I quilted my Good Ol' Summertime mini quilt

Hi again everyone. I finished quilting my Good Ol' Summertime Mini Quilt. I free motion quilted it. I really had fun quitling this quilt. I got to practice my free motion quilting. I really went out of my comfort zone and I'm happy with the results. It turned out better than I expected. I bought embroidery thread to quilt it. The embroidery thread has a sheen and I really like the way it looks. I also used a different bobbin thread. I used a cream fabric for the backing and cream thread for the bobbin. I like the back of the quilt almost as much as the front. I hope you all like it. Tommorrow I will put the binding on. I can't wait to be done. Then I'll be able to scratch that one off my ever growing list of UFO's. Well, that's all for tonight.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

Christmas Wall Hanging Quilt

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good day. I finished putting the binding on a Christmas Wall Hanging that I worked on yesterday. It's a panel quilt. I don't normally buy panels, but I really loved this one. So, yesterday I put the borders on it, quilted it and put the binding on. I stitched most of the binding to the back last night. I just had a bit to finish today. I have to get a nice hanger to put it on the wall at Christmas. This picture doesn't do it justice. It looks a lot better in person. Well, that's another finish for "Di's Christmas 3 in August Challenge". I'm glad I got to finish this. Now, I'm going to make some Christmas Stockings with some of the leftover Christmas fabric I have. I have many more projects to finish first though. I'm going to quilt my Good Ol' Summertime Mini Quilt tonight. So, If I get it done early enough, I might show you later tonight. I have to work tomorrow and shouldn't go to bed too late. So we'll see how it goes. Have a good night.

Happy Stitching!

Ariane :o)

In the Good Ol' Summer Time Mini Quilt in progress.....

Hi everyone, I finally had the day off work. It was a nice day today. I really enjoyed being outside. I did work on the mini quilt I'm doing for the Good Ol' Summertime Mini Quilt Swap. I'm finished the top and just need to put the batting and backing on. Then, I'll be able to quilt it. I'm going to free motion quilt it kind of like how it's done on the Don't look Now Blog. I hope it turns out. This is going to be my first try doing it this way. The colors in this quilt are not exactly in my comfort zone. But my partner likes batiks and bright colors....so I hope she will like it. My husband says it kind of looks dreary. I hope not....maybe when I have all the quilting in it will make it look better. I plan to add a lot of detail with the quilting in the flower, etc. I'm going to buy some nice embroidery threads to quilt it. Give it a bit of shine with the nice threads. I hope it works. I want to have this done by the end of the weekend, so that I don't have it weighing on my minds as the deadline approaches.

I went and bought a few Schnibles patterns today. Since I joined A Year of Schnibbles. I really like these patterns. My favorite of these three is the Hot Cross. My daughter wants to try this one too. Maybe we can work on this together. I helped her make an apron today. We didn't use a pattern but I turned out cute. I still need to help her put pockets on it. I'll show you that tomorrow. Well, I hope you all have a great day.

Happy Stitching!

Ariane :o)

A Christmas Stitchery and Ornament

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good day. I was very glad that the weather cooled down today. It was a nice breasy day. I had to work but it was much cooler at work and made it a lot more bearable. I finished a little Christmas stitchery tonight. It's really cute. I also made a little angel ornament. Both these patterns came from the "Art to Heart: Star of Wonder" pattern booklet. I really love the patterns by Nancy Halvorsen at Art to Heart. The instructions are really great and easy to follow. The patterns are beautiful as well. So, that's one project done for the Di's Christmas "3" in August Challenge. Only 2 more to do. I'm cutting it close to the end of the month. I've been working so much though....and I'm still not 100% back to my normal self. So, I kind of have to pace myself and not over do it. I don't want to get sick again. I really can't afford it. I hope you like it. I really do. It was quick and easy.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

My daughters pincushion swap received!!

