Our First Projects

One of the first things I did with Sapphire was make some gifts for my a little girl in Bulgaria.   Niky is as cute  as a button and she loved ladybugs.   The gifts passed inspection.

A portable chalk mat 

A ladybug purse 

Checking out the pockets in the purse.

An art bag

The next project I took on was a jean quilt for a grown nephew.  I had been packing old jeans around for years to do a project.   It was a matter of finding the project.  I did find a project for a Blue Jean Quilt from http://www.allpeoplequilt.com.

It was definitely the right project as it used up my old jeans.   I did a few changes such as using some of the back pockets of the jean.    It was definitely a success and my nephew did say he liked it.     

As I do not give gifts to family members on birthdays or Christmas as there are too many of us.   So when I went into the quilt making I decided to do a journal with each quilt. 

Spring and summer was spent building a screened in porch to replace our deck.   The project had it's moments but the outcome has been worth while. 

The new porch 

Complete with daybed 

And porch rules. 

Our view from the porch.

The "Porch Rules" sign is similar to one I had seen on someone's Facebook page.   When the porch was completed I salvaged a piece of plywood that had formed part of the forms for the footings.   I cleaned it up and my husband sanded it.   I then crackled some black and white paint for the background.     The letters are vinyl from a company called "Beyond the Wall".    Check them out as I am sure you will be impressed with their products.   http://www.beyondthewall.ca

With the smell of fall in the air, Sapphire and I have been working on another quilt.   It started out to be a Superman quilt for a great nephew but is evolving as his interests evolve.    We are not sure what it will be when we get it finished.

We do hope you check back to see how it looks.

The Big Step

My husband and I are retired couple living in the Cowichan Valley on a small acreage we refer to as "The Farm".  We moved here approximately eight years ago when my husband retired.   However, life has not what we expected in retirement and we had to adjust, adjust and readjust.  Which brings me to my adventures with Sapphire and this blog.

Christmas Gifts

I needed something that would allow my personality to learn to relax and not take life so seriously.   Photography has always been a hobby of mine but somehow it wasn't cutting it.   Then one Christmas I started to make little handmade purses for my young grandnieces and nephew.   This went on to making hotdog pillowcases for everyone that I knew.

Hotdog pillowcase

In addition, my neighbour owns a lovely little fabric shop called Fabrics @ the Falls.   Donna, the owner of the shop, makes beautiful things and she encouraged me in my little projects.  Donna is a great believer of thinking outside the "pattern" and that fits my personality.  

My mother was an excellent seamstress.   Mom (Ada Bernice Mason Pratt Satre)  would  become known throughout the area where we lived as the person to go to if you needed anything special or something upholstered.  I always knew if I wanted anything special or upholstered I need only to call her.   One of her projects was to make beautiful quilts for each one of her kids.    But alas, she died in 1997 at the young age of 67 years old.

Which brings me back to the reason I needed to learn to relax and take life less seriously.   This year I will be 67 and from this point on I will always be older than my Mom.   
   
But my sewing is not anything to write home about but I do love the texture of material and have collected it for years.  I had been taught by my mother to make french seams on an old treadle sewing machine when I was about nine years old so I could make my own cotton sheets out of hundred pound flour sacks.   My next project was to hem flannelette for baby diapers for my younger siblings when
they came along.   But I never had a urge to get fancy.  Hemming pants/jeans was about my speed.

I had various sewing machines and my last one was  Husqvarna Optima 620 that I bought in 1986 and has served me well. Then in January, 2013 I made a small lap robe for my husband for our wedding anniversary out of some material from my stash.   I had bought the material about ten years ago as it had a picture of a 1955 Ford Fairlane Crown Victoria Sunliner /Skyliner, pink and white in color, which my husband owned when we were first married.    We would go on to sell the car to make the down payment on our first house.   However, that is another story.  

The result of the robe was ok and my husband was pleased.   The big payoff came with how much I had enjoyed the experience and started to realize what a beautiful sewing room I had to work in.   The window looks out into the back of the property.   There is a birdfeeder on the window that the birds visit. I can watch my husband, Dale, as he goes about his daily duties.   I can see our chickens when they make a run to try and be truly free range.  I watch Mercedes, one of our three feral cats, patrolling the property or just taking a break on the porch table of the playhouse.   And I realized that I was letting my mind rest, wander and create.  







It was this epiphany that I started checking out quilting machines and with my husband’s encouragement I bought a new Husqvarna Viking Sapphire 875 Quilt sewing machine.   I named her Sapphire, which happens to be my birthstone.  

This blog is a big step for me.  It is an account of  my adventures with Sapphire. 

I hope you check back from time to time to see what we are up too.