Sample Spree Big Tote

With the release of Make It, Take It, I decided to make the trip to Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis to help promote the book. I've never been to a Market before, but I've seen enough photos and video of Sample Spree to know it is mayhem. If you haven't heard, it is a giant ballroom filled with FQ packs of all of the soon-to-be-released fabric at wholesale prices or less. You have to buy a ticket in advance for $15 to get in and some people wait in line all afternoon for a chance to be the first at the fabric manufacturer's tables.

There are a couple of new lines that I'm interested in and truth be told I am not planning to go crazy (because really, do I need more fabric?), but I do want to be prepared. Just in case. Since you are not allowed shopping carts or rolling luggage at spree (haha!!!!), I thought a large tote would be a good idea (and experienced friends advised this, too).

So I give you my Sample Spree Big Tote.  This is a project in the "Take It" section of my book, designed by the very clever Ayumi Takahashi. The construction is so quick and painless! It makes a great gift and there's a companion Little Tote that is perfect as a lunch bag, loot bag or small project bag.

It is made with some of my favourite prints (that Martha Negley Farmington feather is just so incredible!) and I quilted the outer panels to some fusible fleece. There is a fitted sheet of heavy weight interfacing quilted to the flat base panel as well. There are no pockets, zippers or closure. Just maximum fabric-buying cargo space!

The opening is topstitched with my go to triple-stitch in a variegated pink/yellow 28 wt Aurifil thread. The bag and handles are lined with two excellent Lu Summers prints, Alphabetty and Weave. I purchased multiple yards of both and only have bits left...so sad!

I've made a second one to gift a friend with of some of her favourite fabrics, too. All Anna Maria Horner prints.

I hope I get lucky at Spree. If so, you'll be the first to know!

Just in case there are store owners reading who may be at Market, my schoolhouse presentation is in room 210B from 4:55 - 5:25 p.m. on Thursday.  I'll be signing books and doing a little demo for folks pre-registered with Martingale at their booth #325 from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Friday. A second signing takes place at the Brewer booth #2019 from 10:00 - 11:00 a.m. Saturday.  I hope to see you there!

People of Minneapolis (or those who have visited before) - What should I do/see/check out downtown if I have some time? I've never been! 

Infinity

The adorable Mai was in town recently for work, so a bunch of us MQG peeps got together for a fun potluck dinner. It's so much fun to visit with IG friends when they come to town!  Mai had previously been a personal sherpa flying gifts between Oahu and Vancouver for me, so I wanted to make her a little thank you present.

It was a last minute plan that came together thanks to the great free tutorial at Pink Chalk Fabrics.  I have a small stash of AMH voiles on hand, so I was able to sew up this infinity scarf in no time!

I mentioned on IG that the scarf is draped on one of my precious wooden hangers, handmade by my great-grandad Sparks. He lived in a little cottage beside my paternal grandparent's home in a small town outside Montreal  (Saraguay) that has since been incorporated into the city. He had a sunporch with a workbench at the back of the cottage where he planed wood and bent metal and glued up coat hangers. I don't know if he sold them, or just made them for family, but I am lucky enough to have a few.  Sadly, the family home and cottage are long gone now, replaced with a housing development years ago.  I have a few memories of the swing that hung between the house and the cottage, and my great-granddad's big hairy dog Buster that would sleep against the picket fence gate. Mostly I remember the smell of the sunporch, which was sawdust and toast....but I digress.

Back to the infinity scarf.  The pattern is super easy and there are only a few inches of hand-sewing required. I highly recommend it for a quick gift!

A Birthday Box

After watching the Canucks win in overtime last night (on TV), I started a much-delayed birthday gift for a friend. I mean, how much time can a box pouch take anyway? It was only 10:30 on a Friday night....

I've never made one before, so I scoured the internets for available tutorials and decided to use this one by Libby. Even the lining is completely turned, so there are no exposed seams on the inside of the pouch. Just to ramp up the challenge, I decided to cut into my stash of never-used coated cottons and chose an Amy Butler print for the lining (I got mine at a shop that has since closed, but I found some for you here).  Even though I make a lot of bags, visualizing how stuff is going to turn from inside out to right side out is not my strength, so I went slowly.

The tutorial was easy to follow with excellent photographs. The only issue I had was trying to sew over top of the zipper ends "in the same place" on both the lining and outer fabric (a luscious AMH linen interfaced with Pellon ShapeFlex, by the way).  I found this impossible due to the bulk of the pull tabs, but it's no biggie, it just means you can see stitches at the end of the zipper on the inside of the pouch.  This, of course, will make absolutely no sense to you unless you've tried to make one of these before!

The other issue that kept me up until 1:30 a.m. was finding the right needle for the job. My stitches were lovely on the top, but when trying to sew through any seam allowances that included the coated cotton, the bottom of the work was a bit of a tangled mess. The vinyl side of the fabric was not touching the plate or foot, but just sewing through that stuff proved disastrous to my tension. I think the thread must have been sticking to the vinyl within the layers.  Finally, a topstitch 80 needle coupled with increased top tension did the trick.  See Amy Butler's tips for sewing with her vinyl coated cottons here.

