Mexico Quilt(s)

I may have mentioned before that I was starting a project at church to send quilts to Mexico. It's called Project Cobija (quilt in spanish). Each summer our church sends down a team to build 8 or so houses in Tijuana. Last year when I went, I thought that it would be fabulous if each family was also given a quilt with their new house. With the help of some wonderful women at church, we sent down 10 quilts last week. Above are some of the quilts that were given away.

The quilt that I made was mostly from my scraps! (I think I need to make another one to thin them out some more). I followed a tutorial from Amanda-Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts. She called it Easy as Pie. It definitely was easy!

I cut out the pieces in one evening and sewed them together in three more. I basted it and then quilted it in a couple more. I quilted it with a free motion loopy stipple so that it would be nice and sturdy.

I decided to machine sew the binding for durability and speed. It was my first second time attempting machine sewing binding (I don't want to talk about the first time...). I'm very pleased with how it turned out! I know it looks kind of white in the pictures, but it's a light greeny batik. I even finished my quilt before my deadline! That pretty much never happens.

I'm very pleased with the end result! Maybe I will have a picture to show later with its new family.

xo Nicole

Carmen's Practical Bag

Last week I made a bag for my friend Carmen. She was looking for a cloth bag that was big enough to fit in some specific items.

She looked at several stores without luck, so I offered to make one for her. She came over and picked out some fabric at my "store." (You know you have too much fabric when you refer to your stash as a store).

I used the Practical Bag pattern by Grand Revival Designs. I made one of these bags for myself in the fall and I really enjoyed the pattern. It was easy to follow and well laid out. I think the design is really clever too.

I made the lining out of two different fabrics for fun and added in a couple pockets made from scraps. I didn't add interfacing to the lining but I think that next time I will. It would make the bag just that much sturdier.

I top-stitched in a turquoise thread for some contrast and I am very pleased with the outcome. The most difficult part of making the bag was getting the 'v' to lay flat. Hopefully next time they will look a little better.

I also bought a purse pattern (called Flea Market Bag) by Grand Revival and have yet to try it out. I hope it will be as simple and clever as this bag. Have you made either of these bags?

xo Nicole

some quilts to share

This first quilt is one that I made for my nephew Paul. He's so adorable and I really love him. I wish I lived closer by. I started making this quilt before he was born, before any of us knew if my sister was having a boy or a girl. I wanted to make something gender neutral. I found the pattern in a book called Great Little Quilts that my great-aunt gave to me. The pattern is called Single Wedding Ring, but it's also known as Crown of Thorns.

The book didn't really give very specific instructions, so I just made up my own size block. Unfortunately, I forgot to add in seam allowances. I cut all the fabric before I discovered this. Luckily, it still sewed together nicely, just a little smaller than I anticipated. Which also meant that it took longer. I think I also underestimated the complexity of each block. The quilt has 12 blocks, each made up of 25 squares and 16 of the squares are HST (half-square triangles). Each square ended up 1.5" finished.

I eventually finished it up and added a couple borders to make it a little bigger. I was only going to make one border originally. I took some time to think about how to quilt it. I didn't want to take away from the beautiful blocks or to be too densely quilted. I ended up doing straight diagonal lines that brought out some of the secondary patterns of the blocks. I also chose to do a fun binding on an otherwise traditional quilt. Don't you love the backing fabric?

This is a quilt that I made for my sister Frances (Paul's mama) on her birthday last year. I forgot to take any pictures of it before giving it away, so it has been unblogged until now. I think that I bought it as a quilt kit, but can't remember where. It's made of fabulous, bright batiks and a white on white fabric. The design is from Atkinson Designs called Lucky Stars.

It came together quite quickly because the blocks are 15". The quilt ended up being 45"x60" - a nice size to snuggle on the couch with. I quilted it with a loopy meander - my go-to free motion quilting.

The back is just a solid green with a few scraps thrown in. I like the simplicity of the design.

The last quilt to be featured today is one that I made with Cherry House Quilt Along. She called it the Socken quilt. It was quite simple to put together. The little squares finish at 1". I was inspired by the quilting on another of her quilts, and attempted to do something similar. I really like how it turned out. I gave it to a special baby in our church a few weeks ago. I hope that he loves it and gets lot of use out of it.

Thanks for stopping by!
xo Nicole

Create

On Flickr, I found a group called Create! A Project a Day. The premise is that you will create something everyday in February. Since I was feeling highly unmotivated in January and didn't accomplish much, I thought it would be a great idea for me to join. It's been a great push and the creative juices are definitely flowing. I will admit that I haven't made something everyday, but I think that I only missed two days so far.

