I Love Christmas

I am one of 'those' people who put up their tree before December.  I start playing Christmas music about now.  When I saw this I was thrilled.  I love to give and feel that I am spreading the real meaning of Christmas to all.  So if you see this consider taking this challenge yourself.  If you feel that you are not super crafty than perhaps you stretch yourself by trying something new- there are TONNES of great ideas and tutorials out there- just do it.

My Second Birthday Charity Celebration November 3 @noon

Another birthday is rolling nigh
So rather than groan or have a big sigh
I have decided to host another charity fling
Bring a potluck item to share and a few other things.

We will be donating to those who have less
Diapers, wipes, toiletries and non-perishable food would be best.
We will be donating to those who live in the city,
Giving to others always helps to feel 'giddy'.

So write down the date and make sure to attend
We'll have such a great time that you won't want the party to end.
Please let me know if you will be there
So I can know how many with whom my birthday I'll share.


Please let me know if you can attend- I am excited to share this day together!
Dara

Leave of Absence

Our family has had a pretty exciting time this past month.  We had an incredible 2 week trip to the east coast and were able to discover some wonderful new places in the world ( Boston, Maine, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI).  We put 5014 km on the van!

When we got home we had just over a week to get ready for school, host two birthday parties and prepare for my 10 year anniversary trip to Iceland.  This also meant preparing the house etc for my parents in law to stay and watch the kids.

Here are some photos of our trip.  I really fell in love with the country and the people.  My husband's great grandparents came from Iceland and we had the opportunity to meet with many of them.  It truly was a trip of a life time.

original Icelandic horse- brought along with the vikings when they settled Iceland

60 m waterfall

there was a real shortage of wood so this is how they built their homes

some more traditional homes

beautiful photo of a fisherman's home right beside the ocean

the world famous Blue Lagoon- it was quite amazing

Since we have benn home from our trip I did two presentations on how to write a family history blog at a geneaolgy conference (my other blog www.myfourgenerationsproject.blogspot.com).  I was selected to do an 'I Am Mormon" ad (see www.mormon.org) and so I have been getting the house ready for a camera crew (curtains, pictures on walls, autumn decoration).  I got a call a few days ago that plans have changed and they aren't sure when they'll come!!  This was a great push to get me in gear and I have been grateful for the schedule I have made.

I have a FABULOUS motivation to get this house into order-

Yep- baby number five will be arriving sometime at the beginning of April so I want to make sure that I have everything in order.  We are so excited for this new addition to the family and I want to make sure that I can hold this baby as much as possible instead of painting walls and renovating bathrooms.
So there you have it all my many reasons for a leave of absence.

A Star Gift

This fabric was a gift from Lesly over at http://pickledish.blogspot.com/.  I have never received fabric in the mail as a gift and I was so touched by her generosity.  As I am working on the Summer Series, I came across this block and loved it so much that I decided to do it for my quilt.  I was very lucky that I had enough fabric.  It was pretty close in the end, but I squeaked by.  Now I will purchase the border and backing because I have zero batik in my stash.  This is the first time I have ever worked with batiks- they are fun.
 Thanks Lesly, this was a fun project.

Update on Summer Series

Here is the fourth block.  

I had a great idea.  I am not sure who else has thought of it, but I am storing all my blocks in a scrapbooking case.  The case was given to me and when I saw it I knew it would work.  I do not have a design wall yet so this is awesome.

What I love about it is that my 2 year old can not open it and make a total mess.

Catchy and Inspiring Quilt Film

http://blog.nfb.ca/2011/02/17/quilt-fever/

I was amazed at this fabulous quilt video.  It is only 6 min in length.  I was inspired by what was done with traditional quilt blocks put to music.  It was a great watch.

What I thought was funny was the blogger of the NFB (National Film Board) could not believe this video had more than 13000 hits within the first week.  Quilting is very popular.

Have fun.

My Quilt Along- Skill Building

I am so impressed with myself because I have built some very nice blocks.  They are not perfect, however, I attempted them and they resemble the original.  I did make an error on the first one- but I decided that it didn't look too bad that way.  It is supposed to be the star on the right-

Day One: The Virginia Star























Day 2
Ta da






















Day 3

























I have always wanted to make a red and white traditional style quilt, so I am very excited about this one. I hope I have enough fabric.  I am really trying to use my stash.  I am enjoying the challenge of following directions and taking the time I need to learn new things- this is opening up new possiblities.

I am loving the process.

