Good Neighbors Pin Cushion Party plus a mini tutorial & giveaway!

It is a party! A pin cushion party! We're celebrating the release of Amanda Jean's sweet new fabric line from Connecting Threads called Good Neighbors. We've all made pin cushions to showcase the prints and there will be blogposts all month long.  You'll see at the end of this post an extensive list of bloggers supporting Amanda Jean - everyone is so excited for her and her first fabric line.  Although it was a really busy time, Amanda Jean and I did manage to meet each other at Spring Market and exchange a couple of hugs. I hope we will get to meet again one day and have more time to hang out and talk quilting!  I think that her contemplative, sincere style (and devotion to scraps) really come through in her fabric design.  Just look at these great colours and uncomplicated patterns:

I especially love Leaves Array (bottom left) and cross stitch (fourth row, the red/blue/grey lattice prints on the right side).  The stripes on the bottom row are ideal binding fabrics!

Good Neighbors is the perfect line of blending fabrics with all of the great colours and sweet little prints. I wanted to use as many of them as possible, so I added some tiny pinwheels to the Big Mouthed Threadcatcher pattern out of my book. I've been making these threadcatchers for so many years, in fact I know I've made well over 200. It's fun to change things up by adding some special piecing the thread bag.

I remembered to use quick piecing and cutting technique that I'd learned somewhere along the way of my quilting career...I just can't remember where! Perhaps a magazine, or a long-ago workshop?  Here's how it works:  you start with two squares and end up with eight 1/2 square triangles! For my thread bag,  start with two 5" charm squares RST, draw both diagonal lines, corner to corner. Sew 1/4" on either side of the lines. Make 4 cuts: cut on the drawn lines and the horizontal and vertical middle. Presto: eight 1/2 squares!!  I trimmed mine to 2" before piecing them into pinwheels/broken dishes blocks.

 

Connecting Threads would like to send a Canadian or US resident a charm pack of the Good Neighbors collection.  Just leave one comment here (your email must be linked OR written into your comment in order to win) and I will choose a random winner in a week's time. Good luck! {ETA: Comments are now closed, thank you for stopping by!}

9/1/2015 Amanda Jean – Crazy Mom Quilts
9/2/2015 Anna – Noodlehead 
9/3/2015 Mary – Mary on Lake Pulaski
9/4/2015 Svetlana – Sotak Handmade
9/5/2015 Debbie – Esch House Quilts
9/6/2015 Holly – Bijou Lovely
9/7/2015 Carla – Grace and Favour
9/8/2015 Faith – Fresh Lemons Quilts
9/9/2015 Vanessa –  V and Co.
9/10/2015 Anna –  Thimbleanna
9/11/2015 Krista –  Poppy Print Creates (you're here!)
9/12/2015 Erin –  Why Not Sew
9/13/2015 Lee –  May Chappell
9/14/2015 Alex –  Tea Ginny Designs
9/15/2015 Cheryl –  Nap Time Quilter
9/16/2015 Penny –  Sew Take a Hike
9/17/2015 Amy –  During Quilt Time
9/18/2015 Debbie –  A Quilter’s Table
9/19/2015 Anne –  Spring Leaf Studios
9/20/2015 Melissa Corry –  Happy Quilting
9/21/2015 Amber –  One Shabby Chick
9/22/2015 Nettie –  A Quilt is Nice
9/23/2015 Adrianne – Little Bluebell
9/24/2015 Cindy –  Live a Colorful Life
9/25/2015 Amy –  Diary of a Quilter
9/26/2015 Chase –  Quarter Inch Mark
9/27/2015 Rene –  Rene Creates
9/28/2015 Erin –  House on Hill Road
9/29/2015 Nicole –  Modern Handcraft
9/30/2015 Teri –  Connecting Threads

A Down Under Swap

Consider it a Winter-Summer thing. Here, we are supposedly mid-winter (hello, can we please get some snow already?!), while in Australia it is high and hot summer.  Nova sits, patiently awaiting my end of our swap bargain, likely enjoying a long tall glass of lemonade or iced tea.  At least that's what I'd be enjoying if it was 100 degrees!

I had a peek at Nova's favs and read up on some of her likes (blues, greens, maps, linen). I was super excited to use some of this perfect Japanese linen printed with a sort of made-up map of some European city that may be Prague, or Paris or Frankfurt. Who knows what goes through the mind of these Japanese designers, but whatever it is usually produces the most interesting of fabrics! ETA: Thanks to Kerry, I can now tell you it is Berlin! This fabric was designed by Marie Jacobi for Yuwa. And Marie is German, not Japanese. My bad.

First up is a hoop project pouch so Nova can take her stitching to the beach!  It's lined with some of Lizzy House's Castle Peeps and a piece of Moda marble provides a handy divider to keep hoop and floss in their own little compartments.

Next we have the requisite swap-with-Poppyprint thread catcher.  I believe that Nova has a fondness for repurposed fabrics, so this one is lined with shirting and the outside coordinates with her hoop pouch.

And last but not least, a sweet little linen house tape measure made with Laurraine's pattern.

someone recently asked me why all my houses are either #4 or #7. It's because those are the easiest numbers to embroider in small size - no curves! Sometimes I can be incredibly lazy.

We've been thoroughly enjoying the gorgeous pillow Nova sent weeks ago. It's time for me to package these goodies up and send them on their way to the sunshine!

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 Month of Giveaways at Poppyprint!!!

Happy Canada Day, fellow Canadian quilters and friends! And for the rest of you....uhm, Happy Friday!

Today is the first day of my birthday month, and to celebrate with all of you, there will be a giveaway every week in July here at Poppyprint. Stuff is piling up, so I figured the best way to get through all that I have to share is to begin today with a thanks for all of my followers. I first mentioned I'd do a giveaway when that nifty follower matrix over there reached 500, but you've all gone wild (aw, shucks) and now I'm over 550, so let's get on with it!

I made this great thread catcher to share with one lucky reader.

I've been hanging on to this pear fabric for ages, waiting for just the right coordinating print. Finally the Metro Living circles in yellow came along and bingo, everyone was happy.

That's not all. The thread catching bag will come stuffed with all of this, too.

Some spring frames, a clip-on retractable scissor holder, super adorable It's a Hoot charm pack, plus a hunk of my hand-printed Poppyprint on Kona black. Woohoo!

So, if you follow along here (or are a brand new follower) please leave one comment (with a way for me to contact you) for your entry. This giveaway will be open until Thursday, July 7th at 6:00 p.m. PST. On Friday, I'll announce the winner, AND the next week's fabulous giveaway.

It's a month long party and of course YOU are invited!! Thanks for making my tiny little niche on the net so much fun. I truly am having a ball with all of you.

comments are now closed, thanks for entering!