The Bumblebee takes it!

Thanks to everyone who had a look around Mad About Patchwork's shop and specifically Pam's lovely curated bundles. This one, Flight of the Bumblebee proved a popular choice! In fact, it was the choice of our winner!

Flight of the Bumblebee 

It's lucky number 43....

A hearty slap on the back and congratulations to my Aussie pal Kirsty!!!! Yes, that's you Madame Bonjour!  My entire family had the pleasure of visiting with Kirsty and her two littlest over delicious cups of coffee and hot chocolate, in Aix en Provence a couple of years ago. If you are wondering how we ran into an Aussie mom of four in the south of France, you'll just have to head on over to her blog and have a gander back (waaaaay back) through her incredible photo essays.  But before you do that, be sure to check out her latest pattern, the gorgeous Diamonds in the Deep. Kirsty is a VQC - Very Clever Quilter.  Shoot me an email with your home addy girl - I'll have Pam get your Flight of the Bumblebee bundle on it's way (waaaaaay) down under!

Yet Another 241 Tote, Yet Another Winner!

The first winner of my giveaway hasn't turned up, so I ran a second random number generator and the result was 115, who is Gill! Congratulations! Luckily, Gill was reachable through her Google profile so she's been notified of her big win. Thanks again to Sew Sisters for their generous giveaway.

I had the pleasure of a quick visit with my friend Leanne yesterday on beautiful Granville Island, where she treated me to a birthday lunch. We'd spoken a couple of months ago and made arrangements for me to make her a 241 Tote. Her visit in person was a great kick in the pants to get it done for her.  I will never tire of making these great bags. Finding just the right fabric combinations is so much fun (fabric details are on flickr in the photo descriptions).

This time, I completely lucked out while shopping my zipper stash - I had a perfectly coordinating spotted zip from Daiso.

After lunch we speed-shopped at The Cloth Shop, where I've been dying to see the Cotton and Steel fabrics in person. They have the entire line, including linens and lawns!  I was very selective and only bought a few fat quarters and two half meters. I had my eye on the blue with diagonal silver metallic dots to stash for a binding one day and I adore Melody Miller's mustangs, so I splurged on a hunk of those as well. 

I'm finally down to business on a new quilt and free pattern that you will all see next month  (so exciting!). Apparently all I needed to boost my creativity was install a fresh rotary blade. Wow, why do I always wait so long to do that? Cutting through 6 layers of fabric like butter is just SO GOOD!

Sew Sisters Giveaway Winner!

Thank you for entering everyone, and for all of the very complimentary things you said about shopping with Sew Sisters including their selection, shipping rates and service!

The Random Number Generator has spoken:

And it looks like our winner is Burgess

Now, the only problem is that I cannot reply to your comment, and your Blogger profile is empty. Because I forgot to include the step of making sure your email is somehow linked to your comment in the giveaway post, I feel I should wait 24 hours for you to contact me, but if I don't hear from you Burgess, then I'm afraid I have to choose a new winner. PLEASE people, if you are entering giveaways, make it easy for the blogger to contact you! It's a drag to have a winner that doesn't get the prize because there is no way to contact them.

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.

Winners!

As always, I wish I could send a prize to everyone, but only these four lucky readers get one this time.  I'll announce the biggie first.

The Kaufman Farmers Market stack of 23 fresh green fat quarters goes to comment 170, belonging to Shelley! Congratulations, I've emailed you Shelley.

The Zakka 2.0 winners are as follows:

Two sample packs of auriful thread go to Kristin!

The Pellon package goes to Mary Moon Designs!

And finally, the Form & Fabric surprise F8 and sticker package goes to one of the nicest and most supportive people I know on Flickr, Jeannie (at least, I think this is the same Jeannie!).

All winners were randomly chosen using the random number generator. Thanks for visiting! More photos from my trip to London up soon. It is taking much longer than I anticipated to get the pictures uploaded and labeled on Flickr.

And the pillow goes to.....

The random number generator and I just had a little fun together. The first winner out of 207 comments is....

