It's never too early

....for Christmas gifts. But if this is pushing your envelope, I apologize. Avert your eyes and come back to this post in 6 weeks, or so.

This sweet tree skirt was designed by Carol - she calls the pattern"Oh Joyful" Tree Skirt, and it was a joy to make, actually. When I asked Carol's permission to teach it as a workshop for my guild she was very happy (and even said she'd kiss me, so if I'm ever in Wisconson, pucker up pal!).

Along with the patterns, Carol generously shared some strips of her nice bright reds and clear greens with me because they were difficult to find in the LQS's in June when I was collecting for this project. I was really excited to put a piece of my poppy-printed fabric in there, too. I pieced the entire top in two afternoons at the cottage this summer - it went together really fast and easy.

The only modification I made to the pattern was to make an extra 40" of bias binding (in the workshop, I'll teach the continuous bias binding "barrel" technique). I used this extra length to make two sets of ties that were attached with the binding.

This is my favourite tree - that wee bit of pink is so cute!

Applying the binding is a little tricky, but totally achievable with care. The scallops are rather pronounced, so you've got to make sure there is enough bulk to your binding on those inside corners so that it will pleat nicely and wrap around the the back.

Here's how I did it while attaching the binding by machine to the front of the quilt: about an inch from the inside corner, where two skirt sections were seamed together, I stopped with my needle down. I then folded the binding and made a crease in it exactly on top of the tree skirt seam. Then, 1/4" in from the raw edge of the binding, I made a dot with a pencil on the binding. When my needle reached that dot (in other words, it is now right on the tree skirt seam, 1/4" in from the corner), I stopped again with my needle down, lifted the presser foot and pivoted the whole works, gently coaxing the binding towards me so that it now lays along the new scalloped edge. I'm not sure if I've explained this clearly enough, but if you do make this pattern, or another one with a pronounced scallop, let me know and I will happily help you through it!

My tree skirt is not quite complete yet. I've ordered beautiful star-shaped ceramic buttons from an artisan here in B.C. They will look perfect atop every tree! Then, that will be one Christmas gift done (my sister already knows it's coming to her family....I asked if she liked it first, before I started!).

Have you started making holiday gifts yet?

A Brief Look Inside a Quilter's Brain

Here is a synopsis of a regularly occurring sequence of events in my brain.

1. Open flickr homepage.

Oh look, some new uploads from my flickr contacts. Wow, I like that quilt, click. What else has Tia made lately? Click, click, click Oooo, that one is fabulous! Hey, there's a picture of her with Gwen Marston! At retreat! She's so lucky!

Hmmm, I really should buy Gwen's second book, because I loved reading Liberated Quiltmaking from my guild library a few years ago.

2. www.amazon.ca.

Ah there it is: Liberated Quiltmaking II, click: add to cart. Oh look, someone else who bought Liberated Quiltmaking II also bought Material Obsession II. I need that book. I mean, look at the cover quilt. It's to die for! Click: add to cart.

Check out: $54.94

3. Today, on the back deck.

Oh, happy day. I love the quilt books. I love sun in September. I love impulse purchases that make me happy.

from Liberated Quiltmaking II by Gwen Marston

from Material Obsession II by Kathy Doughty and Sarah Fielke

Do you have Quilter's Brain, too? It is an incurable condition that I will gladly endure for the rest of my life (or until my bank account runs dry).

Tale of two (or three) Kristas

Growing up, I rarely met another Krista with a 'K' (sure, there were some wannabe Christas with a 'Ch', but I always knew they didn't really count). I liked having a name that wasn't too wacky - just a little bit different. For a brief time when I was about 11, I tried to add some extra oomph to the differentness by spelling my name at school with a 'y' in place of the 'i', but that was just silly so I stopped.

Now that I'm relatively grown up, I meet more and more Kristas with a 'K' and one such Krista has become a wonderful blogging/flickr pal. She lives in Anchorage with her husband and three cute kids. She's afraid of moose. Especially when they are in her front yard. Kind of like me with bears in my front yard. We both love mixing fun, modern prints with linen in our quilting work and we both can't say no to swaps even though we are too busy to do them. We're practically twins (except I'm pretty sure I was born about 10 years before her!).

Recently Krista saw a note I'd made on a flickr photo that said "where did you get this?" over the cutest piece of fabric.

And just because she's so nice, she sent me some! I loved her hints on the envelope.

