A Saturday Quickie

Last weekend my traditional guild held our big annual workshop day. It is different from most workshops in that there is no instructor. Instead, a committee organizes a theme (like placemats, floral quilts, scrappy quilts) or a mystery pattern and everyone works together in a huge gymnasium.  This year the theme was Layer Cake and you could make a mystery quilt or just work on your own layer cake pattern. Typically over 40 guild members participate and it is a really fun day. Lunch is a potluck, so you know what that means...more cake, cookies and loaves than we know what to do with and barely enough cheese, crackers, sandwiches and sausage rolls! 

I had a lovely day working on my Featherweight Agatha, sewing with a Cotton & Steel Maple Layer Cake. These are special layer cakes made for the Canadian market by the wholesale company Trend-Tex.  I finished up my quilt top yesterday.

However, when I returned to my sewing room after taking this shot, I discovered there was still a row of blocks stuck to my design wall!! So imagine this with one more row along the bottom, hehe.  I'm trying not to fuss about all of the decapitated horses.

The pattern I used is called Double Slice and is a free video tutorial offered by the Missouri Star Quilt Co.  Super fast and fun!  For now, I've hung it neatly over a hanger to go in the closet with all of the other Quilt Tops With No Purpose...my speciality!

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!

A Dresden-a-thon

Recently, I taught a class using my Dresden Pillow pattern to members of my traditional guild. We held this class last year as well, but there were still plenty of keen quilters wanting to try it (many had pieced dresdens by hand previously and were anxious to learn the speedy way on their machines!).  I just love teaching for the guild because the members are so supportive and kind. They welcomed me as a brand new quilter 12 years ago and continue to be as supportive and encouraging as ever.

Betty, our President, even came to the class a second time so that she could get a Christmas pillow made. One of the gals who attended last year has made almost 20 pillow covers! This makes me so happy.  Here's the gang from the recent class with their pillow tops in progress:

I always build the project along with my students so that I can demonstrate each step of the pattern. This time I used a charm pack of Briar Rose by Heather Ross for Windham Fabrics. It's so cheerful! The blanket stitch around the fused centre circle is a nice accent.

I substituted straight borders of the adorable hexie bee print instead of making flying geese. It's now all quilted to Pellon fusible fleece and ready for a pillow back.

I'll stuff a pillow form in there and this will be my donation to a local charity auction to raise money for schools in Vietnam.

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!

Old Ladies Know Stuff

PSA: this post is wordy and is meant as encouragement. Oh, and the word "Old" is used in the most endearing way possible - to show my admiration and respect for the generous women in my life  who have reached wise status in the years that they have lived before me. And let's face it, for some of you reading this blog, my almost 45 years puts me well into Old Lady range.

I've tweeted the title of this post twice during separate sessions of TalkNT (this is a lively sponsored Twitter discussion hosted by Cara every week - if you don't know what Twitter is, don't worry, you are probably an Old Lady Who Knows More Important, Other Stuff).  It came up both times in response to people expressing disappointment that there wasn't a modern guild, or other quilters of similar age close by, for real-life quilting experiences.  I understand when young quilters are put off by cranky old ladies at guild meetings. I've been there (on the receiving end of cranky old lady). It's not a nice feeling, but trust me when I say that kind, generous women outnumber the crankies 20 to 1 (I took statistics at university. I know stuff).

I love being a member of the VMQG, but I'd like to share some of the reasons why I also adore my traditional guild. Group quilting is not for everyone. I'm not saying you have to go out and join a guild. This post is meant as encouragement for those looking to find some 'real life' quilting homeys.

• Joining an established 'traditional' quilt guild can be intimidating for a quilter of any age. Guilds are predominantly populated by women. Women like to hang out in groups. You first saw this in Gr.2, so it shouldn't be any surprise when you enter a guild meeting and it seems like everyone is talking to someone else and you can't seem to find a friendly face or opportunity to bust in.  ADVICE: smile and wander. Approach the membership table and let someone know you are visiting and interested in joining the guild. Let her know what kind of quilting you like and ask if she knows of anyone else who enjoys that, too. Could she introduce you? If all else fails, take a seat and bust out your hexies. Old Ladies Cannot Resist Hexagons.

