5 year blogiversary = {big} giveaway

Wow, 5 years?! I can't believe it. What started as a little knitting blog just for fun has stood the test of time. Sometimes posting is light and I don't have much to say but I certainly enjoy sharing and having this record of my creating to look back on.

Of course, your comments are a big part of what encourages and keeps me going. And I want to say THANK YOU to all of you! Five years of blogging deserves a big giveaway for sure!

First, a trip down memory lane.

My very first "sweater", the Minisweater.

A favorite knit, Dinosaurs.

My most worn knit, Berry and Bramble Cardigan.

An long unfinished knit that I would most like to see done, Somewhat Cowl (started in 2007! yikes!).

My first fabric crush, Belle by Amy Butler.

One of my favorite quilts (that is difficult to say since most of them are my favorite!).

And now, I would like to give away something really good! Since I know that both knitters and sewers read this blog, I am offering you a choice:

A $20 gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe AND a pattern of your choice from Ravelry (it must be gift-able; limit $8).

OR

A $20 gift certificate to Fresh Squeezed Fabrics AND one of my quilt patterns.

All you need to do is leave a comment telling me your preference: the knitters prize or the sewers prize! For an extra entry, post about this giveaway on your blog.

I look forward to hearing from readers new and old alike! The DEADLINE TO ENTER is noon (CST) Thursday, May 5th.

I'm a winner!

You can be too....check back later today!

This week, I finally took the time to clean up and play with my blog layout. There are so many more options than there used to be! I had no idea. It was fun playing around with it. Let me know what you think (is the wood background weird?).

Anyway, I actually won a giveaway! Krista over at Spotted Stone gave away the magazine 101 Patchwork Projects & Quilts that she has 2 designs in! I love her style and all the gorgeous things she makes...she's super talented!

This magazine is loaded with so many great projects, I was very impressed!

Here are some of my favorites.

These 2 are Krista's beautiful quilts:

These composition covers look so fun.

Here is Ashley's beautiful Rubik's Crush quilt.

I am so drawn to this fun quilt! I really want to make this one for Jack some day!

I desperately need new pillows for our couch and these caught my eye.

And I also wanted to show you the progress on my Effortless Cardigan. It looks hideous right now because I decided to knit straight from the ripped out crinkly yarn but I have high hopes for it after a good blocking! So far it fits great.

Lastly, I'm still working on that free pattern for the Royal Squares Quilt...sorry it's taking me so long. :)

another Play It Up quilt

Phew! I told you a lot of quilts were getting finished around here. This is the last one for a while. I'm about to start a large custom quilt for a friend from my Blueberry Hill Sewing Weekend...it's going to be made entirely of Little Folks in buttery voile!

Remember this stack of fabrics? It became this quilt (made from my Play It Up pattern)!

Heather Ross' Far, Far Away fabrics were my inspiration for the color palate. I don't have a huge collection of them (just the Rapunzel, purple & blue Owl & Pussy Cats, and several of the flowers prints) I added in so many other of my favorite prints. I LOVE the effect!

Love Rapunzel in her tower!

You can't see it very well in these pictures but the Eggplant binding really pulls it all together.

I am absolutely in love with this quilt! I am so tempted to keep it but since I already have several stacks of fabric set aside for quilts for myself I am going ahead and putting it in the shop.

Optimism Quilt

Thanks for all the sweet comments on my Royal Squares quilt! I'm so glad y'all are interested in a tutorial! I will start working on a that soon.

Just wanted to show this quilt I've had finished for a little while now. I also finished writing up the pattern for it as well. This is the same pattern I used for the raffle quilt for our trip to Zambia.

I LOVE how the backing came out! I wanted to use up fabric that I already had lying around. It's listed in the shop if anyone is interested.

Royal Squares Quilt

Awe, thank you so much guys for your condolences for my failed New York Cardigan! And I appreciate your input on which project to start next. I'm so torn between the Effortless Cardi and the Atelier cardi, I think I'm going to go with Effortless because after looking at all the gorgeous Atelier cardis I think it deserves something hand-dyed like MadelineTosh or Plucky Yarns. I will save up and splurge on that next!

Anyway. Check out my newly finished quilt! I'm calling it Royal Squares Quilt because it uses so many fabrics from the Castle Peeps collection from Lizzy House. (Listed in The Shop)

Would anyone be interested in a free pattern/tutorial for this quilt?

It seems like I started this forever ago but then the holidays hit and I got caught up finishing up other projects and doing lots of custom orders that it got put on the back burner for a while. I LOVE how it came out and am glad I finally got it finished!

ideas

How about the Effortless Cardigan? I like the sound of that!

Or the Daytrip Cardigan looks cute. Oh but there is seaming. You know how I dislike seaming.

I like Atelier too.

I've had Habanero in my queue for a long time now because I think it's so pretty! But would I actually wear it?

So, now to rip. Anybody have any tips? Has anybody knit a sweater from yarn that has been knit up and wet blocked before? I guess it doesn't mean that the actual yarn is stretched out...just the knitting, right?

It's worse than I thought...

Yup, I think I have a major loser here. Oh it wasn't the pattern itself, which was very well written! No. It was the yarn. And my gauge. Darn that little gauge swatch. It totally lied to me.

Pattern: New York Cardigan

Yarn: KnitPicks Swish dk - 11 skeins

Needles: US # 7 & 9 circulars

Notes: Yeah, what a disappointment! I just love the sweater design but I think the yarn I used grew way too much and is too heavy for this large of a sweater. I wanted it to hit at the top of the thigh or so but it goes almost to my knees! Oh well, I guess it happens. The yarn is incredibly soft next to the skin so I'll probably just rip it and use it for something else. You would've thought I would've noticed it before getting to the end but adding the collar and then blocking it really did it in. I'm actually not too sad about it...I'm ready to move onto something new!

apprehensive

Firstly, my New York Cardigan is DONE! I am blocking it today. Unfortunately, after just trying it on I do not have high hopes for it...I don't want to rush to judgement but I have a bad feeling about it. We'll see.

Quilts are getting finished though!

Can I tell you how much I hate ironing seams open? But sometimes it is totally necessary, as in this case.

Winner of raffle quilt for Zambia!

My sister-in-law, Kat, is the winner of the quilt! It's funny because one of our other friends who is going to Zambia raffled off an iPad and she won that one too! She is so lucky she needs to play the lottery!

I'm so appreciative of everyone's generosity!