See? She doesn't iron either. Twins! The fabric is so awesome...dachshunds in sweaters? How cute!! I'll have to think of something really fun to do with it. For me though, the best is seeing her sticky note to Krista, from Krista. I love that. Recently we've become friends with a third Krista, known on flickr as lolablueocean. The three of us have hatched a plan that Anchorage Krista is working on (she's got the tech savvy that the other two Kristas do not). There's even talk of a Pacific Northwest rendez-vous....a summit of the Kristas, if you will. Now THAT would be fun!

Stay tuned!

Ladies, look at me....

I'm a man mug rug. Now look at your other mug rugs. See the pink fabric? The embroidery? The girly design? Now, back to me. I'm bold and contemporary.

I'm the mug rug your man could have. See the masculine triple-machine-straight-stitch? The solid colours and simple, yet compelling design elements? I'm the mug rug your man could have at the office. I'm on a desk.

{for those of you scratching your heads, just watch this} Best ad campaign EVER...well, since "I'm a mac - I'm a P.C." anyway. I can watch these ads all day and never stop laughing.

So, when your husband says "hey, I want a mug rug for work!", you've got to deliver!

Autumn Jewel Box

Recently I posted about this quilt pattern which was published in Quilter's Connection magazine's Fall issue. The quilt has just made it's way back to me, and is gone again!

That's right, I've given it away. I promised all of the people who supported me on the Weekend to End Women's Cancers 60 km walk in August that I would have a draw for some 'as yet determined something" made by me. A whopping 46 friends and family members donated a total of $2700 to my campaign - I was thrilled and really wanted to say thanks in a concrete way. I would have loved to make them all something, but I probably wouldn't be finished before next year's walk! Speaking of which, I've already got a team of 9 women (and counting!) who will join me next year. It's going to be fun to participate with so many friends, all raising money for an amazing cause. Would you like to join team "Kickin' Cancer with Creativity"? Email me!

Back to the quilt. If you've been visiting Poppyprint for a while you will recognize this quilt as a replica of one I designed last fall for a swap (click on the link to see the process post). This time, I blanket stitched around each wool leaf applique (using my machine). I like the look much better than the straight stitch I did on the first quilt.

I really like the leaf stems. I've used this technique on a few projects, including this one. It is a trick I learned many years ago in a workshop with Jane Sassaman, but I didn't have a machine that could do it until recently. First, I drew a gently curving line with a Clover wax pen to represent the stem. Then, with my zigzag set to 0.5 stitch width and 0.5 stitch length (which creates a satin stitch), I begin sewing over my drawn line. Every 5 or 6 zigs, I would press the stitch width increase button (while continuously stitching). You just have to go for it! If you keep stitching and press the button at 5 or 6 stitch intervals, you should end up with a smooth stem that gradually widens with length. If you have a digital sewing machine that can adjust stitch width on the fly, then you can do this. Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

In other news, I wanted to say Hello! to two of my far away readers in Siberia and New Zealand who commented on my last post. You have no idea how exciting it is for me to realize you read my blog and enjoy my work. Welcome! Thanks to everyone to stops by to check my little page of quilting...I've almost been at this for a whole year and lots of exciting opportunities have arisen from this place. You know what that means....an anniversary giveaway isn't far away! Plus, I am getting dangerously close to 200 followers, another milestone worthy of celebration, I believe.

Hugs,

Krista

When life gives you Hunky Dory scraps....

make a mug rug!

"Allium" mug rug by Poppyprint

After cutting all of the strips of my Hunky Dory jellyroll for the Fat Quarterly Quilt-a-long, I had about an inch and a half of each strip left over. While piecing my blocks all day on Saturday at retreat, I feel deeply in love with this fabric line! I could not bear to part with those precious scraps (this is a fairly new phenomenon for me...saving small scraps, that is).

I laid out all the scraps on a piece of Steam-a-Seam Lite, put my teflon pressing sheet over top and hit it with a hot iron for a few seconds just to stick the fabric to the SASL. Then I free cut the petal shapes with my rotary cutter, peeled off the backing paper and arranged the scraps on that gorgeous piece of Essex linen/cotton blend (lime). I didn't design anything in advance, this was completely a by-the-seat-of-my-comfortable-track-pants production.

After sandwiching with a bamboo/cotton blend batting scrap and quilting cotton on the back, I free motion quilted on each petal, then around each petal with a variegated green thread. I just have to say that I am SO HAPPY with the FM-quilting results! I had been having such difficulty with it on my 'new' Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0, but now that I'm using Inspiron needles it seems like the universe has aligned and I can quilt without breaking thread every 10 stitches. And the tension on the top and back are perfect!!! yippee!

