Today was our daughter's birthday.  Although she has moved out on her own, she still wanted to come home for her birthday celebration.  When our kids were growing up, it was tradition that the birthday person got to pick the menu.  Some of the menus that the kids came up with may have been a bit strange with things that you wouldn't normally put together in the same meal, but because it was their day, they were allowed to make up any combination that they wanted.  So, today, according to our family tradition, our daughter got to pick the menu:  tacos, orange fluff salad, cold cuts, lemonade, and carrot cake.

I guess it doesn't matter how old they get, kids still gravitate back to their roots and traditions and the comforts of home.  Happy Birthday DD!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

This is a picture of my Mom, taken last Wednesday on her birthday.  I can't tell you how old she is, but I can tell you it was a milestone birthday and she doesn't look her age!  The flowers were from my brother and his family.  I wanted to get both the flowers and my Mom in the same picture so Mom crouched down behind the kitchen counter for the picture.



Our weather has not been very spring-like.  The only flowers that will survive right now are flowers inside the house.  I made my Mom this daffodil table runner and matching hot pad.  On my Mom's birthday, she got to see the table runner as a flimsy.  I finished the quilting today and delivered it to her today as a finished table runner. 

The table runner finishes at 17" x 43.5".  The pattern is,  "#144 - It's Fast, It's Easy" by Canadian designer Ursula Riegel of Designs to Share With You.  http://www.designstoshare.com/patterns/index.php5

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Popsicle Sticks and the Fifth FAB Birthday PAR-TAY of 2011

Happy Thanksgiving to my quilting friends south of the border in the U.S.A!

Today is my birthday.  I am the fifth and last FAB to be celebrating my birthday this year.  We have postponed the PAR-TAY until the new year--either January or February.  With 5 busy people's schedules to organize, Thanksgiving celebrations, Christmas and New Year's celebrations, we have all agreed that we will have more time to relax and celebrate after the New Year.

In the meantime, I have picked the quilt pattern that I want to work on during my PAR-TAY day.  I have chosen Popsicle Sticks from Atkinson Designs.

This is my test block.  I am glad I spent the time to put together a test block ahead of the quilting day as I now know that I will make the most efficient use of my fabric if I use WOF strips rather than FQ's.

I still have many fall coloured / themed fabrics in my stash to pull from so this will be another quilt from my stash.  I am planning to make my quilt King sized - 112" x 112".  I will need 49 of these 16 inch blocks made from 2.5 inch strips of fabric.

Terry Atkinson mentions on the pattern jacket that you will need 4 jelly rolls (2.5 inch strips, 42" long) or 50 fat quarters.  She goes on to say that if your fat quarters are smaller than 18" x 21", you will have to allow extra yardage.  When I was making my test block, I found that fat quarters did not work for me--too much waste.

This is a copy of the quilt from the pattern jacket.  This quilt is simple but effective--a take off from the traditional Rail Fence quilt pattern.  I have my strips cut and I am ready to PAR-TAY!

Fourth FAB Birthday PAR-TAY of 2011

Yesterday, we celebrated the fourth FAB Birthday PAR-TAY of 2011.  This time it was Pat's turn to be honored in the celebration.

http://bellcreekquilts.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-fab-ulus-birthday-par-ty.html

We started the party in the morning with Pat opening the gifts sent through the mail to her.  I was in such a hurry to get my parcel mailed off to Pat before my holiday that I forgot to snap a picture of it.  So, the picture below has been "borrowed" from Pat's site. 

I made Pat this bag/purse from a pattern called, the Cross Town Carry - Regan's Bag by Marlous Designs.

http://www.marlousdesigns.com/CrossTownCarryRegan.html

This is a fat quarter friendly pattern which can be made from 7 fat quarters.  This was a pattern introduced to our Monday night quilting group by Leslie.  Thanks for sharing your talents Leslie and leading us in successful completion of our bags!

