milkybeer

Heart Week: Day 7

2012-02-13T07:00:00.000-06:00

We made it! Seven days of hearty crafts and goodies! You know what that means....tomorrow is the Valentine's Day! I hope you've enjoyed this little crafty adventure as much as I've enjoyed putting it together.

We'll close things out with one last project: a Felt Heart Garland from Cotton & Curls. I think they'd look super cute sewn vertically and hung in the front window of our house. A great way to share a little love with the neighbours!

Source: cottonandcurls.blogspot.com via Kim on Pinterest

Heart Week: Day 6

2012-02-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

We're gearing up for Valentine's Day with Heart Week here on Milkybeer with a series of Valentine's projects found via Pinterest.

The appeal of this Toilet Paper Roll Heart Stamp project from Prudent Baby is twofold: 1) it uses up old toilet paper tubes which we always seem to have kicking around the house [I think they multiply at night!], and 2) it involves paint which makes Abner very, very happy.

Source: prudentbaby.com via Kim on Pinterest

Tomorrow is the last Heart Week project. What do you think it will be? Here's a hint: it involves something I love doing.

Heart Week: Day 5

2012-02-11T07:00:00.001-06:00

We're gearing up for Valentine's Day with Heart Week here on Milkybeer with a series of Valentine's projects found via Pinterest.

Any round up of crafty projects just wouldn't be complete without at least one project from from the Queen of Craft: Martha Stewart [or more accurately, the people who work for Martha Stewart.] Thankfully, these sweet little heart-shaped pot holders have us covered [or our hands at least.] Can't you just imagine pulling a lovingly prepared Valentine meal out of the oven with these beauties? A great way to up the romance factor, for sure!*

Source: marthastewart.com via Kim on Pinterest

*If you're relying on heart-shaped pot holders to add a little romance to your Valentine's Day, you might be in trouble. Just sayin'.

Heart Week continues tomorrow with a great little craft for kids.

Heart Week: Day 4

2012-02-10T07:00:00.001-06:00

We're gearing up for Valentine's Day with Heart Week here on Milkybeer with a series of Valentine's projects found via Pinterest.

I first saw today's Valentine-related DIY ages ago. It stuck with me though so I had to track it down for Heart Week. Personally, I prefer soft-boiled eggs, but my heart would melt just a little if someone prepared me these little heart-boiled, I mean, hard boiled eggs from Anna the Red.

Source: annathered.com via Kim on Pinterest

Hard boiled eggs not your thing? Try a special Valentine's Day Egg in the Basket from Petite Kitchenesse instead.

Source: petitekitchenesse.com via Kim on Pinterest

Heart Week continues tomorrow with a project from the Queen of Craft herself!

Heart Week: Day 3

2012-02-09T07:00:00.001-06:00

We're gearing up for Valentine's Day with Heart Week here on Milkybeer with a series of Valentine's projects found via Pinterest.

Valentine's and candy are pretty much synonymous. These candy canes are throwing me off though - are these a Christmas treat or a Valentine goodie? Who knows and who cares! These Valentine Heart Lollipops from Add a Pinch look so yummy! These would be perfect to give to classmates at school.

Source: addapinch.com via Kim on Pinterest

Stop by tomorrow when I share a project that's sure to make your Valentine's Day breakfast extra special!

Heart Week: Day 2

2012-02-08T07:00:00.001-06:00

We're gearing up for Valentine's Day with Heart Week here on Milkybeer with a series of Valentine's projects found via Pinterest.

Today's hearty little DIY is perfect for the special stationery-lover in your life: heart-shaped paper clips from How About Orange [incidentally one of my favourite blogs ever - one of the first I started following way back when]. I love these little guys - they're cute, fun and affordable...just like the perfect date for Valentine's!

Source: howaboutorange.blogspot.com via Kim on Pinterest

Stop by tomorrow when I share a yummy Valentine's project with a bit of an identity crisis.

Heart Week: Day 1

2012-02-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

I'm really not one to make a fuss about Valentine's. In fact, The Dear Sweet Husband and I have been known to stand in the greeting card aisle at the grocery store, pick out cards for each other, read them to each other and put them right back on the shelf. I mean, really, it's the thought that counts, not who spent more on a card.

My own feelings aside, I'm pretty sure Valentine's is a popular day for other folk. Sooooo, I thought it would be fun to use the marvel that is Pinterest to share with you all an entire week's worth of Valentine-related craftiness.

Up first: DIY elbow patches from Honestly WTF....'cause nothings says romance like felted hearts on your elbows. Now, it just so happens that TDSH actually does need elbow patches on most of his sweaters, so this might actually be something I try one day. I'm pretty sure I'm the only woman in the world who can honestly say her husband would love to get elbow patches for Valentine's. Brings new meaning to "heart-felt" gift!

Source: honestlywtf.com via Kim on Pinterest

Stop by tomorrow when I share the perfect DIY project for a stationery-lover...not to be confused with a stationary lover. Those are two very different things.

Yum yums

2012-02-03T14:37:00.000-06:00

I've made some pretty drastic changes to my diet lately. Like, virtually eliminating sugar from my diet drastic. One happy result is the discovery of a few new yummy dishes. My favourite lately is a simple little curry dish we've been making with either chicken or beef [lamb would be good too!]. Here's the recipe:

1 small onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper, chopped
2 cubes frozen spinach (or a few handfuls of fresh if you've got it)
1 19 oz can diced tomatoes
2 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 - 1 tsp fennel seeds
1 19 oz can chick peas, drained

Puree the onion and garlic and saute in olive oil over medium heat for a few moments.
Add in the pepper and spinach and cook until spinach is well incorporated into the mix.
Add the diced tomatoes and heat until bubbly before reducing the heat to simmer for one or two minutes [If you stop right now and add a few herbs like oregano and basil, you'd have a pretty yummy pasta sauce!]
Remove the tomato sauce from the stove and puree the whole lot. Set it aside for now.
In a large frying pan, brown the meat and add the spices.
Add the tomato sauce and chick peas to the meat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for at least 20 minutes.

The dish is great with brown rice and topped with a dollop of plain yogurt. The amount of spices indicated is just a guideline...feel free to adjust to your own tastes. Though, word to the wise, less is more when it comes to fennel seeds. I speak from experience.

My view lately

2012-01-31T14:22:00.001-06:00

Hand stitching a new line of linen coasters. Initially I thought these would be a faster alternative to the patchwork ones I was making (and will continue to make), but I was completely wrong. Cutting and assembling the coasters themselves wasn't too bad. I whipped up 48 on Sunday afternoon/evening. It's the hand stitching that's killing me (in a good way). Thank goodness I love to sew while watching TV!

Treasured treasuries

2012-01-28T09:30:00.000-06:00

Since joining Etsy way back when, I've been meaning to do up a Treasury List. In typical fashion, I only just got around to it a couple of weeks ago. Here's my first crack at it: Honeycomb Heaven.

One of my own quilts was also added to a treasury recently. See it down there? My Dogeared in Grey quilt was included in a Modern Quilts treasury compiled by a woman in the UK.

It still blows my mind that folks from all around the world are able to see and enjoy what I'm making. So nice!

Sewing class for kids!

2012-01-25T14:16:00.000-06:00

On March 3, 2012 I will be teaching my very first Hand Sewing for Kids class. There. I said it. It must be true.

I've been thinking of doing this for a couple of months or so and finally went ahead and booked some space at one of the local libraries as a way to light a little fire under my butt.

The class is open to kids ages 6-12* with little or no sewing experience. By the end, they'll all be able to do two different stitches, sew on buttons and will make their very own pincushion. They'll even get their very own sewing kit to keep as well as a pattern and material to complete an additional project at home.

I've added a new CLASSES page up at the top of the blog where you can find out lots more about the class and register online. If there's anything you need to know that's not covered on that page, just let me know!

* Those 6-8 will need to be accompanied by an adult.

Looking back at quilts

2012-01-23T21:06:00.000-06:00

Last week I met up with a fellow quilter in town (Hi Stephanie!) and really enjoyed taking a look back at the quilts she's made over the past few years. I don't have nearly as many to look back at, but it did prompt me to dig up this little number from back in 2008.

This was the quilt I made for my nephew soon after he was born. No hand-quilting of any kind and sort of puffy. My, my...how far I've come. What I still really like about this one is the simplicity of the patchwork and the classic blues - perfect for a wee little boy.

Seeing this quilt again also reminded me that I never did make one when a second nephew joined the family a few years later. Whoops! Guess I better add that project to the list!

A little quick change action

2012-01-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

Friends of ours recently welcomed a new addition to their family [on Friday the 13th of all days!] Such a lovely event deserves a little something handmade, don't you think?

Once again, I turned to one of my favourite sewing books for a little inspiration: Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings. Of all the projects in that book, the Quick Change Trouser pattern is the one you're likely to see most often on the sewing blogs of the world. Surprisingly, I hadn't tackled it myself - until now.

It's a pretty easy pattern to whip up. So, I made TWO pairs of pants for the little guy.

Side #1

Actually, since these are reversible, it's almost like I made him FOUR pairs of pants! I took pictures of the back to show off the contrasting fabric I used on the back yoke of each. The double layers should keep the babe nice and warm and the roomy seat should be big enough to handle his cloth diapers with ease [I hope!]

Side #2...Used different fabrics on the reverse side of one pair to change things up a bit.

The next challenge will be getting out to see the new baby before he gets to big for these pants!

Guest post: Ducklyandjuicy

2012-01-18T08:00:00.000-06:00

Today I bring you something new - a guest post. It feels strange to hand over the reins to someone else, but I'm aiming to do this about once a month (depending on how it goes) as a way to introduce readers to some of my favourite crafty folk. I'm thrilled that several of my friends from back home have agreed to participate to get the ball rolling. First up is my good friend Allie. Here's a little bit about her:

Website: ducklyandjuicy.blogspot.com

Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/ducklyandjuicy

What do you make? I'll try to make anything that inspires me. In my shop I mostly sell baby goods and accessories - lately I've been focusing on crocheted hats and photo props.

What is your first crafting/making memory? My Nana taught me to knit when I was around 8 years old. After that, my mom taught me crochet, cross stitch, and hand sew, and it took off from there!

If you had all the time and money in the world to make something handmade, what would it be? I wish I had the time and money to make ALL my kids clothes. Although I would also be happy to invent a gadget to get a baby back to sleep on its own without me having to get out of bed!

Now, take it away, Allie!

Thanks for having me at Milkybeer today Kim! Kim is always a source of inspiration and knowledge for me as a crafter, so I’m happy to share a little project with her and her readers.

How To: Quick and Easy Kiddie Hooded Appliqued Bath Towels

I knew I wanted to make a handmade gift for both my kids for Christmas, but didn’t want to (couldn’t) spend a lot of time on working on a project, times two. I noticed my son, who is nearing 6 months, was quickly outgrowing his skimpy baby bath towel. Bingo, project!

I had recently borrowed a copy of Lotta Jansdotter’s ‘Simple Sewing for Baby’ from a friend and noticed she had a baby towel project in the book. Perfect. I headed off to the store to buy the required materials – a full size bath towel and matching hand towel. I bought high quality, Egyptian cotton towels as I wanted these to last for years and be able to stand up to the abuse of repeated washings and dryings.

Late one night after both the munchkins were FINALLY asleep, I sat down to start. First instruction - cut your bath sheet into a square. Whaaaaaat? Cut my beautiful (expensive) towel up and make it smaller? The whole appeal of using a big bath sheet for me was to have a huge, thick, plush towel to wrap around cold little bodies out of the tub on cold winter nights. Following the project instructions would cause me to lose almost a third of the towel. Sure, I could cut it up and make washcloths out of it, but that just wasn’t appealing to me.

Rash decision made – I was going rogue on the project and winging it. I still wanted to make it hooded, but not cut the towel at all. I decided instead of sewing a hood into a corner of a square, I would make it more of a bath ‘cape’ and sew the hood on to the top of the towel. Clear as mud? Here’s what I did:

Making the hooded towel:

Step 1:
I folded the hand towel in half lengthwise and sewed down one side to make a little ‘hood.’

Step 2:
I found the middle of the bath sheet by folding it in half, and I marked it with a safety pin.

Depending on how your towel is finished, you can decide how to join the hood to the bath sheet. I wanted to use the natural edge of the finishing to help me sew in a straight line (yes, even semi-experienced sewers have trouble sewing in a straight line when they are really tired).

Step 3:
Line up the center of the flat bottom part of the hood with the marked center of the top of your bath sheet, and pin (wrong sides together). Sew them together. I used lots of backstitching at the edges to make sure the towel would be sturdy if it was hung up by the hood. You could also sew a little loop into the top of the hood to hang it up by, but I was too lazy and tired to add extra work at this point!