And just 'cos I like to, I added some seed stitches in a variegated green pearl cotton #8 and backstitch and french knots in the flower centres with 3 strands of DMC embroidery floss. This little quilt measures 7" x 10" and may never see the bottom of a mug...but it was so fun to make.

Just in case you are wondering, the Essex linen/cotton blend is available in several colours from Jackie here...and at a very reasonable price, I might add!

Presents from Pearl

Over the summer I had the opportunity for a little treasure hunt. You see, after my Great Aunt Pearl passed away, my parents and my youngest brother spent several weekends in Montreal packing up her belongings and readying her home for sale. Pearl's husband Ford had passed away several years before and they didn't have any children...however Pearl was a school teacher all her life and still maintained her classic primary printing style right to the end.

She was sweet, caring, lovely and downright chatty. I always enjoyed my visits to her well-organized home. What my parents discovered after she died was that she was incredibly sentimental, too. She saved everything, including the $20 bills that Ford gave her on her birthdays "to go out and buy herself something nice." I am pretty certain he never knew that she carefully wrote the date on the money, then tucked it secretly away with all of the other $20's he'd gifted her. My mom discovered them all rolled together and held with an elastic band. Awww.

Amongst the boxes of household goods that were moved to my parents storage, I discovered Pearl's sewing supplies. I wasn't aware that she was a busy sewist, but perhaps she enjoyed mending and making the odd skirt years ago. She sure had a big supply of seam tape.

See the tin in the centre...did you know Scotch tape used to come in tins? There were plenty of vintage snaps, needles, buttons and hook/eye sets, too.

I also found these killer hem clips. They are super strong and may come in hand for D's new jeans later this weekend.

I've never used seam tape before...can someone please enlighten me as to how this sheer ribbon is used in garment sewing? Ariane recently used some to embellish an adorable pin cushion, so that is one great new use I may try. {edited to add: Ariane is having a sweet giveaway to celebrate her 300th post, so head on over there and win one of her 5 awesome prizes!}

I also chose 3 sweet teacup & saucer sets from Pearl's collection of one-ofs. I have several from B's mom's collection as well. I like to use them sometimes when my stitching friends come over so we can feel all English and proper.

Have a great weekend everyone...I'll be at retreat for the day tomorrow. The lasagnes are out of the oven so I must go pack up my project to work on. I'll be piecing my blocks for the Fat Quarterly Quiltalong.....I am excited to see that lovely Hunky Dory fabric come together in scrappy squares.

Self Control

It's a good thing I'm not spending any more money on fabric.

High Society in Clay

Because fashion house/home dec giant Anthropologie just released 3 gorgeous lines of quilting weight cotton that YOU can buy from Hawthorne Threads.

High Society in Lime

Sweet Tooth in Candy Shop

But I won't, because like I said, I'm not spending any money on more fabric.

Hello, sewing room!

The kids are back at school, the house is a disaster again (backpacks, lunch bags, permission slips, binders, paper, shoes, gym clothes....aaaaaaa!). Me? I'm very happy to be back in my sewing room.

I made this photo frame quilt for D's friend as a birthday present. She has just re-decorated her bedroom in a lilac purpley/blue colour so I think this will look great on her wall. I reinforced the corner triangles with some medium weight fusible interfacing so they are nice and rigid. The photos hold well and there's just a smidgen of white showing around each 4"x6" photo like a little frame.

Now, onto my Fat Quarterly Quilt-Along! Yesterday I unrolled this gorgeous jelly roll to press all of the strips, trim the selvage edges off and prepare to cut, cut, cut!

I'd never see any Hunky Dory fabric on the bolt, and it's probably a good thing (for my wallet!). Wow, the soft grays/pink/aqua/yellow. Delicious. I can't wait to see this quilt come together! It's not too late to join us - all you need is one jelly roll! Just click thru with the button over there on my side bar--------->

Happy weekend everyone. We're heading up to Whistler to meet B at the finish line of the big Gran Fondo race tomorrow. He and 3999 of his lycra-clad brethren (and many sisters too, I'm sure) are riding 120 km from the Vancouver Art Gallery to Whistler village. Thanks to the BBC magazine we've learned a new term: MAMIL. Middle Aged Men in Lycra - referring to the mid-life crisis set who eschew fast cars for fast bicycles and fitness instead. I love it. B's not quite there age-wise, but he is no stranger to lycra, having raced both road and mountain bikes for almost 20 years. It will be a monumental event - it's the talk of the town as race organizers are actually closing an entire lane of the highway. The cyclists are pumped because the road is in top condition after being completely re-built for the Olympics. I'll let you know how it goes!

