Something Quilty This Way Comes...

Something very fun showed up at my house last week...and there might just be something in it for you! That's right, get ready for a little giveaway! I've been having a great time playing with my new Accuquilt Go Baby Fabric Cutter and I'll be posting a review and tutorial for y'all too! Woot woot - so fun!

Aaaannnnddd....if you'd like 22 free patterns from Accuquilt just click on the little picture below!

Katy and I *Heart* Kona!

Photo courtesy of Robert Kaufman

I completely forgot to share this fun picture from Quilt Market with you guys! Can you tell that Katy and I really love Kona?! Oh yes, we really, really do! And Katy's dress is Liberty...and it has tigers on it...because, ya know, Katy is awesome like that.

Farmer's Wife QAL - Weeks Two and Three

I'm getting caught up on my blocks for the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long! Technically we're on week four now and I've got all my blocks up to week three finished (that's blocks 1-6); I'll more than likely work on the blocks for this week while Alex is playing Ultimate (that's Ultimate Frisbee - he's in a league) tonight.So here's my progress so far:

Blocks three and four for week two! They're actually reversed in this picture - the basket is block three. I haven't put the handle on my basket yet because I was to practice my reverse applique skills a little before I do it - if that doesn't work out I'll use the template for machine applique.

Blocks five and six for week three. I'm finding it a little difficult to use the DS Quilts collection in each of my blocks because there are some favourite scraps that I want to use in my blocks that just do not look good with the DS Quilts so I'm contemplating adding in another collection to use as a base too - right now I'm thinking either Prince Charming or Meadowsweet. What do you guys think?

Here are the fabrics I used for these guys:

Basket:
DS Quilts
Prospect Park by Kitty Yoshida

Basket Weave:
DS Quilts
Prospect Park by Kitty Yoshida
Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry

Bat Wing:
DS Quilts
Aviary by Joel Dewberry

Big Dipper:
DS Quilts
Parisville by Tula Pink

And just a little update for you all on what's going on with Canada Post: yes, we are still without mail service but the government had proposed back-to-work legislation which could pass as early as Thursday. This means that we could have mail service again very soon - hurray! I for one will be very happy when the post gets back up and running!

Getting my Farmer's Wife On + FQS Giveaway Winner!

So I'm sure you've heard you've all heard about the Farmer's Wife Quilt-A-Long being hosted by Amanda and Angela, but in case you haven't, I'll tell you a bit about it!

We're using the above book, The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hind, in the quilt-a-long; this book features 111 block designs accompanied by letters written by the wives of farmers answering the question "If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in light of your own experience, have her marry a farmer?" - the letters are very cool and I've found myself teary-eyed by more than one of the responses. We are making two blocks a week from the book for the next year so it is a very leisurely quilt-a-long! Technically this is week three of the quilt-a-long, but I was having such trouble picking fabrics for my blocks that I only started cutting last night! Here are my first two blocks,

These two blocks are Attic Windows and Autumn Tints; I've decided to do my blocks in the order they appear at the back of the book to help keep everything straight, but you don't have to - you can pick and choose as you go! One of the things I've decided to do for my blocks is to use a little bit of fabric from Denyse Schmidt's DS Quilts collection in each block and then build my fabric choices for each block off that selection. Here's what I used for these ones:

Attic Windows:
DS Quilts
Aviary by Joel Dewberry (yellow woodgrain)
Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry
Flora & Fauna by Patty Young

Autumn Tints:
DS Quilts
Nicey Jane by Heather Bailey (two prints)
Sunkissed by Sweetwater

I've finished block four so far too, and I have all the pieces for block three cut out, as well as having the templates for blocks five and six all ready - I think I'll get them done tonight, woot!! Come and check us out on Flickr - there's a group over there where everyone is sharing the completed blocks and there's lots of discussion going on too!

So I guess you'd like to know who won the giveaway, eh? Well let's see...the winner of Tula Pink's Designer Select fat quarter bundle, generously sponsored by Fat Quarter Shop is...

Taya from The Type B Crafter

Congratulations Taya! Email me with you mailing address and Fat Quarter Shop will get your bundle shipped out to you! And to everyone else - you know you're all winners in my book *wink* and I definitely think you should all head over to Taya's blog and check her out because she is super-cute and makes cute stuff to boot too!

