This is what I made for my Paper Bag swap partner!!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great day. I worked today and ended up being forced to stay at work for an extra 2.5 hrs. I was not that happy about that. But there wasn't much I could do about it. One good thing about today is that my Snickerdoodle Paper Bag Swap partner received the package I sent her. So now I can show you what I sent her. I made her a wall hanging mini quilt. I hand pieced it and hand quilted it. I used the pattern Patchwork Cottage by a Canadian pattern company called The Rabbit Factory. I made a few changes to it since this pattern is for a whole quilt and I only used one of the blocks to make my mini quilt. This pattern was great and the instructions were very easy to follow.

I also made a large pincushion using some of the trims that Kjerstin sent me.

I gave her a nice notebook and also gave her the Patchwork Cottage pattern. Just in case she would want to make the whole quilt. I really enjoyed making this little quilt. I almost didn't want to send it to her, because I loved it so much. But I was also excited that I had put my all into this little quilt, and hoped that my partner would love it as much as I did. And she did. I'm so glad.

You should all go check out the Rabbit Factory Blog. She has a free applique block of the month. I think you would love.

Happy Stitching!!!

Ariane :o)

I got my Snickerdoodle Paper bag swap gifts!! Yeah!!!

Hi everyone! I got home from work tonight and what did I find, a package from the postman from my Snickerdoodle Paper bag swap partner Kjerstin Aker. I got such wonderful gifts. I got a wonderful bag with a cute little bumble bee and my name embroidered on it. I love that. I don't have too many things with my name on it because it's not that common here.

She made me a little thread catcher basket, a needle organizer and some great embroidery needles, a scissor cozy, a mini pincushion with some tiny little applique pins in it, a beautiful thimble and a strawberry that turns out into a cloth bag.

Oh!!! I just love it all. They are all so well made and so cute. I think she read my mind when she made me the needle organizer, because I can never find my sewing needles. I have a package here and there. Can never find the size I want, even though I know I have it somewhere. Now I'll be able to have them all organized together. That strawberry bag is such a great idea. I can put that in my big purse and have it for when I go shopping. Then I have an extra bag to put items in.

Then to top it off, she sent me some pieces of Thai-silk that her closest neighbour has given her. I love them. I'll be able to use them in a special project. A mini crazy quilt or something like that.

I'm so happy with all my gifts. Thanks you so much Kjerstin. It was fun to do this swap with you. I hope you receive my package soon.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

Di's Christmas "3" in August Challenge

Hi everyone!! I worked today. It was really hot and humid. Which really tested my patience. I had a lot of work to do and I was so excited to come home. I was all ready to go, I was tired.....but I couldn't find my car keys. I searched and searched...my co-worker searched and searched. I just couldn't find them. I was so frustrated. I said a little prayer to St. Anthony. He's the Saint that helps you find things. I said: "Please St. Anthony help me find my keys, I'm so tired and I want to go home." I turn around and look at my work bag. I look inside again. I have this little pocket on the inside of the bag that I put some papers in. I move the papers around and what do I find. My KEYS!!! AHHHH..........They were in my bag all along. It took me 20 minutes to find them. I was really tired. But thankfully I did find them. My Mom always told me that if I lost something to pray to St. Anthony. It always works. I don't know why I waited so long to do it.

Anyways, I found a cute blog today. Di from Quilting is Blissful is having Christmas "3" in August Challenge. She is challenging us to make three Christmas projects in August with her. I had already purchased some Christmas fabric to add to the fabric I already had and bought the nicest Christmas pattern booklet. So I had already decided that I was going to make some Christmas projects in August. This Challenge is just an added bonus. I haven't started any yet. So they are all going to be started from scratch. I can't wait to get started. Well, I hope you all have a good night. I'm going to bed now. I have to work tomorrow evening and I have lots to do before I go in.

Happy Stitching!

Ariane :o)

A block made from some of my scraps

Hi everyone! Yesterday I was playing around and looking at what I had in my scrap bags. I have two plastic grocery bags full of my scraps. They aren't organized or anything. I just throw all my scraps in there. Most are very small, but some are less then a fat eighth. After I made the cushion cover using my log cabin ruler, I decided I should use the smaller width and make a smaller log cabin block with my really small scraps. I decided to use pinks, pale greens and yellow. I came out with a really nice block. I thought I would make it bigger and make it into a star block. I really like the way it turned out. It's about 12 inches now. I still have quite a bit of small scraps in those colors. So, I think I'm just going to set them aside and make a bunch of different blocks and make a small sampler quilt out of my pink, pale green and yellow scraps. It's something different to do. I didn't really feel like working on the projects I have already started and have not completed. My list of UFO's is getting long again. Oh well!! Sometimes, I just need a distraction and make something else.

