Glitter Bomb Greetings

 Our house is in constant flux. With the basement 95% finished the upstairs is evolving in its new uses. No more TV in the living room means that I keep rearranging the furniture to find the right energy. I think I have it now and it is both cozy and open. The space is a bit of hang-out/wrestling zone/reading area. Yes, all three.

No more TV in the room also means I have an unsightly mess on the wall from when the TV hung there. We have something on its way to hang on the wall, but with Christmas coming I felt the need to pretty it up a bit right now.

Armed with a coupon and my girls we hit the big box craft store for supplies. Lots of glitter, a canvas, some glue. That's it. If I already had the glitter this project would have cost us only $20. I stole a pencil from my Hubby and printed off letters in just the right size. A sharp pair of scissors cut them out just perfectly for me. I measured and laid out the letters, lightly traced around them with the pencil, filled them in one at a time with glue, and glitter bombed them.

This was a Mama only craft. Hubby was sick as a dog but he kept The Garbage Truck busy. The girls worked on their own craft. This was after a mini tantrum on my part about not needing a peanut gallery to do my own project. Did I mention there was glitter?

My glittering skills leave something to be desired, but the overall effect is what I wanted. And even though it is early for me to be decorating, I like knowing the mess on the wall is covered up. I pulled out all our Christmas and winter books so we can cozy up and wait for Santa.

Someone doesn't seem too impressed. What does he know? Or maybe he's just mad I put the glitter away with the one other thing we don't want the kids getting into - the booze?

Hugs and Kisses

Hugs and Kisses 

105'' x 90''

The Beast is finally done! I really should call it that instead of Hugs and Kisses. It doesn't seem quite appropriate for something that is supposed to be a romantic gift.

I actually finished it a few weeks ago, but it's taken me a bit to clean up our room and take photos.

For more on the progress of this quilt you can check out these posts.

The fabric stack
In Progress
Admitting Defeat 
Clear the Decks (committing to finishing this and only this quilt)
Been Quilting in progress
Picking Binding (you'll see I went with none of these)

Quilted with Wonderfil, a local thread company. It was a great variegated pink that worked nicely. And Aurifil white on the Xs. As usual, I used Quilter's Dream 100% cotton batting in Select weight.

And now we sleep under it. We can still keep the window open even though fall settled in to a night time chill. With all that quilting it is a heavy quilt that wraps around us.

All Voile Patchwork Top

I've been remiss in posting about my at-home retreat a few weeks ago. Those awesome slabs took over! But I did have a highly productive week with my sister-in-law and finished far more than I expected. Let me share some with you.

Up first, my all voile quilt top. I had everything cut, from a random collection of voiles, and ready to go. All my triangles went in a box and I sewed whatever I grabbed. For my first row I kept going and every few pieces I laid the strip on my bed. This quilt is intended for our bed, so I wanted to make sure I had the overhang. Turns out 28 7 1/2'' equilateral triangles is about perfect on our giant mattress.

The resulting quilt is more horizontal than vertical. That's totally fine for me. The finished quilt will be backed with voile (the new Koi from Rashida and Cloud 9) and I plan to use the lightest batting. This quilt is for those sultry, summer nights when it is too hot for the covers. But, if you are like me, no matter how hot it is, you still want a sheet or something on top. So the height of this isn't as important as being able to cover down the sides. 

Of course, by the time this is finished the sultry nights will be long gone for this year. Even if I will be sending this to Andrea. 

It's all good though, because this is so soft, so silky. I cannot wait to wrap myself in this. It is ridiculously girly and I'm sure my husband will hate it. I have no idea why I was drawn to making this. Yes, the fabrics are gorgeous. I usually go for more geometric than floral prints. 

Note to Fabric Designers and Manufacturers: Can you please make more geometric prints in voile?

The colours are rich and the whole thing has that patchwork chaos that somehow always works.

Been Quilting

All three seasons of Downton Abbey. Almost all the Ted Med lectures, plus a few others. About a dozen beers. And one very sore set of shoulders later and I am done quilting this beast! (Yes, that's a king sized bed up there with a deep mattress.)

No, that's not an earthquake, that's me jumping up and down.

Now, just to bury a million threads, square it up, bind and wash it. Thanks for all the cheerleading along the way!

That's our original wedding quilt underneath.