Blue Palace by Johnny Karwan colour/print palette

Oh thank heavens!! I found blue and white!!  It's not quite the navy I was hoping for, but it's a new whole collection of blue and white prints.... a delft blue.. So pretty!   Now I have to figure out what to make with it before I order it all up!

I have been yearning for it for awhile, and finally, it's come alive!! I'm all giddy!

Fat Quarter Shop is where I spotted the two lines.  Now I have to do further research and see which one is crisper.  The blue palace looks like the blue has some white in it.  I like the crisper look of the bluework/redwork line.   We shall see. 

So, to all of you readers,  who lurk and don't... where do you buy your fabrics online? 

Here in Canada, at my quilting shops, fabric is at least 14.95/m .  Seriously. We won't even talk about charm packs or jelly rolls.   I gasp out loud when I see the $24.95 price tag on a charm pack.   Seriously.   Trying to find the modern designer quilt fabrics is also so difficult.  the selection here is murky.

I really don't know why there is such an inflated price as opposed to the US.  It really irks me. I want to support my local shops,  and do, but when I see what the prices are online it just makes more sense to buy online.  

So readers.  Where do you buy your quilt fabric online?

Kona Cotton Solids. Yummy.

My Kona Cotton Solids arrived yesterday from Pink Chalk Fabrics .  I highly recommend this store...beautifully packaged, reasonable shipping to Canada, and it was quick for international shipping!    Look at how gorgeous these fabrics are.  I can really imagine that I may be ordering more...  I'm going to start the cutting of my Plain Spoken quilt today, and hopefully get something accomplished.  My eldest of the wee two is home sick, so we won't be venturing outdoors today.  That, and the fact that it's -31 right now. without. wind. chill.  brr!  I so can't wait to move back to my beautiful west coast!! Soon!

Anyways...here is some beautiful eye candy. 

Trying to decorate. What's wrong with white? ;-)

Well, I'm trying to spruce things up around here, and in the process of an hour of fiddling with html (yes, I really have become adventurous), I'm leaving this blog white until I can figure things out.

I found a great tutorial for decorating your blog  with all sorts of backgrounds, new fonts, etc.

I really love black and white with splashes of colour.  This is the theme I like, but do you think I can make it happen right now?

  

Perhaps there is something to be said about the simplicity of white.

Scrappy Square Quilt

I am also addicted to viewing other people's crafting projects.  Therefore I don't get my own done.  Here is one that I really love.  What makes me giggle every time I read this post is the quote below:

Scrappy Square Quilt

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The major upside of it's (the quilt's) general visual offensiveness is that when visitors to our house catch sight of it and exclaim "Dear god, what is that monstrosity?!" my lip can quibble for a moment and then I can run from the room and throw my sobbing self dramatically down on a chaise longue like a 40's starlet while the husband explains to an uncomfortably silent room that I slaved over "that monstrosity" for months.

Not. Addicted.

really.  I have to stop.  I've gone on a project and crafting spree and I haven't started any of them!!  They're all trapped in my head...or in my little moleskine notebook that carries my list of crafty things to do.

After I bought my Last Minute Patchwork book, I also purchased my Kona Cotton Solids set for my plain spoken kit.  You all know about that one. 

Then, I bought The Modern Quilt Workshop  and Quiltmakers Color Workshop.  It's coming this week.  NONE of the quilt shops here in my Alberta city carry either of these books, so I ordered it online.  

THEN, I took a quick peek at my favourite quilt shop here and picked up a pattern book that was backordered for me when I was making the baby rail fence.  It's  The Best of Weekend Quilts .  I almost didn't get it but then there were a few patterns in there that I thought would be perfect easy ones to do...and since I need guidance on measurements for making blocks, etc, I figured another pattern book would be fine.  Also, they had in their clearance section, big freezer bag packs of scrap fabrics (coordinating) for $5.00 a bag.   One had a whole bag of the same fabrics I used for the baby rail quilt  (combined with what I have left over from the project = another quilt! )  Another bag had coordinating fabrics, among them some amy butler and similar!  Another was a bag of scrap cotton chenille in a rose colour that would coordinate perfectly with the Amy Butler bag of scraps! 

These were wee scraps - they look like leftover cuts from sample quilts!  There were pieces as big as 1/2 meter!  Great find!

So.  Aside from trying to find some navy/white cotton prints, I am banned from buying more until I make at least 2 quilts. 

Enough spending.  More quilting.

Quilt Planning

Okay, so I've order a bunch of Kona Cotton Solids from Pink Chalk Fabrics .  I want to make a Plain Spoken Quilt from The Modern Quilt Workshop  .  

