Spring Is Our Inspiration

The colours of spring is influencing our palette for this collaborated quilt. Heck, any season other then winter is inspirational as I am getting tired of winter. I really hope that groundhog is on the money and we are half way through the 6 more weeks of winter.




We won't be working on the quilt for another week as our schedules don't coinside. I took the opportunity to try at the squares between the lattice like placement. We will use the beautiful peony fabric inside the squares and used the other fabrics to create a frame-like work.

A little detail on the inside border; mitered edge. It not the most visible detail but it will match the other borders we will be adding to the quilt. Can't wait!

My Weakness

I was to go to the fabric store tomorrow with my friend to make another quilt for another co-worker. But I could not resist and went today just cause it was "on the way". Ok, not really but if you tell yourself something over and over again, you believe it was true. I was planning to make a large quilt for the living room using the same "bento box" pattern as the last quilt I made. It was suppose to be black, white, grey and red colour scheme but there was very little red fabric on sale. Yes, I only buy fabric on sale cause I don't believe to spend over $10 per meter. Only because you can find good quality fabrics for less. So why spend so much when a little patience can give you more to spend.

Anyways, here is what I found. I want to find a few more swatches but I think I will resist and just use what I got. I can't wait to start on this quilt, however, I should finish the twins' quilts before I start anything.



Something else beautiful I found. I thought this pink floral fabric would be an option for our friend and use it toward the next collaborated quilt. The recipent's favourite colours are pinks and reds. Doesn't matter if we use it or not, cause I definitely can find a project for this beauty. Or I can just hang it and just stare at it. The greens are a little grey but I assure you they are vibrant and lively.


I can't wait till we go fabric shopping tomorrow and I can come back and show you what we find.

Happy Birthday Beautiful!

Happy birthday my beautiful friend. You are one year older and still as beautiful. I hope you love your gift. You wanted colourful and you got the colours of the rainbow.




I thought about putting the quilt in a gift bag but I felt the colours of the quilt are too pretty to hide away. I might start doing that for other quilts from now on.

As I was getting closer to finishing the quilt, I was thinking about how I was going to photograph the whole quilt without cutting out any portions. As you can see, even with someone with longer arms and height then me, it is still really hard to show case the whole thing. So I am planning some sort of tripod to hold a quilt. It's still in planning and drawing phase in my head so nothing in the near future.

Seeing Blue and Yellow

The collaborated quilt is finally finished and we presented to the recipient today. I think she really liked it.

I still remember the day in the fabric store. Can't wait till we start our next project, which will be next week.
I finished my share of the project and I handed off the top. She did the rest. She finished the top with a simple but beautiful border and the back. Her machine has all these added stitch features and created a gorgeous quilting design. It's hard to see all the details from the last picture but it enhanced the square pattern. Did I mentioned my partner in crime is awesome at free motion quilting?



The finished project: blue and yellow in "around the world" style.

Another Birthday, Another Year

My birthday was last Tuesday and I had a wonderful day, thanks to my wonderful parents and boyfriend! Had 2 wonderful meals with my favourite dishes: sushi and pho noodle soup. MMM! I cake was just as delicious. Really butter cream and dense mocha cake. Then it was present time! The twins arrived the day after. I am cleaning in style now. Especially love how it sings to you when you turn it on and when it is done its job.

I got a special little gadget for my sewing needs. It looks like a large plastic phone but it is a ruler grasper using suction so the ruler doesn't move as I cut fabrics. The bonus was the sewing machine. I waited all week for her and she was ready to come home on my birthday.

Speaking of cake, I think I still have a slice that I can still have. Later!

Progress!

Call shift was over at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning and after a few more hours of sleeping in, I got to work all weekend. I finished the black border, then sewed on the outer border. Yes, that means I got my sewing machine back. She is in tip top shape and doesn't make that squeaking sound any more.

Come Back My Sewing Machine

I am going to pick up my sewing machine later today! YAH! Here are some of the pictures of what I will be working on tomorrow. The bento squares are not sewn together yet. I just put it on the floor so I know to sew the squares in the correct colour order. The coloured "key" strips will be cut into 1 inch width and made into a border. I was going to put the border around the large squares but I decided I will put it on the back instead. I will still have a coloured "keys" border around the large squares but I will show you another time.

Update on Blogs I Follow

With the lack of a beloved sewing machine, I have some time to update my blog. As you have noticed, I have become a little obsessed about anything quilting. Have a look at the side and I have included a few blogs that I regularly catch up on. Some of them are just hobby quilters and some own their own quilting shop; either on line or an actual shop. Check them out cause I definitely have gotten lots of help with their tutorials or ideas from seeing their beautiful creations. And if you are lucky, they regularly have quilting fabric giveaways for their readers.

It's Going to be a Long Week

So if you know anything about Chinese New Year, half of it is all about the mass clean up before the big day. It is a tradition to clean your whole house and belongings. Once it is new year, you can not do any cleaning. A tradition based on superstition or not, it is probably something to keep. It's nice to come home to a clean and organized home.

I thought I share my newly organized and cleaned sewing corner. This was suppose to be my other half's personal area in the house. It was suppose to be his hide-out/office/"man-cave". But I somehow shimmied my way in and got half of the space. See how nice and organized it is. I assure you it won't look like this by next week.


This is my bookcase that houses all the up coming projects, projects in works and extra fabrics. Sometimes I think it is more dangerous to get extra shelving and containers cause then it just gives you more space to buy more fabrics or other things to fill the space with.


Now this last picture is important. It's just a close-up of my sewing desk. Do you see something missing. Yes! That's right, my sewing machine. I took my machine for a quick service/tune-up, since it was sounding quite loud and squeaky when ever I was using it. I thought I best get it serviced before it breaks down on me in the middle of quilting. That is why this week is going to be quite slow. I have to keep myself entertained by reading quilting books and blogs, but I can tell you it is getting harder and harder. I really miss my sewing machine. Come back soon!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy and prosperous year. The year of the rabbit is believed to bring luck. Cross those fingers and buy those lotto tickets. (only if you believe in those things.)

Only a couple shots of dinner on new year's eve. Lobster, fish, and chicken. MMM good!




The restaurant had this event organized. It was only about 5-8 minutes after we ordered that the food just came flooding in. You start with soup and before we knew it, lobster came out and everything else followed. We were never rushed but it sure quickened our time spent at the restaurant.

Love the extra step in presentation. That flower is made from thin slices of carrots held together with toothpicks. I feel it is like a MacGyver thing; 101 ways of using toothpicks.

Even if you don't celebrate Chinese New Year, I hope you at least had a good Thursday. One more work day left.