Sunday Stash - What happened to restraint?

Okay... so I really want to make a Christmas quilt. I've wanted to for years and have always baulked at the idea of having to store a quilt for the other 11 months of the year. Who am I kidding? I have piles... literally piles... of quilts hanging out in my house. What's one more? A while back, I got a heck of a deal on this madness...

This week, I washed it all up and started stalking Pinterest to find just the right pattern. It must have pieces large enough to show off these lovely prints, but not look like I just sewed FQs together. Suggestions are welcome!

And then there's the fact that I wanted to make DT and I matching Christmas jammie pants. We had some last year, but obviously DT have grown and theirs no longer fit. And I fell in love with this...

Yup. Cotton + Steel Tinsel Washi. In flannel. I am a weak, weak individual. And it's like Mad About Patchwork can smell my weakness. When I went to the website to  ogle check on this flannel for the ten thousandth time, the Tinsel prints were on sale! On sale, I say! I turned to my husband and said "It's a sign!!!" He gave me his PayPal password.

So all this is to say that this flannel-y goodness...

 And this...

...arrived at my home this week. These three C + S prints are to add to the FQ bundle. You know, because you can't have enough Tinsel. More is more.
And this stack of Kona somehow made it into my home as well.

But that's another story altogether. Avocado, Peridot, Jungle, Basil, Hunter Green and Evergreen. It's looking a little green around here. Don't worry. All will be revealed... one day.

I'm linking up with that oh-so-sparkly Australian enabler, Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash. And you know what? I'm pretty sure I'll be back with more fabric madness next week. Honestly. Somebody had better call my sponsor for an intervention.
J

Friday Finish - Jumbo Jaw Breaker (and ALYOF - November Finish!)

Sometimes you surprise even yourself. When I set this goal at the beginning of November, I thought it was a long shot... at best. (I happened to be #63 on the Goal Setting Party).

But lo and behold, I actually did finish Jumbo Jaw Breaker... and in time to gift it to my dear friend and quilt holder, Ms. K.V, for her birthday tomorrow.   

I was heading to one of my fav surf beaches, Lawerencetown, but the kite surfers were in the air at pre-beach! I always think it would be so cool to cover that hill in the distance with quilts. We'd just need a few. ☺

In the absence of a quilt holder, one must improvise. Cobble beaches offer so many possibilities for quilt weights. There are so many special fabrics in this quilt... many of them were also used for DT's Plus Two Quilts. For the quilting, I did an assymetrical hexagon pattern, echoing out from one of the hexies on the quilt top.  Those echoes covered the entire quilt, reaching right out to the edges.
Then I chose two more hexies and did some echoes off of them. The echoes overlap like ripples in a pond when you throw more than one pebble. This pic also shows off my pieced back.
I even remembered to put on one of quilt labels before I quilted and bound it. My stock of these is dwindling... time for a new order!

I love the way the backing fabrics work with the top. And I love that they were in my stash! Some were hard to part with, but it one is going to buy fabric, they should be prepared to use it!

So many glamour shots of this quilt. Once it was done with the cobbles, it really wanted to play on the dune grass. Who was I to say no?

The Deets  
Title: Jumbo Jaw Breaker (Jaw Breaker from Jaybird Quilts)
Size: 51 by 51 inches (it's not big, but it's small!)
Fabric Used: A big ole pile of teals from my stash with pops of acid green
Konas Used: None... it's shocking!
Quilting: Assymetrical echo ghost hexies in white and two shades of teal
Binding: Dottie's Cousin in Lime (Cotton & Steel), hand stitched with Gutterman 20 (White) 

Backing: Pieced from my stash

Favourite Part(s): Being able to met what I thought was an impossible deadline and buying only batting to complete this quilt

So happiest of birthdays to you, Ms K.V., with  much love from me, Himself, BT, and especially your favourite twin, GT. Your support in the past year means so much to all of us. From Friday BPM nights to early Sunday morning circus school, you've earned the title of Auntie!

