Quilt by the Bay

Never before in my life have I been able to spend 13 consecutive hours focused solely on quilting! "Quilt by the Bay" in Lion's Bay was my first ever quilting retreat and what a wonderful experience it was!

There were more than 20 busy bees working on all sorts of amazing quilting projects. Delicious lunch, dinner and snacks were provided throughout the day. We were even shown a fancy new way to fold fabric for cutting binding. Many thanks go out to the wonderful ladies I met there and Krista Hennebury for her hard work organizing the whole affair!

...and special thanks to everyone who purchased crafty goodness from me, and to the rest of you reading this... YES, there ARE leftovers!

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)

Tiny Troubles

A tantalizing collection of tiny half hexagons painstakingly cut out of scraps and sewn together with love...

As inspiration takes hold, you can hardly tame your excitement at seeing the patchwork grow. That is until a few rows later when you notice that these hexagons are turning out awfully tiny and you realize that you will not finish a 30x36 inch custom turtle quilt in a million years if you use pieces this small. Time to set that aside and make something else with it later...

And you start over again, painstakingly cutting half hexagons out of larger scraps and sewing them together with love... OH! So that's what those lines on the cutting mat are for!

Here is the inspiration for the turtle quilt. I made this little fish pillow a long time ago. It is the same patchwork, only this time matching the fabric to make full hexagons... perfect for a turtle shell!

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)

Fabric Labels Tutorial

Many people have asked me how I make my labels so I have decided to make this little tutorial including pictures and any little tips that I have learned along the way. You will find that making your own labels is quite simple and much cheaper than purchasing custom labels. Pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy.

Materials needed:
computer, graphics program (I used photoshop) & inkjet printer
regular printer paper
iron-on transfer paper
utility knife, cutting mat & metal ruler
ribbon (I used 1/2 inch natural cotton twill tape)
iron & ironing board
scissors

Step 1: Design your image using your program of choice working with a resolution of 300ppi for a clear image. The height of your image should be smaller than the width of your ribbon. Print some out on regular paper, cut them out and see how they fit on your ribbon. Fill up an entire page, repeating images in rows and leaving about an inch between the images in each row. The rows can be fairly close together. *Remember to reverse your image! I can get 96 labels out of one sheet of transfer paper which I think is pretty economical.

Step 2: Print your labels. Follow the transfer paper instructions to set your printer for the right type of paper. Print a test sheet on regular paper first making sure that the image is reversed. Print a sheet of labels on the transfer paper (I have decided to print a few larger labels this time for my bags).

Step 3: Cut out the images preferably into long strips using your utility knife, cutting mat and ruler. Leaving them in strips will save time when ironing and you will be less likely to burn your fingertips. (I know you are not supposed to use utility knives on these mats but it's better than cutting up my new desk!)

Step 4: Iron the transfer onto the ribbon. Lay the ribbon flat. Place a strip printed side down. Press the strip down with the iron. Once it is adhered, slide the iron across several times. *Make sure the iron is not too hot. If your iron is too hot or if you iron it too long, your image will melt! See below.

Step 5: Peel off the backing paper. Wait until the twill tape has cooled before removing the paper. I always leave the previous paper strip on to protect the iron when I am adding a new strip. *The transfer will melt if the iron touches it!

Step 6: Use them! Make a whole roll of labels or cut them as desired. You can turn the ends under and stitch them to your project, or you can fold them in half and sew them into a seam to create a loop tag. Now you are ready to add them to all your wonderful creations!

You could also make laundering instruction labels, and quilt labels using this same method!

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***Additional TIP (added April 28, 2011)***
To remove most of the plastic feel of the transfer paper and to set the image even more, lay baking parchment paper over the transferred image and iron again with a hot iron. It really works!

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)

Old & New

Sometimes I have an idea that stays in my head or my sketchbook for a long long time before I actually feel inspired to make it. A year ago while I was making a corded beehive trivet, I thought that it would be neat to try to make one that resembled a bird's nest.

I thought about making it every few weeks but I was either too busy or uninspired to actually create that thing floating around in my head. Yesterday I did it and now it's in my SHOP waiting for a loving owner... Finally a space in my head for one more new idea!

Now for some excitement... I upgraded to a 12MP camera on the weekend. I have been wanting a camera with more Megapixels so that I will have good enough images to publish my own patterns or books. I have been playing with it a lot to try to get my photos to look as good as my six year old 3MP camera.

Goodbye trusty old Casio Exilim EX-Z3...

Hello fancy new Canon Powershot G9! :o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Pouches Pouches Everywhere!

Saturday was a great day! My husband took our daughter Claire out for the day to give me some time to focus on sewing. Things have been hectic around here lately with my in-laws from Japan visiting and my husband doing contract work for three animation companies! I had an amazingly productive day and finished a bunch of pouches for my SHOP. I will be adding more pouches, tape measures and other goodies to my shop in the next couple weeks. Here are some of the finished pouches and you can see more of them in my Flickr gallery...

This little pouch is finally back from its long jorney to North Carolina, USA. It will be featured along with my pattern in Lark Book's Pretty Little Purses & Pouches due out in November! This particular pouch is now available in my shop as well!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)