52 fridays and BAM ~ week 52

Looking forward to 2011 ~ Out for a walk with my Orion ~ Taken by Adrienne with our new toy (we share) an ipod touch + hipstamatic app.

~ Teenage Tote ~

My oldest asked me to make her a tote bag, just like her little sister's .

She chose the fabrics, she didn't want the patchwork look so only picked two fabrics at first.

We decided to add the busy fun fabric on one side of the tote,

and on the other side used the pink shoe fabric strip.

I quilted the bag using simple diagonal lines.

She loves it!

What a Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas! My husband was off for Christmas Day and Boxing Day as well for the first time in years! We didn't make any special dinner for ourselves, but had a big family pot luck dinner on Boxing Day, so everyone still had turkey and ham and everything else..

We usually don't exchange a lot of presents at Christmas time. I try to make gifts most years, and this year I made felt food for Celeste. She was very pleased with it! She loves the donut! Each child got one present from my husband and myself (Adrienne: headphones, Andre: small Prince of Persia lego set, Celeste: Little Mommy doll), then there were 3 other presents for all 3 of them together.

The big difference this year was the amount of presents that I received...my husband spoiled me this year. Usually we exchanged a small something between the two of us. We don't have a big budget and rather use it for the kids. But this year, we have cleaned up our finances in a huge way and he went out and picked up many things that I needed for a long time! I now have new cutting boards and oven mitts for the kitchen, along with a dutch oven pot. I have new shirts, wool mittens, and a coat! The kids also gave me slippers and a webkinz hamster (I play to get them coins, and it's fun!).

Here I am with my new coat, on Christmas morning. The photo isn't the greatest, but the coat is so comfortable!!

The biggest surprise was that Santa made a very special appearance at our house Christmas morning. My husband set this up without me knowing! I knew we were adopting a kitten from the local humane society, but didn't know about the special delivery! Around 9:30, there was a knock at our door, we were still opening presents! We thought it was our friends next door. Only my husband knew what was happening!

Our new kitten is adorable, she is very well tempered and just wants to play then sleep, then play some more! Orion and Clara (Adrienne's cat) have adjusted very well, very fast. We have decided to call her Sophie Nausicaa. We love Studio Ghibli films and couldn't decide between the two names, so this lucky cat has 2 names now! Sophie is one of the main characters in Howl's Moving Castle, and Nausicaa is the name of the princess in the movie Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well! We are enjoying a few more days of holidays before the new year. Happy Holidays!

52 fridays and BAM ~ week 51

Christmas Eve!! My youngest daughter woke up so excited this morning, she thought it was time to open her presents! The holidays are so much fun with children around. Hope your holidays are filled with joy and happiness as well!

Challenges for 2011

I know...Christmas hasn't passed yet and I am looking at 2011. We finished our little shopping a couple of weeks ago and have been relaxing at home, enjoying some time off our regular homeschool activities, so I have had time on my hands!

I like taking on new challenges each year. I don't really see them as goals, but more as challenges that I take on.

I am planning on continuing with the 52 books in 52 weeks reading challenge. Over the next few days, I will try to come up with a rough list of books for my to-read-list.

I haven't decided if I will continue with the weekly self portrait challenge. I enjoyed the challenge and it did help with making me comfortable with the idea of being in front of the camera instead of always behind it! But, I am getting a little bored with the task. Maybe I will take on a "couples self portrait" or some other variations...there are many on flickr.

I do want to include more photography challenges this coming year. I will follow the Pioneer Woman's photo assignments and try them out. Shutter Sisters is always an inspiring site as well...They have a monthly One Word Project that I am insterested in.  I will keep looking for other ideas and announce which ones I am participating in the first week of the new year.

Another item on my list is to work a little more on this blog. I am not sure how much I will change it, but I haven't spent much time over the last year so it's due! I will work on the design and set up but also I would like to write more. I tend to share a lot of photos, but not much about myself. I don't know if I will be comfortable doing that, but it's a challenge I want to take on.

Finally, I do have some sewing-quilting related challenges. Now that I discovered a bit more about my machine, I will be teaching myself free-motion quilting. I also would like to try to make my own clothes. I don't enjoy shopping where we live. We don't visit the mall much, and I rarely find clothes that I really like there, so I have been thinking that maybe I should just make my own. I am not sure how that will go, but I want to try at least! 

So, what are your goals or challenges for the new year?

*the rabbit photo was taken this morning in our backyard. this rabbit visits our backyard often, and I finally was able to capture him on film! *

I am so happy and ...

I feel so stupid at the same time!

Look at what my machine can do:

I have been complaining that my machine won't do anything but straight lines, that I couldn't do free motion quilting...


Well, today I sat down with my machine's manual (I have had this machine for 5 years) and read all about the optional accessories available.


I figured out that the embroidery foot and the walking foot were available as extras. I even called the parts department to make sure they were for sale still.


