Improv Christmas Pillows

First things first: WE HAVE SNOW!!!! Happy dance.

Ok.

Over the past two + years I've been making these little improv trees with samples of Improv Under the Influence piecing from my workshops. After demonstrating the technique to students using these beautiful Oakshott fabrics (leftover from my Chess on the Steps quilt), I would then piece sections into little trees with an Essex linen background. It was a great way to show people alternate ideas for the piecing.  I'd been contemplating a modern table runner, but settled on pillows instead. I finally pieced the tops together at one of my recent day retreats.

The compositions needed a little something, so I added the tiny wonky stars, which are so much fun to make. Both pillows are totally reversible, each with a strip of improv piecing on the back. I tackled invisible zips for the first time after finally finding my special invisible zipper foot (if any of you have a newer Pfaff, you'll know that this clear plexiglass foot is itself pretty invisible in whatever container you store it in!). I typically bind my pillows, but I think I'm a convert now. It was super easy! There are plenty of tutorials online, but I like Katie's succinct one here.

The pillow tops and backs were squared to 20" and backed with fusible fleece (no fabric backing or lining in these pillows). I quilted the fronts with straight vertical lines about 1/4" inch apart using coordinating 40 wt. Aurifil thread in green and red. The backings are quilted with lines 1" apart in the Essex and 1/4" apart in the improv strips.

(I've just gotta say, taking photos in winter here is so hard. It's either light-sucking grey overcast or brilliant sunshine and shadows!)

Most of my handmade Christmas decorations in the living room are 12 or more years old and tend towards folksy designs that were popular in the shop I was working in at that time. I'm loving this modern update, although the pillows are bit incongruous with our 100 year old cottage!

I hope you are enjoying your holiday gift-making, decorating and baking. I've seriously cut back on baking the last couple of years and I must say, it is incredibly liberating. I'd much rather sew gifts. I think I have the only family that left cookie exchange bounty untouched on the kitchen counter for weeks! My mom kindly sends our Christmas dessert of plum pudding, so I'm even off the hook for that.

If I don't make it back here before the 25th, Merry Christmas and happy  holidays to all of you! Thanks for another year of hanging out with me here at Poppyprint. xoxoxox

Winners and Make It Makes

Happy Easter Monday! Is everyone on a chocolate hangover? I went for a lovely early moring long walk on the West Vancouver Seawall with my friend Sindy, enjoying the warm sunshine and tulips bursting all over the place.  I may have had a few eggs of the chocolate variety to work off.

First things first: giveaway winners!! Last week was a veritable prize-fest here at Poppyprint.  Congratulations to Linda who won a copy of my book Make It, Take It. Linda, please email me with your address so that I can get your book in the mail to you asap.

And Sandie is the lucky winner of Penny Layman's The Paper Pieced Home! Yay Sandie!

Last Friday I kicked off the Make It, Take It blog tour and today is the first day that my contributors are  sharing their projects.  During the week, I'll also give you a peek at any of the projects that I've also made for myself. I'm trying to work my way through the book and make each of their projects, too. They are all SO GOOD!!  Don't forget that there are books up for grabs on each blog hop post this week, so comment away on all of their posts!

Berene Campbell designed an amazing cutting equipment tote. It's a tough one to appreciate in photos, so we made a little video to show you just how fabulous is it. Check it out on her blog!  Berene's own version is held up in storage after a recent move, so mine is standing in; I made the Ultimate Equipment Tote last November in time for my Loon Lake retreat. The construction is amazing (Berene used to work in packaging design, so she's got a firm grasp on  how to put things together in 3-D. It's incredible how this thing goes together!).

I made mine from lightweight denim quilted to Annie's Soft & Stable (instead of cotton batting)

Customize the removable Ruler portfolio to fit your own collection!

Outside slots and a zipper pocket hold rotary cutter, scissors, patterns and more!

Also up today is Amy Friend. I've known Amy for many years after we met on Flickr - since then we've been in swaps and bees together. It's nice that she and Berene are 'together again' today after the inspiring success of their To Boston with Love initiative. I was thrilled that she wanted to be a part of Make It, Take It - after all she's an incredibly busy designer, mom of 3 young children and a Girl Guide leader. I've often marvelled at her productivity and I am convinced she never sleeps.  Her Double Scissor Keeper is so much fun to make (I've made 10 already as gifts!). I've really enjoyed raiding my stash of cute Japanese linens for these.

Amy's speciality is unique foundation paper piecing patterns. Have a look at the beautiful Posy Pillow that she designed for the "Sew When You Get There" section of the book on her blog. These blocks would also make a gorgeous spring quilt for lazy afternoons reading on the porch swing! (I just said that because I dream of one day actually having a porch...and that porch will have a swing on it). If you visit Amy's blog you'll see her mock up of a full quilt.

Enjoy the blog hop and good luck winning your own copy of Make It, Take It!

Horoscope Pillow

Here's a project that's been under wraps for months that I can now share with you!  You'll find this fun pillow cover (or mini quilt pattern - attention all Schnitzel & Boo IG swappers!) in issue 5 of Quilt Now, Katy's gorgeous mag out of the UK.  This issue is all about scraps, and I've used some gems in this project!