Does your Mug have a Rug?

Mug Rug? Mug Matt? Oversized coaster fit for a latte AND a donut?

Whatever you call it, mug rug fever has taken over Flickr. A whole bunch (I'm talking 185 members!) of the doll quilt swappers jumped on the bandwagon and production is taking place at a furious pace for the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap! I think about 10 new ones were posted onto the photo pool yesterday alone and we only received our partner info on Saturday.

So, without delay, I give you my first ever mug rug:

My partner is a secret, but in her sign up email she kindly gave me tons of great info to go on. When I was reading her fabric 'likes', I was imagining my stash and thinking "got it, got it, got it, need it, got it, want it, got it." Creating a mug rug for her was fun and easy....I think our Swap Mama (she's the volunteer who partners everyone up behind the scenes) did a wonderful job in choosing this partner for me.

Here are the details.

First I fused a medium weight stabilizer to the back of the pewter Moda Crossweave background piece. Then the pear fabrics were appliqued on using Lite Steam-a-Seam II (which I love) and I sandwiched the works with a cotton batting and backing, basting all 3 layers with 505 spray adhesive. I quilted the raw edges of the applique pieces with my regular sewing foot and Pfaff IDT (built-in walking foot) engaged. So, not free-motion stitched. I find with gentle curves like this I can easily manoevre around and get a neater stitched line this way.

For the embroidery, I drew a line with a Clover wax pen and followed it with a chain stitch in 3 strands of DMC floss just through the top and batting layers. Then with a contrasting colour, I quilted a running stitch through all of the chain links (so this stitch does go through to the back). Applied binding and there you have it. Mug Rug #1 (of many, I'm sure!).

Check out the Flickr pool, you won't believe how creative people can get in a 5" x 8" rectangle.

Who's Getting Connected?

Thanks to the 44 readers who entered my Quilter's Connection Giveaway! The RNG did it's magic:

The lucky winner is Nina-Lise!!!! who said that her favourite things about fall are the wind and the rain. Well then I guess she should come visit me soon because there will be plenty of that next month right here! If you haven't already, treat yourself to a visit to Nina-Lise's blog, Mrs.Moen, where her original work will no doubt inspire you.

Congratulations, my friend! It just so happens I've got a little extra package of something to send along with your magazine that I picked up for you recently. It's sugar-free!

I was able to make two small but fun projects over the weekend. I'll be back soon to show you my colourful mug rug!

Sunset on Summer

I'd love to share a few photos of our Last Summer Hurrah. My wonderful friend Andrea invited us to visit her family's little piece of paradise last year. We all had the best long weekend with her and her Dad, Bruce, and managed to behave ourselves and make a good enough impression to be invited back again this year! Yippee!

After a ferry trip, car ride and finally a motorboat crossing, we arrived safely on Thormanby Island, just off the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver. Their cabin is on a beautifully sheltered sandy bay at the end of a sweet row of eclectic summer cottages. It was very near summer's end, so the bay was rather quiet...many families had returned home to the city already.

Bruce & Andrea entertain the kids with a bocci game while my nose is buried in a book

Daytime involved paddle boarding, reading, general lounging, bocci, fort-building, tree climbing, hiking/walking/swimming, cliff-jumping (the kids), swatting at wasps, nice conversation, some cooking.

T & D built an amazing teepee-style fort from driftwood

D takes a break to soak up some late-afternoon rays

In the evenings, we enjoyed cards, Jenga, Scattergories, marshmellow-roasting, wine (the adults) and more reading by oil lamplight.

T makes his move

We saw lots of cool wildlife including enormous red jellies that washed up after a storm, lots and lots of icky banana slugs, a sweet salamander AND......a juvenile grey whale just 20m from Bruce's boat!!!! Yup, we were extremely lucky to see him on our way back from a lunch run to Pender Harbour one day. Sadly, I wasn't prepared for photos. In fact, I was very nervous (I'm not a confident boat passenger). All I could think after the whale dove down was "I don't want to be in one of those YouTube videos where the whale comes up under the boat and everyone goes flying out!"

Pender Harbour pub lunch

Just when D and I thought we were lost, a trail buoy showed us the way on our hike!

I almost stepped on this little camouflaged salamander!

The west-facing beach...looking towards Texada and Vancouver Island

Someone is busy growing a new leg!

D's hand is just for scale - she's not touching this enormous jelly!

Ever since she was little-little, D has loved limpets and often wears them as earrings, too

Thank you so much Bruce and Andrea for having us again. We love you! And Bucc Bay, too!

