I’m always in the wrong season! It feels like fall here the last couple days, but here I am getting ready to release a small collection of lacy accessories. These would be great for light fall layers and even (gasp) holiday gifts though! I’m also pretty excited about my current knitting, which is a new design for a cable-and-lace shawl in RED that does scream autumn.
Well, for Yvonne’s baby, anyway!
I started this quilt at the beginning of July. I’d seen this image on Pinterest in May or so, and had been waiting for the pattern to come out on the Robert Kaufman website – but it never did! I downloaded this image from their website in May, and it’s all disappeared now. Mysterious!
So since I didn’t have a pattern to work from, I just made a go of it from the photo. I ordered a couple of charm packs (5″ squares) and a neutrals pack of Kona cotton from Mad About Patchwork and got to it, trying to substitute colours just based on how the photo looked.
I did post some photos along the way on my Instagram but I did want it to be a surprise, which is why I didn’t blog about it. My half square triangles are…not very precise. But I’m really proud anyway. I used the machine to piece this one! I worked in strips…
…then got the patterned part of the top together.
Then I decided it was a little too small – I was working with 5″ charm squares, but the original must have been done with bigger squares to end up at 48″. Mine was at about 30″ square here.
I picked up some solid grey for a border, and a cool grey stripe for the backing, at the workroom. I think they grey border really makes the colours pop!
Basting:
I got started on the hand quilting before we left for Vancouver, but got maybe halfway through before we went on vacation. Luckily I had enough time to finish in time for the baby shower once we got back! Of course I had to go out to the workroom again for the binding – Lizzy House’s pearl bracelets! I think it’s perfect.
I finished a few days before the shower (whew) so I washed the quilt and dried it out in the sun, and had time to make a simple embroidered label too.
Beauty shots! Finished size was about 38″ square.
Of course the best part was watching her open it.
Best wishes Yvonne, Jeremy and Baby! We love you and of course we’ll babysit.
My pattern sale ends tonight! Stock up for sweater and gift season, new patterns are coming soon!
Lots of photos ahead! A quick recap of our trip to Vancouver.
Day 0 (travel day): arrived exhausted in the evening and had Ramen Jinya near the hotel – yum!
Day 1: Quick breakfast at the coffee shop by the hotel, beautiful boat ride with Dale’s aunt and uncle around the harbour and False Creek, homemade pizza dinner at their house with their gorgeous dogs, fireworks over English Bay with a bazillion other people.
Day 2: Waffles at Le Petit Belge, walk across the Cambie bridge, bus out to the Museum of Anthropology at UBC. Cab to Granville Island where we had some lunch at Tony’s Fish and Oyster and wandered around. Dinner was sushi with a friend who’s moved out to Vancouver, it was lovely to catch up.
Day 3: breakfast at Finch’s Tea and Coffee (super delicious), bus to Stanley Park for a trip to the Aquarium, then a walk around a bit of the park. We had some takeout from the H-Mart in our hotel room for lunch, and went out to Cactus Club in Yaletown for dinner.
Day 4: Breakfast at Gutenberg’s cafe by the library, a loooong bus/travel saga (there was an accident on the bridge, so we had to bus back down and take the SeaBus instead) to Grouse Mountain. We had some lunch at the cafe and admired the view. Dinner of delicious takeout sushi from Tsuki sushi bar.
Day 5: Yummy breakfast at Nosherie then the Vancouver Art Gallery, which was awesome! There was a Douglas Coupland exhibit and Lost in the Memory Palace, which I had actually seen part of before, in Edinburgh. Lunch was at Meat&Bread (a grilled cheese and a porchetta sandwich), then we walked through Gastown and got Japadog for dinner.
Very last outing of the trip was a walk to fancy bakery Thierry for macarons, a croissant, and tea. Then over to English Bay for another fireworks display! It was a lovely end to a great trip.
