Felted Hats & Snow Boots

In my last post I talked about my adventures in making my first felted hat. Well, here it is finally finished with my first Button Flower pin. I ironed the fabric to the felt with fusible webbing and then cut out the shape. I really like how it turned out. I mentioned in my last post how I prefered the hat BEFORE felting but I have totally changed my mind! I have been wearing it outside every day and have fallen in love with it! It is very warm and keeps my ears nice and toasty... I also get lots of compliments :o)

It has been snowing again for a full 24 hours! Craziness in Vancouver where no one is ever prepared for SNOW! Today we braved the snow to search for much-needed winter boots. We were luckier than most because our Honda CRV has four wheel drive however we still managed to slide a few times turning corners. We didn't get stuck and wore our new boots safely home.

Todays roads were bad and I'm certain the highways are worse. I don't think we will be driving the 8-9 hour trip to my parents' for Christmas this year...

I really like how the colours in my hat are the same as in the snow photos!

I made these tomatoes last week to add to Claire's Grocery basket... I'm afraid that she may only get one carrot and two tomatoes for Christmas because all this snow is making me want to crochet and felt more warm hats! These beautiful colours were calling out to me from my yarn bowl!

However she will be getting this ball that she asked me to make for her. She even chose the fabrics all by herself... not bad for a 4 year old! :o)

Have a safe & happy Christmas!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Adventures in Felting

I have wanted to try felting for some time. I've been inspired by the magic of felted bowls, bags and hats on Flickr. When it snowed the other day, I realized that I do not have a warm winter hat so immediately started planning my first felting project. I was scared about the shrinkage especially since I was using two different yarns! I used Bernat felting wool for the main part which said it would shrink to 80% in width and 95% in height. I tend to be one who just uses my eye for things instead of following patterns so I just decided to go for it... without making test swatches! I knew if it shrunk too much then I could just turn it into a bowl!

I put it in a lingerie bag and threw it in the washing machine with a towel on the longest hot water cycle. It was still too big when it came out so I threw it in again... it came out a bit tight the second time but I managed to stretch it out slightly so that it would fit. It's a good thing I have a small head!

As you can see from the photo it shrunk much more than 5% in height! Thank goodness I added an extra stripe! For the most part I am happy with the way it turned out. The grey wool that I used for the stripes did not felt as well as expected but i like the texture. The felting wool lost its intensity. Overall I think I prefered the non-felted look and feel of the yarn.

It was an exciting project and reminded me of my pottery days because of the suspense and magic of chance! I think all my hat needs now is a fabric button flower :o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Santa, Birds & Angels

This was the first year that Claire has been excited to see Santa. For the last four years, photos with Santa have been family potraits including Mommy & Daddy but this year she decided that she would be okay by herself! She is such a big girl now... so big that I was surprised when I heard her ask Santa for a Hello Kitty Sewing Machine!!! I guess she wants to be just like her Mommy :o) She has been a very good girl this year so I am positive that Santa will bring her what she asked for!

I realized I forgot to add a picture of my Christmas baking in the last post so here is one to torture you! I made Cranberry & White chocolate biscotti, Butter Tarts with Walnut & Orange cream cheese pastry, Whipped shortbread, Ginger Crackles, Almond Roca, and aqua coloured White Chocolate Balls- some rolled in coconut- to match my aqua Christmas theme this year!

I whipped up these new linen bird ornaments last week after being inspired by the many beautiful birds on Flickr. See my Inspiration Mosaic. I adjusted my pattern as I went along and am happy with the final shape. The pink one was the first draft... the tail needed to be fuller. The blue one was next but the bottom needed to be a bit rounder. The rest were made with the adjusted pattern. I will be making a few for my shop throughout the year and filling my shop with them for next Christmas along with the fabric Candy Garlands that I didn't have time to make this year.

It snowed this week! We usually don't see much snow in Vancouver and if it does, it usually comes in February. It was a delightful ans beautiful surprise. Claire had fun yesterday and today making snow angels in our yard. Unforunately, the snow was too powdery for making snowmen. I hope you all have a White Christmas!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Aqua & White Christmas

I had a vision of an aqua & white Christmas. The kind that looks frosty even though there is no snow on the ground. During many failed searches for aqua ornaments, I noticed that all the stores are stocked full of peppermint red & white stripes! Where were these last year for my peppermint-themed Christmas?! Well... I could not find aqua anywhere. My friend told me it is the curse of the designer... next year the stores will be stocked with aqua & white and everyone will have a frosty Christmas!

Here are the aqua ornaments all ready for the tree. Some are old ornaments that I have re-painted and some are newly handmade. Click on the photo above to read the notes.

I made the paper houses last year. I printed out Christmas carols on my printer and glued them to card stock. The roofs were red last year but I re-painted them aqua. I also added the sashing to the windows and a hole in the back to insert a little christmas light so that it looks like there is someone home!

I also made a quilted patchwork version of my tree-topper stars which I adore, and a fabric Candy Garland all in aqua and white!

We had a great time on Sunday choosing our tree from a friend's tree farm! It was the first time that my husband has ever cut his own tree so it was a real treat. With the tree cutting & all the Christmas baking I've done, it has really put us into the Christmas spirit!

This one?

no... THIS ONE!

They were all so cute and bushy! With the help of Claire, we chose one that was only 4 feet tall :o)

Last night we decorated it all in aqua & white and I must say that it looks stunning... my husband was impressed too! And Claire loves all the glitter! My favourite part is the lit up houses but I also love the crocheted snowflakes that I bought from The Looks on Etsy!

I will leave you with a little Christmas card that I made using a photo that I took of the styrofoam snowmen. They were super easy to make! All you have to do is thread a pipe cleaner through the foam balls, stick in twigs for arms and an orange toothpick for a nose, and draw the face and buttons with a permanent black marker. I added fabric strips for scarves :o)

A very Merry Christmas to all my crafty friends all over the world!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Patterns Here & Patterns There

After an 8 month journey to Lark Books, my Monkey quilt finally returned home! The pattern will be published in a book called Quilts, BABY! due out in May 2009. Everyone at Lark is very excited about this book and word is that it is going to be the best book Lark has published to date! I am so very excited!

I also received my copies of Pretty Little Purses & Pouches in the mail this week. It features my third published pattern... Teacup pouch. They arrived just in time to give to my family & crafty friends as Christmas gifts!

Recently I have been focusing on my pattern making. I have been working on my cover design and instruction layout. I am so excited because I have decided to go with a booklet layout instead of loose pages. Now that I have it all organized, I am sketching my days away between Christmas baking and crafts. As soon as I am happy with my sketches I will drop them into place with the help of photoshop and soon after, I will be able to send out copies out to my pattern testers. I want to thank everyone who has been waiting ever so patiently for my patterns over the last two years... you are STILL on my ever-growing list!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)