• Guilds typically have extensive libraries of resource books for monthly borrowing. You may not find the most recent modern quilt books, but there is plenty of inspiration for current quilting trends in Amish, Gee's Bend, Liberated quilting, block collections and Civil War quilting books (use your imagination to get past all the brown fabric - I'm with you girlfriend).

• Old Ladies Want to Know More Stuff. When I started quilting 10 years ago there were no free tutorials. No blogs. No online courses. Heck, I had just gotten an email account!  Everything I learned about quilting I learned by taking guild workshops from Ladies Who Know Stuff (I didn't say Old because some of them were not Old).  I often see comments about not wanting to quilt by the rules, or the scourge of the 'quilt police' but good technique is not a bad thing. If I've learned anything from the mature quilting crowd it's that you can never take enough workshops. Even if the project doesn't turn my crank, I bring fabric along that does and I always, ALWAYS learn something new.  Plus, guilds are not-for-profit, so their workshops are often more affordable than quilt store or night school classes.

• Old Ladies Know Stuff about Stuff: not just quilting. I have had the enormous good fortune to be in a small Friday stitching group of lovely women (one of many satellite groups from our massive guild over over 160 people). They are all older than me. Our ages range from early 40's to over 70. We share a lot and we support each other. Aside from sewing expertise, they have tremendous parenting experience, knowledge related to health challenges and menopause and STASH to share. Plus, they support me like crazy. They are the first to see many of my projects and provide the encouragement that I know my mom would give me were she not 4000 km away.

• Old Ladies Appreciate your Efforts. If you put yourself out there, participate and volunteer, you will find like-minded people in any guild to hang out with.   I do have a caution though: in my experience, there is a tendency to dump a lot of volunteer work on the 'young, enthusiastic one'. Be realistic about your time so you don't burn out. I have learned that retired women are busy too, not to mention they feel like they've done their service and should be able to sit back and relax!  I am looking forward to retiring.

• Finally, no MQG in your area? You've tried the local guild and just can't make it work? Start your own group! Ask around at your kids' school, organize a creative mom's day and invite people to sew, bead, knit, paint or scrapbook together. I started a Mother's Day Creative retreat with moms from school 5 years ago and people look forward to it like crazy.  Don't have kids? Ask around at work. Ask at fitness class. Take your hexies to the coffee shop and stitch there, or at the local library. Maybe you'll find a kindred creative spirit to get together with once a month.

I get enormous pleasure from participating in my guilds. If you've got advice on making guilds work for you, or starting your own group, please share in the comments.

You know what the great thing is? Young women become old ladies. Old Ladies Who Know Stuff.

I figure I'm half way there.

Saturday plans and a winner!

The sun in shining in Vancouver, a rarity this winter. I really should head up the mountain for a ski or snowshoe and take advantage.  But it's COPS day! Not to be confused with a policeman's national holiday, this acronym stands for Creative Ongoing Process Session.  My guild felt it was a much more positive spin on the more well-known UnFinished Objects moniker.  So, instead of enjoying the sunshine and fresh air, I'll be sewing with my friends.  Equally enjoyable.  I'm working on a long-standing project for our bed that I hope will be ready for our bi-annual show in June. I haven't really talked about it here, because it's one of those projects that I am very excited about, but I knew it would take a long time to complete and to be honest, I didn't want any pressure or expectation put on it.  Here's a clue,in the form of a picture taken a year ago! Hopefully I'll have more to show you in the coming weeks.

Before I go, congratulations are in order for lucky comment #15.  Oh! It's double N Dianne, the very same who accompanied me on the road trip to acquire the Spring 2012 edition of Stitch for the giveaway!  She's got a copy, so you all get a second chance.  The random number generator was only so happy to try again and this time, #36 gets it. Congratulations to JoLynn at West Side of Straight! 

Have a wonderful weekend. I hope the sun is shining where you are, too!

Soft Landing

Everyone needs a nice, soft place to lay down their head. Or to plant their bottom on after a long day walking. You can recycle your batting scraps into useful pillows for just this purpose. My guild started collecting scrap pillows for local homeless shelters last fall and I bet we've donated more than a hundred already.

Here's a super quickie tute on how to prepare and make pillows out of your too-skinny-to-be-useful batting scraps; you know, the ones you trim off the edges of your quilted quilts prior to binding?

