a bit of a catch up post

my poor neglected blog....


i'm having a hard time getting back into blogging. december, january and february were all pretty tough months, between family drama, flare ups, loss, dental surgery and the worst flu ever, and even though things are looking up now that we're into march, i can't get back into the rhythm. (side note - rhythm is such a weird word, it's missing a vowel..)


part of the difficulty is that i'm addicted to instagram , where i get to post quick pics and get almost-immediate feedback. taking real pictures, editing them and then blogging them is so much more effort!


so maybe i need to combine the two? blogging and instagram? let's try that.


apologies to folks also on instagram for the repetition, but here are a few of the things i've been working on lately -


i've made a few pieces like this, i need to bind the second one and take proper pictures of them both this week...



a belated stocking stuffer for my mom, a needlebook using the tutorial i posted a few months ago. i didn't get it done before xmas because i couldn't find any cat fabric in my stash!



a bee block for Berene, very late, of course... she should never have said "no rush"!



i got kind of obsessed with this block, which everyone calls the Japanese + and x block, because the obsession was started when amy of badskirt shared the block from a quilt she saw at a show, and blogged a tutorial for it. it's actually dated back to 1938 and is attributed to Nancy Cabot, but Japanese + and x block stuck! it became an instagram sensation a little while ago, and as you can see by the flickr group, there are tons of gorgeous versions.



because i have a tendency to make things more complicated than they have to be, i resized the pattern and made 3.5" blocks using scraps. the original tutorial is for a 7.5" finished block, and tutorials are available for 12.5" x 12.5" finished, 10" x 10" finished, 12" x 12" finished, another 12" x 12" finished block, and a 24" x 24" finished block, which has slightly different dimensions (i think the 12" blocks have different dimensions too).



i signed up for the Lucky Stars BOM with Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy, and i've managed to get one block finished so far. we're only three months into the year, so i'm not THAT behind. yet.



during QuiltCon i saw someone post about selvedge spool blocks, and got carried away. it was awesome to finally use some of my selvedges, but damned if i know what i'm going to do with the finished piece.



this will eventually be a pillow, but i'm only working on it in fits and starts. one of the bee blocks that i need to work on is star themed, so i started looking for star patterns, and fell in love with this one. i decided to "test" the pattern before i used it for a bee block, using some of my favourite prints.



this is the bee block - rainbow stars! it went a million times faster than my test piece - i cut all the fabric at once, pieced it all in sections, and now i just have to finish sewing the pieces together.



i've also quilted the front of the pillow that i'm making for my dad - a belated christmas present. i found the backing fabric last night, so i'll do that next.



and then there's Madrona Road Challenge! i got the top finished, and i need to pick up some white batting so that i can quilt it. i have a week to get it done!

A Rainbow of Flying Geese

i've been so impatient to post this!


frankly, i'm surprised that i waited a week, but i'll explain that with the fact that the previous week disappeared - what? it's monday again? wtf?


i mentioned in last weekend's felicities post that i'd done a swap with Holly, and i LOVE what i made her - if i hadn't known that she'd love it as much as i do, i probably wouldn't have been able to give it up!


one of the things on my xmas list this year was a fq bundle of Lizzy House's fabric line Pearl Bracelets. Pearl Bracelets is a print that she's included in previous fabric lines, and they've been incredibly popular, so Andover released a line of 26 colours of the print.



don't they look yummy, all neatly folded up along with Lizzy House's other new line, Constellations? (i used a previous line, Outfoxed, for my Improv is Foxy quilt. i'm kind of a fan)


anyone who knows Holly knows that she loves rainbows, and i happen to know that she's a fan of Pearl Bracelets as well, so OF COURSE i had to use part of my Pearl Bracelet bundle to make her a rainbow!




for the patchwork, i decided to use a paperpiecing pattern that lends itself well to rainbows, A Circle of Geese by Piece By Number. (Christina, The Sometimes Crafter, has a great tutorial for this block, if you're interested) the VMQG actually used this as a challenge block way back in April 2011, but i never got around to making it then.




