Mosaic of hope quilt

This is the project that took up the largest chunk of my time over the past 2 week. The quilt is for my father in law. I knew I wanted to make a quilt for him when we found out how seriously sick he is. What I didn't know then is that one of the side effects of the treatments he is receiving is that you get very sensitive to cold. So it turns out this quilt will be not only a gift for moral support but also a great help during the treatments! 

When I started I didn't have a particular design in mind other than I wanted to put together all kinds of shades of blue. There are 5 shades of blue on each side. At this point it is hard to call one side is the top and one is the bottom, I love how both sides turned out. The blue in my mind represent hope and the square shape strength. 

Even as I was piecing the first side I had not decided how the border would be. I even started laying out blocks for the second side when the idea came to use one extra navy blue block on each border to echo the diamond layout I was working on.

The quilting is very simple, just in the ditch. I think it works quite well with the solid fabrics I picked out

This past weekend we had a very spring like weather and after sweeping our back patio I took advantage of the lovely light to take some pictures that show the true colors of the quilt. 

I believe my father in law will like it - even though his favorite color is green

What I've been up to - Week 9

This week I have been on call for work. That usually means little sleep and slow week for crafting. ANd It was just that except for Saturday. Amie came over and we had 5 hours of uninterrupted craft bliss. I will edit the pictures soon so I can share what we made with you. I finished the blue checkers quilt early in the week and I'm still trying to come up with a good name for it.  I will put more photos in a separate post this week. 

As usual when I'm tired and too busy for big projects, I made a bunch of fabric flowers. Those are all hand stitched since I was too exhausted to safely handle my glue gun some still will get enhanced by leaves. The question is what will happen to all of these ? The word Etsy has been uttered. I like the idea but I'm not sure I can fit that in my life at the moment. 

I also managed to finish 2 necklaces using some of the fabric flowers: 

 It's hard to see on the pictures but the beads have a silvery filigree. I love white and silver together.

This coming week will be dedicated to some wardrobe enhancements. Time to get ready for Spring. We have been already taunted by a few days of spring-like temperatures. I'm counting day until I can switch off hibernation mode.

What have you been up to?

Trading Post - March Edition

We did it again! Amie (Kitty cats and Airplanes) and myself had a crafty play date today. A lot of green on the menu and a lot of fun.  She brought along Stella, her Silhouette for me to try out. Awesome ! Now I really really want one !!

Amie and Stella

 Stay tuned to see what we did with the Silhouette and also the St Patty's version of my versatile tulle wreath. 

I also got a great surprise in the mail. The Amy Butler pattern I won at the Giggle Glitz and Glam giveaway arrived today. I can't wait to try out one of those!! I'm thinking about the messenger bag first.

Family update

My father-in-law just had his first round of chemotherapy. All is good so far at least as far as the side effects go. But let's face it, even though chemo is treatment for cancer, it is toxic. It's all about choosing the lesser of two evils I guess. 

I have finished the quilt intended for my FIL and it will be on its way very soon. The warm embrace of people who love you is the best comfort in the world isn't it? 

Thanks for everyone continued support and prayers. 

A play tent for little princesses

This has been quite the project. When I offered to make a play tent for my nieces I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Especially when my sister told me she wanted the tent to be free standing - not suspended. Suspended=easy. A hula-hoop, some fabric, something to suspend it to the ceiling. 

Freestanding= headache. Well until I figured out the "engineering". I had to build a whole structure to support the tent, something lightweight but rigid, still with some flexibility. First I thought about tent poles. But when I checked out that theory at a sporting good, it was immediately clear that was not going to  work. Too rigid, too thin. 

The reflexion on the topic took me to the plumbing section at the hardware store. PVC pipes: rigid and flexible but definitely lightweight. If you are interested I will post more details on how I built the structure and sewn the canvas.

This whole project cost only a few dollars for the "plumbing". The beige canvas came from donated drapes, the grey canvas was the left over from a commissioned project for which I was provided with wayyyyyyy too much fabric that could not be returned. The dragon is made with donated fleece scraps and the rest came from my stash. 

The flowers are backed with velcro and can be moved around

I even made a few spares

The pennant garland is held with snaps so the tent can be washed more easily

Oh and it's been tested and approved.

Now I need to find the right box to ship it to Switzerland

Anyone got a 5 foot long by 10x10 inch  cardboard box handy?

Here

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Tutorial - Shabby chic mirror

In case you missed it, this is the tutorial that was recently featured on Sumo's Sweet Stuff a couple of weeks ago

How to turn a $1 mirror into a feminine shabby-chic boudoir accessory

(yes it is from Ikea and I bought it for $1 at the goodwill store)

First I gathered a few of my favorite items: 

Fabric flowers, pretty buttons, lace and beads (thank you Amie!)

I hot-glued a few beads on the lace

Then I modge-podged the lace on the mirror frame and hot glued the fabric flower and button

For the last touch I stitched an aqua blue ribbon to the back of some scalloped lace

Attached it to the back with hot glue

Lastly, I  made another matching fabric flower  and distressed the edges with a bit of sandpaper

for the final result:

What I've been up to - Week 8

I'm slowly getting back in the swing of things. The family is adjusting. So far the news are encouraging. A bit less stress, a bit more time to craft and blog. I try not to start too many projects at the same time like I have done in the past because part of my craft feel good buzz is to actually finish things. So I have to concentrate my efforts on less projects.

I've been testing patterns for Linda @ Craftaholic Anonymous for her new Etsy shop, the Ruffled Begonia.  These are my test pieces :

A nursing cover and the cutest ruffled bag: The Layla bag

You can win the nursing cover on Crafthaolic Anonymous 

I also finished a little pendant necklace. 

 

The rest of my efforts this week were concentrated on a new quilt. Both sides are now assembled. And call me crazy for piecing the "back" like I did, But I couldn't get myself to ditch the extra blocks after the top was done. Time for basting and I think I will get basting spray a shot because pining is oh so unappealing. A little trip to JoAnn's is on the menu.

Top

Bottom

Still auditioning names for it, maybe Blue Diamond (I'm open to suggestions) 

And yes I do realize I did a lot of blue things lately. I think it's time to get out of the blue and into spring colors so I'm going to work on that next week... Well as soon as the quilt is finished. 

Last but not least we had great weather here the past couple of days and it's been finally warm enough for spray painting. So I was able to put the final touches to the play tent structure and take outdoor photos of the whole thing before I ship it out to my nieces in Europe. Pictures to come this week.

What have you been up to ?

Knock off is a knock out !

I'm quite blown away by the awesome feedback I received about the handbag knock off I finished last weeks.

  

I'm still trying to balance the new family dynamics and I didn't get a chance to respond to all those comments via email yet (got to save some time to craft too) but thank you everybody that took the time to write. 

THANK YOU!! 

You rock !

After the stressful past couple of weeks it feel wonderful to be back to crafting, blogging and it's such a great feeling to knock one out of the park! 44 comments and 3 features !! 

  

Thank you Michelle, Rebekah and Heather

 SOooo who wants a tutorial ? 

Updated Feb 20th

Some more features !?!

   

Just a hint of blue

I made the heart pendant a couple of months ago but could not decide what to do with it : brooch, chocker, lariat ?? It sat in a box for weeks and weeks until I accidentally stumbled on it again. And suddenly I knew what to do. Just add a hint of blue.

I think it would look quite nice with the new handbag I made 

   

Quick update on the  blue checkers quilt

The top is mostly done , only one strip (on the left) and the borders still need to be sewn. 

Time to think about the layout for the other side