Sharing my work with friends makes me so happy, so it is with a great big smile that I let you know comment #50 came from my Instagram friend Kara who has won herself the Yo-Yo, It's Winterkist! pillow!! Woot! 

Comment #101 belongs to Brenda from Oshawa. Yay! Brenda, I cannot reply to your comment since blogger does not recognize letterpress id's, so please contact me with your email address and we'll figure out which passport holder you would like!

Congratulations ladies. See you back here for Sew Mama Sew giveaway day on Monday!

Liberty Scrap Challenge the Jewelry Edition and WINNERS!

No one wants to throw away even the smallest scrap of Liberty tana lawn, do they? Here are a few ideas for you and your large coin-sized scraps: Covered button jewelry!

You'll need fabric scraps (mine are courtesy of Jo at The Organic Stitch Co., where you can get a scrumptious scrap bag for about $15!), lightweight fusible interfacing, a few inexpensive findings and some strong all-purpose adhesive for these projects.

I purchase my findings (buttons & blanks, bookmark giant paperclips, rings and earring posts) at great prices here . I love the fact that you can buy in small quantities, as well as in bulk. They also sell adhesive, but I find their brand is very strong-smelling and the smell lasts for over two weeks until the glue is absolutely cured. Instead, I use Aleene's Platinum Bond 7800. Make sure you source an adhesive that's good for metal surfaces and help it along by roughing your surfaces with a bit of sandpaper first.

These are great summer, no sew items to make. Here's what you need to do:

1. back Liberty tana lawn scraps with fusible lightweight interfacing (this is so the metal of the button doesn't show through when the fabric is stretched over the blank).

2. cut fabric to size needed for your buttons. I used 1/2"  (size 20) for earrings and 1 1/8" (size 45) for rings and bookmarks. If you make a template out of cardboard, you can simply hold it with your fabric and trim around - no need to mark on the fabric.

3. follow pictures below to cover your button. With the tiny 1/2" blanks, I use the eraser of a pencil to push the fabric & button into the rubber holder and again to stuff the excess fabric into the back of the button before pushing the blank onto the back.

4. Rough up the blank on the back of your buttons. In a well-ventilated area, apply adhesive to the blank as well as the surface you want to stick it to. For the earrings and tiny buttons, I used a toothpick to apply the glue. Wait 5 minutes, then stick 'em together!

All of these items are fun for gift-giving, craft sales or just wearing around all summer.  When I posted my first Liberty Scrap Challenge tutorial for the Liberty Lemonade tablecloth, I offered my leftover charms to anyone willing to take on the Challenge.  The winner needs to use those charms (added fabric is okay!) and come up with a fun project and tutorial to share.  Random number generator has chosen comment #22, so it looks like our next challenger will be Kirsty@Bonjour!

This is very exciting because Kirsty makes beautiful projects and it looks like she's already got something in mind for the scraps. Check out her gorgeous blog for fabulous tutorials and stunning photos of her life in Provence, France.

Now I also promised a "little Liberty something" to a commentor who wasn't up for the scrap challenge, and the first such comment to come up randomly is #49. Yippee, it's Duff, who eats breakfast food in any order she wants!

She liked that I used the word 'schematic' in my tutorial post. I love that she signs all her comments with a heart. So there.  Michele, go ahead and pick out an item you like in the photo above and it's yours! (well, except for the navy rose ring which our visiting cousin already claimed....).

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.

Making a Case

Hello! We're home!  I believe this is the longest blog absence ever at Poppyprint, but the family break was much needed, and our time in France much too full for blogging. I trust you understand and am glad you're back with me. I have missed interacting with everyone, truly.  I have over a thousand photos to go through and was hoping that in the coming weeks you would indulge me with a bit of travel photography (one of my very favourite past times). What do you say? Can you handle a bit of France?  I thought I'd do a few posts and focus on a certain landmark, region, or topic in each one...they will mostly be photo essays.

