Pants!

Tried on the pants over jammies tonight. The elastic in the waist is not quite tight enough (not terribly tough to fix), but overall I think they turned out SOOOOO cute! I'll see if I can get a shot of the reverse side some time. I made the biggest size, so we'll see how they fit as spring/summer progresses.

Hmmm, what should my next project be? I should probably take care of some non-exciting business/paperwork I've been putting off that is completely non-blogworthy. Groan...

revenge of the chubby chicks

All done, woo!! I need help with my photo skills.  And I'm too lazy to even rotate them - what's become of me?

This little flock is bound for my friend (I don't think "stephanie" reads my blog so I'll show you how I made it hers) back in California - hooray!!!

My favorite part is the applique chicks. I like handwork because I have more control. I have less experience working with my machine so those parts could use some polishing.

This is only the second quilt I've ever completed from start to finish if you don't count 2 baby mats I've made. I need a lot more practice!

 

And then this afternoon, the toddler gods were smiling on me, and they got the girl to sleep for almost 2 hours, during which time I almost finished making her this pair of pants. They're reversible - "quick change trousers" from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings. I got the book from the library and had some extra muslin I could use to trace the pattern - yay! I LOVE the library. I didn't get the elastic for the waistband yet so I can't quite finish them. Pretty easy and cute so far!!! If they turn out ok, I'll get small fry to  model them for you. They might turn out to be disposable-diaper-friendly-only pants.

Special Delivery!

Canada has some cool stamps out to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. It's big in Halifax because they brought a lot of the victims' bodies here. Halifax is featured on some of the stamps specifically. Here's a mail truck that was parked on our street the other day!

 And in the Public Gardens (a really cool place in Halifax - you need to check it out next time you're in town) they have a model of the Titanic in the pond (shouldn't it be at the bottom of the pond?).

 Happy Birthday to our best California buddy! I can't believe you're 5 already!!!!!

Growwwlllll... a mish-mash post

Is the Growler a standard beer-holding vessel that I just never new about (apparently it is... why didn't anyone tell me?)? Here in Halifax, it's a must for economical drinking. You can't get the Growler at the provincial beer and liquor stores - you have to go to the source! Here is a post I found about Haligonian beer. You buy the bottle and just take it back to the brewery when you need a refill. Can't go wrong with a 64-ounce jug!

We tried Hop Yard Pale Ale from Garrison: "Deep golden and crisp, Hopyard Pale is exceptional in the West Coast style with a refreshingly bitter finish." Yum. I prefer the west coast style of exceptional in most categories.

We are buying a house in Dartmouth. It's blue. Inspection is today!


You know how Rita Wilson goes on a rant in Sleepless in Seattle about how men don't replace the empty roll of toilet paper but rather leave the new roll sitting on top of the old empty roll? I do that.



We went to Ross Farm Museum in New Ross last weekend. It was awesome. The girl loved the sheep, chickens, cows, geese, and hiking around. Not so fond of the enormous black hairy pigs. Scott and I thought it was pretty good too. Lots of cool, well-maintained historical stuff: farm house, barns, woodworking shop, lumber mill, etc. There was more there but since it was still the "winter" season, not everything was open and working. I definitely recommend it.

I decided to quilt a simple grid, stitched in the ditch for my chubby chicks quilt.  I wanted to just get 'er done on this one since it felt so nice to finish the pillow before.  So the quilting is nothing fancy, but that's ok since the part I really like is the the chicks.  Using the stitch in the ditch sole for my walking foot, I had to adjust the needle position since I didn't have the right tool to adjust the foot guide thingie and things weren't lining up quite right. It works ok. I might try just using the open sole and doing it by eye next time. Guess I'm giving away what's on the back in this photo... I was trying to show you the stitch in the ditch sole.

The girl wearing a disguise:

I"ll claim responsibility for the mismatched outfit and crazy hairdo.

A Finish! In Record Time!

Maybe I should join the mini-quilt craze.  Actually finishing a project is a great feeling!  It's a 24"x 24" floor pillow. I think it looks so cute, never mind a few little boo boos or things I'd do differently next time! And I felt comfortable quilting this little thing with my home sewing machine. It seemed like it could be a challenge to wrestle with a much bigger quilt. I'll have to do another one for our house some day - if we ever have a house :)

Here's what we woke up to on Easter morning: lots of snow (a view of the neighbor's place). 

Happily it melted by the end of the day.

 

Weird Things

Here in Canada, generic grocery store cheese seems to come in these long flat slabs, not like a brick, like in the US. So random - wish I had a picture.

A couple of days ago it hit 31C here in Halifax and it was sunny and hot and scantily-clad pasty people came out of the WOODWORK! I felt melty! ...and sorta silly driving around with snow tires still on the car - but now I don't since it's cold again already and it's going to snow this week. Glad I'm off to Florida! :)

I had tons of fun making this:

It's from Oh Fransson's Mod Mosaic Floor Pillow tutorial. I think if I had to start over, I'd be a bit less wonky, because some pieces got really tiny when I did my trimming, and the two full-length pieces of sashing in the middle look odd since they're pretty much parallel. But it was really fun to make and I like how it came out. It's pink because pink and red are mostly what I have leftover as scraps. Now... who would like to be gifted a big pink floor pillow....? I think I know a couple little princesses in California who might. They shouldn't hold their breath, though. This might join my pile of UFO's for a while.

The small one wanted to put on the tank top I was wearing on the hot day. With the help of a binder clip, it made a nice dress. Guess I shouldn't leave my clothes on the floor so much. You see a green elephant butt on the back. The front of the elephant is on the front ;)

Hanging Out Inside

Finished the chubby chicks top. Who knows how long it will be before it's quilted and bound. I only work at night :) I made a bold choice for the backing fabric. We'll see how I like it when it's done.

Mutant cinnamon raisin bread. It wasn't pretty but it tasted good. I've made this bread a few times before and it came out looking pretty, but this time I had distractions. The swirl of goodness inside still looked nice.  Thank you Joy of Cooking!

Bea had a stomach bug and then a bad cold back to back. At least her bum was looking cute while she rested thanks to her buddy Everett.