Update

Well, looky here. It has been an age since I posted. This, I'm sure, is not the last time I will disappear from here for a while. It's just the way I roll. I get really into something and then it's pretty much dead to me. For example, grilled cheese sandwiches were dead to me from age 7 until about 12 and then made a brief shining reappearance before being gone now for longer than my kids have been around. I just don't want one. I know I have enjoyed them and will enjoy them again, but there it is.

Short version, I have a pitiful span of attention.

So what has been going on, you ask? Well have a look...


There has been a lot of quilting. It isn't something I thought I would like but as it turns out, it's pretty addictive. I really enjoy that they always keep you warm and you don't have to worry about making them flattering. Quilts fit everybody.

And then there was some felted art for a show in December. Seriously. I know I've been gone a long time but I really have let this time away get a bit out of hand.

And some non-felted art for the same show based on the very amusing novel Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters.
And all the while teaching myself how to do my own eyebrows and make myself look like the undead. A girl only has so much time to perfect these critical things.

I know I could have spread these projects out to get the maximum air-play from each of them but time marches on. There will be more in the future but I am leaving you for now with this charming picture of myself at Halloween.

When I say "Craft or Die" I mean it.

A Summer of Quilting

If there is one thing I know it is how to rock a summer. Obviously, there is nothing cooler than teaching yourself how to quilt off Youtube. I did have some motivation, Eden got chicken pox and we have been in quarantine for the last two weeks. If you can't go out, you may as well learn something new at home.

The first picture is the back of the quilt which MAY not appear to be a stunning or revolutionary view but hot d*mn! it is a thing of beauty. I quilted it on my regular home Janome and there is not one pucker. Seriously, what are the odds. I meant to go get a walking foot for my machine to make quilting easier but with sick kids and exhaustion I never made it out. So this is a double miracle in my books. Now, on to the flashy side...
I think these blocks are called Amish Star blocks. I learned to make them and a ton of other random blocks from Missouri Star Quilt Co. on Youtube. There are some mad geniuses at work in the quilting community. I had no idea. The ladies break down scary, intimidating blocks like these (scary to me anyway) and actually make them so simple that they become monotonous to make.
I also realized that I have had a rotary cutter for about 6 years that I had never used. I don't know why I am so slow to embrace new tools but I can be stubborn that way. The rotary cutter has CHANGED MY LIFE!! sob, sob, sniffle... I'm ok. It is pretty cool and saves so much time and headache that I feel a bit stupid for not using it for so long. Those days are behind me now though, onward and upward.
It was just a quilt waiting to happen in my studio. I had all the fabric ready and purchased for someone who had told me his preferred colour scheme but I just couldn't see how to put them together. I will be giving him his quilt next weekend so for now it is a *secret* ssshhhh.
Each block is 11" so the final quilt is just over 4' x 5'. It should be perfect to throw on the couch for him and his lady to watch movies all snuggled up.

It seems weird to me that I could make this. I am after all not Amish and not a grandma and it was secretly really fun. My next quilt for my own couch is a Bento Box quilt made with a Moda Honey Bun (fancy quilting name for set of pre-cut 1.5" strips of fabric) that Dark Cloud sent me and some fabric from my stash. It's pretty ugly but I'm glad, I won't be as upset when Eden and Arlo spread jam on it and make it into a quilt sandwich.

**edited to add that the Bento Box quilt is not ugly because of the fabric sent by Dark Cloud, her fabric is awesome. I however did not think the design through all the steps very well and the end result, to put it mildly, is incredibly buzy.

Tree Quilt

Here is a quilt that I powered through in the last week. It is for friends that have had a tough time. They need some love. And since I am too far away to go into a mad cooking frenzy (like I usually would) I hurled myself into a quilt project for them. It is truly a scrap quilt, all the trees are made out of bits and pieces left over from Grandpa N's quilt and assorted other green things I have made. I have made an astonishing array of green things it seems.

The top photo (I don't know why it is sideways, blogger issues) is of the back, Captain Obvious, which I decided to semi-piece for added loveliness. This was inspired by the gorgeous work of Red Pepper Quilts. She makes the greatest quilts and all of them have been given extra spice on the back, not to mention some really beautiful long arm quilting. As a novice quilter I am in deep awe of her mad skills.

Parfaits

In another desperate attempt to get both kidlets to eat their breakfast before lunch time we debuted the parfait. Yummy. And with the cherry on top it looks like a treat not a chore to eat. It has homemade granola, Balkan yogurt, homemade marmalade, fresh Okanagan peaches and an enormous cherry on top. Eden was fooled for a while and to my great surprise actually ate the granola. Unprecedented grain consumption on her part.
Arlo really likes granola and yogurt but she was so distracted by the peaches and cherries that she dug them out and left most of the rest behind. The next morning they didn't want anything to do with a parfait. These kids are hard-core pancake lovers. I know this will sound like blasphemy to some but I can't think of a worse breakfast than pancakes. Yeuch. The extra work of making them in the morning means I like them even less.
This is the girls making their parfait protest faces.
"We will not stand for this treatment any longer!," shouts Eden.
"We will not get out of bed for less than 10,000 pancakes a day," demands Arlo.

I know parfait is cruel and unusual punishment for such delightful kidlets but that's how I roll. I am just a half step removed from being Miss Hannigan.

Nightgowns

Eden likes red a lot. We got a copy of "Red is Best" and now it is the only colour. Eden does like a bit of drama and she can definitely pull red off with no problem. When she said she wanted a red dress down to her toes I thought we should start with a nightie.
Both Eden and Arlo are horror struck with the idea of wearing pants pajamas, so another nightie made more sense than a ball gown. She has managed to convince me in a few moments of weakness to let her wear her red 'dress' to the grocery store. I can't help myself really, she's so cute in it and I want everyone to see a kid wearing something that doesn't relate to any cartoon characters at all. I'm weird that way.