In transit home, I checked in with a few blogs I had been missing while away and lo and behold, Lynne is at again with her Italian thread magnate, Alex Veronelli.  Alex has really embraced the modern quilt movement and supports us with fabulous Aurifil-sponsored contests and events all the time. Their latest challenge is to build a designer case of 12 thread spools. If your case is chosen by the judges, you win it! Wow, that's well over $100 worth of beautiful Auriful thread. Count me in!

I thought about how to build a collection of thread. I know colour-coordinated spools will look pretty together, as will gradations of the same colour, but how useful would that be in the long run?  So, I went about building two cases based on a theme rather than a colour story. I figure lots of variety in the threads (both weight and colour) would be most useful to me.  Ahem, if I were to be so lucky to win.

The cases contain 12 spools. There are 12 months in a year, each one with its own birthstone(s).  A google search turned up this great colour chart for reference at www.personalizedgems.com

There is selected number of coloured spools available for this contest, so with the guide above I did my best to match colours.  I give you the Birthstone Auriful Thread Collection by Poppyprint (that does have a nice ring to it, don't you think?).

Turns out, these shades do look lovely and jewel-y together. A perfect 30 wt. collection for top stitching small projects like bags, pouches, scarves and also for quilting quilts!

Continuing on with the year has 12 months thing, I got to thinking about something I love about Canada, and that is our good fortune to experience 4 distinct seasons every year.  My Vancouver friends may argue that we only have two here on the west coast: rain and summer. And last year to be honest, it really was just rain with a sunny break in August.

I thought of some words and things that I associate with each season, like winter sky, snow day, harvest, daffodil, forest walk, cherry blossom...etc. and chose colours that correspond to each one.

Here we have Four Seasons Aurifil Thread Collection by Poppyprint:

Definitely not as sexy as the Birthstone set when it comes to visual pleasure, however upon closer inspection this set would be infinitely useful for the work I do.  You've got the neutrals on the bottom row which would be perfect for piecing in a 40 wt. The lovely variegated top row for free motion quilting in a 30 wt. and rich, warm colours for topstitching or quilting in the middle!

Head on over to Lily's Quilts for all the details on how you can enter this great contest by April 18th.

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Congratulations to Amy who won the Brrr! giveaway. Don't despair if you're not Amy, I've got more giveaways coming up as soon as I get organized.

Back soon. Promise.

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!

Women's Work in Stitches winner

The winner of Embroidery from A - Z will have "one of the great reference books of all time" in her possession very soon. Perhaps she will want to start on a women's remembrance quilt of stitchery for her daughters.

I was absolutely smitten by this collage-style quilt of family hankies, stitched together with notable quotes from women (that one above from the undeniably brave Canadian woman Nellie McClung). I saw this quilt at a recent meeting of the Needle Arts Guild that I attended as a guest. It was made by Jeri Engen for her daughter who was heading off to university. Jeri and her mother in law stitched the hankies "crazy quilting" style to a linen tablecloth. This piece represents the needlework of four generations of women in their family. Embroidered profiles of each woman with her name below appear randomly over the quilt (you can see one in the lower left corner below).

Quotes are scattered about the quilt, some light-hearted, some dead serious....

...and some containing valuable advice for a first year student, like "no woman ever achieved orgasm mopping the floor".

And now, the next great embroiderer will be the person responsible for comment number 16!

C'est Kirsty! Felicitations! This is exciting. Kirsty is a new friend I've recently met in blogland who I hope will become an invaluable resource in our summer vacation planning. You see, she's a super talented crafty Aussie actually living in the south of France. You must visit her blog. Despite having 4 children in a foreign country, she manages to visit a new town almost every weekend, then returns home with amazing photos and stories of delicious French cuisine to share. Plus, she's hilarious. A quality I just love in bloggers. This post actually made me guffaw out loud at the end. Go have a look, seriously I'm sure she could publish a coffee table book with her photos.

Happy week everyone. I am almost finished stitching my Christmas gifts, which is great news because it's time to start baking! Neighbourhood Cookie Exchange is on Thursday night and I need to show up with 12 dozen delicious somethings.

