This was a fast quilt top to make. Really fast. I kinda love it.

I cut out all the pieces for it in less than an hour and a half. The main reason for this was that I actually had the exact size rulers that you need, a 6.5″ square and a 12.5″ square. If you can, make sure you have these rulers! They are handy to have in general but seriously made the cutting for this a breeze.

I sewed up all the blocks in one night. It was actually pretty fun and incredibly satisfying.

PLUS! I used a trick that Katrina taught me to save the triangle off cuts and create easy half square triangles (HSTs). You simply draw yourself an extra sewing line that is 1/2″ over from your first sewing line. Sew both lines and then cut in the middle. You get your main block and a ‘free’ HST. By doing this I made 72 HSTs that are about 5.5″ and there was ZERO waste. This will all make sense if you get the pattern. I’ll be using these extra blocks to create something for the back of the quilt.

All in all, the quilt top took me less than 2 days. Whoo!

My goal right now is to finish as many quilting projects as possible before the end of the year. I’ve been making good progress and I’m close to finishing three quilts!! Somehow, I started pondering a new pattern and before I knew it, I had picked fabric and started working on it. When inspiration hits in sewing, I like to run with it and see what happens.

This is another Christmas gift and I’m really hopeful that it will actually be done in time. The pattern is Tula Pink’s Field Study quilt. I’ve chosen to do the Medium size (72″ x 72″). What I like about this pattern is that I think it is perfect for a guy and it’s very simple to make.

The fabrics are Tula Pink ‘Prince Charming’ Aqua Snail, Lizzy House ‘Outfoxed’ Brown Vine, Basic Grey ‘Curio’ Aqua Grunge, Lizzy House ‘Outfoxed’ Hunter Green Jewel, Michael D’Amore ‘Wordplay’ Espresso Text and Lizzy House ‘Outfoxed’ Yellow Hedgehogs.

I am actually almost done the quilt top. It took me one day to get the blocks cut and sewn! I’ll take some photos and show you what I’ve got so far this week.

I’ve admired everything Wiksten for so long and finally I ordered her two sewing patterns a couple months ago. So far, I’ve just made the tank top (twice!), but I’ll be making the Tova as soon as possible. I’ve had a crush on that shirt for ages.

The tank pattern is awesome. Jenny’s patterns are hand drawn and incredibly well designed. You don’t even need a serger for this project, since it is sewn with french seams and bias finished hems. Genius.

I am MOST proud of the pocket on the tank. I PERFECTLY matched the pattern on the fabric so that you can barely even see that the pocket is there. Small details like that make me so happy.

With winter approaching, I’ll be wearing it layered with cozy cardigans.

It doesn’t at all seem unreasonable to me that I might need a rainbow of colours in this tank. It’s clearly a wardrobe essential.

You can order Jenny’s sewing patterns and clothing from her online shop here.

Stylish Dress Book 2 : available at the workroom
Liberty of London : Ebs

What can I say, I love this pattern. This is version #3. Version #1 & #2 get tons of use and I was feeling like I should add another version into the rotation. The only change I made was to add side seam pockets to this version.

This Liberty of London print is called ‘Ebs’. This soft colour palette is so incredible and the print looks like it was coloured in with pencil crayon. It has been sitting in my stash for way too long. I’m pretty happy it’s now hanging on my closet and joining me on adventures like the Sewing Summit.

This year was the inaugural year for the Sewing Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah. Sewing Summit is a two day sewing & blogging conference that was held at the Little America Hotel. Since Katherine and I had such a great time at The Makerie in the spring, we knew we had to be a part of the Sewing Summit, too. It was also a chance to meet up with lots of friends IN REAL LIFE that I’ve made on the internet. Most specifically, Amanda aka Ms Mcporkchop! Amanda and I have been chatting pretty much every day for well over a year. We’ve worked on projects together, sent each other packages in the mail and video skyped with each other. You can imagine how amazing it was to meet up with her at the SLC airport and room with her & Katherine for five whole days. It was the best!!

We had flown down a few days early so that we could spend time with Lizzy House and have a chance to explore Salt Lake City. This was one lesson we learned from our Makerie trip. We didn’t schedule in time to really check out Boulder and Denver. Thursday was our shopping day. Armed with a list of local quilt and yarn shops, we headed out in our rented SUV. We took a short drive outside the city to visit Material Girls and Quilt, Etc. Both were huge shops with so many great fabrics. We had a lot of fun scouring the shelves and picking out fat quarters for ourselves. Back in SLC, we visited Piper’s Quilts, which sells both fabric and yarn. This shop is in an adorable house with quilts hanging out on the porch and a classroom upstairs. The last stop on our craft tour was Blazing Needles. It’s been a really long time since I’ve knit anything, but I always love to check out the colourful skeins of yarn. Something about this wonderful shop inspired Katherine & I to buy yarn and start knitting a cozy cowl. The owner, Cynthia, spent a lot of time with us making sure we got everything we needed and giving us advice. We left the shop feeling really inspired. I think everyone who visited that shop felt the same thing because at night huge groups of gals were huddled together in our room or the lobby knitting away.

