Online shopping

Last week, I received these fat quarters from Hawthorne Threads:

I am very happy with the service and fast shipping from Hawthorne. It's always exciting to receive goodies in the mail. These are going to be a baby quilt for Shirley. Incidentally, I have quilted Alice's baby quilt. I am only waiting for the baby to come in October - if it's a girl, I will use a seriously girly color (think hot pink) for the binding as the quilt is looking a bit boyish right now.

And I got the Kona color card in the mail today! I ordered it from North Country Quilt since it's out of stock from Pink Chalk Fabrics. It took quite some time for it to be shipped and I was waiting very anxiously for a while. Now that it's here I am sooo happy I got it. It will make matching color a lot easier. And the biggest benefit - I can order Kona solid online since the selections of solid cotton from local fabric stores are very limited, not to mention expensive. It's a good day!

A baby quilt in the making

After the table runner project, I was determined to make quilts. It's completely coincidental that there are a bunch of new babies coming for friends and family. I know the perfect gifts for the little ones! The first one out the gate will be Alice and David's in October. Since they don't know whether it will be a boy or a girl, the quilt needs to be gender neutral. I decided to make the Charm Squares Baby Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman from Oh, Fransson!. It a super fast and easy pattern which is great as a first quilt project.

Here's what I come up with...

Do you think it's too boyish? Hmm... I hope they are getting a boy. I am going to the fabric store this afternoon for border and binding. I kinda like the way it looks with the light gray in the picture so I may pick something similar.

I am very excited. I plan on quilting it with straight lines similar to my runner. I still need to find the courage to try free motion quilting.

Saying goodbye to my previous life

I have been a stay at home mom for 3 years. It felt much much longer than that. I was a software developer in my previous life. Today I gathered the courage to pack the books that have been collecting dust the last 3 years.

Some of them were dated 1994, the year I graduated. Some were utilities books that I referred to almost daily at work. There were purely academic ones, most of them I got when I was working toward a Master degree, which I never complete. There were Java and software design and software process books. It's hard to part with them. Looking at them is like traveling back in time. I remember the projects that I worked on. They also reminded me the personal events and emotional stages during those years. Some of these books traveled with me from Calgary to Toronto and back. Today I am saying goodbye to them. Allen and I are planning to move to another city, and it's time for me to move on. Goodbye books.