Surprise! A Trip to the Bookstore

A bit of personal first... I'm a super-proud mama!  One of my kids' reactions to reading is to breakdown crying with severe humiliation.  So in September, I pulled him from school and did my best to slowly and positively teach him how to read.  If he cried, then we didn't bother.  Well this past week he announced to me that he read a 55 page book, without me asking, and totally tear-free!  It was an older version of The Little Mermaid (serious - not disney).  He was hopping up and down squealing for me to take him to the bookstore!   Side note: we have five bookcases PACKED with books here at home!  This milestone, however, required serious acknowledgment, so off we went to McNally Robinson's.

I love that place.  It's so much more colorful and homey than the big new Indigo across the street.  Plus they have a way better selection here.  Indigo is pretty mainstream.  Even their needle arts sections was like, "Reader's Digest How to Embroider".  yikes. 

2 story book store, full of color and trees and handmade goodness.

I forgot!  My two quilts are up with a fine selection from the Saskatoon Quilter's Guild.  Go check it!  If you've never been there, it houses a very fine restaurant and a fantastic selection of handmade gifts.  I looked for the latest edition of A Needle Pulling Thread magazine, but it must not be on the shelves yet.

My kids got a kick out of this when they walked in!

I have to really thank my homeschooling/artist/mother/friend Sam for showing me this place and encouraging me to get my quilts up in here.

Up near the kids section. 

On the drive home, my little guy read two chapters of his new paperback novel and promptly phoned the grandparents to make his big announcement.  Me... I cried a few happy tears.  : ) 

happy weekend! 
~Monika

What I'm Working On Wednesday : )

Happy Groundhog's Day!  (Is it happy?)  It's Feb 2.  Midwinter.  The temperature here is rising 30 degrees in 24 hours!  My machine is off to a new technician, and now I wait.  I've been hand stitching some things.  Want to see?  I got the binding on the bookstore quilt.  I hooped the bare blocks and began stitching out sillouettes in chocolate brown.  I used a fast-fade fabric pen.  It does fade fast FYI.  lol  Can you guess what these will be?

imagine brown button eyes...

I also had a long overdue visit with my beautiful 19 yr old nephew.  He's the sweetest guy ever. 

Our parrot likes him too.  He's a Pisces, and turning 20 soon.  He told me his favorite colors are deep ocean colors - blue, purple, green, and black.  Got it.  He's getting a quilt. I think he really liked the friendship star blanket i made my oldest boy.  It's full of triangles, so that's what he'll get.  If it takes a long long time, then maybe I'll put it in the guild's show in the fall first.  : )

Oh!  And the new swaps are up at PostCardCottage!

Spring Bunny pop-art postcard, 2010

Interested?  The link on my sidebar will take you to the homepage.  The themes are:  Green & 1 other color, Paper-pieced Fish, and Landscapes.  You have to make three cards for every swap you join and mail them out by the middle of March.  Easy.

And check out my horoscope for the week, courtesy of the Sunday paper.  Hmm... 

That 'picture in my wallet' is of a machine that sews properly so I can make amazing things.  Until then, Mandy's commission, Jesica's, and all my art for Gardenscapes will have to wait too.  Oh, and then there's the commission I got from an Etsy shopper too!  Part of me has this crazy ideal that I'll actually be able to sew how i want.  But it feels like a dream and not a realistic expectation.  Still... I wish...  crossin' my fingers!

~Monika
To see what others are up to this week,
visit WIP Wednesdays at Lee's Blog

Blogger's Quilt Festival - My Entry

Have you heard of this?  It's the fourth annual, but my first.  Here's the link for all you quilting bloggers:

Amy's Creative Side - BLOGGER'S QUILT FESTIVAL 

Wow - what a MASSIVE and progressive quilting community there is on the internet.  It's incredible.  For the festival, we are all encouraged to post one of our quilts.  So here goes...

Which one will it be? It HAS to be Daisy, Daisy.  Here's why.  She pushed me past my comfort zone and ended up being the most impressive quilt I've made.  

She began with a template I found at a garage sale.  It was Dresden plates!  My only childhood quilting idol (grandma Burd) made dresden plate quilts out of good old-fashioned second hand polyester clothing in the 70's.  I was too young for her to teach me, but I watched, and I have dreamed of making quilts ever since.  This was not my first quilt, but it was my first major challenge in honor of dear Violet Burd. 

I wanted to do a lot of quilting on this one, but do not own a long arm.  My solution was to make it (my first) quilt-as-you-go piece.  That was another learning curve all together!  What was I thinking?  I took photos along the way to create a tutorial, but there is such a massive amount of photos.  Plus - I make all my own patterns on a whim.  I don't plan much and so things change a lot along the way.

I started this on my Janome 4900 and finished it on the Janome 7700P.  I made all the pieces, then the plates, then appliqued them to the blocks, then did more circular sewing with decorative stitching.  I got variegated thread to coordinate with the hot colors.  (You may think it's gaudy, but I love red & white - and orange and yellows!)

 I practiced some very successful straight line quilting.  The Dresden blocks were alternated with linear pieced blocks.  I had planned for the alternating blocks to be crazy quilting.  ...and for many reasons, was ready to call this quilt "Crazy Daizy".  :P

It's fabulous.  I love it.  I have it exhibited right now at McNally Robinsons' Booksellers in Saskatoon until the end of November, 2010.  Our guild has an on-going exhibit of over a dozen quilts that gets changed a few times per year.  (I love the guild - we rock.)  ; )

Daisy Daisy (hanging from the second floor near the circle of trees)

The last part of joining the festival was to tell how many yards of fabric are in my stash.  My answer: none.  In Canada, we have meters of fabric.  hehe  You can view about a quarter of my stash in my October 31 post.  (go back 2)  SCARY!  

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  : )

 

Enjoy the tour!

: )

~Monika

sewing in Saskatoon

Quilts at the Bookstore

What a cold blustery day!  I did a family photo shoot at the university for another family.  I'm sure it was the weather... all the little kids in that area were crying!  Oh dear.  We'll have to try that again.  On the way out I snapped this!

My daughter and I then dropped in to McNally Robinson Booksellers today for a field trip. We found the Canadian quilting magazine: Quilter's Connection!  I'm glad they carry it!

And look!  The orange looks great in there!  My quilt, "Daisy Daisy" is hanging right in front of the Canadian Children's Books by the circle of trees.  All the quilts on display are courtesy of the Saskatoon Quilter's Guild.

Funny.  I never noticed that the ceiling in the is orange!  lol

There's my daughter sitting on the main floor.  I love this store.  There are nooks and crannies everywhere with such nice big comfy chairs. We stopped to read "Red is Best", our favorite Canadian children's book. 

Back home now... It's pouring rain.  I'm about to start making supper, packing lunches, running baths, doing laundry, clipping fingernails, washing dishes... ; )  Maybe tonight after the kids are in bed I'll put on a fire and get that Courthouse Country quilt top put together. 

Stay warm!
~Monika