It's Giveaway Time - Winter's Lane!

Hey y'all! So, it's giveaway time again - woot! Once again, the lovely folks at Fat Quarter Shop and I have teamed up to bring you some pretty awesome swag.

This time around we're giving away a fat quarter bundle of Winter's Lane from Kate & Birdie Paper Co. for Moda. This is a really great winter-themed collection, but one of the things I really like about it is that many of the prints could easily be incorporated into sewing year-round. The greys are my absolute favourite! It's been awhile since I've seen a winter-themed collection that doesn't scream "CHRISTMAS!", so this is just great.

Yep, super-pretty. I think I definitely need reams that print that looks a bit like pine branches, especially in the grey (and the ice-blue).

Okay, so I guess you want to know how to enter, right? 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 my know which item (fabric, pattern, bundle, etc)

is your favourite from FQS' Coming Soon page.

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 (on May 28th) 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).

*the giveaway is now closed*

It's Giveaway Time - BasicGrey's PB&J!

Hey y'all! Once again, the lovely folks over at Fat Quarter Shop and I are teaming up to bring you a lovely giveaway! Oh yes, it is nice...

This time around we're giving away a fat quarter bundle of BasicGrey's brand new PB&J! This line is so new that only the pre-cuts are available so far (but the yardage should be available nearer the end of this month). I'm really loving the colours in this collection - very sophisticated, yet still fun, and the prints are great! I want the whole collection, but I definitely want reams of that white-ish grunge - I think it would make a fabulous background choice for a quilt I have in mind.

Yep, so pretty and yummy!

Okay, so I guess you want to know how to enter, right? 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 my know which item (fabric, pattern, bundle, etc)

is your favourite from FQS' Coming Soon page.

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 (on March 11th) 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).

*the giveaway is now closed*

Quilts at the Creek

A couple of weeks ago I participated in Quilts at the Creek where I showed two of my quilts. Quilts at the Creek was put on by the York Heritage Quilter's Guild in cooperation with Black Creek Pioneer Village; the YHQG asked my guild (the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild) to participate in the show with them and so I decided to put in two quilts that were finished somewhat recently.

Black Creek Pioneer Village is very cool and most of the quilts were hung up outside in various places throughout the village. I've heard a rumour that the show did so well that Black Creek has already decided they want to do the show again next year. Both my mum and Sheila drove into Toronto and the three of us spent the day at the show together; we walked around and visited all of the quilts, went into most of the buildings, watched a weaving demonstration (I recently found out that we somehow missed a hand quilting demonstration), and went to the fabric marketplace about five times as well as the actual giftshop.

Before we get into a few pictures, can I just say that I'm a complete moron and didn't actually take pictures of any of the quilts. The only reason I have any pictures of my own quilts in the show is because Sheila and my mum both took pictures of them. Yep, I totally rock.

This photo was taken by Sheila (using my phone) and that's me standing in between my two quilts. The one on the right is The Geese Have Landed which has been shown on this blog before, however the one of the left is Mineshaft which I haven't shared. Mineshaft has actually been done for a little while now, but is one that I'm currently writing a pattern for (hopefully it will be done and for sale very soon). I originally intended to put another quilt into the show but it didn't fit the width dimensions that they wanted as it's destined to be a wall hanging. And yes, both of those quilts contain a whole heck of a lot of Tula Pink - you know I love her!

A little anecdote: When I originally ventured out to find my quilts at the show I was dismayed to find that Mineshaft had been hung sideways - as in with the long side across the clothesline (despite the fact that the quilt back is pieced and that it has TWO labels on it that). Luckily a staff member wondered by as I was saying all of this to my mum and got it fixed! I wish they hadn't folded the top over like that (especially since it's crooked which you can really see in the next picture).

These are the backs of my quilts! You'll see better pictures of the Mineshaft back when I release the pattern but I must say that I love it! This is where I was standing taking pictures (not this picture obviously) when I heard two older women dissing my Mineshaft quilt - not cool!! Needless to say I didn't go near my quilts again for the rest of the day.