Then, I actually found the embroidery foot in my set! I tried it right away, following the directions in the manual - which taught me how to lower the dogs (something I thought my machine couldn't do!)..and voila! free motion quilting!!!

I will now need to practice and learn more about free motion quilting. I am so excited and upset with myself at the same time for not figuring this out earlier!!

Ready for Christmas

Merry Christmas to You!

Enjoy the holidays and see you next week!

two finished tote bags!

One for Celeste and one for me!

I couldn't find red polka dot fabric,

but I think the green looks great with Snoopy.

a tote bag just for me!

This time, this one is just for me!! I went through my scraps and favourite fabrics and pulled out a bunch:

The next step was deciding which ones to actually use. I knew there would be a lot of blue, green, and maybe red or yellow, or both! I needed to pay attention to sizing as well, but if I really wanted a particular piece in there, then I would just make it work. I wanted this bag to be fun, colourful, and a little representative of me, as much as my selection of fabrics would let me!

This was the selection I made. There are a lot of nature-inspired pieces, like sky, waves, leaves, flowers, trees, and also animals. You can see baby turtles racing on the beach, little grey mice, and little chicks. One block says "a passion for patchwork" another shows a line of laundry (got to keep it real!), and I love maps, so there is a map block. Snoopy of course had to be in this and a block or red polka dots. I love selecting fabrics when I do a project, and this time I had a lot of fun since it was for me. 

I decided at that point to cut my pieces 5 inches by 2.5 inches. I kept the original size of the bag from Camp Follower's tutorial.

The next step was to iron, cut, sew, iron, assemble, iron, etc...lots of ironing little pieces of fabric goes into the making of this tote bag!

I started this bag late afternoon yesterday, after taking a break for cooking and eating dinner (still had to feed my family!), and by about 9 pm, I had the bag up to this point:

I still don't have a fabric that I like for the handles for the Snoopy bag or this one, so I will have to wait until I visit the fabric shop to finish both.

I did add the binding at the top and a button to keep the bag closed. I love wood buttons, don't you?

i have fallen in love with this christmas time song

another wip and 52 books challenge wrap-up

I enjoyed making this tote bag so much, that I searched through my scraps to make another one!

This one is for Celeste and she agreed to share it with me. We both love Snoopy.

It is the same size as the last tote I made.

The next one I make, I will try the full size.

This one still needs the binding at the top of the bag and the straps.

I need to get some fabric for that, probably a tiny red polka dot if I can find some.

 

About my 52 books project, I seemed to have slowed down lately in sharing my reading, but I did complete the challenge. I have read a few books since the last one I posted. I tried to keep an accurate log on my librarything widget on the right side of this blog. According to it, I have 53 books already in my list. I probably forgot to share some in posts.

You can see the list of the 53 books I read this year here at librarything.

The last couple of books I read were:

• Simplify with Camille Roskelley - this is a quilting book that I would love to own. She uses pre-cut jelly rolls, charm packs, fat quarters and more to create beautiful quilts. She has eight quilt projects of different sizes and four pillow patterns. I love how she uses her quilts to decorate her house and all the simplifying quotes shared throughout the book, as well as some of her creative tips. I will be trying a project or two from this book before sending it back to the library. She has a blog that is a pleasure to visit.

The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl by Ree Drummond. I really enjoyed reading this one as well, it is just like visiting her website.  The library has a long list of people waiting for this book, so it is only staying with me for 14 days. Her web page is worth spending some time at, full of photography tips, great recipes, and she also homeschools! I have been visiting it for a few years. There's always something interesting. The recipes I would like to try can be all be found on the cooking section of her site. This week I made the chocolate sheet cake and my family devoured it! I did too, it was delicious!

• The last book I will talk about today is one I read as a read aloud for our science. We are studying physics this year. I found at our library a series of biographies called Giants of Science by Kathleen Krull. We had been coming across Isaac Newton's name a few times over the past couple of weeks while working on experiments and decided to test out this series by reading the one on Isaac Newton. We all enjoyed this biography and will be reading more from the series. My son is very interested in reading the Sigmund Freud one. Kathleen Krull makes science very interesting and we were even laughing out loud, many times! No boring science textbooks in our homeschool!!

I really enjoyed participating in this 52 books 52 weeks challenge this year. I have always loved to read, but life can get in the way sometimes. I always read a lot to my children, and  I also read homeschooling books and books related to what we were studying. I never seemed to have a problem finding the time for those. What was missing was me reading just for myself, just for fun or on topics just for me. This year, I really took the time to carve out little blocks of time in my week to fit in reading just for me. It has been very enjoyable.

If you are interested in this challenge, it continues in 2011! You can visit the blog 52 Books in 52 Weeks for more details, and let me know if you sign up..I am!

