Itadakimasu News and Pattern Giveaway!

This is my second time in entering the Blogger's Quilt Festival, this time with my wall hanging 'Itadakimasu'. Yes, I originally spelled it 'itedakimasu', but it turns out that's incorrect. Ah well, plenty of quilts with Engrish, this is just my reverse Engrish contribution, right?! I have been blown away at some of the other entries within my wall hanging category. My absolute favourite is by Kyndra at Sewlio - so much so, I nominated it for Viewers' Choice. Her use of colour is just fantastic! And I'm such a sucker for a gorgeous star design.

Today voting begins! You can vote for your favourite quilt in each of the different categories - one per category. I encourage you to take your time, click through to see more photos or read the stories behind the entries. Of course I would love for your support to vote for mine - it's #2 in the wall hanging category - but do please pick your favourite!

To celebrate the finish of Itadakimasu and the fun that is Blogger's Quilt Festival, Kristy is offering the set of patterns she helped design for the Wombat Stew members! That's the chopsticks, the teapot and cups, the rice bowl and soy sauce, and the sushi platter, plus the unlisted the "Rising Sun" plate and the shoji screen designed by Fiona! But wait, there's more! No, not steak knives (although Japanese knives are very nice...), Gemma is pitching in her gyoza plate too.

To enter, use the Rafflecopter form to enter - this means I will have a way to contact you if you win, without worry about no-reply! You will need to go check out Kristy's patterns and leave a blog comment telling me which pattern is your favourite and why.

Optional entries include liking Kristy, Gemma or myself on Facebook. Giveaway closes Thursday 30th May at 12am (JST). Patterns will be emailed directly to the winner's email address and the winner announced on this blog post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And don't forget to go vote for your favourite quilts!

Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty, Gorgeous Kits of Fabric...

Tis the week of kits for my lovely sponsors!

Christa Quilts is starting a brand new quilt along featuring Pearl Bracelets by Lizzy House! This is her sixth! in a series of complete quilt alongs on her blog. String of Pearls will launch Wednesday, June 5th on her blog. Christa will have a limited number of kits available with 10% off any kit purchase through 6/30. Just use the coupon code CQA2013 at checkout. For complete details along with the quilt along schedule, visit the quilt along page.

Sew Lux Fabric has this adorable mug rug kit and pattern for just $10.50. It's perfect to cheer up someone if winter is slowly creeping upon them, or for adding a splash of summer if you're a Northerner! The kits include everything you need for the top, backing and binding and it will measure 9.5" x 9.5" when you're done. 

The Fat Quarter Shop has pages and pages of quilt kits available too, but I want to remind you to hurry up and get yourself signed up for the 2013 Designer Mystery Block Of The Month! It starts next month, so if you had been umm-ing and ahh-ing, now's the time to do it. The first month's block will come with a mini-charm pack of Avalon, and each month they send you much more fabric than you actually need! And this is also serving as a reminder to me to hurry up and finish the last 4 blocks for the 2012 one... oops.

The Totoro Baby Quilt

Last year I released my Totoro pattern - a paper piecing design that creates a 15" Totoro panel that can then be used for whatever you like! I used it to make a nappy/diaper wallet that is still in use today! Although he could do with a wash... And this year I need to sew another Totoro, except this time, he's going big! I will be sewing a baby quilt-sized Totoro.

My sister-in-law is pregnant, due November, and they are also big Totoro fans. When we holidayed in Japan 3 years ago, we brought back a range of goodies for them. When they stayed with us in December, they stocked up on more Totoro goods. When discussing what colours/etc she would like for a baby quilt, she mentioned they're going to do a Totoro nursery, seeing as they have lots of decorations for it already and have easy access to more supplies *cough-us-cough* So for Mothers' Day, we sent her a Totoro print, and I've planned a scrappy Totoro that will be done in time to send back with my in-laws when they're visiting in October.

This Totoro quilt is made up of a range of 2" finished squares, half rectangle triangles, and half square triangles. The tree and grass will be scrappy and Totoro and the sky will be one print or textured solid. The token cherry blossoms will be the same print, hopefully the Simply Color one I used in the sketch-up if I have enough left! One possibility is to make Totoro out of a grey flannel for some texture, or maybe just his belly, I'm not sure yet. I will also embroider the eye detail on, so don't stress about the zombie eyes in the picture!

I have very few browns in my stash at all. It's just one of those colours I don't instinctively buy! I picked these up from @jennaappleton for $5 to fill up an envelope, and she got it spot on! I wasn't wanting rich, chocolatey browns, I was wanting softer, lighter browns. Hard to convey via Instagram, but she did it! I have also ordered some more blenders for the quilt, but they were sent to my Australian address. That's what happens when it's too hard to get a Japanese PayPal account to bother for such a temporary situation and the shop doesn't get the message to ignore my PayPal address and to please send it to Japan instead... But, hopefully that will be on it's way to me soon.

They are going to be finding out the gender, unlike some sisters I know, so I'm planning on adding in some gender-specific items like bibs or burp cloths, or maybe even a wet bag as they're going cloth!

Linking up to Freshly Pieced!