last of the purple sweaters, I swear!

Okay, I may have finally gotten the "purple sweateritis" out of my system.  Though I love this one as much as the others.  If you missed the boat on the other three , they are posted here, here and here.  All with my favorite ever super soft purple Malabrigo yarn.

 

I made this sweater as a thank you gift for my sweet friend, Tracey.  Well, it is actually for her adorable daughter, Scarlet, but seeing our babes all dressed up does a mama's heart good, doesn't it?  I wanted to send her a little something in thanks for all of the time she spent on the graphics of my hockey quilt pattern.  Lord knows it would have never came to be without her!  She is always cheering me on with my knitting, so I decided this would be just the thing.

I used the tiny tea leaves pattern, which I have made a couple times before for my girls, but this time modified it to make the neck not so wide.  I added a few lilac pearl buttons, since Tracey was such a fan of those on my niece's sweater.  Inside, I stitched in a label by Izzy and Ivy I still had from my Sewing Summit grab bag in 2011.

And speaking of Tracey, not sure if you saw her Blogger's Quilt Festival post, but she has now finished and gifted the amazing scrappy sprouts quilt to her good friend, Chelsa, who is fighting cancer.  This is an absolutely gorgeous quilt and sentiment, and I was so happy to be able to contribute some blocks to its making.  I think I need to make one for me!

 

(photo by traceyjay quilts, used with permission)

my new favourite quilt.

Okay, it is not so new.  I have been sleeping under this for a month or more now.

My favourite Anna Maria Horner Good Folks fabric.  Pieced with love on a weekend away in Atlanta, it will always remind me of that trip and bonding with my quilty friends.

Quilted by the amazing Krista in an all over loop pattern.  The texture is perfect on this monster sized quilt, a large king at 120" by 90".

Buttery voile on the back, so soft on the skin. It is the perfect weight for summer. I love how it welcomes me to bed every night.

My favourite. Now I just need to make me some matching pillowcases and shams :)

 

working on....

....turning this gorgeous mound of wool....

 

....into a dreamy little sweater.  And loving every minute of it.

Have a fabulous weekend :)

love and marriage

I wanted to make a little something for a sweet couple who recently were married in Mexico.  It had been awhile since I had played with my hoops (you can see some of my faves here, here, here and here) and I was itching to be stitching, so embroidery it was.

Unfortunately, it seems I only took this one crappy iPad photo, but you get the idea.

I used this pattern - and I used her pattern transfer tutorial, too.  I happened to have one of those Frixion pens and it worked FANTASTIC!!  I shrunk the pattern down to 70% to fit my hoop, then added my own personalization in the centre.

I am really happy with how the floral part came out, it was my first time doing something like this, but I used too many strands for the lettering, so those are not as perfect as I would have liked.  But, overall, I am really happy with the quaint feel of this.  I must get back to more needlework!  So relaxing.

June already?

Not sure how summer snuck up on us, just glad it finally arrived.  The days seem to fly by around here, and I am looking forward to slowing down somewhat over the summer months to enjoy....just enjoy everything.  Some time soaking up this view will be in the cards:

 

We bought a cottage :)  So, SOOO excited!!  As you may recall, we had a family cottage that was destroyed in floods here a couple summers ago.  With it, there has been a mountain of  paperwork and bureaucracy to work through.  We were finally at the point where we could start to rebuild.  BUT, then more forecasts of floods were made (which, thankfully, did not occur), and an ice storm caused more damage for some properties.  And we decided, enough was enough.  Time to make a move to a new, more sheltered area.  While we will miss our friends at beach, we are looking forward to this new chapter.  Life is good :)

And a new cottage means new bed quilts to make!  That should keep me busy for awhile.

While I haven't been blogging much, I have snuck in some crafting here and there.  If you follow me on Instagram (I am there under Kristieocd), you have seen some of these.  But here is a few more of the things that I have made for my new muse, my sweet peanut of a niece! So, in addition to the quilt and sweater she has scored, here are a few other items I have made for her of late.