TIP: The finished edges of the towels are thick, and I broke a needle trying to sew through them (again, I’m blaming it on the tiredness). I would suggest hand sewing through these thick edges instead.

The sewing part finished, these towels sat in my sewing room for a week or so, until two days before Christmas when I realized that I had wanted to personalize them. Crap.

Optional personalization:

I broke out the Wonder Under and my scrap stash. I wanted to do each of the kid’s initials on the back of their towel. You can get fancy with your font by printing something out on your computer, but pressed for time, I just free-hand drew my letters onto paper. I did a lower case ‘b’ for my son, and had to do ‘L’ for my daughter, as otherwise I’m sure I would be asked ‘Why does my towel have the number 1 on it?”

I cut out the letters I drew, traced the letter onto my cotton and onto Wonder Under, cut them both out, and used my iron to apply Wonder Under to my cotton letter following the directions on the package.

Remember to reverse when tracing onto Wonder Under (doh!) as I had to apply the Wonder Under directly onto my towel and that made it hard to apply the letter in the next step as it was hard to see on the white towel. I then ironed my letter onto the center of my bath towel (I eye-balled where to put it based on the location of the hood at the top). I straight stitched around the edges of the letter to prevent fraying (zigzagging would probably be better, but this worked fine for me).

Viola! Done!

For a quick project that I kind of made up as I went along, I’m really happy with how they turned out. My daughter LOVES her towel, and although my son’s is MASSIVE for him, he sure loves being cuddled up in it after his bath! I’m sure these towels will last for ages, and they have washed really well.

Do you have something (project, tutorial, etc.) to share with Milkybeer readers? Send your submission to heymilkybeer [at] gmail [dot] com.

Goodies by mail

2012-01-17T07:00:00.000-06:00

I think there should be some law which says posties can only put junk mail in your mailbox if they are also delivering some real, actual mail. Wouldn't that be nice? I'm SOOOO tired of checking the mailbox only to find irrelevant junk. What a pleasure it was last week to find each of these gems instead!

First up was a little pin I commented on on a friend's blog a few weeks back. She was kind enough to pop it in the mail for me! How sweet is that?!

Almost the next day, this little bundle of fabric arrived from the UK. It's two fat quarters of the Long Thread's Quilt Blocks fabric sent to me by Katy over at Fat Quarterly. I'm participating in one of their designer challenges and hope to make something FABULOUS out of this fabric in the next few weeks.

They've had some amazing projects/designers featured on their blog, so there's no pressure or anything. Gulp.

We have a winner!

2012-01-16T08:54:00.000-06:00

Between comments on the blog, Twitter followers, and folks who like the Facebook page, there were over 150 entries into the giveaway! Wow! According to the random number generator the winner is - Stephanie! She commented on the blog and said,

"This quilting mama would love a new home for her pin needles! That's one cute pincushion!"

Congratulations, Stephanie! Thanks to everyone who played along.

Send a little love this Valentine's

2012-01-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

I've just added these sweet cards to the shop for Valentine's Day. Personally, I love the elegance of the red heart and simple message: "LOVE YOU" That says it all, doesn't it.

Pretty little pincushions (plus a giveaway)

2012-01-10T11:05:00.001-06:00

A few days ago, I had a major urge to do a bit of hand sewing. Usually I have a quilt or two on the go which allows me to hand sew to my heart's delight. But, with no quilt to work on at the moment (shocking, I know!), I opted to create a small little project instead. Without too much effort, I came up with these adorable little pincushions.

Made with cream quilting cotton, stuffed with polyfil, and feature a hand-stitched flower in two contrasting fabrics.

I'll be adding these five to the shop in the next couple of weeks, but for now I wanted to give you all a little preview and do my first giveaway of 2012! The winner will receive this extra special little pincushion - it's extra special because it has a button! Oooo. Awwww.

Orange gingham flower with eggplant base...does not photograph well at all!

Here's how to enter:

Leave a comment here on the blog.
Follow Milkybeer on Twitter.
Like Milkybeer Handmade on Facebook.
Link to this post on your own blog (then comment here to let me know you did it).

Do any or all of these and you'll be entered into the draw. Multiple submissions equals multiple chances to win. If you already follow on Facebook or Twitter, you'll automatically be entered. I'll use a random number generator to pick the winner the morning of Monday, January 16 and will announce the winner here on the blog shortly thereafter.

Good luck!

Pinwheels

2012-01-06T18:00:00.000-06:00

Cute, aren't they? I made up these little pins as a last-minute little gift just before we headed out to a party on Christmas eve. One for me, one for Abner and one for a new little friend of ours. So easy to make and a great way to use up scrap fabrics.

The pattern is not my own I'm afraid. It was created by the folks over at Spool of Thread. They shared it with the crafting community at Got Craft? a few years ago, and the project sort of stuck in my head. These easy peasy projects are so handy to pull out at the eleventh hour!

Sewing industry reflections + predictions

2012-01-05T21:00:00.000-06:00

The folks over at Sew, Mama, Sew are known as a pretty amazing resource in the sewing community. They always manage to stay on top of the trends (yes, there are trends in sewing), provide fantastic tutorials and patterns, and tease us all with an amazing selection of modern fabrics. Part of how they keep so on top of things is to regularly ask industry experts what they're seeing happening in the world of sewing. They're even asking us regular folk to provide our take. So...please, humour me as I pretend to be an industry expert and answer some of their questions myself.

Did you have a favorite fabric collection or print in 2011?
Outfoxed by Lizzy House. The Sly Fox pallette specifically. Love purple and orange together and the whimsy in this line is awesome.

Image via Hawthorne Threads

What did you make that you’re most proud of in 2011?
That's an easy one: the quilts I made for me niece and nephew. I think the pride comes from knowing that even though I did them in relatively quickly, I still made sure to do my absolute best work. Both were my own designs as well which always gives me a little thrill once I see the finished pieces.

Do you have a favorite sewing book or pattern from the past year to recommend?
Indeed, I do! Hands down, my favourite sewing book from 2011 is the Oliver + S: Little Things to Sew. It's become my go-to book for creating projects for my daughter. My fave pattern is definitely the bucket hat, but the messenger bag and little red riding hood projects were excellent as well.

Are there any trends you’re over and done with?
Ummm...owls?

What are your thoughts about social media? How is it going for you? What do you love or hate?
I do love the social media aspect of the sewing world. When we did our big move last year, I was still able to keep in touch with the same great sewists just as easily as I had back home thanks to social media. I've definitely had some successes with the social media thing: seeing tweets retweeted by some big names in sewing, seeing pins of my own work on Pinterest, big uptake in blog traffic this year, etc. What I don't like about social media is just how easy it's made ripping off ideas. Inspiration is one thing, but it kills me to see the same projects repeated on half a dozen blogs, each claiming to be the original designer.Or seeing blogs that do nothing but re-post other people's projects they've found on Pinterest and blogs. Really, what's the point?

Can you tell us what to expect from you in 2012? Any big projects or life-changing goals?
Oh, I have big plans for 2012. You'll just have to stay tuned to find out though!

Little purple riding hood

2012-01-04T13:52:00.000-06:00

After watching a video much like this one a few years ago, we stopped putting Abner into her car seat with her coat on. I figured she was better off a little chilly than being strapped so loosely into her seat. It wasn't such a big deal when we were living on the West Coast. But now that we're here on the prairies, there's no way she can go without something on in the car.

For the first few weeks of winter we've been shuttling her out to the car in her coat, quickly taking it off to strap her in and then covering her up with her coat draped across her lap. Not surprisingly, she's not thrilled with having to take her coat off in the freezing cold. What's a crafty mom to do?

Enter the car cape.

It's actually the Little Red Riding Hood pattern from Oliver + S: Little Things to Sew. Can you tell how much I'm enjoying that book? I think I've sewn more patterns from it than any other book on my shelf. It's a brilliant pattern for our purposes. Abner can use the side slits to get her hands out while still keeping herself mostly covered and warm.

Snug as a bug tucked into her car seat.

I went way off pattern and used a fluffy purple fleece for the main fabric. It was a pain to sew and holy moly there was a tonne of purple fluff floating around the house afterward. But, it is definitely cozy. I lined it with a basic polka dot flannel to keep it nice and soft.

Look - the straps are done up and everything!

It was a chilly day when we took these photos and Abner got quite warm in the short time we were outside. I think that bodes well for her staying warm in this thing even on the coldest of days. It also looks pretty cute, don't you think?

Looking back at 2011

2012-01-01T19:42:00.001-06:00

1. Advent activity card printable - the most popular post this year, by far! 2. Reversible bucket hat from Oliver + S. 3. The cutest little tree skirt. 4. Apparently I made a few quilts this year. 5. Kids' messenger bag - another Oliver + S goodie. 6. A surprise on this list - the homemade magic bag. 7. My first craft show. 8. Evidently folks like my sewing room. 9. No-sew fabric art - the most popular DIY of the year. 10. Folks seemed to like Abner's room too! 11. The pink cross quilt experiment. 12. Fabric boxes also made the list.

So, here we are. A new year has begun. Like so many other bloggers out there, I'm taking a look back at the year that was 2011. I'll kick things off with a look at the ol' blog itself...

The images and caption above provide a list of the top 12 posts from 2011. I'm pleased to see that some of my favourites were also your favourites as well this year.
A total of 91 posts were written this year. A little down from 2010, but not bad considering the year's big move to the prairies and the fact that I was MIA for big chunks of time.
Regina managed to bump Vancouver out of top spot for visitors' locale this year. In fact, it was no contest - Regina is ahead by a landslide! Thank you Regina!
My first kick at doing a free printable download turned out to be my most popular post ever. I've had trouble figuring out exactly where all those visitors came from, but I suspect that Pinterest is to thank (and those who pinned my images there, of course).
Most of the traffic to my blog continues to come from Facebook. Thank you to my friends and family, far and wide, who take the time to stop by and to the folks who've taken the time to "like" Milkybeer Handmade on FB. I hope you all continue to visit in the year ahead.
Early Observations was the most commented post of the year. Though, truth be told, about half the comments are my own replies.

Reflecting on 2011 in general...it was a good year. There were lots of ups and some great lessons learned. In 2011...

We took on and survived a rather stressful start to the year.
We kept secrets for a short while.
We took a tremendous leap of faith and moved half way across the country (or is it only a 1/3? My God, Canada is a big country) to the prairies.
I learned how to say goodbye to good friends.
I learned how to Skype.
I learned that even strangers can become friends in an instant and am thrilled to count so many new and amazing people among my friends this year.
I learned (am still learning) how to live with less.
After years of listing to bosses go on about setting goals, I finally set a few of my own. And wouldn't you know it - I achieved them all.
Was humbled to learn that just because you try your hardest and want something really badly, doesn't mean you're going to get it.
Confirmed the notion that "if you build it, they will come." is totally bogus.
I saw my daughter off to school for the first time.
I learned that you don't need mountains to enjoy the great outdoors.
I walked away from one of my favourite little side projects ever (but left it in good hands).
I saw that pure joy is watching your kid slide down a hill on a sled for the first time.
I made more time to sew and was happier for it.
Confirmed the notion that "use it, or lose it." is completely true (as evidenced by my complete inability to spell or punctuate anything properly after six months off the job) [side note: there were several typos in this sentence before I spell checked it. d'oh!]

A few thoughts on looking ahead to 2012...

I may try that goal setting thing again...I may not.
More effort will be put toward finding outlets to sell my creations.
I will put myself out there more than I have.
I will do my damnedest to learn a little patience.
Oh, and I'm going to eat healthier (phft...yeah, right).

Happy new year to you all and best wishes for 2012.

Twins!

2011-12-29T22:29:00.001-06:00

No, not that kind of twins! Twin quilts, silly.

Now that I have your attention though, perhaps you'd like to see the the twin-sized quilts I made for my niece and nephew for Christmas.

The fabrics were picked out with my mom during her visit in late October and both were completed by early December - just in time to ship them back to B.C. before Christmas. I opted for my usual hand-stitched circles to quilt the layers, and because I know someone is going to ask, there are nearly 200 circles between the two quilts. In case you're wondering, I can stitch 4 per hour while watching TV - 5 if I turn it off. It's fortunate that I enjoy hand stitching so much!

These were both a breeze to assemble and a pleasure to quilt. I'm looking forward to working on many more quilts like these in the new year! If you'd like to order your own custom quilt, don't hesitate to contact me at heymilkybeer [at] gmail [dot] com.

From our family to yours...

