The Charlotte Purse

Poppyprint peeps already know I'm a certified bag lady. I've probably made over 50 bags and purses and never tire of them. Choosing coordinating fabrics, linings and closures is super fun for me. When Jennie of Clover & Violet asked if I'd like to test out their new Charlotte Purse pattern, it was perfect timing.

We will visit friends in Oregon later in the summer and when we saw them last, I received some very strong hints that a bag would be very much appreciated.  I really hope she likes it, because it did take quite a bit of time to sew up (note: I'm not above asking for something back if it's obvious it isn't quite what the recipient had in mind and it won't see any use). After all, I can always try again. It's not like I don't have a few yards of fabric here in different colours!  I've very open about my brown aversion, but this Echino linen blend has so much else going, it almost doesn't count as brown.

This purse is super roomy and has loads of storage. Both the front and back side have a full quilted pocket (I used fusible Pellon for batting).  The lining and main body fabrics are supported with lightweight, fusible woven interfacing.

On the inside of the main body, which measures about 13" x 12", there is a cell phone pocket on one side and a zip pocket on the other.  I love the construction of the zip pocket (below). The first time I used this method it was a bit of a brain-bender, but I've made them many times now, and always include this type of pocket in a bag that I design for myself. Sometimes it's fun to use an unexpected print to line this pocket but this bag already has a lot going on, so I stuck with Kaffe's Aboriginal Dot which is a fav lining fabric of mine.

It's the first time I've bound the top of a bag and I really like the finished look (not to mention getting to skip the 'turning it all right side out through the lining' process!). The fabric covered button and closure are super cute details that really make it for me, along with the functionality of an adjustable strap.  Thanks for the pattern Jennie - I will definitely make this bag again!

The Proverbial Quiltalong

 "Let's start at the very beginning , a very good place to start"

-Oscar Hammerstein II, from the Sound of Music

The lyrics to the first dance at your wedding? A cherished poem? Movie quotes? Family names? What text would you like to stitch into a quilt? The possibilities are endless, but I chose my favourite song.

After sharing my Blackbird Fly quilt I heard from several readers and friends that they have always wanted to make a word quilt.  Well, here's your chance!  I made a few calls (well, actually I sent a few emails, but making calls sounded rather pro, didn't it? Like I have Denyse Schmidt on speed dial, hehe), secured some awesome sponsored prizes and discounts, so we're ready to go!

I am so excited that Denyse Schmidt has not only given her permission to run a quiltalong using her Proverbial Quilt Pattern, her company is also sponsoring prizes! Text quilts are all the rage and there are several ways to create them including templates, patterns, free-piecing and applique, but for this quiltalong you'll need to purchase and use Denyse's pattern to be eligible for prizes, kay?

Here's some good news: quiltalong participants can take advantage of sponsor discounts both here in Canada as well as south of the border. Flare Fabrics  is offering a 15% discount on the pattern with checkout code Proverb15 until August 30th. As always, Marlene ships free within Canada. U.S. shoppers can check out Tammy's special price on the pattern at Marmalade Fabrics. Both sponsors have a limited number of patterns available so act fast to secure yours (international participants are absolutely welcome to order from either of these shops as well)!

It's summertime and the livin' is easy (hey, that could be a line on someone's quilt!) so I'm not going to be too formal with a planned out schedule or anything. I'll try and post weekly or thereabouts.  For now, if you would like to quilt-a-long here's what you need to do:

1. Order your pattern from Marmalade or Flare Fabrics or purchase at your local quilt shop
2. Join the quiltalong flickr group where we'll share our progress and discuss any issues that arise
3. Think about what size quilt you plan to make and what proverbs, lyrics, quotes, sayings, poem or collection of words or names you would like to piece. Don't forget, you are also welcome to emulate Denyse's own proverb quilt that you see on the pattern cover.

Let me know in the comments if you plan to play along. I realize there are many quiltalongs on the go in blogland at the moment and that's why we'll be taking it slow (so you have time for all of them!!). After all, it took me a year to complete my quilt. That was partly intentional though; don't let that scare you away. Not only am I slow, but I wanted this to be a mindful project that would be entirely pieced on my Featherweight while on retreats.

