~ maripen quilts (New Header Under Construction)

New Quilt Along - Join the fun!

2012-02-03T14:34:00.000-08:00

All over flckrland there are photos of projects using text fabrics. It seems to be all the range. I'm loving most of what I see so I went and bought 3 fabrics.

Today I stumbled across a fabulous quilt along Sew Out Loud and I think I'll join. Why don't you join the fun too?

Don't forget to join the flckr group to watch or share progress.

Blogging On My Terms

2012-01-18T11:54:00.001-08:00

I've missed blogging and have decided to give it another go. In the past when I was blogging I felt guilty whenever I hadn't had the time to blog for awhile, like I hadn't completed my homework on time! I also felt like I was living my life so I would have specific interesting photos for my blog.

I've decided to give blogging another go, free of guilt. I'm not going to put any expectations on myself about how often I blog and I'm going to try and be more casual about it, use it more like a journal to learn more about myself and share with others.

So first the blog will get a whole new look and then I'll start posting again.

I have lots going on like an extensive UFO/WIP list that I've been plugging away at, I've entered 2 swaps, and I'm going to try my hand at some tutorials too.

Looking forward to sharing with you all again!

No More Blogging

2010-08-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've been here.

After a break over the summer from blogging I have decided that I was finding the effort of keeping up my blog, along with looking after my family and business too much and have decided I will be not be continuing with this blog. I feel it is time to step back from the blog and look after my self and my family. I want to thank everyone who has been reading and commenting, you have all been a great source of encouragement to me.

Even though I will be backing off a bit on flckr too, you can still find me there. I will be finishing out 3 bees until my commitments are met and will also be completing round 2 of Hoop Up! Stitch and Send.

My flckr username is maripenquiltmom!

Pinwheel Sampler Top Done

2010-06-04T09:49:00.001-07:00

I finished my pinwheel sampler which I made following Rachel's, p.s.i quilt, quilt along.

When I saw Rachel's first 2 blocks I could no longer resist joining in and knew I had the perfect fabrics for it. In 2007 I bought a Moda line of fabric called Visions by Sandy Gervais. I loved it so much I couldn't cut into it. When I saw the first blocks for the quilt along I knew I had to use it. The solid fabric I used is a Patrick Lose Marbles color.

My first 2 blocks.

I went ahead and made all the blocks and then realized I did not have enough of the Marbles fabric for sashing but I did have enough of the blue to sash it with that. I like the effect. I think the quilt looks very soft and subtle and the blue sashing allows each block to shine.

I usually don't love yellow but in this quilt I am just loving the yellow, especially together with the blue.

I've had the top done for about 2 weeks but am stumped on how to quilt it. Any quilting suggestions would be great.

May Bee Blocks

2010-06-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

The Maple Leaf Quilter's Bee

I've been putting off Spiderweb blocks, as lately I've been trying to avoid paperpiecing, but this month Lesly sent us some templates with the starting kites and asked for spiderweb blocks using some scraps she sent us along with some scraps from our own bins.

It actually turned out to be quite a fun block to make and I can now see myself making more of these.

Sew Modern Bee

May was my month and the starting month for this bee (a group of 12 Canadian women). I sent out some packets with large cuts of "Flourish" from Studio E along with some solids (half the group got off white and half chocolate).

I asked everyone to make me a miniquilt as a block and for it to be 16.5 inches unfinished. Some examples I gave them to look at were theblock along tutorials Elizabeth Hartman did up for Sew, Mama, Sew's quilt month.

I decided I would like to use up all of the fabric I have for this line so I have been making blocks with the scraps that have been sent back.

My fourth block is a disappearing 9 patch row 3 block 4 below.

Here is a photo of the blocks I have received to-date along with the 4 I have made too.

I think they are looking amazing together. I'm still waiting for a couple of blocks and then I have to decide to sash or not to sash and if I sash what color to use. Any advice would be very welcome.

Pillowtalk 3 Underway

2010-05-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted here, and pillowtalk is well underway. I got my partner info and was having some trouble coming up with inspiration in the color combos she specified, and then all of the sudden I decided on two designs. I'm not sure yet which one I will send but here is what I have so far.

Here is the front
This was inspired by a tutorial by The Sometimes Crafter block found here.
2 inch Hexagons handpieced then trimmed

The Back

Closeup of Quilting Detail

Currently working on a Second Option

You should check out the flckr pool; there is some amazing work being displayed there!

Pillowtalk 3 Partners Have Been Assigned

2010-05-10T19:00:00.001-07:00

Pillowtalk 3 Inspiration
Originally uploaded by maripenquiltmom

I am so excited to be participating in Pillowtalk Swap Round 3. I received my partner info today, so the stalking begins.

Here is the mosaic I made for inspiration for my partner.

Watch all the fun on flckr here.

Pets and Quilts - A Match Made in Heaven!

2010-05-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

What is it about pets and quilts? Our own 2 schnauzers love my quilts and seem to know the difference between a store bought blanket and a quilt. And bonus, both pets and quilts are cuddly!

Quilts and pet photos below are flckr finds!

To see the credits please visit my flckr photostream!

April Bee Blocks

2010-05-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

I was featured on Quilting Bee Blocks Green Edition for 1 of the Maple Leaf Bee Blocks I made for my own month. To see more of these blocks go here.

Sadly, due to family commitments I have had to resign out of 2 of the 4 bees I was in. I've decided to stick with the 2 Canadian bee's (as Canadian bees are a little harder to fill).

Here are the blocks I completed for Heather (feltartistic) of the Maple Leaf Bee. Heather sent us some vintage sheeting fabric and asked us to make 2 blocks using the tutorials Rachel of p.s. i quilt has put on her blog for the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along.

May is the first month of the Sew Modern Bee and happens to be my month. It's a really great group and I think it will be a lot of fun! I sent out 11 packages containing prints from Studio E "Flourish" line and asked for a mini quilt as a block in a 16.5 inch square.

I did up 1 block so that I end up with 12 blocks. I used the Oh, Fransson tutorial for Wonky Crosses that was done up for Sew, Mama, Sew's quilting month. I used scraps that were returned from two other members of the group who sent me some pretty cool blocks.

Below is a mosaic of blocks completed by my fellow bee members!

Ryan's Awesome Tutorial

2010-04-29T23:28:00.000-07:00

Ryan Walsh of "I'm Just a Guy Who Quilts" put together a great tutorial on a pillow he completed for round 2 of Pillow Talk Swap (tutorials). I just couldn't resist giving it a try with some bits of Ginger Blossoms which I had left over after piecing a quilt top which I will show you soon.

I love the result, as it's in my favorite colors, and I decided to go with a more symetrical style which is definitely more me.

I also made a pillow for my daughter's best friend who loves Amy Butler fabrics (she's only 13!). I was inspired by a pillow I had previously seen on flckr here but I decided to hand embroider the dahlia onto the front of the pillow. My daughter's friend loved it.

Finished Final "Hoop Up" Piece

2010-04-29T23:15:00.000-07:00

The deadline for Hoop Up is April 30th and 2 weeks ago I still had no idea what I would do for my final piece. I was completely stumped by Nicole's (Follow the White Bunny) Paris/France theme but as soon as I saw two of my teammates, cathygaubert and marilynk, pieces I was inspired. I tried to use peacock blues and green as Nicole loves those colors as well as a little pink which she also likes.

I decided to stitch up a street theme of a pet grooming shop with lots of pets outside visiting on the street. All elements of my design came from elements on separate designs within "A Rainbow of Stitches".

Nicole stitched a really cool piece for me which I just love; it's so serene and peaceful to look at with it's subtle colors. Nicole design's some pretty amazing embroidery patterns which can be seen in her etsy shop here.

Hoop Up! Update

2010-04-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

On Friday, I finished another embroidery for one of my group members in the Hoop Up! swap.

Missy asked for a Nursery Rhyme themed embroidery piece. She sent along red, green/aqua, and pink floss. I decided to fore go the pink and do this vintage inspired piece in mostly red with aqua accents.

I found a free Hansel and Gretel vintage pattern with a candy house. I made some changes to the pattern, which can be seen here. I added a water well, hill, mushroom, grass and stripes to the boy's socks and voila, it became a Jack and Jill embroidery. Missy commented that she LOVED it, and I'm so glad. It always feels so nice to make something that the recipient really enjoys.

Made by me for my initial inspirational piece and for my "Jackrabbit" group members!

This means I am finished 5 out of 6 embroideries for my group! Only 1 more to go. I've been working on a piece for Nicole, followthewhitebunny. Her theme is Paris/France. I should be able to show it to you before the end of the week.

Made for me or wip for me by my "Jackrabbit" Friends

It's Here - Pillow talk 2 Received

2010-04-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

It felt like forever but my pillow is here. I sent off the pillow cover I made for flossyblossy in early March since it was going to the UK, I wanted to make sure she got it before the deadline, but then the waiting began.

Every day I checked the flckr pool to see what was being sent off and what pillows others were receiving. I stalked my mail lady. A few times I even beat her to the mailbox at the end of my street. I think she thought I was a little bit nuts. It got to the point where my mail lady was almost waiting as anxiously as me.

Last week it finally arrived and it was really worth the wait. Jen, the messy nest, made me a fantastic pillow cover in Kokka linen in some of my favorite colors of peacock blue, chartreuse, and red.