2011-12-24T18:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Santa

2011-12-22T18:00:00.000-06:00

Like so many other kids, Abner wrote a letter to Santa this year. This was the first letter she's written to the big guy in the red suit. I think we're going to have to work on her buttering up skills for next year though. She kind of dove straight into the wish list without the usual niceties of "How are you?", "How's Mrs. Claus?" and such.

Santa didn't seem bothered though since he took the time to write back. Abner was beyond thrilled to get a letter in the mail.

I wish I could personally thank the little elves that help Santa write back to all these little kids. It must be so much work, yet they miss out on the best part - seeing their eyes light up when they open that letter. Priceless.

One Word Wednesday: Trippy

2011-12-21T07:30:00.000-06:00

Buttons, buttons, buttons!

2011-12-20T07:00:00.000-06:00

I have a new favourite sewing gadget - my fabric covered button making tool. So simple and oh, so cute! Taking a cue from Anne over at Flax & Twine I secured the newly-made buttons to some hair elastics. Perfect little stocking stuffers and a great way to use up even the tiniest of scraps!

Abner chose this cute little seahorse one for herself...

...and because I will probably never have another opportunity to tie in on the seahorse thing, here is a little video of my daughter doing her "seahorse dance."

Pretty in pink: oliver + s messenger bag

2011-12-19T06:30:00.000-06:00

One of the best sewing books I've purchased in recent memory has got to be oliver + s: little things to sew. I drooled over it in the bookstore and was so excited when the first project I completed (the reversible bucket hat) turned out beautifully. My second project turned out equally well, don't you think?

This is the kids' version of the messenger bag pattern. I used an Old Navy twill backed with light-weight interfacing for the outside and lined it in a super cute Michael Miller for Vera Bradley fabric called Tea Garden (which I can't find online anywhere to link to!).

The pattern was super easy to follow but I did have to improvise when it came to the adjustable strap. Apparently you just can't buy 1.5 inch strap adjusters in this town. A buckle did the trick, though it is a wee bit bulkier than the strap adjuster would have been. Ah well - it works, and that's what matters.

I was also too lazy to manually make bias tape in the width suggested so I used my bias tape maker to quickly prepare some slightly narrower binding. It made things a little trickier to be sure, but I'm happy with how it turned out. Plus, it saved me about a half hour at the ironing board! Perhaps Santa will bring me another bias tape maker...hint, hint.

This little bag is off to a new home for Christmas, but I think I just may have to whip one up for Abner in the new year.

Around the house: Abner's room

2011-12-15T18:30:00.000-06:00

One more stop on our tour around the house: Abner's room. Apart from my sewing room, I think this is my favourite room in our little house on the prairie. We've tried to keep most of the toys and such out of the bedroom and down in the playroom so that it doesn't get too cluttered, but you can always find books and puzzles aplenty in here.

The Dear Sweet Husband's boyhood stuffie, BoJo, holds a place of honour atop the bookcase. He's seen better days so Abner's pretty good about being gentle with him. The family friends who originally gave BoJo to TDSH also gave Abner her own stuffed monkey when she was born. BoJo Jr. sees a lot of play time and is, according to Abner, her "best monkey."

You may have spotted a rather odd item on the bookcase. Yup, that's a picture of Terry and Betty Fox right there. My dad has organized the annual Terry Fox run back home for the past few years. When he and mom came to visit back in October, they brought along this card for Abner as a memento of her first Terry Fox run. Doesn't every three-year-old have a picture of Terry Fox in their room?

Putting things up on the wall was so much fun since I finally had a chance to put up a bunch of pieces that never made it up in our old place. I believe this cross stitch was done by my grandma back in the day. The silhouette was a project I did when Abner was about nine months old. Abner herself took the picture of the trees...it was the very first photo she ever took. All together this wall of pictures makes me very happy!

My grandparents' rocker also made it into the room. The cushion cover I made is looking a little saggy these days, but I still love the colour. So cheery! Abner chose her own bedroom when we moved in and thanks to a giant blue spruce in the front yard, it happens to be the darkest room on the main floor. The bright chair really perks you up in an otherwise dim room.

For now Abner is still in her little toddler bed. I kind of wish she could stay in it a while longer because this room is going to get very crowded when she moves up to a twin!

One Word Wednesday: Cow

2011-12-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

Easiest Wreath Ev-ah!

2011-12-12T07:00:00.000-06:00

Wanted a wreath for the door...didn't want to spend any money to make it happen.What's a crafty girl to do but dig into the craft stash and see what she could come up with.

This project required nothing more than cardboard and yarn. Lots and lots of yarn. How it's made should be pretty obvious, but I will point out a few details that might help in case you want to make one yourself:

I used four different yarns (2 boucle and 2 chunky) which give an interesting texture
I alternated between the yarns as I wrapped (i.e. 3 times around with blue boucle, then 3 times with blue chunky, 3 times with green boucle, 3 times with dark blue chunky and repeat...) I wanted the different colours and textures to blend together a bit

If I were going out and buying materials to make this again, I would probably go for more traditional Christmas colours. I think an assortment of reds, greens and creams would look lovely! But it sure was nice to use up yarn I'd had sitting around for nearly a decade!

As a bonus, it matches my couch perfectly.

Hey, Christmas tree, cute skirt!

2011-12-10T14:29:00.001-06:00

I picked up a slew of Christmas fabrics after the holidays last year with good intentions to have a pretty new tree skirt made in time for the holidays this year. I even had the pattern designed sometime in January! To no one's great shock, I didn't even start cutting or sewing until just a few days ago. Thankfully it came together quickly.

I love aqua and red together. Don't you? To me it says Christmas without beating you over the head with holiday spirit.

And who doesn't love gingham? I used my bias tape maker to produce a few meters of straight strip (i.e. non-bias-cut) binding and attached it by machine. This goes against my usual preference to hand sew, but seeing as I was finishing the binding while The Dear Sweet Husband was out buying the tree, time was of the essence.

For the backing I used a piece of remnant fabric my aunt gave me some time ago. Lately, we had been using it as temporary curtains in our kitchen, so I guess I know what my next project is going to be.

My favourite part is the closure I came up with at the back. See how some of the squares are positioned to overlap with one another? When they're aligned properly, you almost can't see the two halves coming together behind the tree. If you're going to try this detail yourself, be sure to clip and notch your corners very carefully and press very well before top stitching.

Obviously I started this before we had our tree, or our tree stand for that matter, so I had to guess at the sizing. I suppose the skirt should probably come up to cover the stand a bit more, but I'm totally fine with this. TDSH picked out one good looking stand!

When I have more time, I will stitch some circles to properly quilt the layers (just like on my regular quilts), but this will do beautifully for this year.

DIY: Holiday gift bag

2011-12-08T07:30:00.001-06:00

My love/hate relationship with gift wrap is quite well known so I won't go into it again here. Suffice it to say, I am all over the idea of wrapping gifts in something other than paper. Perhaps you are too?

If you'd like to learn how to make your own gift bags with encased seams, read on. As long as you can sew a straight-ish line, you're good to go. As an added bonus, you'll be able to brag to all your friends that you know how to make French seams. You'll sound so fancy!

Step 1: Select your fabric and cut it to size.
You can pretty much use any kind of fabric you want at any size - the process is the same for all. To start you need to cut your fabric into a rectangle. Figure out how tall you want your bag to be in the end and double this measurement and add on about 4 inches to get the long edge of your rectangle. The short edge will be the desired width of your bag plus an extra 2 inches or so.

Step 2: Sew up the sides.
Fold your fabric in half WRONG sides together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Trim the seam allowance down to 1/4 inch if you happen to get carried away in any spots.

Step 3: Turn your bag inside out and press the seams.
Your seams should look something like this now. You're now working from the WRONG side of the fabric.

Step 4: Attach the ties.
Cut a length of ribbon approximately twice the width of your bag and fold it in half. Use a pin to secure the folded edge of the ribbon to one of your seams from what is the inside of your bag at the moment.

Pin on the WRONG side of the fabric holds the ribbon in place inside the bag.

Looking into the bag with ribbon secured with a pin.

Of course, thinking back now, it would have been smarter just to pin and stitch the ribbon in during Step 2. D'oh! Why don't you go ahead and do it that way instead.

Step 5: Encase the seams.
With the bag still inside out, stitch up both sides - this time with a 1 cm seam allowance [yes, I did just switch to the metric system mid-pattern...I like to keep you all on your toes!] It's important to use a wider seam allowance on this step to ensure the raw edges of the seam will be completely encased.

Voila! You just made a French seam! Go ahead and remove that pin that was holding the ribbon in place. It should be nice and secure now.

Step 6: Hem the opening.
Turn down the top edge of the bag opening approximately 1 inch and press.

Turn down the top edge of the bag opening another inch and press before stitching the bottom edge of the hem in place. This would be a good spot to use a decorative stitch if you're so inclined.

And....you're done. Here's one of my finished bags. Pretty cute, non?

One Word Wednesday: Advent

2011-12-07T07:00:00.000-06:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2011-12-04T22:29:00.001-06:00

This weekend we took our first trip to the Mackenzie Art Gallery for their Holiday Celebration event. The experience was fantastic! Not only did we get to explore the exhibits, but we also enjoyed music from the local Regina Symphony Orchestra and a local choral ensemble.

The crew from Articulate Ink brought along a teeny tiny printing press for the kids [and, ahem, perhaps some of the parents] to print their very own Christmas cards.

We also got our craft on and made some ornaments for our as yet unpurchased Christmas tree. We're so excited to be able to get a REAL tree this year! We've lived in apartments that ban live trees for soooo long, this is going to be such a treat!

Abner got to have a little chat with this "helper" Santa. Much like last year, we couldn't get her to actually sit on his knee like all the other kids. Maybe next year.

My favourite was definitely the sleigh ride. Who doesn't love a sleigh ride? Okay, it would have been better if the temperature hadn't been somewhere near -15 C (which feels like -30 with the windchill), but with so many people jammed on the cart, the body heat actually kept us quite warm. I also could have done without being pulled through a patch of bushes. Even still, it was a great ride.

It was a two-horse open sleigh in case you're wondering.

With so many awesome things packed into one afternoon, what do you think was Abner's favourite?

The choral group. Grandma...are you beaming with pride?

Talk about the eleventh hour!

2011-12-01T07:30:00.000-06:00

At about 9:00 pm last night, we had a knock our door. An odd time to be knocking, indeed. But understandable when you realize it was a sweet little grandma coming to pick up the advent calendars she'd ordered for her grandkids a few days earlier. I literally finished them just moments before she arrived [now you see where the title of this post comes in.]

So how did I come to be making advent calendars the night before advent starts?

This woman had gone looking for advent calendars at a few craft sales but hadn't managed to find just the right one yet. A vendor at one of the sales mentioned seeing advent somethingorothers at my booth at an earlier sale so she suggested she look me up. Which she did...finding her way to my Facebook page...where she read that my products are now carried at Groovy Mama...so, she called Groovy Mama to see if they had any of my advent bags...which they didn't...so back to the Facebook page she went and posted a comment asking I had any advent calendars...which led to a bit of electronic back and forth and an eventual meeting in a coffee shop in downtown Regina.

A few days later and several hours of sewing, these are what she picked up:

I used the same linen as my coasters and mug rugs and used some Christmas fabric I had kicking around for the binding.

After toying around with the idea of stitching on buttons in the shape of a tree as decoration, I opted to trim the calendars in red and green patchwork instead. Since these were going to university-aged grandkids, I didn't want to do something too cutesy. My take is that using non-holiday fabrics in very traditional Christmas colours will give it a classic look that will hold up for years to come.

Every single number was cut by hand from stiffened felt and machine stitched on. If anyone ever spots pre-cut stiffened felt numbers, please let me know. I don't know that I would do it by hand again...actually, it wasn't the cutting that was difficult, it was guiding my machine along those teeny little numbers [they're only about 1.25" tall.]

The pockets, loops and backing were done in red Old Navy twill.

In other advent-related news...

Thank you to everyone who has had taken the time to check out my advent activity cards printable. I never expected it to be this popular! I would love to see some of the activities that readers and their families get up to with the advent cards, so feel free to send in photos. Either put a link here in the comments, or email heymilkybeer [at] gmail [dot] com. Be sure to let me know if I can post your pics on the Facebook page!

Of course, we are getting our own advent activities going today. First up - "Make a Christmas card for someone you love."

One-word Wednesday: Tractor

2011-11-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

The Christmas Book Basket

2011-11-29T10:03:00.001-06:00

Whether you're ready for it or not, Christmas is less than a month away. That means it's okay for me to start writing posts about it, right?

