Gifts of Grace Block 1 and July OPAM finish!

Hi everyone, I did a bit of stitching the last couple days. I got the first block from Val Laird's free BOM Gifts of Grace. These blocks are gorgeous. I've been wanting to start them for a while now, but just had too much on the go. I'm going to try really hard to get caught up on these, because I would like this little quilt to be a Christmas gift. I know someone who would just love a quilt like this. We will see how that goes. I hope you like it.

Well, I only got one finish for the July OPAM. But it was a big one. My queen size Jack-in-the-pulpit Quilt was a very big project for me this month. I put in about 50 hours of work just on this quilt in July. I was very tired and did take a break from sewing when I was done. But I'm very proud that I finished it in time and that my girlfriend and her new husband loved it. I showed it to many of my siblings before the wedding and now I have half a dozen request for queen size quilts. I told them that they would have to get in line. But one of these years they would probably end up with one. I have such a big family, with 10 brothers and sisters. I just can't get that many done, that fast. LOL!!!

One more night shift to go. Ughhhh! I was so tired last night. I really struggled to stay awake after 4 am. I don't usually have such a hard time. I slept longer today. Hopefully that helps!

Have a good night!

Hugs

Ariane

Borders and a Sweet gift!

Hi everyone, I hope you are all having a nice day. I finally put the borders on my Shabby Roses BOM quilt top. I have had the blocks put together for quite a while now. So today I wanted to get a little farther along with this project. This is definitely one of my favorite quilts that I have made. I just love these blocks designed by Jenny of Elephantz blog. They are adorable.

I also received a sweet gift in my mail box from Michelle at Dresden Quilter. I had given her a tiny piece of fabric about a month ago, so that she could finish one of her Bee blocks. It was just a tiny little piece. She bought me a fat quarter and a card to say thanks. Wow!!! I was so blown away. This was so generous of  you Michelle. I didn't mind sharing with you and the gift was not necessary. But I am very grateful. Thanks so much!!!!! It goes perfectly with the two other fat quarters that I bought from the same collection.

Well, I'm working night shift for the next three nights. I'm going try to do a bit of stitchery this weekend. I did want to do some hand quilting but realized that I don't have enough bigger pieces of fabric to do the backing on the quilts. The fabrics that I do have are just NOT the right colors either. Hmmm......more shopping! LOL!!!

Have a good night everyone!

Hugs

Ariane

I'm finally back....

Hi everyone, I hope you have had a great week. I am back from my holiday back home. We all had a great time visiting with my family. The kids got to visit with their cousins. They really enjoyed that. We stayed with my parents. That was so great. They always have the best food too. It's like fine dining three times a day. There's nothing better than eating fresh vegetables from their vegetable gardens. The weather was just beautiful. We ate breakfast, lunch and supper on the deck quite a few times. It was so wonderful out. This was our view off the deck. 

We also attended my best friends wedding. It was such a beautiful wedding. She had violins playing at the church and everything. It was really amazing. They were so excited when they opened my wedding gift and saw that I made them a quilt. See how happy she looks. I'm so glad I was able to be there for her wedding.

I didn't bring any sewing with me on this trip. I put in so many hours of sewing to get the quilt done on time for the wedding that I needed a holiday from sewing. But now I'm excited to get sewing again, and finish some of my projects.

Well, that's all for today. I'm really tired tonight. Back to work tomorrow.....

Hugs

Ariane

My Goals for July and August!!

Hi everyone, this is my second post for the day. I missed the deadline to post my goals for the Charming Girls Quilt Club for July and August. The deadline was yesterday. But I decided to do it anyways. Maybe this will help me to keep things straight.

Here they are:

1 - Spend more time with the kids having fun!!! I should be able to do this easily since we are going away next week on a holiday, then going to the cottage in August. Can't wait!!!

2 - Find a least 2 nights for just me and the hubby to go out on a date.

3 - Finish organizing my new sewing room. It is so disorganized right now.

4 - Finish my Jack-in-the-Pulpit quilt.

5 - Finish my Between Charming Friends quilt and help my daughter finish her quilt too!

6 - Quilt my Picnic quilt

7 - Take a walk at least 3 days a week. I'm so out of shape. I've got to get off my butt.

8 - Spend less time on the computer and more time with the family or working on a project.

I think that is good! I hope that this helps me stay on track. I'm pretty sure I can accomplish all these things.

Hugs

Ariane

My Jack-in-the-Pulpit quilt top is finally done!!!!

It is finally done. I sewed 12 hours yesterday and 5 hours already today to finally finish this top. I still have to baste it, quilt it and put the binding on. But first I have to remove all the paper off the back from paper piecing. The pattern suggested not to take the paper off until the top was done. The two shorter sides of flying geese were paper pieced. Even though I do love this technique because you get perfect flying geese, it is much more time consuming. Well, I'm not going keep you. I have more sewing to do.

Hugs

Ariane

Scrappy Pincushion Swap Received!!!!!

I received the most beautiful pincushion in the mail today.

Melanie from Texas Freckles made me this wonderful red and white pincushion.

Red is my favorite colour!!!

I absolutely love it!!!!

It's gorgeous.

It's a very nice size too. I love big pincushions.

They are my favorite ones.

 She also sent me a wonderful postcard, pins and a fabric swatch.