She even included some goodies, extra linen print and some hand-dyed fabric she used in the cover, as well as a felt pumpkin pouch she made.

Thanks so much Jen, we are using it lots already!

Pillowtalk 3 should be beginning soon. I am not sure if I will do it this time as my life has been crazy busy and the waiting nearly did me in but I will definitely be doing this swap again sometime in the near future!

p. s. i quilt - Pinwheel Sampler Quilt-Along

2010-04-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

I have so much to do but at the last minute I decided to join in on Rachel of "p.s. i quilt" Pinwheel Sampler Quilt-Along. I was trying to resist but I had the perfect fabric for it in my stash and Rachel's instructions for the first block looked so great that I just gave in.

I was a little behind but caught up this week. We just finished week 6 but Rachel is taking a 1 week Easter break so now would be a good time to start and catchup if you didn't know about it before.

In 2007 I bought a FQ set along with some yardage of "Visions" by Sandy Gervais at the LQS. It was so beautiful I just didn't want to cut into and I couldn't find a project worthy of it. When I saw Week 1 instructions of Rachel's quilt-along I just knew it would be perfect for it. I am loving my blocks so far. There are a lot of amazing block photos in the flckr pool for you to check out here.

My Blocks

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

All the blocks together so far

March Bee's and Swaps

2010-04-01T17:46:00.000-07:00

March has been super busy. I have been very busy longarming quilts for others but I thought I'd stop in and show you the blocks I made for bee this month and an embroidery I finished up the Hoop Up! Stitch & Send swap.

Here are the blocks:

Beatnik Bee: Katie asked us to make improv style blocks for a quilt she will be putting together for her daughter. I did add the green solid in each of the blocks as I thought it would compliment the fabrics nicely.

I wanted to make this one look like a window scene!

This one is just a basic log cabin done improv style.

The Maple Leaf Quilters Bee: Cate asked for a Crossed Canoes paperpieced block using fabrics she had sent. There wasn't enough of the print so I added the green print in 2 of the canoes.

TISQ Bee: Suzanna asked for a wonky shoofly block using fabric she had sent.

Hoop Up! Stitch & Send: I received a wonderful piece from Cathy Gaubert which you can view on her photostream here. Cathy was inspired by my theme "Found in an Oriental Garden" and designed a beautiful piece for me. Thanks so much Cathy, it's beautiful. I plan on using the pieces I receive for this swap in a quilted wallhanging.

I am not quite the designer she is but I also designed a piece for her "Into the Woods" theme. The fabric it is stitched on is repurposed green linen sent to me by Cathy.

Partial close-up View

Full view

That is four embroidery pieces done for this swap, only 2 to go!

Crazy 9 Lattice Quilt - February UFO Finished!

2010-03-08T12:28:00.001-08:00

Crazy 9 Lattice Quilt
Originally uploaded by maripenquiltmom

I finished this last week and today is sunny so I managed to get a picture.

When I posted this to flckr originally I asked for advice on which fabric to use for binding and it was unanimous for the teal fabric.

So here it is! I love the colors in this; these were all stash fabrics that I've loved at some point. I chose to quilt it using Waterworld pantograph. It's all washed and pleasantly wrinkly.

February Bee Blocks

2010-03-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

Beatnik Bee - here are the Amish Diamond and Pinwheel blocks I made for Tracy. She asked that we fussy cut the corners to get a nice flower in the center. The fabric was very nice and these were fun.

The ISQ Bee - Here is the new York Beauty block I made for Jen using the great fabrics she sent. The dark grey fabric was my own and the batik in the inner ring were my additions.

The Maple Leaf Bee - February was my own month so I made a few more blocks so I'll be ready to put it together when the rest of the blocks come in. I previously made some mainly green ones which I posted about here.

For most of these blocks I used a tutorial by Elizbeth Hartman of Oh,Fransson.

February Sneak Peeks

2010-02-25T15:51:00.000-08:00

I've decided to share a few sneak peeks with you near the end of every month. I've decided I am going to try to finish 2 UFO's a month as well as try to finish each new project (not allowing them to become Unfinished Objects) and maybe, just maybe, I'll be caught up by the end of the year! (yes that means I have 22 UFO's, shhh don't tell my husband though!)

The first 2 are WIP's which I'll share more about when I finish them. They both still need binding but I am going to finish them before the end of February 28th!

Octagon Quilt

Crazy 9 Lattice Quilt - I need help deciding which binding to use, I just can't decide. I have enough of most of the fabrics used other than the large modern leaf print and the colorful dotty print. If you have time please take a look and leave a comment telling me which you would use for binding.

The last sneak is the Breast Cancer Awareness quilt that Dana of Old Red Barn Co pieced together. I offered to quilt and bind it for her as she has quite a few to put together. I'll finish the hand stitching on this binding today.

Hoop Up Progress Update

2010-02-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

I sent off another finished piece this week. Isewcute sent us some pink fabric to handstitch on. She is making a quilt for her little girl and her theme is "Baby Loves..."

I drew a little garden fairy and stitched her and there was enough fabric for a bonus piece so I traced a little kitty out of my daughters Strawberry Shortcake coloring book and stitched it.

You should all check out isewcute's flckr page as she does some amazing work. Her resin necklaces are great and the piece she designed for my theme "Found in an Oriental Garden" is so amazing. You can find it here.

DQS8 - Check!

2010-02-20T22:21:00.000-08:00

Today, I finished the mini quilt I was working on for my DQS8 partner. It's labeled, packaged, and waiting to be mailed. I'm sorry, I can't tell you where it is going!

It turned out quite nice. I decided to go with minimal quilting as the stitching on the raw edge whirligigs was enough accent as it was. I just quilted some branches with leaves, a little stitching around the borders, and a vine on the outer border.

I used an awesome tutorial by Aneela of comfortstitching for the raw edge and machine embroidery technique as I had never done either.

Here is a photo of the back. I used dark brown thread for stitching around the feature on the print fabric and white for all the other quilting.

This is one of the most enjoyable projects I've worked on in quite a while! It's really hard to part with this one but I think my partner will like it!

You can click on any of the photos to view them larger. WIP post for this project can be found here.

Editted: This mini quilt arrived to it's new owner Marguerite of Adventures in Quilting and Sailing. Read her post about it here.

Pillow Talk - It's a wrap!

2010-02-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

I've been working hard at my swap projects but have been enjoying stretching my design skills and some hand applique which I've only done on one other piece.

I'm participating in the Pillow Talk swap over at flckr. You should check it out there is some amazing sewing and designing going on there.

Pillow Talk is a blind swap, so I know who I'm sending the pillow to but nobody know's who sending one to them. At the beginning we posted some inspiration mosaics, and boy were some inspiring mosaics added to the pool. You can take a look at my mosaic here.

I set out to use some linen and the colour red. I didn't want to do any raw edge applique because a pillow just gets used too much. My partner's mosaic seemed to show that she would like some type of applique rather than just piecing, so this is what I came up with.

I wasn't sure when I was appliqueing if I was liking it, but as I was quilting it I started to fall in love with it. I think I put about 30 hours into this one; so, I'm sure hoping my partner loves it! Once again, quilting makes all the difference.

The back was fun too. I used a large Paula Prass Woodland Delights print and wow, it sure makes a statement. I inserted a hidden zipper too. (It's an envelop for a 20 inch pillow form)

I'm sending this out in tomorrow's mail, as it has a long way to go!

The Maple Leaf Bee

2010-02-12T09:03:00.000-08:00

February is my month for shipping out fabric and receiving blocks back. This is my first time and I'm really enjoying it. The blocks being made for me are really great and it is so much fun to anticipate and check the flckr group pool every day to see if anyone else has posted there.

This week has been a bit quiet there, but I have been receiving blocks in the mail all week. Such fun mail! Nice to open these packages rather than just bills all the time! Here is a cute video on how I've been feeling when I open my mail this week! Just click on the title Merci, Krista!

In late January I sent out 4 green packages, 4 pink packages, and 4 pink and green packages to my fellow bee people, who are all from Canada, along with instructions to use the large print for an outer border and a small Kona charcoal strip for a narrow inner border on the 15.5 inch block. For the centre I suggested using the Oh, Fransson "Map of the States" tutorial.

While waiting for more blocks to appear on the pool, I have been using the scraps that were sent back to make a few extra blocks, since I will need about 20 for a nice sized quilt. (My blocks, 2 above and 1 below)

Here is a group photo of the 3 I made and together with the blocks that were sent back to me this past week.

Such fun! Thanks to all the amazing Canadian women in this awesome group!

Busy Bee

2010-02-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I popped in here. I haven't been idle though! Things are always busy around here. With 4 teenagers, a husband, and 2 mini schnauzers we never have a shortage of work. Just feeding them, making sure they have clean laundry, and get driven where they need to go is more than a full time job!

I've finished 3 hand embroideries for flckr friends in the Hoop Up, Stitch & Send Swap and I've transferred and hooped up 2 more.

I drew this one up and stitched it for Marilyn's "Sweet Dreams" theme. I was inspired by artwork by Emily Martin of Inside a Black Apple, I'm really pleased with it.

I stitched up the next 2 for Quiltdad's Whimsical Woodland theme. One for the swap, and 1 bonus piece for doing such an awesome job organizing the swap. The colours on the next 2 aren't my usual palette but I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.