Here are a couple of goodies that I picked up both at the Marketplace and in the gift shop. The six fat quarters on the side (as well as a Moda scrap bag that isn't in the picture) are from Log Cabin Yardage which is a Canadian online shop. The hand dyed fabric pieces are from Good Lines Decor - they were made using pre-loved cotton and dyed with vegetable dyes - I think the colours are seriously awesome! The yarn is from the gift shop at Black Creek - it was hand spun at the village using wool from their Border-Leicester's (who I saw - cute sheep!) and hand dyed using indigo and osage. The little tag on it even has the name of the girl who made - her name is Kelly. I also bought a set of handmade leather buttons in the gift shop but they're not in the picture either.

I definitely think that I'll do Quilts at the Creek again and next year, I promise, I'll actually take pictures of the quilts!

It's Giveaway Time - Amy Webb's Blogger's Choice!

So, y'all ready for another giveaway?! It's that time again - I've got another fabulous bundle from the folks over at Fat Quarter Shop to give away. This time around we've teamed up to give away Amy Webb's Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle - so, so, so pretty!

The Blogger's Choice Bundles are exclusive to FQS and include 12 prints and 3 solids chosen by some of your favourite crafty bloggers. This particular bundle was put together by Amy Webb of amylouwho; Amy is a prolific blogger and all around crafty-type person.

Isn't it just so pretty? Amy's picks are just perfect for Spring (although it did snow a little bit here this morning - what in the what?!) and I think they would make a wonderful quilt to help usher in this season. Actually, couldn't you picture these all together making up a beautiful picnic quilt? Oh yes, day dreaming time!

Okay, so I guess you want to know how to enter, right? 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 my know which item (fabric, pattern, bundle, etc)

is your favourite from FQS' Newest Additions page.

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 (on the May 4th) 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).

*the giveaway is now closed*

Whatever fortune brings, don't be afraid of doing things. - A.A. Milne

A few months ago I was approached to do a commission for a baby quilt. The baby's sex wouldn't be known prior to birth (although I can tell you now that she ended up being a girl) so the quilt needed to be gender-neutral and one special request was made - that the focal fabric be classic Winnie-the-Pooh.

I like to refer to classic Winnie-the-Pooh as "naked Pooh". I was a little bit leery at first of taking on this commission because I have never made a baby quilt that uses typical "baby" or kid-type fabrics - it's just not my thing. But I said yes in the end because of the person who requested it.

Let me tell you - finding the classic Pooh fabric was a bit of a feat! It is out-of-print and not all of it was 100% cotton either. In the end I ended up turning to eBay where I paid a bit more than I would have liked (the shipping was positively atrocious too) but I managed to find a fat quarter bundle of four prints - one of which I didn't use because it was just a pink floral - and enough of a classic Pooh flannel for the backing.

I fussy-cut all of the centre squares and the cornerstones are somewhat fussy-cut too. The centres of the blocks at the four corners are hard to see because the fabric is a light-blue Pooh toile on white but they're fussy cut too. I paired each of the centre blocks with two prints from the City Weekend collection by Oliver + S for Moda. City Weekend is one of those collections that really grows on you; I wasn't so sure about it when I first picked it up at sample spree at Quilt Market in May 2010 but since then I have really fallen in love with many of the prints - especially the basic dots and grids - the yellow mini dot is now one of my favourite fabrics.

The centre block is definitely my favourite - I just love all of the colours together! I used nine different Kona solids too for this quilt - I'm pretty sure these were Maize, Banana, Lemon, Sunflower, Bluebell, Pear, Honeydew, Ice Frappe, and Aqua. Don't quote me on the colours though, I was comparing the cuts I have to my colour card and I might be off on a couple since a number of the colours are very similar. Oh yes, and I also used white Kona too!

