Feedback

Today I added a feedback section to my BigCartel shop! I think it's very important to receive feedback from my customers so that I can improve my shop and my patterns.

The button is now on my shop's sidebar as well as in every shop e-mail as a FEEDBACK link. It also shows a link to feedback from my old Etsy shop which I hope helps to relieve doubts about purchasing that first pattern.

Now I'm asking for your help :o) If you have purchased a PatchworkPottery pattern and would like to leave feedback, please click on the image below. Right now I have no feedback for my 355 sales in my BigCartel shop.

I can't wait to hear about your shopping experience. I want to know if the pattern was easy to print & assemble, instructions easy to follow & if there any mistakes no matter how small. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Mosaic & Magic

I made this mosaic today showing some of the things that I posted on flickr in 2011. I can't say I made it all in 2011 because patterns published in books take about a year before you can tell anyone!

Today was a wonderful sunny day that was too warm for a scarf. It reminded me of a little quilt I made in August 2010 that I totally forgot about! I called it "Sunny Day Neighbourhood" and it started out as a Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild challenge to use leftover triangles from a flying geese block...

I just can't get enough of these cute little houses and the fun loopy quilting...

And yes..."neighbourhood" is spelled the Canadian way. My blogger preview window doesn't like it ;o)

Yesterday, I received a lovely e-mail from one of my fans in the Ukraine..."Hello Laurraine, Looked at your work and simply fell in love with each one. Do you have a magic wand? This is something unreal! You are an extraordinary person with special hands and creative head. Good luck to you." I thought it was quite hilarious because there just happened to be a magic wand in my studio at the time!

Claire asked Santa Claus for a real magic wand... not those plastic sparkly light-up ones which are obviously just toys... a real wand... a wood wand. She was absolutely thrilled to find this amazing wand in her stocking Christmas morning. She makes sure that everyone knows it is made from "100% wood" which is apparently a VERY important detail! Oh... and apparently it works!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Butterflies!

The Butterfly Potholder is now available as a PDF pattern booklet in my SHOP! This pattern was published along with my Teapot Trivet in Pretty Little Potholders by Lark Books in 2008. Unlike the book, PatchworkPottery pattern booklets include a metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, fully illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates.

It's easy to make a Butterfly Potholder to suit any decor from modern to country. Just slide your fingers into the pocket wings, tuck the rickrack antennae under your hand & you are ready to take that blackberry pie out of the oven!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

TeaTime Trivets

These TeaTime Trivets were so much fun to make! I guess it's one of those inspired projects that magically comes together in no time at all. I think little elves were helping me!

If they hadn't been made for my dearest friends who I have over for tea every monday night, I probably would have kept them both! It took me an afternoon to make each one and I was in such a rush to finish the first that I forgot to erase my chalk lines!

I made them both 9 x 9 inches using the same background fabrics, one teapot and one teacup & free-motion steam. However I changed the placement and shapes of the teapots & teacups to make them more interesting and original. The only problem is that I can't decide which I like better! This red one went to the same friend who received this teapot cozy.

Linen, tea & pretty prints... what could be better? I will definitely have to make one for myself maybe in robin's egg blue... I wonder if I have enough of that pretty Strawberry fabric left!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Merry Christmas!

Have you ever made something for someone and then decided that you like it too much to give it away? So much for the Christmas spirit! I originally made this potholder for a Christmas swap at the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild Christmas party but liked it too much to give it away!

However, after much thought I will be giving it to my mom for her birthday which is now past but close to Christmas. I made these leaf potholders for my Mom last Mother's Day but they sit on a shelf never to be used. At least this Christmas potholder might come out once a year :o) I had fun making this block... a wonky star with a peppermint twist!

We had lots of fun this year with a Christmas photoshoot. I really need to get one of those camera remotes because I was the one running back & forth! The picture with the entire family including the cats makes us laugh because Percy Persimmon the orange cat was trying to run away and Mr. Scruffy the grumpy old grey cat is perturbed, hissing & baring his claws! It also looks like he should be wearing a tutu and dancing in the Nutcracker! We love it!

We baked gingerbread and many other cookies... and then my handmixer died! I'm hoping that Santa will bring me a new one because I use it almost every week. It's too bad that things these days aren't meant to last. Plastic is good for some things but not gears! Claire did an amazing job decorating the gingerbread with me!

We brought our tree up from the basement at the beginning on December this year which is earlier than usual... thanks to the 7 year old in the house! This year we didn't have a theme and used my appliqued pears & stars tree skirt.

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year full of inspiration from Laurraine, Sota, Claire, Percy & Mr. Scruffy!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Habitat Challenge Quilt

When I joined the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild one and a half years ago I thought to myself... "Why am I joining a modern quilt guild? My style is far from modern!" After the first meeting, I realized that anything can be modern. My favourite explanations of modern were the following: Modern can encompass the self-taught/just wing-it approach to quilting. It can also describe technology used in this modern age such as blog, flickr & facebook. OH! That's totally me! I guess I'm a modern quilter!

It was definitely a challenge to work with the Habitat fabric line by Jay McCarroll. The Vancouver branch of the Modern Quilt Guild decided that any quilt or quilted object could be made as long as only more Habitat fabric or solids were added to the fat eighth packs donated by Free Sprirt. Read more about the Habitat Challenge here. These were definitely not colours or patterns that I would choose... ever! However, I did like the light blue polkadot since my usual style is Country Chic and how can you not love polkadots!

I managed to scrounge a few extra fat eighths from unclaimed packs for my quilt as I needed more of the polkadot fabric for my border. I also can't make anything lately without throwing in some natural linen! I liked how the neutral linen toned down the busy patterns and added a warm feel to the otherwise cool colours.

I decided to continue the leaf silhouettes from the fabric by free-motion quilting them into the linen background. It was a daunting task but once I got going it was pretty easy! My stitches are by no means consistent but no one will be looking at it that closely... This is definitely not something I would have tried before meeting Janet!

I hand-appliqued the tree, apples, and circles on the back of the quilt. I also stuffed the trapunto apples to give the quilt some dimension.

I used my extra fabric to make an interesting backing totally inspired by Paul's many fabulous quilt and equally fabulous backings.

I am very pleased with how this quilt turned out. It's probably the most modern quilt I will ever make!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)