Kawaii Winter Wonderland: AKA My Current Obsession

When I saw that the girls of Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery were doing a cross stitch Christmas Countdown, I knew I needed to participate. It was the perfect project to get me in the holiday spirit - so I went and got my supplies and started stitching in the evenings while my dashing husband studies for his exams.

I decided to use some silver sparkled aida cloth so I've changed the color scheme a bit to match, but so far I am loving the results...and yes, I did have to take out some (a lot) of stitches to change the outlines to green, but it was worth it.

I most likely will be posting pictures of my progress on instagram (username: PurplePandaQuilts) with the hashtag #kawaiixmas as well as on twitter (@PrplePandaQuilt) and I would love to see your progress when you decide to make one too!

If you are looking for a perfect holiday project - this is it. And the pattern is on sale for only 10 dollars until November 10th.

Scenes from the Weekend (a few days late)

**I intended to post this on Monday morning, but alas due to the negativity online from the Presidential Election, I decided to protect my sanity by avoiding all forms of social media (which led me to really just avoiding my computer) until after the election. So pretend you read this on Monday.**

This past weekend was my dashing husband's birthday (which also happens to be the anniversary of the day he proposed so many years ago), so to celebrate we spent a significant amount of time in the snowy Blue Ridge Mountains. It was a nice and relaxing getaway that gave us a much needed break...and a chance to use my new tripod.

My very first gathered clutch

So I'm not a big bag maker.

I've only made 1 other bag (my fall fan bag) before, so I'm not quite sure what I was thinking when I decided I needed to make a clutch to use at my sister's wedding. I figure it would be a good step to my ultimate goal of completing Amy Butler's Weekender Bag.

After a lot of research, I settled on making the gorgeous gathered clutch from one of my favorite blogs - noodlehead. There are always well written tutorials and the site provides a wealth of inspiration. The instructions looked easy enough, so I figured I could handle it.

After a few hours of very mild confusion (gather stitches? What does that mean? You don't gather stitches while quilting!) I had my very own gathered clutch:

And ya know what?

I adore it.

I will be making more in the future, because it really didn't take that long -- and now that I know how to gather stitches it should go together even faster. The design possibilities on this one are endless. I am glad that I have made it one step closer to the weekender bag...gulp...

Blogger's Quilt Festival: Zig-Zag Quilt

It's my favorite time of the year...fall! Which means lots of changing leaves, apple pie, thanksgiving, and then of course Christmas (aka the best holiday ever). But before I go getting ahead of myself, the fall also has one of my favorite blogging events - the blogger's quilt festival. I can spend hours looking through the entries on Amy's site, but usually don't have time. However, with the lovely Frankenstorm or Hurricane Sandy as she is known, it looks like I might have hours to spend indoors. So bring on the quilts!

After much hemming and hawing, I settled on sharing with you my zig-zag quilt I made in celebration of the birth of my cousin's first child.

I really wanted to create a bold, graphic quilt that featured pink paired with some unexpected colors. I think that the magenta and golden oranges are really framed nicely against my favorite Kona Coal.  Because I wanted the color to be the focus of the quilt, I paired some tone-on-tone prints with a few solids for some visual interest...and as a fun surprise when you looked closer. I backed it with solid magenta and used a golden orange binding.

To make the chevrons, I used half square triangles that I pieced together. I really do enjoy working with half square triangles -- and find it isn't so bad if I trim and prep a bunch of them at once. =)

I quilted it on my machine using straight lines echoing the zig-zags. I really like how it turned out, and it gives a nice touch of texture to the quilt - especially in the gray areas.

Hope you like it! And don't forget to check out the other awesome entries for the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Zig-Zag Quilt Stats:
Measurements: Baby Blanket about 36" x 52"
Special Techniques used: half square triangle piecing
Quilted by: me! on my lovely sewing machine -- echoed the zig-zags.
Best Category: Baby Quilt/Quilt Photography
Quilt Entry #: 411