nostalgia...

Good bye dream fulfilled grand piano -

Good bye sweet baby boy memories...

and growing up memories....

Good bye sweet preschool memories...

...and elementary aged memories....

Good bye freak snow storm filled Junes....

I'll hang on to the best memories of family love....

and memories of finally finding something for me that I truly love....

Our Inukshuk dream has pointed us home....

Winners

you lucky ones...

Winner of the Superhero pattern is Dresdon Quilter

Winner of the Turtle pattern is Katie B

I've contacted you via email, please send me your address asap! Movers are coming tomorrow!

...

and begin...

I don't know why I am posting. Maybe to appease guilt that I haven't posted? Why do I have guilt? That's crazy. It's MY blog.

So there's tragic news here at Millions of Thoughts. I cannot find my camera charger. Therefore I cannot upload photos because my camera is dead. I know.

Movers come in 3 days.. EeeP! I will be in temporary accomodation (meaning - scramble to pack a months worth of stuff in my car ) for a month before we move into our new home in September.

But to increase my stress levels, I figured I'd do a giveaway. You see, awhile back, I purchased a superhero cross stitch pattern from Wee Wonderfuls. There was a glitch in the mail system and I never received it. The lovely owner sent a new one to me. Well, both patterns came then at nearly the same time ( I think one was a postage error). She included an additional hand stitch pattern as an apology, which was unecessary, but nice to do. Isn't this turtlestuffie cute? I asked her if she would mind if I give the extra away and she was fine with it.

So, tell me which pattern you would like to win?

The superhero cross stitch pattern

The turtle hand stitch stuffie

I'll draw two names on Tuesday night and mail them out on Wednesday...

and of course, no you don't need to blog about this or add me as a friend or put a bumper sticker on the car about this to get more entries.... but you do need to be reachable. I won't play tag with you for weeks. So, make sure your blogger profile name allows email replies, or add an email contact to your comment.

enjoy your day....

on holidays...

So, I went on a 1.5 day trip to Vancouver to look for houses, 2 days before my trip to Myrtle Beach. I found a home to put an offer on, and it was accepted (after a multiple offer scenario)My husband stayed home to deal with work and watch the kids.

We officially 'sold' our Alberta house, and are almost done with with the purchase of our new BC home. We had an inspection done and a few safety issues were of concern - electrical being the main one. So we're just negotiating bits, and hopefully all will be done by the 10th.

I cannot believe that I prepared for, listed, showed, sold and purchased a home in 6 days...only to leave on holidays the next. LOL.

So here I am in Pawley's Island, South Carolina (which is 1/2 hour south of Myrtle Beach) and enjoying the heat, the humidity and the beach and pool. It feels good. By tomorrow night it will feel perfect, when the home stuff is all finalized. We're doing alot of things over the phone and by email, so its still preoccupying us.

Nothing beats the ocean though. Nothing.

Okay. well...maybe shopping.

I am scouting out fabric shops to peruse for sure this year. I deserve it. No pictures, sorry, but picture the beach, and me enjoying it. ;-)

update...

took the kids to see StarWars in Concert a few nights ago. It was just super. The kids love orchestral music and John Williams is their favourite to listen to (Star Wars and Jurassic Park movie themes)

The live music was wonderful, and I don't know what was better - watching Cameron conduct, dance and sing to the music or just the whole experience itself. Ethan is the study boy - examines and studies everything in the show. Cameron is opposite - just feels it, and experiences it. They had displays in the halls of the stadium - my favourite was the original score from John Williams for the Star Wars theme. It was huge, complex, confusing and made me realize how simple my mind really is. LOL

No sewing news from me. After a few days of getting the house ready to sell, it went 'live' for sale on Friday. Saturday we got two showings, Sunday - a repeat showing. Yesterday an offer, an accepted offer! Now to remove the financing and inspection subjects and we have sold our house!

It's a tight and stressful timeline - that's the only way I seem to live (lol) so we leave on vacation in a few days, and then when we get back we have some serious house hunting trips to do. We'll be following the MLS (Canada's real estate website) to keep track of homes that pop up on the market while we're gone, and then as soon as we get back, we'll make a trip out to line up some house viewings.

June motors along...

