Friday/Sunday Felicities!

This weekend has been so full of felicities, i couldn't post on friday and miss them all!


The first felicity is a felicity for me and some of you! my birthday giveaway! it actually worked out super well, everyone got the notebook they liked best.

the first winner was Hueisei, from Malaysia, who blogs at Love It Sew It.



the second winner was Hadley,who blogs at Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle. Hadley apparently has really good luck!



the third winner was Heidi, Digital Misfit, who DOESN'T blog at My Hiding Place in Cyberspace, no matter how much you nag her to!



fourth winner is Carol, who blogs at CarolBrowne.com



and the fifth winner was Darlene, whose blog isn't linked on her profile, even though i know she has one. jeez Darlene.



Carol and Darlene have already gotten their notebooks because i delivered them in person, but i'll be e-mailing the other three ASAP.



other felicities?

Yesterday! it was such an awesome day! we had a joint sew-in with FVMQG and VMQG members and it was FABULOUS! i coordinated it, and i'm so glad i did, i've been wanting to connect the two guilds more. we met in Surrey, at the GORGEOUS new City Centre Library, because it was halfway between the two guilds, and it worked out well, once we found enough tables! Carol's blogged about it here with her amazing photos, and again here with a few portraits from the day (that's me!)

another Felicity?

in addition to the fabulousness of hanging out with fellow quilters, i also got spoiled! we exchanged with our partners for the Travel Swap, and my partner was Holly, VMQG's fearless leader. she went with a theme for the items she made me, which was so awesome! she also went way overboard, and made me so many things! i took pictures, but they're all on my camera still, so i'll do a separate post to show them off. i also got to give Holly her main swap item, which i was SO impatient to do! (i'll do a separate post for that too!)

and yet another Felicity?

this morning i went into the city and had brunch at one of my favourite places, with one of my favourite people in the world. we haven't been able to connect as much the past few months, due to various things going on in our lives, so it was especially lovely to see him. i was somehow very with it this morning, full of insightful ideas and suggestions for some reason, and i was super emotional too, i lost count of how many times i teared up over my pancakes! it was just so good to see him and connect.

another Felicity?

after brunch i went to Spool of Thread to get some kona for the Madrona Road challenge, and ran into a few guildies and had a good chat. after they left, i had another great chat with the folks working there. it nice, with lots of enthusiasm for something i love.

and the last Felicity?

Felicity herself! i love Felicity's enthusiasm and happy nature, she's always such a delight to spend time with. does that sound cheesy? it's true! and i love that she hosts the Friday Felicities link up, it's such a good thing. thanks Felicity!


lots of Felicities this week. i'm pleasantly tired....

a little Xmas recap

did you all have a good christmas?

if you don't celebrate christmas, did you have a good every-damn-store-except-the-asian-market-is-closed day?


mine was pretty lowkey, just my immediate family. we ate good food, had naps, ate more food, and so on. i did get a couple of fun quilty gifts - two books from my sister and cash from my parents to buy the Lizzy House Pearl Bracelets fq bundle. i ordered that last night, since it was sold out almost everywhere already!


(excuse the slightly blurry instagram picture, i'm still figuring this phone out. but hey!! i'm finally on instagram!!
)

both of the books are super inspiring - Modern Designs for Classic Quilts: 12 Traditionally Inspired Patterns Made New by Kelly Biscopink and Andrea Johnson totally makes me want to dig out my favourite bright prints and get started, and Quilting Line and Color: Techniques and Designs for Abstract Quilts by Yoshiko Jinzenji is giving me a million ideas for directions to take my art quilts.


but i won't! cause i am MASSIVELY behind on everything. the next few weeks will be all about bee blocks and an upcoming swap package.



speaking of swaps, i made this little ornament for the FVMQG december meeting. i had plans to make a bunch, and maybe even do a tutorial, but that obviously didn't happen. maybe next year.



everyone who wanted to participate brought a handmade ornament, and we hung them on this fabulous fabric tree panel that Lysa brought. there were so many awesome ornaments! i hope someone got a shot of the tree once they were all hung, i was so impressed by the variety.



isn't it cute? i love the chevron it makes!



did you have a good holiday? did you get any quilty goodies? have you entered my birthday giveaway? there's still time!