I've been working on making a quilt for my nephew Paul, who was born on December 28, 2010. I found a quilt in an antique quilt book that I fell in love with and I knew that I wanted to make it. It's called Single Wedding Ring, which maybe isn't the most fitting for a baby, but it was just too sweet to not make. I really love how the blocks create secondary patterns when sewn together. It will have 3 by 4 blocks and a couple of borders. The blocks are quite tedious to put together, so I've been easily distracted by other projects...

I came up with an idea for this stack of fat quarters. I can't reveal too much info at this point in time, but I am finishing up my drawing for it. I have a lovely person in mind for the resulting quilt.

While I was reading Cherri House's blog at the end of January, I discovered that she was going to have a quilt along. I liked the pictures she showed and was excited to join in. She recommends making it with solids, but I wanted to try it with some fabric from my stash. I think it looks good so far. It's small, baby quilt size. The green blocks finish at 1". I'm not sure yet who the recipient will be, but I am going to try out some new quilting on it!

This project has probably distracted me the most. A while back I saw a quilt block on flickr with this design and from the thumbnail picture I thought it was a large quilt. When I clicked on it, I saw it was just a block. Since then, I've been obsessed with making a large quilt with that design.

My blocks are 8" finished and I am nearly done sewing the top together. It actually has come together more quickly than I thought it would. It will be a present for a friend, and I should have enough time to quilt it up before her birthday. I really wanted to make something with spring colours since winter seems to be dragging on forever. I chose some green and pink fabrics with a spring feeling. I used 8 fat quarters and some solid natural yardage.

The other thing that I've made this month is a nursing cover for my sister. I am pleased with how easy it was to make. I used this tutorial. And the best thing is that my sister loves it and uses it.

The more I take time to create things, the more ideas I get. I'm finding it rather hard to focus on one thing at a time. I do feel like I've accomplished a lot so far this month and I am thankful for the time that I spend using my God-given gifts. I am also thankful for my own sewing space that I can leave and just pick up where I left off.

I hope that you are inspired to create something yourself!

xo Nicole

Quilting Bee Blocks

In 2010 I participated in two online quilting bees. I am going to share some photos from the Maple Leaf Bee that I moderated. I learned a lot during the year and tried new techniques. I also learned about how to run a bee and to get the most out of it.


These two orange and blue blocks were made for Quilting Barbie and she is going to make a quilt for her son with all our blocks. We were asked to make improvised blocks. They were a lot of fun, and were more time consuming than I anticipated. I have fallen in love with improv since that time!


These two pink and green blocks were made for maripenquiltmom. She made a quilt for her sewing room with them. She asked us to make the centers in the style of Oh Fransson's Map of the States block. I didn't follow the exact instructions, but used it as a jumping off point. I am super happy with how they turned out.

This crossed canoes block was my first introduction to paper piecing and I made it for indigolimeblog. It was interesting to try it, but I definitely don't love paper piecing.

These two pinwheel blocks were made for FeltArtistic. She sent us some vintage sheets and told us to make our favourite pinwheels. It was a challenge to use these fabrics because some were very soft and slippery, and there wasn't a lot of contrast in them. I am pleased with the outcome though.

I made this spiderweb block for Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in May. Each section was paper pieced, but not in the same way as the crossed canoes. We used scraps from our stash and she sent us the middle pieces. I love how it looks with the printed fabrics in the middle.

This flying geese circle was also paper pieced for brenda.g34. I was terrified of this block and put off making it for several months. Once I finally started it, I had to use my seam ripper numerous times. It was super challenging. This block confirmed my suspicions that I hate paper piecing!


These two tree blocks were made for crazycraftycarm. She requested any kind of tree block and this is what I came up with. I was sent green fabrics and also added a bunch of my own green scraps. I love how they turned out.

These two blocks were made for DoreyR. She sent us a few jellyroll strips and asked us to make whatever kind of blocks we wanted, as long as they ended up 8.5". I made some very simple blocks, but I think that they are very effective.

In September, kroddick asked us to make up some wonky quarter log cabins with these two solids. Mine isn't very wonky, but I tried to make some wavy seams. I think they are too subtle and maybe just look like mistakes in sewing. I'll have to experiment some more with wavy seams.

Austen g. sent us some Hope Valley fabrics and asked us to make whatever kind of block we wanted to. She is making a Hope Valley sampler quilt. I tried out a block that I got from my Moda class at Katja's Quilt Shoppe. It was fun and easy to come together. I was thinking that it would look really cool to have a line of these blocks in a quilt. I'm planning on trying that out someday!

In November, arianescrafts sent us some very delicious fabrics to make her a dresden plate with. This is the first time that I have every done machine applique. It took me a few tries to get my tension right, but once I did, it went very smoothly. I can hardly wait to see her completed quilt!