Holly particularly likes the combination of rainbows and natural linen, so choosing my main fabric was a no-brainer. i made the tote in one piece and quilted it with straight lines echoing around the geese (so obsessed with echo quilting!). I continued the quilting down the entire 36" piece, so when i sewed it together, the back had a neat geometric quilting design.




i really really wanted to wash this, just to see the linen crinkle up, but i didn't entirely trust the Pearl Bracelets fabric not to run - the dye quality isn't quite as fabulous with this line as it has been with other lines, and it made me nervous!




i just did a simple boxed corner to create some depth to the tote, and added natural cotton straps that are nice and wide, perfect for carrying Holly's notebooks at QuiltCon (because i know she'll be taking lots of notes!).




and i lined it with a cheerful print by Benartex that i picked up at Spool of Thread, including a zipper pocket and a little loop for her to hang her keys or a coin purse on. (it's best if we don't look too closely at the zipper, okay? i shouldn't have used a contrasting thread for topstitching...)


i didn't use any interfacing in the bag, but i did use quilt batting. that means it's easy to pack, but still sturdy! i'm super happy with how it turned out, and i think Holly is too.





i'm going to link up with a few linky parties this week, since i haven't done that in awhile.

Happy Halloween - scariness and vampire lovin!

hi guys!

i was all set to post about FVMQG's awesome halloween party today, but i had a bit of a scare of my own....


if you know me in person, you might know that i LOVE books (Holly's definitely commented on my need to acquire new quilting books as soon as they come out!). my mom's a writer (remember, she has a blog?), and i grew up with tons of books, and as much as i support the idea of public libraries, i want them for my own!! so i own a lot of books.

and what's the scariest thing for a booklover?

that's right, WATER. urgh!


now that my toothache has abated, i didn't keep waking myself up by rolling over on it, and i slept in today, catching up from the past few days. this afternoon i was sitting on the couch (playing Dr Mario, if you must know) and i kept hearing this sound... drop, drop... my roof was leaking!! and it was leaking directly onto a big box full of sewing and quilting books and patterns. (which were in a box because they wouldn't fit on the shelves, which obviously means that i need to clear out my books....) did i mention that i live on the first floor? why was MY roof leaking?

i jumped into high gear and started moving everything to the closest clear surface - which was my sewing tables, of course! (so much for sewing today) i put down towels, because it wasn't dripping A LOT, just enough to ruin stuff, and started phoning around, hoping that this would be handled faster than last year's plumbing fiasco (which still isn't fully repaired, FYI). strata dudes came right away, investigated a few things, and it turned out that the roofers who'd been here for ages hadn't done a proper job of sealing off the fireplaces, and it had been leaking for DAYS, and had finally worked it's way down to me. the guy on the 3rd floor (yes, the same guy who flooded my kitchen on purpose last year) has been hearing the dripping for 4 or 5 days, but hadn't bothered to tell anyone.

the people on the 2nd floor are out of town, so who knows how much damage they have, but for now, the roof has apparently been resealed. somehow, in the rain... but i'm not asking questions. once everything's dried out, they'll paint over the 5 foot stain on my ceiling, and i assume they'll deal with the fact that it's starting to buckle a bit. and i'll be sending them a bill for the stack of ruined books and magazines, along with at least 18 or 20 Sublime Stitching patterns (which at $5 a pop, aren't cheap!). but i can't bill them for the energy or anxiety, or the flareup i'm sure i'll have tomorrow from moving a bunch of heavy stuff! i happened to have a plastic wrapped pack of cardstock in the pile, which i think protected the books below them, so i was lucky.


since i no longer have times to edit a whole bunch of pictures and write up my planned post, i thought i'd show you a paperpieced mugrug that i made ages and ages ago, but never got around to posting (surprise!). it's a bit of a reward to reading all of my babbling!




i used a paperpiecing pattern available here, and it took me FOREVER! this was also my first real paperpiecing project.... i might have been overly confident!!

i wanted to make a rectangular mugrug, so i decided to add a row of hearts along the side. i was thinking of the huge trend of vampire romance novels, not the least of which was the Twilight craze! i learned a lot making it, such as - make sure there isn't an error in the pattern before you get to the very end (right inside the lips, in the middle. oops!), seam allowance is important when sewing paperpieced blocks together (i lost a few points on the hearts!), and i probably should have photographed it BEFORE i washed it! (i swear it was straight sided when i finished it)



you can tell i made it awhile ago, since i didn't quilt the crap out of it!

what do you think? i took it to the FVMQG meeting, and i don't think it was most people's style!




