From A - New Things

After seeing a number of five-year diaries on various blogs, I decided that it was time to start one of my own. A lot has changed in my life over the course of the past five years and I expect that the next five years will be just as full of new and exciting experiences and challenges. It seems like the perfect time to make a daily record of the important things in my life. Although I have just gotten started, I am really enjoying the five minutes I spend each evening reflecting on my day and putting together a sentence or two that captures it.

I also started another new quilting project in honour of my work colleague's recent announcement that she and her husband are expecting a baby girl in early July.

My co-worker keeps mentioning that she is planning to use white, lavender, pink and minty green in her nursery. I was having a hard time envisioning the palette until I saw that Aneela Hoey's new Posy collection used hat exact combination of colours.

I love how sweet and cheerful the prints in this collection are. There is enough variety and interest that I am planning to just sew all of my charm squares into a baby sized quilt to let the fabric shine. Nothing fancy, no extra fabrics and no crazy patchwork. Easy and satisfying.

I spent part of my morning working on possible layouts. These bright fabrics have definitely softened the blow of the snow that fell earlier today.

From K: Perfect Corner Baby Blankets

This past Saturday it was +7 so I went for a pedi wearing flip flops and started planning a few spring/summer wardrobe sewing projects while soaking in the sunshine. By Sunday morning though, I woke up to this:

6+ inches of snow in 12 hours is hardly a subtle reminder from mother nature that it's still winter in Canada. But it did get my head back on track with where I should really be focusing my mind. In a few days the hubs and I will be hitting the open (hopefully snow plowed) road to my home town in Manitoba where I know a few baby boys that need blankets. And by need, I really mean that I just can't help but sew them some :)

Nothing seems cozier than flannelette in the winter, and judging by todays weather, the chilly temperatures might be sticking around.

I followed a fantastic tutorial by Apostrophy Designs to whip up two Perfect Corner Baby Blankets. I've likely made about a dozen of these over the past year and I'm sure I'll make dozens more in the future. To be honest I stocked up on flannelette specifically with these blankets in mind.

The tutorial is great and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I generally make at least two in a sitting and it doesn't take more than an hour a piece (though fancy stitching can add significant time so be warned). 

I love showing up back home with lots of home made gifts and kidlet hugs in return. I think my cousin's sweet little boys will love these.

From A - Seeing Stars

Just home from an amazing week in Panama with one of my childhood friends, I wasn't quite ready to forget the relaxing days on the beach and head back into the fray of regular life at home. The trip was a celebration of my friend's upcoming 30th birthday and I decided on the flight home that I wanted to make a quilt for my friend that would remind her of this birthday vacation for years to come.

One of the most memorable parts of our trip was the time we spent on the beach each night talking and looking at the stars. A starry quilt made from starry fabric seemed like the perfect thing.

Enter Julie Herman's White Star quilt and Lizzy House's Constellations collection. I also added in a few other prints from my stash to add a bit of contrast.

I've only just started cutting out my fabrics but I am really excited to see this one come together. Since there are only 12 blocks in this quilt top, I think it might actually be a quick finish. Here's hoping I can finish up the cutting this weekend and find at least a bit of time to reacquaint myself with my sewing machine sometime later this week.