If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it. -Albert Einstein

So, I bet you'd all like to know who won the giveaways wouldn't you? Well, I'll announce it at the end of the post, but for now I've got some other things to share!

In my last post I showed a picture of a little project I was making for a friend. Would you like to see it completed?

I made this menswear bunny for Karyn of The Workroom to brighten up her day. Karyn had a rough day before our last Quilt Guild meeting and then had her digital SLR stolen right out of the store recently - and she loves bunnies! And underneath you can also see a bit more of the new quilt design I'll be taking to Market. I'm not sure I actually like the fabric with this pattern (although I do love Aviary), but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Today, I bought a basil plant. Alex and I had talked about it buying one all last summer, but never ended up doing so, so I went for it.

And here's what I made for dinner using some of this awesome fresh basil (it smells soooo good!):

These "sammiches" were inspired by the ones that Erica made for our picnic in High Park except that I roasted the tomatoes and used an herbed goat cheese. They are soooo tasty and pretty healthy too.

Yesterday I went to Quilt Guild meeting and picked up some fat quarters (we hold our guild meetings at Karyn's shop).

These are from Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt, Summer Soirée by Paula Prass, Dolce by Tanya Whelan, Love by Amy Butler, and Hushabye by Tula Pink. I can't wait to use them!

Today, I also got some fabric mail, yay!

This is a design roll of all the prints from Amy Butler's Love collection; it will be used in one of my designs for quilt market. I wasn't sure at first if I liked this collection, but it has grown on me and there are a few prints that I am absolutely in love with, like Memento in Burgundy. Also, did you know that Westminster has a preview of Amy's new line up on the site? It's called Soul Blossoms; again, I'm not sure if I love it, but I'm sure it'll grown on me!

I also got my order from Sew Sisters here in Toronto.

This is some of the yellow woodgrain print from Joel Dewberry's Aviary collection, and a print from Dena Designs' Rambling Roses collection. The three fat quarters on the bottom (two from Annette Tatum's House collection) were a free gift from the gals at Sew Sisters who are having a little special right now - for every metre of fabric you buy, you get one fat quarter! This equals awesome! And I'm pretty sure it was on purpose that the free FQs match so well to the fabric I ordered!

Okay, not that we're done with all that fun-ness, it's time to announce the giveaway winners (yay!). Okay winner number one who gets their choice of the two prizes is...

Commenter #126: SoozeM of Pieceful Threads

And winner number two is...

Commenter #21: Sian of Ever So Inspired

Congratulations you two! Shoot me an email (kayecprince [at] gmail [dot] com) and I will have your prizes in the mail soon! I had so much fun doing this giveaway and I'm so happy to have met so many new people!

Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else's. -Billy Wilder

Hey all! First things first, if you're looking for the giveaway you can find it here, remember it's open until Monday, so there's still time to enter! I can not believe how many entries there have been so far (yay!) and I'd like to say hi and welcome to my new followers - pull up a chair and put your feet on my coffee table if you'd like!

Last Friday, Erica and I went to High Park to see the cherry blossoms; it was gorgeous! We took a picnic with us - Erica made margherita style sandwiches (basil, tomato and cheese) and cloud cookies, and I made spiced onion couscous (from a Donna Hay cookbook) and the infamous apricot scones. The picnic basket was very heavy, but we took turns carrying it...although I think Erica might have carried it more than me...thanks darling!

We took Alice Kate with us too! Doesn't she look pretty among the cherry blossoms? Erica also saw her first (and then many) mallard and she was very excited; it was actually pretty cute, as soon as Erica started taking pictures of him, he came out of the water, went right up to her and started posing. It was pretty awesome! After we left the park, we went to Starbucks and grabbed some shaken ice tea lemonade and then went to the bookstore. All in all, it was pretty productive!

I got a couple of fun things at the bookstore!

 

The newest issue of Stitch (yay!); I so wish this magazine came out more than twice a year, I just love it so much! Also, I grabbed another one of the super-awesome Penguin Classics that are being released; what's really weird though is that Little Women (and a few others) are available in Canada now even though they're not supposed to be published until this upcoming September (that's what both Amazon.com and Amazon.ca say). I can't find an ny information on why that is (I think it might be a British thing, but I dunno).

After Alice Kate arrived last week, I made her this little dress. It is a very simple pattern found at Puchi Collective, but dang if sewing teeny tiny clothes isn't hard! I need to work on my topstitching skills for things this small, but I think it turned out cute. If you'd like to see it on Alice Kate, go here.

I currently have two projects actually on the go (trust me there are more on the go in my head). The first is another quilt design for Market - this one uses Joel Dewberry's Aviary collection. Here's a little sneak peak for you.

