Kitchen reno update

 It's moving forward and will soon be totally finished.

My backsplash tile. I love them.

Each coloured tile has a light, medium and dark, along with the fact that they are not totally flat. The pattern is all random. As the tiler was putting them up, I handed him the tile that I wanted next. 

I really wanted to add a nice lime green as a 'pop' tile but they didn't have the right shade of green so I found these tiles that had shades of the same colour and went with them instead. 

There is still work to be done and handles to be installed. I'll take photos again and share them with you once it's all completely finished.

The big reno

 It has begun. My kitchen is being demolished.

The white wall had tall cupboards.

There's lots of light coming in.

My children didn't like my desk and thought it was just a catch-all. I always thought it could have been used to do homework but it never was.

It all went out the back door. 

The peninsula is gone (but it will come back.) The microwave will be moved. It was always in an awkward spot. There will be less cupboards.

These will be gone.

The lighting will be potlights and pendant lights over the peninsula. The flooring will be removed. You can tell by the floor where the tall cupboards used to be. All gone and not coming back. It will be a big kitchen with lots of wall space.

Still sewing

I had to update some items that I made years ago. I had the fabrics, the pattern was oh so easy but I lacked initiative and time.

My twin granddaughters turned 7 last month and they had needed bigger hooded towels for a couple of years now.

My daughter Maili agreed to model them for me since the girls are not allowed to have their photo on social media.

These were birthday gifts but not total surprises since I had them choose the flannel and the towel that they wanted. This one was Mackenzie's choice.

This is the flannel that Severn chose.

They are long on the girls but not quite floor length.

Severn had first choice of fabrics and she chose this turquoise colour towel. Her favourite colours are actually pink and purple but I didn't have any.

I purchased the flannel a couple of years ago in Stratford, Ontario when my husband and I were travelling around collecting patterns for Row by Row.

This was in Fabricland and the words are all Finnish words. That's the reason I bought it - my heritage is Finnish. Severn chose the flannel because she likes cats. I also have a smaller piece of the same fabric but with a pink background. It just wasn't enough for the whole hooded towel. On hindsight, I could have made the hood part in pink. Oh well.

I did make one for their cousin Teemu since he was in need of a bigger one but I forgot to take photos.

Today

 Happy Thanksgiving.

These are two of four loaves I made. 

We had our big feast yesterday and the day was perfect. Family time. Lots to eat - outdoor style since my kitchen is being renovated. 

Testing, testing - again

I am a pattern tester for a few quilt designers. One of those designers, Aimee Leptick of The Little Bird Designs needed a pattern tested with a quick turnaround. It was a paper pieced pattern and since I had tested another paper pieced pattern for her, a landscape (you can find it here), I thought I would give it a go. I did have other sewing to do but I made the time to this.

This is the first part.

The pattern is 15" X 22.5" and since there are several large pieces in the pattern, I sewed a basting stitch in the seam of those pieces. As a matter of fact, I sewed  basting stitches on several smaller pieces just so things would be easier to sew together.

Here's my take on the finished block. The original pattern shows a pink truck on a background that is all one colour but since I like blue and have quite a bit of it, I made my truck blue. I also wanted it to be travelling down a road and the pattern pieces easily lent to changing the fabric evenly. I'm sure this would look great if I were to use trees as the overall background or maybe a fabric that had houses printed on it. There are loads of possibilities.

There is another version of this block that includes an evergreen tree in the back of the truck which would be perfect as a Christmas wall hanging or included in a Christmas quilt. It's a great pattern and you can find it here as a single truck or as a combination pattern which includes the evergreen tree. 

Both patterns and the bundle are on sale until the end of September.

Have fun with it.