3-in-1 It's Your Lucky Day!

Three posts in one day?  Is that too much?  Don't answer that.  Well, I had to show you this.  'Grandma Coco' interviewed me last week on the topic of self-machine quilting.  It was lots of fun.  Here post is up if you'd like to see!

Grandma Coco's Blog 

Here secret real name is Cheryl, and I 'met' her through the Maple Leaf Quilt online Guild.  She's also the one who does some fabulous illustrations, so take a peek through her blog. 

Thanks Grandma Coco!!
~Monika

One World One Heart 2011 BlogTour (Giveway Finished).

ENTRIES ARE NOW COMPLETE, 

CONTEST CLOSED FEB 17/11.  

TWO LUCKY WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED.  

THANKS!!!!  : )

Hello!  This particular post is my link up with "One World One Heart 2011".  It's a big artsy blog tour & giveaway that I learned about through a Calgary blog called TWO DRESSES STUDIO.  If you are viewing my blog for the first time, then welcome!  If you already know me, then perhaps this will help you to know me better.

5th and Final Event (click to link)

I am a first generation Canadian.  I live in Saskatoon - a city in the prairies of Canada - with my family of 5.  I'm a woman who loves to sew quilts, a mother who loves the prairies, and an artist who loves to sew the prairies!  I really love fibre arts and started this blog last summer so that I could share my work and my process.   My drive came from ten years of home-sickness.  Once I returned to Saskatoon, I had to show the beauty I saw and share the beauty I felt.  So this is how I do it.

ice and flo, 2010

I'm addicted quilt maker.  I sew all my own designs.  I have never followed a pattern and really do not enjoy copying one bit.  I use my own photographs always.  I'm self taught.  I was raised by a landscape artist who couldn't sew, while I longed for the skills of my seamstress / cross stitching aunt and my quiltmaker / rug weaver grand-mother-in-law.  So here I am, obviously influenced buy all of them!  ; )

St. Nikolaus Quilt, preschool fundraiser 2010

One thing I love to do that really helped me bridge sewing skills with art was joining a post card swap group.  So my giveaway item will be fibre postcards!  I will mail two winners one fibre art postcard each.  The draw will be made on February 18th, 2011 at the end of the blog tour.  It may seem small, but I promise they will be pretty and sparkly!  : )  If you want to see what I make, my Flickr link in on the sidebar.  Please leave your name, a hello, and the city/country you are from.

10th Anniversary Postcard for Quilting Arts

See ya 'round!  I look forward to seeing your blogs!  : )
~Monika
Sewing in Saskatoon

Bookstore Quilt

What a weekend.  Look how much I got done!!

The quilting is done.  The binding is on but not handstitched yet.  I'll do that today.  The empty blocks will be a surprise!  I can't wait to show you.  They'll have buttons, embroidery and raw-edge applique.  I am, fo rthe most part, happy with my free motion on this one.

Notice I say, 'for the most part'.  I did alright.  My machine however...  ARG!  Look closer.  Ps - it's still a good quilt and I have taken out those stitches and redid these parts FYI.  These photos were taken lastnight.  Excuse the funny lighting.

The thread broke every 15 minutes.  Can you see the skipped stitches?  There's a whole row of misses!  I figured the needle must be bent, but changing it didn't help much. 

Well it's all done and looks great now.  I have decided that when the opportunity presents itself, I will take training to become a machine repair technician.  But what's up with this Horizon!?  Is it the tech settings or is it the machine?  Did the delivery guy drop the thing off the truck or something!!?? 

If you care, please leave a comment to make me feel better.  ;  )  lol  This sucks!

On a positive note, I will see you tomorrow for Tips on Tuesday!!  The topic is on Piecing, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it! 

~Monika

enjoying the sunshine, not enjoying minus 34C!!

Sunday Snapshots #22

This week marks MIDWINTER.  Is that as far as we've come?  I'm dreaming...  Pretties for you.

Pretties for me enjoy as I sew.  Meet Fern.  She even has a name tag!  : )

poetic wishes on my fridge

yellow is sunshine, green for grass, blue sky too.

uber pretty.  and fragile and sweet...

But really, it is the dead of winter.  Will Mr. Groundhog see his/her shadow this week??

See you tomorrow!
~Monika

Sweet Surprise!

As I was sorting through all the fabric from Jesica's Grandmother, I came across a small batch of pre-cut shapes.  Hmmm.  Those sure look like "Grandmother's Fans"!  So I stitched them up and turned them into dresden quarters.  Look!

Aren't they sweet!?  I think they will look so pretty in the corners of the quilt.  The middle left of the next photo shows what they look like before you fold them and stitch them...