Just wanted to let you all know too in case you haven't heard that Canada Post (yes, as in our national postal service) has suspended their operations so Canadian citizens are without mail right now (we can not send or receive mail unless it is by courier). Because of this I have put my Etsy shop on vacation mode for the time being since I can't send anything by regular post, but if you would like to order one of my quilts or request a custom quilt please contact me and I will send via courier (i.e. FedEx, UPS, etc) until this is all over. I am so sad about all this as getting the mail is one of the highlights of my day - there is always a chance that there will be something good in there and I get all excited about it, but now I won't be opening my mailbox for awhile...*sad, pouty face*

Sweet Baby June: Pattern-Tutorial on SMS

Hey all! First things first, if you're looking for the super-awesome Tula Pink and Fat Quarter Shop giveaway you can find it here!

So, I've got a new pattern-tutorial for you all! Would you like to see it and find out where you can find it? Okay!

Sew, Mama, Sew asked me once again to be a little visitor on their blog and so I came up with this free pattern-tutorial for you all - may I introduce you all to the Sweet Baby June cowl!

Sweet Baby June is a light and airy spring/summer-weight cowl which utilizes voile, linen, and Cluny lace! For the version you see here I used Anna Maria Horner's Baby Bouquet print in Meadow from her Little Folks line, handkerchief weight yellow linen, and 3/4" scalloped cotton Cluny lace (my favourite type of lace).

Sweet Baby June features a unique double-möebius twist and is long enough that it can be looped around the neck figure-eight style (sorry for the slightly blurry pic there)!

You can find the Sweet Baby June pattern over on the Sew, Mama, Sew blog - AAANNNNDDD if you leave a comment on the pattern  post over there you'll be entered into a giveaway, woot! Feel free to leave a comment here too of course ;)

Let me know what you guys think! I'd love to hear your opinion on the cowl and/or your thoughts on me doing patterns and tutorials that are not quilting-related!

Who What?! Another Giveaway?!

Um, so I have another giveaway for you guys...and let you tell me it's pretty flippin' awesome! At the beginning of June I welcomed my first sponsor - Fat Quarter Shop - to the blog; by way of saying "howdy!" and "hi there!" the awesome Kimberly Jolly (you know the fantastic lady behind Fat Quarter Shop) has offered up a wonderful, not-so-little bundle just for you! You wanna see what it is?! Okay!

Um ya, so up for grabs is Tula Pink's Designer Select fat quarter bundle which is exclusive to Fat Quarter Shop! The bundle features 15 fat quarters - 12 prints from Prince Charming and 3 coordinating Free Spirit solids - selected by the lovely and super-talented Tula Pink herself!

The bundle will appear (magically I say!) directly from Fat Quarter Shop all prettily folded just like the above! Up there you can see the same bundle that I received from Kimberly and let me tell you - it is super-gorgeous!

This is one of my absolute most favourite prints which I lovingly refer to as "the Tula turtle" or "TurTula" (you don't want to be my friend anymore, do you?); my favourite little scene in this one is the girl sitting on the chair with her umbrella under the rain, do you see it? Isn't it awesome? I kind of want to play a little game of I-Spy with this print - can you see the bicycle? The fire hydrant? The peach tree? Eeeek!

And the super-duper Prince Charming himself! Oh yes, be still my pitter-pattering little heart - that is one handsome fella! His little bee friend just kills me!

So I bet you want to know how to enter right? Well I'm going to give you three chances (three seems like such a nice little number, doesn't it?)...

1. Leave a comment letting me know what your favourite collection

is that Fat Quarter Shop carries (or is in their "coming soon" section)!

2. Leave another comment if you are a follower of my blog,

or if you become one, letting me know you are!

3. Leave another comment if you tweet about the giveaway. In your tweet be 

sure to mention both me (@KayePrince) and Fat Quarter Shop (@FatQuarterShop) 

and link back to this post!

There ya go - three ways to enter! Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry and please remember that I have comment moderation on the blog - so if your comment doesn't show up right away it is just because I haven't moderated it yet! The giveaway is open internationally as Fat Quarter Shop will ship to the winner worldwide. I will leave the giveaway open for one week and will announce the winner next Wednesday (June 15th) here on the blog!

See now, isn't that awesome? Yup, yup - you best get entering folks! I'd totally be entering if it wasn't my giveaway...dang, should have thought that through! Oh wait...that's right...I have my own bundle...hmmmm...pip pip (and all that) - hop to it!

*The giveaway is now closed*

It's Rhubarb Time Again - and the Giveaway Winners!

Okay, you guys know I love rhubarb right? Growing up my grandmother grew rhubarb in her back garden and it has always been one of my favourite things! Well, yesterday Alex found me some rhubarb while at the grocery store - hurray! I've been having a hard time finding rhubarb this year (okay to be truthful I actually have trouble every year) and have been very sad because of it - but Alex came to the rescue so today I made rhubarb syrup and tomorrow I will be making Blueberry (and a little bit of) Rhubarb Muffins using the leftover rhubarb mash from the syrup.