As a bonus:  I received these lovely batiks from Lesly over at     I am going to make Virginia Stars with these amazing rainbow colours.  I have never worked with batiks before so this will be a great outcome I am sure.

With Thanks

What a fun surprise for Carin to find!!

I was given this fabric.  I feel bad these quilts are a bit wrinkly!!

What a bright and cheerful quilt.

A single mom of three young boys made this- her first quilt.  I added the border and did the
 quilting on my long arm.

I didn't make this one but found it at the thirft store for 5 dollars, it had never been used.  I can't
believe the detail of the stitching and then the quilting- very sweet.  I loved the prairie
points on the edge.

This is another sweet girly quilt with silky embrodery floss for the ties.

There seems to be a shortage of boy quilts and this one SCREAMS boy quilt.  The football backing
was awesome.  My eight year old thought it was super cool.

Last summer I taught some ladies and young women from church how to make a simple quilt.  Many ladies at church offered to cut squares and rectangles for the project.  I supplied the fabric and the church provided the batting.  We made quite a few and donated them to Project Linus.

When I saw Kate's post about the 100 quilts project I was once again spurred into action.  My book club wanted to do a service project so I started to put together tops for tying. Well I was able to make 5 quilts.
So I am happy to say that I was able to donate 6 quilts to Margaret's Hope Chest.  Carin moves away from Toronto on Wednesday so I wanted to be able to donate them personally to her.

We went and saw our prophet on Saturday and on the way back we popped over to Carin's.  Unfortunately she wasn't home so I pulled the quilts out of the bag and took a few pictures.  I am trying to document my various creations.

One of the reasons I have named my blog Sisters In Sewing is that a global scale we are all brothers and sisters and need to help and care for each other.  Making these quilts and taking care of them is just another way to do so.

Not Sure What to Do With This One

I am not too sure what colour to use for the binding of this quilt.  I am also not quite sure what to do with this quilt as the room and paint colour of the boys room has changed!!  Now that I don't have the long-arm the boys get their room back with a brand new floor.  However the brand new floor colour needed a new wall colour.  So I have now painted it (asphalt by Ralph Lauren-amazing) but now I 'need' to make new quilts for the boys to match- I am thinking several shades of grey, tourquoise and orange in a zig zag pattern and I am excited to make April Rosenthal's He Zigs She Zags pattern.

Now what to do with this cute quilt?

My Vintage-ish Spring Quilt in Almost Summer

Last spring we had the total delight in having a robin decide that by bathroom window sill would be the perfect place to have her family.  We (my four children then aged 7,5,3 and 1) loved watching the addition of each egg (there were four) and then the hatching and then the growth of these fine birds.  We went on line to learn all we could about robins.  This picture was taken right before they flew the nest.  We were so sad when they did and then on the same day we noticed another robin couple decided to build a nest two window sills down!!  We had robin egg-travaganza last year and so this vintage fabric has even more meaning.

I have been holding on to this vintage fabric that I inherited from my mom's friends mother-in-law who died 8 years ago.  I had many ideas for it from aprons to curtains but after much deliberation I decided the best place is a nice springy/summery quilt.

I didn't want to cut this up too much so I decided to hand quilt around all the birds in each section- I am regretting that decision!  Although I really enjoy hand quilting I probably won't get around to it until fall- or winter.  We'll see.

Here's the back- very simple.  I did the back and the binding the same to tie it altogether.

It's fun to have this quilt in the main living area as most of my quilts are on beds!!  

My Quilt Donation

Earlier this year I had a short love affair with a 15 year old APQS long arm.  I really couldn't get enough- I made A LOT of quilts so I could quilt them.

For more info see: www.swimbikequilt.com

Good thing- here is the quilt I will donate- it is so soft and sweet.  I am so happy that it will bring a lot of love to a little one.  I LOVE the quilting on it- I was so determined to learn how to do free motion.  I did A LOT of drawing before I attempted this.

 Since the departure of the APQS I haven't even tried to do any machine quilting on my current Janome, I now have such a need for speed!  I am waiting patiently for a Juki like the one Crazy Mom Quilts uses.  Actually I had a queen sized quilt a lady wanted me to do a week after I sold the APQS and so I rented time on a long arm- brillant!  I went to her house, had no kids or phone and I just quilted for 3 hours straight- it really is a great way to go.  Having a long-arm is great but they are very expensive and take up a lot of room.  This was a great suggestion I got from a fellow quilter and if you want to experience the long-arm yourself- check it out.