Confetti blocks for one of my bees. I've really admired the look of these quilts on flickr.. .they look so neat. We were to make a signature block with our favourite fabrics for the 'confetti' and I chose some solids. As I look at some of the new fabric lines coming out, I realize how much I like very simple fabrics and simple lines - only 2, maybe 3 colours in a print - and very simple lines in a print. the more white/ black to balance it, the better. How very IKEA of me. LOL. When I look at say, an Amy Butler print, or Anna Maria Horner - I love the look of it, yet I would never really purchase it for my quilting. I absolutely adore Kafe Fassett prints and saturated colours, yet I only admire them in the stores and never pick any up. deep thoughts on a Tuesday morning.

My sewing area is getting downsized/transsformed during our selling/showing of our home. I'm so totally offended. *rolleyes* My two drawer caddies of fabric have been hidden in the storage room. Such a sad time. :( I refuse to pack the machine away though until the very last moment...I still have some flying geese blocks to make for my other bee group.

My home has been transformed into one that is very lackluster - very bare. But if it sells better this way, then I guess that's the way it will be. I'm tired from this work - need to escape to do something creative, but will feel guilty about it, because there's still so much to do!

Feeling the 'obligation' of quilting and blogging right now. When you need to downsize everything and pack away anticipating a move you wonder - will I get my mojo back? Will people still wait for me?? Isn't that silly? Crazy? I need a vacation - I'm waiting for my recently purchased stitching project to come in so I can do something fun in my spare time....it's been awhile, I hope it comes soon! Isn't this cute?

yikes!

Life has definately steered me away from sewing! I just completed a few bee blocks, but that's about it.

We've been anticipating for some time, and I can now announce it!

I'm moving back to my home province! We're heading back to Vancouver! Yippeeeee!!!

We've wanted this for quite some time, and have been patient to wait for the right opportunity, a paid move, etc and we just got the confirmation.

It's going to be a crazy few months, and I hope I can contribute at least something quilty to the blogging world. I'm working on my sketch of a wall quilt which is all solids, and totally difficult to plan the piecing, but I'm excited about it. Just not excited about the timelines in the next 2 months -

• Our vacation to South Carolina for 3 weeks in July will NOT BE INTERRUPTED BY THIS MADNESS!!!
• Sell our house and buy a new house hopefullly before school starts in September
• Move before September.

Did I mention that house hunting for a new home is difficult as we are a province away? a 13 hour drive??? I think one of us will fly out and check some homes out on our own and then when we narrow it down, we'll all go. dh and I have very similar tastes and wants.

yikes!

Is it wrong that I'm already planning my road trips down to Seattle, Oregon Coast, and California???? I'm so excited for the prospects of things to do!!!!

And no more cold harsh winters!

But lots of soggy sappy rain. But then I can wear really cute fancy rain boots and find someone to make me one of those gorgeous raincoats that I see in the quilting world!

things...

I finished a few blocks for my bees - this one will be a zig zag quilt. The blocks were easy. I loved the colours. I'm not one that has much, if any, purple in my stash, but truly loved the crisp eggplant, mauve and blue colours against the white. There's also an avocado green which is such a beautiful complement. I think I may write these colours down for a future combination in a quilt.

The next blocks are for my scrap busting bee. The child fabric was to be used as a focal point somewhere on the block. I loved this fabric, so cute! There was a ton of selection of prints to choose from, but I cannot move away from solids, I just think they frame things so nicely.

Still awaiting news, but it 'should' happen this week. It was supposed to happen last week but things were interrupting the process. It's good news, a little scary, but good!

Suki and I were reunited and we've been sewing smoothly...so far so good!

This week, I'm going to be working on that set of linen napkins and placemats and see what I can come up with. Perhaps I'll show you my progress on Wednesday!

Workshop in Process...

So I don't have anything processing right now, except on paper. But since I really need to start sharing during Workshop in Progress, I thought I'd share some of my sketchbook plans that I've recently been tinkering with.

I'm thinking of changing up some of the colours of this one, and it would make a neat bed quilt for one of my boys....this actually was going to be what I used with the Avignon prints, but the fabric just didn't look right in this block setting in the end.

I want to use bold colours in this woven ribbon effect quilt...I'm still trying to figure out measurements though, and colours (ideas?) I just want to really make the weaving look like weaving.
Taking my Bedford quilt to a subtle change. I just love the colours in that quilt so much, I have to make something else in the colours - bigger too.
This was my original plan for a solids quilt, and when I put it together, it just wasn't happening.

