This was a quick pillow I made at Christmas for my brother's fiancee. A simple wonky star but with holly freemotion-quilted into the white.
I used the same striped back and tie design as in my Crane Star Pillow pattern. I outlined the star and ties with a red embroidered running stitch, and finished it off with scrappy binding.
I loved how it turned out and it was difficult to give it away! She loved it and I think my brother loved it even more :o)
We are going to my Parents' for the annual Armstrong Easter Egg Hunt at the park. The best-dressed wins an Easter basket full of goodies and we are hoping this sweet Easter Apron wins for my daughter this year.
I designed the apron and chose colours to match her strawberry summer dress & Easter hat. Of course the nest needed to be a pocket so she can stash extra goodies when her basket is full! She promised that if she wins she will share the candy with her cousins. Thank goodness!
I used this lovely apron tutorial by Prairie Moon Quilts as a guide for my apron. I cut a 15 x 21" rectangle for the white background, 6-1/2 x 13" piece for the waist, and 6 x 40" strips for the ties. I love the long ties tied in a bow at the front.
Spring has sprung! The tulips are blooming in my garden! And I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my vegan chocolate bar to find this waiting for me! I'm certain all you crafty people would totally appreciate little details like this!
HAPPY EASTER!
I designed this quilt for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild's challenge due in November. We were given some fat eighths of Michael Miller Cotton Couture bright solid cottons and they immediately reminded me of candy... jelly beans to be precise!
We just happen to store our candy in a jar at home so the Mason Jar came instantly to mind. I had a hard time deciding whether to make a flat quilt or a three-dimensional bag; large or small. I eventually opted for the easier design in the larger size which just seemed modern. There's nothing like giant jelly beans! The finished jar ended up being 29 x 51 inches. I pillow-cased or "faced" all the appliqué jelly beans so that they all had a second white layer in behind to keep the colours bright even on the dark purple background.
I added a wide binding and sewed it by hand so I could change the width as I went along, making it wider at the bottom. I added a pre-sandwiched lid at the end to give it extra loft, and felt as if I were screwing the lid onto a real jar as I quilted it!
I think I stuck with the original design pretty close except that the jar called for some extra free-motion quilting to fill in the empty space. I also felt that 5 cents was a bit steep for a jelly bean!
I won first prize and received a fabulous Cotton Couture colour chart as well as an even more fabulous $50 gift certificate for Sew Sisters Quilt Shop! (Thanks Stacey for the photo.)
I made this set of three Leaf Potholders in October. I have only made sets of two large leaves before and was toying with different size options. I am planning to release the pattern due to a growing number of requests!
Quilters will have the option of creating sets of two in any size or a set of three which I think looks super cute all linked together. The small leaf would be perfect as a coaster.
I always have so much fun making these leaves. They are fast to make, and there's something very rewarding about sewing all those small scraps together. You can see more of my Leaf Potholders in my flickr gallery.
Here's a few of my favourite pictures from last Fall. Yup... more leaves and Jack-o-Lanterns in Spring while I still try to catch up on blogging.
This was just a little gift for Claire's teacher at the end of June. Her favourite colour is yellow and I had the perfect fabrics.
I was very happy with the bit of pink velveteen I used for the eraser. I paper-pieced the pencil and had lots of fun free-motion quilting her name!
I hand-stamped a little note from Claire on the back. I heard through the grapevine that she is still enjoying it on her desk at her new school.
I had so much fun making this little mug rug that I think it will be the year-end gift for the teacher every year!
As you may have noticed I haven't been blogging lately but it seems that most of you now realize that I blog in spurts only when I'm feeling inspired to write which isn't very often. It's been a while and so I have many creations to share with you over the next few posts.
I will start with my Colourbrick quilt I finished in May. I based it on Stitched in Color's Colorbrick Quilt-Along. I made my brick wall larger, horizontal instead of vertical, and made the mortar sashing a bit wider. The finished size after washing & drying is 70 x 85".
I have been enjoying it all Winter because I used the most luxurious Hobb's Heirloom wool batting and it is OH SO WARM! My cat Percy agreed and much cat fur was quilted into the threads! It was the first time using wool batting and it was very nice for free-motion quilting. Free-motion scallops around each brick... what was I thinking?!
I never pre-wash my fabric so it shrunk a bit more than usual but I like the extra crinkly effect. The quilt feels nice and light even with the cozy flannel I chose for the backing.
I wanted this quilt to be really bright & cheery which was a challenge for me since I'm used to creating with neutrals and dusty colours. I found some fabrics I adore including some large teacup and bird prints, ABC Cookery, and Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley and Flea Market Fancy. Brighter, bolder, more modern fabrics have been creeping into my stash since joining the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild.
I pieced a single row of bricks into the backing which included a hand-stamped label. And of course I took the opportunity to add a couple more teacups ;o)
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.