This is what the backs look like.  Grandmother's Fans do not have the points, but they are a quarter circle like this, set into the corners of blocks:

I remember the first time I made Dresdens.  It was my Daisy Daisy quilt.  I was sure it was going to be rocket science, but they are very, very easy to make.  I couldn't push the points out on this fabric though, without breaking through the fabric!  They are so thin.  But they sure are pretty!!  They will look perfect on a white quilt.

p.s.  all the strips are stitched and ready to be cut into triangles.  It was a very productive day!  : )

~Monika

Late Night With Jesica's Grandma

I burned the midnight oil last night.  I got 4 hours of uninterrupted sewing room time!  In a family of five that's very rare.  I worked on the ground of Mandy's Magical Tree, and stitched on all the leaves!

What's left?  Just some embellishment!  I do wish the tree was dark, but I had specific fabrics to work with:  beige, sage green, dark blue, and rainbow.  Still, I think I made it come together pretty well!  Then I can put on a binding and a hanging sleeve.  (Want to learn more?  I have a tutorial for each now over on the sidebar.)

I also started on my next commission.  Jesica has been waiting a LONG time for this.  ; )  Last year she asked if I could take her late grandmother's fabric stash and make a bit white quilt full of triangles.  I've had this bag some time now, but only opened it up last night.  WOW what a range!  hehehe  Jesica wasn't kidding.

There is everything from PJ's to curtains were in there. Most fabrics are very thin polyesters, but everything needs to be in this quilt.  Some things I'll reinforce with thin interfacing I think.  (Any ideas here?)  I got it all pressed and sliced into 2.5 inch strips.

I learned a lot about Grandma and her time.  As I steam pressed all of the fabrics, the room filled with the smell of soap.  Everything stored in all those old bread bags were washed and folded.

There were odd shapes from sections of blouses and dresses, and lots of long long 6 inch strips.  Everything was kept.  Everything was important and everything was reusable.  In this day and age, quilters are SO spoiled to load all this strong new designer fabric onto credit cards and toss big scraps in the trash, hey!??

Did you know:  I watched a popular quilting show on TV the other day and saw how they laughed and threw huge pieces in the garbage, chuckling, 'We'll just never use this again!  So we don't keep.  Into the trash it goes!".  My jaw hit the floor.  I have yet to write into that show and offer those women that I will pay shipping if they send me all their 'garbage'.  gag.  I have yet to do that, and I WILL.  And I will let you know what becomes of it.  GOSH.  They could at least donate it to charity.

WHEW!  Off my high horse...

I also did manage to cut all the white strips I will need too!  These are the repurposed choir gowns from my stash.  I thought using second hand all around would make sense.  No, I don't use recycled everything, but this fabric is excellent quality and was very well maintained.  I only needed two gowns for the whole quilt.  These gowns are gigantic!

So check this out!  I came across some of Grandma's precut diamonds.  Sweet fabric, hey?!!  Her template was there - something else that was recycled / repurposed.

fabulous fabric!  and an ink-stained cardboard template she kept

And then I flipped the waxy, worn cardboard over to reveal it's origin.  Check it out!  It was the side of a milk carton...

Isn't that great!?  If you cannot make it all out, it reads:

Doctors prescribe Milk
for children: 1 quart
for adults: one pint a day
Drink lots of milk
BUT safe milk
(Only pastuerized milk is safe milk)
Sanitation, Saskatchewan Dept of Public Health

Blast from the past!  Thanks for the lesson Grandma.  ; )  Now back to my 1200 half square triangles!  At least that's how many I calculated I will need for Jesica's Memory Quilt.

~Monika

Things I Love Thursdays

I love getting things done.

hand embroidered postcards for swapping

I love fabric postcards.  I love swapping postcards.  I love learning to embroider.  I love white french knots.  I love old fashioned valentine cards.

 

I love my newly cleaned and rearranged studio.  I love my big new cutting table.  (It's a door.)

 

machine to the left, computer to the right.

 

And I love this posie-coaster from my left over dresdens. 

i love hand quilting

I love all the new followers too.  (Hello there!)  I'm excited to see some photographers joining.  Even more - I love when you make comments and leave messages.  ; )

I love the way these colors went together.  I want to make another quilt with these strips again!

And I really love when my quilts get featured in etsy treasuries!  (thank you!!)

the end
~Monika

It's All Good. Still, I Procrastinate.