(also, i wanted to note - i fully see the ridiculousness of me freaking out about the ceiling leak when thousands of people are homeless or worse from Hurricane Sandy. i realize that it's super minor in comparison, i do. but it was still pretty upsetting to me! i feel like water is the bane of my existence, there seems to be a flood or leak of some sort every single year...)

WIP Wednesday

WIP Wednesday again!

i hope you're all feeling more productive than i have been!



i haven't made any progress on my Spinning Stars quilt-a-long.

or the two bee blocks that i need to do.

i've been working on some of these cute little fabric bowls, but they kinda take awhile. i hate hand sewing, so i'm doing it in short bursts

and i forgot to take pictures of pincushions, though i've finished a bunch of them!


but i did put together a pattern for a little baby quilt this morning.



the background will be a mixture of solid white and white on white prints. the colours aren't set in stone, they'll all be tone-on-tones, and i figured i'd pull from my stash...

and then i went to the fabric store this afternoon! (i needed buttons, it was a valid trip. really.)

we all know how much i love tone-on-tones, right?


they were on sale, and obviously needed to be added to my stash. right? right.


my biggest WIP at the moment is my tote from Sonja of Artisania's Paperpiecing 101 class last weekend. i am SOOOOOOO close to being done, cross your fingers that i'll get it done by tomorrow's guild meeting!



i kind of want to make a quilt of gnomes in all different sizes, all with stripey legs. just so that i can make more stripey socked gnomes. it's pretty awesome, isn't it? wait 'til you see the rest of the bag!


i'm going to link up with WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced and at The Needle And Thread Network, and let's hope i manage to get something else blogged one of these days, huh?

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Whale Love!

hi! welcome!


i'm amy dame.

(there are lots of amys in quilty blog land, aren't there?)

this is the second time i've posted for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, and the quilt that i'm sharing this time around is a little mini quilt that i made for one of my guildie friends. i haven't blogged this before, so i'm including more info than i would just for the quilt festival, so feel free to skim.


if you'd like to know more about me, i'll direct you over to the excessively long about me page, but the basics that that seem to either repel or attract folks are these - i hate capitalization, i swear a lot and babble just as much, i'm a bleeding heart lefty who's hella opinionated, i get distracted kinda easily, and i often get so excited that i bounce up and down and clap my hands like a 6 year old. (if you like me, you might find it endearing, otherwise, it's probably just annoying!)


and most importantly, i love quilting! i'm the secretary of the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild, and i'm a member of the Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild. my guilds are amazing. not only are they full of incredibly TALENTED people, they're also full of incredibly AWESOME people!


do you know Sonja? she's pretty much the queen of paperpiecing. her patterns are all super fun, both the ones that she sells in her shop, and the ones that have been published. i've stitched up a few of her blocks, and recently she drafted up a pattern based on our guild logo, and i sewed that one up too.

she's also a fabulous photographer, and takes pictures at all of the VMQG meetings. a few months ago, some of us decided to submit quilts for the Modern Quilt Guild Showcase at the International Quilt Festival, and Sonja very helpfully took pictures of our quilts for us. at the time, i kind of spaced on thanking her properly, so i had it in my head that i should make her a little something. i was thinking pincushion, or needlebook, or pouch, but somehow it turned into an actual quilt!





ever since Sonja updated her blog, Artisania, with a new header, i've been in love with the little whale on it. i think it's part of a future pattern idea of hers (she's too busy designing patterns for books and magazines to finish the ones she's started!), but i just think he's the cutest thing. inspired by the mini-quilt that she made of her freaking adorable fox pattern, i thought two whales would be fun. a friend would keep one from getting lonely, right?

so i drafted up a pattern and sewed up the two whales, and added a little patchwork border around them. i embroidered their faces (twice actually, cause i hated my first attempt and ripped it out, i'd used too many strands of floss) and the little hearts between them. aren't they sweet?