While we wait for everyone to get their patterns, I'll post about fabrics and layout ideas so you can start planning. Once everyone has their patterns, we'll have our first participant giveaway!  To be eligible for this first giveaway, a FQ set of Cloud 9 - Across the Pond organics from Flare Fabrics, I want to see a photo of you with your Proverbial Quilt pattern in the flickr pool. That way we all get to 'know' each other, too. I think we're going to have lots of fun and I'm imagining a small, friendly group working through our quilts together.

Thanks Sponsors!

    

Birthday prophecy

And I did! Yesterday I had a great birthday that included a walk to our local 'village' to check out the Show 'n Shine...




I love the vintage car paint colours, especially all of the blues. Red is always a winner on an old pick up truck, though.





A very special birthday event was a family visit by Krista (lolablueocean). We met online because we have the same name and we're also buds with Krista (spottedstonestudio) for the same reason. Krista, her husband and two charming children visited for 4 days. She gave an excellent slide show and talk to the VMQG about longarm quilting and I organized an informal workshop so she could teach us how to free piece funky flowers.



The guys golfed and mountain biked and T babysat so the four of us could go out for a birthday dinner. Here we are on the pier in North Vancouver with the city across the harbour in the background.





Finally, last night my SIL hosted a fabulous Thai food/beach-themed dinner party complete with a decadent gluten-free chocolate cake that contained a POUND of dark chocolate! (made by our Dutch cousin Rox)! It was such a great weekend!!

Life has been very full since my kids finished school for the summer but I wanted to give you the heads up that an informal quilt along will start here soon. I'm going to show you how I pieced my Blackbird quilt using Denyse Schmidt's Proverbial Quilt pattern. I've got sponsors lined up and goodies from Denyse so stay tuned!!

True Patriot Love

A university buddy of mine lives 4000 km away, but he keeps me up to date on all things cultural (that can be shared with a link).  I thought my international readers might get a kick out of these Canadian musicians and their ingenuity. Homegrown readers and Canadian ex-pats likely won't be at all surprised. We are always looking for ways to maximize recycling of beer bottles and cans.  We're green like that (and we drink a lot of brewskies).

I love our National Anthem and dearly hope we get to hear it many times from the podiums of London. B and I will cry, of course.

Sunday morning

A little Dr.Seuss moment on our stroll to the village. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Liberty Lemonade Tablecloth Tutorial & Giveaway

Life gave me unexpected Liberty. So I made this reversible table cloth and called it Liberty Lemonade.

Actually 'life' didn't really give me the gorgeous 5" charms of Liberty Tana Lawn. In reality, they came from none other than Jo at  The Organic Stitch Co, via the lovely Nova, who invited me to participate in the monthly Liberty Scrap Challenge. Nova and other design bloggers have been busy creating all sorts of beautiful things using precious Liberty charms and scraps. You can check out the full list of amazing tutorials here. If you make any of the projects, please share photos in the flickr pool!

While I patiently awaited the arrival of what I thought would be one of Jo's incredible scrap bags, I came up with a few ideas for very small things that I could make with my Liberty fabric (tutorial coming later this month for Little Liberty Somethings). When an envelope arrived containing TWO charm packs, I was so surprised, but immediately inspired to make a light, summery tablecloth for our little kitchen table.

Our pretty napkins were sent to me by berlinquilter on flickr in the Table Top Swap!

I chose the floral, summery charms and paired them with Michael Miller's Old Script for a blendy look. I first tried using a solid ivory as the alternate block, but the effect was so flat. I think the swirly lines of hand-writing mirror the sketchy outlines of the Liberty floral prints so nicely; I really love the way they look together.

Our kitchen table is only 35" in diameter. The four of us eat meals together here, so I wanted a smallish table cloth that would not hang down too far and get caught on people's laps as they sat down. I thought it would be fun to piece the cloth on point and retain the pointy edges instead of trimming it round. My cloth finished up approximately 45" square (measured point to point across the horizontal). In this schematic I drew on our iPad using Touchdraw (look at me go, Lynne!), you can see and read how to do it.

click through to flickr so you can view in full size to read the text

You'll need 45 - 5" Liberty charms and 36 - 5" alternate charms, plus a 46" square of backing fabric.  The basic instructions are all there in the diagram, but I've made a flickr set as a basic photo tutorial showing some details of making the table cloth. It is a beginner sewing project and as long as you can maintain a consistent seam allowance, you can make this! I used a quilting seam allowance of 1/4", but the edge of a standard presser foot would work just fine, too. There is no batting, but the two layers of fabric are secured with a narrow zigzag topstitch along every seam. I used a light blue Aurifil 40wt thread for this.

