PatchworkPottery

Madrona Road Challenge

2013-03-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

I finished my Madrona Road challenge quilt for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild two days before the deadline of March 18th. When I first arrived home from the guild meeting with my bundle of fabric, I pain-stakingly worked on deciphering the story in the text fabric hoping to gain some inspiration.

I knew right away that I would design the quilt around the gypsy girl in the story. I headed on over to the fabric designer Violet Craft's blog to check out the entire fabric line and there in a post was the entire story written clearly right in front of me... ! I immediately fell in love with the Farmstead print which was missing from my bundle. I added a bunch of fabric to my pile plus a yard of the white text fabric and six other fabrics in the Citrus colourway... drool!

From the start, I knew that my quilt would need large rickrack and bright yellow pom-pom trim to give it a gypsy flair! It was the first time using rickrack in the border and I was so excited to see it put together that I sewed it to the quit top without thinking... big mistake! Free-motion quilting + rickrack = trouble! Next time I will remember to sew the rickrack on after quilting! I definitely put my new Janome Horizon to the test and was thankful for the easily height adjustable free-motion foot!

I left the outer border un-quilted to allow turning the edges of the quilt under when sandwiching the pom-pom trim. For the front edge, I folded a strip of black fabric in half lengthwise and pressed. Then I basted the pom-pom trim the folded edge of the strip. I attached the strip just like regular binding but to the quit top only, folding the batting & backing out of the way. Then I folded the batting and backing to the inside of the quilt matching the edge of the quilt top & trimming excess at the corners.

Here is the front of the quilt. It is 42 inches square and filled with details. It is basically a giant log cabin layout with the story of the gypsy girl's life beginning at the bottom right and spiralling toward the centre. The gypsy girl is riding Buster the donkey following the winds through the forest, the sea and the desert. I originally had 21 paper-pieced trees in the design but that was insane so I toned it down to 19 ;o) I am especially proud of my free-motion pebble path through the forest!

Then the girl falls in love with the robot maker which is shown by a row of paper-pieced robots whose magnetic hands stick together to form hearts. She climbs a huge ladder to battle an evil giant and settles with her family in a beautiful castle under the watchful eye of the Griffin in the City of Bridges. I had fun piecing and embroidering the bridges... maybe it's just me or does anyone else see Darth Vader's helmet in them?!

They move on in search of a farmstead to call home and settle on Madrona Road. I changed the original design for the centre block slightly by using the Farmstead fabric for the background and I added a row of appliqued tulips with a fussy cut "Madrona Road" street sign. I finished quilting the outer borders with a few ducklings all in a row amidst tulips.

Here is the back of the quilt. I fussy cut the complete story from the white text fabric, and used the information and a row of those sweet little flowers from the selvedge as the title! I machine embroidered a label and attached it to the bottom of the story and finished it off with a black border and a very carefully planned random-looking border that took me hours to design incorporating every last scrap of Madrona Road fabric in the Ocean colourway.

I really like how my quilt turned out. I had fun free-motion quilting so many different designs and I enjoyed working with the Madrona Road fabric. And just look at that yummy pom-pom trim!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Pattern Shop News!

2013-02-24T22:16:00.000-08:00

The Teapot Pillow pattern is now available in my SHOP. It is a 12-page PDF containing 2 pages that make up the cover, 4 pages of instructions, 5 template pages, and 1 page on how to properly print and assemble your very own pattern booklet.

All PatchworkPottery digital pattern booklets include metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates.

Add a warm cozy spot of tea to your favourite armchair with this elegant teapot pillow. Choose floral fabrics for that English look, blue & white toile for fine china, or even try a modern print for a totally different look... I think I'll try some vintage and text fabrics next!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Holiday Sewing

2012-12-29T23:44:00.000-08:00

I sewed and quilted a few things for Christmas including this MugRug or mini quilt for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild Christmas scrap swap. The challenge was to use a bag of scraps from a fellow guild member and create something they love.

Upon finding the name of my partner inside the scraps, I headed to the world wide web in search of anything that could help me design something she would love. I based my design on a photo she had pinned of some scrapbook trees and then added a few of my own fabrics that would work well with the ones I received.

I really liked how it turned out :o) Surprisingly my hubby liked it too and was sad to see it go! It was the first free-motion quilting done on my new Janome Horizon... Merry Christmas to me! I lucked out and found a gently used machine in box for a really good deal so it was a spur of the moment decision and I couldn't be happier. It's twice the size of my old machine and quilts like a dream.

Although the item for the swap was supposed to be smallish, there were many larger items including this fabulous quilt top that I received from Paul. Thank you so much! I love it more than you could know!! You can see more fun items in our group photo.

Next I made a set of Leaf Potholders for my brother's fiancee. Her kitchen is black & white with a hint of red. I don't have much black & white fabric but luckily upgraded my text stash recently with lots of black & white! She was very happy with them and said they were perfect :o)

I also made my daughter three skirts. She loves heavily patterned clothes and definitely has her own style. Finding the perfect fabrics was just as much fun as sewing them!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. Happy Sewing in the New Year!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Foreign Treats

2012-12-18T23:41:00.000-08:00

I forgot to blog about two wonderfully exciting things that happened a few months ago. Marianne contacted me in August to ask if I would be interested in being interviewed for her three-page article in the October-November issue of the French magazine Quilt Country.