Finally, December was my month! I asked for these pinwheel within a star blocks. I told people that they could change the centers if they so desired and the fabric placements too. I haven't received all the blocks back yet, but the ones I have received are fantastic! I'll probably make up another block or two for my final quilt, but I haven't decided exactly what to do with them yet. I was planning on combining them in a checkerboard fashion with some improv blocks I had my other bee do, but it is looking way too busy.

So, that is a year's worth of bee blocks for the Maple Leaf Bee. I am starting up another round of Maple Leaf Bee and will have some new people. It is going to be half a year this time, which will be a little bit more manageable. I am super excited to get started and make some new online friends.

xo Nicole

Another Quilt for a Loved One

Welcome to my blog if this is your first visit. I hope you enjoy your stay here. This is my entry for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

I completed this quilt on Sunday. I've been working madly on it to finish it for a friend who needed some quilt comfort. Her husband died unexpectedly about a month ago, and I knew right away what I needed to do for her.

I gave it to her yesterday and she cried. I may have cried too. She is seriously sweet and genuine and caring, and nobody deserves to have something good in her life more than she does right now.

I made it with diamond balis and used the Turning Twenty pattern. It works so well for large scale prints like these. I am so pleased with how it turned out. This quilt is about 70 x 86". Its the biggest quilt I've ever made and I can't believe that I managed to quilt it on my small machine. I quilted it with loops, spaced quite close together. It took a long time.

For the backing I used a super soft Moda Bella solid green (sorry I don't know the name of the colour). The binding is a periwinkle colour solid that I bought in Egypt at the market.

I wrote a Bible verse on the label, even though I originally planned to quilt the words into the border. I just ran out of time and it was much easier this way. That can be an accomplishment another time.

I hope that you enjoyed hearing the story of this quilt. If you are the praying sort, please pray for my friend and her family. I know that our God listens.

Also, please go check out the other quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival over on Amy's Creative Side. There is a lot of inspiration, so be prepared!

xo Nicole

Mexico Trip

This summer I had the opportunity to go on a missions trip with some people from my church. Our destination was Tijuana, Mexico, and our goal was to build eight basic houses while there. It all sounds so simple, but there was so much more.

Our team of 21 members drove from Kamloops in 3 vans. That's over 2,500 kilometers! We left at 5 am on July 21st. Each day we were assigned a van to be in and it was switched up once each day, so that we could get to know each other really well. Sometimes we got to know too much (as sometimes happens when spending endless hours cooped up in a van). The good news is that we all got along and bonded well.


We finally arrived, with some stops along the way, in Tijuana 4 days later. We had the privilege of attending a Mexican church on Sunday when we arrived. It was really neat to sing and worship God with the people there. I loved seeing how passionate the pastor was in his preaching too.

After church we had our first experience ordering tacos in Spanish at a taco stand. It was really hard for me to remember the names of things the first day, but by the end of the week I had it down pat. And the food was delicious. That was actually one of the things that I was most looking forward to about the trip.

We worked with Mexico Caravan Ministries and stayed in dorms there. They have a very unassuming building in a regular neighbourhood, and the inside is simple as well. They can house up to 100 people there. We slept on triple decker bunkbeds and had to share a very small washroom. Oh, and no showers either. (I have to be honest. This was something that I was very worried about and made me debate whether or not I would go on this trip. I'm not high maintenance, but I do like to keep clean).

Each morning we would get up, get ready, have devotions, eat breakfast and then gather together with the other teams that were there for the week. We sang together and then listened to a speaker. Mexico Caravan Ministries is actually a missions mobilization organization, so their focus was on showing that God calls us to spread the gospel in all the earth. We are to go to all corners of the earth to tell others about Jesus and his death and resurrection. Each morning we had a different speaker who explained different aspects of this. I was challenged in so many ways. The Lord spoke to me about how I can live my life for Him and what He is wanting from me in my life.

After the morning session, our team divided into two and we each went to a different location to build a house for a family. Caravan makes all the decisions about who to build for and since none of us had much Spanish knowledge, we don't know the different situations of each family that we built for. All we know is that they were really grateful for the small, simple structure that we could build for them.

Working together as a team we hammered and nailed and lifted and painted the house into being. There were often children who came by and wanted to help out. It was very sweet. The family we built for each day was also responsible to serve us lunch. It was always exciting to see what kind of food they prepared. I'm thankful that I had no gastrointestinal problems for the whole trip! I just enjoyed what was offered.

After building houses for 4 days, we had a day to serve in another way. We spent the day with boys from a boy's home. We ate lunch and then went to a water park. It was so neat to see all the kids delighted to be at the pool.

We left Mexico early the next morning. We took 5 days to get home and had some really neat experiences. Maybe I'll share some of those in another post. This one's getting rather long!

I hope you enjoyed hearing about the highlight of my summer.

xo Nicole

P.S. I didn't bring my own camera with me, so all these pictures are courtesy of my fellow team members.