Fighting the Winter Blues...

...with bright, pretty fabrics!



This ridiculously cold winter has been a tad soul-crushing. Maybe I'm being over-dramatic, but I've never dreamed of moving south more than I have in the last month. So something happy and bright was in order! I grabbed some of my favorite fabrics and made a Sprocket Pillow using Cluck Cluck Sew's tutorial.



Fabrics are from Kate Spain's Terrain collection and they just make me happy to look at them. I'm a *bit* of a Kate Spain fan (see my two favorite Christmas quilts here and here!).





Okay, so maybe I've even got a Kate Spain nail file. :)



And on the back...



And in other pretty fabric news, I visited my local quilt shop this weekend and made a few purchases (yay for Christmas gift certificates!)...



I was looking for fabric for K's birthday dress and couldn't decide between these two prints, so I got them both! And, yes, that bottom fab is another Kate Spain fabric. Her birthday isn't until March, but last year I was still sewing buttons on her dress an hour before the party, so I'm trying to think ahead!

Boxy Pouch

I was looking for a quick-finish project this weekend and a search of my Pinterest boards led me to this Boxy Pouch.



I think I must have some sort of winter-induced brain fog going on, because I had to use the seam ripper on this little project more times than I care to count. Maybe that's why I chose this summery fabric-- I'm subconsciously counting down the days until spring!



Instead of making fabric tabs, I used a flowery grosgrain ribbon for the zipper pulls and I added a handle for easier carrying.



It's a great size to hold a small knitting project. I'm well on my way to finishing another Palindrome scarf!



The boxy shape makes it easily collapsible. It's pretty cute folded flat too! Next time I think I'll make it a bit smaller in laminate fabric for a make-up pouch.

Wisp Scarf

We've been under house arrest by the Polar! Vortex! that hit our area this past week so I've had plenty of time to knit. Extreme weather, or not, January always seems to be when the knitting bug hits me again. The post-holiday lull and cold temps just make me want to cuddle up on the couch with some yarn.



The yarn is Kidsilk Haze by Rowan and I feel so fancy for having made something with it! It's been languishing in my yarn stash for quite some time, originally purchased with a capelet pattern in mind. But after working on the capelet for quite a while, I realized that I'm not a "capelet person" and there was no way I was ever going to wear it. So it was frogged and put away until a more suitable project came along. After searching on Ravelry, I settled on the Wisp scarf and whipped it up in a few days.



It's a tad fussy to work with and I had a false start working with metal needles. But I started fresh with a wooden set and I didn't have so many problems with the stitches slipping off the needles.



In the 10+ years that I've been knitting, this is the first time I think I've properly wet blocked a finished pieced. What a difference in made in bringing out the lace. Perhaps I should follow the rules more often!

Christmas Presents 2013

The gifts have all been given, so here's a quick post about the handmade gifts I made this year!

A handful of kitchen towels, made using this tutorial.



I made my own fabric covered buttons too!



A couple of scarves, one sewn and one knit.





And one block that never materialized into a finished gift! :)



Wishing you all a happy 2014!

Christmas Star Quilt

I did it! I finished this quilt before Christmas!



I finished it several days ago, but the weather has been so overcast and gloomy lately on the days that I've been off work, I haven't wanted to take pictures. The only reason I was able to take photos today is because I'm home with a sick kid sleeping on the couch. I tricked the sun- it knew I wasn't supposed to be home today!



Lots of straight line quilting, because I still keep talking myself out of free motion quilting on a "real" project. Those practice sandwiches are piling up though!



Now it's back to the mad rush of finishing the handmade gifts I have planned! The list keeps getting "amended" each day we get closer to Christmas... Happy Holidays Everyone!

Christmas Quilts: Making Progress!

Which is a good thing, since Christmas is TWO WEEKS away. Yikes.



I finished this wreath block into a mini quilt and gave it to my mom as an early Christmas gift. The quilted circles gave it a modern feel that I hadn't intended, but I like it just the same!



You can find the pattern here.

And I'm quite close to finishing up my Christmas Star quilt.



I went with option A, if anyone's keeping track. ;) I hope to finish it up in the next day or two, otherwise I'll barely have time hang it up before Christmas has come and gone!

Christmas Star Block

I made this star block over the weekend and just love it!



If I had all the time in the world, I'd love to make a full-size quilt of these stars. But I'm short on time and fabric, as I'm using the leftovers from the advent quilt I made a few years ago. The fabric is from Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas collection. I just love her holiday fabrics! I've been hanging on to a layer cake of her Joy collection too, just waiting for the right project to come along.



The above quilt is a pattern I designed for work, and you can download it for free here.

So now I'm trying to decide what to add to this block to make it into a decent wallhanging size. Here are a few options I've mocked up in EQ7:



I'm leaning towards A... what's your pick?