It's Basic!

Looking to stock up for your winter sewing projects? Sew Sisters has a great promotion running the entire month of November. I think I've used every one of these Kona colours and neutrals or backgrounds! Take your pick of Ash, Snow, White, Charcoal or Black and order a minimum of one meter (that's 40" off the bolt for you yardy-types) to get the discount!

Oh, Improv Tree

A few weeks ago I taught an informal workshop for members of my traditional guild. I was keen to share a new improv piecing technique that I've been having fun with. I like to sew along with students so that I have something to demonstrate. For this afternoon session, I gathered up a bunch of green and blue solids and set to work.

I had this little idea that I would make a modern Christmas pillow by arranging strip sets into a tree shape. I decided that a winter tree needed some snow, so the narrow white strips were added to separate the greens from the blues.  When I pieced it all together, it really looked like a green volcano. The appliqued wool snow 'flakes' were required to cement the winter look for me.

Originally I'd pieced a small yellow tip on the tree to represent a star. After asking for advice on Instagram on turning my 'verdant mountain' (as one commenter put it) into a convincing tree, several friends suggested a proper star.  I think it was good advice!

I had fun with the free motion quilting. I tried to do windy swirls in the blue background and a fir tree-type pattern in the tree itself. The pillow front was fused to Pellon fleece and I quilted it without a backing fabric since it's the inside of a pillow, after all.  The backing is a JoAnn Fabrics print from last year, and of course the binding is a fabulous red Loulouthi print by Anna Maria Horner that picks up the pinks from the back and blues from the front!

The pillow seems very happy on our couch along with the new Scrappy Trip Christmas quilt that I've yet to share in it's finished form. The lighting is very limited this time of year and I've yet to score a decent photo.....soon, I hope!

Sew with Sew Sisters

The lovely gals at Sew Sisters, a Canadian online and bricks & mortar shop in Toronto, asked me to come up with a project using one of their Kona Solids Club FQ packs. Their Kona club of 4 solids is available in fat quarters or 1/2 yards for a killer price and awesome shipping rates. It's a great way to build your solids stash and receive a colourful surprise every month!

My project was inspired by my sister and nieces, who recently took over the Demi Pointe dance shop in Charlottetown, PEI. I designed this sweet Ballet Tote adapting a versatile, bias stem applique technique by machine.  I believe this method originates from a 1998 Rodale book called "Applique Made Easy" by Carol Costello Soltys.

Ballet Tote

8" x 12" x 2"

Head on over here to learn how you can make one. Leave a comment on the tutorial post at Sew Sisters and you could win the same fat quarter pack I used to make this tote! If you do, I'd love to see it. Please share a picture in my Poppyprint Projects Flickr group or tag me @poppyprint on Instagram!

St. Louis Leftovers

During a short house-sitting gig in Victoria last month, I wanted to have a quickie project for the evenings.  I grabbed my gorgeous fat 1/8th stack of Shelburne Falls purchased from Westwood Acres, some coordinating Kona solids, a Sketch and Pearl Bracelet or two. I also threw in a couple of Chicopee prints since they go perfectly with Shelburne Falls.  Pre-cutting 4" strips before we left home meant I could just set up Lise-Lotte's sweet Featherweight and piece to my heart's content as soon as we arrived!

The plan was a St. Louis 16-Patch using Steffani's great tutorial.  The 16-patch blocks are huge, so the quilt top goes together very quickly. Depending on your choice of big print, small print or solid, the blocks can look quite different. It was a perfect holiday project that didn't require much thought.

Because I had long F8's instead of Fat Quarter's that the tute calls for (my strips were about 21" long), there were leftover pieced sections after cross-cutting the initial strip sets. They were so pretty I couldn't chuck them, so this table runner was born (thanks to Leanne's encouragement on IG). Like so many modern things I make, this runner doesn't really go with my house - at least until we update the living/dining room, so I think I will gift it to a friend turning 50. Her home is much more modern and I know she likes these colours.

The quilting is simple organic lines, all in Aurifil of various weights. I just chose the colours that coordinated. I'm not fussed about thread weights for quilting, but usually aim for the 28 or 30 wt.  The binding is Kona Grass Green and the backing is 3 different shades of Kona aquas from a FQ stack I have.