I included a package of Coffee Crisp Bites in with Pat's gift.  It has become a tradition this year for me to include something Coffee Crisp in with the birthday packages I send.  We love Coffee Crisp in our house and I have been sharing this not-available-across-the-border treat with my friends. 

After Pat was done opening her birthday presents, we started working on our quilts.  Pat's choice of pattern was Minnesota Hot Dish by Atkinson Designs. 

This is one of my blocks.  You would never suspect that this log cabin inspired block would become the spiral design of the finished quilt.

I didn't have time before Saturday to cut my strips so I only finished a few blocks--enough though, that I could see the design emerge when you placed the blocks together in a quilt. 

All the fabrics in my quilt were 2.5 inch strips cut from my stash.  Shop the stash first!

Third FAB Birthday PAR-TAY of 2011

Saturday we celebrated Linda's birthday.  Linda is the 3rd FAB to celebrate her birthday this year.  Linda's "actual" birthday is August 10th but finding a date that 5 busy people can get together on line always proves to be a challenge.  It almost always has to be a Saturday if we want to sew, and we WANTED TO SEW!  So a date was picked--August 13 and everyone agreed to be there.

Instead of exchanging challenge projects this year, we have elected to honor the birthday girl and surprise her with something handmade. Gifts were made and mailed to Linda in advance of her party.  Saturday morning, the party kicked off with Linda taking opening each of her parcels--in the order they were received.  You can take a closer look at all the loot received by Linda by visiting her blog here:  http://catsnqlts2.blogspot.com/

Linda is a lover of 30's reproduction fabrics so I knew whatever I made, it had to be made from 30's fabrics.   I decided to make some things for Linda that I use a lot myself. 

The first thing I made was a mug organizer/pinafore.  I have one of these organizers attached to a mug on my sewing desk that is jammed full of all those little items you can't sew without that are easy to loose in a mass of fabric when you are sewing like, a seam ripper, ruler, marking pens, pencil, wooden iron, etc.  The pattern was from a kit that I received during a local quilt shop hop some years ago.

The second item I made was a bag for Linda to take her mug to class or guild with her.  Our guild charges a quarter for a Styrofoam coffee cup if you forget to bring your own ceramic mug with you to guild as we are trying to promote the green option.  I thought Linda's guild might have a similar practice.  I told Linda that my mug gets washed when I get home from the guild meeting and it is put right back into its bag along with my name badge so I am ready for the next meeting--just grab my bag and go.  I think Linda is going to adopt this process as well.  The outside of the bag has a number of pockets--designed to hold a spoon, tea bag, sugar packet, etc.  The pattern for the mug tote is from an Australian Patchwork and Quilting magazine some years ago. 
  

The pattern that Linda picked for us each to work on after the gift opening was first featured in the Winter 2010 issue of Quilts & More.  The pattern was called Line Art in that magazine, with a picture here:  http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/magazines/quiltsandmore/color-options-winter-2010_ss10.html
Allpeoplequilt.com has featured a second colourway called, Skinny Strips, with a picture here:  http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/projects-ideas/throws-wall-hangings/skinny-strips_1.html.

In true challenge fashion, I was having difficulty trying to decide on what "collection" of strips to use to make my version of this quilt. All I knew for sure was that I wanted to use existing stash--no additional purchases.  I cycled through ideas including something patriotic--just red and white, something Hawaiian--using some of my Hawaiian-themed fabrics purchased in Hawaii, and something chicken related--using some of my extensive collection of chicken/rooster fabrics.  I finally decided on a fall-themed version on Saturday morning.  Nothing like leaving the decision to the last minute!  Because I was late in making the decision on which fabrics to use, I was not 100% ready to start sewing when everyone else was ready to sew.  Some of my strips were pulled from my totes of pre-cut strips.  I did have to cut a few more background pieces and a few more reds, yellows, and browns to complement the strips I already had cut.

Once your strips are cut, this pattern is definitely doable in a weekend.  I was able to finish my version of Line Art, aka Skinny Strips Sunday night to the flimsy stage.  Here it is:

It was another great day sewing with the FABs.  The chatter/conversation that takes place while we sew probably keeps us from performing at peak production since we need to take time out from pushing the fabric through the machine to type-talk, but it is worth it.  Another great day enjoyed by all.   

April FAB Birthday Challenge

Cher's birthday was April 27.  Life got in the way and we had to delay birthday party celebrations until June 16.  We had one two hour window in the evening on that day where all 5 FABs were available.

Cher opened each present and described the contents in detail until the pictures could be distributed through the e-mail system.

I made Cher place mats.  (pattern:  Take Four Place Mats by Something Sew Fine / Cary Flanagan).  I downloaded the pattern from Quiltwoman.com. 

I love the patterns that you can download from Quiltwoman.com--no shipping costs and no waiting for mail delivery to bring the pattern to your house.  You place your order on line and shortly thereafter, the pattern is available for printing from your e-mail Inbox. 

I made the place mats reversible.  Two place mats had Valentine's Day fabric on the back and two place mats had Easter fabric on the back.

 

To match the fabric on the front and back of each place mat, I made the binding reversible.

 For fun and because Cher's birthday is near Easter, I included one Easter place mat / table topper.  This Easter Egg pattern was designed by one of our Quilt Guild members during our Guild's Place mat of the Month program this year.

The egg is reversible as well.

My friend started to call these, Cadbury eggs.  I think the name is great!

First FAB Birthday PAR-TAY of 2011

In 2008, the FABs started regular quilt challenges. 2011 is the year of the FAB Bday Party Challenge. First up was Pam, with a birthday on January 29 that for 2011 was moved to February 26. By February 26, not all parcels were received yet by Pam so we delayed the birthday party to March 5.

At 7 am Pacific timeon March 5, all FABs were positioned in front of their computer screens, chatting on line as we waited for Pam to open each of her gifts.

Pam is a big ME (Mary Engelbreit) fan. I had scraps of some ME fabrics in my stash and so I used those to make a ME inspired bag. The pattern is called, Market Bag and is a Terry Atkinson design from her book, Let's Do Lunch.

This is one side of the bag.

This is the other side of the bag.

I also made a matching triangle bag. This bag is made from the Humbug bag pattern.

Pam was also the recipient of the 5th pansy project - the first 4 were posted here: http://silverthimblequilting.blogspot.com/2011/02/pansy-finishes.html

These are thumbtacks made from fabric covered buttons.

After the presents were opened, we were on to the rest of the party. After watching the video on Youtube for the Jelly Roll 1600, Pam decided we should all make one of these quilts during her Par-Tay. Pam and Cher used Jelly Rolls, and Linda, Pat, and I used strips cut from our stash.

After joining your 2.5 inch strips together end to end, you will have 1,600 inches of fabric. (Note: Pam used some of her Jelly Roll strips for another project so she made the Jelly Roll 1080). Take the end of your strip and match it to the beginning of your strip and put the pedal to the metal and sew! You will be working on one long seam--800 inches long. You repeat this 5 times and end up with a lap sized quilt. There is to be no pressing of seams until the top is together. This is what my version looked like before pressing.

Within 2.5 hours, all 5 of us had our tops completed. The woman on the video claimed to have made her quilt within 35 minutes. I think it took longer than 35 minutes for me to complete my first seam!

We had a great day sewing together. This project may not have been something that anyone of us might have attempted on our own, but in the spirit of the FABs, we all gave it a try and had a blast doing it!

If you are interested in seeing the lap quilts made by the rest of the FABs, have a look here: Pam, Cher, Linda, Pat

Happy Birthday

We celebrated my husband's birthday last night with a traditional family meal. The weather has been great this past week so we were able to cook and eat outdoors in the backyard. Summer living is great.

