Tea Time

Tea and lavender... two of my biggest addictions!

I have been addicted to making these little lavender-filled teabag sachets. I have made lavender teabags before but my goal this time was to make something cute and more my style using fabric scraps. The idea came about when I was trying to come up with a little "surprise" to send with signed copies of books in which my patterns have been published. I find making them so relaxing...

I made the tea tags using a cute stamp I bought from CraftPudding. I love my new Tea Time stamp set! I seem to be stamping everything with them lately! Even stickers for my packaging :o)

Moving on to real Tea Time... I had a wonderful tea party at my home with my two of my best friends. I used my new high tea tray for the first time filling it with all sorts of delectable goodies! I made very lemony poppyseed cupcakes with lemon cream cheese icing, super chocolatey walnut banana bread, chocolate covered strawberries, and crepes with pear preserve sprinkled with confectioner's sugar. Yummmm...

Why am I not surprised that my 4 year old daughter is drawing teapots & teacups?! Wait a minute... that teacup design looks an awful lot like my teacup & cofeemug pouches ;o)

Books & Bananas

I am happy to announce that two more books to which I have contributed patterns have been released this month! The first one I would like to share with you is "Pretty Little Cozies" and I am proud to say that my cozy has made it on the cover! I couldn't bring myself to part with the cozy yet so here is the actual cozy with the book! I haven't decided yet if I want to keep the cozy for my own french press but I do know that I will keep it in case I need any extra photos when I am ready to design its PatchworkPottery Pattern booklet.

My Monkey Quilt pattern is finally available in "Quilts, BABY!" by Lark Books. I am so utterly thrilled with this book and would buy it even if I wasn't in it! The book includes 20 amazing baby quilt projects! What's more fun is that there is a baby picture of each designer and a "behind the seams" short interview. I love my baby picture. I didn't realize until after I sent the picture in that I have a banana sticker on my forehead... how perfect is that for a Monkey Quilt!!!

I am listing these two books along with "Pretty Little Potholders" and "Pretty Little Purses & Pouches" in my Etsy Shop. Each book contains one or two of my patterns along with many other great & creative projects. I will sign the books and also include a little surprise! There is a list of all these books with links for more information on my sidebar.

Since several of my patterns have been published, I am very curious to see what wonderful things are created with them! Please add photos of your creations to my PatchworkPottery Patterns Flickr group. Links to my Flickr Groups can also be found on my sidebar.

And before I go, I'd like to share a funny little story about baby me & bananas! First you need to know that I do not use foul language at all... When I was a baby just old enough to talk, my parents offered me a brown banana. To their surprise I replied, "I don't want no shitty banana!"

Butterfly & Greedy Fox

I haven't posted much lately so I feel as if I need to catch up by posting lots of stuff in a few days! As you have probably noticed, I am a rather sporadic blogger & crafter! I tend to craft, flickr or blog only when the mood strikes...

This was my inspiration for the following shabby chic butterfly potholder. A vintage bedsheet, super yummy striped linen from Japan and linen rickrack from Finland :o)

My friend claimed ownership of the butterfly as soon as she saw it sitting on my side table! There are two others that will hopefully make it into my shop!

Here it is in its natural habitat...

This is what I brought home after a visit to Dressew in downtown Vancouver. The entire bottom floor is trims, buttons & other notions!

Hey Fox... Those are MINE!

I think he's in heaven... I know I am :o)

Red

How could I possibly relate all these random photos? I know! They all have red in them!

A cupcake pincushion on a new stack of fabric cut from old shirts...

A future wall organizer with teacup pockets...

A little bird & a detail shot of a teacup pouch that I made last month for a swap with Anna in France...

A custom house tape measure I made this week...

Yes, there are some more tape measures on the way!

Spring Things

Spring has arrived at last and I am filling my days with Spring Things. The days of sun and warmth are more frequent now and instead of sitting at my sewing machine I have fun filling teapots with flowers that Claire has carefully picked from our yard. What better use for a teapot that dribbles!

We turned over a garden in the corner of our backyard and dream of harvesting fresh vegetables throughout summer and fall. It doesn't look like much but was a patch ofgrass and overgrown weeds a couple weeks ago. I will take some more photos once things start growing.

Claire has almost outgrown the skirts that I made for her last summer. I have chosen fabric for two new ones including a patchwork skirt using these Japanese fabrics I purchased from Matatabi. I also bought some brighter polkadot, check & stripey fabrics that absolutely reminded me of Spring!

And now I will share a bit of our Easter with you... I made a stuffed & lavender-filled fabric Easter egg for my Mom this Easter to go with her mug of flower seeds since she doesn't like chocolate. I wrapped it in a very sweet French Chocolate bag that I found at a local Japanese dollar store.

