Down the rabbit hole...

like Alice in Wonderland. That's me and my excuse for not posting recently. Can I make it up to you by sharing some flower photos? Roses...

long stemmed and beautiful. I admired these roses at work when we first unpacked them, but I never would've guessed that I would get to take them home for free. When all the unsold stock that wouldn't keep was being cleaned out, I was offered the chance to choose whatever discarded flowers I wanted. These were my first choice.

I got home and had to go looking for a vase (I've been using mason jars for the tulips, but long stemmed roses need something more dignified ;o). Most of our household is still packed up in moving boxes (yeah, I know. it's been 8 months and counting living out of boxes). Lucky I made a list of what items are packed in my boxes! It didn't take long for me to find a vase for my roses.

Now, as for any sewing news to share... here's one project I'm hoping to get to this weekend. This quilt top has been on my to-do list, but between needing batting for it, starting work outside the home and everyday life... well, I'm obviously not done. I had been using the floor of the second kitchen (we don't use this kitchen) as the area for basting my quilts. Turns out we now need this space (more on that in another post), so I came home from work yesterday to find my husband's solution for keeping my quilt top out of harm's way. Smart man to know I wouldn't be impressed to have my quilt top walked upon. ;o)

Wishing you all a wonderful, creative weekend!

Virtual Quilt Festival

This is my favourite quilt - The Manly Quilt - which I made for my oldest teen aged son. It's a memory quilt of sorts because it is made mostly from shirts he wore growing up. We look at the different plaids and each one has a story, such as the one he wore in kindergarten and tore... or the one he wore in first grade and stained with paint. *By the way, he's still hard on his clothes! (insert an eye roll here... LOL).

The very best part of making this for my son was having him say how much he loves it. It is a permanent fixture on his bed. Oh, and the name for this quilt? He named it. To him, plaid is just manly.

Some more finished photos can be found here.

Need a simple gift for a baby boy?

How about a monogrammed flannel blanket and a lizard stuffie! For the monogram I chose a washable fake suede fabric which I machine appliqued onto the flannel.

The binding was made from a camping themed quilting cotton, featuring the browns and blues baby Hayden's room is decorated in.

The little lizard is dotty quilting cotton on one side and lightweight polar fleece on the other. Easy to make and baby friendly!

A bit of printed binding is the easiest way to jazz up a piece of flannel into becoming a one-of-a-kind baby blanket. I think this blanket will be my first choice for baby gifts from now on. Love it.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

For those of us unable to travel to Quilt Market, Amy has found a solution which sounds like fun. A virtual Quilt Festival! Go visit Amy's blog, Park City Girl to learn how you can participate and enter some giveaways.

Little things...

are fun to make and even more fun to give! I could hardly wait for this little project to make its way to my friend as a thank you gift.

Orange is her favourite colour and she loves polka dots.

It's just a little gift... but it was sent with a big thank-you.

Spring, Work and Pigeons

Good things have been happening here since I last posted. First, our weather has become spring like. Yay! Which means that my handmade ribbon flower wreath no longer looks out of place on our front door. ;o)

I have been looking forward to this new season, with its sunshine and warm days after too many cold days in old Edith this long winter. I was hoping that my wreath would help by adding some colour to greet us at the front door. Especially since I'm not sure that there's any flowers lurking in the beds in front of Edith.

To add to happy news around here, I did get the job at the flower/garden shop. You probably guessed as much since I have been absent from blogging recently. I work with some lovely people in a fairly relaxed environment with opportunities for creativity, which is a nice way for me to ease back into the work world. It's still early days for me, which means I've lots and lots to learn and it also means I'm making some lifestyle adjustments. Please bear with me, as I intend to keep sharing sewing projects etc. with you here.