A million other quilts in my head.... (maybe that should be my new blog name!) lined up, but in addition, I'd like to make a quilt for my inlaws.  They're home is decorated in whites, navy/indigos and cranberry.  I was thinking of going ballistic with the kona cottons in a variety of dark blues, a few lighter blues, whites and berry shades, and making it into another Plain Spoken quilt.   Any thoughts?  A different pattern?  I just dont' want it looking american flag-ish.  

Wow, have you ever seen an improvement in my links?  LOL!

I'm so over the top with ideas right now.  I feel like my wheels are spinning and I'm going nowhere!  It's the ADD of Quilting!!

New Books and Ideas

I just purchased this book on the weekend, and am in love.   

Oh my gosh, if I wasn't on craft crack before.  Now I am.  I want to do almost every single project in it.  Be prepared.

In my quilting and sewing adventures, I've also developed a yearning to make cute kids clothes.  Except I have boys.  Has anyone figured out how unfair the clothing and pattern market is on boys?   I mean, you have boxer shorts, pajama pants, pull on pants, and buttoned sleeve shirts. 

For girls, it's incredible.  It's eye candy everywhere! 

And the fabrics too...it's a total female market out there!  If I had any sense of how to design or develop this concept, I'd go for it.   The boys market is way underdeveloped.

Daisy Quilt

Taken in -20c weather with glorious sunshine.  This quilt has all straight edges and lays nice and straight/flat as well, but with the breeze, it wasn't cooperating in the pictures!

I got this idea when I was blog cruising - I saw a quilt with a strip of squares down a white quilt, and the woman quilted it in long lines as I have.  I wish I could give her credit for her idea, but I have no clue which blog it was that I saw it on! (anyone?)  I saw this daisy fabric in the new spring line of the store, and had to have it.  It's been so cold and cooped up here, and the first sign of spring just made me want to make one similar!

Edited to add : - Oh my gosh, I just washed and dried it and it's all crinkly and soft and perfect!! Way more perfect than before!!  

Well, as much as my vision in my head was brilliant, now that my quilt is done I find it ho hum.  Maybe it was dh's comment when it was done - the blank look in his eyes when I asked him what he thought and his response was "it's a simple one, right?" I can laugh about it.  Sometimes, men have no clue.  LOL

I'm still learning alot about piecing and planning, but I think this went pretty well.  I did this without mathematical formulas...just winged it.  I really enjoyed the new type of machine quilting - long straight lines (actually it was very boring to quilt, but I love the effect).  I have these adjustable bars on my walking foot that helps to keep the lines straight.  I was worried part way through that I would experience puckering, etc, but it went very well, except for a few tiny ones. 

If anything, my cat likes it.   And I do too.   It will be my quilt for my corner chair when I watch my cheesy shows. And Shatzi can sit on it with me. ;-)

I've also learned that during these past few quilts, I love do hand sew the binding.  I thought I'd hate it.  But I love how relaxing it is, and that I can watch/listen to a show while I'm sewing. 

My cup!

Isn't it crazy how we can like little things so much?  Here's the little cup I found at the "boutique" as I call it.  It will be making a home next to my sewing machine, and will hold my snips, seam ripper and pencil/pen for now.   Now that I look at it, I don't think it's vintage, but more retro age.  It's transferware, from a company in Bavaria called Shirnding.    I wouldn't want a whole dinnerware set of it, but the appeal is that it was just the one lonely piece on the shelf all by itself.  The mystery is what it's name is (pattern) and I'm still on the hunt for it.

Dogs and sunshine

It's -20c again this week, so of course the dog hates to go outside.  It's a pee and dash situation when she needs to get out there.  But she LOVES the sun.  I hate having my window blinds or curtains closed at any time of the day..they're always open wide.  And with it comes the glorious sunbeams shining into our house.   It feels good.   And someone else thinks they do too.  I caught her this morning laying on the stairs because she found a sneak of sun.   This afternoon, she caught some beams shining through the back windows.   Note how in this first pick she only can fit her nose in the ray...she's THAT close to the fireplace.

She got smarter a few minutes later and was able to turn her body and warm her back... *LOL*

And the following three are just priceless...look at her wrinkled forehead!

Getting comfy...

Heaven!!! ....