The folks around Regina have been on a Christmas kick for weeks! We saw the first Christmas lights coming on ages ago. At first it seemed ridiculously early for such things until you realize the wisdom behind it: no one wants to be out hanging Christmas lights in the bitter cold so the smart ones get it done before the snow flies! Genius!

With all the lights around town and Christmas craft sales we've been going to lately, it's impossible not to get into the spirit of the season. The tree isn't up yet and there's still a moratorium on Christmas tunes (until December 1), but we have already dug out all our Christmas books and put together a Christmas book basket.

Abner is a big fan of books so it's no surprise that she's all over this basket idea. She loved digging through her bookcase looking for all the Christmas books she could find and shoving them in the basket. My mom has been giving her a new Christmas book each year since birth and we've gotten several others as gifts so we actually have quite a stash! [Note to self: get bigger basket for next year.]

We also hit up a local used book store the other day to add to our collection. I love the vintage look and feel of these new-to-us books.

The Christmas book basket is a new tradition for us, but one that I'm sure we'll bring back for many years to come. What are some of your favourite holiday traditions?

Free printable: Advent activity cards

2011-11-25T08:38:00.001-06:00

You'll recall, last year I whipped up a last-minute advent calendar for Abner. She absolutely loved it and I've been looking forward to using it again this year!

With the start of advent just around the corner, I've been racking my brain trying to come up with ideas for activities to put in the bags this year. It seems to me that it would be nice to have a set of printed cards I could bring out year after year instead of brainstorming new ideas each year. [Does that make me sound lazy, or what?!]

To help my fellow last-minute mamas and papas out there, I've done up an advent activity printable that includes 30 activity cards and six blank cards.

Just print out the two-page PDF (be sure to print single-sided!) and cut out the 24 cards that work best for your family. I opted to print ours on a light-weight cardstock so that the cards will last for more than one season. You can use the blanks to write in your own special ideas too! I'll probably slip a few treats and stickers in with the activities too.

Print the advent activity cards

Enjoy!

UPDATE: I've changed the hosting service for the PDF file to Google Docs. Sorry to anyone who was annoyed at having to sign up for that other service! I wouldn't have uploaded it there if I'd known about that.

You can now find me at...

2011-11-24T13:27:00.001-06:00

Groovy Mama in Regina's fabulous Cathedral neighbourhood!

Image shamelessly borrowed from the Groovy Mama Facebook page.

Owner Leslie Charlton runs just about the cutest store ever providing stylish, cute and practical products for mamas, mamas-to-be and their babes. She also happens to be a big supporter of locally-made and handmade items (which works out just great for me!) Here is just a sampling of a few of the Milkybeer items now in the store:

Abner modelling her own reversible baby dress back in the day.

Totes for the toddler set.

Patchwork sleep sacks to keep baby cozy at night.

Yup, being in a brick and mortar store is a pretty big deal to me, but it's not the only place you'll find Milkybeer these days. I've also started up a Milkybeer Handmade Facebook page. So, if you feel so inclined, go ahead and pop over there to show me a little love. I'll be announcing special promotions and giveaways there from time to time, so I promise it will be worth your while to "like" the page.

And, of course, by now you've probably already noticed the new Etsy shop in the sidebar over there on the right near the top of the page. The Milkybeer Handmade shop is open and ready for business. I've got a few things in there already and am adding more all the time. In case anyone is thinking of Christmas shopping, the last day to place an order and receive it in time for the holiday is December 11 (within Canada at regular parcel rates) - just around the corner!

Chip off the old block

2011-11-21T13:14:00.001-06:00

Had to laugh (and beam with pride) when I ventured into Abner's room the other day to find her playing 'craft sale'. She was selling blankets "just like mommy!" Love her merchandising skills - look at the expert rolling job she did all by herself! By the way, she wanted $50 for the orange blanket but the pink was only $10.

Quilts aplenty...

2011-11-18T13:15:00.000-06:00

...if 'aplenty' equals 5, that is.

I don't think I managed to share the finished results for most of these quilts yet, so here you be. Five beautiful, hand-stitched baby quilts for your viewing pleasure.

It never dawned on me before now, but I think I can officially call myself a quilt designer (as opposed to just a quilter). I have never purchased or even followed a published quilt pattern. Aside from seeing some in books, I don't even know what one would look like. Each of these quilt designs sprang from my very own little grey cells (that's a Poirot reference in case you missed it).

Whenever I start a new quilt project, the first step is always to sit down with a few sheets of graph paper, a pencil, ruler and, most importantly, an eraser to plot a few things out. This step is invaluable for figuring out exactly what's going to be involved in creating a particular design - better to realize a design is going to be a nightmare at the paper stage rather than once the rotary cutter has done its thing. In theory, this should also help me determine exactly how much fabric will be needed. Yet even so, I seem to find myself back at the quilt shop mid-project with surprising frequency.

This quilt is part of a new project series I'm starting. The fabrics were part of a fat quarter of the month club I joined recently at a local quilt shop. Each month I pick up a new package of six fabrics and use them to create a brand new, one-of-a-kind baby quilt. This is October's quilt (the first in the series). I have the fabrics for November, but haven't designed the quilt yet. What I like is the challenge of working with fabrics I wouldn't normally choose. Let's just say, I'm much less fond of November's fabrics as I was with October's.

I think this next one is my favourite. It busted through a bunch of my scraps (which is always a bonus) and uses a beautiful Kona solid in grey as the main fabric. Word on the street is that one of the local quilt shops will be getting a shipment of solids very soon! This is a vast improvement over a few months ago (have I really lived here long enough to say that?!!?) when they looked at me funny when I asked where they kept their Kona solids. They'd never heard of them, let alone were they carrying them in their shop! I've been forced to do a few quilts without true solids now and though they are beautiful, they're just not as appealing to me.

I will eventually get around to putting these in the shop, so message me [heymilkybeer at gmail dot com] if you want to call dibs on any of them!

One-word Wednesday: Read

2011-11-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

At the risk of perpetuating a stereotype...

2011-11-12T21:33:00.001-06:00

it's cold here in Regina!

Okay, okay...I know we're in for much worse in the months to come. But, after such a lovely summer and early fall, this cold is a little hard to take! To everyone's delight though, the first snowfall was a bit later than usual: Nov 6. Now that I have a proper winter coat (similar to this one) and the winter tires are on the car, I must confess that I'm actually enjoying the snow. We just need a block heater and we'll be all set for the real cold!

Abner was thrilled to put on her snowsuit (snagged with mitts and a toque for $10 at a garage sale in mid-August. Best. Purchase. Ever.) and help The Dear Sweet Husband shovel the driveway that first day.

Now, here we are less than a week later and Abner is already asking when the snow will be gone. Poor thing. This is going to be a LONG winter.

One-word Wednesday: Sick

2011-11-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

True Knit...Truly awesome

2011-11-05T21:33:00.000-06:00

Thank you to everyone who stopped by True Knit 3: The Craftermath today! You all helped make my first craft sale experience a most memorable and enjoyable affair!

I was so hopeful beforehand that this event would be a positive experience for me, and I wasn't disappointed. From event organizers Cassie and Cookie who welcomed me straight away as I walked in early this morning, to the lovely ladies in the booth next to me who chatted with me during the lulls, and all the friendly folk who stopped by to shop, browse or pay a compliment, everyone had such kind things to say about my booth and my products. Yay! Here's how the setup looked for the day...

Everything you see here (except for one quilt) was created since Labour Day.

Those bunnies were manhandled by half of Regina today.

I told people to ask and, boy, did they ever!

Cards were a hot item...had people laughing too!

The new Milkybeer banner made from an old wool blanket and vintage sheet.

Hand-stamped hang tags.

I wish I'd had more of a chance to get out and see what other vendors were selling, but it's hard to man a booth on your own. What I could see looked awesome! I do know that I wasn't the only newbie there. Looks like the crafty community in Regina is starting to boom these days (just like the town itself).

My view to the right...

across the aisle...

and to my left.

When we started this whole prairie adventure thing, I set myself a series of personal goals. One was to sell my handmade items at a craft show. Goal number 1...check! Another was to open an Etsy shop. I've done this one too, however, it's empty at the moment so don't go looking for it just yet, please! The third is to sell my products in a store. After today, I think I can safely say I am one big step closer to making that happen too.

Now I am going to put up my feet and rest a while and sip some tea. G'night.

Beeeeeeep.

2011-10-25T20:24:00.000-06:00

Hi, you've reached Milkybeer at www.milkybeer.com. I can't come to the blog right now. I'm busy getting ready for my upcoming craft show and recovering from my parents' recent week-long visit (just kidding). Please, leave a comment after the post and I'll get back to you shortly. Thanks and have a great day.

Quilt preview: Inspired by a vinyl tablecloth?

2011-10-22T09:00:00.000-06:00

It's true. The beautiful quilt I am working on was inspired by a rather uninspiring Superstore vinyl tablecloth.

The uninspiring tablecloth as it appeared earlier this year at Abner's birthday party.

We pull that tablecloth out from time to time when Abner wants to do a little painting at the kitchen table. As I sat at the table with her a few weeks ago, the repeating pattern caught my eye and I realized it would be easy to recreate as a quilt.

At the fabric store, this cute Kate Spain fabric became the launching off point for the rest of the fabrics and colours. I believe it's from her Central Park line as are several of the other fabrics I went with (it wasn't on purpose, I didn't realize until I got them home).

Besides the Kate Spain, I think the Robert Kaufman Quilter's Linen is my favourite. I've used it as a solid to tie all the other colours together.

The quilt is almost done...will post more pics once finished!

Out on the prairies

2011-10-21T07:00:00.000-06:00

I had no idea what to expect in terms of outdoor activities when we moved to SK. So much of our outdoor experience in BC revolved around either going up or coming down mountains. What could SK offer that could possibly compare?!

Well, they're not exactly mountains, but the valleys around this region do offer some...eh hem...modest hills that make for perfect fall hikes.

Over the past few weekends we set out to explore some of the local trails which are actually maintained by local cross country ski clubs. First up were the Wascana Trails just north of town. Pretty spectacular, don't you think?

The hills seemed like a novelty to Abner. She loved running down as fast as she good (and had a few good wipeouts doing it) or running up to be king of the castle. She also put up with me trying to snap about a million pictures of her! It was driving her crazy, but I just loved how her hair was the same colour as the grass.

Last weekend we headed east to try out the White Butte Trails. We have to be the only family crazy enough to set off for an outing in an unfamiliar province with absolutely no idea how to get to where we are going. All we had to guide us was TDSH's vague recollection of having seen a sign for White Butte on one of our earlier outings. Thankfully, that was enough.

The views weren't as impressive here, but the scenery was gorgeous nonetheless. Abner loved hearing the train so nearby, while TDSH and I were less than fond of the sounds of rifel fire coming from the nearby shooting range.

I'm so glad we had the chance to get outdoors before the snow falls (which feels like it's going to be soon...very soon!)

One-word Wednesday: Attitude

2011-10-19T07:00:00.000-06:00

A new look for Milkybeer

2011-10-17T15:36:00.000-06:00

Remember way back in February when I said, "bartering is not dead"? I said as much because I'd traded my sewing services for a little bit of design work from a friend (designers...good friends to have).

She got a beautiful custom-made duvet for her son, and well, one baby (that was the designer, not me) and one move to Saskatchewan later, I finally get to show you the other half of that trade: an awesome new banner for the blog!

The new banner was a great excuse to freshen up the layout and design of the blog. Of all the designs this blog has seen over the years, I think this is my favourite. I love how she took the stitching details from my quilts and integrated it into the banner!

Exciting times around here, I tell ya. There's more to come though. Stay tuned!

In the works: coasters and bags

2011-10-13T23:04:00.000-06:00

My days here on the prairies are filled with sewing, sewing and more sewing (plus lots and lots of playing, reading, and baking with Abner). Here's a sneak peak at just a couple of the goodies I've been working on.

Linen patchwork coasters

Outdoor adventure bags

Take note...

2011-10-05T13:40:00.000-06:00

In just a few weeks I am participating in my very first craft sale! Yippee! If you're in the Regina area, here are the details:

True Knit 3: The Craftermath

November 5
10 am - 5 pm

University of Regina
Ridell Centre
Multi Purpose Room

I have absolutely no idea what to expect. Not only have I never sold my own stuff at a craft show, but I've never even been to any of the previous True Knit shows. I'm flying blind here! I have my fingers crossed that my stuff will fit in with the vibe of the show and that folks will actually want to buy my creations (wouldn't that be nice?)

Thankfully, I've done enough craft shows with Hudsonny to know that I can't just fill my table with large (i.e. pricey) items. So, I've been scratching my head trying to think of ideas for small, quick items I can whip up to add to my table.Here is what I came up with: matchbook notepads. Cute, aren't they?

