Basic Grey Sampler - Complete!

I'm sure you remember me telling you that I won a Basic Grey Sampler  from Amy at During Quiet Time.  I finally had a chance these past few days to finish it!

I tried my hand at making a few yo yos for the first time in various shades of green and aqua.  I used one of the packages of Basic Grey buttons, and then dug through my button collection to find a few more that matched.

I sewed on the buttons and hot glued the yo yos on.

I'm really pleased with how this turned out, and I know it'll look great hanging in my sewing room!  I'll try to take some better pictures in better light once it's hanging in its place.

Stroll Down the Garden Path - Complete!

My giveaway is still going on!  Go check it out!

Hooray!  I finished another quilt!  

I started this one at the beginning of July and have had an on-again, off-again relationship with it ever since.  I have another quilt that needs to get done asap, as well as a few other pressing projects, so I wanted to just finish this one up and get it out of the way.

I saw this quilt by Red Pepper Quilts and thought it would be a great quilt to use up some of my vintage sheet as well as some other scraps.  Some of the fabrics were even my Oma's, so it was nice to be able to find a good home for them. 

I named it 'Stroll Down the Garden Path' because in my mind the green forms a path that winds its way through the garden - the floral and patterned fabrics.

The back is another thrifted vintage sheet.

This one has found a home on my couch downstairs and keeps me warm while watching TV.

Scrappy Mug Rug Swap

Don't forget about my Apron Giveaway!

I have decided that I really love Flickr swaps.  They're a great opportunity to meet other sewers and quilters from around the world, and who doesn't love coming home from work to find a package full of goodies!?

The Fall/Halloween round was my first round with the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap.  I was a little worried because I don't have much experience making mug rugs.  My partner wanted a Halloween themed mug rug. I had a bit of a hard time coming up with a design because I'm not really big into Halloween, and I didn't have ANY Halloween fabrics.  My partner specified a few fabrics that she liked (of course none of which I had...) and also mentioned she liked purple and green together.

I started with the Bare Trees background, which was similar to one of her favorite fabrics.  I then decided to try my hand at appliqué and added a little scared pumpkin.  I got the idea for the button spiders from some picture I saw once on Flickr (I can't remember where, sorry!).  

Then for the back I did some wonky piecing in purple and green.  

To the mug rug I added a few extra goodies:  a stuffed jack-o-lantern, some googly eyed spider stickers, Lindor chocolate pumpkins, some Basic Grey buttons, and a brown and orange vintage pillowcase.

When my partner (who happened to also live in Calgary) received my package, she seemed pleased with everything which really made my day.

A week after sending my package my husband emailed me a picture at work of an envelope with a customs sticker saying "Mini Quilt".  I couldn't wait to get home to see which mug rug I had received!  I loved looking through the group photo stream and dreaming about which of the mug rugs was going to be mine.  There was on in particular I had my eye on, and right from the initial sneak peak I had secretly hoped it would be the one that showed up on my doorstep.  Imagine my delight when I opened the envelope and there it was!!

I love everything about it, and it's clear to see that so much effort was put into it.  Stephanie from Spontaneous Threads was worried that it wasn't quite what I was hoping for, so she made me a second one as well!!

I love them both - I think they're fantastic!  I think both of these beauties will go on my wall in my sewing room.  They're truly pieces of art!!  Check out her blog post about them here.

100th Post!

This is my 100th post!  I initially started this blog when my husband and I went on our honeymoon so that our family and friends back home could track with us on our trip.  Then I abandoned it for a little bit, then felt like I wanted to keep up with blogging so I randomly published a few posts on making roasted squash seeds, crocheted scarecrows, and some photography.  Once I got my sewing machine and started sewing and quilting I started publishing on a regular basis.  77 of my 100 posts happened in the last 6 months!

As a celebration of my 100th post I'd like to host a giveaway.  I bought this towel from my local Goodwill store and made a little apron out of it.

So you know the drill.  You can have up to 3 entries:

1)  Leave a comment - any comment!

2)  Become a follower or let me know if you already are.

3)  Repost on your blog or facebook and come back and let me know you did.

Sometimes Blogger acts up and doesn't allow comments to be left.  If that happens, just email me.  Email entries will count the same as comments left here.  Sorry for the inconvenience!

The winner will be chosen at random and chosen November 1.

Basted... Ready to Quilt

It's all basted and ready to quilt!!