I purchased a large remnant of home dec weight solid blue fabric (dark colours are best) for about $5 that has been enough to make four pillows. Other's are being resourceful and using upholstery fabric sample squares they got for free from a local sofa company.

Here's what you need:

2 squares home dec weight fabric 18" x 18"

2 squares batting 18" x 18"

1 5" length of 1" twill tape, or left over binding with raw edges turned into the fold and sewn closed.

Layer the squares in this order, bottom to top:

batting

fabric right side up

fabric wrong side up

batting

Between the fabric layers, at one corner, pin the tape ends to 2 adjacent edges, about 2" from the corner (photo below). This will function as a handle for the pillow.

Sew around all four sides with a 1/2" seam allowance, leaving a 4" opening in the middle of one side and be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end. Clip corners (save those batting corners, you can throw them into the pillow!).

Turn the works right side out, gently poking out the corners.

Leave your pillow form near your cutting table and cram full of batting scraps! At first we asked people to use all fabric scraps, but as you know, cotton can get pretty heavy. Plus, we figured if the pillows got wet (hello, we are talking Vancouver, people!) they'd be pretty gross if they were full of fabric. Therefore, we're asking our members to stick with batting only.

Once it's nice and full, slipstitch the opening closed! There you have it, one nice, soft landing.

Why not suggest this great recycling initiative at your guild or sewing group? All you need is someone to volunteer to collect the pillows at meetings and deliver them to a local church or shelter that can get them into the hands of folks who need them. And we all know how easy it is to get people to volunteer at guild, right? hehe.

A Marvelous Day for a Tree Skirt

Yesterday I awoke at 7:00 a.m. to the most beautiful blue light and soft fluffy snow!

The city had been talking about it all week: the forecast for our first snowfall over the weekend. Costco garages were lined up with drivers waiting snow tire installations. People canceled weekend plans in advance. Kids got their toboggans out and leaned them against the house at the ready. You see, snow in the third week of November is a rare occurrence in Vancouver and people tend to freak out at the prospect. Having grown up and learned to drive in Ottawa (our capital city which lies in a massive snowbelt), I am a confident winter driver. Having an all-wheel drive Volvo station wagon helps, too.

The snowy blanket over the city was a great mood enhancer for my O Joyful Tree Skirt class! Fifteen members of my guild gathered in a bright church hall to create Carol's beautiful tree skirt.

We shared and swapped red and green strips.

I love teaching classes and to watch everyone's projects come together. Before lunch, everyone got one panel complete. Most chose to use a cream or white background, but there was a black (Michael Miller Fairy Frost) and a pretty blue chosen as well. Some made the tree skirt with modern fabrics, others used up their Christmas scraps and there was even a batik version. We put 8 together on the design wall:

After lunch we all went step by step through the process of creating continuous bias binding using the barrel method (if you google "continuous bias binding", there are many videos and tutorials of varying helpfulness. I use this book's method to teach students). This is definitely the quickest way to 260" of bias binding! We used a 25" square of fabric and this gives you enough to bind the tree skirt and make 4 ties. I demonstrated how to sew the binding on the scallops (explained in this post) before the end of class.

It's been a while since I taught at a quilt shop and this is the first time teaching for my own guild, so I really enjoyed the day. Here are all the gals with their panels:

Some were able to sew up 4 or 5 more panels after we made the binding, so perhaps we'll even see a tree skirt at guild show and tell Tuesday night!

Thanks Carol, for a fun pattern and your permission to teach it to my fellow guild members. There will be 15 more cozy trees this Christmas!

What DIDN'T stay in Vegas

I love salivating over everyone else's fabric acquisitions, so thought I'd share what I bought here last week while B and I were in Las Vegas. I couldn't help it...he was busy at a conference. What's a quilting wife to do? Why, shop for fabric and have lunch with a sweet friend, of course! Plus Prada, Gucci and Tiffany just aren't in my price range. But cotton at $10/yard? Bingo!

Some orange FQ's for an orange quilt sometime in my future, a Bliss charm pack, adorable measuring twill tape

I feel rather late to the Early Bird by Cosmo Cricket party, but hey, better late than never, right? These will make great thread catchers for my Guild's November sewing room sale.

Quiltique sells bolt ends called 'hunks and chunks' at 25% off. I had to have these 3m!!

Someone's gotta keep those homefires burning. Ha!

