Sunday, October 30

What I've been up to - Week 43

Another busy week for the whole family. Poor Bug missed two days of school: home sick with mommy working from home to keep an eye on her. Poor mommy also sick. This was also my last week before transferring to my new position at work. So on top of wrapping up as much as possible and passing on all the information that needed to be passed on, I also had to pack up my stuff to move one floor up. And then the hubby had to stay at work a couple of nights. And I had to squeeze in making a Halloween costume for a friend - Doesn't she look angelic as a nun ? Needless to say by Friday night I was wiped. 
No rest over the weekend though. Friday night the hubby and I had to dig out a path to the washer in the basement so the dead one could be hauled away and the new one delivered. 

Then Saturday, after the machine was installed and while I was wadding through the mountain of laundry the OCD bug bit me and I spent most of the day reorganizing the whole utility room, moved storage shelves and cabinets around, rearranged tools and supplies. Hours of cleaning and tidying and finding long lost items (always a bonus) while it was snowing - yes unbelievable but true- snowing outside. 


Today saw a long overdue project finally come to life ... I have a proper mantel on my fireplace!!! Yay, that only took 7 years. Uncle John and I put this baby together in a couple of hours. He did the cutting - I have a very strong aversion for table saws - I did the measuring, the drilling, nailing and caulking. The result is great!!  I still need to finishing sanding and painting so you'll have to wait a bit for the reveal ... But this is a picture of the early stages this morning.




 After that was done, Bug her dad and I carved pumpkins,


Bug insisted on classic Jack-O-Lanterns


 decorated the front porch


'
   and while daddy was off grocery shopping Bug and I baked (and ate) some pumpkin cookies.


Yep, all that crammed in one week...


What have you been up to?




Saturday, October 29

Blogger's quilt Festival Fall 2011 - A Very Hungry Caterpillar


Welcome fellow bloggers for this fall's Blogger's Quilt Festival!

Back in June I started working on a baby quilt using an adorable panel featuring "The Very Hungry Caterpillar". After picking  colors things went pretty fast. It's not a very complicated layout but I had only very limited time to get it finished and the it is also in keeping with the simplicity of the graphics in the book.


Bold colors

This has been such a pleasure to work on this quilt, not only because it has been a labor of love and a needed distraction while I was not feeling well but also because my little Bug and I adore the story, the images and I love colors, bright, bold colors. This was the perfect project for me You can see the earlier stages of the quilt here and here.
I finished it just in time to deliver it myself to my then very pregnant cousin Sophie in Provence


Bright and cheerful, it will keep her sweet child warm and cuddly.


I bound the quilt with a very plain white fabric with aqua polka dots and kept the quilting very simple 


Just in the ditch and some cross lines around the edges





And of course the outline of the butterfly and the caterpillar


Sophie liked it a lot! 
That day she also received the  translation of Eric Carle's adorable book so she could tell the story to her baby.


Barely 2 weeks later,  Sophie, her husband and the whole family welcomed sweet ChloĆ© to the world


Unfortunately after we returned home. I will have to wait until our next trip to hold little ChloƩ. In the meantime, the quilt I made for her will have to make do.

Amy'sCreativeSide





Thursday, October 27

Flower power: Fix ripped jeans

Do you have an active kid? I do... VERY active. I sew a lot for Bug, not only new outfits or updating old ones, but I also often have to mend, patch. Bug loves it pink and girly so what to do when a pair of plain old jeans gets a nice tear? Flower power ! 

First mended the hole in with a zigzag 

Then I used a fun quilt block cast off from a friend's project
Iron on with some Wonder Under

And a zigzag stitch with silver thread

The finishing touch, some pink flower lace at the cuffs


Flower power works pretty well for Bug


 Yep that's Bug, in Bug mode :)
Can you say active kid ??

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