Front: 28 wt #5006, Back L-R: 28 wt variegated #4653 2ED, 40wt #2730, 28wt #5003 and 50 wt #4668. The two grey spools are from the V & Co. Simply Color collection and the orange spool is from the Tula Pink box set, both generously sent to me by Aurifil for the Patchwork Please Zakka 2.0-along.

As soon as the 16-patch quilt is actually quilted, I'll share that too. If you've got a bunch of fat quarters to use up, I highly recommend this fun patchwork quilt. You can go crazy with colour, or keep it subdued with a constant solid colour paired with large prints. It would be a great charity quilt pattern for guild sew-ins, or a fun block to swap at retreats.

Let's Try This Again...

It's been more than two weeks since I emailed, then emailed again, and announced here the winner of the Robert Kaufman Kona fat quarter stack of luscious greens. Unfortunately, I have not heard from the winner, so here we go for a second try.

The random number generator has chosen you Michala - congratulations!

I will email you and hope that you reply so I can send you all this fabric. It makes me happy that it will go to someone who's favourite colour is green.

Kona Farmers Market Giveaway!

How would you like this gorgeous stack of 23 green fat quarters of Kona cotton from Robert Kaufman? This fabric was generously supplied by Kaufman who is a sponsor of the Zakka 2.0 Along featuring Ayumi's book Patchwork Please. My stop on the blog tour is tomorrow and I'm offering this stack as a giveaway because I didn't end up using it in my project.  There will be more giveaways with the Zakka Along post tomorrow, so be sure to check back!

Farmer's Market FQ bundle

I am excited to send this fabric to someone, but there's a catch: the winner must be willing to cover the cost of shipping.  I will break down the stack into as flat a package as I can and I am happy to ship it anywhere in the world, but I won't send it until I've received payment for the true shipping cost via Paypal.  Please do not enter this giveaway unless you are prepared to pay for the shipping. I estimate approximately $15 to Canada or US address and up to $25+ for overseas.

Leave one comment here, agreeing to cover the shipping cost and I will chose a random winner on August 3rd at 6:00 p.m. PST.  If you are on a Letterpress ID, or a no-reply blogger, you must leave your email address in your comment so that I can contact you!!

ETA: Comments are now closed, thanks for visiting!

A coordinating pillow, you say?

So SIL is enjoying sleeping under her Brrr! Made in Cherry quilt. It never made it to the spare bed, apparently. Just a day after taking it home, I received an email letting me know how great it looked (with photo), but that "all I need now is some matching pillows".

I happened to have all of my scrap triangles from making the quilt so I put them together with a few solids for an easy peasy 1/2 square triangle pillow top. Because I do what I'm told (usually).

I quilted the pillow front to some fusible Pellon fleece with diagonal lines 1/4" away from the seams.  The backing is made from some of the larger pieces that remained on my FQ shelf and I joined them with a hidden zipper flap.

The binding is also leftover from the quilt; I cut an entire yard of the stripe print on the bias, so I have miles of it. It's machine sewn to the back.  First I sewed it to the front of the pillow with a 1/4" seam allowance as you would for a quilt, then pressed it to the back and secured it with Roxanne's Glue-Baste It (carefully mitering the corners). Then, using my Pfaff's stitch in the ditch foot which has a metal fence right smack dab in the middle of the foot, I sewed along the front of the pillow in the ditch of the pillow/binding seam. You can see the front and back above.  I've tried doing this just using pins to hold the binding in place, but I always end up missing sections on the back. The glue just keeps it all snug and more accurate for me.  There are a lot of tutorials around blogland if you need more details on attaching binding by machine, just Google it.

I gave the pillow to my SIL for Valentines yesterday and I think she likes it. Watch the comments to find out : )

It's only been a year in the making....

Quilt tops abound here at Poppyprint, but finished, bound quilts? Hmmm. Not that often. Like so many others obsessed with fabric combinations in quilting, I am easily distracted by the next exciting fabric line/pattern/quiltalong/block and as a result my UFO's linger. And linger.

Over a year ago, Laurie Wisbrun  and Kaufman very kindly shared a LOT of her sweet, graphic holiday line called Brrr! with me. Around the same time, Chelsea started the Made in Cherry quiltalong on her blog. It had been a while since I made a big quilt and I thought this free Lecien pattern by Sarah Fielke would be an ideal one for Laurie's prints. The 5" square sized allowed the polar bears and large polkadots to shine, instead of getting all chopped up and lost in small piecing. The bright aqua, red and green colours are even more fun on the field of medium grey background.  The quilt is bound with Laurie's adorable stripy/dotty print in the Holiday colourway that I cut on the bias: perfect.

