tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80993709129777733322024-09-04T15:19:42.409-07:00The various adventures of a reluctant nomad and her two sidekicks. * now with 33.3 % more sidekicks!Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-11307104845220844192014-07-23T21:37:00.002-07:002014-07-23T21:44:02.228-07:00

Wow,over two years since my last post. A lot has happened in life. This suburban plant was uprooted from the 'burbs of Edmonton and planted right into the city of Victoria. I made the best of those suburb dwelling days but I have to say I love being back in a city with neighbourhoods. A short 15 min walk or ride ( on one of our new bikes) to the grocery store, great city cycling and the ocean.

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-82888638609683006522012-04-24T21:48:00.000-07:002012-04-24T21:48:08.110-07:00

I would like to say that  I have neglected to post because I was busy but really that isn't true, Monday was provincial election day here in Albertaland and this election was the scariest of my little lefty life. I am and always have been a lefty and the party projected to win were so righty it made righties scared. Fortunately for lefties and righties alike, the ultra-rigthies made some

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-18405028012752325902012-04-18T00:00:00.000-07:002012-04-19T06:27:35.036-07:00

This week's work in progress is something of which I am just a small part. My part of the WIP is complete and on its way to the UK. I am participating in a group quilt for Siblings Together. It is a charity in the UK that works to provide activities and gatherings for siblings separated by the care system for them to be together. This is something that strikes very close to home as my nephew (

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-17371395351624527012012-04-17T08:38:00.000-07:002012-04-17T08:38:00.703-07:00

Cappuccino  +  NCIS + knitting  = Bliss The Man returned a little over a month ago and it has been blissful having him around. We have been in full on family mode, doing everything together and it has been really great to be a family again. He is off work for the next while so we can get used to being a whole family again and so he can have some R&R. The last few months he

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-75348988392428165442012-04-13T10:14:00.001-07:002012-04-13T10:16:36.798-07:00

The Colour Brick to celebrate my nephew's adoption is completed. I am really happy with pretty much everything. I love the robot flannel on the back, the rainbow thread and the not perfect but absolutely my best binding to date. I have enough of the flannel left to make pajamas for D and maybe a pair for G too. Quilts in the snow in April! Robot flannel! My amazing sister and her wife

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-49366457689724032682012-04-11T15:00:00.001-07:002012-04-11T15:00:37.028-07:00

I think I may possibly be the queen of works in progress. I have quite a few sewing and knitting works in progress and a bunch of other unfinished projects hanging around. I am trying hard to keep WIP at a minimum but as I foray more fully into sewing and dyeing yarn it is getting quite difficult and really, I am not so sure I want to limit myself to a few projects at a time. Anyway here are

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-33020095929770395282012-04-06T01:03:00.001-07:002012-04-06T01:03:52.297-07:00

Those of you who know me know how much I love fabric; I possibly love it more than wool (*gasp!) and while The Man was away I indulged in what I called "fabric accidents". I would feel lonely or sad and I would innocently browse some online fabric sales and suddenly I would find myself with a shopping cart full of amazing finds. Shipping from the US usually takes an agonizing two weeks

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-29990800491004870602012-04-03T23:39:00.002-07:002012-04-03T23:39:54.386-07:00

Around here I have a lot of works in progress but if I had to choose just one for today it would be my newly started Bottled Rainbows quilt. The plan is to work on the ticker tape blocks whenever the mood strikes. I have completed the twilight blue block , planned the light blue block and learned I need more teal scraps for the teal  block. I am really enjoying the ticker tape process.

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-36935025469982287902012-04-02T13:20:00.000-07:002012-04-02T13:20:56.598-07:00

In 2008 this made me cry In the fall of 2008 I cried the entire drive through Edmonton to our hotel. All I wanted to do was go back home to Ontario; I could not believe I had to live in this treeless, lakeless landscape of oil refineries and wheat fields. The first three months of living here was terrible. I hated living in the pseudo-suburb that is the base.  I was used to my Ottawa

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-14279898354203980722012-03-27T22:15:00.000-07:002012-03-27T22:15:06.512-07:00

This is the Odalolly Quilt, it was the project I chose for the final project in my Curves Class, I will also be participating in Scrap Attack over at Stitched in Color with her. I think that this quilt is the most beautiful quilt I have made. It was also the most challenging with the improv curves and so much piecing. The original Odalolly that my instructor made was entirely solids but I

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-51505659629052325022012-03-26T16:02:00.001-07:002012-03-26T16:02:36.135-07:00

This weekend we were stuck at home with our post tonsillectomy boy. It was a pretty chill weekend of the boys chilling out and watching shows. I took advantage of the quiet house and two parent situation and sewed all day and night on Saturday and Sunday. I even tidied up the scraps in my sewing room! Treasure bags for forest walking and geocaching. Only 3 because The Man didn't want one.

