Adventures in Felting

I have wanted to try felting for some time. I've been inspired by the magic of felted bowls, bags and hats on Flickr. When it snowed the other day, I realized that I do not have a warm winter hat so immediately started planning my first felting project. I was scared about the shrinkage especially since I was using two different yarns! I used Bernat felting wool for the main part which said it would shrink to 80% in width and 95% in height. I tend to be one who just uses my eye for things instead of following patterns so I just decided to go for it... without making test swatches! I knew if it shrunk too much then I could just turn it into a bowl!

I put it in a lingerie bag and threw it in the washing machine with a towel on the longest hot water cycle. It was still too big when it came out so I threw it in again... it came out a bit tight the second time but I managed to stretch it out slightly so that it would fit. It's a good thing I have a small head!

As you can see from the photo it shrunk much more than 5% in height! Thank goodness I added an extra stripe! For the most part I am happy with the way it turned out. The grey wool that I used for the stripes did not felt as well as expected but i like the texture. The felting wool lost its intensity. Overall I think I prefered the non-felted look and feel of the yarn.

It was an exciting project and reminded me of my pottery days because of the suspense and magic of chance! I think all my hat needs now is a fabric button flower :o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Santa, Birds & Angels

This was the first year that Claire has been excited to see Santa. For the last four years, photos with Santa have been family potraits including Mommy & Daddy but this year she decided that she would be okay by herself! She is such a big girl now... so big that I was surprised when I heard her ask Santa for a Hello Kitty Sewing Machine!!! I guess she wants to be just like her Mommy :o) She has been a very good girl this year so I am positive that Santa will bring her what she asked for!

I realized I forgot to add a picture of my Christmas baking in the last post so here is one to torture you! I made Cranberry & White chocolate biscotti, Butter Tarts with Walnut & Orange cream cheese pastry, Whipped shortbread, Ginger Crackles, Almond Roca, and aqua coloured White Chocolate Balls- some rolled in coconut- to match my aqua Christmas theme this year!

I whipped up these new linen bird ornaments last week after being inspired by the many beautiful birds on Flickr. See my Inspiration Mosaic. I adjusted my pattern as I went along and am happy with the final shape. The pink one was the first draft... the tail needed to be fuller. The blue one was next but the bottom needed to be a bit rounder. The rest were made with the adjusted pattern. I will be making a few for my shop throughout the year and filling my shop with them for next Christmas along with the fabric Candy Garlands that I didn't have time to make this year.

It snowed this week! We usually don't see much snow in Vancouver and if it does, it usually comes in February. It was a delightful ans beautiful surprise. Claire had fun yesterday and today making snow angels in our yard. Unforunately, the snow was too powdery for making snowmen. I hope you all have a White Christmas!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Aqua & White Christmas

I had a vision of an aqua & white Christmas. The kind that looks frosty even though there is no snow on the ground. During many failed searches for aqua ornaments, I noticed that all the stores are stocked full of peppermint red & white stripes! Where were these last year for my peppermint-themed Christmas?! Well... I could not find aqua anywhere. My friend told me it is the curse of the designer... next year the stores will be stocked with aqua & white and everyone will have a frosty Christmas!

Here are the aqua ornaments all ready for the tree. Some are old ornaments that I have re-painted and some are newly handmade. Click on the photo above to read the notes.

I made the paper houses last year. I printed out Christmas carols on my printer and glued them to card stock. The roofs were red last year but I re-painted them aqua. I also added the sashing to the windows and a hole in the back to insert a little christmas light so that it looks like there is someone home!

I also made a quilted patchwork version of my tree-topper stars which I adore, and a fabric Candy Garland all in aqua and white!

We had a great time on Sunday choosing our tree from a friend's tree farm! It was the first time that my husband has ever cut his own tree so it was a real treat. With the tree cutting & all the Christmas baking I've done, it has really put us into the Christmas spirit!

This one?

no... THIS ONE!

They were all so cute and bushy! With the help of Claire, we chose one that was only 4 feet tall :o)

Last night we decorated it all in aqua & white and I must say that it looks stunning... my husband was impressed too! And Claire loves all the glitter! My favourite part is the lit up houses but I also love the crocheted snowflakes that I bought from The Looks on Etsy!

I will leave you with a little Christmas card that I made using a photo that I took of the styrofoam snowmen. They were super easy to make! All you have to do is thread a pipe cleaner through the foam balls, stick in twigs for arms and an orange toothpick for a nose, and draw the face and buttons with a permanent black marker. I added fabric strips for scarves :o)

A very Merry Christmas to all my crafty friends all over the world!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Patterns Here & Patterns There

After an 8 month journey to Lark Books, my Monkey quilt finally returned home! The pattern will be published in a book called Quilts, BABY! due out in May 2009. Everyone at Lark is very excited about this book and word is that it is going to be the best book Lark has published to date! I am so very excited!