 

In the rare seams where I had to sew over the right (sticky) side of the coated lining, I used a teflon foot which easily glides over the vinyl.  Apparently a piece of tape on the bottom of  your presser foot can do the trick just as well - if only I'd known before springing $25 for the Pfaff foot! I've heard of putting tissue paper on top of the vinyl can help, but then you have to pick paper out of the stitches. No thanks.  I wish I could have given the pouch a final pressing (all boxes/bags/pouches look best with a good pressing) but I didn't want to risk melting the vinyl!

Rumour has it my friend's husband forgot her birthday today. Ouch. I'm so glad I stayed up late to make this for her!

Hand Drawn Garden, Anyone?

Let's start this week off right with some free fabric! Tammy, the loveliest online shop owner of Marmalade Fabrics is nearing her third anniversary! Tammy is well-known for her fabulous customer service, cheerful and helpful personality and beautiful packaging of her orders. The Marmalade Fabrics shop features a carefully-curated selection of modern fabrics and solids.  It is my go-to shop for the full line of Essex linens (check out the new yarn dyed colour, steel!).  Did you know that this is also one of the few shops in North America where you can buy luscious Oakshott cottons?

Marmalade has all of the new Kona colours in stock and Tammy is running a monthly "Around the Colour Wheel" club that includes 6 Kona solid FQ's or 1/2 yards in one colourway for a killer price. Subscribe, and at the end of a year you'll have 72 colours!

I'd like to thank Tammy for generously sponsoring this giveaway of TWO rolls of 10" charms of Anna Maria Horner's gorgeous Hand Drawn Garden.  She also has yardage of these prints in the shop as well as F8 and FQ packs.

You've got FOUR chances at these pretties! 

1. Just leave one comment here - thanks for visiting!
2. Leave a second comment if you follow Poppyprint on Bloglovin' (link on my left sidebar)
3. Leave a third comment if you follow Poppyprint on Instagram 
4. Leave a fourth comment if you like Marmalade Fabrics on Facebook

NOTE: Your email must be linked to your comment, or included in your comment, to win. Unfortunately, I'll have to choose another winner if I can't contact you!

Good luck! I'll leave the giveaway open until 5 p.m. PST on Friday, September 20th at which time I will choose a random winner. 

ETA: Comments are now closed, thanks for stopping by!

Super Duper

My first retreat project was to sew up two Super Totes using Anna's newest bag pattern. My mom has a birthday and I have a trip coming up in July so I thought I'd make two at once. Mom's a full-time knitter and I know this will be a perfect bag for her projects. I love the size and shape for myself to use as a shopping tote - this will accompany me to the FQ Retreat in London where I hope to fill it with Liberty lovelies.

I took all of the pattern pieces pre-cut to retreat so that I could start sewing right away (I really don't like to do lots of cutting/prep work while on retreat because I will often make mistakes while chatting!). Turns out I wasn't paying enough attention at home either, I forgot to cut the lining side pieces of both bags so the very final assembly had to wait until I returned home! Since the .pdf pattern was loaded onto my iPad bookshelf, I only had to print the actual pattern pages. I followed all of the assembly instructions on the iPad.

This one is my Mom's and B was able to personally deliver it thanks to a last minute business trip (which is why I finished it at midnight and took Ott-light photos before his crack of dawn departure to Toronto).

The pattern calls for piping across the top of the large outer pocket. Due to my long recovery from the Weekender piping fiasco, I opted out of this cute design feature. I still wanted an accent there, so I cut my lining an extra 1/2" longer than the pocket piece. The seam allowance is 1/2" on this bag, so after sewing the lining to the outer pocket piece RST, I pressed the seam allowance in half to 1/4", then folded the lining to the wrong side, wrapping it around the 4-layer seam allowance. Then I used my stitch in the ditch foot to topstitch right in the seam along the front (which you can't actually see in this picture, above!). Presto: cheater piping.

This one is for me. I love the bright red flower centres of this print.


I only had FQ's of the AMH flower print, so I used the linen on the 'back' of the bag. I just had enough print to cut the top strip so there would be consistency around the top of the bag.

Lining of my tote showing the non-elastic pockets. I read several pattern reviews that mentioned they would probably not make elasticated pockets on both sides if they made the bag again, so I took the hint and did a straight/lined pocket on one side.

Mom's lining showing the elastic pockets (as per the pattern) and the key fob I added. The fob is at one end of the zipper and  slips in and out without having to unzip the bag.

A last-step option is to satin stitch across the end of the pleat to secure the seam and attach the lining to the outer bag. I like this detail very much!