Would you like to be a Liberty Scrap Challenge designer? Would you would like to play with my leftover Tana Lawn charms (mostly in grey/charcoal/blue colours)? The winner would have to design a project, make it using the Liberty fabric (other fabrics can be added) and then publish a tutorial on their blog. If you're up for this extra challengey-challenge, let me know in the comments and I'll include your name in a draw for the charms.  ALL OTHER comments will be up for a surprise Little Liberty Something that I'll send to one lucky person chosen by Mr. Random. I must have a way to contact you from your comment, either a linked blog or email address. Please leave only one comment.

Right then, I'm off to enjoy a little cup of tea over my sweet new table cloth. Thanks Jo and Nova!

Saved from the Closet!

There's a whole lotta love going 'round in quilting blogosphere at the moment. Katie has started up her annual 100 Quilts for Kids blog hop and quilt drive and Lynne has just blogged about the amazing success of her Siblings Together initiative. Please click on the links in this post to learn more about these wonderful projects, both aimed at getting cozy quilts wrapped around deserving children.

Locally, my traditional guild makes hundreds of charity quilts annually from preemie up to full size. There are other local guilds doing the same thing, so I think right here, needs are being well met at the moment. I was very moved by the appeal for Siblings Together and thought that this year I'd send my charity quilt over to the UK (last year's went to Japan). After reading this recent post, I am very happy to share this quilt (as yet to actually be quilted) with a child in care.

I made this Jacob's Ladder variation in a guild mystery workshop maaaany years ago...possibly nine?   Oh boy, I cannot even say this is a WIP, more like an AP (Abandoned Project) that has been folded over a hanger in my closet. Each 12 1/2" block has 50 pieces. It was a major challenge for me to piece this back then, with barely two years of quilting experience and I think after all of that piecing, I was done in. Can you spot my Amish moment in the photo above? I'm actually surprised there aren't more! (if not, click through to the flickr image where I've noted it)

1 block = 50 pieces

In fact, it's been so long since I made this, I'm fairly sure the double wide white backing I bought for it has been worn to more than one toga party.

At 48" x 72" it's plenty large enough to cuddle a child. I'll be quilting it up with an all-over meander and to keep the weight down for international shipping, I'm going to try a poly batting for the first time. Any tips?

I'm just so happy to have a purpose for this cute quilt top that my own children have long outgrown. There will be even more charity quilting in my near future - in August I'm heading to Seattle for a Pacific Northwest modern quilt guild meet up and I understand members from Portland, Seattle and Vancouver MQG's will be sewing charity quilts together all day on Saturday, August 11th. Can't wait!

End of an Elementary Era

Well, that's it folks. My second child is officially off to high school in the fall. I'm sure there are many other mothers out there who feel the same sense of pride and mild horror that their 13 year old daughters will be sharing the same hallways with 18 year old boys in September. I have two months in which to come to terms.

Both my kids were born in the first week of January.  By the time we've made it through Christmas and New Year's, everyone is almost too pooped to party, so we usually keep birthdays low key and celebrate the end of the school year in June with a gift and some summer spending money.  Although this was originally intended for last year's gift, I happily presented it to D last week (and she was none the wiser that the pillow front had been sitting folded on my sewing table for over a year).  There wasn't much chance of her ever finding it....trust me, it was well buried under several other WIPs.

This is the second 20" Eiffel Tower pillow I've embroidered and quilted. In fact, the original was one of the very first projects I shared on Poppyprint almost 3 years ago!

I love that there were a set of matching buttons in my Great Aunt Pearl's button box for the back closure.

What's almost as sweet is that D took it to a sleepover on Friday night to show her girlfriends.  She hearts La Tour d'Eiffel.

Her pillow is a little softer.