I think this is one of the hardest things about working out your own patterns from scratch - you really don't know if it will look good at the end.
I want to get a few smaller wall hanging quilts for seasonal stuff - not cutesy though. I definately want a Canada Day wall hanging for June/July and this is what I'm working on right now. As you can see, I'm having a hard time getting away from those squares and rectangles.

So there you have it... things going on in my head.

I totally emptied out every nook and cranny of sewing space this weekend and folded, sorted and purged a bit. Holy moly do I have a lot of fabric! (Well, for me at least - ever see the show "Hoarders"? well, let's just say, I'm the complete polar opposite of one of them...I had to talk myself out of purging fabric) So my solids are all in one drawer, my prints all in one drawer, and my scraps - one drawer for solid scraps, one drawer for print scraps.

My bigger guy is home sick with a fever today. I'm hoping to get my bee blocks sewn up. This week is a big week. Lots of sleepless and restless nights for the past few weeks. Perhaps that's the reason for my lack of sewing? Big news and we're hoping to hear today or tomorrow. Fingers crossed!!! (and it has nothing to do with a book deal or magazine appearance or quilting related anything! LOL)

Next post - the secret world of Moda Bake Shop. I know you all want to know. hee hee!

39 years old today!

Yikes! I have one more year until I need to begin my mid life crisis!!! LOL

It's my birthday today! Nothing special happening, but I make it a point of saying happy birthday to me to make my kids think I never have an issue with getting older.... ( I don't)

I don't tell people outright, as I really dislike the attention. Never been one to throw a party about it. ;-)

Sewing mojo is just NOT happening this week or last ....it's the pits! I can feel it start to come back slightly though, so I hope this long weekend will afford me a few minutes of creative time to get back into it.

39th birthday year goal - to be able to run a 5km without stopping. I've never been an athlete, but I really want to be able to say that 'I can run'.

(quilting goals - duh...many!)

Hey...anyone read the new(er) magazine The Quilt Life? There was a great article in this months June issue about the quilting journey and process. Just kinda hit home is all.

Moda Bake Shop project -

My newest project for the Moda Bake Shop is up - it's called Avignon Picnic.

Hope you like it!

I've got a chest cold (thanks little ones for sharing) that's kicking me right now... there's nothing girlie and graceful about a chest cough let me tell you. LOL!

Small Sewing Projects...

I won this gorgeous fabric from Australia - Umbrella Prints on the Modern Quilt Flickr Group - I guess I posted and was randomly chosen some weeks ago. Anyways...isn't this beautiful fabric? It's hand screen printed organic hemp. It would/will make beautiful projects such as handbags, totes, wristlets...whatever. It has a linen like quality... beautiful, and the colours are so fresh. Thank you so much!

I made a couple of itouch covers for my sister with the blue fabric. I was reminded again at how I dislike sewing little things like that. I don't know why. I think I'll use the remaining for some zipper pouches or similar items. They may make some cameos in a quilt or two. If you butter me up enough, I'd be willing to share. (they are just smaller 44x50cm squares)

Confession - is it wrong to LOVE LOVE LOVE the swatch postcard they sent me the most?

My Moda BakeShop project will be posted tomorrow!

Thrifty finds...

I couldn't pass these up today..

Mint condition linen placemats (thin though - not doubled fabric) and matching napkins, 6 of each. Seriously, I don't think these have ever been used or unfolded. I love the aqua border and thought these would look really cool somehow as a quilt. I'm going to do some figuring out, but I think I may need some Workshop In Progress advice soon!

6 yards of 60" white cotton with charcoal polka dots for FIFTY CENTS! It was supposed to be 12.00, but it was green tag day and all green tags were fifty cents. yay!
It snowed here yesterday, blizzard like, like a good 10cm. Isn't it May? I don't think we got it as a bad as south of us, but still, snow in May??

Irony...

After writing this, this morning, about giveaways....I find myself in a totally ironic position... Check this out. I feel very sheepish, actually! I didn't tweet, or grab a button, or post about it or facebook about it. LOL!

