Meet + Make

Hey y'all! So I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be teaching an English Paper Piecing class at the end of the month at Meet + Make.

Meet + Make is a full day creative workshop hosted by The Makers Nation. Participants will be able to choose two workshops from a total of six to participate in throughout the day; these workshops include such awesomeness as Silk Screening and Book Binding (more info below). Breakfast, snacks, lunch, and happy hours drinks are all provided in the registration cost.

Ohhhh now, doesn't that look like fun?! As I mentioned, there are six workshops to choose from, these include: English Paper Piecing, Book Binding, Silk Screening, Wood Carving, 3D Printing, and Instagram 101. I think it's going to be a super-awesome day.

And, as a little something extra, I have a $25 off coupon code that I'm sharing with you guys. If you think this is and event that you'd like to check out then you should definitely use it to register here (there is also a "bring a friend option" that allows to people to participate for a discounted price). The code is: MM_Teach

I cannot wait to meet some new faces and to hang out with such creative individuals for the day - I am so excited!!

Details

Where: MakeWorks at 1139 College St. Toronto, On

When: Sunday September 28, 2014 from 9:15am to 6:30pm

Why: Making awesome things of course!

What: Chicken butt.

Coming Up: A Quilter's Mixology Sew Along!

Hey y'all! Well, it has been a busy few months around here. I have so many deadlines coming up in September that I'm not really sure I could name them all off at once without forgetting something, eek! I really do need to be better about writing things down. One of the first things coming up in September is a sew along/blog hop for Angela's book, A Quilter's Mixology.

The sew along will be hosted by Sara of Sew Sweetness and I think it's going to be a lot of fun! There are lots of super awesome ladies participating and I hope you'll be able to join us. All the fun will start on September 8th, and from what I hear there are going to be some pretty spiffy prizes up for grabs - woot!

Here's just a little sneak peak at my cuttings for the quilt I'm doing (my day is the 9th). I must admit to being a little afraid of the curved bits as that's never been my forte, but that is what this book is all about - helping you master curves! Who knows? Maybe everything I make will have curves from now on!

Bag Making + the Giveaway Winner!

Hey y'all! How's it going? While going through pictures on my iPhone today, I discovered that I hadn't shared any pictures of the Super Tote that I made before heading off to Quilt Market. Frankly, I think Instagram is having a detrimental effect on my blogging - I take pictures of the things that I make (or am in the process of making), post them to Instagram, and then completely for to post them to my blog! Bad.

With that said, I'm going to share a few of the pics that I took that day while making it!

I watch a lot of Harry Potter while sewing (I also tend to drink a lot of coffee)! Anna's Super Tote pattern is absolutely one of my most favourite bags to make - the pattern pieces go together so easily and the instructions are just fab!

The Clover Wonder Clips make this stage of making this bag soooo easy! The first time I made a Super Tote I didn't have Wonder Clips and just used pins - it was super frustrating. I also use these while hand sewing binding and they work great!

I used fabrics by Sarah Watts and Jay McCarroll for the outside, along with some wool suiting for the sides and outer handles. The interior (lining, pockets, zipper bands, and reverse of the handles) features three prints by Anna Maria Horner.

I still carry this bag everyday and just love it! I was going through my Quilt Market pictures, and it's quite funny, but my Super Tote doesn't show up in any of the pictures - it's always hidden by someone else!

So, I bet you want to know who the winner is, right? Well, without further ado, the winner is...

Congratulations Adrienne! Please email me with your details and FQS will ship your thread box out!

Giveaway Time - a Moon Shine Aurifil Box!

Hey y'all! How's it going? It's been a little while since we've done a giveaway and I thought, since Fat Quarter Shop is celebrating their 11th anniversary, that now seemed like the perfect time!

This time around I'm giving away something a little different and I really hope you like it...

Ohhhh, what could this be?! Why, it's one of the brand-spanking new Aurifil thread boxes designed to coordinate with Tula Pink's not-yet-released Moon Shine collection.  This particular box is the Dandelion colourway but threads to coordinate with Moon Shine are also available in the Meadow and Strawberry colourways. I was lucky enough to receive a few fat quarters of this new collection while I was at Quilt Market, and let me tell you, it is gorgeous!

This awesome little box contains 10 spools (220 yards each) of Aurifil 50wt. cotton thread - isn't it pretty? If I had any disposable income right now, I would be buying one of each of these little boxes for myself - totally jealous! And just in case you wanted to see a little more about the thread (and other Tula awesomeness), FQS shot this little video with Tula at Quilt Market.

To celebrate their anniversary, FQS is offering a shipping sale, so if there's anything over there that you want, I say hop to it now!

Now I bet you want to know how to enter the giveaway right? Well, here ya go!

You have two chances but please be sure to leave separate comments for each entry. Here's what you've got to do:

1. Leave a comment letting me know what your favourite 

collection from FQS' Coming Soon section is.

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

That's it! Two easy-peasy ways to enter! I will close the comments in a week (June 25th) and announce the winner here on the blog. International entries are, as always, welcome! Also, please remember that I have comment moderation enabled so if you don't see your comment right away it just means that I haven't had the chance to approve it yet (duplicate comments will be deleted).

Good luck everyone!!