i'm so happy with the water!! i was so proud of myself when it occurred to me how i was going to show the waves like Sonja's header does, without resorting to raw edge applique. when i showed this at guild last week, i said that it was a variation on cathedral windows, but i'm not sure anyone knew what the hell i was talking about.

basically, you start with strip of fabric that's got the top folded over by an inch or two. you tack the fabric down in multiple spots, and then curve the fabric between each spot down, pulling the fold into a wave shape. with cathedral windows, you're tacking down the corners, and then curving the fabric between them, right? so therefore this is a variation of cathedral windows.

well, in my head it is. that's amy-logic for you. i have just spent a ridiculous amount of time googling for faux cathedral windows quilts and haven't found what i'm looking for, or even as much info on the other kind of faux , cathedral windows, which is surprising, really. apparently i fail at google!

this is actually the closest i can find to explain what the hell i did - Tamiko at Patchwork Notes Hoo-Ha Pouch Tutorial, except that i just did one row, and i removed the straight lines of stitching. (as a sidenote, i just came across that pouch a week or two ago and damn, isn't it gorgeous? i'm slightly obsessed at the moment!)

i'm not quite as happy with my hearts. i was trying to make them look casual, freehand, less precise than i tend to do, but i think they might have just turned out a little bit wonky looking. hm.





i enjoyed echo quilting on the white, and really loved the contrast of the chevron like quilting around the whales with the curves around the hearts.

the water was quilted with four or five colours of blue thread, just freehand curves.

i used a synthetic batting, because it was the only pure white batting i had in my stash and i didn't want the cream colour of my cotton batting to show through the background. it was a bit puffier than the batting i usually use, so it added a bit more texture, which was fun.





the backing was this pretty print, and i included two hanging triangles in the upper corners. i didn't backstitch at all while i was quilting, because it would've shown a lot on a quilt this tiny, so i was VERY thankful for Krista's self-threading needle tutorial! this picture only shows the threads from when i went back in and added the quilting around the hearts, so you can imagine how many there were overall!


so! what do you think? it's a bit of a departure from the sorts of things i usually sew, but it was so much fun to do! i'm not sure if it's considered a wall hanging or a mini quilt for the new categories that have been added this time around. opinions? have you been keeping your list of quilts to nominate, as you've been surfing around?

i hope you've enjoyed the Blogger's Quilt Festival! as i click post, there are 28 minutes left to enter (i'm a master procrastinator), and 620 entries! that's amazing! be sure to pop over and say a huge THANK YOU to Amy for all of her hard work coordinating this!

Perennial Pleasures block!

i've been meaning to post this all week.



i thought it would be good to post on May Day, being that it's springy flowers, but i couldn't bring myself to do it. in my world, May Day is usually more about worker's rights, and less about maypoles!


have you been following the Garden Party Blog Hop on SewHooked.com? it was a whole month of fabulous free paper pieced patterns, all in celebration of Jennifer's birthday. and of course, they're all Garden Party themed! Sonja designed a gorgeous block for it!

i started sewing up one of the blocks at the FVMQG sew-in a few weeks ago, but hadn't finished it yet.

but then Jennifer posted her block design, Perennial Pleasures, and announced that anyone who made it within a week would be entered to win a copy of Electric Quilt 7! really! how could i resist?


plus, it's a super pretty block!



i haven't decided what i'm going to do with it yet (suggestions welcome!), so i pieced the version with a butterfly, but there's a version with a wine glass too! it was fun to do. i dug out my green scraps for the stems and leaves, and had fun choosing prints for the flowers, the flowerpot and the tablecloth. i'm glad to have finally used that Melissa Averinos Swoon print - i love it, but hadn't found the perfect project for it yet.


you should check out the flickr group, and see a whole bunch of lovely versions of this block, and lots of the other blocks as well!


on a side note, last night i finally sat down to post this, but i got distracted by the SWEETEST movie. aw! i totally recommend it. (don't go by the rating, read the reviews instead.) and while i admittedly have a soft spot for coming out/first love movies, i'm sure you'll love it too! it's probably one of the most romantic movies i've ever seen. remember that feeling when you're just getting together with someone, and there's that sweet awkwardness, like, who's going to make the first move, and there's tension in even the most innocent things? and that feeling when you're so into someone that you're overwhelmed by it all, and all you can really do is grin? it's so accurately portrayed in this film that the genders of the people involved are irrelevant. though as a side benefit, since most of you are hetero women, you'll totally appreciate the hotness of the lead actors. (and it's a surf movie, so there's quite a bit of skin!)