I hope you all had a good day. We went to the beach today. The kids had fun. But I have to work the rest of the week. So I'm going to go to bed soon.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

I won a giveaway from Aunt Spicy!!

I'm so excited. I'm getting 3 Amy Butler fat quarters. Yeah!!!!! Thanks so much to Aunt Spicy for having this wonderful giveaway. You can go check them out on the Aunt Spicy Blog. She has a wonderful blog that I've been following from the very beginning when I started my blog. If you haven't already found it. You should go check it out.

Hugs!!

Ariane :o)

I made a scrappy cushion cover!!

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good day. I did a little bit of sewing today. I decided to make a cushion cover for one of the cushions I had on the couch. It was starting to fall apart so I thought that I would just make a cover for it and it would last that much longer. I used scraps and my new log cabin ruler that I bought a while back. I hadn't even tried it out yet. So, I decided that I would take this opportunity to use it. I made the front of the cushion then quilted it. I used some denim ends that I bought for $3/metre a couple of weeks ago, for the back. I really like the way it turned out.

I've also made a few more of my 9-patch blocks for the quilt along. I've been making them, one or two a day. I like that because I don't feel as pressured to get them all done at once.

I spent some time with the kids today. It was a really nice day outside. So we went out together and enjoyed the sunshine. Well, that's all for today.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

Finished my log cabin Beatrix Potter quilt top!!!

Hi everyone, I have been working hard the last two days finishing the log cabin Beatrix Potter quilt top. I just love it. This is definitely one of my favorite quilts I've made so far. You can see a close-up of the blocks in my first post about this quilt. It was supposed to be a baby quilt. But it is definitely a lap size quilt. My daughter asked me why I always make my baby quilt so big. I just told her.....I can't help myself. I just keep getting inspired and come up with more ideas, then end up with a lap size quilt. I kind of create as I go. Which can be a problem sometimes. Not having fully developed the plan ahead of time, I often either run out of a certain material, or just, just have enough. Oh well!!! I love this one. I think I'm going to have it professionally quilted. I worked really hard on this quilt and don't want to ruin it with my quilting. I don't feel like quilting it by hand either. Quilting is always a big stress for me. I love making the tops. I could make quilt tops, and just do that. But I also like to finish my projects. I also have to keep my stress level down...since it's really affected my health lately. So, I'm getting it professionally quilted. I'm excited. I can't wait to have it all done. This quilt is a gift for my brother and his wife who are soon to have their first baby. I'm going to make a matching bag with the leftover fabrics. These pictures just don't do this quilt top justice. It looks much better in person. I hope you all like it.

Happy Stitching!!!

Ariane :o)

My first two nine-patch blocks and my daughter's drawing.

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well. I made my first two blocks for the 9-patch quilt along with Crazy Mom Quilts. I'm using left over fabric from other quilts. This is going to be a scrappy quilt. Which is my favorite style of quilts. I'm using darker, warmer fabrics, because that's what I have. They don't sell a lot of those modern colorful prints her in Canada. I'm going to have to order online to get those. I really like warm colors though. They suit me just fine. I made them both this morning. I worked yesterday, and I was beat when I got home. Today I have to work evening shift, so I thought I'd get them done this morning. I really like how quickly they come together. So, I'm going to have fun making this one.

On another note, yesterday I let my kids use the craft kit my mom gave us when we went to visit them a few weeks ago. It's a nice kit with oil paints, watercolor paints, watercolor pencils, about 30 professional brushes, a bunch of sketch books, and three different kinds of pastels. These are all artist quality items, and are very expensive. But the kids needed something different to do, so I let them use the pastels. They each made two or three pictures. They were very nice. My daughter kept going back to make more pictures. She made about 7 pictures. The last one she made was of a dogs face. It's so nice. I almost couldn't believe she made it. She was sitting at the table, working so hard on it, blending the colors. I thought I should show it to you. Isn't it cute. Well, I have to go. I hope you all have a great day.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

9-Patch Quilt Along - Round 2 with Crazy Mom Quilts

Hi everyone, I've decided to join Crazy Mom Quilts for the "9-Patch Quilt Along - Round 2". She is gifting the first quilt she made, so she decided to make another one. I didn't join the last time because I wasn't feeling well. But I'm much better now, and I think this will be fun. I already know some of the fabrics I'm going to use. Very exciting. I don't even have to go buy any fabric. I've got it pre-washed and just sitting there waiting for a project.

I have to make one 9 patch block a day for 70 days. Each block is made from 9 2.5" squares. The finished block size will be 6" square. The quilt measures about 66" x 90". Sashing required is about 3.5 yards.

