Monday, May 31, 2010

OPAM finishes for May & Guild Challenge Part 2

Hi everyone, I have had a busy month. I have 10 completed projects this month. That's pretty amazing for me. Most are small projects, but they still take time.

I have my second guild bag finished too. I made the block on the front. I used a large button that I purchased. It looks really good on this bag. I made this block to match the block on the back of the bag. This block was made by another Guild member.

I managed to find fabrics that reasonably matched her block. I really like the way it turned out. Another bright bag done. Now I just need to finish my Country blocks Challenge. Only one day left.....ahhhhh! Too much to do and so little time.

Have a great night!

Ariane

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Guild challenge Part 1

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good day. Tonight I worked on one of the projects that I need to complete for our last guild meeting of the season. I  participated in two different block exchanges with the guild. I received 3 blocks made by guild members in bright colors, and 3 blocks in country colors. These blocks were collected over 3 months. I had to make a 4th block for each of these categories, to have a total of 4 bright blocks and 4 country blocks. The challenge is to have completed any project I want with these blocks and present them at our last guild meeting.

I decided to seperate my bright blocks into pairs. I made a bag this evening with my first pair of bright blocks. I think it turned out pretty cute and that it was a good way to use the blocks. These two blocks were made by the same person I think. As they used similar fabrics. I added the purple fabric which I purchased today at a LQS and a vintage button that I had already. I hope you like it.

Now I just have to make something with the two other bright blocks and the 4 country blocks. I will show you those completed projects in the next couple of days. Have a great weekend.

Hugs

Ariane

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

My finished Madeline quilt and some amazing mail.......

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good day. It is very hot here today. I'm very thankful that we have central air, otherwise I would not have been able to sleep today. I finished my Madeline quilt last night. It has a lot of hand quilting in it. But I love it. It is one of my favorite quilts. I hope you like it.

I also received my potholder pass 3 package today. It's from Kelli, and came all the way from Australia. I just love my potholders. She included some wonderful extras. She sent some Tim Tam's, a wonderful pen and key chain with the Australian flag and for my daughter B-sew cute, she sent two charm packs of Sweet. My daughter was so excited. She said: " I have fans....I have fans... you better watch out Mommy!" I started to laugh. She is so cute. Thanks you so much Kelli. It just made my day.

Hugs

Ariane

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Another finished potholder and some zippy pouches

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a nice weekend. It was a holiday weekend here in Canada. Unfortunately I had to work all weekend. I had Monday off though and did a bit of sewing. I finished my second potholder for Potholder Pass 3. I used more of the left over hst's from the modern siggy swap 1. I really love this one. I set the hst's in a star pattern. If you don't know yet....I LOVE STARS.  So this one is my favorite. I love the way the quilting looks too. If you are looking for inspiration to make potholders you need to go check out this flickr group. The potholders are just amazing.

I also decided to play with some of my scraps and made 2 little zippy pouches and two scrunchies. I really like them. I bought some essex linen/cotton blend material today and I'm going to make more of these little zippy pouches. I think they would make nice gifts. I really like these ones found here. So that's what I'm going to try to make the next time.

Well, I have to work midnight shift again tonight and tomorrow night, then I'm off for 5 days. Yeah!!!! I'm almost done quilting my Madeline quilt. Should be able to show you the finished quilt in the next day or so. It is turning out really great. I love it.

Hugs

Ariane

Friday, May 21, 2010

Blogger Quilt Festival - Spring 2010


Hi everyone! I hope you all had a good day. I'm a little late posting this...but I had to work today.

Amy is hosting the Spring 2010 Blogger Quilt Festival again this year. It was so much fun to participate before, that I had to participate again. I had a hard time deciding which quilt to chose to share with you.

But, my Woodland Bloom quilt won out in the end. I chose this one, not because it is the best work I've done this year. But because I actually finished it. I had started to make a quilt top over a year ago, and I hated it. So this January I decided to take that quilt top apart and change it. It is always a big decision to take something apart. I just didn't want it to sit forever, especially since I had spent a lot of money on the material. I also had the backing fabric and other yardage to finish it. So, I'm glad that I finished it. It is the largest quilt I've ever made on my own. It's a queen size quilt. I used my 25 year old sewing machine to quilt it. So, I kept the quilting simple. This quilt lives on my daughters bed. It is an everyday quilt. I has a beautiful flannel backing from the Woodland Bloom Collection. I hope you like how it turned out.


This is what it looked like before. It was pretty ugly.

Thanks to Amy for Organizing the quilt festival. It is a lot of work. But I'm so glad she does it.
Have fun looking at all the beautiful quilts.

Hugs

Ariane

Thursday, May 20, 2010

And the winner is.........

As per the True Random Generator @  Random.org who picked number 339.

SarahVee said... 339

I'm a follower now, too! Thanks for the second chance.

Congratulations Sarah!!!

I just want to thank everyone who entered my giveaway. I was blown away by the amount of entries I got. I am also very happy with all the new followers. I hope you all do come back and keep sharing with me.

I also want to thank Sew! Mama! Sew! for all the work that went into organizing this giveaway. It was so much fun.

Hugs

Ariane

Sunday, May 16, 2010

May Day Giveaway 2010!!! ---CLOSED---


Hi everyone, I have decided to join Sew!Mama!Sew's May Giveaway Day again. I have 5 fat quarters to give away. They are from the Tillbrook collection that came out last year. I bought them and never figured out what I wanted to make with them. So, I'm giving them away.


You have two chances to win.

