makes me laugh...

My five year old advised me out of the blue today that for my birthday he was getting me a new pair of blue shoes.

and a squirrel.

my birthday is not until mid May...

Confession...

shhhh...this totally undignifies my quilting status.

This is the first time EVER I have changed a blade. and I only have one cutter.

It was fast and painless - like, less than 10 seconds to do it.

HOLY COW the new one rocks!!!

So, I've confessed. what quilting sin are you guilty of?

united colours....

I'm creating a lego series quilt, but as I'm constructing it, it has a slightly mondrian feel meets benetton meets primary blocks.

Not quite finished putting the puzzle together, but I see some fun quilting ahead of me.

Crayons on fabric

Did you know about this? Am I the only one who didn't?

please indulge me and tell me that this is a great discovery for you too..

What a fun, cool and awesome way to make a quilt or even just embellish a block!

You take your normal everyday wax crayons. Tape some cotton fabric to the table, keeping the fabric taught. Colour! Draw! Print! Go Crazy!

Then, to set the crayon, you slip the fabric that you coloured in between two pieces of plain paper. Iron on the cotton setting. Do this a few times. You'll notice the wax will 'soak' into the paper somewhat.

Done!

I did this little example in less than 5 minutes just to show how bright it shows up. I didn't press ultra heavily either. Instead of black crayon, use a micro fine sharpie to draw the image first, and then colour it in. I'm sure it will look much sharper.

Mr. Paleo had a try too - he really liked it, and wanted to make a whole bunch of squares to make a quilt. Again - at the end, touch up with a fine sharpie and it would look awesome.

I bet this would technique would be cool as a watercolour wash style....

Liebster Blog...

I'm feeling kind of humbled because I received this award the other day from Little Island Quilting

It is essentially 'awarded' to those crafty blogs with 300 followers or less who are quietly going about doing their own thing and possibly not getting the exposure that some of the larger blogs are.

I thank her for the award, but in a way, I'm mad because now I have another 15 blogs that I added to my reader list - you know how you hop from one blog, click on one of the links, hop to that link...see another link...hop there...well, that's what has happened. ;-) It's all good.

While I love some of the 'big names' out there, you've seen them all too. I like the mix of home, pets, cooking, people, crafts, troubles, frustrations....I like to get to know the blogger behind the quilting too.

The hard part now, is that I get to pay it forward and award it to 3-5 blogs that I really like (with less than 300 followers) This one is really hard, because I have a lot, and narrowing it down to 3-5 is crazy. And because I am who I am...I HATE hurting people's feelings...I have 8 blogs I want to list, and the restrictions are 3-5. that's not fair?

In no particular order:

GitDownKitty - Lisa cracks me up. That's all I can really say about her. It's either her or me that's crazy, but I have been in tears of laughter through written emails with her. She's really stepping up her crafting work and making USEFUL projects. And she drives the coolest car ever.

Grendelskin - Sally's quilting has evolved into absolutely stunning work. She's very humble, and I love to read her blog, she always has interesting tidbits to write about aside from quilting. She's one of the oldest blogs I've followed, and I always remember her because she knew about Rene Simard (iconic cheesy French Canadian 70's star) and I still giggle that she would even talk about that.

LiveAColourfulLife - okay, she's JUST at 300 followers. She's the sweetest woman, but has a nasty selvedge habit. She makes the cutest pin cushions, all theme related. I love reading her blog, and she always takes the time to comment on mine.

I've got a million more on the list, and I've really really struggled with this list. I hate to leave people out. Hate it. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings or make them think I like them any less compared with someone else. I hate following rules. I should just print out my blog reader list and you can have at it.

I like this award because it's showing off some interesting pepole out there, kind of like the little village shop, as opposed to the big box store.

Sure, the popular ones have posts everyday, but I always like reading my regular everyday peeps the best. And for some reason, my everyday peeps feel like friends. You know who you are. ;-)

Word of advice..

1. Buy apple juice, gingerale, pepto, gravol, when you see the flu rampaging in your house. You,yourself, are not invincible from it. Do not think otherwise.

The family flu struck our house this week. It was glorious and colourful.

It started with Ethan, and hit very suddenly. My husband was heading for a 4 day work function at a ski resort the next day. He made it an hour out of the city and headed home...he got hit with it. And then came Cameron and myself. I was in my glory thinking smugly how we had evaded the thing. I was even at the pharmacy and grocery store.... no, we don't need any extra juice, pepto, gravo.... I can just pick that up another time. the boys seem to be on the mend.

And then it found me in the wee hours of the morning. Suddenly and swiftly. oh how I needed that apple juice now....

nothing like your 5 year old screaming at you because you don't respond fast enough in making his morning strawberry milk. Apparantly, pouring the milk only, and running to bed to quit the nausea and dizziness is not allowed. Cam then got hit that same morning with the flu.

We were quite a family.

(It's slowly passing, taking a bit to regain strength. Just when you think you're better, it reminds you with a bit of nausea or fatigue that it's not quite over. but i did lose 4 pounds. is that wrong to celebrate?)

I've been inspired by this one image I found of a lego sticker pack. I thought it would make a great start to a lego quilt series. I've got a few sketeches that need to be worked out.

Also on my wall, I plunked (really...plunked is a word) up my bee blocks that I have received back so far from my group. I asked for rectangle in rectangle blocks using my Katie Jump Rope stash.

It should make for a pretty cool quilt when it's all ready to go. I wanted it to be a wall hanging for my sewing space. We'll see what happens.

Making mojo...

How do you make sewing mojo? Can someone give me the recipe please?

Actually, I totally know the parts that are affecting me:

1. New home with 'jobs' that should be tackled...e.g. painting, ripping out other bathroom, carpeting, flooring....

2. WIP's that should get finished and are still hanging around weighing heavily on me.

3. Sewing Bees - one is over. Another one, there's still a bit to go.

Sewing Bees - I know some of you are in many bees. I joined two for fun in 2010. While I really did like learning some new blocks, this has greatly affected my impromptu sewing mojo. When I get an idea and have it drawn out and want to play with it....the sewing bee block package stares at me. Make me. You have a deadline. you need to get it done. And then, poof, the mojo is gone. I won't be joining any bees for 2011. I will finish my committment for the one I currently am in, but that's it.

WIP's - how do you cope with these? I have a bunch. do I just toss them aside and work on l'idee du jour? (idea of the day)

On your marks, get set...

I have no profound thoughts or reflections to make today... no look backs at projects I've done, accomplishments I've achieved. I have loved looking at everyone else's...wow, it's amazing what is out there. While the first 1/2 of 2010 was awesome and so wonderful for my quilting, the second 1/2 of the year tanked. Understandably...

I still plan on working with solids as much as I can, and make some of my drawings become real life, but also allow myself to use patterns; create for the love of colour and design, not for the need of more blog readers, popularity, or comments. (but please comment, it's such a high to see that email from you!)

I know 2011 will be outstanding. I feel hopeful, inspired, and ready to make this a far better year, consistently... I feel hopeful to experience this:

Zest, Passion, JOY.

I have started another blog based on my goal to be a runner. It is not quilt based, nor life/family stories, but strictly health, running, diabetes, and personal process related. I hope not to fail. My goal is to be able to run 5km by the time I'm 40, on May 20. At the moment, I'm not sure I can run even 5 meters without panting. It will have photos, ugly and beautiful, to document the pain and the victory. Now only if I can peel my behind off this chair and start the process!!!