Claire had fun on her Easter egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa's house, and she drew this wonderful picture of the Easter bunny for them.

I don't remember ever drawing this good when I was 4 1/2 years old! That's her own writing too! Yes, I am a proud mommy. I can't believe she will be starting school in September. She is growing up so fast! I look forward to the days when I will have more time to focus on designing & quilting :o)

Postal Paradise

Paradise... the result of a whole month of swaps, giveaways & unexpected gifts is quite overwhelming. I have been spoiled rotten and it has been even better than Christmas! Very belated thanks to everyone for the all crafty goodness sent my way... now I must let all of you drool ;o)

Sonia of Cozy Memories sent me a wonderful surprise thank you package from France! The lavender-filled handmade strawberry along with some wonderful french soap infused the envelope with the most amazing smell! Claire loved the little unicorns too :o) If you click on the photo directly below you will be able to read notes on the photo...

I received a long-awaited package from my swap with Micol of RecycleMicol in Texas. The wooly acorns are amazing and I am still in awe of the handwoven purple ribbon! I also love the knitted dishcloths. I am not a knitter so I can't even begin to wonder how on earth she was able to knit a teacup into one of them! Micol also made a box of crocheted chocolates for Claire which I am trying really hard not to keep for myself! I am planning to do some stamping on the large white cloths that she wrapped everything in... my package was well-worth the wait! Click on the mosaic to see some more notes :o)

I also recieved a wonderful thank you package from my friend Francy of Matatabi. I buy most of my amazing Japanese fabric from her Etsy shop. We became instant friends after I met up with her at the Tokyo International Quilt Festival in January 2008. She is deprived of an oven (I wouldn't be able to live without one) so I have been sending cookie care packages every now and then! I never expected anything in return :o) The fabric, cotton crochet trims, buttons & tea are all adorable and exactly my style!! There are some notes if you click on the last photo in this set :o)

I must admit that my most recent cherished possession is this wonderful felt TeaHouse made by Anna of Annax in France. She sent me so many wonderful goodies which you can find out more about if you click on the photo of the table full of crafty goodness!

I just love how the TeaHouse is always open for ME! I adore all the watercolour transfers and handmade ribbon details that went into making this piece... truly amazing! Now I have to work on my end of the swap. I think making up for all the wonderful things she sent me will prove to be quite difficult :o)

These wonderful heart stuffies were a totally unexpected surprise from Sandrine Deleuze in Belgium... the best Valentines ever! Yes... the mirror is their permanent home :o)

If that's not enough mail, I also won a giveaway for this sweet little birdie heart ornament made by Mervi also known as Memmu in Finland. Look at all the other extra little goodies she sent... I love her handmade card, Moo MiniCard and the Tilda ribbon!

Finally, the results of the Birds of Change Exchange that I was part of in January. I received my birdies at the beginning of this month and love every one of them! Thank you to Regina of Creative Kismet for organizing the mega-swap! Click on the photo to see from where my birds migrated :o)

Oops! That didn't count all the stuff I bought...

Books & Procrastination

Yup... that's what I have been so busy doing over the last month! I have just been having so much fun lately becoming totally inspired by everyone else's blogs & creations that I haven't had much time for my own but HEY! ...We all need a break from time to time :o) Thanks to all of you who left those little messages through my e-mail, blog, flickr & etsy telling me you missed me!

I have been sewing a bit here & there but not as much as usual because I have started reading again... yes, I haven't picked up a novel since before Claire was born (4 1/2 years ago) and I forgot how time consuming it can be... especially if you read two 950 page novels in two weeks! I admit I am a fantasy girl and have been utterly enthralled in the new television series Legend of the Seeker. This series is like nothing I have ever seen on TV! It's like one long epic motion picture. The film quality, acting, & special effects are all top notch. It is based on Terry Goodkind's Wizards First Rule so I started reading to find out what REALLY happens!! I find that books are always better that the film version! I have just started the third novel in the series.

During my break, I have collected a large number of photos in a folder titled "to blog about". It's been so long that I just can't go back that far to catch up in order so what I am going to try to do is every time I blog about something new, I will throw in something old that hopefully relates in some way!

This week I sewed some more Book Pillows. One of my bestest customers requested two smaller ones (6x8x2inches/ 15x20x5cm) and this time I remembered my rule to always make more than one! That means there are three extras in my shop :o) I was really happy with the label for the Beloved Poems book. I finished it off with a border of french knots and cotton crochet trim...

I also listed my tiny "teapot" wall hanging in my shop at the same time. The idea came to me while I was surfing Etsy and saw these long wooden beads from SupplyCandy. As soon as I saw them I knew exactly what I would make!

Don't you love how a little thing like a bead can inspire a whole piece of art?!