Felicities!

i know, it's not friday, but i wanted to share some felicities anyway. happy things are good every day of the week!


felicity #1?
ohmygod, i'm so glad guild meetings are done for the month! i'm usually the opposite, sad that i have to wait another month before we meet again, but this month has been exhausting. i over-committed myself (surprise!) and have been frantically rushing for days now to get things done before the VMQG meeting, most especially my big Kona Modern Quilts challenge project. i'd actually hoped to have it finished by the FVMQG meeting on november 8th, and didn't even end up finishing it in time for yesterday's VMQG meeting, so that shows you how severely i underestimated the time it would take to quilt it! of course, it didn't help that i had three other challenge projects on the go as well.... so i'm very happy to have a chance to breathe today. i spent most of my afternoon sleeping, and it was wonderful!


felicity #2
thunderstorms! we so rarely get them out here on the west coast, and i miss them so much. we had some truly spectacular thunder and lightning about an hour ago, and it was a treat. HUGE thunder, it was fabulous!


felicity #3
tutorials! i know, i'm SO BEHIND with posting the tutorials for GotCraft? projects, but i've got one ready to go up tonight! two blog posts in one day, who'd've thought it?


felicity #4
VMQG's scrap bag challenge and swap! Felicity's been coordinating this, and i'm super excited! i didn't have time to dig through my stash and put a lot of thought into my selections, so i filled my ziplock with some tone-on-tone rainbow scraps that were towards the top of my scrap pile, and a large chunk of blue linen, cut from the skirt i nabbed off a sale rack in the mall last weekend, that i had out to use for felicity #5. if i'd had the time to plan out my scraps better, i probably would have ended up with the same, to be honest!

the baggie i grabbed was Paul's, and is full of yummy teal and blue prints that i can't wait to play with! in honour of Paul's amazing quilts, i'm pretty sure i'll be doing some improv piecing.


felicity #5
pincushions! VMQG is participating in huge a pincushion swap organized by Kansas City Quilt Guild, and last night was the deadline for bringing in our pincushions. i'd had an idea for my pincushion for ages, and i was DETERMINED to use some of the Liberty lawn scraps that i'd purchased from Ali of Very Berry Handmade's Folksy Shop, but i was so frazzled with everything else that i didn't think i'd get mine finished.

however, when i finally accepted that i wasn't going to finish my challenge project, you know, late yesterday afternoon, i stitched together a pincushion, and threw some stuffing in a bag with matching buttons. i finished my pincushion during the meeting (nice benefit of not being the secretary anymore!), so i still got to participate.

and i finally used some of my Liberty pieces!



it's a bit simpler than my original idea (which was eensy weensy paper piecing), but i've been assured that i don't always have to go overboard (thanks Holly!).



i used two of the vintage buttons that i found on my most recent trip back east, and though the paler liberty prints are totally not my usual colours, i'm happy with it. Krista helpfully pointed out that it's not actually for me... it was a good reminder! one of my favourite things about swaps is the excuse to make stuff that isn't my own style, and this is a great example of that. hopefully it finds a home with someone who loves it!

Friday Felicities!

i'm away from home at the moment, lost in a land of no internet access, so this will be quick! (i've driven to town to run errands, and i'm using the restaurant's wifi as i eat my lunch.)


Felicity #1!!

Halloween!! FVMQG and VMQG have both had their October (aka Halloween) meetings, and they were awesome! i made a new skirt, and wore my bat wings, and it was fabulous.

FVMQG really went all out, lots of people dressed up, and we had not one but TWO halloween swaps! i'll do a separate post about FVMQG, and show you the goodies i made for the swaps.

VMQG did our annual halloween block lotto, which was also really fabulous, even if i was the only one who dressed up. (boo on you guys!)

there were lots of amazing blocks, but i didn't win this year. i'm really okay with that, i was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable about winning every year!