I drew this one up after viewing a quilted masterpiece by Judy Coates Perez on flckr. John sent the brown, pink , and blue flosses for his pieces. I am hoping the unexpected foliage colours add whimsy.

This bonus piece was inspired by the artwork of Valori Wells. I drew this up for John and stitched it up mostly using his colors.

I've also longarmed a few quilts for others and have 1 to do this week too!

This one was pieced by my friend Val and I quilted Feathers With a Twist on it. It turned out great.

And last but not least, I've finished piecing three options front and back for DQS8 (Doll Quilt Swap). I plan on quilting these end of this week. I posted previously about these here.

January Bee Blocks

2010-01-24T21:18:00.000-08:00

Here are the blocks I completed for Virtual Quilting Bees this month.

The Incredible Shrinking Quilters' Bee

Jessica asked for 9.5 inch star blocks which would look great set on point. I had trouble with my first one which you can read about here so I made another using some fabrics from my stash which I thought would go with Jessica coffee, sugar, and cream quilt.

The Maple Leaf Quilting Bee

Barb asked for 12.5 inch improvisational blocks in tangerine and blue/aqua for her sons "big boy bed". Barb sent some awesome fabrics and this these were a lot of fun to make. I think her quilt is going to be amazing.

February is my month for this talented group of all Canadian quilters, my fabric has been sent out and I can't wait to see what all of the women come up with.

Beatnik Bee

Heidi asked for 12.5 inch Churndash blocks using the Modify Tradition tutorial. She asked for 2 blocks, 1 with black background and 1 with the reverse in Kiwi background.

Doll Quilt Mania! (DQS8)

2010-01-21T23:18:00.000-08:00

I've gone crazy, doll quilt crazy. I'm seeing little tiny whirligigs in my sleep, but had a brainwave last night and had to try it today.

It was my intention to make 2 quilts. One for me and 1 for my partner.

My partner hasn't given me much to go on but from looking at her flckr site I think she likes pastels. Perfect, I won a FQ pack from Hawthorne Threads recently, and I think it will be perfect!

I don't know what possessed me to make 3.5 inch whirligigs, (they are a lot of work) but I went with it and I love them. I made 50 of them and then had some left over pieces from each of the fabrics.

Last night I dreamt about what I wanted to do with the scraps and after the kids went to school today I went for it. I was like a crazy women. Ironing pieces onto fabric using light Steam a Seam in between, then doing some sketchy raw edge applique following Aneela of comfortstitching's tutorial.

Then came the feature branch and bird applique. Here it is what do you think?

Here is my completed top ready for embroidery of legs, quilting, and accent stitching.

Edited to add: That overlarge branch previously on this post was bothering me so I took it off today, and re cut it to make it more delicate, and added a few leaves too!

Now I have 3 options for my DQS8 partner! Originally I was only intending to make 1; now I have 3! Which one do I send to my partner?

To witness the mania over at DQS8 go to flckr here.

Hoop Up! Swap - Initial Inspiration Piece

2010-01-16T16:18:00.001-08:00

Here is the embroidery I drew and stitched up as my initial inspirational piece for the Hoop Up! Stitch & Send Swap

I'll be making a wallhanging with this piece and all of the finished pieces I receive. My theme is "In an Oriental Garden". I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with.

I also wanted to let you all know that Aneela from comfortstitching has created an awesome tutorial for the raw edge appliques doll quilt she gave away just before Christmas which you can look at here. I can't wait to give this a try. As soon as I find some time I'll be making one. Aneela also has designed some awesome fabrics and embroideries which she has for sale over on her etsy shop here.

Breast Cancer Awareness Blocks

2010-01-16T16:15:00.000-08:00

Dana from Old Red Barn Company asked for Breast Cancer Awareness blocks in pink to be sent by February15.

I dedicated this past Thursday while my kids were at school to making these blocks.

Here are the blocks I will be sending.

Block 1 - I used Oh, Fransson "Map of the States" tutorial. I really enjoyed making this block.

Block 2 - My first ever improvisational blocks.

Block 3 - I used my leftover pink fabrics.

I will also be longarming one of the quilts for no charge as I feel this is a very important cause.

Please, remember to do regular breast exams and mamograms.

Studio Update

2010-01-13T17:44:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has had a fantastic start to 2010.

I've been super busy with family and been extra busy in the studio. At the beginning of the month I actually had 8 customer quilts for LongArming. I've managed to complete 3 and I'm going to finish another one by Friday.

Here are photo's of the quilts I've completed this month so far.

I've also been super busy late in the evening stalking all my new swap buddies so I can make them pieces they will really enjoy. I joined 3 virtual quilting bees, you can see the buttons with links on the left sidebar. I'll be showing you the blocks I've completed for bees later in the month all in one post.

I've also joined a Hoop Up embroidery swap and Doll Quilt Swap 8.

I've been working on my initial piece which I designed myself for the Hoop Up swap, I'm hoping to show you this later in the week but here is a photo of an embroidery I did last week, just for more practice before I get started on other peoples pieces.

I don't know why but I'm really into birds lately!

I've drawn up 3 designs for my Hoop Up buddies but I can't show you those until Aprilish when I've sent them off to my team members. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for them. Take a look at the flckr pool to see what we have all been up to.

I've started on a mini quilt for my new DQS partner. After stalking my partner I've decided that the fabric I won in the Hawthorne Threads giveaway, Girly Girl, will be perfect for her. Hope she'll love it. There are 160 quilter's participating and were over on flckr here.

I've also finished my second ripple blanket and we are using it already.

So, I'm super busy but I'm loving it, and feeling so creative right now.

Embroidered Pillow Cover for Megan

2009-12-26T23:37:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ours was great. We went to church on Christmas eve and it was a lovely service done by our youth group that really reminded us of the real reason for celebrating Christmas.

I focused on taking it very easy with Christmas buying this year. I tried to make some handmade gifts and I actually only went into the mall once to buy some chocolate for the kids stockings; 20 minutes in and out! The kids actually really enjoyed a more low key Christmas which was really nice to see and it was great to come in well under budget too. It just reminded me that it really isn't necessary for the kids to get hoards of stuff they just forget about in a few weeks!

When my daughter asked for a handmade pillow cover with an embroidery on it on her Christmas list I was surprised as I had already started an embroidery to make exactly that!

In early December I received my stamp of the month kit from Unity Stamps and as a free gift there was a small set of Love Bug stamps included. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to use the VW bug image designed by Lisa Hetrick as an embroidery pattern and make something for my daughter with it; she absolutely loves VW bugs! I promptly emailed Lisa and Angela from Unity and they were both gracious enough to allow me to enlarge the image and use it for embroidery.

When my daughter opened it she loved it. She thought it was so pretty and she was hugging the cushion quite a bit all evening. I know she will treasure it for years to come. I wish I had gotten a picture of her opening the gift.

Above is a back view of the pillow. I used every scrap I had cut. I cut 1 2.25 inch strip of WOF for each fabric I used on the front and the top panel and the back is what was leftover after completing the front of the cushion. I love it when I can use up everything I initially cut (Even the excess around the image was used up)!

Christmas Gift for Piano Teacher

2009-12-15T19:21:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to hand make as many Christmas presents as possible this year. My daughter asked it we could make a Christmas card and cushion for her piano teacher. Last Friday I drew this larger image inspired by Musicabella (Stamping Bella) and hand embroidered it. Today I made a cushion using the embroidery.

We also made her a card using the Musicabella stamp. I hope she likes them!

Our Christmas Stockings

2009-12-15T00:16:00.000-08:00

Thirteen years ago, my oldest child was 6 and my youngest of 4 was a couple of weeks from being born, I decided we needed stockings. I was pretty much housebound as it was snowing outside so I got creative with supplies I already had on hand.

St. Nick Close up (I made 2 using this design, it's my favorite)

Little did I know that I was creating precious family heirlooms. My kids love these stockings, and my husband and I love knowing that we made these, I made him help cut out shapes, I was in a hurry (I guess the nesting instincts were taking over)! These still thrill our kids when we pull them out of the decorations box. I always wrap these in tissue and place them carefully in a separate box within the large box so they don't get damaged.

They are designed by me. I used wool felt, drew the designs, cut out all the shapes, hand stitched them all on with blanket stitch and then took them to the sewing machine to sew the stocking. I feel delighted when I pull them out and see my kids are just as excited to see them as the boys were that first year when I made them and they remind me of such a precious time when I was expecting our daughter.

They just remind me to be thankful for the many blessings God has given us!

I Heart Pillows - Friday Flckr Finds

2009-12-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

1. Patchwork quilted pillow, 2. Hexagon pillow, 3. Zig zag pillow 1, 4. Contest Winner, 5. Contest Winner, 6. birdie's wee friend, 7. toadstool quilted pillow cover, 8. Pillow Talk Swap *Sent*, 9. string block quilted pillows, 10. Hexillow, 11. green log cabin pillow, 12. Tuesday blog pillow, 13. colorful bits pillow 002, 14. linen and green pillow with embroidered dahlia, 15. Windmill pillow , 16. wood & wool pillow

I have been stalking the Pillow Talk Flckr Pool for a while now and there are just some amazing pillow sleeves showing up on there. Above are some of my favorites; these are all pillows I would love to make one day.

Enjoy!

