Baby Gordon

Gordon is such a happy boy.  Nothing fazes him, and his smile is infectious.  It's fun to watch people react when walking by on the street: he makes eye contact with anyone who looks his way, and somehow manages to get them to actually say hello to him.  Gordon has a way of making bad days virtually disappear.

Peter and I had no idea that, when we brought Gordon home, we were really bringing home our first child.  Yes, he's hairy and eats anything, but he's still our fur baby.  So it's been hard to swallow the news that Gordon needs surgery.

A few weeks ago, he hurt his leg at the park.  A feat, really, when one is as laid-back as Gordon.  As it turns out, he actually tore his cruciate ligament, an injury that won't heal on its own.  And in true Gordon fashion, through countless needles, x-rays, bloodwork, and examinations where people pulled at his leg, he's remained pretty happy-go-lucky.  He even took the vet's bribes of cookies and pets. What a trooper, eh?

Gordon's surgery is this coming Tuesday, so if you can keep our lovable boy in your thoughts.  I'm sure he'll be swimming and wrestling with friends sooner than we think; in the meantime, if you see Gordon please make sure to tell him how handsome he is.  We haven't told him that they'll be shaving his leg yet ...

Fabric Presents

Okay, so I don't exactly mean a present.  More like a parcel.  That I ordered.  But it's so wonderful to come home to parcels, particularly when you know that inside that brown envelope is pretty, pretty fabric that it's almost like a present.  And not just any pretty fabric, but stacks of the lovely Square Dance prints on cotton dobby dot from Anna Maria Horner.  It's a vintage-y floral print arranged in 'panels' in the sweetest colours.

The fabric is so soft it feels almost like silk.  I plan on using all four colours in a lovely summer-weight quilt ... I mean, why not add another project to the list?

More Quilts!

Because I have no will-power whatsoever (another project? sure!) I signed up for another quilting class at the workroom.  Of course, it doesn't hurt that I'll get to spend Saturdays making lovely things with Johanna, Karyn, Rosalyn, and other delightfully crafty people.

Choosing colours for a new quilt is hard.  Really.  Really. Hard. Many others have said the same thing, people who are much better at this stuff than me.  I'm not the most decisive person in the world, and making a choice on just a few colours is impossible.  I regularly turn to my trusty friend Martha Stewart for help in this department.

I should preface my next sentence by saying I'm not getting married any time soon.  Honestly, I'm not.  But I adore Martha Stewart's Weddings.  I can't help it, even after more than one person has looked at my ringless finger and asked me who was getting married while I was browsing through the magazine.  Sigh. Can't I just enjoy it because it's pretty?

Martha always has the best colour combinations, and ones that I wouldn't necessarily think of.  I knew she was a genius when she made beige look chic and hip (note: apology to all of those who have always loved beige, and didn't have to have Martha Stewart point out to them that it was really delightful).  To be fair, she did actually refer to it as 'wheat'. 

Because of the sharp lines of the quilt, I knew that I wanted colours that were a bit more feminine to soften it up.  I've decided on a palette of rich pinks and beige, a combination that I fell in love with instantly; I was waiting for the right project, and I think this is it.

I can't wait to get started!

Life's a Beach

There are few things in life that Gordon loves more than swimming.  Every spring when the weather warms up and we make our first trip to Cherry Beach, he goes bananas.  As in, he totally, completely loses his mind.  Gordon is just so ridiculously happy in the water.

And there's something about watching him paddle around that makes everything feel as though it's exactly as it should be.

Yippee!

It's always a good day to come home to lovely packages, especially when those packages contain Japanese dress books.  Yay!

I ordered two books, but this one, called Dress Made of my Favorite Cloth, is my new new best friend. I want to make everything in it!  Full of lovely dresses, coats, and even a couple of vests, I can see that this book will soon be well worn.

Eek!  So pretty.

I ordered a copy of Stylish Dress Book 3 too.  Also so pretty!

Suddenly my Tuesday feels like a Friday.

