Monthly Archive for September, 2011

SUNDAY PATCHWORK #10

Published on September 23, 2011 in patchwork and stitchery. 5 Comments Tags: canning mat, disappearing nine patch, mini quilt.

I’ve been wanting to try out the disappearing nine patch ever since I saw Karen’s quilt a few years ago. When Amanda mentioned that she wanted to make a patchwork canning mat and that she wanted to do a disappearing nine patch, Katherine & I cried ‘quilt along’ right away.

I had a stack of fat quarters already picked out from my Colour Theory Class that I wanted to use. I’m realizing now how autumnal my colours are. That peachy colour just looks so good with the browns.

We’re making 25 blocks that will finish at 5″ each. I was able to start putting mine together on Sunday. The nine patches came together really quickly. Once your blocks are together, you slice them vertically and horizontally through the centre. Then you rotate the four pieces and sew them back together. There are a few different configurations you can come up with when you twist the blocks. Fun!

Canning season is almost done for this year, but I’ll surely have this done before next year.

SEWING SUMMIT DISCOUNT

Published on September 22, 2011 in the workroom and traveling. 6 Comments Tags: sewing summit.

I’m pretty excited that in less than two weeks I’ll be in Salt Lake City for Sewing Summit. I’m heading down with Katherine, my sewing retreat partner. We’re rooming with Amanda and hanging out with Lizzy, so now matter what we’re going to have a blast.

Sewing Summit is a 2 day sewing and blogging retreat where we’ll be taking all kinds of fun classes, like Improv Piecing, Marvelous Minis and Free Motion Quilting. I’m really looking forward to meeting so many internet friends in real life. Finally!!!

For those of you heading to the Sewing Summit, I wanted to offer you a discount in our online shop. If you place your order by October 3rd and use the code SEWINGSUMMIT, I will bring your order to the Sewing Summit and hand deliver it to you, so there will be no shipping charge.

If you’ve been thinking of treating yourself to a Cosmo floss palette, Japanese Dress book or Sparkle floss, now is the time.

Can’t wait to meet you in Salt Lake City!

NANI IRO SCARF

Published on September 20, 2011 in DIY, stitchery, textiles and the workroom. 10 Comments Tags: nani IRO, scarf.

Here’s a quick project that totally made my day on Friday. The inspiration came from this awesome nani IRO scarf.

I have some bits and pieces of nani IRO double gauze, some are too small to make clothing with but I can’t resist collecting this gorgeous fabric. I had one metre of the green Fuwari print that I knew would be just right for a scarf. I made a special trip to Mokuba in search of some pom pom trim, which is clearly an essential feature of this scarf. They didn’t have true pom pom trim, but I found this golden glittery pom-like trim that seemed kinda perfect for me.

Here’s a quick run down of how the scarf comes together. Square up the ends of your fabric and then cut the metre piece down the centre fold. You will now have two pieces that are about 22″ x 1 metre long. Sew those two pieces together. You will now have a piece that is 22″ x 2 metres long. Fold the fabric in half with good sides together, it will now be 11″ x 2 metres. If you’re planning on adding trim, cut an 11″ piece for either side and baste it in place on the inside of your folded fabric. The trim will be placed good side to the front side of your scarf. All the trim should be laying on the inside of your scarf ‘sandwich’, so that it will end up on the outside of your scarf, not the inside! Sew around the 3 open sides of your fabric, leaving a space of a few inches along the longer side so that you can turn the scarf inside out. You will need to hand or machine stitch this closed after. That’s it! Think of how many of these you can whip up in a night?!

It’s been cold here in Toronto, so I’ve been wearing my scarf inside, since I refuse to turn on the furnace just yet. The little glitter pom trim makes me incredibly happy and reminds me that a little bit of trim is always a good idea.

p.s. I hope you’re thinking the same thing…. This is a great (& simple) handmade gift idea!!

ZIPPERED POUCHES

Published on September 18, 2011 in stitchery and the workroom. 8 Comments Tags: Far Far Away III, zippered pouch.

Sometimes the best projects are ones that you can start and finish in just one sitting. When I make zippered pouches, I’ll often make two or three or even four. It feels like it takes just about the same time. We needed a couple pouches for the shop for receipts and petty cash. I couldn’t resist making myself a pouch with some of my Far Far Away III fabric and some horseshoe fabric I had. It doesn’t have a use just yet but it usually doesn’t take very long for a cute pouch like this to find a purpose.

COLOUR THEORY + MINI QUILTS

Published on September 17, 2011 in colour, patchwork and the workroom. 3 Comments Tags: colour theory, Lizzy House, mini quilt.

Somehow I was catapulted out of August into the middle of September, (WTH?) so don’t mind me while I reminisce about the last bits of summer.

Colour Theory + Mini Quilts with Lizzy House was a phenomenal class. The first class was spent mixing paints and learning about colour theory. It felt like being back in art class, but it truly drove the lesson home. Right away we were putting together dynamic colour palettes that surprised us. I saved mine and I’m making a mini quilt out of it this weekend.

For the mini quilt portion of the class we had to design something from scratch. I’ve done lots of improv quilting, but never really planned a design, so this was a challenge. We were also supposed to try to only use solids. Another challenge for me since I rarely use solids.

I added one more personal challenge on top of all that. I wanted to try to convey transparency with my design where parts were overlapping. Let me tell you, I was frustrated by the whole thing. But for me, I know that this means that I’m actually learning something!

My mini turned out to look just like my sketch and I can’t tell you what a thrill it was the first time I pieced together a component with the transparency layers.

It was really special watching each individual mini quilt come together from a sketch to a little mini work of art. It was even more special to see everyone achieve little milestones of personal challenge and achievement. I’m not going to lie, there were some joyful tears at the end of this class. Yep. That’s the kind of teacher Lizzy House is.