And the second is a litte present for a friend and local fabric shop owner. I'll do the full reveal after I give it to her on Sunday at Quilt Guild meeting.

{By the way, I keep meaning to make myself a pincushion instead of just using the ugly tomato, but never do. Isn't that just like a stitcher? Always making stuff for other people, but never really anything for yourself!}

I realized on Wednesday that Quilt Market is less than a month away - I can not believe it! I have so much work to get done before I go, which is going to mean a lot of late nights especially since I'm working a lot and start classes again before I leave. It's going to be a crazy rush to get everything done in time, but I know I can do it and it's going to be an absolute blast!

My 100th Post: Happy Make-a-Quilt Day and a Giveaway!

Wow, I can not believe that I finally made it to my 100th post here at Miss Print! When I wrote my first post back in July 2008 (I know we're almost at 2 years too, watch out for another giveaway then!) I didn't know if this whole "blogging thing" was going to go anywhere or I was even going to like it. However, I really do love it and even though I wish I were able to blog more often, I really appreciate everyone who stops by and leaves a comment...especially those of you who comment on almost or every post...ahem, cough cough, I'm looking at you Dionne! I've met so many wonderful people and have made some absolutely lovely friends through blogging and I never could have imagined it 100 posts ago!

Alright, so I bet you want to know what the giveaway is, right? Well let me tell you, there are actually two giveaways...yes, you heard me, TWO!

First up, in honour of Make-a-Quilt Day, we have a little package containing one charm pack and one turnover from the Nostalgia collection by April Cornell for Moda.

The charm pack contains 40 5x5" squares (one of each print in the collection) and the turnover contains 80 half square triangles (2 of each print in the collection). Did you know that when you sew two of these half square triangles together with 1/4" seam allowance that you end up with a 5x5" square? Neat!

Second, we have Crochet Blocks in a Box by Luise Roberts!

This nifty little box includes 50 crochet block patterns each on their own individual card. Each card shows a picture of the block on the front with the directions printed on the back. It also comes with a little booklet with instructions for each needed stitch, some tips and techniques, and some sample layouts for using multiple blocks in one afghan. There is also an extra "key card" which includes a helpful list of abbreviations, and the number of blocks you will need to make afghans in a variety of standard sizes (from crib to king).

As an added bonus each prize will contain a little something from me...it could be some fabric, or a little something handmade by me...it's a surprise, so I'm not telling!

Okay, so here's what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post..it can be anything...

but maybe you could let me know what first brought you to my blog, 

or what your favourite thing about my blog is.

2. To get a second entry: Leave a second comment on this post

if you are a follower or if you become one.

3. For a third entry: Blog about my giveaway and come back

and leave me the link on this post (I will be checking).

There you go, three easy ways to enter for a chance to win! Please make sure to leave each entry as a separate comment. I will pick two winners next Monday (April 26) and announce them here on the blog. The first person picked will get their choice of prize and the second person will get the other. And the giveaway is open worldwide - anyone can enter!

Also, remember that all comments are moderated, so if your comment doesn't appear right away please give me some time. Duplicate comments will be deleted.

Good luck everyone!

You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club. -Jack London

The past week has been spent catching up on sleep and working on my last paper, with a little bit of shopping and sewing sprinkled in. On Friday I decided that I needed a little pick-me-up after the crazy preceding few weeks and so betook myself to the fabric store which was having it's 40% off sale (woohoo!); I picked up some fabric to make a couple of skirts and some binding and a little voile just because, some teeny-tiny Blythe-sized buttons, thread, Cluny lace (in green and yellow), and a few other small things - it was really nice!

I then decided to hit up a couple of clothing stores to see if there was anything I liked and I had one of those few, rare days where everything I tried on actually fit and looked nice - it was really quite lovely! I decided not to buy the two skirts I tried on (even though they were on clearance) because I had already bought fabric to make my own, but I did end up getting two very cute dresses (for super-cheap) because I've decided I want to wear more dresses this Summer and I thought they'd be nice for Quilt Market too. Sorry that I don't have any pictures of those things to share right now, but I do have others!

I picked up these books recently - In Stitches on Sunday and Sublime Stitching about two weeks ago. I know that I seem to have a lot of crafty books (which I do), but please don't think that I'm made of money! Almost all of the crafty-type books that I've shown on the blog (literally all except for maybe 3) were bought at my local used bookstore, BMV, which also sells overstock. Each of these books is brand new (not used) but I got them for about 1/3 of the price they sell for in stores - I think that's pretty awesome! I have only bought one crafty book "new" and that was Rashida Coleman Hale's I Love Patchwork and that was because I really, really wanted it and didn't get it for Christmas...oh wait, Anna Maria Horner's Seams to Me was also bought "new" but I got that one with a gift card I received from a co-worker when I left my last job.

