Vroom, Vroom

So I finished my Vroom, Vroom quilt top this evening. It's made up of larger pieces so it was quick to put together. I wanted to have this one finished before the end of the weekend so I can pick up a backing for this quilt on Monday. It is quite busy but I'm fairly happy with the result.

Hopefully the mom and little guy will like it. It's a fairly good size quilt too since the border comes over the sides of the double bed in the guest room. So now I'll need to pick out the backing and then I'll get to the quilting :)

I've decided to donate my Charm Square Baby quilt to a rescue group in Halifax called Litters N Critters. Just recently, one of the many dogs in their care was hit by a car. The dog bolted out the door of the foster family and was hit by a car. The driver didn't even stop and the dog, Radar, received multiple injuries. So they are holding an auction in the coming weeks to help bring in funds to pay for Radar's vet bills.

Animals hold a very special place in my heart and this rescue is 100% volunteer. Click here for their facebook page and further posts will be up regarding the auction.

Hope everyone is having a great quilty weekend :)

Julia

2014 Mystery Quilt Block 4

Well finished up Block 4 for the Fat Quarter Shop 2014 Mystery Quilt BOM Club. So I'm 1/3 of the way through the blocks. I really enjoy getting one of these mystery blocks every month. I may have to do this again or I may just pick out a quilt and do the same concept where I finish a block a month. I am in love with this collection, even though it is a tad bit more pricey than I usually spend.

I am just in love with each block that I do. And it also furthers my skills as a quilter. So all in all, I feel as if it's working out well. I also started working on another commissioned quilt that needs to be finished before Christmas. So I'm getting a head start on that one. Designed a pattern last night and started cutting out pieces for that quilt this evening. These are the fabrics that I picked out for the quilt top.

The quilt is for a little boy who loves anything to do with cars, trucks, etc. So I figured these fabrics would do nicely. Hoping to have this quilt finished towards the end of October. Hopefully I'll get there.

Hope everyone had a great weekend :)

September Library Project Report

My furnace turned on this morning so I guess I can officially say it's Fall. I really don't mind Fall but I wish we would have had a better summer. Always hope for next year....and a trip down south to make up for it :)

Since my last report, I have completed a few projects. First up is the cute Charm Square quilt that came as a surprise. I noticed I had enough 5" squares cut after cutting my pieces for my Whispering Lake quilt, to make the Charm Square quilt. So I figured why not do it.

It is quite adorable and makes a quick baby shower gift. Next up was my Whispering Lake quilt. I just finished this one this week. I absolutely love this quilt and the recipient loves it as well.

I just finished up making the Travel Wallet that I posted about here. I was sewing late last night finishing it up. This was a bit difficult for me since the pattern was in metric. Also there are a few a things that I would do differently if I make another one again. You live you learn. I learned lots with this project. Putting on press buttons and vinyl. I do like it but would like to make a better one someday.

 Fabric showing off the vinyl pocket. I really like the effect of using vinyl. Definitely will incorporate in another project.

Not too shabby. I've never tried to make something like this before. It does give me confidence to try to make a purse now. I have so many books with bags in them....maybe the Library Project 2015 ;)
 

So the month of September proved to be quite productive for me. Hope October shows the same kind of productivity!

Linking up with Adrienne @ Chezzetcook Modern Quilts. Go check out the progress of other members who have teamed up with the Library Project.

Happy Saturday :)

Julia

Whispering Lake aka Whispering Love

Well the day has finally come and Whispering Lake is finished. I just finished packaging this sweet quilt to be put into the mail and off to it's new home. I just love how this quilt turned out. Definitely turned out better than what I expected.

A close-up of the quilting. Rather simple quilting for this quilt.

The backing which shows more of the diamond shape quilting that was done on the center.

And another picture of the quilt. It is just so beautiful! I love all the colours that are in this quilt.

I also get to check this quilt off my Library Project List :) The list is getting shorter and shorter....hopefully I'll have everything on it finished by the end of the year.

I'm hoping to share a story about this quilt and the person who will be receiving this in a later post. For now, I can only release minimal details.

Stay tuned!

Whispering Lake

It was a busy week, but it was a good quilting weekend :) I finished quilting Whispering Lake. I just  need to add the binding now. I was hoping to have it finished by this weekend but that goal was pushed back when my work week turned into a busy one. So here are some pictures of Whispering Lake:

I really love how this one is coming together. I just love it! I'm going to use this fabric for the binding. It's called Ellie's Emporium by Sue Penn for Fine Lines. It's a bit bold but so is this quilt. So I figured this would work out perfectly for the binding and I'll still have about half a meter left. I want to use this in a baby quilt sometime.

So it was a pretty great weekend. I'm going to attempt to do a little side project. I would like to make this Travel Wallet in the next week or so. I'll probably change mine up a bit since I would rather have a zippered pocket to put my passport in. I'm hoping that it will turn out alright to be able to give this to a really good friend who is traveling to Paris at the end of the month.

Have you ever made a Travel Wallet/Passport Holder? Were you happy with the result?