Handmade Ornaments - owls, crosses and paperpiecing (with pattern!)

looking for my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway? scroll down, or click here!


speaking of the giveaway, ohmygoodness, y'all are leaving such lovely comments on that post! thank you! i'm definitely going to write up a tutorial for it, though it might not be until i'm home next week.

yes, you read that - i'm home next week! yay! i enjoy being out here, but i miss my friends and family, time to myself, and most of all - my own bed. i can talk to friends and family on the phone, and steal a few hours at night for myself, but there's nothing i can do about my bed! sofie and i will both be very happy to get back to it.



it occurred to me that i made holiday ornaments over a month ago, but i've yet to blog them. maybe that should be a new year's resolution.... hmm. anyway.

remember a whole long time ago when i mentioned the Trim The Tree Swap on flickr? i wanted to wait until my ornaments have been received before i blogged about them, but then i got distracted, obviously. and then i started making more, so i figured i might as well blog about them all at the same time.and then i contemplated writing a tutorial for some of them, but that's not going to happen, so i'm thinking i'll meet you half way and share my pattern. cool?

but wait! i'm getting ahead of myself here!

let's talk about the ornaments for the swap. i had three partners that i was crafting for, and because i think thaty's the best part of swapping, i always try to take my partner's likes and dislikes into consideration.

my first partner likes red, green and blue, woodland creatures, nature, and embroidery. after going through her favourites and checking out the mosaic that she made, i saw that she really loved owls. i spent a whole bunch of time looking at different owl projects, and pinterest'd a ton of them, and in the end, used a pattern that i've made before, because i love the end result, and it's totally mailable.



aren't they cute? i used red linen for the bellies, and a stripey green snowflake print for the owls themselves. i figured that way they can be christmassy or they can be wintery, however you prefer to look at it.

the pattern is actually for an owl garland, but i adapted it to make individual ornaments as well back when i made them in 2008. if you were on craftster.org back then, you probably recognize the pattern, they were super popular that christmas. the tutorial is by moonstitches, who also has a tutorial for cute little stuffy owls.



i posted them in the flickr group and asked which owl people likled best, and my partner liked the one on the bottom right, with the white eyes. i kinda think the upper right one looks evil, what do you think?


my second parter didn't make a mosaic of ornaments that she liked, so it was a bit harder to figure out what to make for her! however, she did say that she liked red and white, and after going through her favourites, i saw that she liked this cross pincushion made with teensy little wonky crosses.



i decided to use the red linen to incorporate a bit of contrast, and white kona. there's a layer of cotton batting, and as you can see, the backing is a neat red print that i found at the thrift. i made the ornament when i was out here in november, without rotary cutting tools or my own sewing machine, and i decided to embrace the wonkiness inherent in hand cutting strips of fabric.



i did a bit of hand quilting inside the crosses, and machine quilted on the linen. i like the combination of hand and machine.

and then because i LOVED how that one came out, i made myself an ornament with just one wonky cross. i bound them both in strips of white kona.



i combined hand and machine quilting in this ornament as well.



i was really happy with how they turned out, though i think that my binding was a bit too wide.



and my third partner! i struggled a bit with hers too, just because i really didn't see any patterns in her favourites or mosaic, any particular thing that she really loved. she said that she liked teal, burnt orange, and red, and that her tree was very eclectic tree. she preferred ornaments that are a bit funky, and is attracted to modern and scandinavian designs.

i decide to use one the shapes commonly used for vintage ornaments, and make it a little funky by (somewhat) freehand paperpiecing it. i made two ornaments using shades of orange, both solids and prints, and white kona, and again posted them to the flickr group asking which people liked best. she was super busy and didn't have a chance to comment on it (which i sooo understand), so i sent her the one with the most burnt orange in it.





i used christmassy fabric for the back of one of them, and the same folky red print as the cross ornaments for the second.



i didn't do hand quilting on these ones, just machine quilting, but i really like how the quilting emphasizes the curve of the shape.


