Happy Victoria Day!

It’s a holiday Monday in Canada. Victoria day. Happy Victoria Day to my fellow Canadians – I hope you had a nice burst of heat as we did in Southwestern Ontario and that you enjoyed the extra time with your loved ones. I had a big task list that I wanted to get through with the extra day. I touched a little on each but none were fully completed. Here’s the run-down. 1. Garage – I’ve been following Org Junkie’s The Great Garage Clean Out Challenge. It’s very inspirational. We have a rafter that we rotate seasonal items onto. I

22 May 2012 2 Comments

Sewing Machine Maintenance

I just signed up for this FREE Craftsy class called “Sewing Machine 911“. It’s to teach beginners to advanced how to care for their machine and determine what is wrong should things not workout. Perhaps this could save some repair money with regular maintenance and a general knowledge and understanding of when help is indeed required instead of continuing on and making things worse (and more expensive!). Let me know if you take the class and what you think of it! Note: I am not in any way affiliated with Craftsy or this class but I wanted to share this

16 May 2012 4 Comments

Small Projects Sew-Along

Crazy Mom Quilts is having a “Small Projects Sew-Along“. I love that I can participate and get a lot of existing projects done versus having yet another project to add to my list. This sew-along also comes with great timing since I just purchased a lot of material for projects this past weekend while I was in the USA on a dance tournament. (Read more about it here) Sewing projects I would like to complete this month: Shorts for Travis (x2) Shorts or skirts for Ava (x2) Dresses for Ava (x2) Mend plush baby toy Mend winter gloves Mend Travis’s

2 May 2012 4 Comments

Sewing Ambitions

Ava (6 years old) had a dance competition in Niagara Falls, New York this past weekend. It was fun to watch her dance and to see her hair in beautiful curls. The make-up is a little much but on stage it looks normal under the bright lights and we wash it off right after her dancing numbers are done. Going to the USA also meant I got to visit a Joann’s Fabric store! I was able to find some really cute fabric. I just guessed at the amount of fabric so I hope it’s enough since I can’t exactly go

1 May 2012 2 Comments

The Christmas Beast

I have been so incredibly focused on making the items I have planned for Christmas. Three Saturdays (including today) to work on my surprises. I’m excited to both work on these projects and show them to you. Here’s a sneak peak at the “beast” which I am dubbing the king-sized quilt. I had exactly, to the edge, enough fabric to finish one of the cream-coloured borders. And guess what I did? I scorched a piece of it. I tried to put vinegar and washed it out right away to no avail. Thank goodness I found an itty bitty piece I

10 December 2011 1 Comment

Friday Night Sew-In (Follow Up)

Today I feel motivated again. Friday Night’s Sew In inspired me to continue working away at the king-sized quilt with 2″x2″ finished squares top. I’ve worked on it Friday, Saturday and now today (Sunday). This is a labour of love but sometimes it feels mostly like a labour. It’s going to be beautiful when it’s done and I can hardly wait to show you. I would take photos today but a) it’s a Christmas gift and I want it to be a surprise and b) I’m taking enough of a chance typing out this update post (I just got busted

20 November 2011 1 Comment

Friday Night Sew-In

Tonight is Friday night sew-in! It’s an opportunity to sew and work on some of my Christmas gifts. They had a fabulous tip … cut all your fabrics BEFORE tonight so you can just sew, sew, sew. Guess what I’ll be doing today? SO excited!! Will you be joining us?

18 November 2011 No Comments

Finished, New and Ongoing Project Updates

I’ve been accomplishing quite a few projects lately, some of which were not on the “to do list” but were so cute I had to do them! I did a baby blanket to give to new baby Adam (a future daycare client!). Great stash-buster of my baby yarns. I also “whipped up” a crayon wreath for the front door. To make the wreath, I purchased a pressed board wreath circle, hot glued a pack of 64 crayons. I added a few school cutouts (apple, school house, school bus) to the top and voila! Instant front door and Back-To-School wreath. My

4 September 2011 No Comments

Large T-Shirt to Fitted Tee Tutorial

Here is a fantastic post that I want to share with my readers. Andrea from a.steed’s.life (links to tutorial) did this while at her trailer!! I do have a ton of too-big tee shirts that I love but was debating getting rid of because I like them. It makes me sad that I did get rid of some too-big sorority tees a while ago.

31 July 2011 No Comments

Quilting Tips

As you may know, I am on my 3rd quilt (all queen sized) and the two most valuable tips I can share are … stick your ironing board behind the table you are sewing on, at the same level of the table. It will hold the bulk of the weight of the quilt you are not using (wish I had figured this out 2 quilts ago!). I also discovered a temporary fabric adhesive (505) that can be found in quilting stores. I used that to sandwich the fabric (batting on the floor then spray and add the backing, flip so the

11 July 2011 1 Comment

Category: sewing