Finally, some AMH Drawing Room home-dec weight. Yum. Can't wait to make some Buttercup bags with it. You can see one of my other ones in the photo below, made with Marimekko fabric.

I also did some damage at Target and brought the kids some fun t-shirts and other Christmas gift items home. Oh, and this guy came home with me, too (we left that other couple wandering the palazzo outside the Venetian)....

So, now it's back to the machine, finishing up a baby quilt commission, then it's on to Christmas gifts. Did you all see this incredible FREE online mag of holiday crafts? It's amazing! I especially love the wreath on page 110 and the yo-yo and embroidery sampler mini-trees. Check it out.

Mystic Star for the Bloggers Quilt Festival

WELCOME TO POPPYPRINT!

For all the online chitchat about batiks not cutting the mustard for modern quilts, I present Mystic Star. There are some projects for which batiks provide the necessary depth and colour saturation required for a design to really shine. I believe Annette Ornelas' Mexican Star pattern is one of them. This quilt was completed four years ago just in time for my guild's bi-annual quilt show. It is my one and only award-winning quilt!

Several members of the guild took this course from local teacher Brenda Brayfield. It was my first introduction to folding back bias edges to simulate curved piecing. I have seen this pattern made up in several different colourways, and varying techniques for holding the curves back. Lots of quilters choose to sew a line 1/8" inside the curve on their machine, but I really didn't trust my skills to create a smooth line. Instead, I knew I wanted to stitch the curves down by hand. By complete fluke, I came across the perfect vial of glass seed beads to embellish each curve. The beading was done prior to sandwiching the quilt.

The trick with pre-sandwich embellishing is then trying to quilt around it! I figured out my quilting plan for each design area of the quilt using a large sheet of clear vinyl laid on top of the quilt. Using a wipe-away fine tip marker, I doodled various quilting ideas onto the vinyl until finding one I liked enough to commit to thread.

Not happy with the yellow quilting lines that crossed in the intersections, I simply covered them up with a little pile of beads! In addition to free motion quilting in the large background areas, I added random seed stitches and blanket stitched the binding on for a little extra somethin'-somethin' since the binding was done in the same fabric as the background.

For a show quilt, I think it's nice to create a special label.

This is the only quilt that permanently hangs on display in our home (outside of my sewing room, that is) and I never tire of looking at it. It's a beautiful pattern and I don't think it would be nearly as effective in any fabric other than batiks, really.

If you are stopping in via Amy's Bloggers Quilt Festival, thanks for taking a peek! Have fun touring all of the beautiful quilts, head back to Amy's for a complete list of participants.

Starry Night Tree Skirt

Look, I made another one! Even though that black fabric has been in my stash for several years (purchased no doubt with a different Christmas project in mind) it works well with the bright reds and greens.

The workshop filled up last night, so I'll have 15 fellow guild members all making Carol's lovely Oh Joyful! pattern with me in late November. It will be a fun class - I have a great time making this pattern. A 1/4" foot with guide makes sewing all of the strips together easy peasy. I needed to make a second one so that I can demonstrate the technique I worked out to attach the bias binding to those pesky (but cute!) scallops.

My first tree skirt is complete now that I've embellished the trees with these sweet hand made clay star buttons.

Aren't they perfect? Wendy makes the most beautiful buttons on Pender Island, B.C., all cut and painted by hand so no two are alike. If you like these, visit her website and see what else she makes - cute sheep, doggies, kitties, frogs, hearts, skulls, 2-hole sweater buttons...you name it. Wendy even welcomes custom work and she'll ship her buttons safely anywhere. Great customer service! I love supporting women entrepreneurs, especially ones close to home.

[fun aside: Wendy is from the same teeny weeny town in Nova Scotia where my mom was born and my sister was married. This vast country we live in really is rather small at times]

I attached my star buttons with knotted DMC floss in case they have to be removed for washing (heaven forbid, because those reds were not pre-washed and that could be trouble with the white background!!). I usually try to soak reds and navy/black in Retayne before I use them just to be sure. In fact, that black starry fabric released a lot of dye when I treated it.

Is everyone ready for Hallowe'en? I've got a very au courant costume this year which should be fun. I'll show you photos on the big day. And wait 'till you see the amazing pumpkin T carved on the weekend - it's going to be a crowd pleaser for sure.