What a great end to summer. We've had the best family time this holiday - almost a whole month off work for B and great visits with my family back east and friends here on the coast. Although they are moaning a bit, I know the kids are excited for this week. Both are going to new schools, T to junior high and D will try late French Immersion on for size.

...................and I'm heading back to my sewing room!!!! I decided to play with my friends at Fat Quarterly magazine and participate in my first ever sew along. En route to the marina, Andrea and I stopped at a favourite quilt shop and I picked up a Hunky Dory jelly roll for the easypeasy sew along. I've never used a jelly roll in a project before. If you want to play, too, check it out here!

I hope you all had a wonderful summer, too. There's still a few more hours to enter my giveaway for the lastest edition of Quilter's Connection magazine here.

Connecting Quilters: mags and mug rugs

It's a cool fall morning here today - our furnace actually came on! A great sewing day (well, except for the fact that 3 eleven year old girls are sleeping over tonight and we apparently have 'lots of preparation to do' according to D".

After my last post (giveaway still open until tomorrow evening here), I thought I would tell you a bit more about Quilter's Connection magazine. It is truly Canada's only quilting magazine with 100% Canadian designers, writers and content, which is amazing. The publishers also maintain a blog and website. PLUS, anyone can sign up for their e-newsletter which always features a free pattern! I received mine via email yesterday and check out the cutie-cute jellyroll book bag pattern that subscribers can download:

If we want to keep a Canadian magazine in business, we need to support it people! It has been a fantastically successful first year for Quilter's Connection; each of the 4 issues have just been better and better. Subscriptions for the quarterly mag are available for 1 or 2 years and YES, our neighbours to the south and overseas can also subscribe! That means you too, Canadian ex-pats! Stay connected with the quilting scene back home! Two-year subscription prices for us Canucks are comparible to what we pay to import the popular U.S. mags.

So, go ahead and subscribe: ask your guild to take out a subscription for your library, or maybe purchase a year for your mom/aunt/grandma/sister, or in some fantastic situations, your quilting hubby!

Okay, I'm going to see about making that adorable book bag....right after I enjoy my morning latte....

Soon my morning latte will be enjoying it's new mug rug! That's right, I've joined yet another swap over on flickr. We'll be making over-sized coasters for each other's mugs and the ones popping up so far have been amazing. I even cleaned my desk yesterday to make way for mine...lo and behold, I discovered a couple of coffee-ring stains under my keyboard, so I need that rug pronto (I believe I've mentioned here before that housekeeping is NOT my strong point)!

Here's the inspiration mosaic I put together for my partner.

Hope you are enjoying the long weekend! School starts in 2 short days. Wooohoooo!!!! Sewing room, here I come!

Poppyprint in Print Take 2 + a giveaway!

Phew! I'm back. Sorry to keep you hanging for a couple of extra days, but the weather was just too gorgeous to come home and our lovely hosts welcomed us to stay on at their little piece of paradise (photos soon). If we had come home as scheduled, we wouldn't have sighted a juvenile grey whale 20m from the boat!!

Ok, here's my news. Remember back here, when I was all excited to have my first ever magazine article published? Well, now I've had my first ever original PATTERN published!! I wasn't sure when the Fall 2010 issue of Quilter's Connection Magazine would be out...apparently subscribers (like me) all got theirs last week. Mine arrived just moments before we were leaving for our last summer hurrah, so I haven't even had a chance to read the whole thing yet. There was no way I was taking it with me to get sunscreen, sand and wineglass rings all over it!

D kindly snapped this totally staged shot of me 'reading' my pattern this morning.

I have to thank Heather, the wonderful publisher of Quilter's Connection (Canada's very own quilting magazine) for the opportunity to share my work. I love this wall hanging pattern that is a breeze to sew up for your wall, a door, or for a coffeetable runner. The leaves are woolfelt applique's (I love mixing cotton and wool). It could be done with any type of leaf outline (oak? ginko?) and even green/blue colours in the 25-patches for a spring look. If you've been perusing Poppyprint for a while, you may remember that I initially designed this quilt for last year's Autumn Swap on the Quilting Gallery blog.

I have a spare copy of the magazine that I'd love to share with you! It's full of fantastic patterns and articles by Canadian quilters - I know you'll love it!

Leave me a comment and tell me your favourite thing about autumn for an entry. I'll close the comments on Monday, September 6th at 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time and then use the RNG to find the winner and let you know on Tuesday. If you are an anonymous lurker or a no-reply blogger, make sure that you leave an email address in your comment so I can notify you!

**comments are now closed, thanks for entering!**