As with all of Anna's patterns, the instructions are clear and easy and the results fabulous. My friends tease me that I have way too many bags, but I absolutely love making them and never tire of trying new designs. This is a seriously Super Tote and not difficult to make. The zipper closure is not only clever, it's a breeze (if Zipperphobes aren't convinced, it's completely optional - Anna explains how to make your tote without one as well).  

Are you going to give it a try? 

Time to Stock up!

I am your friend. Friends tell friends where to find the deals.  Just in case you haven't heard yet, Marmalade Fabrics is having a massive sale!  Tammy is making way for exciting fall shipments. Lots of great deals, including Loulouthi by Anna Maria Horner for only $6.99/yd and 40% off Far Far Away by Heather Ross and Ruby Star Rising by Melody Miller.

And there is more news, Tammy is now selling Marmalade Baubles - gorgeous earrings, necklaces and scissor fobs made with real (brand new) bobbins and beautiful fused glass. I've just placed an order for scissor fobs to have on hand for retreat door prizes!  I have a feeling they may just be this year's Sewing Summit and QuiltCon must-have accessories.

  

Happy shopping!

Bare Neck-ed No More!

Ok ladies, this post is a peek at the gifts you'll receive if you are a woman over 13 years old and related to me by birth or marriage. If you would like to keep your present a total surprise, I suggest you make a hasty exit. There are some colour options, so that bit you won't know until you open, and they are already wrapped and labelled, so no special requests! That means you SIL who loves 2 blocks from me (as opposed to the two who live a zillion miles away).

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ok, last chance to bail!

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Alright then. Thanks to Krista, who gave me the idea with her one-woman sweat shop production line at retreat, I came home with the plan to make lovely scarves for all the girls. Using my very own scarf purchased from Krista as a template (and with her encouragement), I got busy with some buttery soft AMH voile, Alexander Henry cotton lawn and a cozy Jo Ann's flannel in gorgeous colours. I used up every scrap of fabric I bought for my gifts, but if you would like to treat yourself or someone you know with a bare neck to a luscious scarf, Krista still has some available in her shop!

The scarves are a generous 70" long and 8" wide. I've been wearing mine daily (and sometimes just even around the house!).

I'm not going to give you a full length view in case of looky-loos, but I was so excited about (a) how these turned out and (b) that they are actually completed on time for shipping far away that I could not wait until after Christmas to show you (and by YOU, I mean women unrelated to me by birth or marriage). Because those you's are not reading this post, are you?

El Cheapo Templates

In the comments from my last post several people commented on my fussy cutting of the gorgeous AMH print I used for this bag.

Well, here's my big secret. Binder dividers.

I had a package of these left over from school a couple of years ago and they make perfect template plastic. They are thick enough to trace around with a pencil, marker or disappearing pen, they are see through and they hold together really well with masking tape!

If I know I'm going to make lots and lots of a fabulous pattern, like the Buttercup Bag or Valori Wells' adorable little wallet), I'll make templates out of divider plastic and then I clip all the pieces together (with the instruction pages) with a gorilla clip and toss them in my pattern basket!

Thanks everyone for all of your well wishes for our Weekend to End Women's Cancer fundraiser last Friday. We raised just over $3500, bringing our team total to about $35,000!!!! It was so much fun. My favourite moment might have been seeing the Harley Davidson-riding guy in leather chaps carry my Buttercup Bag away from the silent auction for $30. He says he bought it for a co-worker's wife. His secret is safe with me (and all of you)! We sold lots of raffle tickets too, and the quilt I made received wonderful compliments, which is always nice.

I've got a busy week...retreat on Saturday to prepare for, and helping get the word out about a Walk for Justice for our friend Pavel.

A Buttercup for summer

Our auction was looking a little thin for last night, so I whipped this up in the afternoon to stop myself obsessing about all the little things I had to take care of for the fund raiser. I'll update you on how things went once all the dust (and cash) settles!

I made this one using a decor weight Anna Maria Horner Drawing Room print. Luscious. Even better because I got it on super-sale when I went to Vegas in the fall.

The bag is lined with a Rouenneries linen-look cotton and the pocket is a Lecien dot (love). I swear I could make Rae's adorable bag in my sleep. They are so quick and easy to make up and people love them! I strengthened the lining with Craftfuse (that I purchased at Jo Ann while we were in Florida for spring break) but I don't like it. Just as wrinkly/bubbly as the Pellon product I was using previously. Ick. It looked fine when I first fused it, but once you do any manipulation of the piece (like turning the bag) it gets all yucky looking! I did my best to press it back into submission. Back to the drawing board on that one.

Hope you are having a spectacular weekend.

HSTravaganza

Here's my latest V.I.Bees block for Kelly.

She send the gorgeous AMH fabrics with some Kona Ash and asked for a 12 1/2" block made up of half square triangles. It's so fun to see how everyone interprets instructions like this and makes completely unique blocks from each other! Kelly is going to have a gorgeous quilt.

Have yourself a fantastic weekend!