a signature quilt . . .

A woman in our church is going through a difficult struggle with cancer.  A close family member of hers asked me to make a quilt for her to include messages and texts from her family and friends.  This is the third quilt that's been made now for someone in our church with cancer, you can see the other quilts here and here.

The fabrics were purchased from a LQS, and the pattern is a simpler version of an X and O quilt.  This quilt came together very quickly, and there was a lot of help from my friend Alisa and the woman in our church that organized the quilt.

In the four blocks at the center top of the quilt is written out the words of the song, 'Great Is Thy Faithfulness.'

Giving a quilt to someone going through cancer treatments is special - visits are not always possible because of a low immune system, meals are more for other family members because the person often has little appetite or is put on a special diet, and treatments leave the person feeling very sick and often cold.  There are organized quilt charities out there that specifically give quilts to cancer patients, such as Victoria's Quilts (there is a US and Canadian group).  I encourage quilters to look into donating to such a worthy cause.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Sew and Tell Friday.

a quilt finish . . .

This quilt top had been sitting in my unfinished pile for awhile.  But a close friend of mine is getting married in a couple weeks, and was having a bridal shower last week.  The theme for the shower was 'around-the-clock' and the time I received was 9pm - so since that's the time of day where I curl up on the couch to watch a show or read a book, a quilt is what came to mind.  And after seeing their beach-front condo recently, I thought the colors and feel of this quilt would suit them.

The fabrics are an assortment of bright fat quarters that were picked up here and there, and the cutting was mostly done with the drunkard's path die from my Accuquilt GO! Baby.

The quilting is just an all-over stippling, and the backing is pieced from two coordinating prints.

Linking up to Manic Monday and Fabric Tuesday.

Getting my craft back on . . .

After a Summer off from my craft room, I'm getting back in there this week.  Catching up on my blocks for the Joy circle for Do Good Stitches came first.  Here is the quilt top from the May blocks I received.

And here is the Swoon block requested for our August quilt.

And since I will be hosting September, I've made those blocks too.  These will be made into the Hugs & Kisses pattern from Little Miss Shabby.

It has been great spending time back in my craft room, and since the kids are getting back on the back-to-school bedtime schedule, it hasn't been hard getting back in there.  I love having an outlet for myself, and missed it over the Summer.  So maybe when they're back in school next week, I'll give my house a good deep clean, but this week has been some 'me' time.

Disclosure: I am part of the Lysol® Healthy Families Ambassador Program by Mom Central. I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

enjoying our Summer holidays . . .

We have been having a GREAT Summer so far - filled with gymnastics, dance class, swimming lessons and we're looking forward to synchronized swimming and basketball camp coming up.  I've also been tackling our storage closet, selling off some stuff, and reorganizing various rooms in the house.

We've also gone to the beach, spray parks, playground, on bike rides, and spent lots of time in our own backyard.  It is so nice to have the kids out of the house almost every day - it makes for less cleaning, although my towel laundry has tripled. :)

This past weekend we went camping for two nights with just our family and had a great time in a beautiful campground that we plan to return to next Summer.  This week I'm catching up on laundry and cleaning out the tent trailer so it will be ready for the next camping trip.

Disclosure: I am part of the Lysol® Healthy Families Ambassador Program by Mom Central. I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

June Blocks for Joy Circle

These are my blocks for June for Do Good Stitches.  The tutorial for the Patchwork Wheel blocks can be found here.  I'm not sure that I would attempt this block for a whole quilt, but it's perfect for a bee - looking forward to seeing this one finished in the Flickr group!

Siblings Together Quilt - finished :)

We're on Summer Holidays!!

We're so excited to be enjoying Summer holidays around here!  Sleeping in, and staying up later are just a couple of the perks.  We also have swimming lessons, gymnastics, and camping all booked; and there will be lots of daytrips and bike rides.  We're also going to plan some Daddy dates to the movies for the girls.

Kinder Canada has teamed up with DreamWorks to promote the new movie Madagascar 3 - a great date night or matinee to watch with your kids this Summer!  And a couple Kinder Surprises make a great snack afterwards - you can pick up some at your local store with Madagascar toys inside.  What do you have planned with your kids this Summer?

Disclosure: I’m part of the Kinder® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

My 'real' full-time job and trying to keep things clean . . .