My last bit of good news might sound a bit odd, but it's very happy news for this household. See that wind chime in the above photo? Well, that seems to be the solution for keeping those dirty, noisy and bothersome pigeons off our window ledge. The idea came to me over the weekend as I was once again awakened by their incessant cooing. The wind chime hangs right in front of the area they were trying to build another nest and so far, it has kept them away. I'm hoping we've seen (and heard) the last of these feathered pests. I would much sooner listen to the wind chime than that annoying cooing (there's nothing melodic about it - it's rather like the bird version of amorous moaning and groaning or "pigeon p*rn"as we refer to it. They get so loud that we have to pound our fist on the wall above the window to get them to stop and fly away.) Now you know what to do if our amorous pigeons relocate to your place. ;o) LOL

The flowers of my labour

I was working for a couple of days this past week at a 'new to me' job. This was my initial foray back into the world of being an employee and this time it was for a floral shop. After my first day of work, I was given these pink pretties to take home (in large part because they were imperfects that were destined for the bin - lest you all think that flower shops dole out free flowers to all their employees ;o).
The end of day two on the job saw me receiving this gorgeous, sweet smelling hyacinth to add to my fresh bouquet. What a treat!

I'm not sure yet whether I have the job or not, but I will say that fresh flowers are a lovely 'perk' to enjoy.

With job hunting and the work 'trial run' (with all the prep and recovery time that seems to entail) taking up my days, I've only managed a little bit of sewing. Rather coincidentally, the materials I turned to are floral. Maybe work is affecting my creative leanings? ;o)

The above bags are sewn from a type vinyl that I received ages ago in a giveaway from Sonya . The vivid colours are just so cheery and I think the bags would be great for holding toiletries and/or cosmetics. Just that little bit of sewing helps me feed my need to create, but I'm certainly craving more. Good thing I have an endless list of projects to turn to satisfy the craving. LOL

Hope your day is filled with sunshine and flowers. :o)

Cheap thrills... OR It pays to read the local paper

because otherwise you may have missed a sale - the kind that would make seamsters, crafters, quilters and needle workers swoon. The ad said that funds were being raised for charity and that it would be a sale of 'unwanted fabrics, notions and crafting supplies'.
Luckily, I saw the wee ad in the paper and made my way to the sale. There was a main room devoted to an assortment of fabrics and then rooms devoted to specifics such as the quilting room, the novelty fabric room, fabric by the bolt and then individual rooms for notions, craft supplies or knitting and crochet. There was so much to see that I actually limited myself from visiting every room ( to keep from having creative overload meltdown).
Want to see some sewing related loot that did come home with me?
I stocked up on zippers (10cents each - no matter their size), self-cover buttons,

and ric-rac. I loved that everything was only a dime - so now you know why I came home with over 2 dozen zippers and all the ric-rac I could lay my hands on.

In the pattern/craft supply room I scored some craft batting (full 2lb bags for 50cents each...) and some vintage patterns, including this beauty above.

I just had to show you a close-up of the vintage packaging on the ric-rac. Judging they are vintage, (by the labels and the price stamps) I wonder how many years these lay in someones stash waiting to be used?

I've been collecting snaps from thrift stores for quite sometime, by this is the first time I've found any that look like this. Love those horseshoes and stars!

I did visit the sample room at the sale - where they were overflowing with sample books of fabric from decorating shops. I will admit to staying in that room for a considerable time. I love looking at decorator fabric swatches! I think that got started years ago when I was being trained as a drapery and upholstery seamstress. I still have bits of fabric in my stash from my days of working in the drapery business. Despite the lure of all the gorgeous samples, I only came home with one sample book (just a peek at it in the above photo) and about a dozen individual swatches.

Okay, you know I wouldn't go to an 'unwanted fabric sale' without buying any fabric, right? Let me tell you it was really, really hard to restrain myself from buying more. The prices were so cheap. Cut fabrics were $1 to start with, but were slashed to 50% off before the end of the sale (smart me to avoid the early birds and be there in time for the price slash).

In total, I spent a mere $11.50, which is a fraction of what this would be retail. Cheap thrills for this sewing enthusiast and the money spent goes to a charity. I'm glad I read the paper. ;o)