Here's the top getting a good soaking on some white rain that accumulated last year!

I made the top really fast (for me) and showed you last year. Then, I pieced left over large chunks of  Brrr! with some coordinating Kona solids and the back went together lickity split as well.

Then we went on a month-long family trip to France.

By the time fall rolled around, I realized that sometimes the best way to complete a large quilt is to get help. I took the top and back down to Seattle for Krista K2 to work her magic. I'd seen her Baptist Fan quilting on Krista's K3 quilt (confused yet? There are three of us!) and asked her to quilt mine with the same design, with an aqua thread.  The pattern is programmed into IQ, a computerized system that Krista can use on her longarm when she's not working her dreamy free-motion quilting magic.

I just love how incredible this very traditional quilting pattern looks on this decidedly contemporary quilt! I will definitely have more large quilts done with the Baptist Fan.  It is the first quilt I've made that has Polydown batting inside. I've always been a stickler for cotton blend batting, but Krista convinced me that that the quilting texture would really shine with a slightly poufier batting.  Of course, she was absolutely right! Trust the experts.

The polar bears will go to live two blocks away at SIL's house, on her spare bed. She's already said she likes the back better (that's how she rolls) so that's likely the side that will be 'up'. I haven't yet decided what to do about a label, in that case.

This Little Pouch Went to Portland

Last night the VMQG celebrated our two year anniversary!  There were yummy treats, fruity punch, lots of laughs and some seriously fabulous pouches.  (Almost) Everyone who is participating in the pouch swap with the PMQG brought their pouches to the meeting to show and also to pack them up and send them down in one shipment to our secret partners care of the PMQG.

Here's the little flex frame pouch I made for my partner who gave me a great idea as to what she needed a pouch for, as well as specifying she likes bright, cheerful colours. Just so happens I won a mini charm pack of all the new Kona solid colours from Pink Chalk Fabrics recently - perfect!

side 1

I paired up the bright colours, drew a line diagonally and sewed 1/4" to each side, creating two triangle squares (seams pressed to one side).  Then, I paired two of those right sides together (butting the seams) and drew a diagonal line perpendicular to the seams.  Sewing 1/4" each side of that gives you two tiny little hourglass blocks. Cute!

side 2

I framed everything up with some black linen, inserted a flex frame and there you have it. If you would like to read a full tutorial on making a flex frame pouch, check out Leila's here or Ayumi's here. Both are excellent.  

Wanna see the inside?

Seems my partner and I have something in common.....I wonder if hers barks as much as mine?

Diamonds, Sapphires, Rubies and more!

Just a few posts ago, I showed you one of my entries in the Aurifil designer thread box contest over at Lilysquilts inspired by birthstone colours. There are so many incredible collections entered in the flickr pool that (a) I'm so happy I'm not a judge, and (b) it's highly unlikely I'm going to win my thread collection.

That's okay because Tammy at Marmalade Fabrics has announced a birthstone sure thing!  She's pairing Kona solids with modern birthstones and every month she'll list a gorgeous bundle of SIX Fat Quarters or 1/2 yard cuts.  Announcing.......

April's stone is diamond, so this month's Gem Bundle is an incredibly useful set of 6 Kona basics: White, Ash, Medium Grey, Coal, Charcoal, Black.  I've used all of these colours over and over again in my quilting!

As Tammy says, if you collect her bundle each month, by this time next year you could have 72 incredible Kona cottons to work with!  FQ bundles work out to just over $2 per Fat Quarter. That's a great deal. You'd be all set for colour spectrum blocks and quilts, maybe sign up for the Love of Solids Swap round 3, or make yourself a quilt like this one.

my Full Circle quilt - sent to Japan for earthquake relief last year.

Read more about Tammy's new monthly Kona solid collections here.

Happy Weekend!

Roll 'em!

While we were away I received a flickr message about a new swap starting up. An easy one. An afternoon of sewing one. A swap for 4 very useful items my family uses daily: cloth napkins!

