Once you accept the fact that you're not perfect, then you develop some confidence. -Rosalynn Carter

Hey y'all! I have been having quite a bit of fun the last two weeks or so making all kinds of fun stuff and I've got some more to share today!

I made this fun casserole carrier last Saturday on a whim. We were heading to our friends' for dinner and were bring Caprese Bites as an appetizer (which are baked in a pie plate) and I realized that we didn't really have anything to carry them in.

I used the Potluck Take-Along pattern that appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of Stitch magazine. For the top and handles I used some fabric from Anna Maria Horner's Drawing Room collection (which I had left over from this bag that I made just about three years ago); the bottom is a home dec weight fabric from Ikea and there's also a layer of Insulbrite in both the top and bottom. I love the way that it turned out, but I must say that the binding was a terrible pain - if I make this again, I'll definitely come up with a better way if doing it!

I used this tutorial to make these super-fun washi tape magnets! Rather than recycling magnets (since I didn't have any to use) I bought a magnet sheet from my local dollar store. I put them on our back door (which is one of those metal security ones) along with the Yiddish word magnets I got Alex. The tape came from two Toronto-area sources - Omiyage and a brick and mortar store called Hanji.

I also tried canning for the first time and it was awesome! Last Sunday, before celebrating Rosh Hashanah with Alex's family, we stopped at the apple orchard and picked up some produce from the farm stand; I canned some whole tomatoes (after coring and blanching) and have some big plans to can my own marinara after we go to St. Jacob's (the semi-local Mennonite market) next weekend.

Tomorrow I am finally going to cut out the muslin for my Tova, can some dill spears, and bake some pumpkin mini muffins - woot!

Go Fish, Sully!

Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? I have been a busy bee working on some new patterns, applying for jobs, and getting ready for Sewing Summit (wait... I don't think I've mentioned here that I'm going to Sewing Summit - well I am! Hurray!!). I've actually made a number of things in the past little bit - went through a somewhat abnormal spurt of sewing energy there - and I'm going to share one of them today (the rest will come later, don't you worry).

Our friends Kyle and Danielle had a beautiful baby boy a few months ago; his name is Sullivan (yep, we now how two Sullivans in our lives) and he is a real charmer. Now of course he needed a quilt, right? Yep, right! I finished this quilt last week and we took it over while having dinner with them this past weekend. They loved it - phew!

I ended up going for a pretty simple square-in-square design for this one - well, other than the centre square which is a rectangle-in-square! All of the centre squares of each block and the fussy cut print in the centre are from the (original) Storyboek collection by Jay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabric; I really wanted to use as much of each little scene as possible without cutting them up too much.

I am so in love with that little scene in the middle there - I love the windmill, and the little boy fishing, and the whale is just fantastic!! With the exception of the green solid (which is from FreeSpirit) all of the surrounding prints are from the Oliver + S City Weekend collection for Moda. I really wanted to use some cheerful and simple prints for around the centre blocks, and this really just seemed to fit the bill!

This is the back!! For this pieced back I just took six City Weekend fat quarters and stitched them together - I think it's fun. The binding is the same yellow micro dot from the centre block on the front and is my favourite print from this line; this print is one that I really wish I had more of, I think I'm down to a little bit less than half a yard now.

Go Fish, Sully!

For Sullivan
Finished Quilt: 36x36"

Completed: September 14, 2012

Mine Shaft - A New Quilt Pattern

Hey all! I'm so excited to be sharing a new quilt pattern with you today! Mine Shaft is my first independent release PDF quilt pattern and I am really hoping that you love it!

Mine Shaft was dreamed up last year because I really wanted to use this Tula Pink Parisville fabric I had; in the process I decided that you might like a pattern too!

This pattern includes instructions for making five different sizes of my original Mine Shaft quilt - these sizes are 48x48", 48x60", 64x84", 80x96", and 96x108"! Mine Shaft is a fun and modern pattern - it is fat quarter friendly, utilizes larger prints well, and includes good negative space for decorative quilting. This pattern includes diagrams as well as to-the-point instructions.

The PDF pattern can be purchased from either my Etsy or Craftsy shops and, of course, I'm here to answer any questions you might have!

Since this quilt has only been shown in one picture here before (in my Quilts at the Creek post) I think I'll show a few more pictures; since I've taken lots of pictures of it, it is now going into the rotation for Alex and I!

Quilt on the grass in the park near our house...

A little close-up...

The back using some Parisville, Kona Medium Grey, and Kona Snow...

And here is the special Parisville label that Tula herself sent me when I told her I was making this quilt! Isn't it great? Love my Tula hairspray can!

I really, really hope that y'all like this pattern! If you have any suggestions or corrections please let me know! And if you do make this quilt, it'd be really super-fun if you'd add it to the Flickr group! You can find the PDF pattern in the Craftsy shop here and in the Etsy shop here!