Bricks of low volume with jewel-toned corners? Yes please!

I love the oblong 6-pointed star that results when the bricks are offset like this. I called it the Horoscope pillow because of these stars. It is a pretty easy pattern to put together and BONUS - if you double seam your  little corner squares and save your "two-fers" you can use them for a teeny tiny piecing project, like this!

There are 22 scrap projects in this issue of Quilt Now and an article on scrap organization by fellow quilting Canadian Cheryl Arkison. Order your print or electronic copy today (only 90 print copies remaining!).  

I hope that you'll share your version of Horoscope with me when you make it!

The pillow cover is bound just like a quilt and there's a hidden zip in the back!

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 Christmas Greenhouse

Making special gifts for family and dear friends is what Christmas is all about for me, and I know many of you, too.  The minute I saw Amy's Victorian Greenhouse pattern for foundation paper piecing, I knew that I would make it for my lovely friend. She recently inherited her mother's sweet greenhouse and after dismantling, transporting and setting it up in her own backyard, she spent last summer filling it with various seedlings, tomatoes, strawberries and a sweet garden chair.  I know it is very special to her, and that it will enrich her garden fully, not only with warm memories, but also vibrant, healthy plants.

We share a love of Liberty prints, so I had a look through the stack of tana lawn that I brought back from London last July to find just the right print to fill the greenhouse. I used my own poppy-printed fabric for the ground and Joel Dewberry's new woodgrain in grey for the border.  The foundation print is one of rocks that I've had for years and had never found a use for. It is perfect here.

The pattern, although featuring some super skinny strips, was very easy to sew on the foundation. I used a product called "Fundation" printable sheets  to print the pattern directly from my printer.

I sewed ties into the top and bottom seams (between the pillow front and back) to keep the back overlap from gaping. 

My friend visited with her family yesterday and we exchanged our heartfelt gifts. I was absolutely thrilled to receive the most beautiful hand-woven tea towel from the first cloth she has created on her table-top loom. You can see the blogpost about her newest obsession, and my treasured gift, here.  While Christmas is definitely a time of giving, I will freely admit to being a most appreciative receiver as well!

I hope you are enjoying spending some time sewing for special people in your life, too!

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.

Cushy Canada Day finish

It's a scorcher of a Canada Day here in Vancouver. My sewing room on the top floor is indeed a sweat shop, so I chose to stitch the binding on this pillow downstairs in the relatively cooler (less stifling) dining room.

I pieced these beautiful French General selvages onto muslin last month on retreat, then added some mitred borders and finally quilted the pillow front onto fusible Pellon fleece. The quilting is just straight lines of Aurifil 12 wt, sewn with a 100/14 topstitch needle.

Some selvages are ones I've saved, some I cut from my delicious fat quarter stack of Petite Odile and others were donated by my friend Sandi.  I think French General makes the most beautiful selvage in the business! I just love the pastry scallop print/dots on the opposite side of the yardage from the white (with words) selvage.  I've used it many times as a border.

You can get a good idea of the quilting thread weight here

There is a concealed zipper on the back, done the same way as in my Dresden Pillow pattern. One day I'll tackle an invisible zipper on a pillow....I managed one on a new skirt I made yesterday! Very exciting indeed and as soon as I get some photos I will share that with you.

It's a quiet holiday for me; it's the first year in about 12 that we've not attended the local parade as a family. The kids are doing their thing with friends and B is off racing in an epic 7-day stage race through the mountains of Vancouver Island, down the coast and then up to Whistler. It's a mountain bike race, mostly on amazing single track trails.  Racers from 29 countries came to compete (including a reported 100 Mexicans!).  It's so hot, many riders suffered electrolyte imbalances, dehydration and likely some heat stroke. He didn't eat enough, so the last hour of 3.5 hours racing was tough yesterday. Today was mostly shaded and he ate and drank more: he had a great day. We'll be in Whistler to welcome him to the finish line on Saturday.

If you're a Canadian at home or abroad (ahem, Susan), Happy Day!!

Remember to add my blog to a new reader today. I've got a Bloglovin' button up there on the left. Apparently Google Reader is shutting down, but I haven't actually seen any evidence of that. Is this whole hoopla a scam, I wonder?

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 : )

Poppyprint 500 - A Celebratory Giveaway!

I've had a lot to say since the day I started talking. My parents, teachers, friends and very patient husband would all nod their heads in agreement. I just can't help myself. I am incredibly bothered by awkward silences and as a result, tend to blather on with abandon at all times. I'm admitting to you all now that there are times in social settings where I actually have to concentrate really hard on NOT talking all the time. What can I say, I've been blessed with the gift (or annoying habit, more like) of the gab.

Sharing is also high up on my 'what I like to do' list. Blogging, therefore, is the perfect vehicle for me. I started my engines three years ago, and here I find myself at the Poppyprint 500. I'm waving the checkered flag for you all on a sweet giveaway to say thank you so very much for hanging out here.  I appreciate your comments and support so much!

I love this "Yo-Yo, It's Winterkist!" pillow cover I made with Monica's delicious fabric and some super soft chambray for Fat Quarterly's Holiday 2012 edition. It's so bright and cheerful and it would please me very much to share it with one of you.

