Melly and Me attempt #1

I ordered these cute Melly and Me patterns online as I have always loved the Magoo monkey pattern. I as many may know already, that I don't read words on a pattern. I am very visual person.
The pattern is very simple but with no pictures to follow it was harder for me to figure out what they were trying to tell me to do. I had never sewn pleats before so that was interesting, and then I sewed the face the long ways which made his face really long and did not puff out as it should have.
This is the first one... I have since made a second one and with the changes  he does look better not so crazy looking. I will post about the second and third attempt as they are going to two special boys for Christmas.
Happy Holidays!

Leslie's Retirement Quilt

This past October a friend of mine and fellow quilter retired (lucky her) .
I have waited to post about the quilt we made her until after we gave it to her, I think she checks out my blog once and awhile.
Brenda and I made this quilt for Leslie because of coarse she was retiring but who thinks that a quilter would need another quilt. It is different when someone else makes it for you, it's that muh more special.

We started out with a pattern and left some of the squares as muslin so that the girls and guys we work with could sign it. It was great sharing the work with Brenda, she did the cutting and sewing and I did the sandwiching and quilting.
I added a Dr.Suess quote to the label which I thought was appropriate.
Leslie will be missed terribly, the only good thing about it is we are off the same weekend now!

Tree Skirt

Last year I didn't put up your traditional Christmas Tree but this year Sam and I are off and we are having Christmas dinner on Boxing Day at my house. I thought that a traditional Christmas tree would be more appropriate (fake one). I dusted it off from the basement and it is up and decorated.
I had made a tree skirt for my grandparents tree from a class I took many years ago at the Quilters Stash. It is a really pretty teal, beige and white, I chose non-traditional colors. I headed to the Quilters Stash looking for an easy pattern that I could follow by the pictures and that I could use the many fat quarters that I have as the fabric. With the help of Maureen I left with the easiest pattern ever.
I searched through my fat quarter stash and picked some Christmas and winter patterns and others that were just pretty.

I then used a template to cut wedges which brought me to this point. I had 8 sections that looked like this...

I had the perfect material for the border, I had bought this fabric in the US at some point this summer and was saving it for the perfect project, I found that perfect project. 

Each wedge had a border sewn on which was much easier then sewing on one big curve border.

I finished the project quickly and because this pattern was so easy I was able to finish it in a few days. 

Of coarse then I had to put up my Christmas Tree in order to see what my tree skirt looked like under the tree, and damn it looks amazing, I have never had a tree skirt and it does finish the tree. 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I ordered some Melly and Me patterns and I am waiting for them in the mail, I plan to make a gift for my friends baby for Christmas....that's the plan as of today.

Inspired Part 2

I had mentioned in a previous post about having something sewn for my groups Show and Tell, well here is project number 2. I have had this panel done for awhile, I had blogged about it when I got it finished.

I had some owl flannel fabric left from the previous quilt, so I thought this quilt top also matched that flannel. 

I have moved my pinning process upstairs as I have more space there. 

I thought I would go out of my comfort zone in the quilting department and it surprised me what I came up with, it turned out quite nice. 

I also put another Dr. Seuss quote on the back of this one as well.  I just think they are such cute poems. 

Now I have a few things for Show and Tell, all you need is a little inspiration.

Inspired

 The ladies I work with have planned to get together next week and I thought I have nothing for Show and Tell. I have not sewn in a long time as I have been distracted with the running season. I even sat down to sew and watched a Triathlon on TV.

I have had 2 panels hanging around for a looooooooooooong time and this weekend I had planned to do something with them. 

I had used my twister ruler and used some leftover fabric from a Hungry Caterpillar Quilt I had made for a little boy and I finally finished this one.  I also had 5 meters of a very cute owl flannel that I thought would go perfect with this quilt. 

I recently discovered Dr. Seuss quotes which are so cute and I put one of them on the label of this quilt. I got out my fabric pen and it had gone dry, I quickly headed down to the Quilters Stash to get myself a new pen and carried on. 

I tried a quilting pattern which was new for me, I tried it on the border of this quilt and thought it worked out well. 

Now I have one for Show and Tell.

Long Lost Quilter and Blogger

I am still here, I have not quilted or wrote a quilt blog in a very long time. For the summer I am distracted by my other passion which is running. I had been training for the Miles with the Giant Half Marathon which was Sept 23rd here in Thunder Bay. I have a running blog which you can check out if you like it is:

http://www.warmbloodedrunner-vjd.blogspot.com 

Now that the running season has slowed (although I plan to run the Goofy Challenge in Disney in January) I will be getting back into quilting right shortly as the temperature is slowly dropping. 

I am so thankful to those that have come back to my blog over and over, I promise you will have new content soon. 

Thought these were cute

In the Meantime Panel

I had gone to Fabricland today to get some border fabric for my ticker tape quilt and they are having a 50% off sale tomorrow so I will postpone my purchase until tomorrow.
I had a real itch to do some sewing so I pulled out a panel  I had recently purchased in the States.
I am no good at cutting up the panel and then making my own pattern to make a quilt out of it.
I just added some borders to it using fabric I had that was allocated for a bag, I had made one bag already so a second one in the near future would be unlikely.

Here is my evening project...

The things you can come up with, with the fabric you have already in your stash, that's what I like the most!

Baby Owen

I went to visit my friend Shannan who had a beautiful baby boy to give her a quilt that I had posted about awhile ago.

He is so cute, and constantly moving. 

Selvage Quilt

I gave my selvage quilt a new home, it was my friend Lynda's 50th birthday and I had made the quilt for her. We did our first Marathon together and this is why I put the running shoes around the outside.

Can you relate

Ticker Tape Quilts

So I googled Ticker Tape Quilts and knew this was something I had to try. I should have read the instructions but it will turn out in the end. What I didn't do is sandwich the layers and then sew the scraps on, so I will have to quilt it in the end, and if I had of sandwiched it ahead of time the quilting would have already been done. I started out with these squares and each square having it's own color.

I plan to put borders in solid colors around the squares matching the color they are. So I thought I would do 8 squares across and 10 squares down with one color in each row. To save time in pulling out fabric, I decided to do all 10 black squares first and then move on to the next color.

I can't wait to see this one finished, it is different like the selvage quilt, not sure what it will look like in the end, but know that it has the potential to look great.
I will keep you updated.

Sharpening your Rotary Blade

I have not tried this so if doesn't work ignore this post, but wouldn't it be nice.

Everyone has this in their kitchen, right? And what has the aluminium foil to do with sharpening rotary cutter blade, you ask ?

Well, you simply fold a piece of foil a few times and just slice away with your blunt dull rotary cutter…pausing a few times to test it out on your fabric scraps …till it starts slicing away your fabric too!