A wee knit hat for her noggin, using my baby eyelet hat pattern and adding a crochet flower.

 

A voile dress.  No pattern, just went with it, much like the one I made for LBNL's birthday.  Used some crochet trim for the hem and the shoulder straps, and a button closure on the back.  Will be nice and light, and hopefully fit, in the warmer months ahead!

Some onsies, made with t-shirt transfers.

My sister is a bit OBSESSED with New Kids on the Block, U2, and Teemu Selanne of the Anaheim Ducks (and formerly a Winnipeg Jet).  She has a keenly developed sixth sense entirely related to finding and meeting celebrities, and as such has had several run ins with Teemu, Donnie Wahlberg, and even can be seen chatting up Bono in the latest U2 documentary about the band, which was partially filmed in Winnipeg.  It is quite comical how she pulls this stuff off.  So of course I had to take the opportunity to dress her offspring in NKOTB and U2 gear. This one reading "New Kid on the Block" and another that says "Achtung Baby" after the U2 album.  Of course, the first gift my niece received was her very own baby Jets jersey!

Have a great day, back again soon :)
Kristie

Blogger's Quilt Festival: a quilt for my niece

Welcome, Bloggers!  Hope you are enjoying the Festival, thanks for popping by!

I have a new niece!  You can read more about her story here.  She has stolen all of our hearts :)

This is a quilt that brings me so much joy.  I have been waiting to make it forever.  My sister is not a "pink" person, and, growing up, had her own room decorated in purple, blue and black.  So, I used those colors as inspiration for my niece's baby quilt.

I don't often use patterns, but this time opted to crack out one of the MANY quilting books I buy (but rarely use!) for a simple pattern.  I settled on Elizabeth Hartman's Fenced In, from her Practical Guide to Patchwork, and modified it to baby size.  Though a generous baby size...it finished up at about 50"x50'.

I used and assortment of fabrics from my stash, choosing light and dark purples, navy and aqua blues, a splash of pink, and some yarn dyed Essex linen in black as my base.  A new color palate for me, and I love how it turned out.

On the back, I made a patchwork heart, with the center being my label, with some words of love for my new sweet niece.

I quilted it with loopy hearts to add even more love!

My sister used the quilt in a newborn photoshoot with the amazing May Arason-Li.  If you are in the Winnipeg area, I highly recommend her!  She has taken photos of our family as well, and they are spectacular.  Here are a couple of my favourites :)

And another on my New Wave quilt, pattern, by coincidence, also by Elizabeth Hartman.

And who doesn't melt at the sight of baby toes and puppies??

 

Thanks again for stopping by, I am off to enjoy the Festival!

a long time coming

Life has been pretty exciting around here in the last couple months!

My sister and her husband, one of the most wonderful and loving couple I know, have finally had their sweetest wish come true.  After years of infertility, failed in vitro treatments and heartbreak, they received a life-changing phone call, giving them the amazing gift of becoming parents to a perfect baby girl.

Our families could not be more thrilled or instantly enamoured with this most precious little gift.  And of course, Aunty has been celebrating with a frenzy of handmade gifts!  Let's start with this sweater.

Made all the sweeter when worn by my beautiful niece!

Instant love.  Look at that soulful stare.

I used the same purpuras purple Malabrigo yarn that I used to make a sweater for The Middle Child and for myself.  Someone is over the moon to match her new little cousin :)

The pattern is a free one from Ravelry, Cascade, and the size 0-3 month is the perfect fit for this 7 pound bundle of joy.  More details on my Ravelry page.  I love the details of this sweater, it has a sweet leaf motif along the button band.  I used lavender pearl buttons to finish it off.

It's exhausting work being this cute!

This Mother's Day, my sister's first, our entire family is so grateful for the gift of this beautiful child.  We cannot thank the courageous birth mother enough for entrusting her to our care.  We promise to love her and treasure her, always. 

Happy Mother's Day!