If you don't have a local used bookstore that is crazy-awesome like mine, may I recommend Book Depository? Their prices are often lower than Amazon (or are the same) and they have free shipping no matter what you buy (i.e. you could spend $5 and get free shipping). They take a bit longer than Amazon since they are based in the UK and they don't have DVDs, but I really like them and I've never had a problem with any of my books. And no, they did not pay me to say any of this, I just really like them! I found them through a tip from Pip (hehehehe, tip from Pip...I'm sorry).

I finally found some Peeps and was so excited! Let me preface this by saying that I did see them before Easter, but kept putting off buying any until closer to Easter. Sure enough when I went to buy some they were all gone at my local store and I was very sad...I consoled myself with a Caramilk egg instead. But I found these on Monday after a less-than-stellar visit to the thrift store (did not find one thing I wanted) on the clearance rack at the pharmacy. They only cost me .86 (CDN, including tax), yay! See, I was so excited to find them that I felt the need to take a picture and post it on the blog...do you like the vintage vibe I gave the photo? I figured Peeps needed some vintage colouring.

Oh oh, my 1/4" foot arrived yesterday! I am so excited - I ripped open the package as soon as it arrived, put it on the machine, grabbed some scrap fabric, and tried it out. It seems to work perfectly and I can't wait to really give it a go!

I decided to try making the infamous scones again last night, but with dried mango instead of dried apricots. They are good, but I don't like them as much as the apricot ones. You also need to watch them closely (which I found out the hard way) because they cook and brown quicker than the apricot ones; I think this is because the dried mango pieces have less moisture than the dried apricots.

Genevieve Gail sent me these pieces from her most recent fabric line, Flower Bucket, a few months ago and I just pulled them out thinking that I want to use them for one of my new quilt designs. I still need to measure the pieces out, however I did iron them out...althought before I could I had to move all of this:

I've been sorting out my fabrics for using with my new quilt designs and the ironing board was both handy and a good size to accommodate all this. I've been sorting the fabric mostly by designer, and then by collection within the designer (can you see my inner-library geek coming out here?), but there are also a few piles where I put pieces that just looked nice together in one. Don't worry there is more fabric than this...this is just the beginning!

Oh, and I created my first Etsy treasury last night! I had a really fun time picking the things to include. If you'd like to see the whole thing (minus the alternates), go here. It's all about patchwork so I'm pretty sure you guys will like it.

I'm kinda sad that I'm now out of Peeps...maybe I need to go and find another clearance shelf! Be sure to come back soon as my next post is my 100th here at Miss Print and I'll be having a little giveaway to celebrate!

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. -T.S. Eliot

I finished my last two classes of the semester today! I still have one more paper to hand in, but it isn't due until the 20th since the prof gave the whole class an extension, yay! It's a 15-20 page paper and I already have 10 pages of notes, plus I'm writing about something I like so I think I'll be fine. I will be taking at least one summer course; I've actually signed up for two, but I'm considering dropping the second one. It all depends on how the Summer job hunt pans out; keep your fingers crossed for me!

I really can't wait to get back to my sewing and quilting! I have so many quilt designs waiting to be stitched up that I really hope I can get them done in time to present the at Quilt Market. Oh gosh, Quilt Market is going to be so great and I just can't wait!

I mentioned a few posts back that I sewn up a few things for friends that I couldn't show until I was sure they received them, and one of them made it to its new home earlier in the week. I'm sure many of you remember that a few months back my lovely friend Katy gifted me with a generous stash of Denyse Schmidt's Flea Market Fancy (see this post), and so I decided that I just had to make her a little something to thank her for being so kind and generous.

Here is the front of the little pillow cover I made her. For some reason when I was thinking about making something for Katy I couldn't get the mermaid out of my mind; I embroidered the mermaid in the centre panel (which sort of reminds me of some of the burlesque style mermaid tattoos I've seen) and the surrounding prints are a mixture of Denyse Schmidt, Heather Bailey, Amy Butler and Joel Dewberry.

Here is the back of the pillow; all of the prints are from Denyse Schmidt's County Fair collection and I adore these buttons - they're wood and I have them in a few colours and sizes. I just had to use some Denyse Schmidt fabrics since Katy had been so generous with hers - it's like little link between us!

Katy said that she loved it and that it was "very sweet and lovely"; I am so happy that she likes it!