I feel like I'm in a good place right now.  The sewing room has been cleaned.  Unused/unwanted fabrics have been purged through the guild's garage sale and via FreeCycle.  I got word that my quilt has arrived safely in Ontario for a photo shoot.  (That sounds so funny!)  The Monday night guild meeting was really refreshing as usual. I love our guild.  I spent some couch time working on the hand embroidered postcards for the next PostcardCottage swap.  See the sidebar if you would like to join!  I used a big Erica Wilson embroidery book that my sweet friend Molly gifted to me.  So far so good, and highly enjoyable! 

bear with me, it's only my second time doing this...

I have to make three cards.  This is the first time I'm making three of the same.  They are 4x6 inches and will be mailed as is, unwrapped, with an address and a stamp on the back.  Since Valentine's Day is coming up, I thought I would use that theme for these.

i love the long french knots!

Sweet, hey!?I am so happy that my hands aren't going numb doing this like they did when I tried to crochet. 

I really enjoyed yesterday's tips comments!  And did you read about Jesica and her grandma!?  Awe.  I have a huge bag of fabrics from Jesica, that belonged to her grandmother.  She wants me to make her a big white quilt with colored triangles all over it.  I have a feeling she saw some Red Pepper Quilts!  I hope I can pull this off and be original.  I don't like copying but I'm sure Rita's aussie influence will be there.  How can it not?  : )

And the 'procrastinate'...  I want to finish Mandy's piece,  plus I have 8 weeks to have a set of fibre art pieces done and framed for a show.  GAG.  Look - I even procrastinated writing that until the end of this post!  I know the procrastination is due to the tension problems with the machine.  I don't even want to face having to pull the damn seam ripper out again for everything I try!  (yeah - I said damn.) 

I do have Pretty Penny back now.  That's my 7700.  She's red, and expensive, so it was the perfect name, right?  I haven't even put her back on the sewing table. I think part of the issue was the technician's preferences and not the fault of the machine.  I actually had him adjust it again before I walked out of the store because I didn't like the way he had it set when he showed me the samples he made.  It's a good thing I looked at those samples.  All the top thread was showing on the bottom.  That is NOT what I wanted.  I guess it's just a matter of communication.  He set it perfectly to my liking after I described what I wanted.  "Top thread on top, bottom thread on bottom.  That's all".  So he did it, and (whew) it's all good.  It's perfect, though I am feeling like I have post traumatic stress disorder now.  lol 

I'll finish these postcards with some satin stitching along the edges and see how I like it. 

my 4 yr old on my sewing table, flipping through Quilting Arts mags

~Monika
slowly recovering from PTSD:
Post-Traumatic-Sewing-Disorder

Tips on Tuesdays! -> Children in the Sewing Room

Hi!  Welcome back to Tips on Tuesdays.  This week, the theme is our children.  Please add your tips to the comments section below for everyone to read.

 
I've noticed that so many avid quilters in blogland tend to be stay at home moms.  Being creative and productive while caring for our children makes us pretty handy multitaskers.  I think of the special day where once per year you are supposed to "take your kids to work".  Here it's 24/7.

I have three kids, and they love to watch me make things.  They are my biggest fans.  They also love to create, play, and hang out with me.  Here's a little list of things that make them happy.

1.  Using the lower half of the design wall for a flannel story board!  My daughter will sit for hours with all the Little Bear characters I made her.  She also has planets and some weather pieces.  Older kids can cut out their own little clothing items to dress up flannel dolls.  Lengths of yarn will stick too.  They can make their own pictures.  You can get flannel alphabets, or make simple shapes.  The list is endless.  They also like to arrange scraps and pretend they are designing their own quilt.

2.  Pins.  I know - 'bad mom'.  But my kids love to pass me pins when I'm basting.  They also love to move all the dress pins from one pincusion to another, one at a time.  I have 200 pins.  This is my 4 year old's favorite activity.  Now that I don't have toddlers in the house, this is okay with me.

3.  Scrap dress up.  I have a lot of long strips.  The kids have discovered that if you tie one end to the back of your pants, you can have a tail.  They know where the strips are, and they chose the right tail for the right animal.  Bigger pieces end up as capes or bonnets or blankets for stuffies & dolls.

4.  Folding and sorting and rolling.  You know, some kids just love to organize.  There's a certain age where a child loves to arrange by color, and feels very proud after folding a whole stack of fabric squares all on their own, or rolling binding.  And how can I not love that too?  : )

5.  The Spiderweb!  Give your boy a ball of yarn or string and see what he does with it.  One of mine strung it back and forth all over the stair railings.  It was a giant spider web, and he filled it with plastic bugs.  It was so awesome.  My other boy took cheap red yard and did the same to our entire back yard.  I'm sure the neighbors think we are strange, but it's so much fun for kids to unwind and see just how far that ball of yarn can go.  They also made a zipline for their rescue heroes.  Hours of fun!

