Paper Starfish

There has been progress on my quilt and progress with knitting! I find myself with more and more WIPs these days. I was always a one or two projects in the works person, but now... not so much.

First of all, the quilt top is done and I really love it.

I was very afraid of the mitered corners on the border but Gina, my great quilting teacher met me over at the shop this morning and refreshed my memory. They look pretty great if I do say so myself. It's not perfect by any means but I love all of the fabrics. I'm planning on a dark binding with some pops of color and haven't quite decided about the back yet. Thoughts, anyone?

Here is a close-up of some of the blocks:

The top needs another press but other than that and a backing... it's ready to quilt!

In knitting news, I'm loving the book Itty Bitty Hats. Maybe it's because I have another Itty Bitty and my brother and sister in law are having their first itty bitty in a few months. Baby hats are so cute and fast. What's not to love? I'm working on one for my soon-to-be-born niece right now:

This Ultra Alpaca Light is going to be something fun but I don't want to mention details just yet....

My brother and sister in law are pregnant with their first baby and it's a girl! This means girly knits for baby Sophie! Having two boys myself, I don't get to craft much for girls so I started with "Ribbons" from the Itty Bitty Hats book.

And since I always appreciate a modeled shot of FOs, I threw it on Baby Starfish to give you an idea on how it looks. He didn't mind ;)

I modified the pattern to have three rows of ribbons instead of four and I didn't include the ribbons on the top. I love the way it came out and think it will fit just fine. Baby Starfish is over 3 months old in this picture and I'm hoping Baby Sophie will wear it a bit earlier than that!

Let's talk about them. I feel like more and more blogs are having giveaways for yarn, books, material, etc. It's so much fun to see people get excited about it and leaving comments to enter. If it's a blog I usually read, I enter and enjoy seeing who wins and how excited everyone gets. Well, recently...I won!

Liz recently had a giveaway for a piece of her dyed fabric and I won! I haven't received it yet so I can't gush but I'm sure it will be gorgeous.

My favorite little shop for buying fabric is Karen Gray Design. Karen had a giveaway on her blog recently and I won that too!

This Sweet Life bag is so well made and designed. There are so many pockets for knitting needles and notions. It is big enough to fit multiple projects at once and the fabric is beautiful. I couldn't believe it when I saw that I won! Yippee!

So now I'm thinking about having a giveaway here. First of all I'm wondering what to offer. Yarn from my stash? Something I've spun myself? Something else? I also wonder if it's kind of lame to have a giveaway on a blog like this where there are often only a handful of comments. I guess that just means that everyone has a good chance of winning, right? What do you think?

on my new project, that is!

I am in love with this project and am actually much further along than this but this is the only progress shot I have right now. It's a test knit for a knitter/designer who has great taste and style, in my opinion, and this pattern didn't disappoint. I hope to finish this up next week and have the FO with details to share!

In quilting news, I joined a virtual quilting bee - Sew Bee Wonky. There are 13 of us and the "bee" will go for the next 13 months. We each have a month to which we are assigned and during that month we will send out fabric to the other members along with instructions on what size and style blocks we'd like. By the end of the month, we get a bunch of blocks sewn with our fabric to be made into a quilt. Yay! During the other 12 months, I will be making a block or two for the other members. Sounds like fun! As the name suggests, all of our blocks will be done in the "wonky" style which I happen to love and it has the added bonus of maybe covering up small flaws for me since this is my first time sewing for others! The button on the right side should take you to our Flickr group if you want to see!

I have decided I WILL be trying a giveaway. I'm thinking it will be in the next week or two so check back!