Building on her successful Potholder Pass swap group, Amy had this brilliant idea for a Table Top Swap and I could not resist. Who doesn't need 4 nice new napkins?  My partner requested coordinating, but not necessarily matching napkins, which made me happy because I am hoping for a similar set.  The four of us use cloth napkins at dinner and I try to keep them going for a few days (unless of course tacos are on the menu, in which case the napkins go straight to the laundry without passing Go!).

My issues with maintaining the same napkins over a few days are these:

1. We always forget who used which napkin 
2. The napkins are thrown in a pile on the kitchen counter, all messy-like

I had a bit of an inspiration that I'm hoping will resolve both issues. 

Napkin Roll-Ups!  Each one is made with a unique contrasting print band on a linen background and a linen loop sewn into the middle of one side. The napkins are backed with a Kona solid. Look what happens next:

The trick of course, will be to get the people to actually roll up their napkins. If that happens, the napkins will be all neat and tidy on the counter, just like this.

....or this (say what? YES, they are reversible!)

However, if all else fails and you've got a hook or doorknob nearby, here's another option.

If anyone is interested in making their own Napkin Roll-Ups, here are the supplies you need for ONE napkin. I think you could work out the construction on your own, but if you need any help, just ask!

15" square - Kona solid backing

15" x 3" contrast band

15" x 6 1/2" linen background (cut two)

1 3/4" x 7.5" linen strip (fold in 1/2 lengthwise, open, press raw edges to middle, refold, topstitch)

A Solid Swap

Yesterday, after a loooong wait, my For The Love of Solids swap package arrived. The international shipping deadline was September 8th but my fellow Canadian swappers know that as soon as a foreign parcel sets foot on Canadian soil, it enters the Canada Post Twilight Zone and delivery ranges from 1 day to 1 month. In this case, I have to say: totally worth the wait.

Megan, who blogs here, was one of the swap organizers. She made this stunning mini quilt and also sent along a coordinating pouch and a Kona solids charm pack (awesome, because I am so not done with this pattern yet and will undoubtedly create something else with the charms soon).

This will be my last major swap for a good long while. I like to go out on a high note and Megan really delivered with two beautifully constructed gifts! I literally have no more wall space for mini quilts, and I freely admit to feeling extremely liberated -- in a creative sense -- knowing that I do not have any sewing commitments or deadlines for other people in my future. I must say though, this solids swap was a great challenge and I was very inspired by the wide range of projects and the original use of solid fabrics that appeared in the flickr pool.

I just have two hoops to finish up and then I will get busy sewing stuff I want, for me (well, and everyone that I am making Christmas gifts for).

September Swapping

My For the Love of Solids swap package is en route far, far away to my secret partner. This swap piqued my interest because I was anxious to see what people would come up with when they were limited to using only solids. Most people are making wall quilts for their partners, but there are some smokin' totes and a few other very cool items to check out as well. There are some great, original designs appearing in that flickr pool!

We were encouraged in our sign up form to indicate one or two things we'd really love to receive. My partner gave a few ideas, but seemed to really want a machine cover. After making Full Circle, I wasn't quite done with Malka's wonderful design, so I returned to it with another Kona solids charm pack and some navy blue sashing to come up with this:

I added some detail to the ties by top-stitching a tiny ricrac down the middle and adding a covered tab on the end. There is fusible fleece batting and a strip of Timtex heavy weight stabilizer across the middle so the cover will have a square shape over the top of the machine. It is quilted with a very-easy-to-use Aurifil variegated rayon. My machine seems to love that stuff and with an Inspiron size 80/12 quilting needle I am totally in business! I lengthened my stitches to 3.5 so there would be more thread than holes along the stitch lines, and once again used my seam guide to sew parallel concentric (semi) circles.

The swap package had to include one smaller item as well, but this item didn't have to be made with solids. I decided to send one of my thread catchers along. It incorporates my partner's favourite colour (I'm just not going to tell you which one!); I tossed in a hunk of poppy-printed fabric in that colour, too!

I try really hard to get to know my partner and make something that they will really like. Nevertheless, there is always a tiny bit of lingering doubt when I send off a package. I think almost everyone goes through this with swaps - it's probably a good thing, and keeps us striving to do our best work for others!

A Little Modesty....puh leeze!

Home from our ultimate chillax on Hornby Island. For the first time in 8 years we stayed a full two weeks and can I just say: I could have stayed on for a third with no questions asked!

