Humboldt Bronco Quilt

I'm sure you have all heard of the devastating Humboldt Bronco's bus crash last month. There isn't anything more I can say that hasn't been said already. While I didn't know anyone on the bus, Humboldt is in my neck of the woods and my family and I try to take in a few SJHL hockey games every year.

The Haus of Stitches in Humboldt put out a request for lap quilts. Their goal was 200 quilts, and the plan was to give them to the people most effected by this tragedy. My sister and I got together and sewed a lap quilt to donate to the cause.

It is such a cute and simple pattern, I can definitely see myself making it again!

My kids even got in on sewing quilt blocks for the Humboldt Broncos. Someone at our local quilt shop donated fabric and the kids went in to help sew some blocks!

I just checked the Facebook page and it sounds like they received upwards of 1000 quilts from all over the world. That is so incredibly amazing! Quilts have already been given to the Nipawin Hawks, and to the staff at the Humboldt radio station. For whoever ends up with our quilt - I hope it brings you little comfort.

Jelly Roll Race Quilts

In the past week a couple people have mentioned my blog to me, which reminded me that I do have a couple of faithful readers - thank you to them!

I know it seems that all I make are cakes, however the last few months I've busy making quilts as well! I have recently discovered Jelly Roll Race quilts. They are the quickest, cutest blankets around. Jenny from Missouri Star Quilt Company has a great tutorial on You Tube.

The this was my very first jelly roll race quilt. It was kind of a spur of the moment purchase. I was in our local quilt shop, with my kids, when I saw the jelly rolls and they happened to be 20% off. I had been wanting to make one for a while and so right then and there I decided to pick one out, go home and sew it up. I was very excited!

I actually kept this blanket for myself and I love it!! I like to put borders on them. It just finishes them off and makes them a little bit bigger.

This quilt got all my kids excited about jelly roll race quilts - honesty I think they just like the name!

My daughter wanted to make one, so we went to the fabric store and she picked out the one with the most pink.

We are using hers for a picnic blanket.

I have a couple more jelly rolls, and when I get them sewn into quilts I'll show you!

Mine Craft Quilt

For my nephews birthday, my sister-in-law planned to redecorate his bedroom. She asked if I would make a quilt for him. She had found one she really liked and wanted me to make him one similar. It was just simple patchwork, using the colours from Mine Craft, with a nice wavy quilting design. I didn't think it would be that complicated.

I had gotten the top all sewn together when, unfortunately, we had water issues in the basement. Since the basement was out of commission I had to set up my quilting frames in the living room which literally took up the whole room. That was the least of my troubles - all of my supplies, for all of my hobbies, were packed away in boxes in the garage. There was no hope of finding my quilting needles or my good thimble. (Luckily I did have a thimble that didn't get packed away, but it wasn't the best.) Since our fabric store closed there is no place that sells sewing supplies. I did finally find a little sewing set at the Dollar Store (I was pretty desperate) that consisted of a bunch of needles, a couple of thimbles and a seam ripper. For $2. The thimbles were completely useless, as was the seam ripper, although I didn't need that. It was the needles that I really wanted.

So I got to work quilting - sitting on the couch, because there was no room in the living room for a chair, using Dollar Store needles and a thimble with very shallow pits. Hardly ideal quilting conditions! I broke 7 needles quilting the first row. I was frustrated, to say the least! When the weekend finally rolled around, the kids and I drove into the city, took in my sister's basketball game (they won!), and went to Fabricland. I bought some real quilting needles and a decent thimble!

After that things went smoother, although I was so behind schedule I was worried I wasn't going to get it done in time. I talked my husband into helping me. I was shocked that he actually agreed! It took him 10 minutes to do 4 stitches, which was long enough for him to decide that I was crazy and that I really needed to invest in a quilting machine. Those 4 stitches were pretty nice though!

I did get it done, but I didn't get it done for his birthday. That was okay though, since his room wasn't ready yet.

I made matching pillow shams as well, that I machined quilted on my sewing machine.

We took it over to them the other evening and my nephew was just so excited to have a Mine Craft quilt! Seeing his smiling face made it all worthwhile! It will be fun to see his room when it is all put together!

One More Quilt Completed!

I am happy to say that I have finally finished Anthony's Mickey Mouse quilt! It took me longer to quilt then I thought it would. I had a really good start on it in the spring, but then summer happened and it sat untouched for a couple of months. But it is done now, and just in time for the cold weather. I forgot how my basement looked with out quilting frames taking up all the room!

And, on his bed... please notice the amazing bunk beds!

This up coming week is all about cupcakes, and then Anthony's Christmas stocking takes priority.

And on a completely unrelated topic -- Tomorrow is the start of Pumpkin Pie Blizzard month! Which reminds me, I need to cook those pumpkins for pumpkin pie!

It's Done!

I've finished my Crazy Quilt!!! I started working on it shortly after I got married, over 5 years ago. In my defence it was a lot of sewing of lots of squares! I wanted to used up some of my scraps, but ended up buying more because I didn't think I had enough variety. You can't keep me out of Fabricland!! Now I probably have enough scraps to make a couple more of these quilts, but considering how long this one took me I think I'll used them for something else!!

Crazy!

I just finished putting my Crazy Quilt on the quilting frames. I'm a little out of practice but after a few sighs of frustration and lots of pins it is ready to go! And I only knocked over the pins once! The last full size quilt I did was in the fall of 2010 for my cousin. He is a huge...

... Pittsburgh Penguins fan! I've done a few baby blankets since then, but I use the smaller quilting frames for those. I've been working on this Crazy Quilt for about 5 years now, so I'm really excited to get it done. Any guesses on how long it will take me to quilt it? :)