 

Loving Vintage

Each week I try to make a stop in at my two local 2nd hand shops (not consignment, but the true pick-your-way-to find the treasures shop) to pick up some toys of the moment, puzzles, etc for the kids.    I've been spending more and more time at the housewares items, in particular the pottery and china.   Today I spotted the coolest creamer in vintage pattern red, black on a white background, from Bavaria.  It was only 3bucks, but I put it back. What would I do with that thing anyways.  More dust!  So, now it's been calling me ever since.  It's little, and doesn't match a thing I have, but for some reason, it's sticking in my head!  

They also had an old vintage ironing board.  It was really rickety - but had a solid wood top, and the wooden creaky legs. I LOVED it, but it was $20! I thought, for that thing?   If I lived in my new place (when we finally get to move back  to Vancouver) I would make a spot for it.  Here, I have no creativity for some reason.

My quilt is almost done.  I'm doing straight line quilting at about 2 cm apart down the lengths of the quilt.  It's taking forever.  But looking cool.  My tension got weird in two lengths of it, so I spent as much time ripping apart the stitching.  My favourite part?  When you pull the other side of the thread and it's that one looooonnnnnggg zip.  

If I pick up that little creamer, I'll post a pic.    

Sneak Peaks

We took the kids to Drumheller, Alberta to the Royal Tyrell Dinosaur Museum this weekend. My little paleontologists loved it there.  It's an incredible drive....flat flat flat and then all of a sudden the earth opens up and you drive down a steep hill into the badlands, or the hoodoos as they call it.  Very cool.   For some reason, my camera was on blurr mode for most of the shots.  I have no idea why.  :(

Sneak peaks...

Thoughts on the blues - oh my gosh, do I really have THAT much fabric?

Thoughts on the daisies - oh my gosh, I really need to plan this better and learn my math calculations better. 

Congratulations to the winners!

I have contacted each via email, if I don't hear back, I'll re-draw :-)

The winners are:

Earthy stash - grendelskin 

Thomas stash - Meg Larsen

Shimmer squares- Amy-Park Girl

I wrote down all of the names and picked the names out of a mug.   The thomas ones were a little wonky, as I went to re-fill my coffee and discovered that my 3 year old had dumped the Thomas name strips into the Earthy names cup.   luckily, the Thomas entries had asterisks!

congratulations to you all.  I had a really difficult time with this, and drawing names out of a hat was easiest.    

Some of the comments were really funny!   The ReneSimard comment made me spit out my tea!  I haven't heard that name since I was really young! LOL!

Maple syrup was the common thread - believe it or not, I don't have any in my pantry...don't even have a liking for it. 

And no one mentioned that the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held in Canada - in my hometown of Vancouver!     (I'm not there at the moment, but will be there before those games start!)

Anyways, what fun!  I hope to do this again!

Oh what fun this day was!!

Oh my gosh, today has been so much fun, blog hopping and disocovering SO MANY CRAFTERS out there in the world!   

I can't wait to draw names and announce the winners!  Still time left!  

I purchased more fabric today.  It's so cute.  All white. Going to use it as backing fabric.  One has large 3 inch embroidery lady bugs scattered every 10 inches or so.  The other, ivory gerbera daisies!  The gerbera daisy one has a plan already - with gerbera fabric I need to go back and get!   What do you think?  Again, my photography is terrible.  The first two show the detail of the embroidery, the last one shows the nice white.  It's 150cm wide, 100%cotton.

Let it begin for the early time zones!

So, in an effort to allow for our Aussie friends to participate, I'll post my stash giveaways now. There are three different giveaways...you can post for all of them or you preference.  

In your comment, please let me know your preference, as well as tell me something that you know about or think about Canada! That's where I am!  Those are the only rules - state your preference, and state something about Canada! :-)

**edited to add - if you don't have a blog, please leave me your email addy so I can contact you! I will be reviewing and drawing names on the morning of Feb 5!

1st giveway = assortment of earthy fabrics.   Lots of fabric here, probably a good 2 metres at least in total! All 100% cotton.  

Thomas the Tank Engine Christmas/Winter themed fabric - about 1.5metres in total! This is VIP fabric, not quilters quality, but for a kids theme, it's perfect!

Moda Shimmer Squares - these are taken from two charm packs.  I kept the pastel light whites, etc, and here are mostly the darker, medium tones.  Shimmer of gold and pearl.  about 25 squares.

Enjoy!  Good luck!  Have fun!!

-A

Remember to check out the other participants over at Ginger Monkey's blog

Great International Stash Busting Giveaway

to any of you crafters out there.... check out the Great International Stash Busting Giveaway

Stay tuned here for my little stash giveaway.  In fact, it may be a big stash giveaway!  I need some excuses to go and buy more fabric...seems my tastes in fabrics have evolved!