Day 8 Day 9 Day 10

I almost boycotted this day (cue violin music) because living where I do now makes me very sad when it comes to nature and large open spaces!  I miss that big open sky of the west.  I can count on one hand how many sunsets I have seen from my house in 2 years.  Yes, this is a sad state of affairs.

Animal.  This is our pet- Kess.  He is a fabulous dog.  We are actually taking care of him this week-end.  Sound strange?  Due to my husbands work we had to find a new home for him!!  We've had since September to do this but it is still difficult.  We are happy that things are going well for him with his nes family, but we are sure glad to have him here with us for the week.

Haven't got groceries in a few days to show off fruit, but here is my favourite platter of cherries.  My mom was shopping with my sister in Quebec City and found this platter- it is perfect for me.  I love it.



So there we go- three more days to this crazy photo challenge.

Giving From The Heart

Kate over at www.swimbikequilt.com has a great heart and is part of this push to help children who need a little extra love and comfort.  Check out her site for more info on how to give.
I look forward to creating a quilt for a child in need.

Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7

No clouds!  This is the sky from my back yard. We love having the shade from the trees.

Breakfast.  By the time I took the picture and uploaded it my youngest ate all the berries.

I have been doing a lot of family history lately.  I have been asked to teach a class in September so I really have been on it.

Our staircase- isn't it grand?  I really think that it would look a lot better if the carpet went and the spindles were white, but when I think of the sanding, priming and painting I decide that the 'natural' wood is lovely!

My Other Blog

This is a very humble blog which I enjoy having.  I am mostly amazed when someone out in cyber space 'happens' upon it.  I do have another blog which I am working on, it is about my ancestors.  I love to watch "My Generations Project" on BYU tv.  I really love it, in fact I am applying to be on the show!! Wish me luck.  So I wanted to do something that I could connect with other family members.  I am starting to really get it going, but there is so much for me to learn- mostly with how to organize and develop an on-line system to communicate and share.
So check it out- who knows we could be related?!?

www.myfourgenerationsproject.blogspot.com

Let me know what you think and please leave advise for improvement.

Photo Challenge Day 2 and 3

Well, I do confess that I had some fear going into this challenge because of the daily commitment factor, but I am going to try.


Day 2- Shoes

 Yes these are my shoes on top of my freshly planted garden!!  I love being in my garden.  I planted tomatoes, peas, beans, carrots and lot of cucumbers to make pickles.  I have a rather small garden in our yard but will be planting a garden in a joint venture with the city and the Salvation Army.  I will plant potatoes, corn, and some spaghetti squash-yum.





Day 3- Hands

When I was first married I noticed that my husband always helpd his hands like this when he was resting.  I never knew anyone to hold their hands this way before.  His grandfather always held his hands like this- with his thumbs under his pointer finger.

Everyone of our four children since they were babies held their hands this way. 

Photo Challenge- Day One of 30

I love the ideas that can be had from all you out there.  Abby Welker has great ideas and I love her style.
She has initiated a 30 day photo challenge- I am going to try.. so here is day one- a self portrait.

I wasn't quite sure where to look.  This was kind of fun trying different angles and takes.  So here I am no make up, at the end of the day, kids are in bed.

Fighting the Good Fight

For you moms out there I think that you will all agree that you want the best nutrition for our children.  So one of the things I do is I try to steer clear of things like mac and cheese, ramen noodles and hot dogs.  In fact my 7 year old came home from a playdate once and said, "Mom, we had the best lunch, it can from a box and it was cheesy- iloved it".  I found myself smuggly proud that I was the kind of mom who did not feed her children this 'stuff'.  Well, having four kids I have realized that I don't want to be too rigid- afraid of future eating disorder issues, i am slowly introducing things like hot dogs and mac and cheese into our diet (I still can't do ramen noodles).

Here you see what my 2 year old did while I was in the shower.  He pushes the kitchen chair to the fridge and helped himself.  This is a boy who knows what he wants.

"Opps!  Mom caught us, if we look cute maybe she won't get upset."

Here they are together- Ben lovingly protecting his loot.

Rather tight grip!

So here is the debate..is it OK to let my children eat raw (presmoked) hot dogs?  To help you make an informed decision, here is what the USA FDA says.

Love to hear what you have to say!

Lots of Quilts

Here are some of the products from my long arm frenzy.  They are so cute.  I loved exploring the various patterns that I could do freehand on the long arm.  My neighbour had fun helping me take these pics.