Holiday Sewing

I sewed and quilted a few things for Christmas including this MugRug or mini quilt for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild Christmas scrap swap. The challenge was to use a bag of scraps from a fellow guild member and create something they love.

Upon finding the name of my partner inside the scraps, I headed to the world wide web in search of anything that could help me design something she would love. I based my design on a photo she had pinned of some scrapbook trees and then added a few of my own fabrics that would work well with the ones I received.

I really liked how it turned out :o) Surprisingly my hubby liked it too and was sad to see it go! It was the first free-motion quilting done on my new Janome Horizon... Merry Christmas to me! I lucked out and found a gently used machine in box for a really good deal so it was a spur of the moment decision and I couldn't be happier. It's twice the size of my old machine and quilts like a dream.

Although the item for the swap was supposed to be smallish, there were many larger items including this fabulous quilt top that I received from Paul. Thank you so much! I love it more than you could know!! You can see more fun items in our group photo.

Next I made a set of Leaf Potholders for my brother's fiancee. Her kitchen is black & white with a hint of red. I don't have much black & white fabric but luckily upgraded my text stash recently with lots of black & white! She was very happy with them and said they were perfect :o)

I also made my daughter three skirts. She loves heavily patterned clothes and definitely has her own style. Finding the perfect fabrics was just as much fun as sewing them!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. Happy Sewing in the New Year!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Linen Skirts

The combination of hot weather and girls' birthdays gave me the perfect excuse to whip up these cute linen skirts!

These two skirts are for my friend's twin daughters who just turned three. They are really into Hello Kitty and Thomas & Friends so I came up with these non-commercial designs that I hope they'll love. The kitty is a little pocket and the train is fusible web applique with felt button wheels!

I also made this reversible skirt for my niece who just turned one! One side is a blue linen-cotton with fun birds & flowers. The other side is a cute cherry print.

I'm planning to make a few more skirts for birthday presents because they are so cute & easy to make and the girls love them. There's only one problem... my daughter has fallen in love with every single one I've made! I guess I will be making a few new skirts for her too!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

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 of grass 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)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

International Treasures

For those of you who do not follow my Flickr pages, all of this will be new to you! For those who do, you will have seen most of this already but hopefully my words will add some extra interest as I try to catch up on my blogging :o)

My two newest purchases were handmade in France by Sonia of Cozy Memories. One very sweet felt gingerbread garland, and this amazing hand-embroidered house pillow that I fell in love with while watching it being created step by step on Flickr!

When friends visit, I enjoy showing off my growing collection of crafty treasures from friends all over the world including the works of Syko from Finland, Cyn Contemporary from Italy, Hip to Piece Squares from the USA, and my many friends from Brazil.

I also won a Willowberry Designs Giveaway and received all this goodness in the mail last week all the way from Australia- 2 patterns, fabric, felt, beads, gift tags and buttons. What a great giveaway! Thank you Cheryl!

My latest projects include this skirt I made for a friend's daughter who just turned 2! This is my daughter Claire modelling the skirt. She almost didn't want to take it off!

And finally, I found a mini shopping basket at the dollar store. I thought it would be fun to make some felt fruit and veggies for one of Claire's Christmas gifts. I started with a carrot...

I ordered this wonderful felt from One of the Flock to make more felt food and to use as icing on my CupCake Pincushions. The texture is just yummy!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)