On the quilting front, I just ordered a 1/4" foot for Genevieve (my Janome) and it's on its way as we speak. Man, was it a pain to get! I have a front loading Janome and had a hard time finding the proper foot for it, even with the part number. I found a couple online, but the shipping from the US was $16-70 (not even kidding!) for a little tiny foot! I was not having any of that; I eventually found one that was a good price with good shipping, I ordered it, and paid but then received a refund from them the next day saying that they weren't authorized to ship Janome products to Canada - so ridiculous!

I ended up getting mine from England, and even though it was a bit more than I wanted to pay originally, it was cheaper than from the US and I can't wait for it to arrive! Jennifer was quite shocked when she found out that I didn't already own a 1/4" foot, I've just been doing it by eye this whole time, but I'm excited to see how it changes my piecing when I try it out.

Okay, off to hang out with my love and watch a little TV. I am so tired that I can't even explain it, I'm hoping that after getting a good night's sleep (I haven't had a proper sleep in quite awhile) I'll feel a lot better in the morning - maybe tomorrow I'll actually be able to celebrate the completion of my first year in grad school!

A lovely package from a lovely friend!

A few weeks ago the Liberty of London collection for Target debuted, and since I'm in Canada and we don't have Target - shame on you Target! And also shame on you for not even shipping to Canada - that is ridiculous! On that note did you know that even though we have the Gap in Canada that they don't ship to Canada either - wrap your brain around that little tidbit... sorry for that...went off on a little rant there for a sec! Anyway, as I was saying we don't have Target in Canada so my dear friend Jennifer, aka Jennifer "Big Potatoes" Davis, offered to pick me up a few things when the collection debuted. It was really quite funny! Jennifer went to Target on the morning it came out and, armed with her BlackBerry, sent me pictures as she went through the store via BlackBerry Messenger and I also looked at what was available online (which I found out was not even a fraction of what was actually available in store); we talked the whole time and it was almost as if we were shopping together. We had an absolute ball!

Unfortunately though, my package got stuck in Canadian customs in Quebec for about a week and a half and just arrived today - not cool, but I am sooooooo happy it finally arrived! Do you wanna see it? Yes? Okay!

By the way, do you like my extra-awesome skills at removing my address from view? Oh ya, that's how I roll...really, I just got a little lazy this time around. I tried to get a good picture of the cute kawaii packing tape Jennifer used, but it didn't work out so well. And yes, those are Alex's feet...and a camel looming in the background.

I bet you'd actually like to see what's in the box, wouldn't you?

Here's the first little batch of goodies! Jennifer's sweet daughter Liberty picked out the candy for me, and I think she did a great job! When I saw the wallet on the left I absolutely fell in love and I think it was the first thing that I asked Jennifer to grab for me. Jennifer picked out the mini-journal set and pad-folio for me (these weren't online), and also sent along a cute pen and a slew of fabric labels. Most of the labels are storybook based and I absolutely adore the Anne of Green Gables ones.

Here's the cute pyjama set I picked out. The fabric for the top actually matches my wallet, teehee. I love this set because of its vintage-feel and because the pieces are a little mismatchy - so good! I was thinking about bringing these to Market originally for sleepwear, but upon seeing them in real life they might be a little skimpy. Alex actually referred to this set as pyjam-erie (combination of pyjamas and lingerie), he's a pretty funny boy!

And last, but not least, is the cute top I picked out. It came out that Jennifer actually bought one of these for herself before I requested it - I think we should wear them at Market...together...at the same time...oh ya, that'd go over well! We'll at least need to get a photo of us wearing them together!

Sorry about the pic, I tried to take a picture of it hanging up but couldn't get a place with sufficient light, so the table it was! If you'd like to see it on the Target site for a better view, go here. Jennifer got me the extra small, but it's actually a bit too big, so I think I'm going to have to take it in. The armpit area is really droopy, so I'll start with that area and then see if I need to take it in any more after. I don't mind the loose fit of it at all, but I don't really care for droopy armpits, teehee!

Thanks Jennifer! You rock and I love you sooooo much! I owe you a giant three-scoop ice cream cone with a waffle cone and sprinkles at Market! Would you like syrup too? Funnily enough, there is already another package from Jennifer on its way to me and I am in the middle of putting together a package for her too.

I've just put a recipe tab over in the sidebar under "My Tutorials" so that any recipes I post are easily accessible; check it out! Only one more week until school is done (although I do have an extension on one of my papers past that) and I'm down to five things that are due. Phew, I am getting pretty tired but I'm just trying to "keep on keepin' on", wish me luck everyone!