The blocks with the geese are modified Weathervanes that I saw in one of my quilting books and the other four are ones that I modified off the original Weathervanes (when I got tired of making HSTs *wink*). I am really happy with the way it ended up! Using the Pooh fabrics and trying to come up with colours and a design without knowing anything about the intended mother nearly killed me, but in the end I think that it came out quite cute without being overly "cutesy" and the colours are gender-neutral but also really fun.

Classic Pooh Quilt

Commission
Finished Quilt: 36x36"

Completed: February 17, 2012

Craftsy Block of the Month Tour + Giveaway!

Hey all! Welcome to the first stop on the Craftsy Block of the Month Tour! If you're new to these parts feel free to pull up a chair, put up your feet, and stay awhile - and if you've been around here for awhile you know I love you! Stick around until the end of this post because... let's just say, there might be something in it for you!

Since I'm the first stop on the tour I thought it would be both prudent and fun to start off with a little overview of the Block of the Month course. Block of the Month is a free video course being hosted by the super-talented Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock; each month Amy walks participants through making one or two 12x12" quilt blocks with the end goal of having a 20 block sampler quilt at the end of the year. Since this is a video course you get to actually see Amy cut and sew each block step-by-step and are able to follow along with her, pausing, and rewinding whenever you need. One of the neatest things (I think at least) about how the videos are set up is that each one is divided into sections (introduction to the block, cutting fabrics, etc) so that participants can do each step in manageable sections if they so choose rather than feeling that everything needs to be done all at once.

Here is a picture of Amy with the January blocks - the January video is called "Slashed Blocks" and features both the Asterisk and Wonky Pound Sign blocks.

February's blocks feature half-square triangles and include the Balkan Puzzle and Chunky Chevron blocks. In case you want to know, you can't skip ahead in the videos - you have to wait for each month's to be released but I can tell you they look so fun! Each month also includes a printable materials list and the full set of instructions in PDF format. Cratsy's courses and workshops are set up in such a way that participants can all see and interact with each other with a discussion forum being featured beneath each video - if you go and take a look you can see that many people are asking and answering questions, showing off their blocks, and just generally having fun together. As the instructor of the course, Amy is also available to answer any questions and help participants along the way.

I have watched the first couple of videos (unfortunately I haven't been able to get started on my blocks yet though) and I think Amy is a natural! I have already suggested this course to a couple of first-time quilters but I also think that the not-so-first-timers will like it a lot too! It's so nice to participate in a quilt along with a bunch of other people with minimal pressure - you don't even need to keep up and make the blocks each month you can just jump in whenever you'd like since the videos will continue to be available at least throughout the year. It's also a bit of a mystery quilting experience too since the blocks are only unveiled when each month's video comes out.

Alrighty then, as promised, there might just be something in it for you for sticking around with me until the end! Fat Quarter Shop has generously donated a $25 USD gift certificate to each of the 14 blogs participating in the tour to give away! That's right - that means that when each of us puts up our tour post on our respective blogs you can enter to win! Can you imagine if you won all 14?! That would be way-awesome - however I'm putting my money on zero chance in a frozen hell of that happening! One can dream though...

Okay, so I guess you want to know how to enter, right? 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 my know if you have participated in a BOM or other type of block-making quilt-along (i.e. Blogger's Block-a-Palooza, FWQAL etc) before and what you thought about it. 

If not, why not?

(Also, if you're participating in the Craftsy BOM, let me know!)

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 (on March 2nd) 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).

I really hope that you guys enjoyed my stop on the tour and learned a little something new about Craftsy and/or the Craftsy BOM! If you still need to know more I posted a bit more about Craftsy in this post and be sure to check them out here! And just in case you're interested you can find me on Craftsy here!

*the giveaway is now closed*

Giveaway Winner + Craftsy Block of the Month Tour!

Hey all! How are you guys doing? I'm a couple of days late in announcing the winner of Parson Gray's Designer Select Fat Quarter Bundle, but I hope you all will forgive me! My mummy was in town on Saturday and I spent most of the day today sewing up a new purse (which I'll show y'all very soon), but without further ado...the winner is...

