Facing my fears

I can't remember when my mom first started to teach me to sew, it must have been when I was a little kid. when my brothers and I were young she used to make a lot of our clothes (she even made her own wedding dress- yeah, she has skilz!). As I got older, my mom's sewing became more important to me as we designed all of my figure skating dresses (and she'd then make our drawings reality- and hand beaded all the sequins on the darn things! Thanks Mom!).

As the only daughter I guess it was normal for me to follow in my Mom's footprints- and it's come in handy for me too- my friend Brea still talks about how I saved her butt in 8th grade Home Economics (in my high school everyone had to take Home Ec., which was a course divided into 5 sections: sewing, cooking, drafting, woodwork, and metal work). But hey it wasn't always smooth sailing! I remember that in that course one of the things we had to make were sweat pants, and because the legs of my size were too short I just went up pattern sizes until I had long enough legs (it didn't occur to me to add inches just to the legs... I was following a pattern!) So, I made an XXL sweat pant and just cinched in the waist with elastic-- I ended up looking like MC Hammer!

Anways -- there is a point to this post I promise! . Currently H and I are still work with separate bank accounts and we have a joint one for rent and household stuff. As the one who carries the purse (literally), I typically end up paying for stuff, and with Europe a bit behind in terms of paying with plastic, I usually carry some joint account cash with me. However, I was always getting my money and joint account money confused in my wallet. So with my new zipper foot and some cute fabrics I decided to make a little zippered pouch.

But... one of the things I've always been afraid of/hated/was too lazy to do properly, was zippers. I could never get them to work properly. Recently I had a flash of understanding as to why my previous zipper attempts were pretty crap, when I found out that my sewing machine has a zipper foot (amazing what you learn when you read your manual!), so tonightwith manual at hane, I set about to conquer my fears...

I don't really know why, but I decided to go all McFancy by making it lined, adding a layer of fabric stiffener so it was not too floppy, and double hemming the zipper. After about 5 attempts at the mother f****ing zipper, I finally got it. It's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than some of the shoddy efforts in the past. Oh yeah, and my money even fits in it!!

Wellington Wins again!

WARNING:this post is picture heavy

As I mentioned in my last post, on Sunday we went to check out the Battle of Waterloo. We were unfortunately too late to see the battle (yeah, family... no comment... let's just move on). But we were able to walk around the camp post battle. If we had of seen it it woulda looked like this:

Image courtesy of Waterloo Tourism

Hmmm, yeah... cool huh, I gotta make a trip back next year... in the morning!!

It's amazing how into these things people are... just like you see in the Hollywood movies (think Sweet Home Alabama) the armies were really made up of people from all the original countries involved in the war Belgians, Brits, Scots, French, Dutch, Prussians (ok, so Prussia doesn't exist anymore but the Germans were there representing)...


The morning had been really rainy so we came prepared, but it quickly switched to hot sunshine... but not early enough for the poor soldiers who had to "play dead" in the muddy fields.

We had a great time exploring the camp peeking in tents and chatting to the actors/participants/soldiers... ermm not sure what you call re-enactment people but you get the drift.

Remembering my roots (and the rainy weather) I supported the Brits by working my Wellington boots (Party fact; The Wellington who kicked Napoleon's butt invented the rubber boot!)

We also saw the cutest little boys enjoying the marching band, aren't they adorable...



And last but not least, the Canadians were there too.... ok so I didn't meet any other Canadians, but I did spy this in one of the tents (so jealous, I've always wanted one!)...

A Hudson Bay blanket (actually she had 3, and swears by them as the best period blankets- The HBC have been around since 1670 and are Canada's oldest company!) So who knows, maybe Napoleon himself snuggled up in a stripey bit of Canadian history.

Baby's got Back

Mmmm gotta love a bit o' Sir Mix-a-lot on a friday night!

So remember this guy.... (yeah I do still sew, I know it's been a while!)


Yup, that's Jack. Now that my Ziggy is all done (ahead of schedule even, go me!), I dug Jack out of the cupboard, and sewed up his back- wait that sounds wrong.... I made the backing for my Union Jack quilt! You might remember I found this fab mermaid fabric for the backing, as the peeps at the Fabric Shack didn't have enough left for a full back of the mermaids (it's now discontinued), I managed to find a few coordinating fabrics, and made a pieced back.

Since I'm pretty anal, I'm a bit nervous freaked out about the lines on the back and how it will all line up once it's quilted. As I have yet to master free motion quilting, I am going to stick with straight line quilting, and I'm afraid that the quilting will only make it more obvious ... I think I'll be picking out a lot of quilting before I get it right!

My plan is to add a bit of zing to the all blue back with a nice red binding- like the sailor knots

?!

Mermaids: Shimmer of the Sea by R. Kaufman, Blue: Kona Pacific, Bubbles; Paddington Bear by Timeless Treasures, Knots: VIP by Cranston

Oops, maybe I should have ironed it before taking pics...

This weekend we are off to visit H's family and the re-enactment of the battle of Waterloo, so the basting and quilting will have to wait until next week.

Easy to Please

Living in a foreign country can sometimes be a challenge... one of the things I find most frustrating is knowing where to buy things. I always have a hitch when trying to track things down- like where do you buy office supplies, is there a place like Staples.... if yes what the heck is the shop called (or what the heck is the item called for that matter) and where can I find it?!

