Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Amy Butler contest


Fabulous fabric designer Amy Butler has a contest on right now. Using a specific line of her fabric, you have to create something. My niece was up for the past two weeks and her birthday is in October. Her mom said she would love a belt, so I killed two birds with one stone and made her a belt out of the Amy Butler fabric.

Just to make you all laugh, I have been searching for ric rac lately, kind of like my button fettish. My button drawer is quite full now, I even had someone, a dear friend, deliver me a box of fabulous buttons. And I spent some time last weekend sorting them by colour. But I digress, I haven't been having much luck finding ric rac at a good price. But after some investigative internet searching I found a batch of it at a very good price. Here is where you may let out a giggle, when I say batch of it, I mean a good chunk of assorted colours, and by good chunk I mean 75 yards of it. Yes, that previous sentenc is correct, 75 yards. So you should see some art quilts coming out of here with ric rac, if not, I will just sew it all into a big dress and give it as a birthday gift to the next friend whose birthday is coming up!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Space Shuttle Endeavour



I just had to post and tell you the exciting news above Manitoulin Island on Sunday nite. My husband had just popped in to his parents and called me and told me to get the cordless phone and go outside.
I grab the phone and dash outside. He tells me to look south into the sky and I should see the space shuttle. I must add at this point, that I have no sense of direction, navigation or geographical skills whatsoever.
I don't see it so he continues on explaining where I should be looking. I figure I am on the wrong side of the house so run around in the dark to the other side, then realize, no, that is not what he is saying. Then run back to where I started and finally I see a white dot in the sky, the space shuttle Endeavour.

At this point don't even bother to ask me where it came from, or how it ended up so I could see it, as I have no idea. We chat for another minute in awe of it and disconnect.

Then I have a brainwave that I should get this on camera to post on my blog. So continuing to look at it I make my way backwards towards the house. No I don't fall, I am not that much of a klutz. Now keep in mind I am very excited and decide I should run into the house as there is an excellent chance I can't find it in the sky when I come back. As I am running to the patio door, I think how fortunate that I left the screen door open so I don't have to take the time to open it to get the camera.

THUNK!

That is the sound of the phone hitting the deck as I ran really hard right into the screen door. I actually bounced backwards.

I did continue on and get the picture, although it didn't turn out. And now my screen door doesn't really slide open and closed.. . so if anyone would like to come over in the next day or two and pretend they broke it so I can send the blame elsewhere when my husband notices, that would be really appreciated. Now I have to go and ice the scrape on my nose, cheek and knee.

Ric Rac Flower



I just completed a ric rac flower. It is going to be the center of my latest quilt. I just have to lay it out and quilt it. I am obviously not looking forward to that part, as I just spent the last 2 days cleaning my studio instead of quilting it. But I needed to rearrange and clean so that was good.

The ric rac flower was time consuming but a nice hands on project in the evening. The colours of it match my latest quilt, so you can see that it is bright.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Family Vacation #2



We almost didn't go as an employee got hurt at work, but he recovered, so family vacation #2 got off to a late start. Then it rained the whole time but we didn't care. We didn't make it to Santa's Village but didn't care about that either. We had a blast travelling, amazing with two children, there were no fights or crying or whining. It helps that they love construction and machines and traffic. Thank goodness hwy 69 is always under construction!

They loved staying in a 'hotel', which was actually student housing at one of the campuses in Barrie, but it had a kitchen which was great and 2 bedrooms, not to mention a great price. And five minutes from family and shopping.

All in all, we had a lot of laughs, got to hang out as a family and are really really glad that we live on Manitoulin Island. REALLY!

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Summerfest and Smarties



Summerfest in our litte town means one thing to our family...our youngest is having another birthday. We celebrate it the same every year and we love it. Saturday morning pancake breakfast followed by parade where they throw candy to you. In the afternoon is the dirt bike and ATV races. Sunday is the highlight of the weekend, the Smash Up Derby. We have our vehicle parked there hours before the event and then we walk up, and can sit in the back on our lawn chairs and watch the event.