1) Leave me a comment

and

2) Become a follower, and then leave me a comment
telling me you are a follower.
If you are already a follower, just leave me another comment
saying you are already a follower.

3) I must be able to contact you by email through your blog,
 if you don't have an email, leave it with your comment.

4) The giveaway will be open until May 20th, 2010

5) I will post the winner on May 20st, the winner will be chosen by randon generator
 and I'll ship the items by May 24th.

6) I will ship internationally.

Good Luck to everyone!

It is always fun to have a giveaway. Have fun looking through all the giveaways!

Hugs

Ariane

Note: I'm posting this early because I'm working Midnight shift the next two nights. But you can go ahead and start leaving comments.

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2010....coming soon

Mark your calendars....and be ready for Amy's Blogger Quilt Festival on May 21-28th. It is always fun and full of inspiration. You can also win prizes. So click on the button on my sidebar and go check it out. All levels of quilters welcome.

Hugs

Ariane

Saturday, May 15, 2010

A little spring top

Okay, so I tried to make another spring top for my daughter. I made it one way, then took a few seams apart and did it another way. This is what I ended up with. It's really cute. It will look good with the denim jeans or capri's my daughter likes to wear. It is pretty loose fitting. I keep thinking I should bring in the seams, but she likes it the way it is. So it will stay that way. I hope you think it's cute.


Hugs

Ariane

A potholder....


Hi everyone! I've been a bad blogger lately. I've just been so busy. I do have a tiny little project to show. I made one of the potholders for Potholder Pass 3. I used the left over hst's from the Modern siggy swap. I really love the way it turned out. The little shoo-fly blocks finish at 3 inches. I think I'm going to make a mini quilt using blocks made from left over hst's. Now I just have to make the second potholder for this swap. I hope you like it.

Hugs

Ariane

Monday, May 10, 2010

Spring Ruffle top for my daughter!


Tonight, I decided to make a Spring Ruffle Top for my daughter using the tutorial on Sew,Mama,Sew blog. I used some fabric that I got for next to nothing at a thrift shop. I didn't want to use really expensive fabric incase I messed it up. But I really like the fabric I used and the top turned out so cute. The nice things about it is that I used the length suggested for an adult. Since all the kids are wearing long tunic tops this summer with leggings it works perfectly. She is all excited about it because blue is her favorite colour. Now she wants me to make her another one. She had fun posing for the pictures. She's so cute!!

Hand quilting my Madeline quilt

First I would like to wish all the Mother's a happy Mother's Day. I had a quite day. I worked midnight shift the night before, and only got home after 7:00 am. So I slept most of the day. That's why I'm blogging at the wee hours of the morning. I can't sleep now. Anyways, I worked all weekend and everything went well. It was quiet and no big dramas. Gotta love that.

I did bring my Madeline quilt with me to help keep me awake during the none busy times. I got a good chunk of the quilting done. I'm really enjoying quilting it. I have a little more than half of the quilt left to do. But I will continue to work at it this week. I hope you like it.

Hugs

Ariane

Thursday, May 6, 2010

A block for the Sew Modern Bee


Hi everyone, I hope you all are having a good day. I was thinking about the blocks I want for my month of the Sew Modern Bee. The first block I made was 16.5 inches square. It was nice, but I wasn't too sure I liked the size of it. So, I made a smaller 12.5 inch block last night. I used a pattern I got from the Quilter's Cache for the center. It is a 7 inch block. Then I added a half inch white border and the coal grey border. The inner block is centered. I like this better. I am a traditionalist at heart. But I love modern fabrics. So, I think my style is more like that of Modify traditions blog. She makes traditional blocks using modern fabrics. I really love that look. It's more "Me". So, I think that is what I'm going to ask for my month. A smaller traditional block, bordered by the white and coal solid fabric. What do you think? I hope they like this idea.

I am very disappointed in myself. I missed my quilt guild meeting last night and I was home. I remembered at 9:00 pm. I was so disappointed. I guess I just have too many things on the go. I'm forgetting things. Oh well, I must remember the next one, because it's the last one of the season.

I have to work night shift for the next three nights. I prepared one of my Schnibbles quilt to hand quilt during those wee hours of the night. Don't tell though.....I need to stay awake. It keeps me going. So when I'm on break I just quilt. Hopefully I can get quite a bit of it done.

Have a great Mother's day weekend.

Hugs

Ariane

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

My sister's first crafty tutorial

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good day. I worked the last two days and have not done any sewing. But my sister Michele has her first ever tutorial posted on her blog. She is so crafty. They are toilet paper tub egg carton flowers. Go check it out here.

Hugs

Ariane

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Little dress for my niece


I made this little dress today for my 6 month old niece. My brother was dropping by at my sisters house this evening, so I wipped up this cute little dress using the pillow case dress tutorial found here. It turned out so cute. I made the strapes a little short so I just stitched them together instead of tying them. I love how it turned out. I hope you like it.
 Hugs

Ariane

Saturday, May 1, 2010

A few blocks...

I worked on my May block for the Sew Modern Bee today and got it all done. I hope she likes it. I had run out of the off-white material. But I managed to find some at a LQS. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.

I also worked on a pattern for my months of blocks. I wanted to try something I hadn't done before. This is something I came up with myself. I call it the subway tile block. That's where I got the inspiration. I really like it. I struggle a bit more when I'm using modern fabrics. So, I'm really proud of how it turned out. I don't expect the other Bee members to make this block. This is just an idea of what I'm looking for. I hope you like it.

Hugs

Ariane