Sunday 30 September 2012

Just Take a Deep Breath and...

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Jump right in! That is exactly what I needed to do to start free motion quilting on my machine. I have been watching tons of Craftsy classes and finally felt a little prepared to start doing this on my home machine. Now  I have used a long arm machine before and love it!! Eventually I will purchase one once we have a home of our own and the space to do so. (read: not in the near future!) So I needed to learn to do it myself at home on my lovely Janome- Winter.

I spray basted, for the first time, and I think I love it. It was a little hard to do on my little balcony outside but it worked and so far no tucks or pinches of fabric that I have found! Hurray! I guess I should tell you what quilt I am quilting! Haha! It is called Baby Love and its a pattern from my local quilt shop that was in a kit. It will be for my wee niece for her first Christmas as she seems to have fallen in love with the one I did for her brother and won't go to sleep without it (and she is only almost 6 months old! )
There is always a cat to be helping out! 
You can see the pattern I traced out
I am not done the quilting yet I have completed 10 out of 20 blocks to quilt plus the small details to do but it is a start!!
And here it is quilted. The lines are not the straightest of the best but its a start!
I am debating about doing the same quilting in the blocks between but I am not sure if it will be too dense for a baby quilt. 


Rubies, Diamonds and Garnets Too
Progress is happening on Rubies, Diamonds! I have added the borders to the quilt and plan on putting hexie flowers on 5 of the 9 blank squares.  (The ones on there now are not sewn on yet)



Please ignore the mess. I was shoving things out of the way to try and take pictures and its a very small apartment!
Dresdens are going in the other 4 blank spots! They were so fun and quick to make, I could not believe it! I definitely need to make a dresden plate quilt now!!

Aurifil BOM

Have you ever been at the point where you put off doing something for a super long time because it seems like it will take a long time? But when you actually do just sit down and make yourself do it, the projects goes by super quick and you enjoy every minute? Well that was me with the july-september Aurifil BOM stitcheries. I just could not get into it and had to make myself just do it. I am super happy I did because I now love them and its one  three more things off my to do list!

July
August- Still need to add some words


September






And now it is bedtime according to my little kitty! So happy stitching everyone!!

Kallie












Wednesday 26 September 2012

I love my husband!

Pin It Now! I am so blessed to have the husband I do. I was pining over Kitchen Aid mixers online and was super excited to discover sears had them for 175$ off. Brining it to a slightly less insane price of 325$. I was excited but in no way hopeful of getting one. Then my wonderful husband asked if I would like one. We had some wiggle room in the budget and he knows I pine over them a couple times a year but have never seriously asked as it just was not do-able. Well need-less to say now but I HAVE ONE!!!! OMG so incredibly excited and happy!!! I had really wanted a cherry red one as I am planning on doing my kitchen (when we have our own and not a rental) in red, turquoise and white. However the only one they had in red was the display and Aaron (my husband) said he was not comfortable paying that much for one that people have played with all the buttons on. I was kind of stuck at that point. I loved some of the other colours they had but wanted it to be one that would work with the colour scheme I want. Of course there was no turquoise either but there was an ice blue one. I got it (even though I loved the tangerine!) and its quickly growing on me. I think it will be the wall colour I end up using in my (hypothetical) kitchen!! So now I will insert gratuitous pictures of my mixer below! I even used it this morning to make some amazing cinnamon buns. Lets just say YUMMY!!!


Baking!

Ready for icing!! 

Cream cheese icing!!

Fruits of labour! So yummy!! My hubby said to put a do not touch sign on the rest of them so there is some when he gets home from work!!
 Rubies, Diamonds, Garnets
So I sent this picture to my mom yesterday as a bit of a teaser. You can kind of see some of rubies, diamonds but not much. Of course I had my little helpers Nox and Kalesh to help me cover some of it too! Kalesh is on the left and Nox the right if anyone wants to know haha! (I swear it is not too hard to tell them apart once you know them!) I have one more set of borders to put on since my weekend was busier then planned. I ended up going to visit my niece and nephew and hang out with my girlfriend instead, which was lovely and full of baby cuddles!


Can you get an idea of what I might be planning for those big white squares on Rubies, Diamonds? More pictures to come soon!


Shopping
I also picked some fun stuff up last week. I decided it was time to bite the bullet and pick up some machingers since I am planning on trying to quilt Rubies, Diamonds myself. Of course it is impossible to go to a quilt store and not have fabric jump into your arms. Has anyone been able to do that?? It's terrible isn't it? But these lovely little fat quarters need a home and I am more then willing to add them to mine!
It was hard to find an XS but well worth it! 

SO pretty!!!! I almost was going to buy the entire bolt of the black and pink one on the left. Then I found the fat quarter and decided it was fate telling me to put the bolt back!! haha :)

I did not realize this was almost like a panel until just now when I photographed it. Now I have ideas flying through my mind as I have been looking for a good starting point to use some more of my lovely japanese inspired fabrics.

And this one is just crazy fun! I may have to add it to my japanese flower garden quilt and swap another fabric out. It just seems perfect to help the other flowers work together!!

Well that is it for me today!! I am hoping to update again sometime this week, if not before the end of the weekend. I hope you all are having a lovely day and are getting some stitching done!!!!! Thanks for letting me show off my lovely KA mixer. It is making me so super happy!! 


Cheers!
Kallie

Saturday 22 September 2012

Candy!