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-68749764140642654172012-03-21T20:24:00.001-07:002012-03-21T20:24:23.675-07:00

I have been a bit lax in my posting since The Man returned. It has been a glorious week and a half of him being home; he has fixed things, things have magically fixed themselves and best of all he has taken over nightime parenting. Sleep, glorious sleep; I am finally getting some. Home!  What a great day the homecoming was, my amazing friend Jackie, organized an all day party so I

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-4182767298716184832012-03-07T08:58:00.001-08:002012-03-07T09:00:21.111-08:00

I have nested a total of two times in my life and both times I was enormously pregnant and the nesting was a precursor to a baby.  I can see the goal post, The Man will soon be home and staring at our dwindling chocolate supply has triggered my nesting instinct and caused me to go domestically insane. The Goal! My house is cleaner than it has been in months (don't worry mount laundry

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-12866045903160011792012-02-28T20:42:00.001-08:002012-02-28T20:42:17.130-08:00

Two nights of mindless garter stitch and I am back on the sewing bandwagon. Today I finished my drunkard's path blocks and a super cape for my super nephew. After making the DP blocks, I decided that a pot holder wouldn't get much use around here, so I added some sashing , drafted myself a pattern based on the measurements of my french press and got to sewing. The finished product isn't

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-73231630084954763292012-02-26T23:12:00.000-08:002012-02-26T23:12:15.108-08:00

Last night, after the boys went to bed I attempted my first project from Curves Camp week 3. It was going along smoothly and the blocks looked great, until , I trimmed them wrong and they were all so very wrong. I can likely save the squares to make cards or to put in a scrappy quilt but the drunkard's path block will have to be redone. Frustrated with my mistake I decided I needed to watch some

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-54812699489115799022012-02-25T16:29:00.001-08:002012-02-25T16:29:48.080-08:00

When I signed up for the Curves Camp, I thought I was doing it to pass the time before The Man returned, I figured that I had skillz and the course projects would be more occupation than a challenge. I was incredibly wrong. I have been deeply challenged by almost all of these projects and there are still quite a few more to go and I am about a week behind.This week's accomplishment is the

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-68521725056610240332012-02-21T09:06:00.000-08:002012-02-21T09:06:40.925-08:00

I decided I could not throw away all the work I did on the Rainbow Fail. I got many suggestions on what to do with it, hang it as art, quilt it anyway, starch the heck out of it, but I chose to chop it up into 4.5 'charm squares. I found the flattest parts and hacked away with my 4.5" ruler (so glad I own that). I got about 30 squares and a few 1.5" strips and I assembled about 5 more scrappy

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-12151734516798269782012-02-18T19:48:00.000-08:002012-02-18T19:48:52.123-08:00

The struggle with the improv curved cards had me convinced that I was ready to tackle Rainbow Road. I was so excited for this particular project and after the class chat on Thursday night I dove in, full of inspiration to make my Rainbow Road, full of colour and patterns and maybe make it big enough to be a quilt for Mr. Apollo. Stitched in Color I put the kids to bed, hauled out my 12

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-54353740837848542592012-02-14T13:45:00.000-08:002012-02-14T22:16:20.935-08:00

Curves Camp week 2 is improv curves. I wasn't going to do the first project (notecards) because it looked to easy. I am so glad I sat down and practiced improv curves before getting into a big project. Improv curves are hard, I messed up a bunch of times, threw out a couple of atrocities and I have two cards that I am ok with but not totally in love with. I hope my learning curve isn't too

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-76222125936737282662012-02-11T21:49:00.000-08:002012-02-11T21:49:43.782-08:00

 I want to love this pillow but it is a bit wonky. I suck at making pillows.

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-54915802725534013362012-02-07T12:46:00.000-08:002012-02-07T12:46:39.923-08:00

 Tuesday is a daycare day for the kids and I usually use it to sew and clean. Who am I kidding? I just sew and chat with The Man. So far, I am keeping up with the curves class (one project in haha) ;here are today's results. I took the pictures after I hung it on the wall and couldn't get a good angle in the boy's tiny room. I think they will like it!

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-26163864367580159002012-02-05T18:53:00.000-08:002012-02-05T18:53:08.894-08:00

 The Man has been gone for almost ten months and really most of the year, but he is coming home soon. How soon? Well I can't tell you that, that would be bad for OPSec. It is soon but really at this point, not soon enough. The boys, especially G, are anxiously waiting for spring because they know that is when Daddy will come home. G has been asking everyday if it is spring yet and he

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-14252611626849746412012-02-01T20:43:00.000-08:002012-02-01T20:43:27.241-08:00

 On Monday, I got stuck in traffic and didn't make it home in time for my "weekly mortification", aka Zumba. I was going to cancel my sitter but figured he was likely looking forward to a bit of money so, I went out to buy batting for The Wedding Quilt and D's Colourbrick. Fabricland was the only option for a Monday evening fabric  batting hunt and I already knew that the batting would

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-4488209572145927992012-01-28T22:17:00.000-08:002012-01-28T22:22:42.697-08:00

 The Year of the Quilt is off to a great start here in my cold little house. I have completed one quilt and two quilt tops. I am pretty impressed with my pace of work given, that I am also trying to clear out all my pending projects in anticipation of my class starting Feb 1st. Here is D's completed quilt top!    And a few close ups of the cutest fabrics *excuse the

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8099370912977773332.post-17986023139920662582012-01-22T22:22:00.000-08:002012-01-22T22:22:47.817-08:00

A year ago I bought some beautiful fabric from the Flora & Fauna line by Patty Young. The fabric hung around for about 5 months before I decided that I wanted to put all of it into a quilt for my friend and sister-in-law Cate. I wanted to attempt hexagons and went about noodling how to make it happen without having to hand sew them. I discovered a method using large fabric squares with

Amanda Mchttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15531753518798059330noreply@blogger.com1