This is my husband and my son--two peas in a pod.

The two peas, and my daughter. I never seem to have enough pictures of my three favorite people!

This is a photo from my garden. I have been keeping an eye on this Hydrangea bush--it does not like the intense heat we have been experiencing lately and so I have been giving it extra water to help preserve those gorgeous blooms.

First Finish for 2010

This is my first finish for 2010!

This isn't a quilt, but I am counting it as a finish anyway.

This bag was made a week ago as an early birthday present for my mom. I have made these bags before, but this is the first time I have made one with a zipper top.

The base of the bag is denim and the straps are webbing--going all the way down the side of the bag. The materials used make this a sturdy bag that will withstand heavy items such as books.

New Year's Eve

We enjoyed our New Year's family meal on New Year's Eve this year, rather than waiting until New Year's Day. Dinner was followed by birthday cake for my Dad.

We then played board games until midnight. After watching the fireworks from the Seattle Space Needle on TV, we wished each other a Happy New Year and headed to bed.


They say what you start your New Year doing foreshadows how you will spend the rest of that year. I have no problem looking forward to many celebrations throughout the new year with all of my family members near.

Birthday Celebrations

My birthday was November 24th. Since I was out of province on business on the 24th, we celebrated my birthday on Saturday night.Tradition in our family was always an angel food cake for on your birthday. This year was no exception to that tradition.

This is my DH and me. The photographer was my son.

After supper we retired to the family room. It was a nice relaxing way to celebrate a birthday.

Happy Birthday Harold and Brenda!

Yesterday we attended a surprise birthday party for my husband's sister. She turns 60 on the 8th. My husband was surprised when there was a cake there for him too.

I made this bag for my SIL for her birthday. The bag is called, Farmer's Market Tote and is from Terry Atkinson's book, Let's Do Lunch. My version is made from pastel batiks and is heavily quilted with straight lines. I love Terry's patterns because they turn out just like the pictures in her book--no surprises!

http://www.atkinsondesigns.com/patterns/patternDetail.asp?productid=606

Happy 23rd Birthday!

May 3 was my DS's 23rd birthday. This was also the day that my husband's family had chosen to celebrate my MIL's 80th birthday. My son was a little disappointed that his special day had been overshadowed by the 80th birthday celebrations and he would not be able to pick the menu for his birthday dinner. To help ease the disappointment, I took him out for a birthday breakfast. Here he is in the restaurant about to enjoy french toast and sausage.
After breakfast, we stopped by my parents' for a quick visit. This is myself, my son, my mom, and my dad. A neighbour was walking by and offered to take the picture for us.

This is the cake that was at my MIL's birthday celebration later in the day. All the grandchildren that have birthdays in the vicinity of Grandma were listed on the cake.

This is my MIL and some of her grandchildren.

Matthew's special birthday dinner was rescheduled to later in the week--Thursday, May 7th. Matthew celebrated with a menu of pancakes, sausage, and a Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

In our household, you get to request whatever you want for supper that day--even if it is breakfast for supper! LOL

Happy Birthday, M!

Happy 21st Birthday!

Today was my daughter's 21st birthday.

We celebrated in traditional style for our household - a menu for dinner which includes all the choices of the birthday celebrant, right up to the kind of cake.

Tonight, my daughter chose, grilled chicken and bison burgers, green salad, macaroni salad, pickles, potato chips, lemonade, and Dairy Queen ice cream cake.

We had my husband's mother and my parents in attendance. At one point in our lives, all grandparents lived in other cities far away from us. We are fortunate now to have everyone living close enough that we can celebrate milestones such as this together.

Happy Birthday, D!

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yesterday was my Mom's birthday.

My brother was here for a short visit with his family before they headed out for a family vacation so we took advantage of the photo opportunity.

Here is Mom with her daughter (me) and her son. We took another shot adding Dad to the mix.