Ripple Blanket Finish

2009-12-07T12:27:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I signed up for Jacquie's Joy in the New Year Challenge. We had to send in the amount of UFO's we wanted to finish before the new year; she is offering a prize and we get an entry for each finished object we finish before New Years.

I went into the studio and looked at my projects and came up with the following list:

1) Pink Ripple Blanket - finish last 12 colorbands

I finished this yesterday (2009-12-06). I was so excited to have this done. I crocheted 142 rows of stash yarns of my daughters choice as it will be hers. I love the finished project. Here is a reveal photo.

Now I better get to work on the rest of the list.

2) Christmas Table Topper (Disappearing 9 Patch)- Quilt and bind

3) Brea Bag - Line and attach handles and button

4) Navy Ripple Blanket - finish last 15 colorbands

5) Brown Woodpile Quilt - quilt and bind posted about here

6) Octagon Quilt - quilt and bind
(Photo is of a magazine pic of pattern I used from American Patchwork and Quilting-details on reveal)

7) Mambo Mod Sampler - Quilt and bind

Winner - SewMamaSew Giveaway

2009-12-06T21:43:00.000-08:00

Wow 323 entries to the giveaway!

I just want to thank everyone for visiting my blog and especially welcome to those who decided to be followers of my blog. It is great to know that when I put the work into creating a post that there are people out there reading it and it is great to share things I create and get some feedback from others who share similar interests.

Now, I'm sure you are all waiting for the winner. The random generator picked number 283 which is Naptime Quilter. Please send me your address and I'll have the bag and 4 beautiful fabrics in the mail to you right away.

Sewmamasew Giveaway Day

2009-12-01T23:00:00.000-08:00

This contest is now closed. I will be announcing a winner in the next post either later tonight or early tomorrow morning. (Edited 9:00 pm 2009-12-06.)

It's time for the annual Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day and I am so excited to be giving away 4 half yard cuts of coordinating designer fabrics (3 by Dena Designs and 1 by Heather Bailey) & a fantastic coordinating felted bag knit and felted by me with a removable flower.

For 1 entry just leave a comment on this post to be entered into the giveaway between now and December 6 at 9 p.m. PST.

For a second chance to win become a follower of my blog or let me know you are already a follower in a separate comment.

On December 6th I will use the random generator to choose a winner. If your comment doesn't link up to a blog than please ensure you leave an email address where I can contact you to let you know you won or bookmark and check back on the 7th. International entries welcome. The giveaway prize will be shipped by December 12, 2009.

Close up of fabric set

Good luck and thanks for visiting!

Please stop by again.

Weekend Embroidery

2009-11-30T12:27:00.000-08:00

I figured since I joined Hoop Up! I better do a practice piece just to make sure I still remember how to hand embroider. I don't think I have done any serious embroidery for about 20 some years (Other than cross-stitch) but it does come back fairly quickly! I've been wanting to try it again for so long.

WIP doe-c-doe pattern found here.

I thought I would try to stick with my latest favorite colour combination, red &aqua. I love the vintage look of it!

I love how it turned out and it was so relaxing and so fun. This is destined to be a part of a quilt block in the future!

I Won a Giveaway (Hawthorne Threads)

2009-11-30T12:16:00.000-08:00

I won a Hawthorne Threads giveaway! Yay! I received it on Friday. The fabric is beautiful so I thought I'd show it to you.

It is a Girly, girl fabric bundle by Patricia Bravo.

Hello Betty Retro Jelly Roll Giveaway Winner

2009-11-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

I had my daughter draw the winner, and I just thought it was cool that I had 42 different people enter the giveway and almost everyone sent in my puppies names. Thanks for doing a little extra reading to find Kia and Jasper's names.

Drumroll..........The winner is Lesly (aka Shadrach Meshach and Abednego). I will be mailing out the jelly roll this week. I've emailed Lesly to let her know she won.

I will be participating in the Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway day on December 2nd; so, be sure to come back and comment for a chance to win a Dena Designs (FreeSpirit designer) fabric bundle.

Friday Flckr Finds - Japan

2009-11-27T08:52:00.000-08:00

I joined an embroidery swap "Hoop Up! Stitch & Send Swap" being organized by Quiltdad. He was cool enough to let me in at the last minute and added me as an extra in his own group. Thanks John!

John encouraged us to make an inspiration mosaic for our theme and my chosen theme is a Japan/Asian inspired theme. I really do love all of these photos so I thought I would post them here in my Friday Flckr Finds.

Enjoy!

1. Faked Geisha, 2. #385 青背藍桐 (Like a Butterfly), 3. Cherry Blossom Doe, 4. Pretty Monarch Butterfly 003, 5. cute chinese girls paper dolls, 6. Reflections (new Time Lapse Video added), 7. japanese man and lady paper dolls, 8. . Home Is Where The Heart Is ., 9. Geisha Look-Alike, 10. Ajisai, 11. japanese geisha paper dolls, 12. a bamboo forest, 13. もみじ, 14. Untitled, 15. bloemstuk2, 16. wintry yellow
Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway. I'm giving away a Hello Betty Retro jelly roll! Sign up ends tomorrow!

Grandmother's Flower Garden Fabric Giveaway - You just can't pass up

2009-11-27T08:39:00.000-08:00

To win some of this fabulous fabric go here

Giveaway

2009-11-22T19:42:00.000-08:00

This post is my 42nd blog post and it happens to be my 42nd birthday. I think that is just too coincidental to ignore, so I think it is time for my first giveaway. This giveaway will remain open until 7pm PST next Saturday, November 28 and I will announce the winner on a blog post next Sunday.

Since I have been focused on aqua and red this past week I have decided to giveaway 1 Hello Betty Retro jelly roll pictured below (I'm sorry about the quality of the photo).

All you have to do is leave a comment and you will be entered for the draw. (International welcome)

To receive 2 extra entries email me at dmpenn@telus.net with the names of my 2 schnauzers mentioned on previous blog entries.

Friday Flckr Finds - Red & Aqua

2009-11-20T08:13:00.000-08:00

1. red and aqua retro doll quilt, 2. red and aqua, 3. FMF grey and blue, 4. birdie's wee friend, 5. Bubblegum Hexagon quilt...finished., 6. Studio colors/colours, 7. Christmas zigzag gift closeup, 8. Dressing room, now teal, 9. Close-up quilting ORBC Quilt-along, 10. Detail at Ingrid's house, 11. DQS7 Finished 1, 12. Fabric storage

I've been seeing a lot of aqua and red photos on Flckr lately and in particular in quilting and embroidery. I'm really liking this combination.

Kay's Christmas Table Toppers

2009-11-19T15:50:00.001-08:00

Early this year Kay brought me 7 table toppers which she pieced for each of her 6 children and 1 for her to keep. They are all a large "Lonestar" but all done in different Christmas colourways.

I had a lot of fun watching these come alive while I was quilting them. They are all backed with white flannel and also have a layer of white flannel inside (no batting). Pantographs used were Snazzy Snowflake, Stars and Loops, and Whirligig Lg.

Here are some pis of the ones I got photo's of. (Click on any of the photos for a larger view)

Enjoy!

Friday Flckr Finds

2009-11-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

I just learnt how to make these mosaics and I've decided to make these into a regular feature called "Friday Flckr Finds".

You can click on the mosaic to go to flckr to view individual photos and credits or use my links below.

Enjoy!

1. Blue Wren - Free pattern by Cinderberry Stitches . This photo and stitchery done by Bloom. Go check out their blogs - they are incredibly talented women. Bloom also has a couple of quilt tutorials at the Moda Bakeshop!

2. From the photostream of WendyLouP. Can you believe this is the back of a quilt! It is equally stunning to the front.

3. Wood & Wood Stool - she does the most amazing crochet - so inspiring. You should check out her stool covers. Makes me want to make my husband put together a few stools so I can have one too.

4. myittybittyquilts - A riot of reproduction color. I just love the pieced hexagons using a 60 degree angle. Yummy!

5. cutter 007 - Love the contrast of the grey neutral and the orange and the pieced circles are fabulous.

6. piotr m - Isn't that the cutest little face ever. She looks just like our Kia!

7. Ben - I've been fascinated by mushrooms since I was a little girl. I always colored them red with white spots but I've never actually seen a red one in real life (our area just gets the yukky brown ones), so I just had to add this photo. I really like the shot because of all of the grass pointing in different directions behind the mushroom! I guess the whole pic appeals to my artist side!

8. Sixth on Seventh - I just love the ordered wonkiness of this quilt top and the colors are delicious. Check out all the other wonky quilts over at the ORBC Quilt Along Flckr pool.

9. Sewingmomx4 - A fabulous quilt with great color and amazing longarm quilting using the Square Dance Pantograph by Anne Bright. This quilt design is a quilt along by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Frannson.

I'm Still Here!

2009-11-10T20:37:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting much but I'm still here! Brace yourselves this is going to be a long post!

You can click on any of the photos for a larger view.

I've been doing a lot of work on my LongArm machine. Here is a Vanity Square quilt pieced by Val using Mambo fabrics plus a few others. Val pieced this masterpiece for her teenage daughter.

I quilted Twilight on this one in honor of "New Moon", set to start in theaters on November 20th.

I have quilted Vanity Square in 2 other colorways which you can view here. (These two were pieced by Val's sister)

Because Val's work is so awesome and because I always enjoy viewing others workspace I thought I would share some pictures of Val's studio workspace.

