A picnic quilt!

I have tried to put my scraps and stash to use, and I have some different projects to show you over the next couple of weeks :)

First I will show you my picnic quilt!
This quilttop is made entirely from scraps. I cut 3" strips to whatever length the scrap would allow. Some are long and some are really short - depending on the length of the scrap-piece it was cut from.
I have pieced them totally randomly, and added each strip once it was finished. It's a little scary for a quilter so addicted to arranging and rearranging LOs as I am :)
I am really happy with how it turned out, though. It is bright, happy and busy enough to hide all the spills....
I quilted flowers like these from Oh Fransson - only mine are connected in a continuous line, I hate securing all those loose ends!

Here is a shot of the quilt in action. The I SPY fabrics in it helped keep the kids busy :)
My favourite thing about this picnic quilt is the carrying strap I attached to it. It is made a'la Anna Maria Horners Totable Towel. Only I didn't do the envelope sleeve.
BTW this year I am definately making a towel like that for a Christmas present for my sister!! I have wanted to since I first saw it, so this year it is going to happen!!
We don't have a car, so we have to carry everything, or be able to balance it all - and the kids - on our bikes. So being able to carry this like a shoulder bag is such a great help!

My oldest is starting school in less than 2 weeks. ACK! Where did all that time go?!
Anyway....looking forward to seeing what I have missed in blogland - I know it's a lot, so I have a lot of exciting reading to do...mmmm a cup of tea and blog-reading!

A baby quilt and lots of fabric :)

Yesterday we went to see my good friends' baby get baptised...and you know how it is. A new baby means a BABY QUILT!! I haven't been able to share any pictures of this before, since it obviously had to be a surprise :) This picture is taken in the laundry room, right after I pulled the quilt from the dryer, and right before I packed it up and ran out the door...we made it to the church on time, but only just!!
My friend loves it...it 60" square
Like so many others, I like to work with solids, and since I order most of my fabric online, I treated myself to the Kona cotton solids colorcard. Wow. I love it. I see many more solids in my future.
I ordered my color card from Canton Village Quilt Works if you don't know the store, go visit. Jackie has a lot of great stuff in her store! I also bought the FQ pack of rainbow colors from her.

Last week I took Miss V to the fabric store - to buy backing fabric for the baby quilt - and she chose these fabrics. She needs new dresses and skirts, she has grown so much since last summer that all her summer clothes are too short. LOL. So I am going to start by making her some skirts. I also bought these orange and teal fabrics. Orange and teal is my favourite color combination right now.
Also....I am a swap mama in Doll Quilt Swap this round. EXCITING!!! So if you visit the flickr group or the DQS blog, you'll see me there from time to time as well!

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth...

I have been busy....and I have managed to sqeeze in a little bit of sewing time, but not nearly enough! Sad but true.

I have mostly been working on blocks for the quilting bees I am in.
This is for the EuroBee I am not in this bee anymor, I had to sign out because of my crazy schedule *sniff*:

Charles and I took the kids to the ZOO, and Little A bought a snake-softie at the store, Miss V chose a bunny. But when we got home Miss V really really wanted a snake, so...I made her one: She loves it - although it doesn't look anything like the one A bought!

This scarf is still in the making....the pattern is not too difficult, just time-consuming. And to be fair, it did say so in the book (Last minute knitted gifts by Joelle Hoverson)

I have also finished a row for Tia for my Row10 quilting bee. She wanted red and white crosses.

The owl was part of Kims row...she wanted red/aqua gnomes/mushrooms/woodland creatures. You can see my row in my flickr set and Kims quilt WIP here.

So hopefully you haven't all forgotten me? I miss blogging and seeing what you all have been up to! Thank you for the emails, I love hearing from you :)

I started a new job...

...and I have been sooooooo tired!
These flowers were on my desk on my first day, isn't that nice?! My first day, by the way, was March 1st. That's the main reason I have been away from blogland.

Now I am back to normal -whatever that is- and I am not ridiculously tired all the time anymore.

I haven't done a lot of sewing lately, so I am also behind sewing for my bees :( Sorry!!
I have been working on a row for the fabulous Kim, she wished for aqua and red/gnomes, shrooms and woodland creatures

This is a little ladybug....

....and some shrooms. I also have a hedgehog and a caterpillar in the works, but they are not ready for photos yet :) That'll have to wait for my next post!

I have made two of these little bags...I have put buttons in the bottom corners, so they can hang in a row. They are for holding keys, cell phones, wallets and whatever else Charles and I usually leave in a pile on the kitchen counter :)

Much neater this way.

I hope you are having a happy Easter, and I will be by to visit soon!

A week off ;)

The kids and I have just spent a week at my parents house :) Aaaah! It's been fun, and I have really appreciated seeing them enjoy spending time with their grandparents!

Also, it has given me some extra free time! I spent some of that getting some sewing done. I have had this box bag on my list for ages..
Little A is getting older, and it's really not neccessary to drag a diaper bag everywhere we go. So I made this little bag to hold a few diapers, wipes, and a small changing pad. I love the orange zipper!
I also managed to finish these blocks for Aneela in the Euro Bee. These were fun to make. Maybe I should consider making myself one of these quilts??
The scarf I started back in January is finished, just in time to give it to my Dad for his birthday :)
And I started a new knitting project! This hat for Charles is already finished - I'll have pictures soon - and I started another one like it for A!
It's cold and we have a lot of snow, so woollen hats are really useful :)
I'll make one for Miss V too, but I need some purple wool....yay, shopping!!!

Plain Spoken #2

I finally finished my first 2010 quilt! It's the second time I have made a quilt using FunQuilts' Plain Spoken pattern -and it probably won't be the last :)
I love the colors in this quilt. So bright and cheery!

It is a 40th birthday present for a friend, and I finally tried out the fabric sheet Karen sent me. It was so easy to use!! I'll definately be making more labels this way. Maybe I'll even put labels on all the quilts I've made?!
I used a solid red for binding, and it ties the front and the backing together quiter nicely I think.
It is difficult to find "guy-prints" so I had Charles help me pick out the fabric for the backing ;)
The quilttop reminds me of the beach, sea-glass, swimming pools, summer and all things nice!
It was hard to give this quilt away, but start to finish it was meant for someone else.....so it would have been wrong to keep it. But I can still miss it a little, right?

Just checking in...

....to say hi!
Miss V loves to decorate, so she'll arrange her toys so they look pretty :) She left this HelloKitty setup for me in our bookcase.
Isn't that just the cutest thing?

She loves to take pictures, all the pictures in this post are taken by her. It's fun to see our home through her eyes.
But then, she also just takes pictures of everything!
We had that coconut for dessert this evening, and I have discovered taht eating large amounts of coconut gives me a stomachache. Oh well ;)
I guess this is how she sees the kitchen counter
and the view from the kids' bedroom window. We have had a lot of snow lately...
....oh...and the floor in the kids' bedroom. Not as tidy as I like it, but not at its worst either. Lol.
Their coat rack in the hallway....hmm...no coats. They are probably on the floor then. Ack!
I am off to finish the Plain Spoken quilt top. With any luck it will be a completed quilt by the end of this week. I am hoping to give it as a birthday present next monday! Yikes I'm busy!!!