My 50th blog post!

The super-secret wedding gift was completed last Wednesday and the wedding took place on Friday; I think it’s now safe to show what has been taking up most of my sewing/crafting time for the past two months.



This is the first proper quilt that I’ve ever made. I felt a little bad over giving it away because it would have been nice to have my first one but it was made with love. I don’t even know where the idea to make Jenna and Joel a quilt came from but as soon as it sprung into my head I began planning. I saw the Arcadia collection from Moda (all of the non-chocolate brown fabrics are from this collection) and fell in love with it. I came up with the pattern myself and just ran with it. Each small block is made using five different fabrics and then paired with another small block in the same colourway to form a larger block with a small strip of chocolate brown joining them. The centre large block was something that I came up with because I wanted to throw in something different and I wanted to show off some of the fabrics with larger prints. Here a picture that’s a bit closer up so that you can see the blocks in more detail.



It measures about 3.5 feet by 6 feet. I did the backing in tan and the binding in ivory, and it’s machine quilted (I knew there was no time for hand quilting). It didn’t turn out exactly as I hoped but I am proud of it and I hope that Jenna and Joel like it. I was hoping to get some better pictures of the quilt outside in the sun but it rained from Wednesday to Friday so these will have to do. I really wanted some great ones since it was my first.

If you look closely at the bottom of the top picture (on the floor) you can see the initial laying out of fabric for my next quilt. It’s actually almost done already; I’ve finished the quilt top and it is currently spread on the living room floor sandwiched with the batting and flannel backing. It just needs to be quilted and I’m going to do it by hand while we’re at the cottage. I’m not keeping this one for myself either. Alex’s best friend and his wife recently welcomed their first baby, a little girl named Lucy, and I’m making this quilt for her. It’s not very big, being baby-sized and all (it’s about 2 feet by 3 feet), so it’s not taking as long as the last one. I’m really happy with it so far. I’m also just finishing up some birthday presents for Alex’s nephew Joshua and I will share pictures as soon as they’re done.

We had a ton of fun at Romeo and Juliet weekend before last…other than that part where we got rained on and I had to sit through the whole play with a wet bum (the blanket and my pants got wet in the rain). Juliet was kind of annoying and I think that the actress tried to play her too much like how a fourteen year old would act now, but it was really well done and it was nice to be outside and to see friends.

Alex and I will be leaving for the cottage on Saturday and won’t be back for two weeks, so I will be MIA during this period. I may have internet access on my Blackberry but I don’t know yet. I’m planning on doing one more blog post before we leave but if for some reason I can’t I hope that everyone has a great two weeks and please (with sprinkles on top) don’t forget about me while I’m gone.