Lotti of Lawson and Lotti

Congratulations Lotti! Please send me an email with you mailing address and FQS will send out your bundle directly! Lordy, so jealous!

Now for a little announcement... Have you guys heard of Craftsy? Craftsy is a place where crafters of all sorts can share their projects with each other, view and upload pictures, create project pages, take classes and workshops (both paid and free), and now buy patterns from indie designers (automatic download and designers don't have to pay any fees - amazing) - I *heart* Craftsy a whole heck of a lot!

One of the super-cool things that Craftsy has going on right now is a free Block of the Month workshop hosted by Amy of Stitchery Dickory Dock. This BOM features video tutorials with step-by-step instructions on how to make a variety of blocks. I've signed up for the BOM and have already watched the first couple of videos. A few weeks ago Amy approached me and asked if I'd like to take part in a blog tour for her workshop - of course I said yes, you know because Amy's a cool person and stuff. There will be a number of stops along the way, with the your hosts doing a variety of posts - since I'm the first stop on the tour I'll be doing an overview/review of the workshops, but others are doing tutorials and interviews and more!

These nifty little blocks are the ones that Amy made for February's workshop video - pretty! As an added bonus every stop on the tour will be giving away a $25 USD gift certificate courtesy of Fat Quarter Shop - woot!

Here is the tour schedule:

Feb 24 - Miss Print

Feb 25 - Hoosier Toni

Feb 27 - Fresh Lemons

Feb 28 - Qubee Quilts

Feb 29 - Amy's Creative Side

Mar 2  - mon petit lyons

Mar 3  - Mel's Own Place

Mar 5  - Breakfast for Dinner

Mar 7  - Sew Paint Create

Mar 9  - SoChick

Mar 10- Spin the Bobbin

Mar 12- Diary of A Quilter

Mar 14- Ellison Lane

Mar 16- Old Red Barn Co

 

Make sure that you come back on the 24th to visit with me for the first stop and if you'd like feel free to grab the button below and link it back to Amy's workshop - there are already a ton of people participating so I know you'll have a great time discussing your blocks, working out issues, and getting to know the other quilter's in the discussion session! 

 

 

It's Giveaway Time - Parson Gray's Curious Nature!

Hey all! So it's that time again - we've got another giveaway from the fabulous Fat Quarter Shop! This time around we've teamed up to giveaway Parson Gray's Designer Select Fat Quarter Bundle which is a fabulous mix of twelve prints from the debut line - Curious Nature - and three coordinating Free Spirit Designer Solids (Espresso, Cream, and Manatee).

So who is this "Parson Gray" you might ask? Well, his real name is David Butler and he just so happens to be the husband of the oh-so-fabulous Amy Butler! I've met Amy a couple of times at Quilt Market, and even though I'm sure he was running around somewhere, I haven't had the chance to meet David - although, if all of his lines are as stunning and versatile as this one I am sure that I will meet him at a Quilt Market in the future!

Feel free to watch this awesome interview with David in his Curious Nature booth from this past Quilt Market and you can find the quilt pattern that he shows and talks about as a free download on the Free Spirit site. By the way, I totally agree with John when he was doing his Hey Girl tweets and said "Hey girl, I'm as excited as u are that Amy Butler's husband is designing fabric now too. And you're right: that is one ruggedly handsome man." Yup, ruggedly handsome...anywho...

Okay, so I guess you want to know how to enter, right? 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 my know which item (fabric, pattern, bundle, etc)

is your favourite from FQS' Newest Additions page.

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 (on the 17th) 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). 

Man guys, I'm super-jealous of whoever wins this - I would love to get my hands on some of this fabric to make a quilt for Alex! Good luck everyone - you're all winners in my mind *wink*!

*the giveaway is now closed*

Recently...

Bread was risen and baked...

