A pillow cover..

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good day. I've been sick the last couple of days. I had a fever and a really bad head cold last night. Today, I am a bit better.....no fever, but now I have a dry cough. Ahhhh! I hate being sick. I did sew a pillow cover for one of my cushions today. I hope you like it.

Hugs

Ariane

A finish and my beautiful tulips....

I finished my hand quilted table topper. I am very pleased with myself. I had a hard time at the beginning of this project. I struggled with the borders and ended up tearing it apart and putting plain borders on it. Then, I thought....it's too plain. So I decided to hand quilt it. That way it would have a bit more personality. I really love how it turned out. I signed my name at the back and embroidered it, instead of putting a label on it. This is a gift for a friend and it will be traveling to the other side of the world tomorrow. It is finally going in the mail. I hope my friend likes it.

It was so nice and warm here today. I worked in my flower bed and decided to take a picture of some of my tulips. I love spring and when my tulips start to bloom it just makes me so happy. Aren't they beautiful?

I hope you all had a good day. I hope to get more sewing done this week. We will see how it goes.

Hugs

Ariane

Almost done the hand quilted table mat

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a nice day. I wanted to share with you the hand quilted table mat I am working on. I showed you a sneak peak of it last weak. I am almost done. It is taking longer then I expected to finish it. But I keep making the quilting more intricate. Oh well, I'm having fun doing it. It is not very big. Just a little table mat for a side table. I hope you like it. My hand quilting in not perfect. But I am getting better as I go.

Hugs

Ariane

Flea Market Rescues

Hi everyone! I hope you are having a good day! I wanted to share my flea market rescues from the weekend. I love to go to flea markets. One particular flea market in town is very dirty and a total disaster, really! They pretty much just dump things everywhere, and don't use any rhyme or reason when they set things up. I kind of like rummaging through the stuff because you never know what treasure you are going to find, and the stuff is usually pretty cheap. On one table I could see linens under a pile of tools. So, I decided to check them out. I found the most beautiful cross-stitched linens. The cross-stitching was so well done. I couldn't believe they were set under a pile of tools. There was 3 pieces together. I had to buy them. They needed to be washed and had some stains from being piled under the tools. But I managed to get the stains out. I am very pleased with myself. Here they are!

Aren't they gorgeous!!

I also made another purchase at the same flea market. Now, they did do a better job protecting this one. It was hanging from a hanger from a book shelf. It's a little wall hanging tea cup quilt. It's so cute. It is hand quilted and has needle turn applique. It is very well made. I just love it.

These items are all safe with me now. I have rescued them from the dirty flea market. I am very happy with my purchase. I hope you like them too.

Hugs

Ariane

A bit of catching up....

I hope you are all well. I have survived my first two 12.75 hour night shifts. I got up this afternoon around 3:00 pm, and it was absolutely gorgeous out. I took one of my hand quilting projects and sat out on the front porch to work on it. I'm still tired, but in good spirits.

I did to some sewing on the weekend, but didn't seem to find the time to blog about it. I made 3 more blocks for my Red and Cream quilt. I love these blocks. I have 5 done, 15 more to go.

I also made a block for a friend who is putting a quilt together. I used the block 7 of Rachel's of P.S. i quilt tutorial of pinwheel blocks. I really love this block too.

I participated in Potholder Pass 2 Swap. One of the girls, Krista from Poppyprints didn't receive any potholders so I offered to be an Angel and make some for her. She received them today and loved them. I am so glad. I actually cut in to my beloved Amy Butler fabric for this project. But I was sure she would like it, so I didn't mind.

Also, my sister Michele has been crafting up a storm. She makes the most unique crafts. I tell yah! She is so creative. Go check out her new blog. She already has like 5 posts up.

So, that is a bit of what I have been working on. I have more, but I thought I would keep it for tomorrow. Have a good night.

