Teacup & Laptop Cozy

Here's a couple things I made as presents last year...

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Pattern Shop News

My SpringTime Bag pattern booklet is available in my SHOP! This pattern was originally featured last Spring in Taiwanese craft book Cotton Life No. 5. You'll be happy to know that instructions are now in English. This bag features a flowerpot-shaped pocket and instructions for pillow-cased applique technique. The Butterfly Keychain is not included in this pattern booklet due to lack of space but will be available as a small pattern booklet of its own.

A special thanks to my wonderful pattern testers from across the globe... Veronica from Italy and her blog Purr-Stitch:

and Joanna from Germany and her blog Shape Moth:

All PatchworkPottery digital pattern booklets include metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates. I no longer send e-newsletters so if you haven't already, please subscribe to my blog by e-mail to receive shop & pattern updates.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Cotton & Thyme

My SpringTime Bag pattern can now be found in the Taiwanese quarterly quilting book: Cotton Life no.5! This one announces that SPRING has finally arrived with all the daffodil and tulip colours and flower prints galore!

Cotton Life is written in Chinese but includes photos for each step of every project so it very easy to follow. All measurements are in centimetres and includes full-size templates. Each issue includes 28-32 projects including accessories, clothing, housewares, bags, quilts and much more!

I was surprised to see my name on the front cover and I love how they designed my page! Take a sneak peek inside before you purchase a copy from my SHOP.

Here is a closer look at all the details. There is a flowerpot pocket on the front of the bag...

and a little birdie on the back...

and the pattern for the Butterfly Keychain is included!

The bag is also fully reversible if you decide that you want to go plain.

I was out in the sunshine all day yesterday preparing the gardens and planting early veggies. All of my window sills are full of herb, veggie & squash seedlings. Did I mention that "my time (thyme) is up"?!?! Enjoy your SpringTime!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Things for my Shop

One bag finished... only 17 TeaCup, CoffeeMug & Hot Cocoa pouches, and 20 House Tape Measures to go! This bag is now in my SHOP!

It might take me a while to get through this pile now with the summer weather finally starting to arrive (very late this year). My plan is to sew up a storm after my daughter goes to bed and have tape measures ready to finish hand-sewing while she plays at the park the next day... That is the plan anyway ;o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Patchwork & Peaches

I started piecing this bag a few weeks ago. At the time, I was just piecing together scraps that looked amazing together not really knowing what the end product would be. I noticed that it went perfectly with one of my cute Japanese tea fabrics. I decided it would become another bag so quickly moved onto piecing another panel and quilting both sides.

In my creative frenzy, I cut the bias strips aligned everything and sewed one side together- only realizing after that I had not only forgotten to add the lining fabric but I hadn't even chosen fabric for the lining yet... enter the SEAM RIPPER!

As I was taking photos of the OOPS bag, I thought I would also post a photo of my little window photo studio set-up. A lot of people have been asking me what kind of amazing camera I use. The truth is that my camera is a pathetic Casio Exilim which I love. It is only 3.2 MP and has problems taking photos of anything red or purple.

I take my photos on my kitchen table which is right up against the brightest window in the house. I set up white boards to reflect the light onto the shadowed sides of my objects which I have only started doing in the last few months after reading a lot of do-it-yourself photo studio sites. It also helps if you have been using the same camera for six years ;o) I looked back through my Flickr photos and realized that lots of my early photos were very dark but it really helps to find the perfect spot in your home and if that fails then you have to be an expert at Photoshop!

I always wonder if my photos look as good on other people's screens as they do on my own. I worry if my screen set up is totally different from everyone else's and maybe things that look orange and bright on mine might appear dark and brown, or flourescent on the "other side".

And what is a crafty blog in the Spring without some mention of gardens! I planted a rosebush against the front of my house last year. Well, This year it is 12 feet tall and has over 40 buds on it. A few weeks ago it was off to a really rough start with a bout of powdery mildew. I decided rather than applying litres of chemicals around my front windows that I would remove the most affected leaves and hope for the best. I figured that if it was going to die then it just wasn't the right spot for it. All signs of the mildew have vanished! I am so happy that it survived because it is much more amazing than I had remembered. It is a glorious peach colour and smells so much like peaches that I want to eat it!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)