2014 Mystery Quilt Block 3

So it has been a bit of an unproductive quilting week. It has been a busy work week which results in being quite tired. I did however get my Block 3 done from Fat Quarter Shop's 2014 Mystery Quilt BOM. I realized on Sunday that my Block 4 was being shipped and I hadn't even started Block 3. So I finished it up last night :)

I just love this BOM club! It was a bit expensive considering all the fabric I needed to buy to finish the quilt but it is definitely something I would do again. Also noticed that my Sew Sister's Bargain Lovers Club package should be in soon. Love those squishy packages :)

Steps in the Right Direction

So I did not quilt as much as I would have liked to this weekend but I figured I would enjoy a bit more of what is left of summer. I did however finish my Whispering Lake Quilt top. I had a difficult time with the fabric for the border. I was trying to make this quilt from all my stash fabrics. I'm trying to use up a good portion of the fabric that I have here instead of continuously buying more. So I looked through my stash and I found one fabric that was big enough and suitable. But then I started to doubt myself since this fabric choice was a batik in purple and the quilt top is made up of prints. So I ended up going to a LQS and picking out a border fabric. I just loved the fabric that I picked out. So I put it beside the quilt with the finished size of the border and it just didn't seem to work. So after hubby's opinion, I decided to go back to my original choice. And the originally choice definitely suits it better. So I've learned to go with my gut!

Just love how this one turned out. I'm really hoping that the recipient likes it as well. So I just need to get the quilt sandwich done and then I'll just do some simple quilting for this one :)

So after cutting all my blocks, I have all these triangles left. There is a lot of them.

 Here's a closer picture of what size they are. So basically they are 4" x 3"

I couldn't just toss them away. Any ideas on what I should do with them? I was thinking of possibly sewing them together and making a couple of bags with them. Any tricks on how to sew them without my needle pushing the fabric down below the plate? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)

Hope you all had a great weekend :)

Julia

Book Score!

So it's been a few busy days between work and sewing. I have the center finished for my Whispering Lake quilt :)

Just loving how it all came together. I'll definitely be making another one of these quilts. And purple is my favourite colour. I'll be picking out a purple border and hopefully I'll be able to have this quilt top finished up by the weekend. 

So on to my book score today. I was looking on an online yard sale site and seen someone had an ad for some craft/hobby books. I picked up 6 books for $5 each! It was a fantastic deal :) I am so excited to go through these books. I love having quilting and sewing books among many others. So here are the books I bought :)

Sugar Sack Quilts - I just love the cover of this book!

 Sew Fabulous Fabric - having fabric in the name title made me want it.

Fast Fabric Gifts - always good to have around is small gifts for that last minute event you get invited to.

A Is For Apron - Aprons are just so cute!

Pretty Little Cozies - Love the cover page! And I really wanted to make some cozies for my teapots :)

Pretty Little Pincushions - who doesn't love a pincushion!

So I'm pretty excited that I have reading material for a while. I can't wait to go through all these books and start making some projects from them. It was a little bit of splurge today but I couldn't resist because of the price. I am such an addict to quilting books/magazines!

Any books you couldn't live without in your library?

Around The World Blog Hop

So it's my stop on the Around The World Blog Hop. I was nominated by Jenn @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge. So excited to be part of this. I'm still quite new to the blogging world. I've been doing this for less than a year now and quilting feverishly for just over a year.

So welcome to my blog space. I write about all my sewing projects, fabric purchases and a sewing vacation here and there.

Part of this blog hop is for each participant to share how they feel about this hobby (in my case a severe addiction!)

1. What am I working on?
Well right now in my sewing room, I have all my blocks done for a Whispering Lake quilt. You can see what the quilt looks like in my Better Late Than Never post. Here are the finished blocks.

This block is my favorite :)

Next up is a challenge from a LQS. You can read about that challenge here. I typically try to complete a project before I start another one but sometimes a quilt will take shape before I've even set out to piece the other one. I'm experiencing that with the Whispering Lake quilt. When I cut up the squares for the Whispering Lake quilt, I had enough 5" squares from the remainder of Fat Quarters to make a Charm Square Baby Quilt :)

2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
I don't think I really have a genre when it comes to quilting. I just make what I like. Sometimes it's from a pattern, sometimes it's something different than the pattern and sometimes it's drawn out. I think doing what you like, makes this hobby more enjoyable.

3. Why do I write/create what I do?
When I first started quilting many years ago, I had high hopes and no direction. I made many mistakes and put away all my sewing things away for years. It was only in the last year that I started to take everything out again. I just fell in love right from the beginning! I first started writing as a way to keep track of my projects and time periods for how long it took me to make a quilt. I had never realized that people would actually read what I wrote! I've met so many great people and been given so many opportunities by writing this blog.

4. How does my writing/creative process work?
Hmm this is a tough question. Sometimes it's a small idea that spreads into a bigger concept. Most of the time, I follow a pattern but usually modify it to suit what I want out of the finish project. I feel like everything I make reflects back onto me. I've only made a few projects that were exactly what the pattern called for. Most of the time, I just do what feels right. Writing just allows me to talk about a hobby that I love so much. And also communicating with other persons who share my passion :)

So there you have it. Hope you're still reading this and I didn't bore you too much!

So here are the next "stops" on the Around The World Blog Hop :)

Adrienne @ Chezzetcook Modern Quilts - is the first ever blog that I read back in Nov/Dec 2013. She is the president of the Maritime Modern Quilting Guild (MMQG) and a great person to talk to! She is miles ahead on the modern quilting scale compared to me and I just love seeing what she's up to. Take a hop over to check out her blog!

Amanda & Kelsey @ Everyday Fray - I first found their blog when Sew Mama Sew hosted the giveaway blog this year in May. I really like reading about what other quilters are up to. And these ladies show lots of goodies and share some good information. I learned a lot about Massdrop from these ladies. Check out their blog and you can see the gorgeous quilt they made for a cousin's wedding in July :)

Thanks for taking a stop over at my blog :)

Julia