Anyhow, all that to say that one of the things I’ve thought about it why I blog. And it comes down to the fact that I like to document what I make, and share it with others.  But see I have another blog, one Dave and I started as a sort of journal of what goes on in our home. And then I started this one, because for some reason I thought that my home stuff couldn’t mix with my crafty stuff.  Dave tried to convince me otherwise, but I wouldn’t have it.  I used to like keeping things separated: my work life from my home life, my online life from my in person life, etc.  But with social media becoming more and more invasive, and with the realization that guess what?  I’m the same person at home and at work, whether I’m crafting or cooking or adventuring!  The division just doesn’t seem necessary.

So at some point in the near future I’m going to be merging the two blogs.  All my existing crafty posts are going to be heading over into Blog du Mont-Royal.  And that will be that.  Things will be a little simpler, which maybe will mean I’ll post more?  Perhaps!

Now that it has been gifted to its recipient, I can finally show the completed nautical baby quilt. I really enjoyed this one, especially the relaxed straight line quilting.

Lola gets jealous whenever I work on something. Right now she’s sitting on the desk, inches away from the keyboard. It’s a good thing she’s so darn cute . . .

I did some rearranging in my craft area and made an impromptu design wall with a fleece blanket that I had taken camping just the night before. I can see the allure of design walls now, I think I may have to come up with a more permanent/practical solution when I have some spare time.

Here are a few shots of the quilt all jumbled on my sewing desk, in the process of quilting.  I made sure that nothing is too recognizable, in case the recipient happens upon this page.

Classic triangles?

Modern free form waves?

I started my shopping, as I’m committed to my beach blue colour scheme. Last Friday I biked up to Effiloché, a nearby store filled with neat fabrics (and knitting yarn as well). I browsed about and was happy to pick out a few blues. Then back at home I made an order with Sew Fresh Fabrics, one of my favorite Etsy fabric shops. Now I get to patiently wait for my package to arrive.  Or maybe not  I think I’m going to start playing around a bit in anticipation.

Blue Fat Quarters from Effiloché

I’m starting with a really neat fat quarter of fabric I bought while in Paris, at a quilting shop called Le Rouvray:

Moucheron #3 Marine

Isn’t it neat?  It’s called “moucheron”, as in “little flies”.

It reminds me a lot of the time we spend in New Brunswick visiting family.  Here are some pictures from previous trips:

Back to fabric!

I hunted around a bit on etsy and found this beautiful blue sailboat fabric:

The Fleet Navy from Seven Seas – Cloud9 Organic fabrics

Then I found lots more neat stuff:

Fish Scale in Tea by Alexander Henry Fabrics

Mountainz in Mint from Monsterz – Cloud9 Organic

Scribble in Gray from Happy Drawing – Cloud9 Organic fabrics

Static in Yellow from Monsterz – Cloud9 Organic fabrics

There’s more where that came from, you can check out my nautical quilt brainstorming board over on pinterest.

For most major gift giving occasions I always make my sister a zipper pouch of sorts.  She’s an artist so she’s always toting around supplies, so she wears out her pouches on a regular basis.  For her birthday this year I made her one of these dumpling pouches, except hers was made using scraps from my black and white and red quilt, colours that are very much her.  Of couse, I forgot to take a picture.  Instead, I made a few more, this time made using purple scraps leftover from my rainbow charm swap fabrics.

They are made using a Keyka Lou/Michelle Patterns tutorial, that can be found here.  Simple and cute, they sew up quickly.

I made a couple and listed them over on Etsy in my shop.

Most grocery stores here in Montreal charge for plastic bags, as an incentive to get people to use reusable bags, so I have quite the collection.  The one on the left is from my most recent Ikea shopping trip and reminds me lots of my black and white and red quilt I’m working on.  It’s going to go to work to be my permanent “I have too much stuff to carry in my hands to get to my meeting” bag.  The one on the right was bought at Hema in Amsterdam, when I needed an extra bag to tote around some stuff while on vacation.  It’s a nice size, not too big, and best of all has a zipper!  I like the mutted grey and red/pink of the floral design.

At work one of my current projects is overseeing the complete replacement of a 100+ year old copper and slate roof.  I consider myself so lucky to get to go up on the scaffolding and get up close and personal with the roof on a regular basis.  Aren’t those slate tiles neat?  I especially like the scalloped edged ones.

It was my Breakfast for Dinner Rainbow Charm Swap package.  I last posted about it all the way back in March, so I’ve had time to build up the anticipation.

I’m not sure yet quite what I’m going to do with all the charms. For now I’ve been enjoying flipping through them, using them as a sort of catalogue of fabric designs out there. I don’t get to see many “in person” on a regular basis since there are not many designer fabric stores nearby to me (or at least not within my daily walk/bike trajectories, I tend not to stray too far from home on a daily basis). I generally stick with Fabricville or buying online (though this summer I should take some time to go a a few kms out of my way to explore what my city has to offer).  So I’ve been spending quality time flipping through, enjoying all the rainbow goodness.  Good picks everyone!

I particularly like this red print. Perhaps a dress?

And in case reading blogs has been getting you down because everything looks too perfect, a “behind the scenes” look at what goes on in my home. Yes, that is our little cat Lola trying to bite her way into a bag of catfood. After I shooed her off the table and resumed taking pictures, she decided it was time to grab onto my skirt with her claws and not let go. Fun times.  And yes, my home is cluttered.  Fact of life when you live in an apartment and have lots of stuff.