As much as I love sewing and quilting, I really don't spend much time on them compared to my 'real' full-time job: raising my little bunch.  My two older girls are in full-time school, but my two younger ones still keep me on my toes during the day . . .

Especially my little guy, he is into everything!  I seriously have child-locks on everything and he's almost three years old.  I spend most of his awake time cleaning up his spills, telling him to get off my counter, and trying to steer him towards his toys.  Have I mentioned that I LOVE nap time?

And don't let the little princess fool you - she likes to colour on walls, steal the ice cream out of the fridge and leave it melting behind the couch, and leaves apple cores and banana peels in her path.

I also like to involve myself in my daughters' school activities, sports days, volunteering, field trips, and fundraising which keeps me busy but is also a lot of fun.  And we have a Summer planned with swimming lessons, gymnastics, camping, and I'm sure there will be lots of playdates too.

And I've also hosted a couple friends kids overnight so they could have a getaway, adding an extra kid to the fun around here.  We had the luxury of getting away for a week to the Caribbean this past Winter, and it is so nice to have willing friends and family to take on our kids so we could have the break.

Through all this fun and sometimes chaos - my kids get dirty, and sometimes they even get sick.  And I'm not the best housekeeper, but I do know the importance of cleaning the bathroom and counters and making sure my kids wash up after using the washroom.  Thanks to products like Lysol's new no-hands soap, this is one job that's easy to get done.  Lysol is giving away 12,500 free Lysol® No-Touch Hand Soap dispensers - just visit the Lysol® Canada Facebook page for more details.

Disclosure: I am part of the Lysol® Healthy Families Ambassador Program by Mom Central. I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.”

Boxed Strings charity quilt . . .

May was my month in the Joy Do Good Stitches charity bee, and I asked everyone in my bee to dig out their girly string scraps and make some simple 12.5" string blocks.  This past weekend I received the last of the blocks, and pressed them and laid them out so I could admire all these beautiful prints together.

Then, using the instructions I gave for my Boxed Strings quilt block, I whacked them all in half and reassembled them.  I think this makes such a fun scrappy quilt, and am looking forward to getting it all sewn up.  It will be donated to Victoria's Quilts, a charity dedicated to providing quilts to cancer patients.

Linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday.

Sweet Starlet progress and a quick finish . . .

My king-size Sweet Starlet quilt is coming along.  I've got the center star all pieced, I just need to attach the corner scrappy triangles, and start on the borders.  What backing to use has been on my mind and I'm thinking of ordering an extra-wide cotton but haven't found anything I like yet (something with a print, but not flowers, maybe swirls or paisley?).

And this is the quick project I got done lately - we live in a house with a small front entry that was always cluttered with shoes because our little guy likes to dump over the shoe rack.  After picking up this cubbyhole shoe organizer second hand last week, the situation was getting better.  Then a friend and I stopped at our local fabric store last week and I picked up some foam and fabric for a cushion - and now the kids can sit on it to put their shoes on, which gives us more room to get around each other when getting ready to go out.  And the best part - my little guy hasn't figured out how to dump this one out yet :)

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday.

Sewing Summer Dresses . . .

Sewing Summer dresses is something I love to do each year, and here's some of the dresses I did last year for my girls and my nieces.  I often get asked which patterns I use, so I thought I'd share some shops I love:

Siblings Together quilt top done . . .

Awhile back, I saw a post on Katy's blog generously offering free fabrics for quilters wanting to make quilts for Siblings Together.  By the time I commented, all the bundles were spoken for - but Katy hooked he up with Mary Ann who sent me a half yard bundle of Peak Hour fabric by Riley Blake.  I mixed in a couple fat quarters  of Dimples that I won in the Andover Schoolhouse Sweepstakes, and used the All About Me quilt pattern by Atkinson Designs that I won on the Alderwood Quilts blog a couple weeks ago.  Now I just have to pick up some batting this week, and piece together a backing.  I hope to get this sent off by next week to the Siblings Together project.

Linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday.

Some progress on my Siblings Together quilt . . .

I have half of the blocks done for this quilt now.  I'm hoping to start with the smaller blocks today and get it pieced this weekend.  I laid out what I had done so far for a pic, and my little guy decided he needed to be involved, maybe because he thinks anything done with cars must be for him?  Maybe I'll have to make him a pillow for his bed with the leftover scraps :)