There she is, Isn't her stash out of this world? It makes me weak at the knees!

See her project on the design wall. That quilt won a ribbon at our local guild show!

I've also been doing some piecing work. My sister and I got together to piece our Christmas table topper's using Rachel of p.s. i quilt's design (Moda Bakeshop tutorial) and kits made up using Moda's Glace. We bought the kits from the Quilt Shoppe and they were packaged so nice. You can view the package as I received it here.

Here are a couple of sneak peeks at my quilt top, yet to be quilted.

Isn't Glace deliciously festive?

And... just because of the cuteness factor here are some photos of our precious Schnauzer's.

We couldn't resist taking a picture of Kia with her sweater on which she hates, but which was necessary because she was shivering and a picture of Jasper looking extremely bored.

Introducing Hawthorne Threads - Giveaway

2009-11-10T19:38:00.000-08:00

Remember Charlie and Lindsey at Fabric Supplies?

They have opened a new and improved .com shop now Hawthorne Threads. At their new shop you have access to tiered pricing, available yardage, and shopping by color!

I have ordered from them when they were Fabric Supplies and the service I received was fantastic!

Hurry on over because with the new shop they are having a giveaway - just go sign up for their newsletter!

Edit: I was advised by email that I won the FQ Girly Girl Bundle. I'll post photos when i receive it!

Finish - ORBC Quilt Along Round 1 - Quilt 1

2009-10-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the first quilt from the Old Red Barn Quilt Along. This one is done using Basic Grey's Urban Couture. I used the leftovers from the strip ends for a top and bottom border, which I really like but I have been wishing I had chosen the periwinkle blue for the binding. I think it would have been a bit more dramatic.

I previously posted about this quilt while it was WIP here.

I love the way the quilting turned out though. I used a bronze Cucirini Tre Stelle thread for the Page Boy pantograph by Patricia Ritter. I just love all of the interlocking curls; I'll definitely use this pantograph again.

Instead of 1/2 yards, I had purchased 1/2 metres here in Canada; so, I had an extra 1 1/2 inch strip left over from each fabric. I decided to do some extra piecing for the back; I think it turned out fairly well!

Here are my 2 finished quilts from last week just hanging out together on my back railing. Whew, that looks like an awful lot of work, but I enjoy every minute of it.

PS I posted previously about the quilt on the right here.

Finish - Wild Thing Whirligig

2009-10-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Even though I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner last night for my husbands family I had a pretty productive week and I managed to sew the binding onto my whirligig quilt and also another which I will post about on a separate post.

I previously posted about this quilt WIP here and here.

This quilt turned out pretty well. My favorite part is actually the back of it, and the best part is I got to use a large amount of a fabric that has been in my stash for a long time. When I was squaring down my blocks I trimmed a few too small, oops, so I did something a little special on the back!

I used Camille Roskelley's Wild Thing pattern for this quilt. The pattern was easy to follow. I used 4 Benartex Sampler charm packs for this quilt.

I quilted this quilt with Daisies and Loops pantograph by Sue Schmeiden. I used a rose variegated King Tut thread. I love the panto on this one.

This quilt finished at 62 x 78 inches; this is a great throw size for my family since we are all close to or over 6 feet tall! This quilt will reside on our green family room couch for now; my kids are already using it.

Fall Quilt Festival

2009-10-09T09:46:00.000-07:00

I worked very hard this week to complete my Shangri-La quilt so I could photograph it for the quilt festival. I wanted a vintage looking quilt for my living room and I thought the Garden Trellis quilt from Jelly Roll Quilts by Pam and Nicki Lintott combined with this fabric line would be a perfect compliment to my living room.

I love how it turned out. I think Shangi-la is my all time favorite fabric line to date. It is a Moda fabric line designed by 3 Sisters and I am so sad that I have almost none left in my stash but happy too that I get to enjoy it in my living room everyday.

I longarm quilted this one using the Mimosa pantograph (which I purchased from Canadian Longarm Supplies) designed by Patricia Ritter of Urban Elementz.

I used Fireside Minkee in chocolate for the backing and used Artic Cotton Bamboo for batting which makes for a gorgeous drape and a nice finished weight too! The quilting design looks awesome from the back too but it's hard to see on the photo.

I wasn't sure about the red binding but once I started handstitching it I was liking it. I didn't want to purchase more fabric and this fabric was from another of 3 Sisters fabric lines. I was originally going to bind in brown but I thought that would make for a boring back view. With the red the inner brown border really stands out and makes a great resting spot for the eyes.

I love how it looks here in the afternoon sun under my grapevine by the picket fence my husband installed this summer. We live on a city lot but I'm a country girl at heart and the picket fence just makes me happy when I look at it.

I hope you've enjoyed this view of my Quilt Festival entry. Make sure to head on over using the button on my right side bar to view all the other fabulous quilts showcased in the festival.

Some Quilting and Some Crochet

2009-09-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

It's been a long while since I posted here. Sometimes life gets in the way of quilting but I'm starting to catch up now. I've sure been missing my studio time.

Last night I did a bit of stash re-organization and I thought I'd show you my stash. This is about 1/2 of it I still have more set aside in my cabinet in my longarm room for planned projects.

I finally finished quilting a customers quilt. The quilt is pieced in soft florals and solids from Robyn Pandolph's "Sumptuous Living" fabric line. This quilt makes me feel calm when I look at it. I quilted it with Floral Meander, a pantograph design by Diff'rent Strokes.

Last Sunday my family and I just needed to get away from home so we went up to Whistler for the day so the boys could mountain bike. It was such a pleasantly warm fall day. My daughter and I did lots of walking but when we got tired we parked ourselves on a bench in the village and she read her book while I crocheted. I just love crocheting outdoors, especially in a gorgeous alpine setting. It was a first for me and it was truly wonderful.

This is the first time I have crocheted a granny square and it was so much fun. I used a wonderfully soft cashmerino yarn called Cash Vero made by Cascade Yarns. It is so incredibly soft I just want to smoosh my face in it - OK, OK - I know I need some serious help!

Here it is blocked and ready to finish!

I am going to sew this granny square onto some black wool felt and cover an 18 inch cushion form. This project is for our master bedroom, as I don't want it in the main part of the house where the kids and schnauzers will get to it.

Back to School with Eric Carle

2009-09-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

Due to school starting this week, I thought I'd post about 2 quilts I quilted for Ruth this past Spring. They are 2 quilts using the Brown Bear, Brown Bear fabric line based on the children's book by Eric Carle. Ruth is so generous she has donated 1 of the quilts to the MCC Sale and Auction.

Click on the picture to see a bigger view of the quilting

done in a beautiful King Tut variegated yarn.
I quilted each using Large Inkblot pantograph

When Ruth, an elementary school teacher brought me these quilts I had never heard of Eric Carle and she was astounded. I have since read 2 of his books! I think the quilts she did and the books they are based on are pretty awesome.

Mod Samplers

2009-09-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone in the US and Canada are having a great holiday weekend. It's been raining and overcast here but still been a nice weekend as I've made some extra dinners and done a lot of baking so the kids have food for school lunches. School starts tomorrow and I think I'm really going to miss having the kids home.

On to some quilty content, I managed to get my second Mod Sampler from the Oh, Fransson Mod Sampler Quilt Along sashed and ready for the LongArm. I was supposed to be catching up on all my own LongArm quilting for the summer but instead my To Be Quilted stack has grown larger than ever. What can I say, I've been obsessed by piecing; I think I'll have to call this summer the "Summer of My Piecing Frenzy"!

Back in March I participated in the Quilt Along put on by Elizabeth Hartman; her cutting instructions and designs are simply amazing. Here is the quilt I came up with.

My 17 year old son wanted to claim it but I thought it was a bit too feminine, so, I decided to take the rest of the FQ stack of Mambo and make a more masculine quilt sashed in chocolate brown Kona for him. Here is a photo of the back first quilt-along quilt I completed.

So, in June I started piecing this one and made all the blocks and then I became distracted with some other piecing projects. Last week my sister and I laid out all of the blocks and determined the layout and I worked all week sashing it. I finally finished the quilt top last night. Yay!

Here it is all ready for quilting!

Back to my next project, I have figured out a layout for my Crazy Mom Quilts Quilt Along nine patch which I posted about here and here. I've cut out all of the sashing and have begun to assemble. Hopefully, I can show you that quilt top by next Monday!

Reorg and Redecorate of Blog and a New Blog!

2009-09-03T09:34:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone

It occurred to me this past week that many of my readers may not be interested in seeing my card making projects as I have tried to keep my blog mainly quilting focused; so, I have decided to move and do future posts with card making or scrapbooking as the main focus to my new papercraft design blog Design INK.

I have also decided to redecorate my blog for Fall. I hope you like the new look.

I'll be back on Monday with an update of my quilts in progress.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Marianne

I Won!

2009-08-31T09:11:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited! I can't believe it, I've never won anything in a blog contest...until now!

This past weekend, there was a snippet blog hop over at The Greeting Farm. They were giving out one prize at each of the designers blogs to 1 lucky commenter and I won over at Jessica's blog. I won the Gingerbell set which is being released tomorrow. Jessica made a gorgeous card using this set. I can't wait to get it and ink it up!

On Friday's TGF usually posts a Farm Fresh Friday challenge and since I was in the card making groove I took the challenge. It was a sketch challenge.