(look at the awesome bat in the bottom corner that Berene's son made! i was sad not to win that one!)



and Felicity #2!!

thrift stores!! i love thrift stores, and i especially <3 prairie thrift stores! i slip in trips to the thrift store in between trips to relatives (thrifting gives me a break before i blow up and say something unforgivable, like the time i told my grandma that i wasn't catholic anymore, and she got so upset that i had to apologize and tell her i'd been lying!), and i've managed a few in the past few days. unfortunately, my all-time-favourite thrift store is only open two days a week, but i'm hoping to make it there on tuesday. cross your fingers for me!


(i took this picture last year... it is NOT that nice out here right now!)

it's a FABRIC THRIFT STORE! seriously! isn't that amazing? they carry yarn, fabric, notions, sewing machines, patterns, etc. everything that you need, it'll eventually come through the store. a lot of the other thrift stores in this region send their sewing related stuff to this store, and the space is run by the mennonite quilting ladies, who make spectacularly ugly charity quilts to send to africa. (no really, they're THAT UGLY. it's sad.) they snag some of the donations for their quilts, and sell the rest at reasonable prices. it's pretty darn awesome, except for the fact that they're only open 10 hours a week total!

so those are my felicities. i have others, like finding an awesome melmac tea set on thursday and madonna tapes at the thrift store today (the farm car only has a tape deck and radio, and i'm tired of country music stations!), but that's good for now. i hope you're having a fabulous weekend!




i'm linking up with Friday Felicities at Felicity Quilts, and i hope Felicity will forgive me for not checking out the others linked up, i need to get a move on and finish my errands in town. i promised my grandma i'd be back this afternoon, which means BEFORE 5pm, when her supper arrives!

is it too early for Halloween? never!!

lately i feel like i've been all about the blocks. there's the unscripted bee, the across the sea quilt-a-long, various little projects.... everything's block based. i enjoy making blocks, but i'm starting to crave strip piecing!



however, i am SUPER happy with these blocks. how can i not be? they're halloween themed! y'all know how much i love me my halloween goodness!

you might remember that last year i organized a Halloween challenge for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. it was pretty damn fabulous, and we had so many awesome blocks. i wanted to do it again this year, but of course, i wanted to switch it up a little bit, just for variety.

so this year's challenge was along the same lines - make as many Halloween blocks as you'd like, bring them to the meeting, and recieve a ticket for each block that you make. we draw the tickets, and folks with the winning tickets each get to choose 10 (10!!!) blocks to take home and make into something fabulous. last year we had 5 or 6 winners, i think? so we got around 50 or 60 blocks - pretty awesome!

last year we had a requirement that all the blocks had to have Kona black in them, but not all of them did, and that was fine (in fact, i screwed up and one of my examples didn't even have black!). so this year we scrapped that requirement, and opened up the sizes instead.

all blocks made for the challenge must have a finished size that is a variation on 6". so people can make 6.5"x6.5" squares, or 12.5"x12.5" squares, or 6.5"x12.5" rectangles, whatever they'd like.


i was really excited about the variety of sizes, and had a blast making samples.

first, i made a 6.5"x6.5" block. simple cute square in a square, log cabin style block.



it was originally going to be two rows around the centre, but i suck at scant 1/4" seams! that's okay, i just trimmed the 3rd row a bit, and added a 4th.

then i made two 6.5"x12.5" blocks, one stacked blocks, and one flying geese.



the stacked blocks/coins/books/bolts/whatever block was a great excuse to use a halloween charm pack that i picked up last year. because the block is a rectangle, the 5" squares were a great size, wide enough to fill the 6.5", but without too much waste. i've obviously been into this block lately, after the one i made for the unscripted bee, and the sample i made before that. there's a tutorial here, as well as instructions in the book Block Party, as seen here on alissa haight carlton's blog.

and the flying geese were just fun. i love this striped green print, with the little spiders peeking out!

and then the flying geese created some extra HSTs, so i figured i might as well sew them up too!



they needed a few borders as well, to bring them up to size.

