It's here! It's here!

It's probably not too often that someone opens up the mailbox and yells out, "My fabric!" Thankfully there was nobody around when I found this package in my mail yesterday. It's compact, but hefty with probably about 10 metres of fabric jammed in there.

And what wonderful fabric was tucked inside! I picked it out (after much uncharacteristic uncertainty) for the project I'll be making at my first quilting retreat with my mom in April. The quilt pattern is quite traditional, so I'm hoping this fabric will give it a more modern feel.

The main fabrics are all from Momo's Chirp Chirp. The large floral will be the focal fabric. I love the muted greens with a spattering of red. It has a real retro feel. Instead of just a flat white for the background, I picked out a crosshatch white for added texture from the new Architextures line. And then flame orange and green Kona cotton solids for the binding and backing, respectively. I think they all look great together and I love that it's a departure from the bright colours I usually go for.

I got it all from the Canadian online store Fabric Spot. I'd definitely recommend them. They quickly answered an email I sent asking for suggestions on the cotton solids and the package arrived in days. Such fast fabric satisfaction!

A tale of four table runners

Here are pictures of our table runners from last weekend's quilting extravaganza. It's amazing how different each one looks. The pattern is Jaybird's Seaside table runner.

Miss C's runner uses a variety of bright colours that look even more cheery with the dark blue background.

Miss D's is from a Mad about Patchwork kit with Tula Pink's Acacia line, the bright fabrics mellowed by the sage background. Too bad the raccoons are hiding on the back!

Miss TK's is also quite mellow with Cloud 9 fabric against grey canvas. Everybody chose to do simple quilting following the zig zag pattern.

And here's mine, a couple steps behind. All the fabric is Piper with a great blend of orange and purple. And I'm getting used to the background zigging and zagging in different directions.

Kudos to everyone! Stand back and admire your work!

Busted!

My camera has been sitting on the coffee table in my living room for a few days lately, which allowed me to capture some very candid moments of my dog Alexi. How can such an elegant dog also be such a goof?

Here's the endless cycle of her pulling the stuffing out of toys, and me stuffing it back in:

"I don't know who did that. Certainly not me. I just came in here and found it like that."

Then there's her rather relaxed pose on the couch:

And, yes, this is exactly what it looks like. A dog sucking on her back paw.

Ridiculous.

Super Crazy Awesome Quilting Fun with Friends and an Amazing Teacher Weekend

This weekend I had three CFFs over for a quilting workshop lead by the crafting guru, a.k.a. my mom. Our project: the Seaside Table Runner by Jaybird Quilts. Thankfully before we got too far, we realized the pattern was more tricky than it first appears. (I'll post photos later of the runner each of us made - all with a very different look from our diverse fabric choices.)

But before we got to the quilting, there was much present opening for our belated Christmas celebration. And what wonderful goodies I received! For them I made this retro clutch using a couple fabrics from Rashida Coleman-Hale's koi collection with a fuchsia lining for a surprise splash of colour. The koi fabric seemed the perfect choice because I picked it up on a crafty excursion to Chicago with one of my CFFs.

The rest of the swag was stuff they could use on the quilting weekend. I made the cutest little thread catchers from a pattern I found on All People Quilt.

Then I stuffed them with a super-handy awl, clips and quilting safety pins.

Of course what would any gathering be without lots of good food. We enjoyed Smitten Kitchen's New York Breakfast Casserole with kale salad and smoked salmon for lunch and chicken wild rice soup for dinner on Saturday, then Sunday's breakfast was tea biscuits, yogurt and blueberries and this Thai chicken soup for lunch. I didn't get the best photo, but after smelling its delicious aroma all morning, I was eager to tuck in to my bowl of curry goodness.

From top to bottom, it was a wonderful weekend with wonderful friends, and learning many great tricks from our very patient teacher. My only complaint is that it went by too fast.

Splash of pink

This lap quilt was made for a dear CFF's birthday. As with all my quilting endeavours, it started with neatly piled stacks. So many blocks for my biggest project yet.

Because I used muted greys and blues, I wanted to add a little colour by way of crazy bright pink binding. Which is not far off the wall colour in my craft room, as you can see here when I'm sewing on the binding.

Again my foyer doubled as a quilt basting area. (The colour is a bit off here with my clumsy adjustments for the late-night lighting.) Surprisingly the cats weren't helping me while I pinned this one onto its backing.

I used the Belle Wave pattern from Fresh Lemon Quilts. A simple pattern to go with calming colours.

The quilting was done by a lovely woman who decided on straight intersecting lines, which I think is perfectly suited to the pattern. She did an amazing job.

I couldn't resist a photo to highlight the awesome pink binding.

Finally it is off to its new home, where I hope it will be much used and loved.