Hugs

Ariane

A sneak peak!!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great day. I worked my first 12.75 hour shift today. I am so tired. Yaawwnnn!!! I started this new roster at work, so that I would have more time off. I seamed to be working all the time before. Now I'll be able to spend more time with the family and more time sewing. But tonight I'm beat. It's going to take me a while to get used to these shifts. I work day shift again tomorrow and will be off  on the weekend. But then will be working the night shift. It's been a long time since I've worked night shifts. I have to start at 6:30 pm and end at 7:15 am. I should sleep like a baby after. LOL!!!

Well, I only have a sneak peak of some hand quilting I working on. This is for a gift. So, I can't show it all. I hope you like it.

Hugs

Ariane

My sister's new blog.......Michele Made Me

{Picture by Michele @ Michele Made Me}

Hi everyone, I am very excited to share with you my sister Michele's blog called

"Michele Made Me".

She is very artistic and will be sharing many different crafts with all of us.

 Maybe she'll even share some of her gardening too.

Because she definitely has a green thumb.

She makes a lot of her art with recycled items.

So be sure to check often to see what she has created with things around the house.

It will be very inspiring for sure.

Just click on the link above and check it out.

I did a lot of sewing today. But nothing that I can share.

Maybe tomorrow.

Hugs

Ariane

I joined a Canadian Quilting Bee!

Well, I took the plunge. I joined a quilting bee. This one is all Canadian Quilters. We have girls from across the country. It is so fun. We will get to know each other better, as we go through the year and make blocks for one another. We didn't have a button for our bee so I made one. I have a lot of modern fabric. So, I just piled some of it up and took a picture. I like it. I have already figured out what kind of block I want for my quilt. I'm going to make a little tutorial to share with the girls. I'm very excited about it.

For all of  you who read about my hot water trouble, thanks for all your wonderful comments. Everything is all fixed now. So we can be clean, and breath easily now. I will try to get some sewing done tomorrow. I didn't feel that well today. But I spent a lot of time relaxing and looking at all the wonderful projects online.

Hugs

Ariane

Woodland Bloom Quilt finished!!!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good day. It was a little crazy around here today. But one good thing happened. I finished my Woodland Bloom Quilt. Now my daughter has a homemade quilt on her bed that fits. This is a queen size quilt. It is the largest quilt I have ever completed on my own. I quilted it using my old Betty sewing machine that is over 25 years old. So I kept the quilting simple. It is backed with flannel from the same collection. So it is very soft. I really love the way it turned out. I hope you like it. I know my daughter is very excited to finally have it on her bed. She says it brightens up her room.

I also received two pattern that I ordered. I love these patterns. I hope to get a chance to make one of these soon. Here they are:

On another note, we have been out of hot water for the last three days. On Wednesday, we noticed that we didn't have any hot water. So we called to have a technician come and look at it. On Thursday, the technician came and told me that we had a carbon monoxide leak from our natural gas hot water tank and that the gases were not venting outside but into our basement. He put a code violation on our tank and left saying it could not be in use.

I was quite concerned about this and had to have a contractor come in and look at getting the venting issue fixed. Then he told me that it could not be fixed because the tank was not properly installed in the first place and that the venting issue could not be resolved if the tank stayed in the same location.

The tank is in a crawl space and we could not fit any other kind of tank in that location that used natural gas. So now we had to decide to go to an electric tank and find a new location to put it. I had to get an electrician in to set up the hook-ups and the gas people to come and disconnect the old tank. The plumbers couldn't come today. They will be here tomorrow and hopefully can do the plumbing for the new location and set up the new tank.

I had to take care of all of this because my husband had to work. He just started a new position and could not take the days off to get this done. So, I end up having to look after this....and I have no idea what the heck I'm doing. It was kind of stressful. I was even more worried that we had a carbon monoxide leak and that we didn't know about it. We have a carbon monoxide detector in the hall outside our bedrooms. But not in the basement. I am definitely installing one now.