most of the fabrics i used were Seen On Halloween, by Maywood Studio, except for the centre of the log cabin block, which was Batty Halloween by Kylie Kreations for SSI, and the charm pack i used in the stacked whatever block, that was Spook Tacular by Sanae for Moda.


and i also made a 12.5"x12.5" block!(it is square, i promise... apparently i just can't take straight photos!)



this one is using kona black and Witchy Stitchy, an older alexander henry print - it's yummy, but the colour tones aren't my usual thing. i love halloween, but i hate oranges and pumpkins! i like how the block turned out, but i don't have anything else that would go with it, you know?



i'm so excited to see what the rest of the guild comes up with by next month!



and i'm linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday. click on the badges to see lots and lots of other fabulous projects!

WIP Wednesday

once again, i didn't get much done this week - but this time my apartment is MUCH tidier, as i've been spending a lot of time organizing, and now i have a nice tidy area to sew in. we had the final meeting for this past year's exec for VMQG at my house yesterday, so i HAD to clean! i've been housesitting as well, so i'm spending a lot of time going back and forth between their cats and my cat. as i write this, there's a very handsome stripey boy curled up against my leg, and a very pouty sofie hiding in the closet at my house.


i have managed to do a little bit of sewing...



i finished my Sherbet Pips quilt!! yaayy!! i went in to Spool of Thread after brunch with a friend on Sunday and pinbasted it, and have been working on quilting it the past few evenings. i did the binding this afternoon, and it's in the dryer as i type this. i can't wait to pull it out, it's going to crinkle up sooooo nicely!


and i finished cutting the prints for both of my bow tie quilts (still need to cut more black kona), so i could finally put away the stacks of rainbow coloured cottons all over my table, and i've laid out all of the colours for one of them, so that i know what order the prints will be in the quilt. i need to do that for the larger quilt as well, but it's not a huge hurry.








other projects on my WIPs list - the RSR pouches that are ridiculously close to being finished, the binding on my green kona quilt, plotting out my pattern for the Billboard quiltalong, pulling out the fabrics for the Across the Sea quiltalong, that blue and black half-quilted monstrosity that's holding half my favourite basting pins hostage, the blue modern traditional quilt

on the quilts to come list - my ghastlies quilt, my far far away II quilt, something with a prize pack of fqs from Pink Chalk fabrics, perhaps a wonky 9 block??, start a portrait quilt, contemplate the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild's quilt-a-long, housewarming pillow, the black and red circles quilt, start one of the art quilts floating around in my head....

not yet started, but this week's list - Unscripted block, samples for Sept guild challenge


i'm linking up to WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced, be sure to click through and check out some fabulous WIPs!




in other news, tommorrow is the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild's 1 year anniversary meeting! they've changed the date and location of their meetings, so they're no longer on the same night as VMQG, huraay!!! i'm really excited to go (though much less excited about driving there...) because as much as i love the VMQG and enjoy my role as secretary, it's going to be so great to actually participate in a guild meeting instead of typing frantically!

and it's going to be a great meeting, i'm sure. there will be plenty of door prizes, show and tell, a draw for a basket full of fat quarters for anyone who choses to bring one, yummy food, some sort of game, information about a quilt-a-long, the launch of an interguild swap, and anyone who's interested is making a string of bunting (following this tutorial, or close to it) that will be used to decorate the room during the meeting, and will be swapped at the end of the evening. i'm determined to go, regardless of how crappy i feel, because i know that it'll be worth the effort! i started cutting out fabric for a bunting, and ended up cutting enough for 5 or 6 strands - i need to sew at least one strand together tomorrow, so that i have one to take.

i've been advised that i must bring my Kona Pinwheels quilt, as the FVMQG is in the middle of their Kona challenge, so i'll take that, and my newly finished Sherbet Pips quilt. i'm excited! (could you tell?)



and speaking of my Kona Pinwheels quilt, Candace from Southern Girl Quilts, who wrote the tutorial that i used for the quilt, has blogged about my quilt, and the blog post just before that shows two different versions of origami pinwheel quilts. you should definitely pop over and give her some love!