The cake pictured is in fact covered with smarties as my child loves them.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Cover Up contest



I just found out that there is an online contest for a beach cover up and it closes in the next day. I had made a plain one out of some old leftover knit my mom had a couple of weeks ago, so I dug that out. I then looked around my studio and found some left over prairie points. I added them to the bottom and sleeve cuffs. Then I scrounged for some fabric and made teeny tiny prairie points for the neckline and waist. I attached them using the newest wonder. It is sooo much better than bias tape. It is called FOE and was originally designed for making your own diapers. It stands for fold over elastic as it has a crease right in the center for folding. It is stretchy and doesn't fray. I had ordered some a while ago to have on hand and it worked just perfect and so easy to use.

This is what my cover up turned out like. The winner receives a new Singer sewing machine... so you see why I had to enter. It was alot of pressure as I didn't have time to design anything. I started at 9 pm last nite and finished just before midnite. It was definitely done on impulse with no planning. The 3 runner ups all receive a dress form from Singer. There are some good entries, but I had fun doing it.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

3 Cakes





I finished all three birthday cakes today for the triplets. The horse one is for one of the girls, and the dump truck is supposed to have 'dirt' in the back of it. I did this by starting with chocolate cake, then smearing thick chocolate icing, followed by broken chocolate cookies with gummy worms peeking through. Of course it is for the boy in the family.

The flower cupcakes is for the other girl who loves all types of flowers. It was definitely the most time consuming as each petal was cut and dipped into sprinkles. The licorice strings area all gathered at the bottom and tied together with a lace bow.

If you live nearby and want a cake made for a special occasion, give me a call!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Lemon Meringue Pies



3!
I made 3 lemon meringue pies this morning from scratch. A first for me. Our church is having an auction tonight and I was told that lemon meringue pies are big sellers. So I made them, I hope they sell.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Felt Fun



I am making birthday cakes later next week, 3 to be exact. For some adorable triplets. 2 of them have a toy incorporated into the cake, but the third one loves flowers. I am making a bouquet of flowers for her, but it will be all cake and candy. So I made her a felt board with a bunch of flowers for her to play with. I will post the 3 cakes on Friday for you to see. They are my original creations. Which means, I really hope they turn out!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Cupcakes


I am enjoying doing quick little projects in the evenings. I designed this little cupcake pincushion. I rescued the fabric for the top of the cupcake from the rag bin at my husband's garage.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Beautiful Belts





I decided to make belts. Fabric ones using my lovely designer fabric. They were quite simple to make and have a good thick feel to them. I used different inside stuff for each one.

The first belt is totally gorgeous due to the fabric. I used D rings on this one and a slider on the other. The D rings seem to have a better hold, but it may be because the only slider I had was a cheap plastic one. I like the look of the slider better, but not if my pants are going to slide right off me!

The second and third belts are the same belt. It is a reversible one. It is always tough for me when making something for the first time. Especially without a pattern. A good seamstress would use old scrappy fabric to see if it turns out, then use their good fabric. Not me. My theory is this, why would I waste all that time, when I could have made a good one the first time? Don't bother telling me the argument, I already know it. Needless to say, these are my first timers. Yes, I would do the reversible one differently next time, but I still love it.

I did notice when others displayed belts on the internet, they were actually wearing them on a pair of jeans with a white fitted t shirt. That would have been nice to do, except there was a fear that you may not see the belt beneath the big roll of fat hanging over. So I thought this would give you a better picture.

Friday, July 3, 2009

A Slice of Cake Pincushion





I have seen these pin cushions on the net and thought they would be fun to make. Especially because my pins are in a box. Of course when I tried to find a pattern online, I couldn't. So I made one myself. The first one, with the red trim wasn't quite wide enough. And the second is a bit too wide. Well, not if it is real chocolate cake, but maybe for a pin cushion. But they are good starts to a pattern design.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Canada Day


Today is Canada Day. We celebrated yesterday and today. Last nite was a big family supper and play with all the kids and grandkids and alot of fun. Today was spent drinking coffee and visiting.

I did try out a new pattern this afternoon, and am now very glad that it is behind me. You ever have one of those days when everything goes wrong? I did. I was trying out my new pattern and found it complicated to understand. I thought I could try a different sleeve with it, and that turned out to be my first mistake. My second was putting the sleeves on upside down, twice! I finally took that material, rolled it into a ball, and put it away. Of course it was my designer fabric. Then I took my $3 a metre fabric out, used the correct sleeve pattern, and after one more mistake of putting the sleeve on upside down, got it done.

So I am happy that my bad sewing day is over for a while and I won't be using that pattern for a long time.