So that's what I'm going to do. I had a great day today. We were going to go to the beach, but then it rained. So we went to the YMCA pool instead and we spent almost two hours playing with the kids. Then I barbecued in the rain. We ate indoors, but had a very nice family dinner. It was a good day. Well, I hope you are all well.

Happy Stitching!!!

Ariane :o)

A little bit of hand quilting!!

Hi everyone, I've had a great day today. I didn't have to work. I got up early and worked on projects. My two youngest kids went to my inlaws to spend some time and my oldest went to his friends house. My husband and I had a nice romantic dinner at home, just the two of us. We had a barbecue and prepared it together. It was so nice. I got to do some hand quilting on one of my projects. I got quite a bit done. I really like the way it's looking. I'm hoping to get the quilting done in the next couple of days. This is just a sneak peak. I don't want to reveal the whole project. I hope you like it.

Happy Stitching!!!

Ariane :o)

Stitcher's Angel Swap 2009!!

I have joined the Stitcher's Angel Swap. This is so exciting. I will get to have a free pattern every week starting August 17th for 7 weeks. I'll be able to make a minimum of 3 wonderful patterns and send it to my Swap partner. It sound like a lot of fun. I had just started to look at blog last year when they had the last Stitcher's Angel Swap. I just loved seeing all the wonderful gifts everyone made. So I'm very excited to participate this year. If you want to know more about this swap just click here. Helen is organizing this wonderful swap. Her Hugs and Kisses blog is one of my favorites. Go check it out.

I hope you are all well. I went back to work this weekend after being on leave for almost 6 weeks. It's always hard to go back after so much time off. But I'm glad I did. I also got to meet a wonderful blog friend, who lives near me. It's Michelle from Dresden Quilter. It was so nice to finally meet. We had been emailing each other for a while and we decided to go for a coffee/tea together on Friday night. We ended up chatting for over 2 hours. It was a lot of fun to meet someone who likes to quilt like me. We are going to be doing again. I can't wait. I hope you have a great night.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

My 14th Wedding Anniversary!!

Hi everyone! Today is my 14th wedding anniversary. My husband and I spent the day together and went out for a nice romantic dinner. It was really nice. Wow!! I'm really can't believe we've been married that long. Time really does fly. I think.....where has the time gone. We are still happily in love. We do have our moments...but, we are both talkers. So we have good communication. That has helped us through a whole bunch of struggles. We got married when we we're both really young. I was still in high school. We beat the odds and I'm hoping to celebrate another 50 or more years with him. I love him very much. He is a great husband.

I bought a few books last night. I took the kids to the book store because Grandma had given them money. My daughter loves to read...so I just couldn't resist buying a few for myself. I bought "Sister's Choice" by Emilie Richards, and "The Quilter's Kitchen" by Jennifer Chiaverini. I just started to read "Sister's Choice". I'm liking it up to now. I'll let you know what I think when I'm done. Well, I have to go to bed. I'm really tired and it's late.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

Sneak Peak of my Paper Bag Swap!

Hi everyone, I hope you had a good day. I worked a bit on my paper bag swap item today. I can only show you a little bit of it. I want to surprise my partner. This has been the most difficult of swaps for me. It's a lot harder for me to work with fabrics and trim chosen by someone else and just create something. I'm really enjoying it though. I think my partner will like what I send her. I have until the end of the month to finish. I got a lot accomplished on it today. So, I'm just going to keep at it. That's all for today.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

I joined another mini quilt swap!!

I joined "In the Good Ol' Summertime Mini Quilt Swap" organized by Michele from the Quilt Gallery. I just found out about it. I really enjoyed the last mini quilt swap, so I thought I would try another one. I like the fact that it is a small project. I can get it done in a reasonable amount of time. Plus, I get one in return. I love getting gifts in the mail. So much fun. I hope you all have a great day. The weather is so beautiful here today. I've spent most of the day outside.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

I received my Spring Blooms mini quilt!!!!

I am so excited to share this with you. Today, the mail man came and I received my beautiful Spring Blooms Mini Quilt. I opened the package as quickly as I could and found this unbelievably beautiful quilt from Julie. It came all the way from Australia. My heart skipped a beat when I opened the package and saw the quilt. I was so amazed. The quilt is so beautifully done. The colors, the quilting, the appliques are so beautiful. I'm sooooo happy. I'm going to hand it up in my dining room. I will treasure it always. Julie, I thank you so much for making me this wonderful quilt. It's amazing.

I also want to thank Michele for organizing this wonderful swap. It was a lot of fun.

I know I hadn't posted for over a week. I had to go out of town and just got back yesterday. I've worked on a few projects while I was away. I will share them with you over the next couple of days. I hope you are all well.

Happy Stitching!!!

Ariane :o)