Can a girl ever have too many Aprons???

I love Aprons!!! In case you didn't know. Most people who know me, know this fact...that is why my sister made a FABULOUS 'tomato apron' for me for my birthday last year...check it out!

And why she gave me another AWESOME apron for Christmas, which she bought at the Grande Prairie Farmers Market from "Shawls by Li":

The straps are really neat! They actually criss cross over the shoulders and then feed through the waist tie... so that you can adjust them to fit your body!

My Mother-in-law also likes aprons, so guess what I decided to make her for Christmas?

That's right...an apron!

I REALLY loved this apron, and wanted to keep it. It fits really well, is comfy to wear and is beautiful to boot! Guess I'll just have to make another one... I found the pattern and the fabric

at a local quilting shop, 'Piece by Peace Quilts' here in Fort St John.

The pattern is called "The All Day Apron"...because you can wear it comfortably all day!

Isn't this fabric gorgeous?!?

I absolutely LOVE the colours... it is so sunny and cheerful and just makes me happy to look at! This Apron would brighten up even the most drab kitchen!

Again, I had great intentions of taking pictures throughout the sewing process and posting a fabulous tutorial... but you will just have to visit Hawadaere for an apron tutorial, because I got too caught up in the joy of sewing and forgot to snap pictures. So... here is the finished product!
I had some trouble with the neckline, and think when I make it again I will just buy bias tape.

I adapted the pattern a bit... adding an angled double pocket to the right side instead of a single pocket. I really like how it turned out...

Have you made any fun projects lately? I'd love to hear about or see them! Thanks for stopping by, and Happy Scrappin'!

Yoga!! Bag and Eye Mask...

As you may have gathered from my post on the weekend, I have become a little obsessed with Yoga! I went 13 times in 15 days... everyday except Monday (and only because I curl on Monday's at the same time as Yoga practice!). Anyway... over the weekend I decided I needed to make myself a yoga bag and eye mask. I had this FABULOUS material I bought in Thailand in 2006 that I haven't found the 'right' project for...until now!

I didn't have a pattern, so I just decided to "wing it". The eye mask was perfect, so I made one for my sister-in-law-partner-in-yoga, Sonja. This is a VERY easy project and does not have to be exact!

Cut out a square of material (I used flannel). Sew three and a half sides closed and turn inside out. Fill with rice. Do not over fill, as you want it to lay flat across your eyes. Carefully sew the last half-side closed.

Now measure a piece of material (doubled-up long ways) about one inch wider and a few inches longer than your ricebag. Hem the ends. Sew the wrong side closed, with overlapping flaps. Turn right side out. Insert ricebag and head to yoga!

The mat-bag was even more spur of the moment... I laid out my rolled up mat and cut a piece of material a few inches wider than it needed to be to wrap around the mat. I sewed on a large pocket and strap, closed up the side seam, and then box-stitched the bottom of the bag into a square.

 I love the material and the mat fits fine, but there are a few changes I will make to the next model. First, I will add some dimension to the pocket. This one is flat against the bag and once the mat is in, it is pretty hard to fit anything into the pocket. I may try to sew a round bottom onto the next one, as well as maybe use a thicker canvas-like material for the body of the bag. We shall see! It turned out well and I am very excited to go to Yoga with my new goodies!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrappin'!

Norwegian Crafts (a little late!)

Wow! I cannot believe that it is February already! The winter months have been flying by and leaving my in the...snow. Since Christmas it seems like we just haven't been able to slow down. I had some big changes to my job, whihc have left me busier than ever, and Kurtis has been working out...basically all of January and February! I have been lucky to have a precious few days with him since Christmas! And, besides all that boring-busy stuff, I have found a new passion! Yoga.

I have taken up yoga with a vengeance. I have gone to a Yoga every day except Monday (because I curl that evening during Yoga!) for the last two weeks. I bought a membership and I am hooked! Obsessed might be a better way of putting it. I crave Yoga. But, better than that, I feel great! I am even craving healthy foods and lots of water! What a wonderful activity, that ANYONE can do! I would encourage everyone to try it, who knows, you may be like me and not know what you are missing out on!

Anyway... it is good to be back in the blogging world. I have a couple of crafts I need to show you (from months ago now!).

