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)

Teapot Pillows

For the past couple months I have been taking a much-needed break from custom orders. I have been enjoying my time to design new things and to focus on making patterns. However, I never say no to a custom order that challenges me to design something new especially if it has anything to do with tea! How could I have possibly said "no" to Teapot Pillows! This cute Japanese cross-stitch fabric was perfect for the country tea kettle...

I was very pleased with how the fancy teapot turned out...

I used an elegant Japanese linen and I even had the perfect polka-dot wood bead stashed away waiting for the perfect project. I think I need to make one of these for myself! And they would look great with these Teacup pillows I made a while back! :o)

Don't you think some of these photos would make great cards?

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

I'm a Designer!

Last week I received my copies of Pretty Little Potholders that I ordered directly from Sterling Publishing. I had been waiting since May 6th to scoop up a copy at my local bookstore but had no luck. As a contributor to the book, they are sending me a free copy in the mail but the suspense was killing me so I ordered 7 copies thinking that some family & friends might enjoy it as a gift. I was thrilled to see that my butterfly potholder also made it onto the chapter page AND the introduction (which is not in this photo)!!!

I figured if I had extras, I could sell them in my Etsy Shop but why would someone buy it from me and pay shipping when they could buy it from their local bookstore? Maybe I could sign my patterns in the book?

There seems to be some slight changes to the patterns that the editor made to simplify it so I really need to go through and read them again in case anyone gets stuck and asks me about certain steps!

I became ecstatic when I noticed that the word "Designer" accompanied my name for each pattern! I never thought that I would ever become a pattern designer or ever be published in a book!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Rosemary & Cinnamon

I used the last of my adapted Peasant Loaf recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. I made some fresh rosemary & oil breadsticks. I was hoping the rosemary would stick to the olive oil that I brushed on, but only the sea salt remained. They still recieved the highest praise from my daughter Claire who hums like a bumblebee whenever she eats something she loves :o)

It didn't go as far as the Boule recipe due to the dough not rising as much but it was yummy and where else in the world can you find whole grain Cinnamon Swirls?! ...that makes up for all the icing, doesn't it???

Would you like to join me for tea, cinnamon swirls & sewing!

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)

Classic Car Pillow

Here's one that I couldn't risk posting until now.

I made this pillow for my Dad for Father's Day but couldn't give it to him until this last weekend. I could have mailed it but I wanted to see his face when I gave it to him. It is always so hard to buy a gift for Dad... When I was little he used to re-build these old cars... in particular the 1931 Plymouths like on the pillow. He is also a coffee-addict. Notice how I strategically placed the car applique over the fabric so that the man with the coffee is driving!

I got him a couple Hot Rod magazines too. He really liked it! Here is a look at the cover without the pillow...

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Artisan Bread

It all started a week before my birthday when I first saw "Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day" while lost in Blogland. The more I researched, the more I knew that I needed this book!

I made these loaves from the basic boule recipe right after the first rise... I let the bread rise again directly on a parchment-covered cookie sheet and it turned out great! Making this bread was so effortless! Just take a look at this video!

Then I made a HUGE cinnamon bun which didn't even make it to the photoshoot! Next I made some Cinnamon Apple Walnut filled buns which I was inspired to make after reading the Spicy Pork Bun recipe.

I finished off the boule by making 2 of the most delicious pizzas I have ever tasted!

It was torture taking all these photos and my husband was giving me dirty looks!

This week I am trying an adaptation of the Peasant Loaf. I used 5 cups of unbleached flour, 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of multigrain cereal and sprinkled the large loaf with the cereal. Yum!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Father's Day Quilt

I have been waiting all week to blog about this quilt...

I was totally inspired by Kajsa Wikman of Syko to create this little art quilt for Father's Day with my 3 1/2 year old daughter Claire. As you may know already Kajsa's birds were based on one of her daughter's drawings and I think that is amazing! I also like the way she writes messages in her quilting and how she adds trims into the borders. Thank you Kajsa for inspiring me and Thank you Claire for your awesome drawing of Daddy!

This was the first time I have ever tried stippling on a quilt. I think I ripped out more stitches than I sewed! I had a lot of trouble but the effect was worth it. I love how the daddy character became poofy! I think in the future I may try a different stippling pattern because this was really difficult for me... maybe something with spirals or loops!

We also made him this amazing Chocolate Banana Nut Bread! We increased the cocoa powder to 1/2 cup, added an extra banana and increased the flour a bit, and used walnuts instead of pecans. We drizzled some confectioner's sugar mixed with milk & vanilla extract on the top. Claire helped by mashing the bananas, pulverizing the eggs & mixing. Here's the recipe!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Refreshed...

I bought more fabric.

Even after I said I wouldn't.

As if a room full of fabric is not enough! But what can you do when you walk into a fabric store and you are bombarded with signs that say "BUY 1 metre, GET 3 FREE"!!! I walked out of Fabricland 2 hours later carrying more fabric than I knew what to do with! And if that wasn't bad enough I went directly across the street to purchase more at Fabricana! Well, one of the fabrics I came home with was this beautiful Joel Dewberry fabric in aqua & sage.

I noticed lately that my favourite 2 year old scrubby cloth was slowly unravelling and the hanging loop had fallen off months ago. I needed to save it! The new fabric was calling out to the dead scrubby saying, "I will turn you into a fabulous new Spa cloth!"

It turned out better than when I first bought it and it matches my bathroom colour scheme perfectly. I am in heaven with my new spa cloth and my favourite soap made by Bonnie King of Hello Crafty. I love the Refreshing Dead Sea salt spa bar like the one resting on the Joel Dewberry fabric and the BUTTON bar is amazing! Here are some more of her beautiful handmade soaps!

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)