The syrup isn't quite as ruby red as last year's because the rhubarb wasn't as ripe, but it's still pretty tasty! As I'm writing this I'm drinking some of the syrup mixed with soda water - it is fantastic and I can not wait for the muffins tomorrow!

So I guess you'd all like to know who won the last giveaway, eh? Well, without further ado the winner of Fresh Fabric Treats is...

Chrissy from Snappy Stitches...

and Manic Purl...and Yarn Sprout...geez, that Chrissy is everywhere!

And the winner of the petits fours pack is...

Carla of Sew it Up, Baby!

Congratulations ladies! Please contact me with your mailing address and I will get the prizes out as soon as possible! And to everyone who did not win - you know you`re all winners in my book, teehee! AAAANNNNDDD, you may just want to come back to this here blog VERY soon because there will be another super-fantastic giveaway featuring some truly awesome just-released fabric! I hinted to what it could possibly be in this post!

And seriously guys, you should definitely grab some rhubarb and try out the recipes they mentioned! I love the rhubarb syrup and Alex swears that the muffins are the best I`ve ever made - I think he might be more excited for the baking tomorrow than I am! By the way, are there any Blythe lovers out there? Amanda and I are swapping Blythe sized quilts with each other and was just wondering if anyone would be interested in seeing my progress or perhaps having a tutorial - let me know?

Market Wrap Up!

First things first, if you're looking for the Fresh Fabric Treats and petits fours giveaway you can find it here. It's open until Tuesday so there is still time to enter! I will actually have another giveaway for you this upcoming week to welcome my new, and first, sponsor Fat Quarter Shop and that little giveaway might just be something exciting from a new line from a very lovely lady!

So I convocated on Thursday and am now officially a Master of Information! I was all in a tizzy because I didn't have anything to wear and couldn't afford to buy anything new; I tried to make myself a skirt and it just was not working (may have something to do with the fact that I didn't use a pattern and just kinda flew by the seat of my pants), but Alex offered to buy me a dress as my graduation present so it all worked out in the end! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of me in the dress because the only pictures from convocation are the ones that my Mum took and the majority of them are blurry, but I'm wearing the dress again this upcoming week to Alex's convocation so hopefully I can get some pictures then!

I realized this week that I didn't actually show you guys any of the pictures of the things I picked up at Market, or the lovely gifties that I received from Jennifer and Doe, so let's call this post the Market wrap-up post! I did make some presents for Jennifer and Doe too but completely forgot to take pictures before giving them away...ah, such is my life!

Here is the lovely Cath Kidston mug that Jennifer bought me when she was England prior to Market! I just love it! And yes, this picture was taken while sipping at my morning coffee today - I received a pound of coffee from Kicking Horse this past week and was very very happy this morning when we finally opened up the beans!

Here are the rest of the gifties from Jennifer and Doe! Doe gifted me with almost the entire new line of Denyse Schmidt fabrics from Joann's (only missing two prints I think) and it is just lovely - the blues and greens are most definitely my favourites! She also gave me two charm packs from Bonnie and Camille's Bliss collection, but I forgot to throw them in the picture! Jennifer also brought me back Cath Kidston's book Stitch and some CK tissues from England, as well as gifting me with a few prints from Heather Ross' West Hill collection (in half yards - woot!). I had a bunch of these WH prints already but not in half yards so I'm pretty happy - I only need the purple matroyska and the blue horses and my West Hill collection will be complete!

Here is my fabric loot from Spree and Market! I didn't get very much this year because, having just finished my Masters and being in the process of looking for a regular full-time job, I don't have a lot of extra money. The fat quarter bundle in the back is from Kate Spain's upcoming line Terrain and is actually not all mine; Jennifer and I are splitting the bundle into fat eighths, but I haven't mailed it yet because I'm waiting for the Canada Post strike to be over! The ten square is Treasures and Tidbits, the debut line from Piece O'Cake - it had a very vintage feedsack feel to it. The three petit fours I picked up while walking around Market, two are the same as the ones in the giveaway (Panier de Fleurs and Circa 1934) but I also managed to score one from Aneela's Little Apples line - woot!

Now isn't that all just a bunch of prettiness?! I probably would have gotten a few more lines at Sample Spree if they had been there - Free Spirit never has a table, Andover was out of Lizzy's 1001 Peeps by the time I got to their table, and I somehow managed to miss Pat Bravo's Art Gallery table all together!

Okay, I've got to get to work finishing up a little pattern-tutorial that I have coming out for you guys - think voile, think linen, think cotton Cluny lace! Oh yes, it's going to be very pretty!