Moving to... Montreal!

Bonjour!

Today I am posting about my family's newest adventure - moving to Montreal! My husband has been offered a contract at Google in Montreal so that means we are moving! We plan on coming back to Ottawa after the contract, (that is the plan for right now) and we will be splitting our time between Ottawa and Montreal for a while. We LOVE Montreal. We currently visit once every couple months and have said many times that it is our favourite city.

Our daughter Chloe will be home schooled for the year and I am SO excited! I have always wanted to home school and this was the perfect opportunity while we are splitting our time between here and there. This means Chloe can do her schoolwork all week (staying on the Ontario curriculum) - join groups, visit museums, ect - but still come back to Ottawa about once every one or two weeks to continue some of her sports and activities back home. It will also make it easier for Chloe to join her old school again when (and if) we return back to Ottawa permanently.

I will still have my place in the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild and will never miss a meeting (I have only missed one - but I had given birth 4 days prior). We are lucky enough to have my parents staying here in Ottawa that we can visit as much as we need. We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to split our time between the two cities (especially because they are only a couple hours apart).

I will keep posting as our moving adventure continues - especially my exciting home schooling journey! <3

My New Favourite Website/Community

Hello!

Today I just wanted to give a quick word about a great website everyone should know about!
For a very long time my husband used to tell me about this website called "Instructables"... and I was very passive on the idea. That changed when he told me about a contest called "Sew Warm", where you post instructions on a project for something warm. I have so many quilts but writing instructions for them is a different story. I decided to try it, and now, 4 instructables later, I am a
little obsessed.

My profile : http://www.instructables.com/member/moosemamaquilts/

I love instructables for the home-made 'real life' feel of the website. Everyday new projects are featured so there is always something new. It isn't one of those fluffy blogs with amazing professional photography for every project, it is real life people making real life projects who want to share. I have referenced many different instructions from this website and got great inspiration for other projects.

The Sew Warm contest was great, I was a runner up and got an AWESOME Tshirt! I love Instructables, I like the commenting, the communities and the overall friendliness of the staff and community. I highly suggest next time you want to make some awesome recipes, a homemade shelf, a knitted sweater or even a cool dog toy, check it out!

I now post all my tutorials on both the blog and instructables!

Heres the link to the website - have fun and share your own projects - the staff are great and it is very user friendly. Follow my profile to get the latest free tutorials.


"http://www.instructables.com" 

Re-writable Flashcards/Clue Cards/Memory Game

 Re-writable Flashcards/Clue Cards/Memory Game

Flash cards are great for kids to learn their letters, their numbers and 'sight words'. Unfortunately, flash cards get bent, ripped and dirty very quickly. I created a flash card holder that I could wash, that is re-writable and has many more uses than traditional flash cards! My flash card holders are a great size for small photos, for filling with this weeks spelling words, or to hide pirate clues in around the house. They are made with inexpensive vinyl to keep the cards free from damage, and scrap novelty fabrics to make them fun! You can make them in less than an afternoon and they will last from baby hands to school age quizzes! Have fun and customize your own flash card holders with this 5 easy step

Materials

• White Cotton Fabric - 20 rectangles - 3.5" x 5.5"
• Clear Vinyl (Purchased at Walmart in the craft section for less than 10$Canadian) -20 rectangles - 3.5"x 5.5"
• Printed Novelty Fabrics- 20 rectangles - 6" x 4"
• 20 Cue Cards
• Marker
• Scissors
• Sewing Pins
• Topstitch Sewing Machine Needle Size 90/14
• Sewing Machine
• Iron and Ironing Board
• Colourful Thread

Step 1 - Cut out all of your materials - cut rectangles according to materials list. (as shown in picture)

Step 2 - Place your white fabric rectangle on top of your printed fabric rectangle - right sides together. Align your together rectangles along the top and place the white rectangle in the middle (as much as possible -refer to picture).

You can place a few pins if you need.

Stitch 1/4" from the top aligned edge

Step 3- Turn over your rectangles so that your stitching is hidden inside and the right side of your fabric is facing out. Press with your iron to set that seem and make it flat.

Take the excess fabric of the printed fabric and fold them toward the white fabric - creating a lip - all the way around the 3 unsewn sides.

Insert vinyl rectable into the folded in lip. Pin in place if you need.

Step 4- Using a zig zag stitch on your sewing machine will secure all the layers together and will prevent fabrics from fraying.

Zig zag stitch in a colour thread that you like all the way around the 3 raw edges. Make sure the zig zag catches all three layers. (Printed fabric lip, the white fabric and edge of the vinyl rectangles)

Step 5 - 

• Now is the creative part! My original use for this project was for my daughters reading - I would write 2 of each words on my 20 cue cards (so ten different words). I would then flip over the cards so the words are hidden, now we take turns flipping them over, reading the word and trying to find a match.

It does not end there though!!

 

I have 10 different uses for these cards, feel free to try them or create your own uses for these protected flash cards

• Memory Game
• Hide pirate clues around the house for a party game
• Put pictures of family who live far away and let baby play with the cards - the fabric and plastic protect your photo
• Recipe Cards - no spills will ruin your favourite recipe
• Bilingual Game - Lay cards face side up and match words Example. Match Hello matches to Bonjour!
• Colour and shape recognition for toddlers - lay face side up and request the red triangle shape!
• Seek the house game - draw pictures of household items, flip the card and see who can find it! ex. a paperclip
• This weeks spelling words! Use them as traditional flashcards
• Math flashcards
• Eye-spy restaurant game - bring blank cards to restaurant - everyone write down something they see who can find

These flashcards are easily washed in a sink with warm soapy water - then let sit in the drying rack to dry!