A Quilter's Confession

I have a confession: I cut these bits of fabric months ago.  Honestly: months.  I'm not sure what got into me, but I suddenly decided I needed to make a queen size quilt, and it needed to be made of lots of little pieces. I bought the workroom out of what felt like bolts of fabric when in the early stages.  And, when it was done, the quilt needed to look like this (only queen size):

 (Please forgive the blurry photo. My point-and-shoot camera isn't as point-and-shoot these days. Also, someone pointed out that blurry not-so-good photos are better than super-great scans of pages because it's less like stealing.  Being in the publishing business, I can see that is a good thing.)

Another lovely ditty from Material Obsession, this one is called Smuggling Letters.  I chose a range of subtle blue, orange, and brown fabrics I love (including a lot from Joel Dewberry's Deer Valley) but I just can't get my butt in gear to start piecing. Instead, all of those lovely bits of fabric sit in ziploc bags.  Shameful, eh?

So, I'm hoping that my online confession shames me into starting this silly thing.  I have no doubt that the finished project will be lovely, even just for the combination of fabrics.

Help me, will you? Pester me, bother me, ask me how the quilt is coming so that I have to do something about this.

Sigh.  I should have called my blog something like 'The Procrastinator's Life'.  

Meet Fred

This is Fred.  He's (obviously) an elephant.

Fred is settling in to his new home in Russell, Manitoba, although I have to admit he was almost too cute to send away. He was made with a home dec-weight cotton from Echino using a pattern from Joelle Hoverson's Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts.  So delightful!

A Weekend Quilt

I am totally enamored with large block-y quilts.  You see, I've discovered something about myself in the year since I've been quilting:  as much as I love new, fresh, and unusual colour combinations (and I love them), I'm a sucker for pattern.  And there's just something about showing them off in giant patches in quilts that I'm stuck on these days.

Don't get me wrong, I love me some fussy cutting and working with teeny pieces of fabric to make beautiful quilt blocks.  For a while, I saw this as the only type of real patchwork.  Maybe it is, but with so many lovely fabrics out there, why not show them off in a spectacular way?  And why not just choose a few different fabrics to showcase?

I was first inspired by the Avalon Quilt in Material Obsession (note: if you don't own this book, go get it.  Seriously.  You won't regret it).  How pretty and fresh!

So when I went to put together an all-purpose quilt for my soon-to-be-born niece or nephew, I wanted to incorporate the same sort of graphic, bold use of colour and pattern. To achieve the look I wanted, I started cutting fabric randomly before piecing it together. Of course, there is a real upside to these sorts of quilts that mustn't be ignored: they are assembled very quickly, and in a weekend I have an almost-finished baby quilt.   Really, really perfect for a procrastinator like me.

Street Cred

I love my brother, the giant man-boy.

I'm so proud.  Patrick's always done what he loved and what mattered, even though it's not been the easiest choice.  I learn so much from him every day. Also, he makes some pretty damn good music about some pretty important stuff.

I love my brother.

Yellow

There is something about this sparkly pot of pins that makes me so happy.  It reminds me of dandelions. Yes, I know they're weeds, but show me a prettier shade of yellow.  Besides, who decided they were weeds? We should change that.

Also filed under the happy category is this:

Gnomes from Heather Ross!

Double the Heather Ross goodness with Far Far Away 2

Learning Your Limits

I'm not sure when it happened.  You know what I mean: the day you start to see things and after a quick once over say, 'I can make that'. Then a split second later, 'Umm, what?  Did I say something?'  But it's too late: you've committed yourself to doing something that you aren't really sure you're capable of.  Oh, well.

When talking about the nursery, my sister asked if I could make some cushion covers for the rocking chair.  No problem!  Right?  Too late I realised I'd never actually sewn a cube.  Also, I hate zippers.

Hmm.  That wasn't so bad.  Maybe this is actually doable ...

Well, it's looking sort of like a box cushion cover.  Maybe.

A-ha!  Success. In the end, it turned out just fine. (I think.  They have yet to be put on the actual cushions.) So fine, in fact, that I made two.

Take that, limitations.