UFO Challenge 2011

Judy from Patchwork Times is having a UFO challenge.

Okay, I wasn't going to officially join this challenge.

But, hey, why not, right?

I have so many UFO's to finish.

Might as well have some incentive.

So, here is my list.

1. My Hexagon Star quilt.

For this one, I just want to have all the top pieced. Since this is a hand pieced quilt top and it's queen size. I already have 9 rows done, but some are not sewn to the main body yet. There are 15 rows of 17 stars for this top.



2. My Sundays Best quilt.

This quilt top is done. It just needs to be sandwiched and quilted. This is a twin size quilt.

3. My Shabby Roses quilt.

This is a wall hanging quilt. It need to be hand quilted.

4. My Sew Modern Bee quilt

I have the last border almost done on this top. Then it needs to be quilted.

5. My sister's quilt

I have to put the top together, then quilt it.

6. Between Charming Friends quilt.

The top is done, it just needs to be quilted. 

Completed January 2011!!!!

7. My picnic quilt.

This is a small quilt. It just needs to be quitled.

8. My Gifts of Grace quilt.

I have 5 blocks completed, and two blocks almost done, 2 blocks that need to be started.

I hope to have this quilt top done and this quilt quilted.

9. My Summer blues quilt.

This is going to be a queen size quilt. I have most of the blocks done. I just have 5 more blocks to make and put the top together and get it quilted. Should have this one done in know time.

10. My Summery Dresden quilt for the Maple Leaf Bee.

I still don't have all the blocks back for this one. But I should soon.

I hope to have this top made. If it gets quilted, that's a bonus.

11. To hand quilt my hexagon star quilt.

If she picks #11, before #1, then I will defer to #1 as the quilt top is not done  yet. Then I'll just switch them numbers.

12. My Rocky Road to Kansas quilt.
I have 6 blocks done. 6 more need to be made. So, I just want to get this top done. If I can quilt it too, that's a bonus.
 

Disclaimer: If I have extra time to finish one of these projects earlier than I will. I'm sure I will have other projects pop up through the year. So, if I do finish some early, then I will replace them with the new project.

Okay, So that's it. I have lots of projects that I want to start. And lots of fabric that I want to buy. But my husband wants me to use some of the fabric I have first before I buy more. My sewing room is going to burst from all the fabric. So, I plan on getting these done and also making some charity quilts with some of my fabric. That should help reduce my fabric stash.

Wish me luck!!

Hugs

Ariane

2010 in review!!!

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all doing well.

I had a really wonderful Christmas with my family.

It was quiet, but very nice.

I worked night shift the last two nights.

I was so tired yesterday when I got home from work.

 I went to bed at 7 am, and woke up at 6:30 pm.

I have never slept that long after a night shift.

My daughter said she even came to wake me up at around 5pm, but I was sound asleep.

I guess I really needed the rest.

Well, the year 2010 is almost over.

I thought I would look back at some of the projects I completed.

So, I put together a few mosaic's of those projects.

Now, these pictures don't include the projects that I started and didn't finish.

I have a lot of those too. LOL!!

But, don't we all.

I hope to finish some of those projects in the new year.

Well, here are most of my projects from 2010.

There are a few projects that I don't have pictures for that I finished.

But these are most of them.

I didn't make as many projects in 2010, as in 2009.

But, I'm very happy with what I have accomplished.

On another note, I have been blogging for two years this week.

Time has just flown by and I've really enjoyed sharing my projects with you all.

You have been so encouraging.

I do plan to have a giveaway to celebrate, but that won't happen until the New Year.

So keep checking back, to see what I'm up to.

Have a Happy New Year!!!!

Hugs

Ariane



T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

T"was the night before Christmas and all through the house,

The only one sleeping was Quilter's dear spouse.

The Log Cabin stockings were almost completed, "Just a few stitches left," our sweet quilter repeated,

Then I can hang them and head off to finish the pillows I'm making, fulfilling Mom's wish for something "quilty" to put on her couch,

As she pricked her poor finger, our quilter yelled, "Ouch!"

...When from out in the kitchen there arose such a crashing. She sprang from her work, and she dropped all her sashing.

Away to the doorway she flew like a plane,

Wondering just what was happening and who she could blame.

When what to her wondering eyes should appear, but Old Mrs. Claus and her bag of quilt -gear...

 

...With her elves bearing gifts, through the kitchen she came, she directed and pointed and called them by name.

"Now Elna, now Pfaff, now Bernina and Viking, the Hoffman and Mumm should be just to her liking.

To the sewing room - there it's just back of the hall, now dash away, dash away, dash away all!

"My Dear," said the Claus (as she liked to be called). There's really no need to worry at all. Your projects will be completed this night.

I'm terribly sorry we gave you a fright. Sit down. Have some tea. It's relaxing, you'll see... My friends and I've come a long way to help Thee.

 

She thought she was dreaming, our Dear Quilter did.