Here is my entry using the Edward stamp fromTGF Wild Sprouts collection. When I made this card I was thinking of the beginning of the New Moon book when Edward leaves Bella for her own good. He must have spent many nights in the forest with his memories of her.

Paper Far East Stack
Embellishments: Velvet ribbon, square squiggly is Stampin Up.
Coloured using Faber Art pencil crayons.

My daughter made another card too using the Edward stamp. She is getting really into this. You should see some of the coloring she did this weekend. I think there are some fabulous cards to come from her in the near future.

Back to quilty stuff for the rest of the week, I have lots of UFO's which I am excited to finish.

Club Anya Contest

2009-08-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

This summer I discovered The Greeting Farm rubber stamps and I just love them. I ordered 2 Miss Anya sets, Geisha Anya, and Edward! I also bought a small selection of Copic Markers and tried them out for the first time last night.

Last night my daughter and I finally inked them up. Want to see what we made? I've never entered a contest/challenge before but Club Anya has a contest going on right now and I couldn't resist. The contest is to case a card made by the incredibly talented Pam Varnell and then to make one similar using one of the Anya or Ian stamps.

This was the perfect opportunity to use my Geisha Anya. Folks, I am so in love with this stamp that I dream about her at night. I know, I need help! Here she is.

Front view - I decided to stamp a few extra flowers from Geisha Anya's hair and use them for the corner embellishments.

Back view - I decided to do the card with a centre split in the back to make it look like a oriental armroire or a screen.

Supplies (Other than stamp previously noted):
Bo Bunny Paper, Copic Markers, MS Glitter, Ribbon, Amy Butler for K&Co. Sentiment, Interior Stamp from Stampin' Up Oriental Blooms

My daughter is in love with the Miss Anya stamps, makes sense since she is 12 and these sets are designed with teenagers in mind. I'm so impressed with her card! It was so much fun creating alongside her.

She decided to use Rain from the Rain, Snow, Shine set. Didn't she do an awesome job?

Supplies (Other than stamp previously noted)
K&Co embellishment, sentiment unknown, paper unknown scraps, colored with Faber art pencil crayons.

Warning, if you decide to try some of these it is addicting! I'll be doing another card tonight for the Farm Fresh Friday challenge, hopefully I can win a set of the new September releases.

Nine Patch Advice - Thanks

2009-08-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks everyone for the great advice on whether I should go for white sashing or green. I hope you aren't tired of seeing these blocks, I'm just totally obsessed by this decision right now.

Here are 3 blocks on white and 3 blocks on green.

After staring at this many times in the past few days. I have decided to go with the green.

I Need Your Advice - Round 2 Nine-patch Quilt-along Progress

2009-08-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

It's day 37 of round 2 of the 9 patch quilt-along over at Crazy Mom Quilts.

I jumped ahead a bit. I'm done all 70 blocks but I'll fall behind soon as it takes me forever to do sashing, for some reason, I dread doing sashing and I usually put it off.

I really need your help - I can't decide, should I sash this in white or in green? What would you do? Here is a picture of a few more of the blocks.

Please comment to let me know what you would do.

To visit the flckr group use the "round 2" button on my right sidebar.

Flea Market Fancy - Please Bring it Back

2009-08-26T12:18:00.000-07:00

When it comes to my fabric stash there is one thing I regret, it is not purchasing any Flea Market Fancy. When it was out in my LQS I was tight on funds and I figured there would still be time later to buy it. I didn't anticipate how fast it would sell out and how hard it would be to get it later.

When I think about a perfect fabric line, with just about perfect colourways I think of Flea Market Fancy! Just take a look at Jacquie's stash of FMF at Tall Grass Prairie Studio.

Also, to see tons of photo's of projects using this line visit the Denyse Schmidt flckr group.

Maybe there is hope yet. Penny from Sewtakeahike has started a blog to petition Free Spirit to do another printing of Flea Market Fancy. So if you love this fabric line as much as the rest of the world seems to, head on over to Penny's blog and leave a comment; hopefully, we can bring this awesome fabric line by Denyse Schmidt back for another round!

Vicki's Wedding Card

2009-08-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been checking out a lot of card making blogs and have been feeling very motivated to start making some cards again. Friday night I cleaned up and reorganized my scrapbooking area so I could make a card for my niece's wedding which took place today. It was a nice simple card to get myself back in the groove.

I made this card to include an interior pocket for a cash gift. The rose is pop dotted out for a nice 3-D effect and the rose and the sentiment are embossed. I added a bit of glitter for some bling.

Stamps: Fifth Avenue Floral and Celebrate - Stampin Up
Other supplies: Paper, Glitter, Pop Dots, Stampadoodle Embossing Powders

The setting for the wedding was gorgeous and my niece and her groom sure deserved a beautiful day. They sure went through a lot to get to their wedding day. The wedding took place at the Homestead Golf Course in Lynden, Washington and the weather was perfect!

Photo below is my daughter (left) and one of my other nieces (right).

Nine Patch Quilt Along & Twilight

2009-08-16T16:45:00.000-07:00

I didn't get much sewing done this weekend but I got a lot of this done.

My daughter has been reading the Twilight Series and usually I only read the first in a series that my child is reading, but I just haven't been able to put these down. I actually have read the first book during the last week and the second and third this weekend.

Usually, when my kids read books that are controversial for kids to read, I try to read at least the first book of the series so I can be informed and have a good discussion with my kids on the content. When my son wanted to read Harry Potter at the age of 8 I read the first one and decided to go ahead and let him read the series so we could have some good discussion on fantasy vs. reality. My daughter who is 12 also just finished the Harry Potter series and has moved on and finished the Twilight series and we've also had lots of good discussion.

I did manage to get a bit of sewing done today. I worked on my nine patch blocks for Round 2 of the Crazy Mom Quilts quilt along. I was a bit behind but have caught up and am a little ahead now.

With this quilt along we are supposed to do 1 nine patch block a day for 70 days so we can make a quilt similar to this one by Angela from My Three Sons. Today we should be on block number 28 but I have finished 41!

I have to tell you, I was not feeling the love while I was sewing these, I was a little unsure on whether I should have done a more traditional nine patch rather than using a green patch in the center of each block, but I am committed to busting my scrap stash on this one and I'm planning to sash this differently, so I have been carrying on.

I had a pleasant surprise when I laid these out to take a few pictures for the blog and I am actually loving the green patch at the center of each block.

Only 29 more blocks, sashing, and borders to go!

Awesome Giveaway - Hurry on Over

2009-08-16T16:25:00.001-07:00

Hurry on over to p.s. i quilt for the details on a great giveaway. Rachel and the Quilt Shoppe are partnering to give away a $50 gift certificate to the Quilt Shoppe. Quilt Shoppe is also having a great sale! Now is a great time to buy some great Christmas fabrics.

I just recently purchased a Moda Kit for a pattern designed by Rachel for Moda Bakeshop from the Quilt Shoppe and when it came it was so beautifully packaged and the service was fantastic. I posted a picture of it here.

Rachel just recently designed another gorgeous quilt that the Quilt Shoppe is selling quilts for. Check it out here.

WIP Update - Finished 3 Quilt Tops

2009-08-12T20:39:00.000-07:00

3 More Quilt Tops Waiting for Quilting

It's been a while since I posted. I've been really busy sewing. I finished 3 quilt tops in the past week. Now I have a lot of quilting work ahead of me on the longarm! I m hoping to complete a lot of my own quilts this summer but have been totally obsessed with piecing. It's been great to work on my own quilts in July and August. I think I've rediscovered my passion for quilting!

Whirligig Quilt Top
"Wild Thing" designed by Camille Roskelley
A large throw sized 62 x 78

Two favorite blocks

Second Old Red Barn Co. Quilt Along from Round 1
I used Paula Prass/ Flights of Fancy and Sandi Henderson/ Farmer's Market
A fairly large quilt measuring 72 x 84

Zig Zag Quilt From Round 2 of Old Red Barn Co. Quilt Along using stash fabrics that have been in my stash for many years. This one is a twin size quilt measuring 70 x 90. I just love how crisp and clean this one looks.

Whirligig - Wild Thing

2009-08-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

A while back I started this quilt. It's Wild Thing by Camille Roskelley of Simplify.

I had to square down each and every block. For some reason seeing this pile of trimmings makes me feel like I've accomplished something!

I had picked out 4 charm square packets from the clearance bin for $2 each and I was itching to try it as I had bought the pattern quite some time ago.

Above are my blocks yesterday, below are my blocks today.

Since I'm working on projects I've been wanting to do for a while, I thought now was as good a time as any. I ended up with 52 blocks, I only need 42 so I guess I'll be putting some on the back or making a smaller baby blanket.

Hopefully I can get all these projects wrapped up by the end of August. Wish me luck and lots of devoted quilting time.

WIP Zig Zag Quilt Progress

2009-08-01T19:02:00.000-07:00

I've been working on my zig zag quilt a lot this week. I thought I'd like to show you a sneak peak of my progress. I'm really pleased with how it's looking.

I'm jumping ahead and joining rows as I make them. I prefer this to joining all 18 rows at the end. I have all 126 half square triangle squares sewn together on both sides of the marking line. I just need to cut them in half to make 252 HST blocks, iron them, and sew them into rows. Whew, better go, I've got lots to do!

