One Last Back to School Project

I finished up this little binder pencil case just in the nick of time. My daughter heads off to university today. Classes don’t actually start until next week but she has volunteered to be on the O Team to welcome the first year students moving in this weekend. Actually it sounds more like overwhelming them – perhaps that’s what the O stands for ! When a car pulls up to the student residence building a large group of seniors swarm the car and start unloading all their stuff and carry it off to the new students dorm room. Meanwhile the new student and their family rush to keep up and wonder what the heck is going on !

The main fabric is more of the Robert Kaufman Science Fair line called “Molecules in Blue” and the black fabric is just something from my stash. I looked around at several tutorials on the web and at offerings on Etsy. I came up with this design by combining several of the tutorials to look like something I saw on Etsy that was for sale but did not offer a pattern. The overall size of the case measures 7.75″wide x 10.25″high

I used more of the “Formulas in Black” for the lining.

The most difficult part of the project was getting those grommets put in properly. I used the “Unique” brand and was somewhat disappointed with the softness of the metal and the instructions. I smashed up about half a package of units before I threw their instructions out the window and made it work on my own !

I think it turned out pretty good and I’m sure it will be useful and unique.

Harvest has started here on our farm so if my postings are fewer and farther between you’ll know I’m out in the field helping feed the world !

Thanks for stopping by 🙂

Linking up with Amanda for Finish it up Friday.

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Back To School Sewing

It’s that time of year again and I have to admit… now that my ‘kids’ are older, I’m not nearly as excited about it as I used to be !

Actually, I’ve only got one left in school and she is in university. She is taking a combined degree which means she’ll be in school longer than the other two and more   $$$  studying.

Since one of her majors is chemistry, I got really excited when I saw the Robert Kaufman fabric line called Science Fair.

I bought several 1 yard cuts and immediately got to work on some pillow cases. I used Ashley’s fabulous tutorial and tried french seams for the first time. They weren’t difficult and they made a much nicer finish to the seam and will not fray.

I let my daughter pick which fabrics she liked best and she added blenders from the local fabric shop for the cuffs and trim.

             

The above pictures are from the print called ‘Formulas’ in black. She didn’t want to use this print because several of the formulas included mistakes. Do you think I should write Robert Kaufman ? I wonder if anyone else noticed, lol !

Well, she’s a very good student so I can’t really say that resting her head on these pillows will help her absorb her studies any better but at least they will brighten her room.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend.

linking up with Amanda for Finish it Up Friday.

Let’s do lunch !

Last year I made an insulated lunch bag for my oldest daughter’s birthday. It must have been a good idea as my youngest daughter has requested one for her birthday. She is turning 21 soon, hard to believe how fast the time goes !

My daughter had picked out the fabric quite sometime ago but of course I didn’t start the project until recently. Nothing like a deadline looming to spur me into action !

                

                 

The outside fabric is Biology by Sarah Watson. I used a tiny pink gingham fabric for the inside handles and the interior lining is a navy ripstop fabric. The bag is completely insulated with insul-bright.

                     

                     

We looked around at several other lunch bag patterns on the inter-webs but I came back to this one because it is such a good design. I hope she likes it 🙂

If you would like to make one too, you’ll find links to the free pattern in the first part of this post.

Have a lovely week-end, thanks for stopping by.

Linking up with CrazyMomQuilts for Finish it Up Friday.

Sunday Stash and a Sunday drive.

Hey There, hope you had a good weekend !

On a recent trip to Alberta I discovered a great little quilt shop in Sherwood Park. I’m sure this is the best quilt shop I have ever been to. They have a large selection of really good quilt fabric and more patterns, books and notions than I have any business drooling over !

I spent waaay more time there than I should have. I have noticed that after looking at a lot of fabric I tend to go colour blind and it’s not just a matter of being visually overwhelmed. As an example: the second print from the left was bought as a go-with for the first print on the left, once I got it home I could see that they are different greens. While in the store though, I thought they were great together !

These are a few low volume fabrics I found. The text print on the top will make a great background when I get around to more of these.

I also treated myself to some glass head quilting pins – they were 25% off… and I mention that because I think the regular price for these little dears is a bit much !

but, as evidenced below – heads have been melting and we just can’t have that in any humane studio !

The glass heads are not supposed to melt but they are pretty tiny and we’ll have to see if that’s too much of a bother. I have some damage to my carpal tunnel which makes some fine motor skills a bit trying.

In other news, my husband and I took a little drive this weekend and enjoyed some beautiful country scenery. It wasn’t until after we were about 80 miles from home that I realized my SD card was still plugged into my desktop – bummer. My camera does have a small amount of internal memory so I was able to take a few pictures along the way.

We drove past several fields of hemp – a crop that we don’t grow on our farm yet but may in the future.

We stopped by an old hill top cemetery, mostly for the view but some of the gravestones were quite notable. If I had had my SD card I would have liked to photograph them. Many of the grave stones had Russian lettering on them as this area of Saskatchewan was a major first settlement of Russian Doukhobors who came to Canada in 1899.

These tombstones seem to be marching down the hill but it’s the view in the background that is quite beautiful.

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

The yellow flowers are canola in the foreground above.

Leaving the cemetery we traveled on to Petrofka Orchard. They have lovely walking trails and quite a few more fruit tree groves in addition to the picture below.

It’s quite amazing how they have managed to establish prairie hardy fruit trees that can endure our harsh winters. The owner showed us through their production area where they press apples for cider and make apple cider vinegar.

They have a wide variety of organic Saskachewan made goodies, most of which is grown and made right at the orchard. That apple cider is SO good – I wish I could give you all a icy cold glass !

Thanks for stopping by !

linking up with Mollie Sparkles Sunday Stash.

August

August has arrived and I’m happy to say that I have a timely finish to show you today ! I have just finished binding  the quilt top I showed you waaaay back in February. The fabric is, coincidently, August by Sarah Watts of Cotton and Steel. The pattern is a freebie from the Fat Quarter Shop and you’ll find a link to the pattern in my February post.

The quilt is approximately 57″ x 57″.

you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Initially I was going to quilt this myself on my friends mid-arm & frame but I decided against it as she just doesn’t stay put for very long ! During the summer she spends quite a bit of time at their cabin. She had told me that I could use her frame and machine even if she wasn’t at home but I didn’t feel comfortable with that. So, on a recent trip to visit my Mom I took this quilt and another intending to rent time on a long arm. Well, my Mom hasn’t been too well lately so I changed my plans again when I was able to hire someone to quilt both tops for me while I spent more time with my Mom.

I’m quite happy with the quilting but forgot to take note of the pattern I choose.

I didn’t buy backing material at the same time I bought the layer cake but was able to pick up something suitable at the ‘local’ fabric shop – I think the centre fabric echoes the lion mane on the front ( the colour is a bit off in this photo ) Unfortunately it was the end of the bolt and I had to add the other print to make do.

I purchased this fabric for the binding don’t you just love an interesting selvage edge !

view of the back – I quite like this reddie-brown with the indigo blue binding.

Here’s a picture of the quilt in the wild and one of our wheat fields in the background. Crops in our area are ripening…not too long before harvest. As you can see, drama is building in the skies. Central Alberta to the west of us has had more savage weather this week. We have been lucky so far but I hope it doesn’t end up being a wet fall. The moisture we are getting now would have been better a month ago !

I love to get comments here on my blog so if you’re in the mood… the clickie thing is up at the top of the post by the date.

Enjoy your weekend !

Linking up with Amanda at CrazyMomQuilts for Finish it up Friday.