In fact she quite feared that she'd near flipped her lid!

But the flash of the needles, the twist of the thread soon gave her to know she had nothing to dread.

They spoke no words, but went straight to their sewing. How the work went so quickly she had no way of knowing.

The stitches, how tiny! The corners, how straight! This Claus-woman's talent was awfully great.

They finished the pillows, and then started a quilt. Before they all knew it, the whole thing was built!!...

 

Now old Mrs. Claus, she knew quilters real well,

And she knew they'd need help on this night most of all.

So she said to our quilter, "Just move over, dear, I've brought my own needle. We'll get done, never fear.

I told dear old Santa about what quilters do. How they plan all these projects but have other work too.

So he taught me this magic for doing things fast.

There that pillow's done. Now this is the last."

They tidied their thread snips, and picked up the scraps.

And chased our dear Quilter's six cats from their laps.

They left behind gingerbread (just to be nice) and the whole house smelled sweetly of Christmas and spice.

 

As they scurried away with their thimbles still gleaming,

Dear Mrs. Claus paused, her cap ribbons streaming,

"MERRY CHRISTMAS, my dear, now just have a ball. Relax and enjoy.

 

HAPPY QUILTING TO ALL!"

 

This came in our guild newsletter this morning and was submitted by Bethany Garner.

I thought it was so cute.

I just had to share it.

Hugs

Ariane

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are all well.

I haven't been blogging much this month.

Between working, holiday preparations, and having strep thoat, it's been kind of crazy around here.

Yep!! I'm sick AGAIN!!!!

Oh well...I'm actually getting better now.

But, it's been a long couple of days.

I haven't even touched my sewing machine in over a week.

I'm really having withdrawals.

Hopefully, things will get better and I'll be able to make some little projects soon.

I'm working the next two days, then I'm off  for a few days.

Thankfully, I'm off on Christmas and will be able to celebrate with my family.

My husbands working evening shifts on Christmas, but we will have an early dinner so that he can be with us.

Well, I will try to keep you updated.

If I manage to get some sewing done, I'll be sure to share it with you.

I wish you all a wonderful Holiday Season.

Bless you all!!!

Hugs

Ariane

Wonderful Mail!!!

Hi everyone,

I hope you are well.

I worked today and I'm really, really tired tonight.

It's mostly due to not sleeping well last night.

But when I got home, I got this wonderful package in the mail.

It cheered me right up.

I had won four fabric bundles from Darlene aka SewCalGal for the Christmas Quilt Show.

Aren't they gorgeous?

I just love the different shades of all the colors.

This really made my day.

Thank you Darlene for the wonderful gift.

I feel very blessed to have received it.

On another note, I'm sorry if I haven't been replying to my emails. I'm just so busy and beat. I will do my best to get better at responding once things slow down.

Hugs

Ariane

A little Woodland bunny!!

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend.

Tonight, I made a woodland bunny for my oldest son.

You ask yourself...Why would she make a stuffed animal for her 15 year old son?

Well, surprisingly enough, he asked me to make it for his girlfriend for Christmas.

I was shocked.

I asked him if he was sure he wanted me to make her something.

He said: "I like the stuff you make better than what I could buy in the store.

My girlfriend will like this better. She likes that kind of stuff."

Well, I have only made one other stuffed animal before.

It was the daschund for my daughter a couple Christmas' ago.

So, I went though my books and magazines and we agreed on this pattern.

The woodland bunny by Sandy Henderson.

The pattern is in her book, "Sewing Bits & Pieces".

This is the first pattern I use out of this book.

It was very easy to follow the instructions.

A well written pattern.

Well, I'm kind of nervous to find out if his girlfriend is going to like it.

What do you think?

I hope you all have a good week.

I have to work almost 70 hours between Monday and Sunday.

I'm not looking forward to it.

Hugs

Ariane

I have been so busy!!

Well, this is one of my busiest months in a while.

I'm working extra shifts this month because I'm doing a lot of training.

To top that off, it's almost Christmas and you know that makes it busy on its own.

I went to my guild meeting last Wednesday.

We had our wonderful Christmas dinner.

Our guest speaker was Joan Reives of Belleville, Ontario.

She makes art quilts.

Her show was just beautiful.

One of her quilts won an honorable mention at Quilt Canada's National Juried Show of 2010.

It's called Peggy's Cove.

The link to see it is here.

If you want to see more of her quilts here is her website.

I also managed to get my Christmas tree up on Friday night.

It was fun to put up with the kids and my husband.

We decorated it together and I was even able to celebrate with a glass of wine.

I don't do that too often.

Today, I was up at 5:00 am. My son was in a wrestling tournament.

We had to be up early and at the school first thing this morning.

The whole family went to cheer him on.

It was the first time I was able to attend one of his tournaments.

He won all his matches and got the gold medal in his weight division.

I was one proud Mom today.

It's so hard to get this one to smile in a picture.

 I had to trick him to get him to smile.

Well, hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get some sewing done.