My Mom and my Daughter decided to do a pincushion swap. I showed you the pincushion my daughter made in the last post. She received the package from my Mom. She was very excited to receive it and couldn't wait to open it. My mom made her two pincushions. The first one is a little pincushion with a picture of dogs appliqued to the front. It can be hung up as a decoration as well. Very cute. My daughter loves dogs. So she was very excited about that one. The second pincushion is a selvage pincushion. My mom got the pattern out of a magazine. Not sure which one....but it is gorgeous. My daughter loves it too, and has used it already. My mom and my daughter had such a good time doing this swap. It's a good way for them to get closer and to have a special keepsake of each other, since they live far apart.

I'm so glad I had a bit of influence in this swap. My daughter wanted to swap because I had done some swaps and had received wonderful gifts from my swap partners. She wanted to get into the fun too. She's so cute!! The two of them already decided to do it again. If I hadn't started doing swaps they probably would never have done this. So, I'm glad I could share that with them.

I've been working all weekend and I don't have a day off until Friday. It's going to be a long week. I hope I get some sewing done. I feel like I haven't accomplished very much this month. Oh well.....I can only do what I can.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

My daughter's pincushion swap, a baby quilt in a day, and I won some giveaways

Well, My daughter wanted to do a swap since I've been participation in so many. She had only done a little bit of sewing. She wanted to make a crazy patch pincushion. She chose all the fabrics herself. Then I showed her how to use the iron, and used fusible web to put her little pieces of fabric to a basic square piece of material. I watched her closely during this process. Then I taught her different hand embroidery stitches for her to use on the edges. She did all the work herself. The only thing I helped her with was making the knots and the blind stitching to close the pincushion when it was stuffed. I'm so impressed at how well she did. She is swapping it with my Mom. Who also had never done a swap before. She was just as excited as my daughter. So my daughter is sending her pincushion in the mail today. Yesterday, My mother-in-law told me she was going back to Northern Ontario on Friday to go to a baby shower for one of her nieces. I asked her why she waited so long to tell me...I would have made her a baby quilt. Well, since I was off work yesterday, I decided to just whip up a simple baby quilt with stuff I had. So I got it all done in about 4 hours. I think that's quite good. I even machine stitched the binding. I had never done that before. It turned out nice. I wouldn't use that method too often, but it's nice to know I can manage it at crunch time. I hope you like it. It's very simple. I tried the wavy quilting that I've seen others used. I like it. All I had to do was wash the quilt. Then it would have that nice crinkly look.

On another note, I won two giveaways this week. I think it's been my lucky week. I won some wonderful bag patterns (package #3) from Carol's Crafty Creations. I'm so excited there are five beautiful patterns in the bundle. I can't wait to reason them. Carol has a great blog you should go check it out.

The second giveaway that I won was also amazing. I feel so fortunate to have won the entire Authentic pattern collection from Sweetwater. I entered their giveaway on there blog. The collection has 8 patterns in it. They have the cutest blog called makelifesweet. They often have giveaways, and tutorials. You have to go check it out.

Happy Stitching!!!

Ariane :o)

Shabby Roses Blocks 2 and 3 done!!

Hi everyone! How are you all doing? I'm doing well. It was a very, very hot, humid day in Eastern Ontario. I worked today and it was almost unbearable. But I survived. I've been working on my Shabby Roses BOM the last couple of days. I have Block 2 and 3 done. I'm almost done block 4. But I'll show you that one later. I hope you like them.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

Some stitching, shopping.....

Hi everyone, I hope you are all doing well. I had a busy day doing housework. It was a very hot, humid day again. I just hate the humidity. I don't do very well when it's so hot. I can't wait until fall is here. I did do a bit of shopping, after all the work I did. I thought I deserved it. So, my daughter and I went to a few quilt shops.

I bought some patterns that I just love. I had seen the Cider Mill Road pattern book on Jaybird Quilts, she had been working on some of the projects in the book and I just loved them. I remembered seeing this book at one of the local quilt shops, so I went and picked it up. It was there last copy and it was on sale. I was very happy. I also loved the little pincushion patterns "Schnibbles". These are so cute, and a good way to use up small scraps.

