Pattern Shop News!

The Book Pillow & Pincushion pattern is now available in my SHOP.
This one's for all those book lovers out there...

Now you can add plush book pillows to your favourite reading spot! You can choose from 2 sizes of pillows with options to sew the book closed or include a secret message inside the book that you can open and read. Basic instructions on how to piece the front page and ideas for creating your book labels are given.

The small pincushion-sized book has space for pins, needles inside the cover and a small spool of thread in the spine. To weight it down, you can add sand, rice or pincushion filling of your choice along with polyester filling. There is also a place for a plastic insert on the bottom to prevent pins from poking through which makes it great for travel. It's so cute, it would even make a great gift for someone who doesn't sew!

This is an 8-page digital PDF pattern containing 2 pages that make up the cover, 4 pages of instructions, 1 template page, and 1 page on how to properly print and assemble your very own pattern booklet. All PatchworkPottery digital pattern booklets include metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates.

For sizes and more information, please visit any of my shops. In addition to my MAIN SHOP, you can also find me on Etsy.

COMING SOON: Quilted Teapot and Partridge in a Pear Tree.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Books & Zippers

Things change...

I have decided to take more of a pattern-design route in my life as most of you already know. Designing the first two issues for Quilter's Connection Magazine was fun and a great learning experience but also quite stressful. It didn't leave much time in my life to focus on my own patterns so I decided it was time to move on. I still design a page now & then or help out with photography or patterns but at a much more toned down level. What I learned is already helping me on my path to my own pattern-making.

Click on the image to get a sneak peek inside!

Several months ago, I was contacted by a new Taiwanese sewing book called Cotton Life to join their team as one of their main designers. This quarterly magazine has a Japanese flair with photos for every step which makes it easy to follow even if you can't read Chinese! I have always dreamed of being part of such a book and I am very excited to once again be published in another language!

For issue No.3 (my first issue), I designed a quilted bag, pouch & keychain set. Now why I designed a round zippered pouch I will never know! Sewing zippers into round bags is DIFFICULT! I tried many ways but I soon realized that sewing them by machine was NOT an option for me! So I decided to do it the Japanese way and sew it in by hand!

The first two pouches were good but the zippers stuck out the sides and I didn't like the loose lining.

The final pouch consisted of two tiny round pillow-cased quilts. I also set the zipper further back so it wouldn't be noticeable from the front.

I was very happy with the finished product... yet another pattern I must add to my list! Send an e-mail directly to Cotton Life to PURCHASE A COPY. For those of you who can wait, I will be adding a few copies of each issue to my Etsy Shop :o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

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?!

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)

Coziness

What says COZY more than Storytime book pillows and the smell of bread baking in the oven on a cold day! I have been a bit slow with my blogging lately so I will try to catch up over the next week. I finished all my book pillows...

I always ask people what kind of software they use for editing their photos so I thought it might be fun to share my secrets. For the basics, I use photoshop. I fix the levels to brighten all my photos, adjust colours and crop. Sometimes, I have fun editing my photos using free online photo editing software called Picnik which I used on these 2 Book Pillow photos. My favourite tools to Create are 1960's for a vintage effect, focal soften, and orton-ish for a dreamy effect!

I realized after I made these book pillows that I had transferred the writing for the title labels in three different ways! The first method I used was to simply write onto the fabric using a water soluble pen and a keen eye for copying what I had printed out from my computer. It worked well but was not precise and wetting the piece afterwards to dissolve the marker stressed me out! The second time I made a label I hand wrote the title onto the paper side of freezer paper. I then flipped it over and traced over it on the waxy side of the freezer paper with a fine Sharpie permanent marker. I carefully positioned and immediately ironed it. The title transferred lightly to the fabric.

Don't ask me how I come up with these things! I know there are easier ways but expermenting and problem-solving is half the fun! I made the last label while waiting for my daughter at preschool. I forgot to bring any sort of marker or pencil with me but I had printed the font out with my printer at home. How would I transfer the title without a marker? I positioned the printed title on the fabric label and with my needle I poked through the paper into the fabric following the line. I poked and embroidered the letters one at a time until the title was finished! Problem solved :o)

And I will end this post with my latest bread creations from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. After a lengthy fight with pancake-shaped loaves, I increased the flour for the basic boule to 7 cups. Perfect! I shaped them and placed them on a parchment covered cookie sheet and draped plastic wrap over top. I put them in the fridge overnight (10-11 hours) In the morning, I took them out of the fridge, sprinkled them with flour & scored the tops. Baked for 35 minutes in a 450 degree oven. The crust was crackley and full of tiny bubbles! Amazing!

I also made the tiniest loaves of bread I have ever seen! This one is 50% whole wheat and 2 slices fit on a teacup saucer! I can just imagine mini sandwiches for high tea!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Not Tacky Anymore

During my latest search for country scenery fabric to use as covers for my new book pillows I found this fabric! It was on the verge of being tacky when I saw it at the store with its vibrant pink splashes among the pukey dairrhea-coloured trees but my imagination was churning and saw hope for this fabric. So I bought some and did a little coffee-staining at home which toned down and warmed up the entire fabric and I was quite happy with the results!

I wanted the embroidered title to look a little more elegant country this time so I turned to my computer for help. After choosing the perfect font, I printed it out the exact size I needed and copied it to my fabric. I hand-embroidered the letters using a tiny backstitch, french knots & 3 strands of floss.

I used an off-white corduroy for the pages this time. And I had an audience during the photo shoot!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

One thing leads to Another

It all started with another custom pillow... this time in the shape of a book with a tea-related theme. As with most of what I design, I rack my brain for a few days trying to give myself a rough idea of how I might construct it. I then draw a few sketches and if I find it very tricky I may even make a muslin prototype.

I went through several failed attempts before I came up with a way to make a pillow that actually looked like a book. I was happy with the final product but I still needed to make the page part and cover separately and then hand-sew the cover to the pages. I need to find a faster & easier way!

I was making my prototypes at a much smaller scale. I found that if I left the front page loose and added ribbon to tie the book closed it would make a very cute sewing caddy! Thread and scissors can be stored in the slot at the book's binding, needles can be attached to the inside of the cover, and pins in the pincushion page unit. I am playing with the idea of sewing part of a story into the top of the pincushion part to make it look like a real first page...

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)