Christmas Table Topper

2009-08-01T18:50:00.000-07:00

Look what came in the mail today.

I want to try and do at least 1 Christmas project a year. When I saw this topper on p.s. i quilt that Rachel designed for Moda Bakeshop I just knew I would make it. Then a few posts later on Rachel's blog she let everyone know that kits were available to purchase from Quilt Shoppe.

I couldn't resist. I ordered 2 kits (1 for me, 1 for my sister) plus backing for both in Glace. I wish I could start right away, but sadly I can't start until September; I just have too much on the go right now.

You all should head over to p.s. i quilt, she is hosting a fabulous Fat Quarter Shop giveaway. Just click on the button below to go to the giveaway blog post.

Edit: The winner has been announced, so if you are Rose you better head on over to claim your prize.

Weekend Designing - Zig-Zag Layout

2009-07-27T19:08:00.001-07:00

Zig-Zag Layout
Originally uploaded by maripenquiltmomI spent the weekend designing my next quilt-along quilt which is happening at the ORBC Quilt Along flicker group.

I am planning on doing a twin size quilt that will measure 72 x 90 inchs. My fabric choices were inspired by this.

Also, if you want to see what everyone else is planning or you want to join in the fun click on the Zig Zag Quilt-along button in my right sidebar to take you to the flckr group.

There will be lots of WIP photos to come on my progress with this quilt and also another quilt-along by Crazy Mom Quilts (I didn't join in on round 1 so I thought I'd join in on round 2 since I am accumulating so many scraps - this ones a great scrap stash buster).

WIP Old Red Barn Co. Quilt-along #2

2009-07-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

My sister and I have been busy sewing up a storm. Actually, we have had several storms and a serious heat wave here in the lower mainland of British Columbia. I haven't been able to get motivated to clean or really do anything in this heat, but there is always energy for sewing.

As I mentioned in the previous post my sister and I are both sewing quilts inspired by the Old Red Barn Co. quilt-along flckr group. Last week we got together and sewed all the strip sets. Then this weekend we cut all the blocks and today decided on layout.

Diagonal view of my quilt layout

It's been great sewing with my sister, it's always fun working together.

My sister's quilt

My sister and I each had enough scraps from the ends of the strip sets to make coin quilts. Below is a picture of the 6 columns of coins I sewed together, so, 2 quilts for the price of one - almost!

Second ORBC Quilt-along Quilt for Megan

2009-07-18T17:11:00.001-07:00

Second ORBC Quilt-along Quilt for Megan

Originally uploaded by maripenquiltmom

I've been enjoying the laziness of summer but I still manged to get a second Old Red Barn Co. Quilt-along quilt cut out. Aren't these fabrics fun. I'm going to call this one Paula meet Sandi! I'm using Paula Prass' Flights of Fancy and Sandi Henderson's Farmers Market. I'll be using the fabric on the top right for backing and second from top on right for binding.

My daughter saw Quilting Barbie's quilt when I had it here for quilting, and said "mom, I want one with some of those fabrics" so I thought why not, I'll make her one too and bonus, my sister will be piecing one right along with me! Our own little quilt-along. Hopefully soon I can do a post on both our quilts together. She is using mostly Farmer's Market fabrics for hers!

My first ORBC Quilt is on my longarm machine. I have a few rows quilted but I thought I may as well get started on the next one.

I'll be piecing it at the same time as the zigzag quilt-along that this group is moving on to. I can't wait for that to start on Monday! I'm still picking out my fabrics from my stash for the zigzag. I'll show you my selections soon.

My First Quilt

2009-07-12T15:35:00.000-07:00

Camille and Carrie are hosting a Parade of Quilts and I had a last minute thought to participate. Today is the last day to enter.

My first completed quilt is a Debbie Mumm Maple Leaf quilt done up using Fall colours. I still love it today. I made this quilt in 1995. As a matter of fact, I have it hanging in my longarm studio and I gaze at it several times a day. It was a great quilt to start off with as it has basic piecing as well as lots of half square triangles; so, lots of skill development opportunity.

My very first pieced top was actually the Woodpile Log Cabin in Barn Raising pictured below. I am still today not finished this quilt as I wanted to handquilt it and have been doing that on and off since 1995. I kept losing interest in it even though I still love the colours (I love brown and cream). About 2 weeks ago, I actually pulled out all the handquilting which was more than 2/3 done and I'll be machine quilting it later this summer. I'll show it to you when it is finished.

My last completed quilt is a baby Stacked Coins quilt which I longarm quilted with "Daisy Swirl". I found this awsome tutorial at the Moda Bakeshop by Simply This and That. Instead of the traditional white columns I decided to sash it in yellow and I have come to love the effect. I continue to learn new things with every quilt but I think the most important thing I have learned is to take risks with colour, it usually pays off.

I have been working on many quilts since this last one; I'm the type of quilter that needs lots of projects going at once.

Thanks for hosting this Camille and Carrie. I really look forward to the Parade of Quilts wrap-up tomorrow!

Whistler

2009-07-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

We got back from a 5 day holiday at Whistler. Unfortunately, I kept forgetting to take my camera along when we walked through the village. People watching was the best but unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the street entertainment.

The weather was nice the first 2 days but not so nice the last 2. There was lots of rain and it was cold the last 2 days. The only picture I took was the one above. It was really nice to have a change of scenery though.

We still had a nice family time. The boys did lots of mountain biking and a bit of shopping. All of the kids did lots of swimming every day.

We stayed in a 2 bedroom townhouse. We were fairly crowded as there was 6 of us plus 1 of the kids friends and our 2 schnauzers. We had a lot of forced togetherness, which was great. At home we are always going in all sorts of directions and it was just nice to be together. We played some Cranium, lots of Dutch Blitz and Uno.

Fabulous Sunset at Green Lake

Since I didn't get too many pictures I thought I'd show you some of our pictures from last years holiday when we went to a friends cabin in the Cariboo Region of British Columbia (Green Lake or often referred to as 70 Mile House). This was approximately a 4 hour drive from our home.

The girls sitting on the dock having a quiet moment.

Kia loved being up at Green Lake but wouldn't go near the lake. She hates getting wet.

Jasper loves to be near dad and the kids who are swimming here at dusk; so, he's getting as close as he dares. He did actually jump in once but immediately regretted it and had to be rescued.

All in all we thank God for safe travel, no injuries while mountain biking, and wonderful scenery to enjoy while holidaying.

Catching Up Longarm Quilting for Clients

2009-07-03T22:11:00.000-07:00

1 row of Butterfly Charm

I've been trying all week to catch up with my client quilts as I am planning to take the rest of July and all of August off. I may still be quilting my own tops or my daughter's (she is working on a special project with my cousins daughter - more to come on that later).

I quilted this quilt which was pieced by M.O. Last year, I ran a promotion during my first year of business. Anyone who brought me 5 quilts in my first year of business would get a sixth one free. This is M.O.'s free one. I used Flowing Feather pantograph as an overall texture design.

Sandra brought me two more quilts. An animal print Yellow Brick Road quilted with Carpet of Leaves and an Oriental Magic Tiles quilted with Butterfly Charm.

Animal Print/Yellow Brick Road

The following 2 pictures are of Sandra's stunning Oriental Magic Tiles Quilt

Canada Day - July 1st

2009-07-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we celebrated Canada's birthday. Abbotsford had a parade down our main street, South Fraserway, and fireworks at our Exhibition park. We watched the fireworks from our back patio as we live right near the park.

We went to the parade, our middle school (Mennonite Educational Institute) marching band was marching. Unfortunately, my daughter was in the last row on the opposite side of where I was sitting so I couldn't get a picture of her, but she was there!

It felt like the whole community was out. The sun was shining bright and the street was crowded with people. Some of the floats were pretty cool. I really liked this Safari one.

And lots of kids were riding their bikes in the parade.

There were quite a few car collectors driving there vintage cars too.

.
All in all, a great day to celebrate Canada's birthday.

More Quilting on Old Red Barn Quilt-along for Mary on Lake Pulaski

2009-07-03T15:25:00.000-07:00

If you've been following my blog you know I gave away free quilting service to Quilting Barbie on the Old Red Barn quilt-along as she was online when I made the offer for the first email from B.C.

Within seconds, I received a second email asking if I would quilt for her even though she was not from my area. I decided to do the quilting for 50% off providing all postage fees were also paid. Mary on Lake Pulaski took me up on this.

Isn't her quilt great? She used "Red Letter Day" by Lizzie House. She used the lime green with geese on the back. It's so cute with the little turquoise geese distributed at intervals all over the back. She also did some great piecing with her leftover strip ends. Great job Mary!

Head on over to Mary's blog to view her photos of her completed quilt with binding on. Also, if you click on Mary's picture of the back of her quilt you can see a large view which makes it appear the geese are floating on quilted waves. Mary picked Happy Times pantograph for the quilting design.

Thanks Mary, for choosing me for the quilting of your awesome quilt!

Free Quilting for Quilting Barbie

2009-07-01T01:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago while reading the discussion board in the Old Red Barn Co. Quilt-along Flckr Group I got a little caught up in the excitement of it all and offered free quilting services to the first person from British Columbia or Washington State that emailled me. Within a few minutes I had 2 emails seconds apart.