Each pad is about 2" x 2" and has 20 sheets of paper (which is apparently the absolute max my stapler can handle). They will be available as sets of three (one of each design).

I love these little guys and the fact that they tie in with my new greeting cards as well! I hope others will like them too!

If you happen to be able to make it to True Knit, be sure to stop by and say "hi!"

A sweet t-shirt quilt

2011-10-03T11:05:00.000-06:00

Last week was dedicated to working on my latest commissioned quilt - a memory quilt for friends down in the States*. As usual, the t-shirts sat around my house for weeks until I finally sat down a week or two ago to sketch out my plan. From there, it came together beautifully.

When asked what colour she wanted on the back of the quilt, Jaimie suggested heather grey to keep with the athletic theme on the front. It was a brilliant suggestion, however, quilting cotton does not come in heather grey! I bravely grabbed the necessary yardage (meterage?) in jogging fleece and hoped for the best.

My concern was that the stretch of the fleece would be difficult to work with. You see, even though the t-shirts on the front have the same stretchy problem, I always stabilize each square with interfacing so that it's not an issue. Covering the entire backing with interfacing isn't exactly feasible, so I just pinned like hell and crossed my fingers that it wouldn't get all wonky. It didn't. Phew!

With typical Milkybeer luck though, the fleece was about 1-2 inches too narrow to span the entire back, so I had to piece it with squares leftover from the t-shirts. It's a bit of extra work, but I do love the look. It's a nice way to get a little bit of colour on the back.

I once again opted to tie this quilt instead of stitch the quilting lines. Just the thought of pushing this much fabric and lofty batting through my machine is enough to give me nightmares, so tied is the only way to go for me. Although, in this case, it meant doing 80 ties by hand in one afternoon! Ugh.

Want to see more of my t-shirt quilts? I've added a t-shirt memory quilt gallery to my new Flickr account! Please stop by and have a look or read the original blog posts about the Chris quilt and the Allison quilt.

* If any of the Sharon Wives (or Sharon Boys for that matter) are reading this....shhhhh! It's a surprise for Doc!

The perfect biscotti

2011-09-30T13:22:00.000-06:00

This, my friends, could be my all-time favourite biscotti. So perfect for dipping into a little hot chocolate with amaretto! I've added the super easy recipe to Milkybeer Cooks if anyone else would like to whip some up. Enjoy!

One-word Wednesday: Messy

2011-09-28T08:12:00.000-06:00

Trying my hand at something new

2011-09-23T08:00:00.000-06:00

One day soon I will be opening an Etsy shop. When I do, these cards will be for sale there. I hope you like them as much as I enjoy making them!

I've never considered myself very artistic (at least when it comes to drawing) so to spare myself having to actually draw and recipients having to look at something I've drawn, each card instead features my fingerprints ('cause you can't really mess that up).

I'm thinking of calling the line ONE OAK because each card is one of a kind...get it? They're fingerprints...fingerprints are unique...they're one of a kind...see what I did there? Yeah, I'm clever like that.

At the moment, I have 11 different fingerprint designs including birthday, thank you, miss you, get well soon, Halloween and Christmas cards.

If you would like to order a set of holiday cards (or any of the other designs) even before I get my act together with the Etsy shop, please drop me a line at heymilkybeer [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll send you the details.

One-word Wednesday: Chilly

2011-09-21T08:00:00.000-06:00

Terry Fox Run 2011

2011-09-19T10:51:00.000-06:00

It was about 30 years ago that I ran my first Terry Fox Run. I remember running with my family and stopping to eat an apple under a tree, but that's about it. At the time, all the kids at my daycare were fascinated by Terry and would practice running like him. Even so soon after his death, he was an inspiration to me and many others.

It seemed only fitting that Abner should participate in her first Terry Fox Run at about the same age. So, early yesterday morning, we bundled up for the chilly weather and set out to join our local run (just the two of us, since TDSH was out of town.)

Being the first people through the door had its perks! Abner was first in line to get her face painted and the ladies at the registration table gave her a stuffed moose for being the first child of the day to register.

Abner was also able to enjoy a few minutes to herself in the bouncy castle before the run while mommy gratefully sipped some Timmy's.

Abner loved joining along for the warm-up and had lots of people smiling as she stretched and jumped along with the rest of us. As much as she loved the exercises, I think she got more of a warm-up running away from all the big mascots that were circulating around. Poor little thing was terrified of all of them and would run behind my legs or just plain run away whenever one came close to us.

There were tears a plenty when the crowd did the balloon release before the run- tears of emotion for most, and tears over a lost balloon for Abner.

Of the 5 km route, I think Abner ran about 1.5 km! The little girl has got energy and had me running just to keep up with her. For part of the way, a 12-year-old boy decided to run with her and even he was having trouble keeping up! She thought it was great and would call for him to "come on, come on, let's go, let's go!" whenever he would slow down for a rest.

I'm not sure if we'll make it an annual tradition, but I'm sure this won't be our last Terry Fox Run and I know Abner will remember this first one for many years to come.

Around the house: The living room

2011-09-14T10:27:00.000-06:00

Continuing our tour around the house, today we're taking a look at the living room. This space really gets a lot of use. Abner loves to climb all over the couch and watch the goings of the neighbourhood. It's the perfect spot to sit and wave to TDSH as he bikes off to work each morning too. Sadly, even after six weeks in the house, we haven't put up any artwork in this room so we are still living with plain off-white walls. Sigh.

Even so, this room has some interesting features like these built-in book cases/room dividers which separate the living room from the entry and hallway. I love the retro feel they give the room and having the built-in shelf space means we've been spared having to replace the wall unit we got rid of in Burnaby.

Nestled in next to one of the bookcase is this fabulous vintage rocker we scored a couple of weeks ago up at the antique shop in Lumsden. The only thing wrong with it was a threadbare seat, so I used a vintage needlepoint pillowcase lined with batting as a little cushion, and voila, it's even cuter than before!

We've all taken a liking to this particular spot in the room. TDSH loves to sit and read, with a little music and a scotch in hand (as I knew he would). Abner likes to rock herself and was found curled up thumbing through Nelson Mandela's Long Walk To Freedom in there last night! [We actually got her the kids' version of that book a few months ago from the library, so at least she knows the gist of the story. This was during her Important Leaders in History phase which also included reading about Martin Luther King and Ghandi. Seriously.]

Another retro feature of the room...genuine wood panelling. Yes, yes, we are lucky indeed! Actually, I kind of like it. Real wood panelling is soooo much nicer than the fake stuff (which, don't you worry, we have plenty of in the basement!) I can't bring myself to drill into the panelling, so this wall will remain naked. For now, I've got my latest garage sale find set up in the living room to display my quilts and other projects.

The room divider screen came with dingy grey fabric (which I suspect may have been white at some point) stapled on. Once that was torn off, it's become the perfect rack for displaying quilts! If I'd tried to design a rack myself, I don't think I could have done a better job...and certainly not for the $7 I paid for the thing! I already have two quilts on the go, but now I want to sew up a few more just to fill it up a bit more. I figure it can hold up to 15 baby quilts!

That box on the floor is another garage sale find. It's made out of an old Gold Seal canned salmon crate and it's perfect for displaying the fabric boxes I've been working on. I used some remnant scrapbooking paper to line the insides since it was rather slivery (that's a word...right?). Actually, now that I look at this picture, I just remembered I still need to staple the paper down! Oh well, you get the idea.

In case you're wondering, I'm planning to use both display pieces if/when I ever sign up for a craft sale. For now, I am sewing like mad to build up a bit of stock. I am in sewing heaven!

A sucker for pink (quilt preview)

2011-09-12T13:37:00.001-06:00

It seems that somewhere along the way, I became a sucker for pink! I don't know when/how it happened, but it did. The most likely reason is having a cute little blond girl who just looks so damned adorable in pink. But anyhow, all of a sudden pink has become my go-to colour. Case in point, my latest quilt:

There is so much to love with this quilt: the sophistication of the solid grey next to the girly pinks, oranges and greens; the way the little flags of colour line up so neatly, the speed with which it's coming together, the fact that all of these fabrics were on hand in my stash already...oh, this one is going to be hard to part with when the time comes!

Since taking these photos, the quilt top has been pieced together and now I just need to figure out what to bind and back it with. Hmmm...sounds like a trip to the fabric store is in order!

One-word Wednesday: Puddles

2011-09-07T09:10:00.000-06:00

Un lapin pour l'école

2011-09-06T10:41:00.000-06:00

Today was Abner's first day of French immersion preschool (hence the French title of this post). I thought it would be nice to surprise her with a little gift this morning, so last night I whipped up this bunny from 1-2-3 Sew. The fabric is Wee Play by American Jane Patterns and the face was hand stitched on cream flannel.

It was so sweet to see Abner tucked into the bike trailer this morning on our way to school clutching her new bunny. She was adamant that her new friend be strapped in just like she was...next she'll want me to make her a bunny bike helmet!

For those who are curious, the first school drop off went well...no tears for either of us. When I left, she was sitting at a table reading some books by herself. I can't wait to pick her up and hear about her first day of school!

Well hello, fall

2011-09-02T09:32:00.000-06:00

I may be new to this part of the country, but there are plenty of signs to tell me the seasons are changing here on the prairies:

...the leaves have started to change (some even making it to the ground already!)

...kids now walk past our house every morning on their way to school

...overheating is no longer a problem on my morning run

...the splash pad down the street will be shut off in the next week or so

...pumpkin spice lattes are back at Starbucks (yippee!)

...this weekend likely marks the end of garage sale season *sniff*

...the flyers we get in the mail every day (all 10 lbs of them...seriously) are dominated with back to school specials

...Halloween decorations are up in the shops (some have been up for weeks!)

...shorts and t-shirts have been replaced with jeans and cardies (yay!)

All that being said, the temperature is supposed to come back up to the mid 20s this weekend, so I may be getting a bit ahead of myself.

Crossing off the pink cross quilt

2011-08-29T13:59:00.000-06:00

The week sewing machine was off getting a tune up was the perfect opportunity to finish off the little bit of handsewing I had left on the pink cross quilt. I couldn't be happier with how this little experimental quilt turned out and it's always nice to cross something off the ol' project list. Now it's time to toss it in the wash to see how it crinkles!

Side note: I am loving having hardwood floors to photograph my projects against!

Books are good for you!

2011-08-26T14:14:00.000-06:00

My sewing machine has been in the shop all week. It seems like cruel torture to send it off having only just been reunited with it after the big move. I remind myself that it's all worthwhile since it will be in tip top shape once I get it back on Monday. To bide my time until then, I've been pouring over some of my sewing books looking for inspiration.

Susan Beal's Modern Log Cabin Quilting book is proving a handy guide to a quilting technique I've wanted to learn for a while. I was drawn to this book because of the stunning quilt on the cover (which reminds me a lot of the pink cross quilt I started a few months ago). I haven't actually attempted my own log cabin blocks just yet, but it's on my list (somewhere between making curtains for the new house and designing a new tree skirt for our Christmas tree).

Susan's t-shirt memory quilt has also caught my eye since I've been commissioned to make yet another t-shirt quilt for a friend. I'm not sure it would work for this particular project, but it might be worth a try on the next one.

1, 2, 3 Sew by Ellen Juckett Baker is another book that I've taken off the shelf lately. The simplicity of her projects is very appealing. I love the idea of sitting down to start a project and being able to finish in just a couple of hours rather than days (or, ya know, years).

Aren't these little blockhead animals cute?!?!? I can't wait to make one of those little bunnies!

This circle floor pillow has actually inspired me to create a new custom quilt project...more to come on that later.

I'm not gonna lie, that tee pee on the cover is the main reason I bought Med McElwee's new book, Growing Up Sew Liberated. I mean, come on, who wouldn't want one of those tee pees to play in?!

In truth, I will probably skip the tee pee pattern and attempt some of these fabulous knit projects instead. Now that Abner is a bit older, I definitely find it a bit harder to find books with patterns in her size. I appreciate that Meg has included designs for babies and little kids alike.

What sewing books are you reading these days?

Around the house: My sewing room

2011-08-24T14:33:00.000-06:00

Now that we're settled in the house, my friends and family have been asking to see what it looks like, so over the next few weeks, I'll do a series of "Around the house" posts to show off some of the corners of our home. Today's post is about my favourite room in the house: my sewing room. My wildest dreams have come true! I have my very own sewing room! It makes me happy...very, very happy to be able to say that.

The floors are beautiful hardwood - perfect for my cutting mat - and the closet is the perfect space to hide away some of my stash. Probably my favourite part of the room is my new pegboard. Yeah, I'm an organizing geek. But look how pretty - and useful - it is!

