Goodbye Craftroom

I am slowly packing up my craftroom (and the rest of the house) to move to a new home in on March 1st. Even though I am excited about this move, it also makes me a bit sad. Over the past 3 years, many new ideas were conceived and made by hand in this room.

My business has grown so much in this time and I have somehow transformed from closet crafter to internationally published quilt designer... who knew where this would all lead or where it will go from here! I am certain that my new craftroom will be just as inspiring or maybe even more so once I get everything sorted out.

Our new home will have much more space, and a much-needed dishwasher because what crafter ever has time to do the dishes!?! We will also be able to finally add a sweet little cat friend to our family! I will be a neighbour to two of my best friends from high school and I have already met one of my new crafty neighbours in blogland whom I can't wait to invite for tea & sewing!

Everything seems friendlier and much more family-oriented in New Westminster than it does here in Burnaby. People even say Hi back to you when you pass them on the street! Claire will be going to the most quaint little school of 66 students right across from a beautiful park. I think the change of scenery will be a plus for me... I am even thinking of starting karate again after 10 years of not doing much of any sort of exercise. I will have to check out the dojo that's a two minute walk from our house. Add that to the already planned evening strolls with friends through the very hilly streets, and Dance Dance competitions! YAY!

I will be busy packing up my teacups and fabric this month. Goodbye craftroom... I will miss you... especially your window!

Sailboat Pillow

I made this pillow as a Christmas present for Claire's bigger 10-year-old best friend who loves sailing and the colour orange. I secretly planned this present a couple months in advance, mysteriously giving her a project to draw a sailboat picture for me. Weeks went by and she was very curious! She kept asking me what I was planning to do with her drawing, and I would reply in a taunting voice, "Yoooou'll seeeeee!"

I scanned her drawing into my computer and turned it into a black & white photocopy which I then printed out. I used it for the template and cut all the shapes out drawing the reverse on the paper side of fusible webbing adding extra where the pieces would be overlapped by another piece.

Then I ironed it onto the back of the corresponding fabric and cut out the shapes. Peeled the paper backing off, positioned the pieces, and ironed them onto the background block. Beacause the fabric edges were raw, I sewed around each shape twice to prevent any unravelling after many washes.

Here is her fabulous sailboat drawing :o) And she absolutely LOVES her new pillow!

Coffee?

I am a tea-a-holic (if you hadn't noticed already)! I never drink coffee but you will always find a tin of it in my fridge. Why? Well, although I do brew an occasional cup of coffee for my hubby, I use it mostly for staining fabric! Sometimes that perfect fabric for a project is hard to find especially when you are a perfectionist like me... this fabric is too white... that one is too bright... That's where coffee comes in.

I prefer fabrics and trims with a natural tone but sometimes they are hard to find. I will start with a fabric that has a white background, and a white cotton trim (sorry I forgot to take a before picture).

I hand-wash my trim in warm water and use a bit of soap to remove the sizing which are chemicals added to the fabric to make in more rigid and to protect it from stains. This will allow the fabric to to absorb the coffee stain evenly.

Fill a small sack with lots of ground coffee. I over-do it and use about a cup... much too strong to drink! Tie it closed and throw it into a pot of boiling water. Brew it for about 10 minutes and remove the sack.

Let your fabric simmer in the pot for 10-20 minutes depending on how dark you want to stain it. Remember: Once the fabric is dried, the stain will become MUCH lighter. Remove from the pot with tongs and immerse in very cold water with some white vinegar added. At this point, immersing the fabric in hot water would remove some of the stain. Rinse in cold water.

If you don't want to ruin your ironing board, cover it with an old pillowcase or spare cotton fabric. Iron the fabric or trim by sections with a hot dry iron until it is completely dry. The stain is now set.

Here is the fabric against a white background so you can see how it has been stained. Now, I don't use coffee purely because I would rather not sacrifice any of my precious tea... I find that different types of tea will yield different tints. Orange pekoe will give a much warmer yellow-orange tint. I prefer coffee because it produces a more neutral tint. I giggle when I think that I stain my tea fabric with coffee!

Sometimes if the colour or print of the fabric is too bright or if I want a more antique look, I will even bleach the fabric a bit before staining it. The cowboy fabric in this quilt started out as a very bright orange and green print...

See more of the Mister Peanut bunny quilt that I made in 2007 here.

Patchwork Scarf & a spot of Tea

I finished my scarf and I am VERY happy with it! I love the colour and the fabrics and the super soft microfleece backing. I was worried that it might turn out too pink because really I am not a pink person however the colour has been growing on me in the last couple years. The green backing, and the greens and tans in the patchwork do a great job of toning down the pink.

I also used some fabulous Tea Party fabric by Susan Branch and a bit of sweet Tea Time tape made by my very talented friend Anna of LillaLotta in France!

After all, it just wouldn't be a scarf for me without a spot of tea!

Partridge & Pondering

I wanted to share this little wall-hanging I made before Christmas. It turned out different than I had originally planned... the background fabric changed, I added trim to the lace at the bottom, and the way it hangs changed as well. For the most part though I followed my original sketch :o)

It's interesting how the first photo feels so much different than the finished piece. Sometimes I wonder if I had waited another day how much more different it would have turned out... which fabrics or trim would have whispered to me, "pick me, pick me".

It hung with my teacups for my bird-themed Christmas. I think next year may be another peppermint Christmas... this time with pink and LOTS of candy canes! Maybe I should make my peppermint garland into a PDF pattern later this year?

Scarves & Tarts

This evening I finally started working on the scarf that I have wanted to make for myself since Autumn! I will finally have a scarf to match the hat that I made for myself last winter... no more blue scarf with my pink hat! I have been looking for the perfect project for which to use this wonderful Susan Branch tea party fabric that was given to me. I coffee-stained it darker, and I found some very soft green microfibre fleece for the backing. I like how it is coming together so far! I plan on using some of Anna's wonderful handmade tea tape as a label for the back :o)

I made this wonderful Pear & Cranberry Tart last week. It was amazing and amazingly easy! It was my first time using frozen puff pastry from the supermarket...

I made a bunch of stuff at Christmas that I would like to share with you over the next few posts. The first were these fabric rose brooches and this patchwork scarf for my Mom. It was my first time making both items. The scarf was fun, fast & easy to make...

I have a funny feeling that my friends will all get new scarves next year!

Cupcakes for Sale!

CupCake Pincushions are now available as a cute little PDF printable pattern booklet! This is the third pattern in "A Scrap Basket Project" PDF Series. This series is a collection of super easy projects for quilters and crafters of all skill levels, and are designed to use those small pieces of fabric.

You can find this pattern along with Pumpkin Coasters & Bird Ornaments in my SHOP.