New Pattern Booklet

I am pleased to announce that there is finally a new pattern booklet in my SHOP! You can now make House Tape Measures for yourself and all your crafty friends... and just in time for Christmas too! There will be new patterns each month thanks to my new illustrator & friend Sarah Taylor! Thanks also to Krista for testing my House Tape Measure pattern!

Sit down with a cup of tea and start sewing your Christmas presents today! Visit my SHOP to instantly download a PatchworkPottery pattern booklet... print it out and you are ready to sew!

Watch for the Butterfly Potholder and Crane Star paper-pieced pillow cover patterns in December!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

*** For international crafters who are unable to find the tape measures locally, you can purchase them HERE. ***

Red

How could I possibly relate all these random photos? I know! They all have red in them!

A cupcake pincushion on a new stack of fabric cut from old shirts...

A future wall organizer with teacup pockets...

A little bird & a detail shot of a teacup pouch that I made last month for a swap with Anna in France...

A custom house tape measure I made this week...

Yes, there are some more tape measures on the way!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Retreat Goodness

Here it is... all the things I have been busy making over the last few weeks to take with me to "Quilting by the Bay" Quilting Retreat tomorrow. I was kindly invited by Krista to my first ever quilting retreat and was asked to bring some things to sell. I will be travelling to Lion's Bay early in the morning for a whole sweet day of quilting with just me and twenty-some-odd other talented quilters... I am so very excited!

Leftover crafts will be listed in my shop on Tuesday :o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Two Hundred & Only One

Do you ever get those e-mails?

You know.

The ones that you think must be someone trying to joke around or super-spam or scam you if you reply. The ones where the word "you" is a one letter word. The ones that ask you for product prices and in the next e-mail want to order TWO HUNDRED House Tape Measures?! And it all sounds so ridiculous that it just can't be real! Of course you have to bring to their attention that your "company" is really only ONE little you, with orders booked until the end of October; with a house, a husband and a 3 year old to take care of. Then you realize if you finish one each day for the next seven months of your life you could actually fill the order!

There is always a chance that it could be real so you try to be polite, friendly & helpful but tread cautiously. You require a 50% deposit on a small sample batch and do NOT accept payment by cheque in the mail or credit card by phone. Paypal is my friend.

I await the next e-mail...

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Tidbits

This will be a "bit of everything" post to catch up from the last few weeks. Now that summer is over and my in-laws from Japan are finished visiting, I have had more time to sew and catch up with stuff around the house.

This first bit of news is something I couldn't wait to share with you! Last night, I checked to see if the cover designs of some books that I'll be published in were posted yet and was very surprised to find that my French Press Cozy was on the cover of Pretty Little Cozies! I am so excited but am trying not to keep my hopes up because the covers usually changes a couple times before it is actually published. This one will be out in May 2009.

The next tidbit of news is that my shop is now quite full! Yes, it has been quite bare for the last few months. I still have many TeaCup pouches in various stages of completion as well as House Tape Measures that I have just started listing.

I have also posted lots of Christmas ornaments, Tree toppers and a large Quilted Tree Skirt! All the Ornaments are now on sale for $5 each!

I am planning to make some of these fabric candy garlands for my shop this year. It was a personal project last Christmas which got amazing feedback from Flickr folk :o)

The last tidbit for now is that I am planning a couple little super easy and helpful tutorials. The first projects will include making your own labels and re-covering your ironing board...

Oh! ...and this is the card I made my husband for his birthday in August. I thought it would be fun to SEW a card :o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Production Lines

I have kept myself busy the last few days with my little production lines. I have been reading a wonderful book called Craft Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby Into a Business. It mentions somewhere in the book to always make more than one item at a time. I am queen of One-at-a-Time land especially when it comes to larger projects like handbags and quilts. I have always had my little production lines of pouches, tape measures and tags but have recently increased the size threefold.

The most fun was choosing the tiny buttons for the doorknobs on the little house tapemeasures. I also had a blast carving my own stamps for the Tea Time tags inspired by the ever-so-talented Craft Pudding!

I also made a cute little Teacup pillow... but I only made one...

I REALLY should have made more because someone purchased the CUSTOM order from my shop...

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)