Friday was another exploring day. This time with Lizzy and her sister, Melissa. We drove out to Sundance Resort, which is located in a gorgeous canyon surrounded by mountains. It was actually snowing in the mountains, which made them even more breathtaking. We also drove out to Park City, which is actually the setting for the Sundance Film Festival. In our wandering around we happened upon a Banksy, which totally made my day.

The Sewing Summit started early on Saturday and wrapped up Sunday afternoon. We took Handbags 101 with Bari J, Free Motion Quilting with Alison of Cluck Cluck Sew, Creative Fabric Selection with Jeni B of In Color Order, Marvelous Minis with Amanda of MsMcPorkchop Quilts, Photographing Your Creations with Vanessa of V and Co and Improv Piecing with Jessica of Urban Patchwork. That’s a lot to jam into a couple days, but I learned a lot and felt really inspired.

In particular, Jeni & Amanda’s classes were totally energized and informative. Jeni gave a really thorough presentation on how to choose dynamic colour palettes and surprised the entire class with Kona colour cards. Such a useful tool for selecting colour.  Amanda brought so many examples of her minis and they were all incredible. My favourite all time mini is her Oregon Star. I felt like I was in the presence of the Mona Lisa, seeing this mini quilt in person. Incredible. Also, you have never seen anyone as passionate about getting you excited to make mini quilts and be creative. I am pretty sure everyone in her class went straight home after the weekend and made a mini quilt. I know I did.

There were so many friends that I met at the Summit that were so fun to hang out with. I’m so happy that I made sure to take lots of ‘people’ photos on this trip. Amanda J, Amanda Hall, Jeni B, Kait, Lindsay, Angela, Deedrie & Jessica – I had so much fun with you ladies! Saying goodbye to everyone on the last day was really hard, but I hope we’ll meet up again soon!

Check out my 100+ photos from Salt Lake City and the Sewing Summit here!

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!!

Summer camp fever is everywhere! Next year I’m plotting a trip to Squam in New Hampshire. Lakeside cabins and crafty workshops sounds pretty perfect to me. Check out Anne’s photos here.

We’re also getting pretty excited for the workroom’s Summer Camps in the city. There are still spots in our Amish Bars, Machine Foundation Paper Piecing, Natural Dyeing and Japanese Dress Books camps.

The incredible Lizzy House will be joining us in Toronto to wrap up our camp schedule with Colour Theory + Mini Quilts, Pattern Design + Block Printing and Champion Ribbon classes. There are still spots in the Champion Ribbon class and we are taking wait list names for the other two classes. It’s going to be such a fun week.

In the meantime, get ready for 1001 Peeps Summer Camp online! In anticipation of Lizzy House‘s new fabric collection, there will be a summer long camp that you can participate in. It starts today with Sew Mama Sew and every week you can visit another blog to find a fun project to make with your 1001 Peeps fabric. There will be giveaways each week and Lizzy’s new book will be released in July. I’m am thrilled to be a camp counselor for this year’s camp.

Here’s the schedule!

June 24: Alexia Abegg, Craftopia
July 1: Beth, Lemon Cadet
July 8: The Fat Quarterly!
July 15: Susan Allen, The Quilt Asylum
July 22: Amanda, MrsMcPorkchop
July 29: Anne Weil, Flax and Twine
August 5: Heather Bostic, Heather alamode
August 12: Karyn Valino, Make Something – that’s me!!
August 19: Deborah Moebes, Whipstitch
August 26: Monica, Happy Zombie

If you’re joining the summer camp fun, you can grab this troupe button to post on your blog.

the workroom will be receiving the ENTIRE 1001 Peeps collection in July, so start planning your projects! Every single print in this collection is amazing and I’m loving the colour palette so much. I can hardly wait til it gets here.

AND. Today is Lizzy‘s birthday. Happy Birthday Lizzy!!!

bottom photo courtesy of Lizzy House.

April 27, 2011 : vintage kimono patchwork table runner

I recently brought out one of my most favourite things I’ve ever made. It’s a table runner that I made in a class taught by Denyse Schmidt at Make in NYC. This was years and years ago, before the workroom was even a twinkle in my eye. Denyse supplied all the materials, so I ended up making something I never would have chosen for myself but I’m still (to this day) so in love with it. You can’t really see, but it is backed with a solid mustard fabric. Brilliant. I never would have created this on my own! It is such a gift to learn from others around you.

I think I also love that it reminds me to try something different.

Before I left for The Makerie, I spent almost an entire week sewing up a storm of new things to bring and wear on our trip. The Schoolhouse Tunic by Sew Liberated was one of the patterns I’ve been meaning to test out for a little while now and I thought it would be great for traveling.