I also received my copies of Pretty Little Purses & Pouches in the mail this week. It features my third published pattern... Teacup pouch. They arrived just in time to give to my family & crafty friends as Christmas gifts!

Recently I have been focusing on my pattern making. I have been working on my cover design and instruction layout. I am so excited because I have decided to go with a booklet layout instead of loose pages. Now that I have it all organized, I am sketching my days away between Christmas baking and crafts. As soon as I am happy with my sketches I will drop them into place with the help of photoshop and soon after, I will be able to send out copies out to my pattern testers. I want to thank everyone who has been waiting ever so patiently for my patterns over the last two years... you are STILL on my ever-growing list!

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)

Coziness

What says COZY more than Storytime book pillows and the smell of bread baking in the oven on a cold day! I have been a bit slow with my blogging lately so I will try to catch up over the next week. I finished all my book pillows...

I always ask people what kind of software they use for editing their photos so I thought it might be fun to share my secrets. For the basics, I use photoshop. I fix the levels to brighten all my photos, adjust colours and crop. Sometimes, I have fun editing my photos using free online photo editing software called Picnik which I used on these 2 Book Pillow photos. My favourite tools to Create are 1960's for a vintage effect, focal soften, and orton-ish for a dreamy effect!

I realized after I made these book pillows that I had transferred the writing for the title labels in three different ways! The first method I used was to simply write onto the fabric using a water soluble pen and a keen eye for copying what I had printed out from my computer. It worked well but was not precise and wetting the piece afterwards to dissolve the marker stressed me out! The second time I made a label I hand wrote the title onto the paper side of freezer paper. I then flipped it over and traced over it on the waxy side of the freezer paper with a fine Sharpie permanent marker. I carefully positioned and immediately ironed it. The title transferred lightly to the fabric.

Don't ask me how I come up with these things! I know there are easier ways but expermenting and problem-solving is half the fun! I made the last label while waiting for my daughter at preschool. I forgot to bring any sort of marker or pencil with me but I had printed the font out with my printer at home. How would I transfer the title without a marker? I positioned the printed title on the fabric label and with my needle I poked through the paper into the fabric following the line. I poked and embroidered the letters one at a time until the title was finished! Problem solved :o)

And I will end this post with my latest bread creations from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. After a lengthy fight with pancake-shaped loaves, I increased the flour for the basic boule to 7 cups. Perfect! I shaped them and placed them on a parchment covered cookie sheet and draped plastic wrap over top. I put them in the fridge overnight (10-11 hours) In the morning, I took them out of the fridge, sprinkled them with flour & scored the tops. Baked for 35 minutes in a 450 degree oven. The crust was crackley and full of tiny bubbles! Amazing!

I also made the tiniest loaves of bread I have ever seen! This one is 50% whole wheat and 2 slices fit on a teacup saucer! I can just imagine mini sandwiches for high tea!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

More about Me

I have been the Featured Artist on several blogs in the past few weeks! I want to thank:

Jodi of Simply This That and the Other, Catherine of 3400 Ave of the Arts, and Garlic for her profound questions on Path of Heart. I am Artist of the Week on Path of Heart so please keep checking for more of the interview! Please see the sidebar for direct links.

Thank you! I feel honoured that all of you chose me!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Update: I am sad to say that Path of Heart has been deleted so my interview is no longer available.

Lucky Winner

As much as I would have liked to choose a winner the old-fashioned way, 323 names were way too many to write down on pieces of paper and fit in my hat! I was truly overwhelmed by the number of comments... definitely exceeding my expectations of 30-40!

Now it is time to announce the winner! The Random Number Generator chose #300. Comment number 300 belongs to...

Sabine from Hessen, Germany!

Sabine said:
It´s so wonderful, I would be happy to win it. You make wonderful things.
Greetings from Sabine

November 3, 2008 5:39 AM

Congratulations Sabine! The Peppermint pouch will be on its way to you this week! Thanks to each and every one of you who left a comment :o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Christmas Giveaway!

I am feeling full of Christmas spirit and thought it would be fun if I give away one of my handmade quilted pouches! For your chance to win this Peppermint pouch simply leave a comment on this blog post by November 3rd. The lucky winner will be revealed on Wednesday November 5th :o) Good Luck!

Update: Giveaway entries are now closed. Stay tuned for the winner!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

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)