I am a facebook 'fan' of CT Publishing - and have become a member of their Creative Troupe (still figuring out what that all means)

I'm quite excited to receive valuable learning materials!

A bit of this, a bit of that

While photographing my latest quilt, this is what happened....

Seriously, why do all cats seem to do this? He was in the back yard and FOUND me. See how smug he looks?

My machine is at the shop. It's getting one more chance. ;-) My dealer told me not to trade it in. But I do have a new machine in mind if it doesn't cooperate after.

Do you ever get into a blogging/internet funk? I get that way a few times a year. I just feel 'done' with it. I get tired of giveaways and completed projects coming out of every corner (but mine) and join me on twitters and become a fan on facebook blog about this on your blog and my sponsors this and that....

I don't dislike individual blogs/bloggers because of this...I dislike the trend to where it's all going, commercialized I guess. I'm happy about people becoming successful and becoming business women and all the aspirations that they are striving for. It just gets tiresome to me sometimes. I just want to see your life and your projects! And one day, if I ever meet a pot of gold at the end of my rainbow, perhaps I will ask you to twitter me too. Except you most likely will never find me on twitter. ;-)

I wonder if the seasonal change has to do with it...the garden is just starting to show some growth now, a few daffodils and tulips up, and weeds too (why are they always out first?) I feel the need to get out there! Or maybe because my machine has been so mean to me that it's transferring over?

So I've been balancing and enjoying things outside of quilting too. Awhile back, I was even dreaming/nightmaring about quilting. That's bad.

We've been on a few road trips....

We had a fire in our backyard this weekend....

Taught Ethan all about twigs catching fire and then running to our pond to extinguish it and the 'pssss' sound it makes when it goes out in the water.

I'm amazed at the bond that Ethan and Mandy are developing - this is a terrible night shot, but if you could see how proudly Mandy was sitting for Ethan while being brushed, it brought tears to our eyes.

Ethan is in an all boy class this year (because there are only 4 girls total in all 3 grade two classes!) and his boy class was invited to sing at the music festival this year. They got dressed in white shirts and ties...and we treated him to a MonsterMudPie afterwards. Usually it's just a cone at McD's, so this was pretty awesome to him!

And Cameron, well, let's just say he's in the ham it up picture phase. I can't get one serious one!

And lastly....are there any blog friends that you have that just sometimes put a smile on your face or warm your heart or cheer you up for no real reason? I have to say thanks.... sometimes I get an email/comment or a reply back and maybe it isn't something you think makes a difference in someone's day, but don't ever underestimate the power of the written word, they do. :-)

Machines

What kind do you use for machine quilting? Do you like it?

over and out.

Beauty in many shapes and forms...

I got two gifts yesterday....

from my mailbox.... (my recent solids purchase)

from the playground (lost a baby tooth, had 3 or 4 stitches to his lip cuts)

Making old, new.

My local thrift shop had these King Sheet sets on sale for 1/2 off. They stuffed them in this handsome Abercrombie bag. I think I turned fuschia pink walking out with this bag, but hey...afterwards I kinda stared for awhile and thought... hm, not bad!

(what's better, the fabric or the bag?)

I was eyeing these sheets awhile back. They are pristine - like I really don't think they were ever used. I bought them not because they were on sale, but because they are colours that I dread (aside from hunter green). Peach, dusty rose and pale pink. Pale pink is pretty easy, but peach? I could do the safe brown and peach, or go 80's with the aqua and peach combo. I'll need to hash this out. If anyone wants the challenge, I've got two king pillow cases of the peach, and two king flat sheets in it. Also have two king p/c's of the roses as well.

Awhile back Evelyn at UseTheLoot was clearing out some of her obsessioncollection of vintage bed linens. She was stuffing envelopes full of fq's and selling them off for a great price. I took full advantage. Thanks Evelyn! Aren't they pretty? I am no longer shopping for vintage thrifted sheets anymore. I'm done. ;-)

I have been slowly working on a quilt project, but life and spring (see comments ahead) is kind of taking priority. I finally figured out (I think) my machine - it needs a different size needle for quilting than it does for piecing. Halleluljah!

