Happy Autumn!

Happy Autumn & Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians. Cozy up in your comfy chair with your favourite quilt, a cup of tea, and a piece of pumpkin pie while raindrops tap on the windows.

I baked pumpkin pies yesterday. Pumpkin is my favourite pie but I rarely get to enjoy them. Guess what I ate for breakfast today?!

These ones are made with almond milk! For the crust, I used 3-2-1 Pie Crust; measuring by cups, omitting the salt & sugar and using Vegan Becel as the fat. You can find the pie filling recipe at the bottom of this post.

I love Autumn! I love the colours and the smell, and the cooler weather. I love the sound of leaves crunching as I walk. I love leaves in general... all year long but mostly in Autumn when the colors burn to a warm flame! I will be making a pattern for this little Autumn Trivet introducing the technique of cut-away appliqué.

This beautiful wool felt bird has been standing guard over my little egg basket of twine for more than 8 years! I cherish my bird & oak leaf, as well as my pear & felted acorns. Check out all of Lisa’s wool creations at Lil Fish Studios!

I am looking forward to using this stash of wool that I have been coveting for years. Perhaps the leaves will inspire me? I updated the look of my SHOP recently. Pop on over to check it out... there is still time to sew some Pumpkin Coasters!

I hope you are all enjoying this time of year as much as I am. Stay warm & cozy, and join me for tea, pie & crafting!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

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{PUMPKIN PIE}
makes 1 large deep dish pie or 2 regular shallow pies

3 cups pumpkin
3 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp mace
3/4 cup almond milk

(This recipe uses more pumpkin & spices, and less sugar than most.)

Whisk together and pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake 425F for 15 min & 350F for 45 min or until filling is firm. Thin pies will be ready sooner. Serve with coconut whipped cream!

I use 3-2-1 pie crust recipe made with Vegan Becel. It’s a soft dough that doesn’t shrink. Add flour to make cut-outs. Bake cut-outs until lightly browned and place on pie once filling has firmed.

A Magic Jar of Tea

Last week I made this mugrug as a practice patchwork block to get me back into the swing of things.

I was inspired by the colours of my Japanese jelly beans. I dove into my scrap baskets and embroidery floss to find matching greens & pinks. Inspiration soon struck, and a little teacup needed to be added! I decided to make a log cabin centered around this cute bunny fabric I found.

I spent a day or two trying to decide how to quilt it. I knew I wanted steam but steam everywhere would have looked a bit strange. I decided to turn it into a drawing a free-motion quilt a background image around the teacup appliqué. Not trusting my rusty free-motion skills, I drew the images on thin tracing paper first, pinned it in place, and quilted right through the paper. It was easy to follow the lines, I could see clearly, and I wasn't distracted by busy fabrics.

I love details...

I try to add a little bit of ribbon, buttons or embroidery to everything I make. I usually add embroidery after quilting rather than before. I started with the steam and just kept going and going but I had to force myself to stop before I went overboard! I added a touch of this lovely Tea Time ribbon that my friend Anna made.

"Loving the « invisible » tea jar!! Brilliant"

My friend Sonia left the above comment on my instagram. Depending on the light, the jar and all other quilting disappears and reappears making this a truly magic Jar of Tea!

Where did it go?!

My blog posts tend to be a bit behind. To keep up to date with what I am working on, follow me on instagram and facebook.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

A Mind of its Own

Dear Blog,

        I know I haven't posted in a while. Thank you for the reminder yesterday. It seems that you can't wait for me any longer and have decided to post all by yourself. I would be thrilled but I doubt our subscribers wish to read a re-post from August 2015. As much as I appreciate the extra help, please allow me to do the posting from now on. I promise to visit you more often! I have not forgotten about you.

Yours truly,

Laurraine

The longest creativity slump of my life has finally come to an end. This Summer I played a lot in the garden, baked, went about the normal routine of keeping house & having friends over tea. However, when I opened my sketchbook or sat in front of my sewing machine my mind drew a blank.

n  o  t  h  i  n  g  .  .  .

Last month, the simple act of sewing some plaid elbow patches to my teenager's newly thrifted hoodie was enough to tug those creative strings. I decided to take a photo and share it on instagram even though it wasn't a very exciting project, and was motivated not only by the number of people who liked the elbow patches but by my creative friends who had missed me.

I spent the last couple weeks dabbling with some fusible web appliqué, sketching a few new ideas to add to my giant heap-o-designs, and learning more about instagram. I even had to ask my teenager about hashtags & stories!

I will be posting new stuff as well as a bunch of half-written ancient drafts still sitting in my posts section. I post more frequently on facebook & instagram. Search for patchworkpottery.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas snuck up on me like it does every year. I still managed to make a few quilted things in addition to the usual Christmas baking extravaganza!

I quilted a sweet modern vintage Chevy table runner designed by Cynthia Frenette. It looked super cute hanging from my mantel and is all wrapped up now waiting for its special delivery.

I free-motion quilted a loopy line between wavy double lines. I wanted it to look like cool winter wind. It was a lovely unexpected surprise that it looks like tire tracks in the snow! There are two designs in "Merry and Bright". I choose the table runner. If you would like to make your own, you can find the pattern here.

I've wanted to make a mini muffin tin advent calendar for a few years and finally did it! No more expensive store-bought calendars filled with cheap chocolates for my daughter!

She has really enjoyed it so far and is sad that there are only two days left to open. I had lots of fun scrapbooking the magnetic sheets. I even made a pipe cleaner wreath and a sled out of mini popsicle sticks!

I also made four Log Cabin Kitty potholders. I will share more photos of them in the next post. My Kitty Potholders have received a lot of comments on my facebook page so there will probably be a pattern to come!

A huge thank you to all my fans and followers. Your comments are truly appreciated. They keep me motivated and even give me great new ideas.

It snowed a couple weeks ago and another big dump this week added to it. There was three times as much snow as in the photo! A warm snap and lots of rain in the last two days has melted quite a bit of it but we are expecting more next week. I enjoy snow. It is magical and quiet. That is until it's a slushy muddy slippery mess...

I have been struggling with the squirrels eating all the birds' food. The little rascals chewed through my clothesline to get to the suet cage, and even managed to pry off the binder clips holding it shut before dragging the entire suet away. In honour of these cute rats with fluffy tails I baked gingerbread squirrels so I can bite their heads off!

Wishing you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS & a happy NEW YEAR!

Enjoy your Christmas cookies & quilted crafts :o)