*the giveaway is now closed*

SMS: My Favourite Quilt

Hey y'all! Just popping in to let you know that I'm participating in the "My Favorite Quilt" series happening right now over at Sew Mama Sew. The series is curated by Jessica Skultely of Quilty Habit and will feature designers and bloggers talking about their most favourite quilt (made by them).

I chose Orion as my favourite (love it so much I can't use it). If you'd like to read more about my favourite quilt, and see who else is featured too, head on over to Sew Mama Sew!

Spring Quilt Market 2014 - Part Two

Hey y'all! Let's get back to the Quilt Market action!

This is Thomas's booth - it was fab! I spent quite a nice time, sitting with Thomas in his booth and just chatting. As we do, we chatted about ideas, theory, and his book Modern Quilt Perspectives. On the night that I arrived, Thomas threw a little party in his rented loft to celebrate his book and it was a great time.

This is Alison Glass' booth - as with the Cotton + Steel booth from my last post, it was really hard to get one picture of the full booth because it was always full of people eager to see Alison's new work. I have one tip for you: see that blue solid in the quilt at the back? Get it and get it now, it's called Celestial and it's Kona. It is frickin' fabulous!

This is a shot of the other side of Alison's booth - just as fabulous as the other side! Look at all the pretty things!

Quilt Market, for me at least, is also about seeing the friends that I don't get to see very often since we're spread all across the world! We were out every night of Market (as a matter of fact John, Sukie, Lee, and I all went clubbing on the Friday which is something I have not done in years!) and it was so great to just catch up and relax with each other. On Saturday night, we had a big dinner and then headed to a bar where we chatted until the wee hours. Not everyone made this picture, but let's see... there was John, Katy, Brenda and her husband, Sara, Violet, Tula, Tula's brother Cameron, Angela, Ali, and I'm sure a few other people that I'm not thinking of right now.

Speaking of Violet, her booth was amazing! I can not get over this paper-pieced quilt - it blew my mind! I am definitely going to need the pattern. Her new fabric line, Brambleberry Ridge, is absolutely gorgeous and I will be getting all of it.

Photo courtesy of Violet

I tried really hard to steal this pillow (tentatively called Stan the stag), but Violet caught me! It's hard to see in the photos but Brambleberry Ridge has these really great metallic accents that will work great in a range of projects.

As always, the Echino section was gorgeous and full of wonderful linen-cotton prints. The Nani Iro prints were right by these and I nearly swooned!

Photo courtesy of John

Just before John left for home on Sunday, Angela, him, and I took one last photo together - I miss these guys so much already!

Photo courtesy of John

He also took this one of Angela and I at Art Gallery and I think it's my favourite photo of the two of us from the whole time! Angela is one of my favourite people and it was so wonderful to spend three whole days with her!

Well, that's it for the Market pictures I guess, but I still have some swag pictures to share and I'm going to try and review at least a couple of the books I got. Tune in next time!

Spring Quilt Market 2014 - Part One

Hey y'all! How's it going? I've been back from spring Quilt Market in Pittsburgh for about a week, and am only now beginning to wrap my head around it all and the great time that I had. I've been to two Quilt Markets before but I haven't been for a few years, so it felt a bit like a new experience all over again. I have so many pictures and got to sorting them out tonight; the one big difference that I noticed was how many more pictures there are of friends rather than booths this year. Sure, I saw and admired a lot of booths and talked to a lot of people, but I think the times that I remembered to whip out my phone (or other people whipped out their phones) were the times that I wanted to capture memories with my awesome people.

Picture courtesy of Amy Smart

So many awesome peeps all in one photo!! Here we've got Melissa, Amy, Angela, Me, Anna, Allison, Ashley, Faith, Amanda Jean, and Lee - wow!

Jeni's booth was my first stop on the first day of Market because I love her! Jeni, Anna, Amanda Jean, and I all roomed together over Market which was pretty fun. Jeni's new collection with Art Gallery called Geometric Bliss is just awesome and I love the colours.

Photo courtesy of Angela

Wandering around, I ran into Ali and Angela, and we basically ended up spending the rest of Quilt Market as a threesome. This super-awesome photo shows Ali using Angela's back as a table to sign a copy of her book, Quilt Lab, for me. Also, note the tote made by Amanda of TheCraftJunky; it was my Christmas present from her and I carried it around everyday. I totally pimped her super-geeky awesomeness to anyone who would listen.

Of course, I had to find the awesomeness that is Cotton + Steel and it did not disappoint! I didn't get very many pictures of their booth because it was constantly packed with people, but I managed to snag a couple including this one showing their award for best first booth - wonderful work ladies!

This is another one from Cotton + Steel; one of my favourite things about their booth was that they melded all five of the collections together rather than keeping them separate - really brilliant!

Photo courtesy of Ali

While we were hanging out at Angela's book signing (for her book A Quilter's Mixology) we were approached by a couple of ladies from The Electric Quilt Company who graciously offered us some copies of EQ7 - how cool is that?! I got the PC version and Ali got the MAC. Thanks again EQ!

Photo courtesy of Anna

I'll leave you for now with this kind of hilarious picture of me in Heidi Boyd's booth! I was super-excited about meeting Heidi since I love her book Stitched Whimsy, but I think this pretty much sums up my face for most of Market!

I've got tons more to share so tune in later in the week for more Quilt Market antics!