Considering the dismal weather lead-up to our vacation, we completely lucked out and had 13 out of 14 beach days. We are all golden and smiling. On that one windy, grey day my family took the kites out to take advantage of low tide (maximum beach for running around) and I stayed home with Agatha. We had a nice time together.

Agatha (gifted to me last year by my SIL, this machine was bought new by my MIL with some of her wedding money in the 50's)

I managed to piece the top of a sewing machine cover I'm making for my secret partner in the For The Love of Solids Swap on flickr. I thought I'd take a few fun photos in the orchard of our rented holiday house. The homeowner is a sculptor and this reclining nude luxuriates in the dappled shade of the apple trees.

Her outstretched arm was just crying out for a quilt to drape over, don't you think?

My fellow swappers thought the photos were quite fun. With the carefully draped quilt top, the flickr censors didn't come after me, either. Phew. Some of you will recognize the layout as the machine cover pattern in Malka's book Fresh Sewing. Berene and I used this same design for our Kona Solids challenge quilt for the VMQG in the spring. I used about 2/3 of a Kona solids charm pack and navy sashing for this one. Although I'm not really into obvious rainbows, my partner likes them and I am really happy with the transition of colours diagonally across the piece. Darnitall if I'm not out of navy for binding. I'm thinking it's really the only colour that will work here....what are your thoughts?

I'm off to the shop to retrieve my Pfaff so I can get this all quilted up for my partner. I've totally missed the international deadline (tomorrow) so will have to drive over the border next week and get my package into the USPS for 'domestic' delivery!

Calm

Just me, Jack, Dallas and Mark.

Some Kona solids.

A doe and her twin fawns in the orchard outside my window.

And Agatha.

All because this came in last evening.

Tomorrow I start my day with a 90-minute massage.

*Sigh*......I could get used to this island life.

Create A QR Code Quilt!

After receiving word that a GO!Baby Accuquilt cutting system was coming my way, my son decided that the 2" square die I ordered would be perfect for creating a QR Code quilt. A quick google search showed us that others have already crafted QR Codes in various fibre media, including quilts, cross stitch, embroidery and knitting.

QR Code Quilt basted

I've written a tutorial explaining how I created my 37" square quilt using my GO!Baby cutter. It's a pictorial tute on flickr with the instructions appearing in each photo's description. Just click through each photo and read the descriptions below. As always, be sure to read the entire tutorial before starting as there are time-saving tips that appear under each photo.

This particular quilt was created for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild. I thought it would be so cool to have this modern quilt to hang at public events. Anyone with a smart phone can scan the quilt and they'll be taken directly to our website for more information, membership details and inspiration!

I was quilting my QR Code yesterday at Vancouver's first Mini Maker Faire and the response was fantastic. People thought it was pretty awesome (I was a good mom and made sure to give T credit for the idea). I kept having to remove it from the machine so people could scan it!

I already wrote a bit about the preparation of this project. Based on some of the comments I received on that post, and subsequent email correspondence with friends, I think the kids and I were a bit ambitious cramming 8 layers of fabric through the GO!Baby. Next time, I'll limit it to 4 layers. I did find that the fabric shifted a bit and some squares (very few, but some) were skewed and unusable.

The other thing that wasn't ideal for me (being a bit of a perfectionist) is the fact that the die blades have to pass through the machine at a slight angle to the roller. This means that square shapes with right angles will have edges slightly off grain, resulting in some fraying. Normally this wouldn't phase me, but when working with black and white it's frustrating to have all of those little black threads shadowing through the white fabric. I tried trimming, but it was a losing battle! NEXT time, perhaps I should orient my fabric so that the grain is parallel to the blades on the die, instead of making them parallel to the edge of the cutting mat. So really, it seems that this issue is more of a newbie-operator error. I would appreciate feedback from some experienced Accuquilt users here....

The good news is that the QR Code Quilt looks super cool, and it is totally functional! Worked every time someone scanned it. I still have more quilting to do, so hang tight and I'll be back later in the week with a Full Frontal!

I'd like to thank the Accuquilt company for making it possible to cut 400, 2" squares in 20 minutes. And for making quilting 'cool' for my teenagers.

Accuquilt has a new offer for people that sign up for their informative newsletter; you will instantly receive 22 free quilt patterns as .pdf downloads! Click on my sidebar button to sign up. It's FREE and who couldn't use 22 new patterns? An Accuquilt cutter is not required to make many of them, but it sure would speed up the process!