52 fridays and BAM ~ week 50

~ Little Tote for a Little Lady ~

I posted yesterday my wip little tote, and finished it last night. The tutorial at Camp Follower Bag is excellent! I followed these directions for the handles, instead of using heavy weight twill tape since I didn't have any. I also had adjusted the size of the bag, making it smaller, so instead of each side of the bag being 4x4 squares, is is 3x3 squares. I am glad it worked out!

I haven't taught myself how to do any swirly type quilting yet, and I don't think I have the right foot for my sewing machine anyway, so I used lines on this tote, two lines on each side of the seams between the blocks, plus an extra set on the sides. To make the handles very secure, I used a zigzag stitch by going back and forth to attach the handles. I also used a zigzag stich to attach the binding at the top of the bag.

I really enjoyed working with this tutorial and will be making more of these in the near future. Celeste wants one of course (!!) and I think I would like to make myself one as well!

WIP ~ Little Tote for a Little Lady

This is for one of Celeste's friend. We are invited to her birthday party this weekend. I hope she will like this homemade tote!
I am following this tutorial from Camp Follower Bags and Quilts: Charm Pack Tote Bag. The only difference so far is the size, this one is smaller, more suitable for a little girl!

this time of year...

I have always loved puzzles, but I don't often take the time to work on a puzzle through the year, only at this time of the year, during the holidays. One of my aunts has sent us a new holiday puzzle for the last couple of years and this year we received this beautiful Santa one. The kids and I have been working on it for the last few days. I love sitting with them and sharing these quiet moments. I also like to steal moments by myself and work in a few more pieces. I know that not everyone shares the following thought, but puzzles are very calming to me.
Don't forget to take some time to relax and enjoy the holidays too!

felt food (+ lots of links) and a big paw print stocking!

I am not quite finished with Celeste's gift. She asked me to make her some felt breakfast foods for Christmas. So far, I have made eggs, pancakes with butter, and one donut. I really like how they turned out and will make a couple more things for her. Adrienne also made her some felt food, but I forgot to take a photo before she wrapped it. She made bowtie pasta and she also made a box out of recycled cardboard! I will show you after Christmas..

If you are interested in making some felt foods, there are many free tutorials! Here are the ones I used for these foods so far:

Felt food eggs from One Crafty Mumma

Donut with sprinkles from Skip to My Lou

We probably will make more felt foods for Celeste's play kitchen after the holidays, here are some links I have bookmarked for inspiration or instructions:

Sandwich and bag of chips from Snazzle Craft

Mini-canned food (not felt but goes perfect with the play kitchen!) by Helping Little Hands

Helping Little Hands has a ton of tutorials and links for a lot of play felt food in her felt cook-along posts.

One last post that will show you more links for various felt food pieces (fruit, sushi, popsicles and more) from Ohdeedoh.

This weekend, I also made a stocking for our dog Orion. He's like our fourth baby, so it felt right to make him his own stocking! Here he is, very happy to have just gone for a walk in the snow with Celeste and I:

I had actually started this one last year and finally finished it yesterday! The tutorial and pattern for this dog paw stocking can be found here at Disney Family Fun. I didn't follow the instructions completely, making mine only one layer of one felt colour only instead of the fake fur. I don't think he'll mind...

A small gift in the mail

When I first moved to Canada twenty years ago, I moved here by myself but stayed with relatives. In particular, I stayed with an aunt and uncle north of Toronto while I went to college. My aunt is one of the nicest woman I know, always caring for others and her surroundings. She taught me so much, but I only realized that years later when I started having my own children.

This year, I made and mailed these two little snack mats for them as a small thank you. They are like oversized coasters, about 9x5.5 inches. They are reversible, the first photo shows one side, and the second photo the other side.  I hope they will like them and use them!

52 fridays and BAM ~ week 49

Early this morning, with Orion. For the second year now, we have used our outdoor lights inside our house, wrapping them up around our staircase and around the window curtains.

I called this one "morning kiss" !!

Here is another one where you can see both of us a little better. Good morning!

Wordless Wednesday :: My daughter :: The Canadian Air Cadet

 

reversible holiday placemats and napkins!

The placemats are finished. 

We now have six reversible placemats and reversible napkins too!

I still have a little bit of holiday-theme fabrics, so I might make a small table runner

for the side table I  have. Maybe.

52 fridays and BAM ~ week 48

With my love...and his new beard/moustache thing!

He's trying it out.

I haven't decided if I like it or not yet..

We have been together since June 1994...

through highs and lows, three births,

job troubles, money issues, you know.. life.

But love has always been strong and consistent.

 

Celeste (my youngest) wanted to take part of our little self portrait,

so Andre (middle child, 11) took this quick one of us.

fun homemade juggling rice bags!

Andre asked me to help him make these little bean/rice bags.

Celeste wanted her own so we ended up making a few.

After I took these photos, Adrienne also made her own!

These have been well used already!