It's been a while.....

So....I have been a very bad blogger, but lots has happened since my last post. We are having another baby due at the end of May, Kevin has been to Poland and the Olympics for Ice Carving, the holidays, etc. As a result, not much sewing has been done until recently, and not much blogging either. I decided to make some time lately though to sew for a baby shower that is happening tomorrow. It's for a little boy named Sayler, who was born about two months premature. As a result, I decided he needed a few things to snuggle under to keep warm :)


First, I made him a quilt, which now that is finished, I have to say I like the back better than the front, but oh well. It is the first time I was adventurous enough to try a pieced back as opposed to a plain one.

Here's a picture of the back that I like better :)

I made a couple of these baby blocks too, since they are pretty quick to whip up. I meant to sew in some ribbons into one of them, but forgot. I did put a bell in each one though :)

I wanted to try some of these receiving blankets too, so I made two with minky fabric on one side to make it nice and snuggly :)

And I can't do a post without including my little monkey :) The weather has been ridiculously beautiful this weekend, 24 degrees today and so hot! We spent the day playing with his new car the neighbours gave us driving up and down the driveway while Kevin cleaned out the garage and the cars :) Oh, and his shirt is entirely accurate :) Uncle Dave and Deb gave us that shirt when he was born and is very descriptive of his life so far :) Someone is in for a rude awakening when his little brother/sister comes along!

Jude's Quilt

Just a quick post about the most recent quilt I finished. It was a quilt for our nephew Jude as his baptism gift. There is another baptism coming up for our niece Abigail, so I will have to get cracking on a quilt for her! I didn't take a picture of the back since it's just plain white, I thought of doing a fancy pieced back, but in an effort to save time, I chickened out.

Some more crafty things.....

Well, I have found some time to sew, amazingly more time that I thought I would being back at work, so here's a little peak of some of the things I have been up to!


So I finally finished my second quilt! Although it has been done for quite a while, I couldn't post about it until the recipient (the adorable little Miss Elizabeth) received it in the mail! The top is all done with Heather Ross fabric and the back is just a coordinating flower print I found at Fabricland, I used it for the binding too.



Kevin attempting to hold it up for me! It wound up being bigger than I had planned, I didn't measure it, but it fit across te top of our king-sized bed with a tiny bit of hang so definitely big enough for a twin or a double I should think!



My biggest attempt at stipple quilting yet!







I made a little pillow sham to go with it as well...



and a little accent pillow.....



I also made a couple little things as loot bag items for Miles' birthday party. First is an eye spy bag for Maddie, she loves mermaids at the moment!



the back has a little pocket to store the list of items to find



and some baby blocks for Abigail



and Jude!

Cumberland Museum

Well, seeing as I just went back to work a few weeks ago, things have been pretty busy, so blogging has not been high on the priority list unfortunately. We have been up to a few things though! We went to the Cumberland Heritage Museum for their annual corn roast. I think it is definitely my favourite museum in Ottawa.

Yes, I think we would like to move into this little green house, it looks just about perfect :)



Checking out the chickens....



and the rabbits....



that Dad is so much fun!



Cousin Jude and Uncle Sean joined us too!



Someone is getting sleepy.....



Some horses.....



Yippee!!!!

A Shower Gift

Just a quick little post about a couple things I have been working on lately for a shower I am going to on Sunday! I made four of these little reversible place mats:

And then four of these little matching reversible napkins from this tutorial....

Then four little coordinating coasters....



And then lastly, a little tote bag to put everything in!



And I can't do a post without some pictures of my little monkey!! Here he is modeling a little winter hat I found for him!



Swimming in Gord and Laura's pool!



Drinking milk is serious business!!

My First Quilt!

I finally completed my first quilt! It is a disappearing nine-patch with Tula Pink's Nest line of fabrics. Totally copied from this quilt, but I loved it so much and there were so many charm packs on Ebay for a good price so why not?







This was my largest free motion quilting attempt, and boy was it frustrating. I had lots of problems with the thread continually slipping out of the upper thread guide and getting jammed which kept messing with the tension. Anyways, I found a ghetto solution using some masking tape that seems to have worked, but the quilting is by no means perfect. You can see the odd 'eyelash' on the backing, but it is my first attempt so I'm not too worried. White backing is definitely a lot more forgiving!!



This one is going to Kevin's cousin as a wedding gift.

For the love of labels......

Ok, so I borrowed the title of this post from Sue's blog.....but I don't think she will mind! So my latest project has been some new art in the kitchen. We previously had some very generic chef prints that I bought a long time ago and they were appropriate given Kevin's profession, but we were both tired of them and as I said before, they were very generic. Anyway, I have always had a thing for vintage produce labels, Kevin brought me back some postcards from a trip to New Orleans with some on them and I have some dishes with that theme, but I have always wanted to frame some and have them on the wall. Last week, I found a site online that had pictures of labels online, so I saved a few (or 12) to my computer and then played around with the colours and resizing them and then printed them out on our printer and bought some frames at IKEA to frame them in. Kevin kindly helped me hang them, since I am terrible at hanging pictures and the finished product is below!




Here are some closeups of a few, this first one I had to use because of Sue of course!



I really like the 50's feel of this one!



This one I didn't like at all in the beginning, but now it's one of my favourites!



This little apple cowboy is so cute too :)



Last week we also went up to Mont Tremblant for one night to visit Kevin's parents so it was a fun way to shake up our routine :) Silly me forgot to pack a sweater for Miles so here he is wearing Kevin's coat......



And drinking Kevin's beer....not really of course



and giving his 'friend' kisses in the mirror, post sweater-shopping trip!