I'm pretty lucky in that I get to travel throughout Europe for work, and Belgium is really central so getting around in Europe is really easy for holidays but I'm always sure I miss out on some great quilting shops (I mean, fabric shopping on holiday/business trips is a souvenir so it doesn't count as adding to the stash right?!). When I stumbled across this site that has an interactive map of quilt shops in most of Western Europe (including a bunch I didn't even know about in Belgium) I did a inner happy dance. Now with this lovely website I can do a bit of pre-research and satisfy my fabric needs, poor H doesn't even see it coming!!

So if you are on this side of the pond, or are coming here for a visit, now you are also in the loop (you can tell your significant others that it's all my fault!).

I arrived home yesterday to find a package waiting for me...

How cute is that envelope, why can't Belgium post offer something like that?? I have such a hate relationship with Belgian post, I always end up in an argument discussion with them about package size, prices etc. Once the stupid irritating post lady made me cut open an envelope of clothes I was sending to my best friend for her baby's birthday, and re-tape it because the envelope was 1cm too wide. The most annoying thing is that the envelope was not even full, so could easily be squished to fit the 'standard' mail size.

Anyways, sorry for the rant... inside the cute envelope was even more cuteness, the first of my bubbles blocks for SC3 all the way from Saranya in Thailand.

She even included some extra bubble appliques for me to use in my block for my bubble quilt!

I was so excited to finally receive one of my blocks. I've been stalking our group's web page to see what blocks have been posted online, and was so glad to see that they seem to have "gotten" my idea. After the initial stress I seemed to have caused people, it's great to see they seem to have taken on the challenge.

House tour Part 2

Yesterday you got to see our Master bedroom, this time up it's our Guest Bedroom.

Bed: Estate sale, Water carafe and glass: New De Wolf (Brussels), Bedspread: Winners (Canada), Dot pillow: Caban, White butterfly pillow case: inherited, Grey bed linens: Cameleon, Bedside table: Troc, Lamp: Hema, Shell Candle Holder: Dollar store

On the wall opposite the wall we have the new to us "semainier'' which has been in H's family for 5 generations. It is supposed to be for guest clothes etc, but currently it is holding (some) of my fabric stash, as are the purple fabric boxes, and another chest of drawers...

Fabric boxes: Winners (Canada), Cactus pin cushion: homemade, Chair: Ebay

Wanna see what's on top? Okay, here you go... our renovated kitchen scale and a few other mementos

Kitchen Scale: Troc, Capis Flower candle holder: brought back from a holiday to the Philippines, shell Picture Frame: Jysk (Canada)

Printer Blocks: Marolles Market (Brussels), Wall Boxes: Jysk (Canada), Listerine Bottles (in cube): Antique store and gift, Fabric Flowers: Gift , Box with Bow: Tiffany's

Getting Illuminated

Today was a great day for crossing things off our to do list. With H and I both with a day off, and what was supposed to be a sunny day turning out to be rainy, it was definitely an inside day. My lovely friend Barb highlighted the fact that I had not shown any pictures of light fixture that "caused" my knee injury (knee update-I'm feeling better, the x-ray and echo graph have showed nothing, so it is most likely damage to the meniscus or a loose piece of cartilage, neither of which is good news, more testing to come)...

Having made some changes around here, I thought it would be a good moment to show you a bit more of Chez Crafywaffles. Since I love knowing where people find things for their home, I thought I'd expose my sources.

Let's start with the Master Bedroom. Our little reading corner has some new additions, making it now a really cozy corner, perfect for catching up on some reading, and yes- that gorgeous chocolate and white drum shade with diffuser is the "infamous" light fixture, I love it, it's worth the pain!

Ceiling Light: Next (UK), Chair;Ebay, Floor Lamp and Table: inherited, Candle holders: Hema, Vase: Mark's and Spencers (UK), Footstool: Troc, Linen Cushion: Caban (Canada), Art: Ebay (1 of 3)

While we were away, we picked up a gift for our bed as well, two new decor pillows- silky, shiny and girly, perfect bling for the bed (don't worry, H gave his approval)!

Bed: Ebay, Duvet Cover: Ikea, Pillows: N. American King Size, Pillow Cases; Bamboo from a hotel linen outlet store (Vancouver), Grey Silk cushions: BHS (UK), Bedside Tables: Troc, Bedside lights: Ikea, Water carafe and Glass: New DeWolf (Brussels)

Double Zig Zag

So apparently a messed up knee is good for my productivity. With my weekend plans put on hold and H at work, my Saturday afternoon was filled with Season 1 of SATC, and some binding...

Yup, Ziggy's done, and even ahead of schedule! Now to package it up and make a date with the parents to be.

I also managed to finish up Dallas's block for SC3, a slightly modified zig zag (yeah original I know, but she wanted simple and modern, I figured this was a good solution)

I think one of my favourite things about this quilting bee is how you have to make fabric from someone else work no matter the size of the pieces they send, the desired 'theme", or colours. It really stretches the brain :)

Damaged Goods

Well, we are back from vacation, which was wonderful... However, just 1 day after getting back from holidays I have managed to re-injure my knee (my only injury from my former life as a figure skater!)-- yeah, I didn't hurt myself at all on our hiking holiday, but after hanging a new light fixture we bought while away, typical me!

After a day holed up at home feeling sore and sorry for myself, I just had to DO something, so I dug out the fabrics I have for SC3, and got to work on my log cabin block for Quay and Co. and my clean lined modern block for For the Journey.

L: For the Journey R: Quay and Co.

So far one block down, and one 90% done, now only if my knee was doing so well!