I'm too tired tonight.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Hugs

Ariane

Christmas Stockings for the kids!!

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all well.

I know I haven't been blogging as much this month.

I've just been working a lot.

But, today I took the chance to do some sewing.

I've been wanting to make Christmas Stockings for the kids for a while now.

So, today I just decided to get my butt in gear and do it.

I used a stocking template from an old Thimbleberries book that I bought second hand.

Then, I took out my stash of Christmas fabric and started putting them together.

I printed the kids names in a large font.

Then, fused their names to the stockings.

I used my GO! cutter to cut out some wintery shapes to decorate my stockings.

I sewed leftover bits of batting together, to make them big enough to use for the stockings.

I didn't want to have to cut into a big piece of batting.

It was a good way to use up my batting scraps.

And you can't tell at all.



I really love how they turned out.

 For each stocking I used one fat quarter for the outside,

 one fat quarter for the lining and scraps to make the binding and the appliques.

I love the main fabrics that I used.

It's just gorgeous!!!

Now, I just have to make one for my husband and one for me.

Then my stockings are all done.

I think I did really well today.

But I still have a lot to do for Christmas.

But it's a start.

Hugs

Ariane

St. Nick ornament!!!

Hi everyone!!

I hope you are all having a wonderful day.

Today I made a little St. Nick ornament.

It's a free punch needle pattern that I got here, from "With thy Needle & Thread".

This is a design by Brenda Gervais.

Isn't it adorable?

This is my first completed project using punch needle.

I've tried a little project before, it's still not done.

I made this one using crochet cotton.

I have lots of crochet cotton, so I thought I would try it to make my ornament.

I love the way it turned out.

It's not perfect, since it's really only the second time I do punch needle.

But, it was worth the effort.

It took about 4 hours of work to make this.

Quite a bit of time, for one little ornament.

But, it looks really great and unique.

I hope you like it!

Hugs

Ariane

Wow! We are in December already!!

The time is just flying by!

Don't you think?

I have been so busy.

On the weekend, my parents came for a visit.

My second oldest was having his confirmation.

It was a beautiful celebration and I'm so glad my parents came to celebrate with us.

We also celebrated our Christmas together, since I won't be able to go home this Christmas. My husband and I have to work through the holidays. Our time off doesn't coinside.

I gave my parents my red dresden quilt.

I made it to put on their table.

I also gave them the matching potholders.

They both loved their gift.

We had a wonderful dinner with them and my sister Michele and her little family too.

My parents took us out to Swish Chalet.

My kids love eating there.

It really was a great dinner.

We all had a great time.

And I didn't have to cook.

Yeah!!!

I had bought all this food to prepare for a nice dinner.

But they wouldn't have it.

My parents didn't want me to spend all my time in the kitchen getting dinner ready.

They wanted all of us to relax and enjoy our little time together.

That was a great gift.

Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

After the weekend, I had to work.

So, Monday and Tuesday I didn't do any sewing.

I was just too tired after my shift.

Today, I have to catch up on the laundry.

My husband helped me tidy up the house already.

So, if I can get all the laundry done today, then tomorrow I can relax.

Yeah!!!

My Mom just loved the mug rugs I made for teacher gifts.

She put in an order from me..

So, I'm going to try to make those and send them to her before the holidays.

I taught her how to do some free motion quitling too, while she was here.

She had so much fun trying it out.

Well, I have so much stuff to do to get ready for the holidays.

I haven't even started baking, decorating......hopefully the tree can go up tonight.

The kids always love to do this together.

We will see how things go.

Only 24 more days until Christmas!!!!

I hope you all have a great day!

Hugs

Ariane

I'm a guest blogger at Stash Manicure today!!!

Hi everyone,

I'm guest blogging at Stash Manicure today.

Go check it out.

I share some of my first quilts and some of my newer ones.

Like this one!!

So, go on over to Stash Manicure and comment on my post.

Send me a little love over there! LOL!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Hugs

Ariane

A sneak peak!!

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all well.

Yesterday, I rested most of the day.

I was really exhausted.

I just needed a really good sleep.

So, I had a late morning nap, and I felt so, so much better after.

I decided to quilt my Little Red Dresden quilt.

It took me about 5 hours to quilt it.

I had to take a break to pick up the kids from school.

Then, my dogs got out of the gate in the back yard.

I took us about 30 minutes to find them.

Good thing they were still together.

Their tongues were hanging out and

they were just strolling around the neighbourhood,

 on a grand adventure

Then I had to make supper.

It was pretty late when I finally finished quilting it.

But, now I just have to put the binding on and it will be done.

Woohooo!!!

There's a lot of quilting in this quilt.

I tried different patterns that I hadn't done before.

And considering I did it on my old White sewing machine,

It turned out quite nice.

I really like it.

Well, I'm keeping you in suspense about how the finished product looks.

I'm keeping the reveal for a special post.

I hope you all have a great day.

Hugs

Ariane