Week 11: Piecing a Quilt

Gave myself 2 weeks for this one -it's a doozy!

Why I want to make this: Cutting and piecing together tiny blocks for a quilt is one of my favourite sewing activities. I find it extremely relaxing. This will be my 3rd quilt -I would love to do more, but it's so darn expensive to make them!

Ideas & Inspirations: Last summer, while visiting my Gramma in NB, we ended up sorting through her old fabric scraps that she had kept from various projects over the years. She remembered just about every project she had made with each fabric: a dress for herself she made in 1967, an outfit for my aunt when she was a teenager, or curtains from a previous house. I brought home a variety of small fabric pieces and vowed to someday piece them together in a quilt.

What I intend to do with said project: I'm not sure what I will end up doing with this quilt. Sadly, it may go into storage until I've got a bit more space of my own! Maybe I can lend it to a family member -I'm sure they'd be quite reminiscent as they examine each piece. 

Week 10: A Recovered Chair

This project has been a huge challenge for me. It was a tonne of work! Once I had put in a certain number of hours and made a certain number of mistakes, I had no motivation to complete it. But alas, here it is.

I loved the grey fabric that I chose but wanted to add a little punch. I found some cheap lime green floral fabric and used it to create the piping.

You can't really tell from the picture above, but there is a piece missing. There is a button on the front of one armrest, but there should be one on the left side too. This piece was the very last step in completing this epic project, but while trying to attach it -it broke! I think I'm gonna have to make friends with an upholsterer because I have no idea where to find this piece.

Have you ever lost things down in the depths of your furniture? Apparently the previous owners of my chair did. I found some cash money: a complete $4.36! Yay for coffee money!

What I enjoyed the most: I really enjoyed taking the chair apart, discovering how everything went together, and using the staple-gun to quickly put most of it back together. I thought my love of sewing would mean that stitching the chair pieces back together would be the best part. Oddly, this was my least favourite part. I'm not used to sewing in such odd 3-dimensional shapes.

Next time I would... Be sure to include all pieces when putting things back together again. There was a white batting-type layer stapled on the sides and back of the chair. I didn't think it was necessary, but turns out it helps keep the batting from falling into the frame. Who knew!?

A Whole New Life

It's been a while since I've updated and I decided to summarize what has been going on in my life.

Goodbye 9-5: Mid-April I said farewell to my 9-5 office job. This was more than a step in the right direction for my life. I'll keep it brief, but that atmosphere was killing my soul a little bit! It did make my creativity spurt out like crazy in the evenings, so that is the positive. Yes, let's focus on the positive.

Travel just for the heck of it! Never in my adult life have I been on a vacation just for the sake of a vacation. All of my time off has been to visit family -which is great but I wanted to explore this big beautiful world. The day after my job ended, I hopped on a plane to New York to see the sites with a dear friend.

Cycling through Central Park

Finding my roots: Since I was on that side of the continent, I took a quick trip from NYC to see my family in NB & NS. I consider Edmonton my home now and I love it, but there's something so healing about being in the Maritimes. I think it has a bit to do with the ocean, or being surrounded by people who have known me my whole life, or perhaps just intense feelings of nostalgia. Whatever it was, I felt like I knew who I was again.

Foggy day at Lawrencetown beach, Nova Scotia

Hello awesome new job: This has been in the works for months now, but I am absolutely delighted to say that I have begun a sweet new job with Whiteout Workshop. I've been helping produce and sell some great locally-produced silk-screened art and apparel. It's a very fun and inspiring place to be, and hanging out at shows and markets with the wonderful people of Edmonton has been a blast so far!

A new lifestyle: Working part-time and somewhat flexible hours means more crafting and blogging, right!? I sure hope so. I'm still settling into my new routine and lifestyle. I'm choosing to put the crappy commute and ultra-scheduled life behind me and enjoy doing more of what I want, when I want to do it.

Thanks for being patient with me. I'm excited to be posting again. Check back Wednesday for the long-awaited reveal of my chair project!