And of course, I'm going all link-up crazy. I'm linking up with TGIFF @ Quilting Among the Groves, Finish up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, and ALYOF November Finishes Party @ Fibre of All Sorts. If you've got an hour (or two), head on over to all those link ups and check out the productivity and creativity on display!

J

Throwback Thursday {Volume 5} coming soon!

For all those of you who seem to have Throwback Thursday sneak up on you, get ready! Next Thursday, December 3rd will be {Volume 5} and the last TBT for 2015. Where on earth did this year go? Seems like just yesterday that I was Looking Both Ways and revising The List for 2015!

Since Christmas is almost upon us, I thought it would be fun to link up quilts from your dark Christmas-y past. You know, that horrendous pink poinsettia tree skirt you made for your mom or those stockings that took a year and half to make. Oh wait. That's me. ☺

But I digress. Here's a some Christmas #TBT to get you inspired.

It's a spider web tree skirt I made for the Parents in Law for the Christmas of 2012. They keep it out during the holidays even before the tree goes up by folding it and draping it over a trunk. I guess they like it. ☺ You can read about more presents I made that year in this post from the early days of A Quarter in From the Edge. It's all I can do not to go back and edit. Such small pics!

Hope to see you back next week with a Christmas quilt from your dark quilty past to link up. Or maybe it's a Hanukah table runner. Or a Kwanzaa wall hanging. Or Yule pillow. Or an item you gave to someone for one of those holidays. Or whatever. Just dust off those projects and take some pics... it's an equal opportunity link-up.  And there's a great prize from Fabric Please again this month!

J

P.S. Just a couple more days to get in on a sweet giveaway from Fridays Off Fabric! 

WIP Wednesday - Busy, busy, busy...

It's pretty much always busy around here, but this week, I managed to be busy in the studio! Yay!
First up, a fun little fabric book. Last week, when DT were at the doctor for the dreaded one year vaccinations, GT was entertained for a good 15 minutes by a little fabric book that she hadn't seen before. Clearly, we need more of these! So when one of my Do Bee mates was cleaning out her magazine stash and I spied a pattern for a colour book, I jumped right in.

 I do love digging through my 2½ inch square collection... even if they are a little dated.

I even found these little lovelies.... ugh. Squares from my first quilt, started in the summer of 1998 under the tutelage of Adrienne @ Chezzetcook Modern Quilts.

I got so carried away with making the pages that I didn't take any pictures. They're nine patches of 2½ inch squares. Some are fussy cut for a bit of I Spy fun down the road.

I only stopped to take pics when I had to rip apart a finished page set. I have trouble thinking in 3D and when I sewed it all together, the pages weren't in rainbow order. Unacceptable. And yes, I seam rip with a rotary cutter #quiltylittlesecrets

Then on to the cover... I opted for something totally different than the magazine version. I thought I'd use this handy little ruler.

Turned out that the triangles were too big for my book cover, but the off cuts were pretty much perfect. I love a little quilty serendipity!

They got a good dose of Heat n' Bond and then I appliquéd them in place.

Et voilà... fabric book! It's hard to resist giving it to the kiddos to play with right now. But I'm saving it for Christmas!

I modified the pattern from the magazine a fair bit. Their version was a 16 patch page. I used batting in the pages and fusible interfacing in the cover. Next time, I'd do the opposite!

 

Now that I've got a handle on how to make them, I'm thinking of making a few more. We've got a road trip coming up! 

And since everyone worries that DT is left out of the sewing treats, I whipped up some Big Butt Baby Pants (insert Anja @ Anja Quilts laughing.. she loves the name). Actually, he was low on pants.... that kid just keeps growing! My trusty Wonder Clips came in handy when it was time to hem them.

And here they are in action! The pants that is. DT are always in action. Unless they're asleep.

Though they aren't as cute without the model, these Ocean themed (in cotton) and astronaut (in flannel) pants are pretty damned cute too. The astronauts and stars glow in the dark!