So, that's what I have been up to. I hope you all have carbon monoxide detectors in your homes or apartments. It would just be a shame to have something bad happen that could have been prevented by just having a detector in your home. Our home is 36 yrs old and we have been living here for just over 2 yrs. God was watching over us, and gave us a sign that something was wrong. So we were fortunate to be able to fix this problem before something bad happened. That's all for today!

Hugs

Ariane

Guild meeting, some blocks...and more

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great night. I went to my local guild meeting tonight. I invited my sister to come. It was so nice to have her come with me. She has always been a big supporter of my quilting. We had a great time and she loved it. I made my two blocks for my guild swaps. I really like the bright block I made, I am not so fond of the country block. I did not like the instructions given for this block. I was very careful with my seams and my block was off by quite a bit. I even checked my needle position to see if it was off. But everything was in order, my seams measured 1/4 inch. So, I ended up taking some seams out and cutting bigger pieces. I will not be making that block again.

We had a guest speaker at the meeting. Her name is Joyce McConnell. She teaches how to make Bargello quilts. She brought so many wonderful quilts. Some were just unbelievably gorgeous. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of those. But I did get pictures of a few of her quilts. Here they are:

I also took a picture of this guild quilt. It's a Terry Atkinson pattern. The guild members all made blocks for this quilt in 2008/2009. It was just completed by one of the guild members. It is so beautiful. I love it. I'm going to have to make one like this. Another one to add to my list of quilts to make. I just love star patterns. They are my favorite.

And finally, I received a wonderful gift from Michelle aka Dresden Quilter. She surprised me with a little beaded scissor fob. It even has a little friendship star block at the end. Isn't it adorable? She bought it at the Lancaster Show for me. It is a birthday gift. I am so happy. And look at the sweet card! What a great friend she is!!! She was even thinking about me when she was at the quilt show. I was really touched by it. Thanks Michelle. You are the best!!!

Well, I had a really great day. It started a bit rough since I didn't feel good, then the hot water tank broke. But it ended so wonderfully, that I'm now going to bed with a big smile on my face.

Hugs

Ariane

Some mail, gifts, stitching......

Hi everyone! I hope you are all well. I got some great mail today from my partner of the Potholder Pass 2 swap. miesmama sent me two wonderful potholders and a matching tea towel. Aren't they all adorable? I love them. Thank you so much!! This was another great swap.

I went to my sisters for an Easter dinner on Saturday. Our families don't get together often enough. It was so nice to spend the evening together. She surprised me with a birthday gift. She gave me some fabric, a roll of Steam & Seam and a nice long ruler. I was very excited. I love all of it. Thanks Sis!!!

I was bored the other night and decided I wanted to do some applique. I just had to use the Steam & Seam! LOL! A little spring block that I just put together. I'm not done yet. Not sure what I will do with it. It just kind of popped in my head and I had to make it.

I have also been trying to finish the Woodland Bloom Quilt. I have it all quilted. The binding is sewn on to the front. I have two full sides stitched to the back. So only half the binding left to stitch and I'm done. I can't wait. My daughter wanted to put it on her bed tonight. But I was still working on it. Hopefully it will be done tomorrow.

That's all for today.

Hugs

Ariane

Almost done quilting my Woodland Bloom Quilt

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a nice day. They weather was gorgeous here today. I did spend quite a bit of time outside. But, I also decided to do some quilting on the Woodland Bloom quilt I have been making for my daughters bed. I kept putting it off because it was so big and I was really nervous to quilt it. Then my newer sewing machine broke down. But today I decided to just do it with my old machine and that I would keep the quilting simple. I am almost done.  I just have to quilt the borders. I just ran out of thread. I will buy some tomorrow than try to have it done in the next few days. This quilt is going to be an everyday quilt. I have enough flannel that I used for the back to make two matching pillow cases. I am also going to make a few decorative pillows to match. This quilt is a large queen size quilt. I am glad that I decided to do it today. My daughters been asking me when I was going to finish it. It is almost done. Yeah!!!

I wish all of you a Happy Easter!

Hugs

Ariane