Some early cuts of a new fabric line - Flock - arrived from a lovely friend...

Homemade taco seasoning became a football favourite...

Two bottles of red wine were enjoyed with friends over a dinner of lamb and quinoa...

Followed by a buttermilk cake layered with homemade whipped cream and 

raspberry Bonne Mama - inspired by a lovely lady that I truly admire...

Some books were read... and more than these besides...

A new one begun...

And another perused at leisure...

Yards and yards of binding were sewn down and a special project completed...

...but that's another story for another day.

The Holiday Sewing Finishes!

Hey y'all! How are you guys doing? I am back as promised with some more of my holiday finishes - unfortunately, this year I wasn't able to get as many sewing projects done as I would have liked. I had grand plans for all the little things I was going to make people but in the end that just did not happen this year. However, I was able to finish one project for my Mum for Christmas - which was very important because I know how much she enjoys receiving handmade from me - and since I had Alex covered with the hat I knit him, I was able to give handmade to the two very-most-important people on my list!

Alex and I hoarded our pennies together to buy my Mum the Kobo Vox for Christmas - the Vox is a tablet and e-reader that runs on the Android platform. I think (for my non-Canadian readers out there) that the Vox would be most comparable to the Kindle Fire in terms of what it can do. It is full-colour, has a built in web browser, and since it's Android you can download apps from the store for free (I totally got my Mum hooked on Angry Birds)!

The handmade gift for my Mum was a case for her new Vox! I used this tutorial from Amber over at One Shabby Chick but resized it to fit the Vox - the original tutorial was written for the iPad but the Vox is shorter in both length and width (7" screen versus 9.7" on the iPad) and is a little thicker. I figured out the measurements and am very happy with the fit!

  

For the outer fabric I used this Books print from the David Textiles collection The Grand Tour by Victoria and Albert (most people refer to this collection as "Venice") which was done in conjunction with the V&A museum, and for the lining I used Kona Medium Grey. My Mum adores both the Vox and the case, and carries both with her every day - this makes me very happy!

I also completed this custom order for a lady that my Mum works with. She saw the coffee sleeve that I made for my Mum last year and requested five to use as stocking stuffers. The coffee sleeves are based on my own template, as I like mine to be wider and I've found that all of the templates I've looked at have been for narrower sleeves. Some of the fabrics were chosen based on things I was told about the people receiving them, but for two of them I was told to just go with what I like.

I found a couple of really great crafty books yesterday at my local store and I will be sharing them with you soon! If you live in Toronto head to the BMV on Bloor soon - the craft section is totally stacked right now!

It's Giveaway Time - Kate Spain's Good Fortune!

Hey all! So it's that time again - we've got another giveaway sponsored by the oh-so-very cool Fat Quarter Shop! This time around we're giving away a fat eighth bundle of Good Fortune, Kate Spain's new collection for Moda...that's right, isn't it awesome?!



It's so pretty! I'm especially in love with the greys and dark purples! This little - or not so little - bundle includes 36 fat eighths from the collection and judging by the colours I think this would pair really nicely with Kate's previous collection Terrain - which I was just playing with last night!

Yummy...

Okay, so I guess you want to know how to enter, right? 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 my know which downloadable

PDF pattern that FQS carries is your favourite.

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 (on the 16th) 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). 

Man guys, I'm super-jealous of whoever wins right now - I want some of this gorgeous fabric for my very own! Good luck everyone - you're all winners in my mind *wink*!

*the giveaway is now closed*

Tal's Habitat of Love

So my friends Jackie and Ben (who both attended "library school" and worked with me) had a little baby boy at the end of November. His name is Tallis - Tal for short - and I finally got to meet him tonight! Knowing that he was coming along I started thinking about making a quilt to welcome him to the world; initially I started with working out a design (as I usually do) but that just was not working, so I jumped to thinking about fabric instead. Originally I thought that I would use "typical boy" colours and go with lots of blues and greens, maybe mixed with some grey, but then I decided to be a little more adventurous and settled on using pieces from Habitat by Jay McCarroll which had been sent to me by Free Spirit for the MQG challenge.

This is what I came up with! I went for a modified plus design that integrated various shades of grey - in this case Kona Charcoal, Coal, and Medium Grey - and also negative space. I could have made a standard plus quilt just using the Habitat fabrics, but I really wanted to do something different that was maybe more unexpected.

I took this little quilt (hmmm, forgot to measure it but I'd say it's about 42x47" or so) over tonight and I am so glad that Jackie and Ben liked it! Considering the fact that Ben mentioned awhile ago that his favourite quilt I've made was Sullivan's Steps, I was little worried that there might be too much pink (although I don't subscribe to the notion that boys can't have pink) or modern-ness for them, but it all worked out since they thought it was a-okay.

I used 100% unbleached, organic cotton for the batting, and quilted it with straight lines on the diagonal. The binding is also Kona Medium Grey. The backing is a solid piece of Kona Stone and I cut a label from the yard I had printed through Spoonflower to label it with.

This is one of the quilts that I mentioned in my last post was finished in November, so I am also super-glad that I finally got around to taking pictures of it before giving it away! Let me just say that working full-time during the winter means that it is dark when I leave for work and dark when I get home - not so good for picture taking! I'm hoping that in this new year I can be more organized with getting pictures done on the weekends, as long as the weather agrees with me that is!

Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day!

Hi everybody! If you're stopping by Miss Print for the first time from Sew, Mama, Sew - welcome! If you've been around these parts for awhile - you know I love you! Feel free to snuggle down, put your feet up, and stay awhile. I bet you'd like to know what I'm giving away right? How does some Heather Ross sound?

I'm giving away four prints from Heather Ross' West Hill collection (which is out of print). Up for grabs is a fat quarter of tan matryoshka, a fat quarter of brown matryoshka, a fat quarter of the pink floral stripe, and a fat quarter of the cream floral stripe (this is the one with the yellow leaves, not the purple).

There are two chances to enter-

1.Leave a comment on this post letting me know what your 

favourite winter treat is - hot chocolate? holiday cookies? something else?

2. If you are a follower of this blog, or if you become one, please leave 

a second comment and you will be entered a second time.

The first entry is mandatory to be entered in the giveaway, but the second is optional and you only have to leave a second comment if you are a follower and want a second entry. This giveaway (as always) is open internationally. I will pick the winner on December 16th and announce it here on the blog by the 18th.

There are many more giveaways to enter over at Sew, Mama, Sew so make sure to pop by over there and check them all out! Thanks for stopping by everyone, and please keep in mind that comments are moderated - I will publish them as soon as I see them, but duplicate comments will be deleted. Good luck everyone and I hope you're having a wonderful day!

*the giveaway is now closed*

The Life Quilt...and seeing life in quilting

A few months ago, as some of you will remember, I was working on a quilt when my walking foot exploded shooting dark oil in splotches across the top; luckily I was able to get the oil all out (phew!) but wasn't able to complete the quilting until I got my new foot.

This is the photo that I showed at the time with the quilt all basted; I was finally able to get my new foot at Creativ Festival in October (it is surprisingly difficult to find the proper Janome foot in Toronto and I tried to order one from a shop in Guelph but that was such a farce that I gave up) and finished the quilt last month. Just in case anyone wants to know the prints are from Kate Spain's Fandango collection and the solid is Moda Bella in Snow (I believe it's snow anyway).

This little quilt is going my friend JJ's mum who is sick. A few months back JJ decided to put together a project and asked her friends to contribute - she asked that we use/put the word "life" into situations and take a photograph so that she could put the images in places where her mum would see them everyday and she also created a gallery. I decided that since I see life in quilting that I would make a tangible object for her mum to have (I also sent her a picture to put into the gallery) and this little guy will be leaving my house sometime very soon to join JJ and her mum.