1 row done

I was taken up on my offer by Quilting Barbie. She made a fabulous quilt using many fabrics from the Flights of Fancy Line by Paula Prass. It really is better to give than receive. I've enjoyed seeing and hearing her excitement about winning free quilting service. You can read her thoughts here and here.

I received the quilt last Tuesday. We decided to use a pink and brown variegated cotton thread and the pantograph we chose is Fantasia. It turned out great. I finished quilting on Monday and the quilt was back in the mail to her yesterday (Tuesday).

Quilting Barbie pieced an awesome back for her quilt using the scraps that were left over from her strip sets.

I really enjoyed quilting this quilt for Quilting Barbie and hope to meet her when she travels through my area sometime this summer!

Quilting friends are the best!

My Studio

2009-06-29T16:56:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'll be back to post some Old Red Barn quilts that I have been working on this past week or so for the winner of free quilting services - Quilting Barbie, and another is a client I met through the Old Red Barn Flckr group!

I've been thinking you might like to see some photos of my basement studio. I know I always enjoy seeing others workspace and how other people organize their supplies. Here's how I currently organize mine.

The photo above shows my own to be quilted tops hanging in the order I want to quilt them in. The 2 quilts on the right and the quilt to the left of the pantographs are client quilts. My thread storage is to the left. I have 3 racks for quilting threads. I think I'll mount another rack soon as the 3 I have are getting really full.

Myself, in my longarm studio.

This photo shows my domestic machine. I sew on a Janome 6600P. This is were I do all my piecing.

This is my cutting island and my stash shelf. You can see about 1/2 of my stash as the island covers the rest.

Through the doorway there you can see my scrapbooking station. This is were I update my kids photo albums, make greeting cards, wedding seating charts, and all other paper related crafts.

This is my scrapbooking station from another view. It is actually in a hallway.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my studio.

Quilting Progress - Black, White, and Red All Over Vanity Square Quilt

2009-06-20T01:50:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I posted a sneak peek at Gloria's version of Vanity Square by Lorraine Torrence Designs. I love Gloria's version using Mark Lipinski's Krakow fabric line. Due to all the straight lines Gloria chose Feathers with a Twist pantograph designs.

Hanging on my back railing.

Last year Gloria brought my a Brown, Blue, and Green version of the Vanity Square quilt. I thought you might be interested in seeing it too. For this one, Gloria chose Fantasia for the pantograph design. I had so much fun quilting it and it was the first time I quilted with minkee on the back.

Farmgirl at Heart

2009-06-20T01:39:00.000-07:00

Look at these guys, aren't they awesome? Yesterday, when I was waiting for my boys to finish their work at the farm, I decided to take pictures of these guys. Don't you just wonder what they are thinking. Everyday when I wait for my boys they stare at me and watch me when I am sitting in my car. I wonder if they are wondering what I am thinking when I watch them. Since I grew up, during my high school years, on a farm, I have an appreciation of their beauty and their contribution to this world.

My Sewing Machine - Sew Mama, Sew! Meme

2009-06-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

It's sewing machine month at Sew, Mama, Sew! and I couldn't resist completing their questionnaire and adding it to the list for people who are researching buying a new machine. What a great idea, Sew, Mama, Sew! Go check out their blog for all sorts of cool things about sewing machines this month right here.

What brand and model do you have?

Janome 6600P

How long have you had it?

3 years

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?

$2200

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?

Quilts, handbags, home dec, mending, and greeting cards.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?

I sew almost every day, but I do baby it. I have huge respect for sewing machines, and once I have one I don't want to get rid of it. I have 3 domestic machines in my home. I have a Pfaff my dad purchased for me as a grad gift - I still love it, I have a lower end model Husquavarna which is put aside for my daughter - inherited from Grandma, and my Janome 6600P.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?

I like it, but I'm still holding out for my dream machine. I just can't name an object, I try to come up with one both for my domestic and my longarm machine but I am incapable of coming up with names for non-living items.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?

I love the needle up/down positioner and the cutting threads button.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?

Sometimes it eats up (pulls my work down into the needle plate) the beginning of my work, and the bobbin winder doesn't wind a completely full bobbin.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!

No great story, my Pfaff's computer gave out and at the time I felt it wasn't worth fixing, I was better off buying a machine designed for quilting with a larger throat area. I traded this machine but have always regretted it. I'm still pining for it and have often gone back to see if it is still there and considered buying it back.

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?

For the price you pay it has a lot of quilting specific features that are really handy and make life easier.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?

How does it sew when you sample it, does it feel like a Cadillac or an old clunker?

Do you have a dream machine?

I'm holding out for a Bernina 730. I love Bernina's BSR and when you sew on one it definitely feels like a Cadillac.

Black, White, and Red ALL OVER

2009-06-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so busy. I woke up on Friday morning and decided it was time to make jam. My kids love strawberry jam so off I went to Neufeld Farms to buy 30 pounds of fresh picked berries. One of my girlfriends once told me she thinks strawberries are the most beautiful things in nature. There is something beautiful about the tone of red, with the green stem and crown that is very appealing, and they don't taste bad either. Strawberry red is one of my favorite colours, the other is apple green. I usually have one or both of these colours somewhere in every one of my quilts. Here is a picture of some of my strawberries ready for jam.

I had a very peaceful quiet day, washing, hulling and mixing freezer jam. At the end of the day, 30 containers of freezer jam later and 6 pints of ice cream sauce cooked, I wasn't thinking strawberries were quite as beautiful anymore but I still saved one to eat. See the one on the picture up there that still has the stem and crown, that's the one I saved for myself to eat.

I took a picture of the mess in my kitchen at the end of the day but I decided you probably wouldn't want to see that. My kids helped clean the mess up, so everything's good!

The rest of my weekend was spent working on a clients quilt in, guess which colour, RED. It is a beautifully pieced Vanity Square quilt in red, black, and white using mostly Mark Lipinsky fabric. My client chose Feathers with a Twist for the pantograph design. I'll show you the full version of the quilt later this week when the quilting is done. I thought you might like to see a sneak peak of the quilt, I'm sure liking it.

Old Red Barn Co. Quilt-Along

2009-06-10T23:06:00.000-07:00

I was trying to resist getting involved in another quilt-along but am so glad I didn't. Viewing all of the different quilts and fabric choices by everybody involved has just been so fun, and I find myself checking the Flckr group several times a day (my photostream: maripenquiltmom). As a matter of fact, I got so caught up in it I decided to offer free longarm quilting services to the first person from British Columbia that emailed me - Congratulations Quilting Barbie. I started about 3 weeks late but managed to catchup this past weekend. Here are some of my progress shots. I used Moda's Urban Couture by Basic Grey.

Week 2 - Choosing Fabric

Week 3 - Cutting strips and sewing into strip sets.

Week 4 - Cutting Blocks and Joining

Longarm Quilting Overload

2009-06-10T20:05:00.001-07:00

This week I completed the longarm quilting on 5 quilts for a client. All of her quilts are beautiful and I will be loading them onto my flicker photostream but I thought I would show you my two favorites.

This is a Bento Box by Tracey Brookshier . Sandra did this up in a variety of batiks in chocolate brown, rose, and gold. I think it is a beautiful combination of colour; this quilt has a stunning graphical effect. She asked me to quilt this with Alfresco using a brown and rose variegated King Tut thread.

Here is a closeup of the Bento Box

This is a Magic Tiles by Kathleen Bissett quilt pieced by Sandra K. in animal prints - Kathleen has some other neat patterns too. This quilt has a very pleasant mixture of prints. The quilting design used on this is Inkblot.

Here is a closeup so you can see the quilting.

Inspirations

2009-05-14T12:04:00.000-07:00

First of all I would like to introduce this blog. I am new to blogging but am not new to reading them and being inspired by them. I started reading blogs about a year ago and thought it would be nice to try and inspire others too and at the same time journal about my creative endeavors. Please bear with me as I learn to use Blogger and as I learn about photography.

My creative passion since 1990 has been quilting. I love it and am totally addicted to fabric. I have quite the stash and my new years resolution is to use up as much of it in 2009 as possible and at the same time finish off my WIP's. As I finish them I will be posting here about them and telling the stories behind them. About a year ago I purchased an APQS Millenium Longarm Machine. I love using it and have been quilting for others since I bought the machine. I will often be posting about the quilts I am working on my longarm.

Since I was doing so much on the longarm (over 30 quilts last year & about 10 so far this year) I started to feel like I needed something to do to take my mind of work, so to speak, and give me something to do while relaxing and wathcing TV in the evening so I walked into our local yarn shop and rediscovered knitting. I've completed lots of felted handbags and slippers. My Ravelry name is "maripen" and Flicker name is "maripenquiltmom".

Most recently, while surfing the net, I discovered a blog that has inspired me so much that I decided to relearn crochet. That blog is Attic24. I check out this blog every morning before I start my day (Lucy is from England and her time is 9 hours ahead of mine so she has usually posted by the time I wake up). Her colorful blog and upbeat outlook on life have inspired me and so many others so much. I'll put a link and other links to blogs I enjoy over on the sidebar to the right.

I am a mother of 4 teenagers, so sometimes I'll be doing some random musings on my family life which may also include some stories and pictures of miniature schnauzers who I have absolutely fallen in love with. I look forward to sharing with you and getting to know you all better through your comments. Until next time. (I'll try to blog twice a week)