Spring is trying to peek through.... I've been making a very big effort to put exercise into my daily regime and have been walking 3.5km every other night. The dog has no clue what the heck has happened! LOL. My feet (not my legs) feel like they weigh 20 pounds when I'm out there though, I'm hoping that stage passes. I am so totally out of shape muscular wise - endurance wise I can handle it no problem...but I think this past year or two of figuring out my health has put me two steps back in the fitness dept. I need to be patient. This diabetes thing is a scary and tolling thing emotionally. Physically, it has shown me who's boss too, and I need to push back and show IT who's boss. That's where the exercise comes in - here's hoping I come out on top of it all....

Hope you all have a great week!!

Easter Weekend

My husband is on the mend...

I have cabin fever... (husband worked from home all week monopolizing the office and my computer addiction from 7 am to 6 pm ever. single. day.)

My sewing machine is causing me grief. (heard that one before, I know. My sights are beginning to set on a new one)

It's time to get away.

We're heading to Canmore, in the Rocky Mountains, for 2 days.

Hotel, check.

Pool, check.

Pool with waterslide, check.

Breakfast included, check.

Geocaching sites uploaded to gps, check.

Quilt shop mapped out, double check.

Bedford Quilt...

There's something about washing and drying a quilt that makes it even more amazing than before. After I had finished machine quilting this, I was not liking it at all. You see, I used larger needles as was recommended by a Juki expert on yahoo groups. I experienced alot of shredding and thread breakage, even with my new favourite thread, 50wt Aurifil And it made holes in the back of my quilt. Topped with the gray thread, it just looked kind of icky.

And then I washed it:

Even my uneven circles, my wobbly lines were rescued. My doodling curvey filler in between the circles even start to look cool.

This bottom brown block is my favourite colour block of the quilt:
From the distance, I LOVE love love the effect of the circles. Next time, I would do all of the circles dense spirals...
I'll even let you look close at my crazy filler doodles.... because on the white backing, the entire quilt looks oh so cool. If you are a long armer and reading this, or have your machine on a frame - do not judge my work. I just have fun with it. plain and simple.

I placed a small border on it. I was fiddling forever on what to do with borders. I didn't have enough fabric for my first idea.

Measures approximately 46 x 56 after washing...please excuse the unevenness of the quilt in this last photo - I realized I hadn't stretched it and shaped it after taking it out of the dryer. In this photo, you cannot see the hint of the contrasting dark binding colour I used...but it's there.

It's called Bedford because, well, the colours remind me of Martha Stewart land, and one day, I will have a vegetable garden just like hers so I can stuff myself silly with okra.

Pattern is a basic rectangle in rectangle - no pattern used, so if you're interested in measurements, just contact me. The circles are 12" diameter - I cut out a piece of cardboard and marked the circles randomly on the quilt - then I just machine spiralled inwards from the outside edge of the circle.

Things I learned in this process and want to pass on to you (what I can think of at the moment):

• Dense quilting makes it difficult to handsew binding on - get a thimble handy.
• I find the Konas fray quite a bit. With the white sashing - trim your frayed edges, as when you baste/sandwich, those little buggers show through and then you have to take it apart because it bugs you.
• when cutting and piecing your whites, make sure you really look carefully that you have all of the same lot of white. White is not all the same. I have two kinds of white on my sashing...if you look carefully in person, one is a creamy white. shhh, don't tell.
• when machine quilting, look ahead of where you're travelling to with your machine, not directly where you are. Higher speeds often help the motion better (at least for me)
• doodle with continuous line drawings on paper to practice your fillers. I used to do this all over my algebra books in highschool, except I didn't realize it would come in handy 20 years later!
• when you are doodle filling, try and do this all in one sitting. I did it in two sittings, and found the 2nd time, it took a bit to relearn the doodle pattern groove I was in at the first sitting.
• holes made from your needle will close up after washing.

Kona Colours used:

Blue

Candy Green

Celery

Bahama Blue

Herb

Honeydew

Mint

moss

O.D. Green (what does O.D. mean anyways?)

Old Green

Parsley

Seafoam

Sweet Pea

Zucchini

White

**at this rate, it's doubtful that I'll meet my "all" konas used goal by the end of the year...but I'll sure have a fun time trying!

Backing - a white cotton that I get from the drapery department of my fabric store. It's affordable and a nice weight, and it's super duper wide.

Thread - light grey Aurifil 50wt 100%cotton

Basting/Sandwiching - I spray basted and once again, loved it.