I made and painted the pegboard myself and hung it with a little help from The Dear Sweet Husband. I've already tackled a few projects since putting it up, and I love being able to see all of my tools at a glance and how easy it is to grab exactly what I need whether it's scissors, rulers or my staple gun.

There was even a bit of space left for some cute art pieces!

I love the bright colours of the thread against the pretty blue of the pegboard. (The paint was left over from painting Abner's dresser.) I figure it will be nice to look at such a cheery colour in the dead of winter in Regina.

To organize some of my smaller fabric pieces, I held on to an unused IKEA CD tower and sorted the fabric by colour...the effect is beautiful and it makes pulling fabrics so easy.

What you can't see from these photos is that there is one giant blank wall that I've purposely left blank. My plan is to pick up some rigid foam insulation and make myself a design board. First, I need to make friends with someone with a vehicle large enough to fit the insulation!

I love, love, love my new sewing room. I love it so much, I sometimes stand in the middle of it and just smile (I even ate my cereal in there the other morning - just because).

DIY: No-sew fabric art project

2011-08-22T09:15:00.000-06:00

In all the years TDSH and I have lived together, we've never had any artwork to hang above our bed. Since we're renters, that means we've been living with a blank off-white wall above our bed for the past decade or so. Yawn. So why haven't we ever done anything about it? Well, reasons range from not having enough money to buy something nice to simply not being able to agree on what we both want.

Thanks to a genius idea provided by Gail over at Astrin's Attic Quilting, we now have this lovely piece of art hanging in its new home above our bed.

If you would like to make your own, here's a handy little tutorial. It's actually so easy, I don't think a tutorial is required per se, but it's handy nonetheless.

Materials:

artists' canvases
fabric
staple gun (light-weight will do)
picture hanging tools

Step 1: Cut your fabric slightly larger than the size of your canvas. It doesn't need to be that much bigger - less than an inch is fine.

Step 2: Lay your canvas upside down on top of the cut fabric and fold the fabric over the edge of one side of the frame like so:

Step 3: Use your staple gun to secure the fabric in just one spot along the first side, then do the same thing along the opposite side. Keep your fingers out of the way!

Step 4: Continue stapling along these two sides until they are secure and then do the same along the other two sides of the canvas. I found that staples placed about 2 inches apart worked well for making sure the fabric didn't sag in certain spots.

After stapling along all four sides, you'll be left with corners that look like this:

Step 5: Tuck and fold the fabric at the corners until you get a nice crisp corner (or until it looks good enough and you're tired of trying to get it just perfect). Use one or two staples to secure the folded corners. If you're decent at doing hospital corners on a bed, you'll have no trouble with this step.

Once all four corners are secured, you'll have a lovely little piece of art to hang wherever you may like!

What I love about this project is that it is affordable, quick, easy and if we get tired of this fabric, we can easily swap it out down the road. I'll even be able to use this fabric in another project since it will be undamaged from this project.

If you make your own fabric art, please link to your pics in the comments. I'd love to see what readers are doing!

Gramps and Nana come to town

2011-08-19T14:33:00.000-06:00

Looking for a way to help out friends or family who are in the midst of a move? Forget helping them pack, loading/unloading the truck, or even bringing them food. No, my friends, if you really want to help out, do what Gramps and Nana did and take the toddler out of the house for a couple of days. Made moving day so much easier!

Yes, we were lucky enough to have a visit from Gramps and Nana on the first days we were in our house. It was a jam-packed, whirlwind of a visit, but we somehow managed to show off the town, do a little roadtrip, celebrate our anniversary, AND unpack all of our boxes in those six fun-filled days.

Opening some gifts from G & N and the rest of the family.

After moving day and an entire day of unpacking in peace, we did let Gramps and Nana off the hook a bit and show them around town and enjoy a regular holiday in sunny Regina.

First BBQ in the backyard. Yes, the entire backyard is paved. Don't ever do this to a backyard.

We even took them on a roadtrip to see Findlater, where TDSH's grandfather first settled when he arrived in Canada.

Three generations at Findlater.

That same trip, we also went to Regina Beach, which is a little community about 30 minutes out of town where Reginians go when they want to get away from it all. A lovely little spot for a day out in the sun!

Did I mention that there's been some flooding here?

Chilling on a bench in front of the vintage diner where we had lunch. Miranda & Steve, you'd love it!

Wicked cute ice cream shop on the main drag in Regina Beach!

The Queen City Exhibition was also on during their visit, so, of course, we HAD to go. Abner had never been to a carnival before and oh my word, did she ever love it. This was one milestone, I am so glad I was able to be a part of.

View from the ferris wheel...Mosaic Stadium in the distance.

Not surprisingly, you could see for miles from the top of the ferris wheel.

We took a pass on all the carny games.

First time on a coaster and she squealed with delight the whole time.

Abner insisted everyone rest for a minute.

Coaster #2 of the day...this time with Gramps.

TDSH took her on a rather sedate bee ride.

Her first ride sans parents. Don't know who the girl is, but I would love to know what Abner said to her during the ride.

It was a great time to visit Regina. Not only was the Ex on, but the Folk Festival was also on. We spent the better part of a day there with Gramps and Nana and then headed back the next day after they'd left town. I've never been to a Folk Festival before, but this one was awesome. It's held in Victoria Park which is right downtown and the daytime shows are free! We saw Dan Mangan, Hawksley Workman, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, The Sojourners and many others all without spending a dime. Talk about a fantastic way to expose people to great music.

One-word Wednesday: Wings

2011-08-17T14:17:00.000-06:00

Out and about in Saskatchewan

2011-08-14T09:21:00.000-06:00

Well, we've been here about a month and a half and I have yet to post any pics of the early days of our prairie adventure. Actually, now that I look at the pics I've selected, they're mostly of Abner, but if you look in the backgrounds, you'll get a taste of what it's like here...sort of.

This first one shows how we spent our first non-hotel night in all its glory. The story goes that within the first few days in town, we managed to find a great home to rent. Woohoo, we all do a big happy dance. The catch was, we couldn't move in for a month. Hmmmm. A month of hotel rooms? I don't think so. We lucked out and the rental agency had a one-bed apartment available in the same neighbourhood so we took it sight unseen. If we hadn't been desperate, we probably would have run for the hills the moment we saw the place (which would have been a long run since there are no hills around here). Anyhow, the carpets were steam cleaned the day we arrived and were still very wet that first night, so we set up our air mattresses on the kitchen floor. On subsequent nights, we upgraded to the carpeted luxury of the bedroom.

One of us was thrilled to sleep on the floor for a month...guess which one of us.

One of our favourite things to do on the weekend is hit the farmer's market. It's a pretty awesome market...sorry no pics. Abner is particularly fond of going because there is a great park nearby. Our tradition is to pick up a little treat at the market and make our way to the playground afterward. Even after a month in town, Abner is still asking to go on the carousel at the farmer's market. Seems she got it in her head that farmer's market = carousel because there's one at the Burnaby farmer's market and we went MANY times in the weeks leading up to our move to the prairies.

Having a little fun with John A. Macdonald after the market.

Another tradition we've started since being here is to go for ice cream together on the weekends. I don't know that Abner had had too many ice cream cones before, but now she's quite the connoisseur.

Those first few cones were rather messy affairs.

Before we moved into our house, we had a lot of time to kill on the weekends so we ventured out to Fort Qu'Appelle (best name for a place EVER) one weekend and wound up playing a round of mini golf on a partially-submerged course. There has been an insane amount of rain in this region this year and some areas are still suffering. You can't tell from the picture, but the water was half way up that fence just days before we were there. It was still covering 3 or 4 of the holes...and it smelled pretty bad.

Not too fond of the golf, but loved the ice cream.

She's getting better with the cones...way less messy than that first one.

We've also done some exploring within the city. One of the highlights being Wascana Lake which is smack dab in the middle of town. It's a lovely place with a trail circling the lake and plenty of park space for just hanging out or having a picnic.

A rare mother-daughter shot.

Another out-of-town adventure took us to Craik. Never heard of it? Well, I wouldn't know about it either except that The Dear Sweet Husband conducted some of his PhD research there. If you must know, it's a wee little place on the highway between Regina and Saskatoon. It was nice to finally see the town after hearing about it so often over the year's of TDSH's work...it's kind of like meeting someone face-to-face for the first time after only ever talking or emailing with them.

Abner loved the Craik playground (of course).

The view from the Sacred Space monument located at the Craik Eco Centre.

First prairie project

2011-08-12T21:47:00.000-06:00

The project :
Take a cheap, used dresser and paint it to match Abner's room. To make it extra challenging, recruit said preschooler to help with the painting.

Before:

During:

After:

Getting into the groove

2011-07-14T21:05:00.000-06:00

At a week and a half, it feels like we've been here much longer already. By now I've hit a point were I am finally able to head off in the car without looking at a map every single time, I've signed up for my first customer loyalty card program at the neighbourhood Sobey's, I picked up a library card yesterday, and we're also making friends by now, having been over to dinner with one set of friends last week and spending an evening this week getting to know some new UofR friends while borrowing their unused camp furniture (and trying to resist their emphatic suggestions to "Take anything you need - PLEASE!") Our days have fallen into a comfortable routine.

Since we're all sleeping on the floor in the same room, it's pretty much a given that we're all up at the same time - usually just before 7 (though we do stir at bit earlier at 6 when the first planes of the day go by overhead...just a little detail the property management company failed to mention). The Dear Sweet Husband takes responsibility for Abner in the morning while I've been going out for either a run or a bike ride until 8. Once I get back, TDSH hops on his bike and takes his 10 minute (!) ride to the university and Abner sits with me while I eat my breakkie (which is so much more enjoyable now that that we have a table and chairs to sit at - we had been using small appliance boxes).

Abner's main responsibility in the mornings is to get herself dressed while I'm in the shower. Usually this goes quite well, however, after this morning's shower, I got an extra surprise in the form of 13 photos she'd managed to take of our nearly empty livingroom which she was eager to show me while I dripped on the tea towel bathmat. The girl has an eye for baseboard heaters and white walls, I tell ya!

Abner and I have a tenuous agreement that we will stay put reading in the apartment until Momma is done her coffee. She would much rather be outside. Back home, this likely would have turned into a time when I'd turn the TV on to keep Abner entertained (read as quiet) while I sipped away. I've been pleasantly surprised at how she's gradually learning to entertain herself for longer and longer stretches without much coaxing from me. Today she even coloured which is a rare occurrance for her. I am proud of myself for not missing the TV as much as I thought I would.

Our main activities in the morning usually involve either a playground or our local library. The library is very close to us and has fantastic programs and entertainers for kids...a little too fantastic as we discovered this morning when we tried to go see The Bubble Man and were turned away at the door along with 30 or so other families. Oh, the tears! Thankfully, we were able to make like Bubble Man groupies and follow him to his afternoon gig and were the first in line for his 2 o'clock show.

Our afternoons consist of lunch at home and a nap. Oh, what a luxury to take a nap every afternoon! I know you're all probably jealous, but I could get used to this! Yesterday we hit up a couple of garage sales after nap, but usually it's just off to the playground again or reading until TDSH gets home at 4:30 or so. Regarding the garage sale thing...does anyone else think it's odd for people to host garage sales in the middle of the week?

I've been taking on dinners each night and it feels oh so good to be able to cook at home again. We invested in a set of stainless steel pots for a whopping $17 just so we could stop eating out. I choose not to think about how or where those pots were made so cheaply and instead am grateful that they allow me to cook for my family. It was getting a bit out of hand there for a while - I think it had been an entire month since I last prepared a meal at home.

TDSH usually takes Abner off for a bike ride after dinner and I head off to the Starbucks to check out what's happening in the world each evening. When I get back, Abner is asleep and TDSH and I read either in the kitchen or in the hallway (the only rooms with light fixtures) until we hit the hay. I have read more books these past two weeks than I have in the past two or three years. Just finished Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and couldn't recommend it more (ya know, if you're looking for an 841-page summer read).

Tis time to wrap up this evening's online adventure and head back to the indoor campsite for the night. I hope you've enjoyed tonight's installment of Milkybeer's Prairie Adventure. Good night.

Early observations

2011-07-09T17:27:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been nearly a week since we arrived in Regina. Most of these first days have been spent looking for long-term housing and then for a place we could crash for the rest of the month. Little did we realize when we came out here, but the rental scene is really tight . So many trades folk and others coming to the city for work and many of them are forced to stay at hotels for weeks and months on end because there are so few places to rent.

