From K - Around The World Blog Hop

Last week Julia of Jada's Quilting Adventures nominated us to host the Around the World Blog Hop, so today I'm going to share a bit more about my current work in progress (while Amanda finishes up her travels down in Australia - lucky lady!).

 

For anyone who is visiting our little corner of the blogisphere for the first time, we are cousins (Kelsey and Amanda) living in different cities (Alberta Canada and California USA), who blog about quilting, sewing, knitting and travel. We have explained a bit about ourselves on our blog before - here is a link for those of you who want to know more about us and our crafting journey.

Now why don't we get to the good stuff and jump right into the questions!

1. How does my quilting process work?

Everyone has their own process, but for me, it always come down to fabric selection. I often have an idea of a pattern or design that I want to make, but it will never ever start until I have settled on the bulk of the necessary fabric to use.

I recently pull a selection of fabrics from my stash (dusty lime, sunshine yellow, gold and mustard) for a baby quilt I was planning, only to realize the next day that it was destined to be a modern maples quilt instead. I added some orange, grape, plum and brown, then tossed in some neutrals, and a new quilt plan was born.

2. What am I working on?

I'm a restless crafter, always needing a few options to choose from. Over the past few years I have learned that I do better with a few rules: a) limit my UFO and WiPs to 3 quilts, 2 knits, 1 bag/garment at any given time, and b) some form of deadline is a must, even if it's often self imposed.

Today I thought I'd share some progress shots of how this fabric pull is sewing up and taking shape.

You might have noticed that when I cut my fabric, a few new fabrics were added to the roster, and a few prints fell off. While I like making an initial pull, I do tend to tweak and refine as I go along. Even the most well curated fabric selections need a little help sometimes so don't hold yourself back if you're second guessing your choices.

 

We chose to bend the rules a bit on this one by deciding not to nominate any one blogger specifically, rather we would encourage anyone to jump on this blog hop who wants to participate. If you decide to join in, please send us the link so we can follow along!

From K - Summer Lovin Socks

Early on this year, I decided that 2014 would be the year of no pressure and no deadlines. I would make what made me happy, not worrying about having too many WiPs or forcing production. In 2014, my only goal was to create, and so far I've been sticking to that mantra.

That hopefully helps to explain why I've spent a large portion of my summer knitting socks... in >30 degree weather (Celsius). It's not logical and honestly I don't mind the odd glances on my morning train commute, because one of the things that makes me most happy, is handmade socks and a wardrobe full of them sounds like a good idea to me!

The newest addition to my sock drawer is a hot pink pair of Summer Lovin socks by Cookie A. See at least the colour and pattern name seem fitting for the season right?!

I used a skein of Blue Label Fingering yarn by Tanis Fiber Arts in the colour Royal Flush. On her website, Tanis describes this colour as "a bright blend of raspberry, red and magenta. Cheerful and delightful!" and I couldn't agree more.

These socks are in my mind a perfect pairing of pattern and colour, and as a result I'm quite enamoured with them. Aveta seems to agrees!

 

For more information and photos of these socks, visit my Ravelry page here.

From K - Simplicity 1877 Catnap Dress (the 2nd)

Nearly six months ago when Lizzy House announced her Catnap Dress Contest, I immediately dreamt up a Simplicity 1877 dress using a lavender coloured catnip print from her new line. After quickly realizing the contest required use of an actual cat print from the line, I switched gears to make this dress... but not before tossing this lavender catnip print in to my shopping cart.

Months passed but I still couldn't shake the dress idea from my mind, and my desire for a new dress for the Calgary Stampede was growing. So in typical last minute Kelsey fashion, I finally whipped up this dress 48hrs before my first stampede event of the season... even stitching the hem on my commute.

Since I had previously used the pattern and had the yardage on hand, I was able to sew this up in two (long) evenings, no alterations required.

For stampede I paired it with a brown leather belt, cowboy boots, and of course a hat, similar to how I styled my handmade stampede dress last year (shown here). Sorry I didn't seem to get any stampede pictures this year.

Last month when Amanda and I were back in Manitoba for a wedding, we both sported handmade dresses to the rehearsal supper and she took some photos for me afterwards.

I honestly can't say enough about how much I love this pattern. I wear my original catnap dress a lot, but this one is getting even more rotations in my wardrobe already. Great pattern, original fabric, what more could a girl want!