Celebrate Good Times - Come On!

Pin It

Come on all you bloggy peeps - you know you loooooooove this song!  This post is all about CELEBRATING GOOD TIMES!  I have two to share with you!  And yes - it includes some quilting too so don't panic!

I have two wonderful friends of whom I have had the opportunity to celebrate special LIFE events with.

First up: SOPHIE! Sophie is a very special friend of mine! She is a no-mess-around hot blonde 6 foot dutch girl who can get things done en masse - in record time! She can do, move and organize circles around anyone I know. She is A-MAZING! Sophie is a very LOYAL friend, awesome mother and wife and has a strong sense of loyalty to and for her family as well. Sophie had the PRIVILEGE of seeing her beloved sister-in-law Helen off to heaven just recently. Helen, a beautiful young mom and wife fought ovarian cancer to the end and went to be with her heavenly Father and Savior on September 13, 2012.   In light of that, I made a quilt and gave it to Sophie to always remember her beautiful Helen.   If you are a faithful reader you will recall this UFO I was working on: http://booilley.blogspot.ca/2012/02/another-ufo.html. 

 

Here it is pieced together: 

 

Then I quilted it by making my own  "orange peel" stencil out of cardboard and tracing it onto each block, then FMQ'd my way all over the quilt (FMQ = free motion quilt).

There is something about sewing on the binding that I find very soothing: 

 

Once the binding was done, and the quilt went through a light washer and dryer ride, it was FINALLY finished!  (I didn't get a FULL photo of the quilt front! Dummy me!)  I thought it fluffed up really nice.   

Here is the quilt-back up close and fluffed:

 Piecing the back of this quilt was just as fun to do on this simple quilt as the front!  (Sorry for the horrid picture quality!)

Once it was quilted, bound and fluffed, I rolled it up and gifted it to Sophie at Christmas. 

 

Quilt Stats:

 

Quilt Name:  "Journey to Eternity"

Size:  (forgot to measure it, but it was on the larger size of a lap quilt)

Fabrics:  quilting weight cotton designed by Amy Butler (a mix) and Tina Givens (a mix)

Thread:  Premium Sulky 30 wt mercerized pink varigated cotton matte finish

 

I hope and pray this quilt is a positive reminder of who and what Helen was in the lives around her, including her husband and children.  I didn't know Helen WELL, but DO know that she was a physically beautiful woman inside and out. She is one of those people that makes you want to be "better" once you meet her - to emulate the beauty you have just encountered! The fabrics used in this quilt remind me of Helen's fabulous fun-loving, beautiful, quirky and strong personality! Do you see her in the quilt?  I do!  

To hubby Jesse and her beloved family: I know you miss her! I cannot understand the pain and heartbreak of your missing her. PLEASE KNOW you WILL be re-joined again!  And THAT is something to celebrate!!!

Sophie I hope you are enjoying the quilt as much as I enjoyed making it - thinking of Helen the whoooole time! Love you girl! xo

NOW LISA!  Lisa just recently celebrated a 40-something birthday.  As the good and loyal friend that I am, I looooove to remind her that I am months younger than her and she gets to test out the "number" before I get there.  Lisa is also a beautiful tall blonde (ya hanging out with these hot women is really good for my 5 foot Irish-freckled Pippy Longstocking typed self-esteem! LOL!).  She too is a faithful, loyal friend who is a killer good mother and wife.  Lisa is that friend you have that never gets ruffled feathers, always cool, calm and collected and can COOK!  Oh my bloggy peeps - her food is A-MAZING!  Stinky LOVES to eat her food!  (What am I saying?!!!... I LOVE to eat her food!)  For Lisa's birthday I decided that I would do up a little "kitchen layette" for her.  Is there such a thing?  Dunno - but if not I just invented it!

I pulled out one of my most coveted yards of fabric:  Paula Prass's Botanika fabric line "Winged Study."  I decided that because Lisa loves to cook and spend time in the kitchen, that I would first make up an apron.  From scratch.  Cuz, you know, who wants to use a pattern?!  That would be FAST and EASY.... but no!  Not me... gotta do it from scratch cuz then it means something (or something mentally ill like that!!!)!
      
So here is the apron shape. 



I decided that I would add some black and white pin-striped fabric I had on hand as the accent. I have a thing for black and white - so I always seem to default there. 

If you make and sew pretty things and do not own a ruffler foot - YOU NEED TO GO AND BUY ONE RIGHT NOW!  Just slip the fabric in and let'er go!  A-mazing!

I sewed the ruffle around the outside edges of the apron.

Then made a cute pocket and sewed that on (with a little ruffle of course!).

To hide the raw-edge of the ruffle on the back I sewed on some black twill tape to hide it.

Here you can see the stitching from the front which adds a nice top stitch as well as tacking down the twill tape to the back. 

 

 

After sewing on the apron ties across the top of the apron, I sewed my BOOILLEY clothing tag as a cute accent in one corner.

Then to add to the gift, I sewed up a quick quilted little pot holder in the same fabric as well as a flour sack tea towel.  I was wishing at this point that I had more of the striped fabric to ruffle out these as well... bummer!

Of course, I couldn't stop there!  I thought I might take this beautiful fabric and scan it into my computer.  And by adjusting the contrast and coloring in Microsoft Publisher, I was able to make up a matching birthday card for Lisa.  I don't scrapbook AT ALL, but thought I might spiff the card up a bit.

And made a cute little pocket inside...

...With Lisa's name in it:

And made some personal recipe cards:  (love how the watermark turned out on these cards!)

And a bookmark for her Bible.

Then a little light went on in my head (yes don't marvel at that - it does happen ONCE in a while!).  I thought of re-creating this little project that I saw on Pinterest that  would be fab for her kitchen or maybe her front door!  I printed off the same Paula Prass watermark on a full 8x11 piece of cardstock with the typed word in one corner:  "NOTES."  Then I inserted same into a 8x10 frame and attached a dry erase pen with velcro dots to the outside bottom of the frame.  It ended up looking like this:

Now Lisa can put this on the kitchen counter to write down items for her shopping list, or a quick note to a family member or jot down a phone number.  I was so excited how this turned out, I made one for myself!!!  And the dry erase pen wipes easier than it does on an actual dry erase board - sooooo impressed!  (NOW GO MAKE YOURSELF ONE!)

Later that evening after wrapping up the gift in star-printed tissue paper, I was able to go to dinner, with my beloved friends, Lisa, Sophie and another very special friend, Lori.  It was a great evening to CELEBRATE LISA!  It was an evening full of of giggles, stories and good food!  And was definitely too short!  So goes the universe!

 

 

My bloggy peeps, we all need to remember that we have soooo many things to be thankful for!  Especially the things we tend to take for granted like FAMILY and FRIENDS.  Those close, special relationships are worth their weight in gold!  Build them, cherish them, pray for them and especially LOVE them!  And then:  CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES!