A little knit and purl this week!

Okay, so I know I said I'd be able to reveal one of the top-secret projects in about a week's time (which would be today) but unfortunately you're going to have to wait another week...I know, I'm sorry! Things had to be pushed back because of some other thing, but it will most definitely be revealed on the 24th. I know...bad Kaye!

I've been working on some other projects lately that I can't share too, but I can show you what's been on my needles lately.

I don't really talk about it much here on the blog, but I can knit...not overwhelmingly well, but I can. This is just an easy, chunky ribbed scarf that I'm making for either myself or Alex...haven't decided yet...but quite possibly for me since I love grey!

I also bought some yarn over the weekend for a couple of pattern I recently bought.

The small ball on the bottom is Patons Shetland Chunky in Earthy Brown and the larger ball is Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Charcoal. The colour of the Charcoal was very hard to photograph (I don't even think the Lion Brand picture does it justice) but I really like it!

The Patons is going towards these mittens for Alex, and the Lion Brand is going towards this hat for me. Both of these patterns are by super-talented (and Canadian) Jane Richmond - I just love her designs and if I work up the nerve I'm going to try my hand at her Oatmeal Pullover...trust me, the hat and mittens are going to be a challenge for me, but luckily I have Erica to help me (I *heart* that girl)! I almost bought the yarn for the pullover too, but restrained myself!

I also have plans to knit the honey cowl from Madelinetosh and will used the Madelinetosh Tosh DK in Composition Book Grey. Amanda (mrsmcporkchop) and I were talking about it via email the other day and she made me want to make it even more than I already did - she's doing hers in a lovely golden honey colour.

Work had stalled on the pieced centre string blocks I'm making using my tutorial because of the other projects I have to get finished, but here are the blocks I have so far.

I need a lot more, but they're coming along!

Okay, since you're going to have to wait until next week now to see the first reveal, I'm going to leave you with a little snippet of what I'm working on right now for my next super-secret project/reveal.

Ohhhhh, I forgot to mention that my new laptop arrived yesterday and I looovvveee her - she's awesome! Okay, bye for now!

Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat. -Robert Frost

Hey all! I didn't mention this last month because I was a little sad, but my pet fishy, Uther Pendragon, passed away in July. We don't know exactly what went wrong, but we got a few ideas talking to a guy during our recent visit to the pet store. Why were you at the pet store you ask? Well, let me introduce you to Robert Frost!

(Sorry for the camera reflection...gee it's hard to take a photo of a fish in a bowl!) Isn't he pretty? He's a very friendly fish and that's why I picked him. Alex left the name up to me and I was originally going to name him Gilmore (hah, get it? Gil...more...gosh I kill myself!) but when I looked at him he made me think of Robert Frost and since Frost is one of our favourite poets that's what we went with. Robert Frost is pretty awesome, eh? Okay, I'm talking about the poet now not the fish; I think my favourite poem of his is Acquainted with the Night.

Alright, I know I'm annoying you all with my constant references to super-secret projects but no information... so here's a little sneaky-peeky of something that will be revealed in about a week or so.

Ohhh, pretty Verna! Yup, all will be revealed in a short time...I hope you'll think it was worth the wait! There are still more secret projects in the works, but this one is really exciting (at least for me) and I can't wait to hear your thoughts on it.

Ohhh, guess what I got in the mail recently? Flea Market Fancy!

I found this Flea Market Fancy scrap pack on Etsy for a decent price and just had to have it! The pink daisy dots is a FQ and there are a few prints here that I didn't have already. I don't have a lot of FMF and I'm still missing a number of prints, but what I do have is being worked into the string blocks for my quilt.

And in other FMF news, I found my missing piece of the green daisy dot, yay! I couldn't find it anywhere and found it behind the couch yesterday while getting some batting (I keep my batting in bags behind/under the couch). I don't know how it got there, but I'm very happy! The green daisy dot piece is the first I ever found (in a scrap pack at last year's Creativ Festival) and measures about 1/4 yard.

I think I may hop into bed now with either some knitting or quilt binding because I haven't been feeling so hot for the past few days. It's pretty early here, but I think even just lying down for a bit will make me feel a bit better! Talk you all soon peeps!

P.S. Did you see Melissa's most recent blog post? It's been a standing thing between John, Jennifer, and I that we need to get some t-shirts made with "Quilt Dad is my Homeboy" on them and guess what? Melissa delivered! Now Jennifer and I are just trying to figure out how to get ours to say "Fly Girl" on the back. If you want to know the story, check out John's Quilt Market recap (the story is towards the end where the picture of Jennifer and I is).

Good news and a new addition to our family!

Oy vey, I started writing this post this morning before heading to work but then my laptop started cracking out again... so I'm getting a new one!!! Yay! Woot! And all that! My laptop is about 7 years old and was inherited last year from my bestie, Evan, when he decided to get a new one. I've piled a bunch of money into it in the past year (almost enough to buy a new one) and have about had it - the stress and anxiety of all it's problems was (literally) keeping me up at night and making me ill; I know that sounds over-dramatic, but as a graduate student I really need my computer to actually work. My new laptop should be here in about two weeks, but I'm crossing my fingers for sooner. Jennifer is pretty excited for me since I think she was disgusted with my laptop when she saw it at Quilt Market (it's held together with tape in some places).

Okay, since I haven't heard from the winner of a second set of Kate's patterns, I'm drawing a new one! The new winner is... Krista of Poppyprint! Congrats Krista, send me an email and we'll get the ball rolling!

I've been sewing up a storm the past few weeks, but unfortunately I can't show you what's been taking up the majority of my time. BUT I can show you this little beauty (the new addition) that I whipped up this week.

Meet Sherlock Holmes! He's based on the free Scottie Dog pattern which can be found on Denyse Schmidt's site. I made his front side using mostly a mix of Denyse's fabrics - Flea Market Fancy, Katie Jump Rope, and Hope Valley - there are a few other pretties thrown in there too just to mix it up a bit! Doesn't he look at home there sitting with Euclid and The Garden Path? 

Although the pattern says to make the back side patchwork also, I decided to do mine in a solid fabric - I put the front together first and then I traced it onto the Heather Ross Mendocino so that it would match. I love him! I really made him for Alex, but I like to snuggle him too!

Okay, I'm off to quilt (again); I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Tutorial: Pieced Centre String Block Coasters!

I came up with this fun little tutorial as a way to use blocks made from my earlier tutorial (Pieced Centre String Quilt Blocks) in a small and colourful project! It was mentioned to me by a few people that they were going to try making blocks based on my tutorial, and I thought it would be great to share a project that didn't require you to make enough blocks for a whole quilt (which is what I'm doing right now and let me tell you - it is time consuming)!

Enter the Pieced Centre String Block Coaster!

Are you ready to get started? Woohoo!

Okay, so to start: in order to make the coaster top (i.e. the string block) you will need to follow my earlier tutorial but with a few modifications. Here are the modifications - you will start with a 5" square paper piece (instead of 6.5"), the pieces for the centre strip will have a width of 1.5" (instead of 2") and your finished centre strip will end up measuring about 7.5" (instead of 9.5"). Are you still with me? Everything else stays the same, but the modifications mean that you won't end up with a trivet sized coaster, teehee!

This is what the block should look like. Be sure to give it a nice press (iron) before you continue so that it lies as flat as possible.

Cut a piece of fabric for that back of the coaster  that is 5" square, and a piece of batting for the middle that is 4 3/8" square.

Place your string block and backing fabric right sides together and sew a 1/4" seam around three edges.

Clip your corners, turn right side out and press.

Insert your batting in the middle either above or below the seams so that it lies flat. Press again.

Turn the open edges in 1/4" and press. Starting along that edge, topstitch 1/8" from edge all the way around. Continue quilting as desired. I did another line of stitching all the way around 1/4" from the first line, and then stitched in the ditch along both sides of the pieced centre string.

Back side:

(Sorry about the slight wonkiness in the 1/8" topstiching - my machine was just not into it today).

So what do ya think? I hope you guys like it and that it will inspire your to try out my earlier tutorial without the dread of a full sized quilt hanging over you, teehee! And again, I'd love to see pictures if you make something using any of my tutorials!

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. -Confucius

Hey all! There are a few giveaway winners that I haven't heard from yet - Meg of The Mad Quilting Librarian (who won my hand-quilted mini quilt), Cindy of Live a Colorful Life (who won the Fandango jelly roll), and Elisha of Elisha Quilts (who won a set of Kate's patterns) - if I don't heard from you within the next few days I will draw new winners for those prize.

The blog redesign is on hold for right now since I've been redesigning and changing things up over on the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild site. I headed my first guild meeting as President on Sunday and we had a ton of fun! We decided to do a fat quarter swap/block challenge - we bought our fat quarters at The Workroom (which is where we meet) and held a blind swap, then we picked a block (Ohio Star) to make using the FQ and fabric from our own stash, and at our next meeting we'll swap the block and scarps left over from the FQ back to it's original owner. I can't wait to see what my partner is going to do with my FQ that she got!

Talking about fat quarters reminds me that the latest issue of Fat Quarterly came out yesterday and I bought mine bright and early! My dear friend Jennifer has a pattern in this issue and there's even a little mention of yours truly in John's article about Quilt Market! Fat Quarterly is an ezine that comes out four (is it four? John?) times a year and it's just amazing! This issue has 90 pages and is jam packed with awesome patterns, interviews, and even giveaways (woot!); head on over and buy yourself a copy - you won't regret it!

I found out about this super-awesome bike on Holly's blog (Holly is the leader of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild) and I want it sooooo much! It's called the Patchwork Cruiser and it's made by Felt; I won't even ride a bike in downtown Toronto, but I just might if I had this beauty! It's just the bike I know I would dream about if I did, in fact, dream about bikes (which I actually think Holly does).

Lately, I've been making more string blocks for my quilt and it's coming along steadily, but you don't really need pictures every time I make new blocks...or do you?