Pin It Now! Have you seen the new Moda Candy?? It is so adorable and just perfect for scrappy sewing! I had been following the Moda candy blog hop as it was introduced and was luck enough to win at Miss Rosie's Quilt CO her website is here http://lavieenrosie.typepad.com/lavieenrosie/
And her shop is here: http://missrosiesquiltco.bigcartel.com/products

You will find all her Schnibbles and Little Bites quilt patterns in the shop along with some super cute notions! So be sure to check it out!!

I picked up the package at my post office yesterday and was opening it on the way out of the shop! Hehehe could not wait at all!!! 
Oops you can tell I was too excited and ripped it open right away! 

So Excited to make this!!! Isn't the trim so adorable?

Aren't these fun?! Can't wait to start attaching them to various projects

Mmmmm candy! Tapestry and Double Chocolate!
Sorry for the sideways pics now! Everlastings and Chateau Rouge!

Love these 2.5" Squares! There are 42 in each pack. I think I might just do a post stamp quilt and just sew them all together scrappy like!

Love the polka dot scissors also!! 


I was so spoilt!! I can't wait to make something with all this loveliness!


I also went to the Chinook Honey Company in Okotokes, Alberta. Just outside of Calgary. Now if you are ever out this way and are a fan of honey you MUST stop there. It is such a sweet little shop with so many neat things. You can even take a tour of their honey farm and learn about it! I have not been able to convince the hubby yet to do so but I hope to soon! They also make mean wine and it is to die for. So make sure you visit it! Here is their website for more info
http://www.chinookhoney.com/

Lemon and Honey!? I am sold. I should have picked up the caramel honey as well. Kind of kicking myself for not doing so now!

Hand salve! Because Microsan (antibacterial foam hand sanitizer)  at work is super hard on the hands!
I also picked up a huge 3kg bucket of honey. It was so much cheaper and has all the natural properties since it is unprocessed then what I can get in the store. Plus it is super yummy!

Not much sewing the last couple days but hopefully I will have an update for you on Sunday or Monday!

Hope you have a wonderful day and get some stitching done! I am off to work in a few so think quiet hospital thoughts for me! Haha!

Kallie

Monday 17 September 2012

Lucky!

Pin It Now! Word Verification
Before we get started I thought I should mention I have turned off word verification. I had no idea that it had been on and I do apologize because those things are a pain in the patootie! Those of you who refuse to comment because of them please feel free to comment now :) I love hearing from people!

Luckiness!
Been super busy at work lately but I have gotten a couple squishies in the mail in the last week or so that I will share with you until I can update with some more sewing :)

The Aurifil BOM stitcheries that I had been doing has a flicker page where we can post our finished projects and each month they pick one stitchery and that stitcher wins an aurifil prize pack! How lovely right!? Well I found out that I had won one of those lovely prize packs a short while ago for my March block pictured below:

Here is the lovely thread pack that I won. I am super excited to try it out as I have never used this thread before as I have not seen it in stores near me :)




I also won a giveaway hosted by Quilt Jane and Possum Blossom! I had mentioned this one earlier and showed pictures of what can be done with these lovely templates! I am so completely impressed this these templates and paper pieces. It is a very sturdy and visible acrylic and you can very easily see the size and name of the template. I would absolutely recommend you pick some of these up!!
Here is the link to Quilt Jane's shop where she has tons of lovely templates!
Quilt Jane



I also received these lovely die cut paper pieces from Possum Blossom Patchwork. These are very nice feeling. Sturdy but should be thin enough for those who baste through the paper. Plus they have sizes to match all the above templates and more!! How awesome is that!!! I can't wait to use them and am so thankful to have won them!!
Here is the website for Possum Blossom
Possum Blossom Patchwork

She also has the ability to have layer cakes diecut into the sizes you need so you don`t need to do any cutting, once you get it you can just start piecing!! So awesome!






Shopping
I also did a bit of shopping and picked up the 4 fat quarters below. The top red one is going to be for some hexagons in the Rubies, Diamonds quilt. Don't you just love the blue with gold butterflies and the leaf stencil?! Perfect for fall :)


Japanese Flower Garden
Still slowly working on my Japanese flower garden. Have one more full flower complete and 2 flower centers comple as well!






Wednesday 12 September 2012

Rubies, Diamonds and Garnets Progress!

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Rubies, Diamonds and Garnets!

Now I realize I just posted yesterday and all there was was 15 blocks. Well I have been super productive last night and today and just had to show you the progress! 

Sorry for the awful colouring. Took this picture last night. This is all just laid out, and of course my cat Nox had to jump in the picture to say hello to you all!!

Ahhh much better colouring!! I have the diagonal rows sewn but not sewn to each other if that makes sense! 

Now I do plan on doing something in those lovely little blank squares. I am debating between redwork embroidery, hexagon flowers or a mixture of both! Once I get these all together I will trial a couple ideas. I am falling more and more in love with this quilt. It is going to be hard to give it up in December to my parents!!



Jam, jam, and oh look! More Jam!!

So yesterday after a lovely homemade stew and fresh bread for dinner my brother and I had an amazing dessert using some of the jams I have been making this month.

We took these two lovelies:
Don't they look so pretty!!
And we added in some chocolate ice cream for this!
Now let me tell you, this was heaven in a bowl. Such a summery treat that mixed tart and sweet magnificently!
 I plan on posting the recipes I have been using sometime next week. I usually half the recipe so that I am doing small batches at a time. I generally get 3-4 half-pint jars.

Below is the jam I was making this afternoon. It's a peach strawberry concoction. I am excited to taste it tomorrow after it has fully set. Although I might cut the peaches smaller next time! Oh well, live and learn right!!




I hope you all are having a wonderful day and getting some stitching done!!

Kallie