So, moms (and grandmothers), what do your kids do in the sewing room?  ***Do you have your own memories of being a child in a sewing room?  Got any crafts or games with sewing room supplies?  Let's hear your ideas!

~Monika K.

Sun-day Fun-day!

WOW what a fun weekend!  It rose thirty degrees (40 if you account for the windchill), and naturally we all headed outside.  FUN FUN.  The sun shone all day.  It was marvelous!!  I walked with my boys to the park to sled and skate on the lake.

I love to skate on lakes when it's sunny and warm.  Can you tell!?

No - the mansion in the background is not mine.  lol
Oh the sky was SOOOO blue!  We spotted this kite...  pretty primaries!

My oldest boy took all the photos.  Look!  They found a fish!? 

And good news!  I came across this while cleaning out my studio!  It's perfect to use in a quilt for the "Making Waves" show theme!  Another great piece is on it's way from Spoonflower. 

In the meantime, I came across this really great article from a Calgary blogger.  If you are considering having your work judged or juried, this a great read.  It makes me not so nervous.  It's all about learning.  Click here to read the post:

Insights on Quilt Show Judging

Have a terrific Monday!  Don't forget about "Tips on Tuesday".  The topic will be on Children in the Sewing Room.  I hope all the stay-at-home-moms and homeschoolers will chime in.    : )

~Monika

Sunday Snapshots #21

The Moon Went Down and the Sun Came Up
Originally uploaded by My Sweet Prairie

Today: an interesting conversation piece. Enjoy!

A Little Ditty

I am spending the weekend machine-less, and plowing slowly through my sewing room.  Yikes.  I filled a garbage bag already!  Four bags of unwanted supplies are sitting on my doorstep waiting to be picked up by Free-Cyclers.  Cleaning.  Cleansing.  Making room for new.  And look at my naked blog!!  I'm sure you've noticed.  I dropped the color and screwed up the banner.  lol.  I'll fix it later.  In the mean time, I've come across some cool things I had forgotten about!

my first weaving sample

I actually have a LeClerc table-top loom in the basement.  I miss that clunk clunk of the shuttles.  But I taught myself to string up the thing and it took FOREVER.  I need to find a teacher for this one. 

crocheted bikini top (one half) lol

And this my friends, is for my mother.  I forgot she had asked me to crochet her a bikini.  She's in her mid 60's.  This is a recent request.  My hands went on me and i cannot crochet any more.  Her 1970's crocheted bikinis fell apart years ago and she wants a red one now.  How's that for one bold Oma!!  lol  Me - I wouldn't be caught dead in a bikini.  lol

50 strips jelly roll

Don't laugh.  I forgot about this.  yikes.  Enough said!  Time to clean!

And I found my 2011 Mom's Ultimate Family Fridge Calendar.  It never made it to the fridge.  It does have an anniversary gift chart on the back cover.  This year my husband and I celebrate our 13th year together.  And GUESS WHAT the gift is!?  TEXTILES!  AH HAHA  That is perfect. How do you like that?

See you tomorrow!
~Monika

Binding 1-2-3 Tutorial!

This one is for you Happy!  : )  I did it!  Whew.  What a LONG tutorial.  It's there on the sidebar if you would like to check it out, or click here:  BINDING 1-2-3.   It is in three parts and there are LOTS of photos.  I did it this way because it's how I learn best.  It covers making bias binding, attaching, and finishing.  It covers the best method I have found to suit me.  I hope you enjoy.

That's all for now folks.  ; )  Pretty Penny finally went to the shop.  She'll be gone until Monday, so I can clean my sewing room and get that hand embroidery done.  ; )

~Monika K.

Things I Love Thursdays

I love the people who read my blog.  Really!  I changed the header on the sidebar from "a bunch of awesome fans" to "My Sweet BlogFollowers".  Sweet you all are!  oh my.  I have so thoroughly enjoyed reading all the comments this last week.  Soulfood!  You are the best!

I still love the paintings Jack leaved in my window.  He changes them often.  Check out his latest addition!

I love my birdie.  His name is Pippin, and he sings when my machine is humming.  His nest is packed with shreds of pretty colored fabrics.  His cage sits on the old Kenmore cabinet.

I love the number three.  Three kids.  Three rosehips.  Good things come in threes.

And lately, I love brown.  In fact, I have removed almost all of the red from the entire main floor of our house.  My red curtains are gone - chocolate brown is up instead.  It's a good dirt color.  I miss spring I think.

All that's left is the front door of my house.  It is red, and it's bugging me.  lol  I painted it four years ago.  I suppose I can do it again.

~M.