A Newfoundland Shawl

Hey y'all! As I mentioned in my last post, I recently got married. While I didn't get to add quite as many handmade details as I originally thought I would, one of the things that I really wanted to do was knit a shawl that I could wear. And I did...

Original photo by Afterglow Images. Cropped by me.

This is the Newfoundland pattern by Anne-Lise Maigaard (part of her Canadian Geography series) and it is practically perfect in every way! I've had this Madelinetosh Tosh Lace yarn in Alabaster in my stash for a little while and knew that I wanted to use to knit my shawl. I stumbled across the Newfoundland pattern and knew right away that it was the one as Alex and I had already decided to honeymoon in Newfoundland.

Original photo by Afterglow Images. Cropped by me.

I didn't wear the shawl for the ceremony but wore it for a number of our pictures. It wasn't a major part of my wedding day attire, but I really wanted to have something I had made myself to mark the occasion.

Surprisingly, it took less than a month to knit. Considering that I hadn't knit with lace previously, and that I had to frog and restart it once, I think that's pretty speedy! It blocked out so drapey and soft; I don't think it could have been more perfect for what I wanted.

Pattern: Newfoundland by Anne-Lise Maigaard

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Lace in Alabaster

Started: 11 March 2016

Completed: 4 April 2016

Notes on Ravelry

A Little Piecing Break

Hey y'all! Alex and I recently returned home from taking a much needed vacation (and honeymoon!) in Newfoundland and PEI. We had a lovely time hiking, cod jigging, eating, and just generally relaxing. I also took a little time to start a new quilting project.

This is just the beginning of an entirely hand pieced and hand quilted quilt. It's going to take forever, but I'm in love already!

Hex-cell-ent!

Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? So, the good people over at Makeful asked me to participate in a little challenge they were hosting to decorate cellphone cases. Being that I'm a quilter, I tried to think of a way to use fabric to decorate the case (not very easy once I started thinking of all the ways that wouldn't work very well), and I came up with this wee idea!

Unfortunately, they weren't able to get a hold of a case that would fit my Galaxy, so they sent me one for an iPhone 6. Luckily, it fits my iPod Touch almost exactly. The camera hole is a little off but since I never use the camera on my iPod - not a big deal!

I used some little Liberty scraps from my stash and made the hexies using the English Paper Piecing method I describe in this tutorial; these hexies are 1/2" per side. I was worried about the hexies lifting off the case or the fabric getting dirty and grubby, so I adhered them to the inside of the case rather than the outside.

Can we talk about how hard it is to take a picture of a clear phone case?! So many reflections! I love how the hexies look like they're floating in the case, and it's pretty fun to be able to show off some much-loved fabric prints.

P.S. In case you're wondering where I've been the last few months, I was very busy getting married and stuff! It was a great day and we had so, so, so much fun.

Kisses x 16

Hey y'all! Well, phew, it's been a little while since I've posted. I actually have a few quilts and other things to share (including two new patterns), but life has been crazy busy. To start things rolling, I thought I'd show off my most recent finish!

I started this quilt back in December but just finished it at the very beginning of this month; since it has now been gifted, I can share! My friend Austin and his husband adopted a beautiful baby girl in November and so, of course, they needed a quilt!

I had all kinds of wild ideas when I originally set about designing this quilt, but in the end I was inspired by the Japanese X-Plus block; I modified the sizing and also made it symmetrical. Out came the graph paper and pencils (and ALL the math), and I created a variation on the block that finishes at 10" square with the corners stones and X being symmetrical to the centre Plus.

I dug through all my fabric bits looking for cheerful prints with nice contrast. Because she's fabulous, and I pretty much love everything she does, the majority of prints are Lizzy House (Cat Nap, Constellations, Pearl Bracelets, etc) with a healthy splash of Heather Ross, Anna Maria Horner, Violet Craft, and a few others. The background fabric is + Your Heart from Katarina Roccella's Wonderland collection. It was a toss up between this and one of the XOXO greys from Cotton + Steel, but I thought this grey would work a little better.

The pieced backing includes a little more Heather Ross as well as an older print from Heather Bailey (from Pop Garden which I think was 2008 or 2009?). The Heather Ross is from the Crafty Chloe collection she did back in 2012 for Hancock; Jeni picked this up for me and I've been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it and this was definitely it! The binding is another oldie from the Ava Rose collection by Tanya Whelan (2008, I think); I don't generally like to use white bindings, but I really liked the way it was playing off all the colours in the quilt. With the exception of the grey background fabric on the front, everything for this one came from my stash.

I quilted this little guy on the diagonal. Just some simple straight lines, but I think the diagonal adds a little interest without taking away from the fabric choices. Kittens, and hedgehogs, and foxes, oh my!

Kisses x 16 (Modified X-Plus)

For: Maddie

Finished Size: 40x40"

Completed: 01 Feb 2016