Back in November, my Husbands family has an annual get together called "Norwegian Weekend" in which we all get together, cook Norwegian food all day, and have a gift exchange of Norwegian-esk goodies. This year I decided to make our gifts... so... I made a pillow. My favourite kind of sewing is 'paper piecing' because you can make really neat/intricate designs fairly simply. I started bymapping out the letters "NORWAY": (*NOTE: if you are paper piecing letters, be sure to write them backwards!!)

 I meant to take pictures during the sewing process, but I got caught up in the moment... so here is the finished product. Back view with a large slit to insert the pillow and then a really fun large button to close the opening.

 Front view:

 I then had to make a late night trip to WalMart to find a pillow that would fit inside...and here you have it! A bright and fluffy NORWAY pillow! (PS: It was a hit!)

 I had to make a second gift...so with the scraps left from the pillow I made some crazy quilted pot holders! For a great tutorial on how to make pot holders, visit Hawadeare!... this is where I got hte idea, and man, is it easy and fast to do!

Uncle Chester, at 92 years young, he was the oldest Viking at our get together!

And here is Mia, our three year old baker... great Lefsa rolling skills start young!

The Viking men...

Me and my very own Viking...

Jody and her kids made an awesome Viking birthday cake for Elroy's 60th... you should have seen it all lit up!

Well, that's it for now. Welcome back to ScrapArt by Pris... I look forward to sharing the scraps of my life with you again!

Happy Scrappin'!

Birthday Gifts 2010

I am blessed with a wonderful, fun, creative family. I was also blessed this year with some fantastic presents from them for my birthday... here are a peak at some of the fabulous things I received:

I love Aprons. I have quite a few... and I wear one every day. For my birthday this year, my sister Lydia made me this gorgeous tomatoe print apron! I love the colours and the style is so cute! She is so talented! Check out some of her other FABULOUS DESIGNS at Hawadaere!

 

The sides wrap quite far around...perfect for wiping my hands and not getting food all over my thighs and bum! The V-neckline and fitted bodice adds style and make it fit really well!

My younger sister, Eliza, got me this fantastic paper pack. I can hardly wait to start using these colourful designs! The colours are bold, the patterns fun, and the possibilities endless!

When we were in Saskatchewn, my Hubby bought me this awesome Roughriders bunny-hug (my favourite sports/football team!). It fits perfect (I happened to be there at the time...) and he also bought me two pairs of really nice sunglasses... great pick honey!

This wasn't really a birthday gift, but I got it around the same time... so it counts. My little-sister-in-law went to Switzerland for a month this summer and she brought me back these great re-usable shopping bags! How neat is that?!? What cool designs... I can hardly wait to go shopping, and I hate shopping!!

My Mother also gave me a "sticky-note-coupon" for a piece of original art from her collection... what a deal! I am seriously weighing my options and considering carefully what to choose... I'll let you know when I know! Check out some of her art HERE!

Thanks everyone!

**Don't forget to link your "simple" layouts at the Lasting Memories Layout Challenge!! This challenge ends Friday!!**

2010 GOALS (just a little bit late...)

I just saw this great idea on Kristie's blog. She has a sidebar of her goals for 2010... regarding crafts and what she is going to get done...brilliant!
I already have a goal as far as scrapbook pages to complete in the year, and I am fast approaching this goal. However, I love the idea of setting goals for my other crafts projects!! I will keep a side-bar tally of how things are coming along...and try to keep it up to date!
So, even though the year is half over,...here goes: (Next January I will begin again...on time!)

2010 ScrapArt Goals:
(January 1, 2010- December 31, 2010)

-Complete 250 'scrapbook pages'
-Make 5 cards (I am new to cardmaking!)
-Read 30 books
-Paint a picture
-Complete 3 sewing projects (mending doesn't count!)

I am also part of a "Creative Memories" Challenge through my local supplier, Rita Schonewille. She runs a challenge every year for exclusively "Creative Memories" pages completed. This year's target is 210 pages from January to mid December...this will help me in my personal goal as well!

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE LASTING MEMORIES LAYOUT CHALLENGE! YOU ONLY HAVE TWO DAYS LEFT TO ENTER!!!! There is some GREAT blog-candy up for grabs...!