Seeing "life" in a quilt or in quilting is an interesting concept, but one that I also think is a very true part of my own everyday. I really can't fathom who I would be without quilting and sewing and creating and designing. It kept me sane when I was getting through grad school, helped to keep me in food when I was looking for a job, and has introduced me to so many people - some of whom are my very best friends now.  It's been difficult recently with a full-time job and the lack of sunlight hours to find time to do everything that I would like and that includes creating - the lack of sunlight hours has really put a cramp in being able to photograph my completed projects too (I have two quilts and a couple of other smaller projects that I need pictures of). Sometimes all I want to do is sit on the couch and just sit, but what I really need to do is kick myself in the pants and get back to the sewing machine. The last few days I have really been trying to do just that and completed both a gift for a friend and a couple of Christmas commissions. I have one more really big project that I need to make myself work on, but then I can pick things just for me for a little bit (or at least I hope so).

While being a librarian is a big part of my life, I think that it would be more true to say that creating is my life. Even when I'm doing other things I am thinking about designs and seeing patterns in architecture and the objects around me everyday. I feel extreme satisfaction when I can help people with research and answer their questions, but I feel an even bigger sense of well-being and accomplishment when I see people using my designs or when they tell me that they love something I've made. I am a nervous person by nature and was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder a few years ago - I sometimes become awkward in social situations (which is not helped by the fact that I am partially deaf) and have a hard time talking to people I don't know. This is easier with the quilty people though because there is automatically something that connects us to each other and something that can be innately understood - I feel much more myself and accepted with people who craft even if it is still sometimes hard and difficult to join in with the group. Like every other area in life quilting and sewing also has an "in-crowd" or a popular group, and they are darn intimidating let me tell you!

So that, just in case you wanted to know, is a little part of me.

Pam Kitty Morning Winner!

Well, it seems that the weekend got away from me there! I originally intended to announce the winner of Pam Kitty Morning's Designer Select on Saturday, but evidently that did not happen! Better late than never though, right? Okay let's get right to it! The winner of the bundle is...

Tracey of Traceyjay Quilts

Congratulations Tracey! I really hope that you like this bundle and make something gorgeous with it. Please email me with you address and the folks from Fat Quarter Shop will get that out to you!

Now I do have some kinda big/fun/exciting (at least I think it's uber-exciting) news to share with y'all but I'm waiting for some "photographic evidence" to surface that I can show you! It should be very soon though so keep you eyes tuned here!

Sewing this past week...

A couple of weeks ago Kelly of kelbysews (who I know mainly from Twitter) asked for some volunteers to help her out testing her new paper-pieced wonky alphabet pattern, I jumped up and said that sounds like fun! Kelly sent me three of the harder letters to test - B, G, and (surprise, surprise) K. It was good times let me tell you!

Okay, I have a bit of a confession to make the B was actually supposed to be a D but I totally screwed up on that one and sewed the fabric to the wrong side of the paper, but hey, it worked out since I think I might be making the whole alphabet anyway and least it came out as another letter that's still usable *wink*. Like my house socks?

This block uses prints from Tula Pink's Parisville Collection and Laurie Wisbrun's Tufted Tweets. I have a lot of scraps left over from my Tula Pink Parisville fat quarter bundle (because I made something quite big that I'll be sharing soon) so they feature in every block.

The G features prints from Tula Pink's Parisville, and Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet and Meadowsweet 2.

And finally the K features fabrics from Tula Pink's Parisville, Denyse Schmidt for JoAnn Fabrics, and Oliver + S' City Weekend. And in case anyone is interested the background fabric used in all three is Kona White (at least I'm pretty sure it's White and not Snow).

Kelly blogged about her Wonky Alphabet pattern both here and here and it is now available for purchase from Kelly's shop if you guys are interested. Just as an FYI Kelly's pattern is available only in PDF format and does not include paper-piecing instructions.

Now I'll leave you with a little sneak-peak of what I've been working on for the last couple of days...