I then bought some Kansas Troubles to add to my collection. I plan to make a quilt with these in the near future. I also bought a bundle of fabrics that I want to use for my mini quilt swap. I had bought different fabric for it...but just couldn't get inspired to use it. So I bought something different. I also needed a few pale greens, so I got 2 fat quarters of that.

The night before last, my husband and I went to Chapters to look around and I bought an Australian Country Threads magazine "Stitchery edition" and a book called "Quilting for the first time". I just love the projects in this issue of Australian Country Threads. The quilting book has some cute projects in it, and a lot of really good tips. Even though I've done a lot of quilting, I've never taken any sewing or quilting classes. So, I still need tips to help me get through some issues.I've also been working on the second block of the Shabby Roses BOM. I'm almost done. Hopefully I will be done tomorrow. I'd like to get caught up on these blocks. I have block 3 ready to be stitched. I love these and can't wait to have them all done.Well, as you can see I've spent a lot of money and didn't finish any projects. Oh well!! I worked hard. So there....I hope you all have a great night. I have to work in the morning, so that's all for now.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

Shabby Roses block 1 and I received my giveaway package!!

Hi everyone, I finally am off from work today. I worked evenings last night and it was so hot. The humidity was unbearable. My face was beat red from the heat and I really struggled most of the night. When I got home I just went right to bed. I was so tired. But I'm off work today and tomorrow. I'm going to take it easy.

Yesterday morning I finished the first block from Elephantz - Shabby Roses BOM. I really love these blocks. I'm not going to put them together the same way she is, but I'm going to use them in a bigger quilt with other blocks that I piece together. Here is my first block.

I also received my giveaway package that I won from Aunt Spicy. I'm so excited. I love these fabrics. I can't wait to use them in a project. Thanks Aunt Spicy!!!!

I hope everyone has a great day. I have such a headache this morning. I think it's just because of the heat last night. I hope it goes away soon. Thanks for stopping by my blog.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

Quilter's Connection Magazine - A Canadian magazine coming in September 2009

Yeah!!! We are getting our very own Canadian Quilting magazine called Quilter's Connection. I'm so excited. Canada has so many talented quilters. I'm so happy that we will be able to see their work in the magazine. Michelle from the Quilting Gallery is having a giveaway for a free subscription to the magazine. This is open only to Canadians. So, go check it out all you Canadian Quilters. Here is the link. The magazine also has a blog and a website. This is just the beginning of these sites. I can't wait to see them when they are all up and fully developed.

I've been working the last few days. So, I've only got a bit of stitching done. I'll show you some of the stuff tomorrow. Have a great night.

Happy Stitching!!

Ariane :o)

I'm back!!! Oh yeah...forgot to tell you I was gone!

Hi everyone, I went on a little holiday. I was off work for four days. My inlaws had rented a cottage just out of town. So, we all decided to join them. It was such a great time off. The lake was beautiful. The weather was not too warm, but it was comfortable. Just perfect for me. The kids did lots of fishing. They had a great time too. They want to do it again. So we already booked a cottage for next summer. On another note, I bought fabric online last week. Okay....I know I don't need more fabric. But the price was right and I can't get this fabric at local quilt shops. I just couldn't resist. I'm addicted to fabric. I bought it from a Canadian Online Shop called Pink Panda Fabrics. It was my first time buying fabric online. I was kind of nervous, but since all the prices were in Canadian dollars I didn't have to do any conversions. Which put me a bit more at ease. But now that I had one good experience....who knows what I might buy next. Hmmmm!!! I need to do more sewing...less buying. I did work on my hexagon stars while I was at the cottage. I got another row done and half of another. So I've got five and a half rows done out of 15. Hmm....I still have a long way to go. But hey...I'm doing it all by hand...so I'm doing okay. I hope you like the fabric. It's just yummy. I don't know what I'm going to make with it. But I just love to look at it. I'll figure something out.


Happy Stitching!!



Ariane :o)