I even managed some time to work on QPP Project #1. Sorry, no pics. Top secret! ☺

I am, of course, linking up with the lovely Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social, as well as with WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced. Hope you got some sewing in this week... I know I feel sew much better when I do!

J

P.S. In case you weren't around yesterday, click on over to read about the new Le Club gift subscriptions from Fridays Off Fabric and enter the giveaway!

Making your Christmas list? {Sponsored Post}

Have you noticed that it's just one month until Christmas Eve? Yikes. How did that happen? Perhaps you're working away on your Christmas list for Santa. Does he know any cool, Canadian on-line fabric shops? Last Christmas, my in-laws stepped in for Santa and they sure did! Each month for 6 months, a squishy bundle of happiness arrived in my mailbox. You can check out some of the fabric-y goodness here, here, and here. This year, Alanna @ Fridays Off Fabric contacted me to see if I'd spread the word about it being easier to give Le Club. There are gift subscriptions - 3 or 12 months of the Full Stash (12 fat quarters) or the Half Stash (6 fat quarters).

Fridays Off carries lots of my favs - Carol Friedlander, Cotton & Steel,  Lizzy House, Ann Kelle. I could go on and on. But the selection isn't limited to the fabrics you see at every other shop. The bundles I received last year rarely contained fabric that I could buy at my LQS. 

And, because Alanna over at Fridays Off Fabric is so great, she's offering up a giveaway - November's Half Stash Bundle, featuring some lovely Christmas-y Cotton & Steel. I may or may not have some of these in my stash at the moment! ☺

To win, leave me a comment telling me about the best quilting related present you've ever received. And there's a bonus entry to those of you who follow Fridays Off Fabric. She has a shop newsletter and all the usual social media platforms. Just tell me how you follow. The giveaway is open to international participants until Monday, November 30th at 11:59 pm Atlantic Time. If you're a no-reply blogger, don't forget to leave an e-mail in your comment, otherwise you can't be contacted if Mr. Random Number Generator chooses you!

J

P.S. Although this is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.

P.P.S. If you don't manage to get the gift of Le Club this Christmas, Alanna's starting up a solids subscription club in January - 8 solid fat quarters every month for $19.99 a month.

Sunday Stash - Am I blue?

Hello out there, fabricaholics! It's been some time since my last Sunday Stash (all the way back in September in fact!) As boring as it sounds, I've been working from my stash and trying pretty hard not to buy any fabric. But my Candy Coated Collections are still rolling in! Here's November's offering!

I think Aimee @ Candy Coated Quilts sneaked into my studio and used my computer mouse as the inspiration for this bundle!

Okay, okay. So the inspiration wasn't my mouse. It was this little lovely... Aimee's a bit of Blue Jay fan. Not this sort of Blue Jay fan... she refrained from using the team logo!

I'm linking up with Sunday Stash with Molli Sparkles. Ah... so sparkly.

J

TGIFF - I've been bitten...

Don't panic. I'm not rushing off to the ER for a tetanus shot nor do you need to start preparing garlic necklaces and sharpened stakes! I've been bitten by the mini mini bug!

This trend has been sweeping the blogosphere (and apparently Instagram-ville... though I'm not on that trend) for the past few weeks. And when I realized that my bloggy (and real life) pal, Anja, was hosting TGIFF this week, I needed a finish. FAST.

When I got to thinking about what to make, this pillow came to mind. It's one I made for our pillow swap with the Edmonton Modern Quilt Guild a while back. This could be easily made mini mini! And I do love me some selvages.

Instead of using my typical muslin or white Kona as a foundation, I opted to use strips of wash away stabilizer. That way, if it was too bulky when the selvages were stitched in place, I could submerge it in water and be done with the bulk. Incidentally, that didn't turn out to be necessary. ☺ I cut my strips 1 3/4 by 6½ inches, so I could trim them down.
Then to the selvages. I have a ridiculous number of teal selvages. Likely a result of a ridiculous number of teal fabrics in my stash.
And then I got so caught up in the fun that I didn't take another picture until I was quilting. Yikes. These mini minis really do come together fast! And match stick quilting is so much easier to commit to when you're only doing something 6 inches square!