New Life Inspires Creativity

My dearest friend Naomi had a baby girl yesterday morning! She is perfect! A few weeks ago, I made this baby raggy quilt for her. Little Amy looks so cozy cuddled up in it! I also made a matching dolly quilt out of the left over scraps for her big sister Mia.

Isn't the little ladybug material adorable! And, or course, the pink camo was for her Dad!

 When I went to start working on the quilt, my Singer (only a few years old, and barely used) decided that it no longer wanted to sew properly. The tension was extrememly messed up, and I couldn't figure out how to operate all the new-fangled knobs and dials. Several years ago, my Dad had made a great find at a garage sale, and bought me a really old sewing machine for really cheap. I had never used it before, but decided now was the time to give it a whirl. Boy does she sew! Things were made so much better and so much simpler years ago! The threading and tension adjustments are super easy and she sews like a dream! This may be my machine of choice from now on... unless I need a zig zag stitch that is! 

 I made up the pattern, and am really happy with how it turned out. I used a half meter of six different pink flannels, 3 dark and 3 light. Double sided, I cut 24 rectagles 3x6 inches from each colour. I arranged them from lightest to darkest and then placed them in alternating rows of vertical and horizontal pieces. The result is interlocking light and dark squares.

Here is a shot of each side before the snipping, washing and drying stages. It looks so much better once it is actually "raggy"! The most time consuming part of a raggy quilt is the "snipping" stage. It took me two and a half movies (about 4 1/2 hours) to snip all of the edges!

The Quilt Evolves

 A few posts ago, I showed my material and plans for a new quilt... the material is the same, but the plans have changed. I remembered that a few years ago my Mum gave me a really nice quilting book. Once I saw it, I knew exactly what kind of quilt I was going to make. I just happened to have mostly "polka dotted" material, and low and behold, right on the front cover was the quilt I wanted to make: the Log Cabin Polka.

I began cutting, and here we have the beginnings of my beautiful, colourful quilt! I can hardly wait until it is done and I can snuggle up on the couch and read a good book!

The four medium sized square/rectangles will be sewn together with a black centre square to form one large "log cabin" square. Each material chosen has "polka dots" of one kind or another.

My Quilting History

Through the years I have completed only a few quilts. When I was about 11 years old, I acquired an oval quilting frame from a friend (actually a large cross stitch frame, about 3 feet across). I had absolutely no idea where to begin, but I decided I wanted to make a baby quilt. Out came the thrift store material, scissors and sewing machine. I pieced on the sewing machine and then quilted the whole thing by hand...and here you have the result:

My second attempt at a quilt was much nicer, as my Mother and I took a quilting course when I was about 13 or 14. I had received this very bright coloured material as a Christmas gift from my Mom's best friend Sylvia the year before. We had a great time learning how to quilt and this first class inspired my Mom to go on to make many gorgeous full size quilts over the next few years. Both my sisters also became proficient quilters, especially my younger sister who started pumping out baby quilts for all of my cousins children.

I did not make any other quilts for several years, but mostly concentrated on scrapbooking and other crafts. Two or so years into University I began to quilt again during my summers at home. I designed and made this "People's of the World" quilt one summer....

During my third summer home from University, my family was all obsessed with the new quilting phenomenon... "raggy quilts." My Mom and sisters all made one (or more!), and of course I wanted one as well.  The quilt is done in all flannel and each piece is double sided. This type of quilt is very easy (and cheaper) to make as there is no batting or backing necessary. Once the pieces are all sewn together, the seam allowances are all "snipped" and then put in the dryer to "fluff," thus making a beautiful and "raggy" quilt.This is the first (and so far the only) full size quilt I have completed

Splashes of Colour...

I decided that I needed to make a quilt. It has been several years now since I have made a quilt and I have a whole lot of material sitting around,...so why not! I wasn't sure what I wanted to make, but I had a bunch of really bright coloured material that I thought would be nice to use up. Hmm... what to make... a conventional pattern, or something of my own creation? Out came the graph paper and the markers and my mind started working. This is what I have come up with so far... not really sure yet what it will end up being, but the colours sure look nice together!