I feel like I hit the jackpot with this one.

Thank you so much Melanie.

This made my day.

Hugs

Ariane

My scrap basket!!!

So, this is my scrap basket. It the size of a laundry basket.

 It's overflowing!!!!!

I need to do something about this.

 I think I will start sorting them by size and trimming them into strips.

So much to do!!!

I have to work night shift the next two nights.

We will see what gets done!!

Hugs

Ariane

Some Japanese fabric....love it!!!

Today was a very busy day for me. I was running around all day. But I did manage to convince my husband to take me to the Picton Quilt Show. We managed to make it there late in the afternoon for the last hour of the show. I forgot to bring my camera. I was very disappointed about that. The quilts were gorgeous!! I didn't have a lot of money to spend. But I just couldn't resist some Japanese fabric at one of the booths. I purchased it from Kallisti Quilts. This is a Canadian online quilt shop that specializes in Japanese and African fabric. I had never heard of it before today. They have an online catalogue that you can order from and also an etsy shop. Their online catalogue has more selection and you can request specific amounts. I ended up purchasing 6 fat quarters. They are so cute, and they are in my favorite colours. I'm very happy that my husband came with me to the quilt show. He kind of felt out of place. He said that he was the only guy under the age of 70 there. Which was not true, but there weren't many guys there. LOL!!! I'm so glad he did this for me. He is so sweet. He was also very encouraging, by telling me that my quilts were just as nice as any in the show. I gave him a hug & kiss for that one. LOL!!!

Hugs

Ariane

Buttons, Buttons and more Buttons!!

Hi everyone! I don't know if you know this yet, but I love buttons. Especially vintage buttons. Every time I see buttons at a thrift shop or yard sale, I usually buy them. Unless they are extreamly expensive. I'm always looking for a deal. I usually get a ziplock bag of vintage buttons for about $2.00. Sometimes they are in jars. But I always love them. They are in all colors and sizes. I just love the look at them and sort them, then mix them back up again.

 I also have a bunch of vintage buttons still on their original cards from the stores. I love to see the labels on these. When I started organizing stuff in my sewing room, I decided to buy some old jars from a thrift store to store some of my buttons. Here's a pic of the jars I bought. The four bigger ones were $0.99 and the little one was only $0.29.  Pretty good deal eh!!!

The buttons on cards are stored in a clear plastic shoe box. I've got lots of these too.

Here are a bunch of pics of my buttons. I hope you like them.

Buttons on their original cards....

Small Buttons.....

Medium Buttons.....

Big Buttons.....

So do you collect vintage buttons?

Hugs Ariane

15 year wedding anniversary and my new sewing room!

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having a nice day. It is very hot and humid out today. But I do have one reason to celebrate. My husband and I have been married 15 years today. I am so happy. I love him more and more every day. We are best friends and we have grown closer and closer every year. We won't do something extravagant today. But we will spend some nice time together, just enjoying each others company. I look forward to having many, many more years together, growing old together!

Love you honey!!!

I also started to move into my new little sewing room a couple of days ago. I didn't have a sewing room before. I sewed at the kitchen table and had all my stuff in bins in the living room and dining room. It had pretty much taken over. I have to admit, it did get messy some times.

My husband had this little room in our basement that he used for his guitar room. He had his guitars hanging on the wall and all his music gear arranged nicely. It was like his little sanctuary. He decided that I needed the space more than he did, as I sewed more than he played. So we traded spots. I cleaned up a nice corner for him to put one of his small guitar amps in the living room and put a hook for one guitar to hang on the wall. The rest of his stuff he is storing or got rid of, because he didn't use it.

This room is tiny. It's only 5 feet by 8 feet. But it's perfect for me. I'm just missing a desk to put my sewing machine on. I also need to continue organising my stuff so that I can find things. That used to be a major problem before, as I had everything in big bins. So here are a few pictures. I love that I can have more wall space to hang my little quilts. I'm very excited.

So, It's getting there. I hope to have a desk soon and maybe another storage shelf to put my little bins into. But I'm having fun getting it organized. I'll share more soon.

Hugs

Ariane

I got some sewing done...

Hi everyone! I hope you are all well. I have been doing some sewing, even though I have not posted in quite a few days. I don't have pictures of all my projects, but do have the picture of the center of my Jack-the-piper quilt. I'm still working on the flying geese border. But I got quite a bit of it done last night. This has definitely been a more challenging block. The center of the block was paper pieced. That part went together quite easily. But the outer triangles were a challenge. At first I was making the seams too big, even with my 1/4 inch foot. I wasn't getting the 10 1/2 inch block I needed. I was always short. Then, I tried to make the seams scant. But then it was too big and I was cutting off the corners when the sashing went on. Ahhhh!!!! Well, I did my best. Mr. Seam Ripper got a lot of use. Oh Well!!!! I like the way it's looking. I'm pretty sure my girlfriend will like it.

Hugs

Ariane

June OPAM finishes.....and Canada Day!!!!

1. Teacher gifts, 2. My Roundabout quilt, 3. Tree Pincushion, 4. sneek peak for Pincushion Pass

Here are my OPAM finishes for June. 7 projects completed. That's not too bad.

It's Canada Day!!!! I hope all you Canadians have a great Canada Day.

Hugs

Ariane