A Teeny Tiny Update...

Sorry for the lack of posting everyone! I have been consistently bent over my sewing machine for the past few weeks and may have developed a permanent hunch. This was not alleviated at all by the fact that I had to rip out all (and I mean all) of the quilting on two of my Market quilts (both "Verna" and "Love"; "Daisy Chain" is fine) and do them again - so very frustrating! I think the bad, horrible quilting was caused by a multitude of factors: my walking foot broke part way through quilting "Verna" and I switched to my standard foot to finish, I decided to try spray basting for the first time on "Verna" (this did not go well, although the back was perfectly flat and pretty), and user error (i.e. me, being impatient and doing things I shouldn't have)... oy!

My first paper for my Summer course is due on Tuesday and so I'm a little sad because I had two more designs that I wanted to get done before I leave for Market on Thursday (one using Botany and another using Nicey Jane), but there's just no time left.

Would you like to see photographic evidence of how tired I am? Yes, okay!

Alex took this picture of me asleep on top of "Love" (this is the back) right after I finished ripping out all the quilting. Hey look at that... you can kinda see the quilting hunch I've developed!

I should mention before I head off to bed that I have in fact finished quilting all of the Market quilts, yay! They just need to be bound (which is the plan for tomorrow) and then I will take some pictures of them for my portfolio... I also need to get some money exchanged... and pack... and maybe do some laundry... and, oh ya, write that paper!

Alright, g'night everybody! Be sure to come back on Monday when I will be participating in Sew, Mama, Sew's annual May Giveaway Day!

{Almost} Wordless Wednesday

Quilting for Market... unfortunately I pulled this one out of the machine and realized it was a complete mess.  I'm going to have to unpick it and do it all again, argh!

An Open Letter to my Friend Monica (aka The Happy Zombie)

Dearest Monica (aka The Happy Zombie),

This is your Kaye-nadian speaking (by the way, you come up with the best nicknames) and I have a few things to say to you! Don't worry you're not in trouble...although you might be if I don't see some Holiday Happy soon (wink). First, I just wanted to say thank you for being my friend! Your encouragement, kind words, and general all-around niceness put a smile on my face every time I talk to you - I can not wait to finally see you in real life at Quilt Market (omigosh, it's only two weeks away)!

Second, I need to do a little raving! I am so proud of you on the upcoming release of your first fabric line, Holiday Happy, from Lecien - I mean, come on, this is pretty awesome! I can not wait to get my hands on some and start my Chrismukkah sewing!

Look at the Santa gnomes - they're so cute and I can definitely see some appliqué in my future...maybe on stockings...you know, the stockings I was supposed to make last year and didn't...whatever, it happens!

Look at these colours!

So wonderful - more gnomes, pretty poinsettias, and colourful snowflakes! And are those cherries I see? Oh my! I mean, really Monica, what's not to love? I really am just so proud of, and happy for, you! And again, I feel so privileged to call you my friend.

By the way, can I come hang in your studio for awhile?

Oh and look, Happy Holiday being sewn up in the foreground!  Yes, this room is definitely a place I'll need to visit one day. And don't worry, you won't have to come and visit my sewing room in exchange (since I don't have one) even though we both know how much you love Canada.

Okay, I'm signing off now - must get back to the Market quilting (you should see my kitchen table right now, it is completely covered in quilt!); talk to you soon!

Love and Hugs!
-The Kaye-nadian

Notes: All photos are from Monica's Flickr stream, which can be accessed here.
Holiday Happy will be released for sale around July 2010, please check this page for periodic updates and to view the Happy Holiday swatchamacallit.
The Happy Holiday Flickr group can be found here.

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sorry I have been MIA this past week! Last Monday while writing up the previous post my computer kept turning off for no explicable reason and had to be sent in for repair - boo! However, I did get my CD-ROM drive replaced at the same time which was exciting for me since it hasn't worked since October. I have her back now and am very happy especially since I start school again, oh well, ya know...today! Yes, that's right, I had the brilliant idea to take one course over the Summer (3 month class condensed into a six week period, so I'll be done mid-June) and am regretting it a little today especially considering how much I need to get done for Quilt Market (which is just over two weeks away). I decided to take this course in the Summer mainly because the professor who teaches it during the year scares me, and I know I'll be happy with my decision once I'm through it, I just wish it were a bit later in the Summer so that it didn't cross over with Market preparation.

Speaking of Market, I completed another top last night using fabrics from Amy Butler's Love collection (the design roll shown in the previous post) and Kona Ash. Would you like to see a sneak peek? Okay!

The design itself is rather simple, but the math was a killer (and I'm pretty good at math) and using these fabrics it is rather striking. I like it! I'll do a full reveal either during or after Market along with the Verna quilt I sneak peek-ed earlier, and the two others I'm hoping to get completed. Wish me luck!

I mentioned in my last post that I had attended my Quilt Guild meeting on Sunday, but forgot to show some wonderful fabrics that were given to me by another guild member.

My Quilt Guild friend, Steph, and her husband are moving to Oklahoma City (I'm pretty sure it's Oklahoma City) and Steph did a little destashing for the move. Thanks Steph - you rock!

I had some disappointing news this past week. I decided to submit a project for the new One Yard Wonders book that is coming out soon, but found out that my project didn't make it. I thought since I spent so much time on it that I'd share some of the pictures with you guys; it's called Crochet-on-the-Go and includes a tote bag for carrying supplies and a hook roll that can also accommodate a pencil and eraser and has a spot for holding your needle.

This is the bag and hook roll together. Here is the bag by itself.

And a picture of the hook roll by itself.

For the projects in this book, they were requesting that they be made out of fabrics other than quilting cotton (although you were allowed to use quilting cotton, the focus was on others) and I chose linen. I also used a doily on the bag and Cluny lace on the hook roll to emphasize the crochet aspect - this would allow the maker to actually use a doily or lace they had crocheted themselves and show it off.

I'm pretty sad that my project didn't make it into the book, but I'm still excited to see it and check out the projects that others have submitted - it should be pretty awesome!

Come back soon for my next post where I'll be showcasing my friend Monica (aka The Happy Zombie) and her first fabric line which will be making its debut at Quilt Market. Have a great day everyone!

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!