Not too much blogging

Most of September and the first part of October I was not blogging and not even taking alot of pictures.  The pictures you see posted in September are pretty much it - and I didn't even take the ones of the boys in the rain!  Our babysitter took those!

So what was I doing with my time?  I was completely wrapped up in making this...

I blogged about the making of this quilt here.  It was a gift for my brother and sister-in-law who were married in October.  I finished it only a few hours before we had to leave for the airport!

Announcing my new craft adventure!

I am finally organized enough to let you know what I have been up to. I have been setting up my new quilt shop on Etsy! Have you heard of Etsy yet? It is a really cool place to shop because it is all handmade stuff!

Anyway, I got this crazy idea that I should open my own shop! I know, like I didn't already have enough to do. But the interesting thing is that the kids are helping me. They are picking out colors, naming shapes, counting pieces, and Carlee stood beside me for nearly an hour the other day being my pin helper, she was in charge of the pin cushion!

I love quilting and I have decided that it is a great motivator to do something for myself. An excuse to actually make the time to sit down and quilt. I finished my first quilt for the shop and have already listed it, just click on it over on the right sidebar and you will be taken to my Etsy shop.

I have lots of quilts planned and even some other cross-stitch, knitting, and crocheting projects planned too. To keep things all nice and organized I started a new blog just for my Etsy shop stuff. The link for that is also over on the right sidebar. So now I am all over the place! Make sure you leave a comment to let me know when you visit any of my blogs and also let me know what you think!

Quilts for the kids

I am just getting back to the computer after being away for awhile and I missed out on many Gratituesdays, but now I am nearly caught up and grateful for that! However for this weeks Gratituesday post (Jan 13), I am using this one that I posted in November. You can find more Gratituesday posts at Laura's blog Heavenly Homemakers.

Gratitude and grateful are not descriptive enough words for what I feel towards my mom and all she does for our family. We love you Mimi!! Here is the post from November....

While my Mom was here I totally took advantage!! I locked myself in my sewing room and completed three quilts for the kids. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate my Mom and all she does for our family. She is truly a blessing and I am grateful for her!

These quilts are called "I Spy Quilts". Each square is a different pattern, so there are 36 patterns plus the borders. I chose fabrics that could be easily identified, examples are frogs, boots, houses, trains, flags, hearts, butterflies. They all have the same 36 patterns but are randomly placed. The idea is that we can all sit around with the quilts and play a game - Who can find the Snowmen? Or something like that. They also have three different flannel fabrics for the backings. The flannel made them nice and cuddly.

Sam's quilt


Carlee's quilt - Don't you just love the hat! Daddy says she looks like a hoser! (Only my Canadian friends will understand that joke!!!) It has been cold in their bedroom so that is why I gave them their quilts on Thanksgiving instead of Christmas.



Ben's quilt - I think it was still warm from pressing! I literally finished this one, wrapped them up and gave them to the kids! And of course it would be Ben that had to get on the table to snuggle with his new blankie!!!

Away from the computer & blogging

For those handful of you that follow my little blog I wanted to let you know where I have been. As you may know, my Mom is still here and we have been quite busy! But then I decided to truly take advantage of her being here....

Last year I started a quilt for Sam and had the fabric to make quilts for Ben & Carlee as well. I really wanted to have them made for Christmas last year, but that was just too big of a goal. I got as far as quilting half of Sam's when I decided that there just wasn't enough time to make all three. Then we moved and I have been trying to get our house in order ever since. Now that it is somewhat manageable, thanks to my mom being here I wondered if I had enough time to get them completed for this Christmas. So I have been retreating into my sewing room every single chance I have.

My mom has been great - entertainting the kids, doing the cleaning & laundry etc. She even helped me pin baste a quilt!!! I should post this as another Gratituesday!!!! Anyways, I could go on and on about how great my mom is, but the point is that because she here and supporting me I should be able to get the quilts completed before she leaves! However, I still will need to spend every available moment in the sewing room and unfortunately that means neglecting the blogging world.

Just wanted to let you know where I have been and that I am away for purely selfish - but crafty reasons!! Well not entirely selfish, this is our kids first winter away from southern California. In other words, it is really cold here! Well not nearly as cold as I was used to in Canada, but after 5 years in California, these freezing temperatures seem down right nasty! Plus, we are keeping the temperature down and using our wood stove in the evenings, but the bedrooms are still quite chilly. So my main motive is to get the quilts done to keep my kids warm. I am hoping that they will like them enough to keep them on at night. Wishful thinking maybe?

As soon as I am done with the quilts I will be back.