Winners!

Congratulations to the lucky winners of the giveaways!

The canvas sampler of your choice courtesy of BasicGrey goes to:

That's drmithome! I hope you have lots of fun creating your own special collection sampler.

And the e-book copy of Modern Blocks, courtesy of StashBooks goes to:

That's Stitchinpenny, who had one of my favourite comments: I am so glad you are giving away an e book since the real thing may not fit in my sewing room. Haha! Well, hopefully your hard drive has room for the electronic version!

Congratulations to the winners of the giveaways this week! I will be in touch soon. At the moment we're rushing out to our son's rowing regatta. Have a lovely weekend all.

Who's Expecting? GO!Baby winner!

The suspense is over and I'll make this short and sweet. Thanks everyone for making my birthday extra special with all of those lovely well-wishes! Unfortunately, there is only one Accuquilt GO!Baby for me to give away, and that little bundle of fabric cutting joy is going to:

Hueisei!! Congratulations, I have emailed you! Here's the exciting thing: Hueisei is expecting her first baby (like, a real one!) and it's a boy. I'm sure the GO! Baby will come in handy to save her time with her quilting projects.

And now, here are the winners of the 3 consolation prizes: each person can choose their favourite colour of my poppyprinted fabric and I'll mail them a hunk (of fabric, people...not the Mark Wahlberg variety).

hmmm, wonder what colour she's gonna pick.

Drop me a line at the email address up there in my profile and let me know your fav, girls. And if your eyes are tired, I'll tell you that pinksuedeshoe, Lisa and Lori are the winners.

click on the pic for details of ink/fabric colours

I've got so much to share with all of you - last Thursday was stupendous in the mail department! I think I've got a post for every day of the week, so stand by!

Passionate Winner!

Okay, can I just tell you how interesting/fortuitous/wacky/lucky/bizarre it is that my birthday month giveaway resulted in 67 comments? Why? Because I was born in '67! (cue Twilight Zone music).

So this week, it's gonna be lucky number 9

Who happens to be Beth! Congratulations Beth! I'm telling you it's Beth, because I am assuming everyone reading this is over the age of 20, therefore unable to read this snipped comment:

You get to visit Passionate Dyes and shop with a $30 gift certificate! Have fun choosing your blues. But first you need to email me because your email is not linked to your comment and I have no way of contacting you.

Next up, the final, the fabulous, the giveaway you've all been waiting for (right?)....it's Birthday Month Giveaway #4, BABY!

Who's going shopping at Marmalade?

Why, that would be the lucky person who left comment number:

Hey, it's Jenny! Yippee, now you can buy some Moda Crossweaves you need! Or, you might want to consider a special piece of the "arriving next week" FAR, FAR, AWAY III!!!

I'll get an email off to you with the details, Jenny. Thank you very much Tammy, for generously providing the $20 gift certificate for your sweet shop Marmalade Fabrics! I've got some new Marmalade news for all of you. Tammy has just started a rewards points system for her customers, which is an easy peasy way for you to earn 10% off all of your fabric orders! Now that her store is moving into larger digs, there will be even more delicious fabric for you to peruse - you'll be racking up the reward points in no time!

Birthday month giveaway #3 coming right up people....more money, more fabric, more fun; right here at Poppyprint. Woot!

One down, Three to go!

I love giving stuff away. Really, truly love it. That's why you'll only find a handful of quilts in this home of someone who's been quilting for 9 years. Week one of my birthday month is over and I'm happy to announce that lucky commentor 158 has won themselves a new car! (haha, nice try T - he wrote that when I wasn't watching. Teenagers these days).

No, it's domistiCass, who looks like she could really use a threadcatcher! (if you don't have a magnifying glass, according to her comment, domestiCass is a walking thread magnet).

Congratulations!!! Email me your address so I can send you your thread catcher + goodies.

Coming up next is a giveaway every fabric lover will love, courtesy of Marmalade Fabrics!! Details tomorrow, my friends.