To bind it, I used Yvonne @ Quilting JetGirl's fab selvage tutorial... easy peasy. It seems like the perfect way to finish this mini and saved me from even considering the madness that would be my usual double fold binding.

 This entire business just makes me happy. I think I might be hooked.

I've been working with these fabrics a lot lately... as you'll see in next Friday's big reveal. I love those little bees and their hexie hive!

And here it is with the quilt that inspired it, a little wallhanging that was meant to be a pillow at one point. It lives on my studio wall. The mini mini finishes up at 6 inches square... which is apparently a bit large for a mini mini. Oh well.

I am, of course, linking up with TGIFF @ Anja Quilts today, as well as with Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts. How about you? Have you jumped on the mini mini swap bandwagon? This one's up for swapping. Just let me know!

Psst... did you hear about the Birthday Bonus Club?

 There are still spots open, but they're going fast. Don't miss out!

J

It's coming...

Christmas, right? Nope! It's better than that! It's the...

What is this, you say? Julia @ Jada's Quilting Adventures and I have been cooking up a something for the new year - a club to exchange mini charms (2½ inch squares). Here's how it works. Each month, you'll package up 50 charm squares for each lucky Birthday Queen. When your birthday month rolls around, your mailbox will be filled with squishy fabric love. Interested?

If you are, here's the extended re-mix - read as... The Rules... broken down into manageable little bits.

Participants:

• should be Canadian
• should be Facebook users (a Closed group has been set up so participants can communicate with each other)
• must commit to participating for the full year (January to December 2016)
• should keep a list of packages received during their birthday month (a list will be provided on the closed Facebook group)
• should be prepared to buy fabric if they do not have requested colour/style/motif in their stash
• should be prepared for the inherent risks of swapping ☺ (addiction, excessive trips to the post office, potential disappointments)
• will be capped at 35 for 2016

Fabric: 

• Each Birthday Queen receives 50 mini charm (2½ inch) squares from the other participants
• Squares may be the same fabric or a variety (stash busting is encouraged!)
• Does not need to be pre-washed, but can be
• Should be quilt shop quality fabric

Requests:

• May be for a particular colour (i.e. red), motif (i.e stripes), or style (i.e. low volume)
• May not be for a particular brand or designer
• May include one "Please no" (i.e. "Please no florals") 

Here's the monthly timeline...

1st of the month - Birthday Queens post their requests
15th of the month - Deadline to mail fabric
20th of the month -  Birthday Queens post the list of participants from whom they have not yet received fabric

Phew... that's a lot of explaining! Still interested? Then head on over to FaceBook and search for Birthday Bonus Club! Julia and I will add participants to the group on a first come-first served basis. Don't miss out on the fabric fun!

J

Update: For some reason, the group is behaving like a Private group, not a closed one. Please try following this link and let me know if it works! ☺ Birthday Bonus Club! on FaceBook

Finish - A Year of Double Trouble

I can hardly believe that it's been an entire year since this post. And 11 months since this one. As part of our celebration, I made the kiddos some matching onesies. Price on ETSY? More than I care to pay. And it only took me one naptime to complete!
I used the tips and tutorial from Crap I've Made. Have I mentioned that I freakin' love that blog title? I even used the template she provided for the number 1. Ain't nobody got time to reinvent the wheel here people!

I struggled with what fabric to use... I wanted it to stand out, but I also wanted subtle. I think this looks a little like confetti!

A couple months ago, Val @ Purple Boots and Pigtails gave me some inside info on how to machine appliqué. I wrote 'em down in my trusty notebook and followed them to the letter on this one.

 I even used stabilizer!

 

We had a great day of celebrating as a family today. Birthday pancakes, ripping the paper off their first presents, lots of singing and smiling! And tomorrow, there will be cake!

And since it's Friday, I'm linking up with TGIFF @ Quilt Matters  and Finish Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

J