Making Memories

I've been working feverishly preparing more items to sell in the guild members boutique at our show this Friday and Saturday. I am so excited...the show is always tons of fun and a great way to connect with all of the 170 guild members, other quilters from out of town and the quilt-adoring public. I just love it!

I've been making memories....memory games, actually.

Using a 2.5" square ruler, I fussy cut pairs of fabric motifs, then fuse them to one side of double-sided fusible Peltex (or Timtex). I fuse recycled wool (from skirts and blazers) onto the other side and zigzag stitch around the edges. Then, everything goes into a simple tie bag.

This one is a 'rainy day' version with 9 pairs of umbrellas. I wish I had more of this fabric as this is the perfect Vancouver set!

I'll be back with my own little mini photo-essay of the poppy life-cycle tomorrow.

Pardon me now while I sew a sleeve on the back of my queen-sized show quilt. Next week I'll post photos of my two show quilts...wouldn't want to spoil the surprise!

...and a few more things

Last night was May's Friday Night Sew-In (thanks Heidi and Bobbi for this regularly scheduled pyjama party where we hang out and participate in this virtual stitch group with our fellow bloggy peeps!). We started off this Canadian long weekend (thanks Queen V!) with a family dinner out followed by yummy Gelato & coffee here.

I still managed to pull off some finishes when we got home. Namely, my swap commitment for Potholder Pass 3. I went with some wonky piecing (which my partner likes), some modern prints (also likes) and some wee embroidery. The binding went on and the grommets went in last night after we got home.

Notice Ayumi's silkscreened fabric in there, too? Love it. It was hard to start cutting into my precious sheets of her fun words, but a swap partner deserves a little somethin' special, right?

For this next one, Sandi kindly donated her little cake stitchery....I started these on retreat last week and she happened to have it along in her stash. It goes perfectly with the theme!

Friday was a double-stitch-whammy because the Gathered Threads gathered in the morning and I was able to finish these off (more items for my guild's quilt show boutique).

I've admired these flower pin cushions on Flickr and on various blogs and figured I could probably figure them out. I just sewed a bunch of circles RST on the last night of retreat. Then on the way home in the van, I turned them. Employing a Starbucks straw, I stuffed as much polyfil in there as humanly possible, then stuffed some more! I used 8 wt perle cotton or 6 strands of DMC (depending on the colour) to wrap around and pull taught, creating the petal shapes. I'm sure there several ways to accomplish this...I just sort of wung it and it seemed to work!

Finally, I have BIG news!!! Remember my little feeling sorry for myself moment yesterday? Well, I didn't have to pout for long, because Trish commented on that post to let me know that I WON HER GIVEAWAY!!!! Yippee! Trish has several sweet patterns, visit her lovely Two Peas in a Pod blog and check them out!

I hope you have a fantastic weekend...the sun is trying to come out...there are faint shadows out there for sure. Tomorrow is supposed to be a beaut!

Zakka Zippies

You're back! Hi there and thanks for stopping by. I am very excited to have so many new friends lingering from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. My butt is numb from all the computer time this week trying to make it to all the blogs participating in giveaway day. Honestly, after all that surfing, reading, posting, oohing and aaahing, wouldn't it be nice to win just one teensie giveaway? Fingers crossed! I can't wait to call upon the RN generator later tonight and find out who wins my mini selvage quilt (oh! are you here looking for the giveaway post? Keep scrolling, it's a few down there and you have until 9 pm Pacific time to enter).

So..... Zakka Zippies. Yes, this is what I made from the leftovers after finishing this on retreat. I love making zippy pouches, actually. These are going to be for sale in the members boutique at my guild quilt show in early June.

To make these, I free cut my scraps with scissors into random pieces, sewed them together into a fabric 'sheet', sliced the sheet and inserted some longer strips, then cut rectangular sections the same length as the zippers I wanted to use (umm, was that clear?). Most of the Japanese linen sections were bordered with a natural organic cotton/linen blend.

In some cases, I felt like adding a little more zip to the zippy, so using my machine's triple straight stitch and a light blue Aurofil 30 wt thread I topstitched a 1/4" from the seams. I like the weight of this stitch and by extending the stitch length to 3.5, you get a Sashiko-y sort of machine stitch. Nice.

That's not all folks! More retreat finishes coming. In the meantime, tune in tomorrow to see who wins the selvage mini and what the heck is on the back!!