Awww. How adorable is that Gnomie on the back? I still have some Gnomes and Gnomas left to make something fun for myself, so where will this little guy end up?

WAIT! If you don't win the pillow, you still have a chance to win an Echino passport wallet chosen from this stack of 34 that I've made for the VMQG table at Got Craft? coming up soon in Vancouver.

still have to install the snaps....

Leave a comment for your chance to win. I'll send the pillow cover anywhere and it should arrive in time to add a little punch to your holiday decor - you'll just have to provide the pillow form!  

If you are a follower of Poppyprint, please leave a second comment to double your chances - after all you're the ones who put up with my blathering on. And on. And on!

I'll choose two winners on Saturday Dec.1st at noon PST. Good luck friends! 

Thank you so very much,

Krista

ETA: Comments are now closed. Thank you for visiting Poppyprint!

Yo, YO! It's Fat Quarterly Issue 11

The Fat Quarterly Holiday Edition is out! Have you got your copy of Issue 11? It's loaded with stocking patterns, a pretty tree skirt, several awesome Christmas quilts and fun holiday home dec featuring Monica's Winterkist fabric!

I designed a fun yo-yo pillow with Winterkist on a soft grey chambray background. My inspiration came straight from the round raindrops and snowflakes and rain bubbles in several of the prints. I had to sneak in a few prints from my stash to round out the yo-yo grid.

There's even a sweet little Gnoma hiding on the back.

Want to make your own fabulous Yo-Yo: Its Winterkist! pillow? You'll need to pick up Issue 11 here (for the crazy low price of 8 bucks, I might add!) and then check out the Winterkist selection here or here. Have fun!

Pillow Pretties!

Back in February I taught a 'dresden plate by machine' class for my traditional guild showing how to make a lovely pillow cover using my Dresden Pillow Pattern.  My friend Colleen, (also a fellow member of the VMQG) recently posted these gorgeous pictures of the two pillows she made!

She used a beautiful charm pack of Kaffe Fassett prints purchased from Matt, yet another member of the VMQG at his shop The Quilted Bear.  This close up shows a fun variegated thread buttonhole stitch Colleen used to highlight the dresden centre.

I love her beautiful hand quilting around the dresden plate. Thanks for sharing Colleen!

If you're looking to get a start on some holiday gift sewing, check out my pattern right here. It's a great one for using a Christmas-themed charm packs or collections (like this, or this ) to make some decorative holiday decor.

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.

Pattern Release: Dresden Plate Pillow!

Thanks to your encouragement, I am super excited to offer my very first .pdf downloadable pattern for sale!! I've written several patterns for magazines, a book and workshops I teach, but this one is a direct result of your kind comments and requests for a pattern. Thank you, friends!  I've labeled this pattern a 'weekend project for the intermediate quilter'.

Buy Now

I set up the .pdf  file for booklet printing. That means if your printer can manage double-sided printing, all you have to do is choose "landscape view" and "2-sided printing" in your printer settings (only 3 pages of paper required).  If double sided isn't an option, then simply print single sided and fold the pages wrong sides together to make a booklet. Presto!  There's also a handy-dandy cutting checklist so you can prep all your fabrics in advance, making this pillow cover a perfect retreat project.

The pattern is charm-pack friendly. In fact, I recommend using a charm pack for a scrappy look to your Dresden and flying geese border. Make a 20" bound pillow cover (with super-easy hidden zipper backing) or a lovely mini-quilt to adorn your table or wall.  For completely different look, check this one out!

I'm always an email away if you run into any issues.  I'd be tickled if you'd add photos of projects you've made with my tutorials or patterns in the Poppyprint Projects flickr group.

Ready? All you have to do is click on that "Buy Now" button and you'll have that pattern in your inbox before you can wind a bobbin (or just as soon as your payment clears). If online shopping isn't your thing, drop me an email (see top left corner of this page) and we can organize a paper copy sent to you the old-fashioned way.

Happy Sewing!

Mardi Gras Dresden Pillow & a WINNER!

When I look at this wild pillow, I see a Caribbean Mardi Gras parade: giant feather headdresses, (lots of) sun-kissed skin, gold body paint, bling'd-out bikinis, and smiles.

Cabana Blooms charm packs, DS Quilts Aunt Edna for Joann Fabrics background, Essex linen grey, Aviary II woodgrain yellow binding, Kona charcoal backing.

With some advice from Tracey, I'm almost ready to offer my first .pdf downloadable pattern! (check out her gorgeous new quilt pattern here!). You could be making this Dresden Plate Pillow (or mini-quilt) by next week!  My pattern was tested by 15 members of my traditional guild at a workshop I taught in February - everyone had a great time and it was a real thrill for me to see the pillow covers come together in so many different fabrics!

This one is pretty colourful. I've made two others with French General that are equally pretty, but an entirely different look.

So, who will receive an advance copy of the pattern, plus 2 Cabana Blooms charm packs? That would be lucky number...

Congratulations Martina!  Send me an email with your mailing address and I'll get your prize in the mail very soon.