simple quilt {teacher gift}

 I almost forgot this one!

 This quilt is number 3 on my Finish Along list.

It was gifted to one of Zoe's teachers. We are excited that Lily has this teacher next year!

I love the black and white polka dot binding on this quilt. I think it complements the striped front, as well as the orange DS Quilts print on the back superbly.

Right, that's it. I'm pretty pleased with the finishes from my list. I'm off to bed!

scrappy boxy pouch

This scrappy boxy pouch is number ten on my Finish Along list.
 As it is New Year's Eve and I am determined to document my finishes while it is still 2014, you will have to make do with these not-so-great photos.

 I used the fabulous tutorial at Pink Stitches.

 The oranges went inside.

 Initially I was not enamoured with the size of this pouch

(it's a bit of a biggie at approximately 32cm (13") x 22cm  (8.5") x 8cm (3.5")). It is also immensely scrappy. I like scrappy, but I do like a coordinated scrappy.

However, it has been so useful that I now love it! This pouch currently holds the Star Wars blocks that need their faces stitched. And my beautiful needle book. I can't tell you how much I love my needle book! For 15 minutes each week (when all four of my children in swimming lessons or squad) I have been stitching the faces. It is nice to be able to pick up my pouch and know that everything I need is in there (otherwise I'm sure I would have made zero progress on the Star Wars character faces!).

Happy New Year!

a finish {lap quilt}

I finished the quilt that my niece began about a year ago. Just in time for her birthday!

It is quite a busy quilt, but it has some very cute fabrics in it.

I pieced the back together using some of the leftover fabric from the quilt top. I added a tone on tone pink (that looks red in this terrible photo!) that I also used for the binding.

 I'm happy to say that she loves it (even though we had convinced her that we were giving her a pet turtle!).

I can cross off number 2 on my Finish Along list. Yay!

improv cushions {a finish}

I am so pleased to have finished these cushions! They are number 4 on my Finish Along list.

Let's start with Lily's cushion.

Lily's improv cushion - front

I love the retro zoo fabric that is on the back.

Here is Zoe's (her favourite fabric line is Summersville. Can you tell?)

A Summersville print on the back. No surprise!

And Eli's.

I love the bunting print on the back of Eli's cushion. And of course, I made a covered zipper enclosure for each cushion. I just can't bring myself to make cushions any other way!

Don't they look great stacked on the couch?

It's almost been a year since these cushions began. It's great to have them finished and in use.

Disney quilt

Last year I made quilts for all the teachers. This year I had no intention of making a quilt for anyone, but a couple sneaked in. Sort of. Quilts take a lot of time to create - even simple quilts - so they never really just sneak in!

One of the teachers who received a quilt from me last year asked if I would make one for her daughter. I don't know anyone who would say no. As the request was also made in the first half of the year I happily said yes.

Her daughter is also a teacher and loves Disney characters. The classic Disney characters from decades ago that are still loved by young and old alike. So, naturally, a Disney quilt was requested.

I struggled with this quilt. The majority of the Disney fabric was provided - including two cot panels. I love cot panels; they provide a base that can be added to or simply left as it is. What I struggled with was the fact that this quilt was for a twenty something woman. Not a baby. I didn't want to make a quilt that looked like it was made for a baby. Yet I had two cot panels to work with, one for the front of the quilt and one for the back, that were pale in colour and, well, babyish when I looked at them.

As with all my quilts I kept the design simple. The panels were not big enough on their own, so I added borders to increase the overall size of the quilt. This also allowed me to introduce other fabric to shake off the baby quilt feeling that I had.

I think I could have gone slightly bigger in size, but I was happy enough with the quilt when it was finished. And I was feeling a bit better about it not looking as though it were made for use by a baby.

I was a bit worried about how the quilt would be received, but needn't have been. The teacher who requested the quilt for her daughter loved it and shed a few joyful tears. That is the greatest thanks I could ever receive. As it turns out, the teacher's daughter has just had significant surgery, so hopefully it will be help to cheer her up during her recovery.

It was also nice to be able to tick an item off my Finish Along list for the final quarter of 2014.

christmas favourites

I hope you had a lovely Christmas. I certainly did. It was just the right balance of anticipation, excitement, celebration and relaxation. With lots of turkey and ham.

Apart from Christmas Day itself, I enjoy the weeks leading up to Christmas. We always put up our Christmas tree and our decorations at the beginning of December. My favourite decorations for our home are our nativities.

Some are for playing with and some are not.

Eli's favourite nativity is our Fisher Price set that made it's first appearance this year. I was very fortunate to pick it up at Kmart for $10 in the after Christmas sales two years ago. We didn't put it out last year as we spent Christmas in the US.

 See how much it is loved?

 The angel was missing for a little while. It was Eli that found the angel. He must have remembered where he put it.

 As I was taking the nativity photos I noticed that a star was missing from one of our home made coil trees. It was probably flung off 'by accident'!

 We did add another nativity this year - a creation that I will blog about separately!

 I will leave you with a few favourite gifts.

Eli's adores this plastic microphone (because his voice isn't loud enough already!).

I love this 'make-a-box-into-a-train' kit. We often turn boxes into things, but this kit as a real steering wheel!

Lily is enjoying her magic kit. She's pretty good!

Lily's favourite gift was a picture mounted on board.

Zoe received a very beautiful cello. Our two years of hiring through school (at a very minimal cost - thank you!) are over, so it was time to purchase.

And just so you don't think Jed was forgotten, he was given a new bike.

I like to think that my children appreciate how generous their parents and Santa have been!