so those were the swap ornaments!


and then i decided to make some more paperpieced ornaments. i have three more started, but these are the only two that i've finished so far. i wanted to try using a single fabric for the ornaments, and i like how that worked too.



i fussy cut the ornament fabric so that the snowflake would be centred, and i like the little bit towards the "neck" of the ornament too. i backed it with a super cute mitten print that i think is from the same fabric line... maybe. i might be wrong. robert kaufman, a few years ago? i'm not sure.



speaking of the "neck", i changed how i did the little hanger portion too. i used silver fabric, to look more like the usual ornament top. it's the same fabric used on ironing boards, and it worked perfectly. i also used white yarn, but that's just because i forgot my white ribbon at home and raided my grandma's yarn stash out of desperation!

i fussy cut the second one as well, and this particular print had the benefit of the stripes giving the appearance of piecing even though it was a single fabric.



i backed it with fabric from the same line, which is a bit more peachy than it comes across in the pictures.




so! do you like my ornaments? do you want to make your own?

here's the template i drew up -


if you open a word file, change your margins to narrow and set it to landscape, you can fit three upright patterns across the top of the page, and two sideways patterns across the bottom, with plenty of space around them to cut them out. and here's a sideways version, for anyone who doesn't have photo editing software to turn it themselves.

you can see that the ornament has four distinct sections - the top, the centre, and the two sides. piece the centre, then add the solid strips along the sides. piece the top, then sew it to the bottom three sections. does that make sense?

when you're piecing the background, you'll need to use multiple pieces, each with a slightly different angle, to maintain the curves. if you're not sure, click on any of my pictures above and go to flickr, where you can see the photos larger by clicking on "actions" then "view all sizes". clear as mud, right? on that same note, if you'd like to download the original size pattern, view all sizes and click on "original", then right click and save.

i wouldn't suggest these for your very first paperpiecing project, but don't be intimidated by the curves either!


if you make one, i'd love to see it!

little linen projects

i've been slightly obsessed with the linen that i used for the hoopla bunting pillow, and i just keep finding more and more projects to use it for.

so far i've made pincushions, a nametag for guild meetings, and a cute little fabric basket to sit next to my sewing machine and hold all my thread scraps. these projects were all with hoopla, because i'm totally loving it, and i still had lots of scraps left over after the bunting pillow.

i made the mugrug with some scraps from the pillow, just playing around. i used wonder under to adhere the little flags, and then freehand machine stitched. there's batting behind the linen, but it wasn't enough to stabilize it, with all of the stitching i did, so it turned out slightly wonky. i like it, but it's definitely wonky!



the next thing i made was the nametag. i used this paperpiecing pattern, and instead of creating a rainbow, i alternated prints with the linen. i machine embroidered my name onto the centre fabric, which is a twill, so a little bit heavier than standard cotton, but it handles the embroidery better. the pattern is actually in three pieces, because of the letters in the centre. because i was embroidering on it, i didn't want any seams in the centre, so i adapted the pattern a little bit. there was one seam that i had to handstitch, no biggie.



and then i added the back and a pin, and did a teensy bit of hand quilting. i made the back in two pieces, and left a hole in the centre back seam. after i'd sewn the back and front together and turned the nametag rightside out, i stitched that up by hand. it's so much easier to stitch up a straight seam than it is a round one, if i'd left the hole in the circle seam!



and then for some reason i decided to make pincushions - i don't really know why, because i don't usually use pincushions! but i have been using the purple one, and i've been finding it handy, so maybe that's about to change...



anyway, they're just simple pincushions, 4 patch on the front, and linen on the back, and i stitched them together like a biscornu, with 8 sides. i stuffed them, and then stitched on some vintage buttons - i love having an excuse to use part of my massive button collection! i like them.

and then i made a little fabric basket, inspired by lili at spool of thread. her mom made a bunch of these, to sit by the machines in their sewing lounge, and i totally fell in love with them! i really want to make more of them, and experiment a bit with size, etc.



but i got sidetracked onto another project with the linen - here's a sneak peek!



yum!!

the other day i went back and bought 3 more metres of the linen.
(i told you i was obsessed!)