A New Beginning...

Bismillah (In the name of Allah)

Autumn's here.

I love the rain, the wind, and the coolness in the air, ahh... and the colours too. I have to admit that I love that this season is here already. I enjoyed my summer and did a lot of fun-outdoor activities with my husband and children: We visited countless parks in our city, visited the capital city (Ottawa), went camping right after Ramadhan when one could already feel the slight coolness in the air, oh we had some fun this summer.

But time has come for us to spend more time indoors, which means more cooking and baking, more sewing and reading, more family-centred time. Don't we all love that?

:: Finally, I might just have the time to bind off that quilt I started ages ago but hat to put away for sometime when I was suffering allergies.

:: Finally, I might just get on track with my home-made bread that I stopped baking during Ramadhan and took me weeks to make a new batch.

::Finally, I might just give a second glance to my abandoned sewing machine, my sweet stash of fabric and my lovely patterns that have been very neglected.

:: Finally, I am back here in this little corner of mine sharing about the things I love and wish had the time to do more often.

How is the arrival of Autumn (or the season you're in) affecting your life?

My Very First Quilt: How It All Begins

Bismillah,

I am having such a fun time trying new things, especially when it comes to sewing. How did it all start anyways? I'll spare that story for later. For now I want to share what's brewing in my sewing corner. I have, in the last week, been working on my very first quilt. How exciting is that!

It was tough to decide what would my first quilt be, especially with all the inspiration that's out there in the online community of sewists (I don't think this is a word but I like how it sounds). Anyhow, I decided for The easy lap quilt from Bend the Rules by Amy Karol. So far it's been a smooth ride but I'm a bit intimidated by the binding. She recommends to use the machine and hand-sewing technique and I'm going to be a good pupil and follow her advice. Apparently, it's time consuming but worthwhile if you don't want your binding to bunch up.

I'm using quilting cotton (two solids and two prints for the top, and an adorable print from Robert Kaufman for the back) all purchased from my local fabric store.

This is what I envisioned

But after playing with it I went for this

So far I have the top all sewn up and ready to pin it to the batting and backing, then I'll do some 'stitching in the ditch' (ha, I'm even using seamstress vocabulary already) and a few stray stitches on each row to keep the batting in place. After doing all that, I will make the binding from leftover fabric pieces and bind my very first quilt!

If you want more details on this quilt you might want to take a look at Amy's Bend the Rules. I own a copy and have quite a few projects from there that I'd like to try sometime in the future. It's a very good resource for those wanting to embark on this adventure called sewing.

InshAllah (God willing) after this quilt and when I get my hands on the Modern Log Cabin Quilting book I plan on making a quilt for my bed, and hopefully one for each of my munchkins: Cooks, Teddy and Fats.

A little step at a time...

I hope you're enjoying something special made by your hands and that it brings pleasure and joy to you and yours.

Happy weekend to all