We feel lucky, grateful and relieved to have found an awesome home and only mildly put out that we can't move in until August. Thankfully, the property management company we're renting the house from is kindly letting us stay in a vacant one-bedroom apartment in pretty much the same neighbourhood as our house. Did I mention the apartment is unfurnished? And, yes, our stuff is still on a moving truck somewhere between Burnaby and Regina at the moment.

We spent the first night in our temporary home camped out in the kitchen because the carpets had just been steam cleaned earlier that day. Beyond our air mattresses, sleeping bags, some books and some toys we didn't really have much else with us. A quick trip to the local Sally Anne and we are now kitted out with dishes and some pots and pans but not much else. We've been using a toaster oven box as a kitchen table and cart our pillows with us from room to room to use as chairs whenever we want to read somewhere. It will have to do until August.

With no TV, Internet (I'm writing this at the local Starbucks) or much else in the apartment we've been plowing through the few books we'd bought for the road. We hit some garage sales today to pick up some new books for Abner, and I'm hoping the library will let us borrow some books even though we technically don't really have an address yet. Otherwise, this is going to be an expensive month just in books alone! The only other entertainment we have is to stand at the kitchen window watching the richardson ground squirrels dig out their homes in front of our windows. We've taken to calling that window the Animal Planet window.

Now that we're somewhat settled though, I've been able to step back and take more notice of our new home. As lovely as it is, I'm struck by a few particular observations that I wanted to share with you:

Observation #1
These people are fanatical about the Roughriders. Seriously. Vancouver, if you thought we got all excited about the Canucks for, say, game 7 of the playoffs, I am here to tell you that that was a mild ripple of excitement compared to a regular season game for the Riders. I can't even begin to tell you of some of the more eccentric Rider memorabilia I've seen around town. I think there must be some kind of city bylaw requiring residents to own at least one thing in Rider green. Thanks to my BCIT peeps, I arrived fully equipped with my very own Riders hat! Whew. I blend in.

Observation #2
No curbside recycling. What is this? The nineties? I trust we'll be able to find some local depot that we can take our own recycling eventually but for now, everything is going in the garbage. Can't tell you how wrong it feels.

Observation #3
Regina has never heard of road maintenance. The potholes are truly epic here.

Observation #4
I mentioned it in my last post, but it's worth repeating....Regina is mosquito heaven. Any day that I get less than three new bites is a good day.

Observation #5
There doesn't seem to be much of a crafty scene here. This kind of makes me sad. I will continue to dig around and see if I can uncover a hidden underworld of secret crafters, but for now, all I can find are the granny knitters who occupy a handful of stalls at the local farmer's market.

Observation #6
Holy crow there are a lot of smokers in this town. We've been told they only banned smoking in public buildings two years ago! This is going to take some getting used to.

Observation #7
Getting around town is ridiculously easy. Rush hour? Try rush minute. I've been dropping off and picking up The Dear Sweet Husband every day at work all the way across town. How long does it take me? Four minutes. Four minutes people! Awesome.

Observation #8
There is a distinct lack of coffee shops in this town. The only Starbucks in town are the mini ones inside Safeways and a single full-service location inside the Chapters store. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but even I am having a hard time adjusting to this one. There were at least six within walking distance of our apartment in Burnaby.

It may sound like I'm a bit down on Regina, but that's not at all the case. I am loving it here and so is the rest of the Milkybeer family. The architecture is stunning, the trees are incredible, and the people are so friendly. I am looking forward to this year's adventure more than ever.

Greetings from Regina

2011-07-05T21:46:00.000-06:00

Well folks, we made it safe and sound to Regina - the city that rhymes with fun. Since arriving, I've been trying to think of an entertaining way to tell the story of our trip. So far, the best idea I've come up with is to share some of the highlights and some stats about our move and the drive. Ummm stats are entertaining, aren't they? No? Just me? Oh well. Suck it up and read on.

Distance travelled = 1700 km

Biggest surprise = Abner gets carsick. Who knew? Poor thing started puking just 2 hours into the whole drive. I tossed her potty at her hoping she'd keep it contained...she just threw it back at me and made a mess of her carseat. All the books, games, toys and distractions we'd packed had to stay packed up for the rest of the trip. She did an incredible job doing nothing but staring out the window for the remainder of the trip. All I can say is thank goodness for books on CD...I highly recommend Junie B. Jones in case you're looking for a little something to listen to on your next trip. I am also thankful for aunts who have washing machines so we didn't have to smell vomit for the entire rest of the way!

Gas fill ups = 4

Hotels visited = 3 (so far)

Best Abner quote = Runaway lanes? What? Lanes can't run! They don't have any legs!

Detours = 2 (the first around a mud slide near Chilliwack, the second just west of Regina)

Strangest town = Swift Current. We drove through that entire town and there isn't a single playground to be had! We had to blow up a beach ball just so Abner would have something to play with while we took a break from the road.

Number of movers with head injuries = 1 (he fell off the truck during loading)

Coffee stops = 3

Biggest excitement = Following a van with a wobbly rear tire for several km waiting for the inevitable. When it did happen, the tire bounced into oncoming traffic (didn't hit anyone) and a flying bolt took out a fog light on our car. Could have been soooooo much worse. So bizarre watching that loose tire for so long and just having to wait for it to fly off and hope for the best when it did.

Washroom stops = 9 (in my defence, it was a VERY long drive)

3 pm on day 2 = point at which we remembered how to use cruise control

Number of boxes packed = 101 (all labelled with numbers on 2 sides and contents documented on a worksheet, of course!)

Stupidest roadside sighting = Distance marker signs on the prairies. Do they really think I need a sign to tell me a town is coming up in 1 km? I could see the town from 10 km out for Pete's sake!

Distance from which we first saw Regina = 30 km

Weight of possessions in our moving truck = 5400 lb

Mosquito bites so far = 30 (none on The Dear Sweet Husband, 3 on Abner, and the rest on me)

That pretty much sums up the drive and our move so far. I really must say the drive went better than I ever could have hoped. Abner enjoyed herself for the most part, weather was good, scenery was beautiful, and Regina is a lovely city. We've been at hotels these first few nights and just found ourselves a home this afternoon. We don't get to move in right away, so the rest of July should be interesting to say the least!

Still here...for now

2011-05-31T23:27:00.000-06:00

Wondering where Milkybeer has gone this past month? Well, the answer is nowhere...yet.

In case you haven't heard, my little family and I are moving to Regina, SK at the end of June. The Dear Sweet Husband has accepted a fantastic opportunity for a one-year position at the university there and we are seizing the opportunity.

It feels like life got extra crazy the minute we found out we were moving (hence, no posting to the blog). June is going to be an especially insane month so please bear with me as I attempt to complete all the tasks that are on my ever-growing to-do list. I just wanted to pop in and share the news. Regular posting should resume in July.

Via Flickr

Kicking off summer...

2011-05-24T14:21:00.000-06:00

in a long-sleeve shirt and pants kind of way.

Just thought I'd pop in to share a few pics from our recent trip to the cabin at Pt. Roberts. This is the stuff that memories are made of.

FYI, baby wipes are brilliant for getting marshmallow out of hair. Just so you know.

The anniversary tree

2011-05-06T09:55:00.000-06:00

I was so honoured when my colleague, Kim, asked me to create something special he could give his wife on their ten year anniversary. What was really fun was that he didn't have any specific ideas when he first approached me. That problem was solved with a couple of quick scans through the Fresh Modern Quilts group on Flickr. In the end, we settled on the notion of doing a wall hanging with a tree and birds.

I finished the piece a while ago, but wanted to wait until after the actual anniversary to post about it. Here is the finished project in all its glory! Each bird represents one member of their family [and bare an unintentional liking to the Twitter bird].

Throughout the process, Kim kept asking if I was taking photos of "the build" [this is a guy who's recently built himself a movie quality stormtrooper costume...for fun.] so here you go...these pics are for you Kimu!

Each leaf, bird and tree trunk were cut by hand and appliqued on...one. at. a. time.

Stitching leaf number 37...I think.

I just used a regular old zig zag to secure each piece.

A special message from husband to wife [don't tell Angie, but it was my idea!]

Not bad considering this is only the second time I've attempted applique!

Fingers crossed that Angie likes it!

Party favour pouches

2011-05-05T13:39:00.000-06:00

Saw a cute little tutorial to make little treat bags on Prudent Mama a while back and filed it away to try out for Abner's birthday. I can't tell you how wrong it felt to sew paper on my sewing machine! But, the results are so adorable!

I filled each pouch with a small handful of Mike & Ikes (and then proceeded to eat the remaining enormous bag I'd bought all by myself!). If you're planning to try this out yourself, be forewarned that you don't need much to fill each pouch! These were great for the little kids because they can easily open the pouches by themselves and you can use any paper that tickles your fancy!

The gift of a name

2011-05-04T08:47:00.000-06:00

Life is a bit crazy at the moment, so just a quick pop in to show you all a little handmade giftie I whipped up for our little friend Cole who recently turned three. I love this idea for decorating with a name. Besides, any sewing project where I get to use a hammer is a winner in my book!

The idea was borrowed from a friend [who I think borrowed it from somewhere else...my apologies if you originally created this idea...imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.]

Birthday and letter bags

2011-05-03T23:53:00.000-06:00

We celebrated Abner's birthday this past weekend. With all the crappy weather we've been having, it was a gamble whether we'd be in the park or in the party room (again). Thankfully, we had fantastic weather and the kids were able to run around like crazy chickens before feasting on nummy lunch and cake (carrot cake made by TDSH, of course!) and opening gifts (sort of).

True to form, I chose to make party favours for each of Abner's little friends rather than buying things from the dollar store or wherever. I used this great little tutorial from Kim of Retro Mama that I found on Craft Snob to make up custom monogrammed tote bags for each party guest.

I'm not going to lie...it took a while to prepare all of the bags I needed (thank goodness some kids weren't able to make it!) Choosing the corresponding fabrics for each bag was the best part, especially since all of the fabrics came from my scrap bag.

The finished bags were each stuffed with a colouring book and a few little treats and hung from a tree. They looked beautiful hanging in the bright sun and were as much a decoration as they were a party favour.

I'm not sure about the other kids, but I know Abner has already been getting a lot of use out of her little "A" bag.

Borrowing leads to buying

2011-04-29T08:46:00.000-06:00

Last year I borrowed this book from Miranda and loved it! I'm a sucker for a good quilting book so I picked up my own copy recently on a trip to Fabricana. [I love that they've started carrying books now even if I am reasonably sure I'm the only customer buying them.]

I've got my eye on a few quilts already including Ice Pops which appeals to my neat and orderly nature.

I'm totally looking forward to trying the Flock of Triangles pattern after reading this half-square triangles tutorial on Oh, Fransson. So easy and so classic, though...do people really need to follow a pattern to make this quilt? Seriously?

And the Hop, Skip & A Jump pattern may look a little familiar to regular Milkybeer readers since it was the inspiration for the anniversary quilt I made my parents last year. So easy to do and such a nice look.

So many quilts...so little time.

The prettiest bunting ever!

2011-04-27T09:11:00.000-06:00

One of the things I like best about sewing for other people is that I get to work on so many different types of projects. One week it's a quilt, the next week it's lunch bags and then on to a duvet the week after that. It's been rare that I've been asked to make the same project twice. The latest request...bunting.

I am in love with this fabric! Such lovely colours. It was the jumping off point for all the other fabrics I chose. Fabric selection is always my favorite part of sewing, but especially when I find some that I truly love.

This particular set of bunting will be making an appearance at a three-year-old's birthday party this weekend, but I think I may make up another string just for myself to enjoy...or maybe a quilt. Oh my God...a quilt in these fabrics would be AMAZING! Excuse me, I have to go get my rotary cutter!

Fabric gift boxes

2011-04-26T08:34:00.000-06:00

Ever make something just for the sake of having something to show for yourself at the end of the day? That's what I did the other day when I made up this set of cute little fabric boxes. Aren't they adorable? They would be perfect to store jewelry or to give as a gift for Mother's Day. The outer fabric is Waterford cotton - a fabric I'd never heard of but is very affordable and just perfect for these boxes.

Want to make your own? I found the tutorial on Sew, Mama, Sew. [love that site]

Happy Easter weekend!

2011-04-24T09:21:00.000-06:00

We take our Easter egg hunts very seriously around these parts*. As such, I made sure Abner was all set with this cute fabric bucket for this year's round of hunting. I didn't follow any pattern and probably made it a bit bigger than necessary (each side is about 9"), but at least Abner will have plenty of room to stash all the chocolate she can get her little hands on. Let the egg hunt begin!

* How seriously? This is my family and some good friends all in our 20's still carrying on our annual egg hunt tradition...a tradition that started when we weren't even school-aged yet! Apparently we didn't have baskets the year this photo was taken and were using bowls instead...must have been a lean year for chocolate eggs.

