog was to use fabric on your card. I knew I had some around and could not find it either. Well....the light bulb went on and guess what I found in my hallway linen closet?

Yep, hiding behind a mesh sweater drying rack - a box CLEARLY LABELLED as Christmas fabric.

Is this how those people on the tv show "Hoarders" get started?

hmmmm.....


so, anyone else got any craft room confessions to share tonight/today?