I chose to make it using one of the cotton voiles from Greenfield Hill by Denyse Schmidt. It’s really graphic and a much bolder print that you would normally see me wear, but I really love it. The great thing about voile is that it is a wonderful fabric to use in clothing because it has such a soft, flowing drape. It’s also very nice to sew with.

The pattern was very easy to sew, has some great details and lots of room for variation. They suggest two different lengths (tunic or shirt) and I chose the longer tunic length for my first version. I was in a hurry and didn’t add side seam pockets, but I’ll definitely do that next time. I got to see three other interpretations of the Schoolhouse Tunic at The Makerie, as every day, one of the Fancy Tiger girls was wearing her own version. (You can see Emily’s soft plaid version on the far left) It gave me so many ideas on different fabrics and ways to style the pattern.

I’m trying to decide on fabric for my second Schoolhouse Tunic. Perhaps some Liberty of London?

Keep an eye out for this as a new class at the workroom this summer. Everyone needs to make one of these tunics!

Words and even the 100+ photos that I uploaded cannot express this past weekend at The Makerie in Boulder, Colorado. It was beyond wonderful. When I registered to go with Katherine a couple months ago, I thought it would be fun to take some cool classes in another city. I had no idea how emotionally charged, inspiring, relaxing, energizing, exhausting and full of wonder the weekend would be. OMG.

Katherine & I flew into Denver airport on Thursday morning, rented a car for the weekend and drove to check out South Broadway in Denver. Our first stop was Fancy Tiger, a seriously adorable fabric & craft shop. We couldn’t resist buying some fabric and chit chatting with the gals in the shop. Lucky for us, Fancy Tiger was participating in The Makerie and we got to hang out and get to know them over the weekend.

The entire weekend took place at Chautauqua Park in Boulder. It is located right at the base of the mountains! We literally could just roll out of bed and onto the hiking trails from the adorable cottage we stayed in. Boulder is a beautiful place and Chautauqua Park was the perfect setting for the retreat.

We had our choice of two classes for the retreat and it was pretty clear to us which ones we would take – shoe making & block printing! Yes, that’s right – shoes!! We spent Friday learning to make ballet flats that we adorned with handmade flowers and bows with Jessica Hernandez of Joyfolie. Throughout the day we learned about Jessica’s journey to creating and growing her company that started out making shoes for babies. Jessica was so generous with her skills, creativity and ‘trade secrets’ and the shoes that the class made were pretty incredible. I am pretty excited to be able to make myself some pretty party shoes out of any fabric I choose in the future.

On Saturday we took Block Printing with Lizzy House. That would be Lizzy House, the designer of Castle Peeps and the upcoming 1001 Peeps fabric collections. I was especially excited to take this class from someone that I already admired so much. We sat down to have breakfast with Lizzy on the first day and became fast friends over coffee cake, yogurt and granola. You gotta a love a girl who has a thousand great ideas, opinions and knows her astrology.

My strategy for this class was to design something really simple and geometric since my drawing skills are not my strong point. I started by drawing stars all over my blank sheet of paper. I looked over at one point and noticed a recycling bin in the corner so I drew an arrow on my page. Lizzy passed by and casually commented, ‘I like that’. That tiny bit of encouragement burst into inspiration and I started to build a little bundle of arrows. Lizzy showed me how to take my design and create a repeat from it. MAGIC!! I have always been fascinated with pattern and couldn’t believe I was finally trying it out.

After our designs were finalized, we started carving out our linoleum blocks. We took a break for lunch and regrouped to start printing out our designs on fabric. Everyone’s designs were really impressive. Some people brought tea towels and tshirts to print on. Jaime printed her blocks onto printed fabrics and the effect was really great. I chose to do white ink on Kona Charcoal Solid fabric and I love how it turned out. I’m so so proud of my arrow print. My goal is to make a dress or skirt from my printed fabric, so watch out for it!

A real highlight for me was my Makerie partner in crime, Katherine. We spent every second of the four day weekend together in perfect unison. A parking ticket (still gotta pay that!), nearly lost favourite bracelet and flight delay home hardly fazed us. We are solidly firmed up as retreat partners and friends for life.

I really can’t say enough wonderful things about my experience at The Makerie. I think everyone who was there felt just as grateful and inspired by the experience that Ali created for us. Taking time away from our everyday lives, letting go, opening up and making new connections with people face to face was a real gift. The date has already been set for next year’s event and I urge you to mark your calendar.

I just realized that ‘making shoes’ and ‘printing fabric’ are both on my ‘Crafty List of Things to Do‘!!! Double Check!

You can see all my photos here or view the slideshow below. I’m still reflecting on this weekend in Boulder and it has sparked some very exciting plans that I’ll be sharing with you very soon.

Here’s what other people are saying about The Makerie weekend!
Katherine, Jessica, Jenny, and Anne

Also! If you wanted to try your hand at Jessica’s baby shoes, there is a pattern you can buy from her website right here.