 I've also gone on a bit of a hexagon bender again since I'm participating in the second round of the {Handsome} Hexies Swap. I had so much fun in the first time and got some awesome hexies from my partner, Kate of One Flew Over, so I needed (yes, needed) to participate in this round too! My partner's likes weren't very specific this time so I hope I can make ones she'll like. Oh, the ones in the picture are not the ones for my partner - these are mine...my pretties...wicked witch of the west anyone?

I also got an awesome package of fabric (seriously swoon-worthy) on Monday and have another on the way that are for secret projects I'm not allowed to share with you right now, but trust me it's all very pretty! One project I'll be able to share soon, but I won't be able to share the other until September. I know, I know...Kaye, why do you have be so secretive all the time? I'll spill the beans as soon as I'm allowed and then you'll see why I wasn't allowed to say anything.

Okay, it's back to quilting I go! What do you like while quilting? Music? Silence? Or do you watch BBC dramas and mysteries on the computer like I do?

Two-Year Blogiversary Giveaway Extravaganza Winners!

A couple of housecleaning things first. First off I'd just like to thank all of my lovely friends who donated gifties for my giveaway - Ryan, Angela, Heather, John, Kate, Jennifer, Aneela, Katy, Stef, Trish, and Jessica - you guys rock! I feel very lucky to call you all my friends and don't know what I did to deserve each and every one of you.

Second, I'm allowed now to tell you a little something since the announcement was made officially yesterday - I am the new President of the Toronto Modern Quilt Guild! Very exciting I can tell you! I will officially head my first meeting tomorrow and will be looking for input from all members about which direction we should go, changes to the website, and any other ideas and thoughts. I'm hoping all goes smoothly, but I know that there will probably be a few bumps along the road.

I'm also currently compiling a list of favourite designers/collections, blogs, crafty books, and online stores from the giveaway comments and will post them here when I've got them all together. Really, the comments were a pretty great resource and I even found some new-to-me things on it.

Just so that this post isn't completely devoid of pictures, here's a picture of my Round 2 Siggy Blocks. Unfortunately, the blocks seem to have gotten lost in the mail and never made it to Julie! I'm very sad, but at least I can post the picture here so that they live on.

Okay, I know, I know, you're dying to know the winners, right? Okay, here we go:

Day One:
Winner of Ryan's giveaway (Nest Jelly Roll) - Kris of Summer at Grandma's House

Winner of Angela's giveaway (Rags to Ruffles Pattern and Fabric) - CJ of A Stitch & A Prayer

Winner of my giveaway (Hand-quilted Hexagon Mini Quilt) - Meg of The Mad Quilting Librarian (Hey Meg, did you know I'm currently finishing up my Masters of Information to be a librarian? We should be friends)

Day Two:
Winner of Heather's giveaway (Two Dream On Charm Packs) - Rene of Luv 2 Kreate

2 Winners of John's giveaway (Moda Marbles Solid Jelly Roll) - Elizabeth of Such a Sew and Sew and Charlotte of Skinny Chiquita Sews

2 Winners of Kate's giveaway (2 original quilt patterns each) -  Deserae of Deserae Quilts and Elisha of Elisha Quilts

Day Three:
Winner of Jennifer's giveaway (Fandango Jelly Roll) - Cindy of Live a Colorful Life

Winner of Aneela's giveaway (3 original embroidery patterns) - Barb of Quilting Barbie (Hey Barb, you've actually won a giveaway here before - you sure are one lucky duck!)

Winner of Katy's giveaway ($20 gift certificate to Thistle Hill Fabrics) - Nova of a Cuppa and a Catch Up

Day Four:
Winner of Stef's giveaway (Remix FQ bundle and handmade towel) - Melissa of Happy Quilting

Winner of Trish's giveaway (Pocketful of Posies Apron and SewHip magazine) - Karlyn of Rosa's Room

Winner of Jessica's giveaway (Handmade ruffle pouch) - Felicity of Felicity Quilts (The name Felicity always reminds me of Lucy Maud Montgomery - so nice!)
 
That's 14 winners in all - congratulations everyone! Please email me with your address and be sure to let me know in the email which prize it was you won.

Well, that's the end of the giveaways, it's sure been fun! I wish I could have given a prize to each and everyone of you (especially those who said my blog was their favourite - bum kissers, hahaha!) but I can wish you a beautiful, sunshiney day!

My Creative Space Today: String Blocks!

Here's what I've been doing in my creative space today - making more string blocks! These blocks were made using the tutorial that I posted here. I just love how the pieced centre strips are creating large and distinct Xs throughout; I'm planning on making a quilt that is large enough for our bed and have been including all of my favourite fabrics so that I can always have them with me. Gosh, I can see that this might take a bit, teehee!

Oh, and the link to this tutorial was also posted over on OnePrettyThing yesterday, so if you're vising from there - welcome!

Also, there's still time to enter my 4-day blogiversary giveaway extravaganza! You have until tomorrow and the giveaways can be found in the last four posts. Alright, back to making more string blocks - have a lovely day everyone!

P.S. To see more creative spaces, pop on over to Kristy's and have a look.