Fabric finds...I can't resist!

2011-04-22T10:11:00.000-06:00

I spent a bit of time wondering through Fabricana last week and now all these lovely fabrics are spending a bit of time on my stash shelf. Happy sigh.

One-word Wednesday: Duck!

2011-04-20T09:05:00.000-06:00

Starting the pink cross quilt

2011-04-18T08:25:00.000-06:00

I had no intentions of working on another quilt anytime soon with all of the commissions I've had recently. Honest. But when I read Elizabeth Hartman's (of my fave quilting blog Oh, Fransson!) post about a Quick-Piece Tiny Squares quilt over at Sew, Mama, Sew I absolutely had to try it. You have to admit, the concept is pretty alluring: patchwork piecing hundreds of tiny scraps into a beautiful quilt without spending ages doing it!

I promptly dug through my handy dandy bag of scraps and pulled out all of the pinks I could find. Don't ask me why I went for pink. I hate pink. Collectively though, even I have to admit, these squares look stunning.

Following Elizabeth's suggestion, I laid out my cut squares (2.5" x 2.5") in a grid pattern atop some light-weight fusible interfacing and ironed everything down. What I like about this technique is that you don't have to be completely precise about your cutting and placement -- a little overlap is just fine as long as you're rows are pretty straight over all. Once you stitch down each row and column, all of your seams will match up perfectly and any overlaps or gaps you had will be hidden in the seam allowance.

So, just how quick is this project? I was able to cut out all 315 squares in one night, and iron and stitch the entire quilt top the following evening. It's now sandwiched waiting for me to begin hand quilting. I'm not sure how that's going to go since the interfacing adds a bit of bulk, but we'll see. I'll post more pics as the project moves along.

P.S. I will likely be selling this quilt once it's complete (assuming it turns out okay). If you might be interested in purchasing it for yourself or as a gift, please message me at heymilkybeer [at] gmail [dot] com. The finished quilt will be approximately 30 X 42 inches.

We have a winner!

2011-04-15T13:47:00.000-06:00

Yup. Today is my birthday! I've been happily sewing all morning and just generally enjoying this bright sunny day. I wisely treated myself to the day off work and am so glad I did. Who wants to be sitting at a desk on a day like this?

The view from our balcony.

Blue sky as far as the eye can see!

Today is also the day I promised to select a winner in the "Name My Dress Form" giveaway. Initially, I thought I'd just pick the suggested name I liked best, but there were so many great entries, I decided to let the good ol' random number generator help me decide. Without further ado....the winner is....Lesley! She suggested I name my dress form Scarlet, and you know what, I think I just might do that! Thanks Lesley! Hopefully the coasters and mug rug will go with that sweet new kitchen you're working on!

Incidentally, if you haven't checked out Lesley's blog, may I suggest you mosey on over there. Seriously. It's one of my faves.

Thanks for playing along everyone!

One-word Wednesday: Brush

2011-04-13T09:42:00.000-06:00

Is she a Scarlet or a Ruby? (with prize preview bonus!)

2011-04-11T22:24:00.000-06:00

Good news folks, there's still time to get in on the fun and help me name my dress form. I'm planning to keep the contest open until Friday when I'll select one of the entries to receive a little handmade gift. Friday also happens to be my birthday, so it seems appropriate to give a little something on that day.

No matter how much you torture me though, I will not tell you what I've made! Nope, not gonna do it. I won't tell....okay, fine...you got me. I can't keep a secret worth crap. Wanna see what I made?

It's coasters and a mug rug! Wait, whoa...mug rug? What the what? Yeah...until a week ago, I didn't know what a mug rug was either. I've taken the liberty of illustrating its intended purpose below. It's either a really big coaster, or really tiny place mat depending on how you look at it. What-ev. I think it's awesome and hopefully you do too.

I'm on a bit of a linen kick at the moment. There's just something so beautiful about natural linen next to a selection of beautiful cotton prints...so simple and so gorgeous. I think I'm going to be using linen a lot more in the future.

One of the great things about this project is how it used up some of the teeny tiny scraps I had on hand that really aren't good for much else. I still have enough cut squares left to crank out a couple of additional sets, so I just might whip some up for myself. It only takes about an hour to do up the entire set. You can find the coaster tutorial I used over on Craft Snob if you'd like to make your own. The mug rug measures12 X 8 if you're looking to make that piece...it's not in the tutorial.

This project marks the first time I've ever done chain piecing. I'm sold. Such a time saver. If you're not in the know, chain piecing is where you keep running the pieces through one set after the other without taking the time to cut your thread in between. By the end, you have a long chain of connected pieces linked together and you just clip all the threads at once. I wish I'd tried this technique ages ago. Would have saved a tonne of time on some of my previous quilt projects.

Anyhow, like I said at the beginning of this post, there's still time to enter the contest if you'd like to win these little cuties. Hopefully you're even more excited to win now that you know what the prize is! To enter, you can go back to the original giveaway post and leave a comment there with your name suggestion for my dress form, or you can simply comment here on this post. Doesn't matter what you say...any old comment will do! If you've already commented on the original post (thanks so much!) you can comment here for an additional entry!

P.S. Despite the title of this post, I haven't narrowed down my choices for a name yet. ~~Keep the fresh ideas coming!~~

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Lesley who won herself a set of quilted coasters and a mug rug!

Project preview (with video bonus!)

2011-04-06T22:07:00.000-06:00

Just a wee sneak peek at one of the commissioned projects I'm working on...

and a little something to make you laugh...if you've walked through a craft market in the past couple of years, you'll know exactly what they're talking about!

It's me, only with more dials!

2011-04-04T22:06:00.000-06:00

I'd like to introduce you to someone special who's just come into my life...my new dress form. Well, she's not so new - try vintage 70s - but she's new to me. I picked her up yesterday for only $25 and she is now happily residing in my bedroom.

Regular readers of this blog are probably scratching their heads thinking one of two things: A) Why does a quilter need a dress form? or B) What the hell do you need a dress form for...you never sew clothes for yourself! Okay, okay...you got me on the first one. There is absolutely no need for a dress form in quilt making. The second point, however, is only partially true. I have been known to make my own clothes on occasion. The problem is, most of the time they never seem to fit quite right. With this shapely gal's help, I'm hoping to remedy that! I'm dying to take a stab at some of the patterns and techniques in my Built by Wendy Dresses book to create a few dresses that will actually fit me!

For those of you thinking of getting your own dress form ('cause I know you all want one), a couple of remarks:

It's alarming to see one's own proportions on a life-sized form standing right in front of you. Somehow, it seems more real than looking in the mirror. There's no denying your actual measurements when you have to dial them into place.
Carefully plan out where your dress form is going to live. Sitting at our desk is now sort of creepy since she kind of looms over anyone sitting there. Not good if you're at all prone to paranoia.
Ever wonder if your measurements are proportionate? Dial them into a dress form and you'll find out (my waist is tremendously disproportionate to my other measurements...and not in the good way).

Anyhow, all this is to say that I'm super excited about my new toy. I think she needs a name though. ~~Leave a comment with your suggestion and next week I'll pick my favourite entry to receive a super-special surprise -- so super-special, I don't even know what it is yet!~~

UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Lesley who won herself a set of quilted coasters and a mug rug!

Reversible bucket hat cuteness

2011-04-01T08:37:00.000-06:00

It doesn't happen often, but last week, I actually sat down to sew up one of the patterns from my expanding selection of crafty books. The pattern? The Reversible Bucket Hat from Little Things to Sew by Liesl Gibson. The result? This adorable little hat which sits so sweetly atop my adorable little girl's curls. It will be so perfect for summer...bring on the sun!

One-word Wednesday: Stuck

2011-03-30T08:33:00.000-06:00

Sewing book shopping...again

2011-03-25T10:34:00.000-06:00

Dear Readers, please let me introduce you to my newest sewing book purchase: Little Things to Sew by Liesl Gibson of Oliver + S fame. It just hit bookstores earlier this month and I'm already in love. Read more about it after the jump!

First on my must-make list is this sweet little hat. Abner needs a new sun hat, so this fits the bill nicely. I've already got my eye on a few of the new fabrics in my stash to put towards this project. I love the idea of dressing my kid in something that no one else will have!

I seem to have a thing for little hooded capes these days. This is the second book I've purchased recently that has a pattern for such a project. Since this pattern is in English (and looks stunningly easy), I think it will win out over the Japanese pattern I found last month.

I'm completely drawn to the simplicity of this quilt. The white is a little impractical for my tastes, but I find the semi-transparent overlap effect with the colours so clever. Colour combining is my favourite part of quilting, so I know I'll have a blast picking out just the right shades for this one.

And this bento box carrier is just insanely adorable. The whole thing opens up and becomes its own place mat as well! Cute and functional...I like it!

I'll be whipping this one up for Abner for next winter for sure. She has a store-bought little bear hat at the moment, but it won't last until next winter. I'd been looking out for a suitable pattern so I could make a new one and am totally excited to give this one a try.

Psst...did you hear? Liesl also just launched a new collection of clothing patterns for women called Lisette. Sweet! Can't wait to get my hands on these!

One-word Wednesday: Laundry

2011-03-23T08:53:00.000-06:00

The newest t-shirt quilt

2011-03-18T08:57:00.000-06:00

Last year, a few weeks after I finished my first t-shirt quilt, my buddy Allison asked if I would make one for her. Not one to turn down a friend, I agreed (plus, she offered to pay me, so how could I say no?!?!). A few months later, she showed up at my office with a box of t-shirts she'd been collecting since high school. Fast forward several procrastination-filled months later and we have this...the life of Allison in quilt form. Read more after the jump!

From making this quilt, I learned that Allison used to work at Overwaitea Foods, likes to visit Hard Rock Cafes when travelling, volunteers a lot, is very proud of her Russian heritage, may or may not have gone skydiving, and has good taste in British comedies. Interesting lady to say the least!

As with the previous t-shirt quilt I used iron-on interfacing to stabilize the stretchy t-shirt material. This time I got a bit smarter about it though. Instead of cutting and ironing individual squares of interfacing to iron on, this time I cut long strips the same width as my blocks and ironed on a whole row of blocks at a time. Then, I just folded right sides together between each block and stitched my seam allowance as usual. Sooooo much faster than last time.

The fabric I chose for the back wasn't my first pick. I wanted to go with a medium grey Kona solid but the store was out when I was doing my shopping. Instead, I opted for a medium blue with darker blue wavy lines. The effect kind of reminds me of jeans so it really works with the t-shirts.

Since regular fabric isn't wide enough to span the entire width of the quilt, a seam was necessary. I'm never really fond of seams on the back of quilts, so I used the opportunity to tie the back in with the colours on the front by adding a band of small t-shirt squares. I intentionally set the band off centre on the back. This way, when the quilt is folded, you still get to see that nice band detailing instead of it getting lost on a fold.

I can honestly say, this will probably be the only time I get to put Rowan Atkinson and William Shakespeare on a quilt together. Every quilter should include a Black Adder block at least once in their life! Looks good, don't you think?

As you can see, this is a tied quilt. Instead of the layers of fabric being held together with rows of stitching, I used yarn and embroidery thread to tie the layers together. This prevents the batting from shifting around over time. I placed one tie at the corner of each block as well as one in the middle of each. The set placement led to some unintentionally hilarious results: check out the belly-button tie on Mr. Russia here...couldn't have planned it better if I tried.

I managed to ship the quilt off to Allison just two weeks after I started the piece. I'm sure she'll be enjoying her personalized quilt for years to come!

One-word Wednesday: Drawing

2011-03-16T08:51:00.000-06:00

Behold, the magic bag

2011-03-14T08:41:00.000-06:00

Looking for a nice way to warm up on a chilly winter's night? If you're like me, you'll just stick your feet on your husband as soon as you crawl into bed, but for others (who are, perhaps, a little kinder to their hubbies), you might want to try making your own magic bag. It's pretty much as easy as you'd think: Cut fabric to desired size, sew up sides leaving one open for filling, fill 2/3 full with material of choice (rice, barley, wheat, buckwheat hulls, etc.) and sew closed.

Here are a few pics of one I recently made for my friend Kim (not only does she have an awesome name, but she also happens to be a very talented photographer).

She specifically requested an extended length design in heavier weight fabric so that it will last a long, long time. I had this fabric on-hand in my stash (originally from IKEA). I used French seams along the long edges to make sure they were nice and sturdy. Once filled, I double stitched the end closed so that none of the rice will escape. The finished piece was super quick and easy and looks better than the store-bought versions. Don't you agree?