Of course I said yes! It was fun working with Marianne. She had so many interesting questions that I had never really thought about before! I think the article turned out fabulous. I'm planning on giving a copy to my Mom for Christmas. Thank you Marianne! I don't have any extra copies for sale but you can purchase your own copy.

I have added a copy of Quilt Country to my other foreign magazines that include articles about me. Britain, Russia & France... I find that quite exciting :o)

Another excitement happened in London... Liberty of London at Cafe Liberty to be exact! An online blog friend Kerry of VeryKerryBerry asked if she could use my Quilted Teacup pattern to make a sample to go with a Tea Cozy she had made for Liberty Fabrics. I couldn't decline such a sweet offer. She even printed and sewed one of my labels onto the bottom and included my pattern info. Thanks again Kerry! (following: top photo courtesy of Liberty Cafe, bottom photo courtesy of Kerry)

I will leave you now with this lovely treat... a photo of an orange chiffon cake I made for a friend's birthday... if only you could smell & taste it!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Colourful Autumn

2012-12-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos of my colourful Autumn. Some from Halloween...

Some of a quilt I'm making for myself based loosely on the Colorbrick quilt tutorial by Rachel of Stitched in Color. Working in these brighter colours was exciting & fun and the quilt is already making me happy :o) My plan is to quilt a double line around each brick and hand-embroider a running stitch between the lines in various colours but that seems like a LOT of work because there are 108 bricks!

A new chair from Ikea. Oh how I love gingham! I may eventually paint the base white.

And a rainbow CoffeeMug pouch I made for Krista when my friend Sonja & I went to see her quilt show at Island Quilter on Vashon near Seattle. The show was awesome and Krista's quilting never ceases to amaze and inspire me. Island Quilter was floor-to-ceiling walls of bright rainbow fabrics! I bought some organically patterned fabrics and began designing a butterfly quilt as Sonja & I drank chai & sketched at a local cafe. It was such a fun road trip and I can't wait to do it again! (some photos courtesy of Sonja)

Some coaters for the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild table at Got Craft? and some rainbow cupcakes I made for my daughter's birthday.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Corner Pocket Tutorial

2012-10-01T22:06:00.001-07:00

Using corner pockets is my favourite method of hanging a mini quilt or wall-hanging besides having loops and a rod as part of the finished design. It is super easy, very functional and uses minimal hanging hardware on the wall. It has come to my attention lately that not everyone knows this little hanging trick so today I am happy to share it with all of you.

Materials needed:
fabric scraps
rotary cutter, ruler & mat
iron & ironing board
sewing machine
an unbound mini quilt or wall-hanging
binding
dowel cut to the correct length
push pin or small nails

Step 1: Cut two squares of fabric using your rotary cutter & ruler. I used 3-1/2" squares for this 9 x 12" wall-hanging and would suggest 4" or 5" squares on quilts up to 20" wide. Wider quilts will sag in the centre and need the extra support provided by a good old-fashioned hanging sleeve. Now most tutorials end once the sleeve is sewn on but this tutorial will explain how to actually hang the quilt on the wall.

Step 2: Press in half diagonally. It's important to only press and not slide the iron back & forth which will warp your squares because of the bias fold.

Step 3: Topstitch 1/8" from the folded edge. My machine loves to eat pointy bias corners. To prevent mangled points, start sewing on a small scrap that is butted up to the edge of your corner.

Step 4: Sew the pockets to the quilt. Make certain that you are sewing them to the back of the quilt at the top corners. However, if you feel like being more symmetrical you could add them to all four corners. There are others reasons you may want to add pockets to the bottom corners so please keep reading.

Step 5: Bind your quilt either by machine or by hand. I like to use single fold bias binding machine sewn to the front and attached by hand to the back using a blind stitch.

Step 6: Insert your dowel. As you can see here, a pencil was exactly the right size for my quilt but a chopstick or dowel cut to size will work too.

I wanted to incorporate the pockets into the quilt design so I added them to the bottom corners as well! This would also give you the option of hanging the quilt in any orientation. Adding another dowel or heavier rod at the bottom, will help to straighten a warped quilt.

I usually just use a push pin to hang the quilt. If it is larger two push pins or small nails will work well and stop the quilt from being knocked off-kilter. For now I think I will use this little quilt as a mug rug because it looks fabulous with my red mug. Pretty soon I will have a rug for each & every mug I own!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Retreat & Cafe Quilt

2012-09-28T21:34:00.001-07:00

As I was sewing this 12 inch block I knew that I wanted it all for my own! Come to think of it, I seem to be quite a selfish quilter wanting to keep everything I make but I'm certain most people realized that long before I did!

I knew that I wanted to hang it on my studio wall to enjoy rather than stuffing it in one of my various finished project bins away from cat fur tumbleweed & colour-sucking sunlight, and a wonderful one day quilt retreat gave me the perfect opportunity to turn my Texting While Sewing contest block into a cute little wall-hanging.

I used high loft polyester batting which is my batting of choice and as I started quilting I thought that I had made a huge mistake! My lines started warping and spots were way too poofy! But I continued on and by the end I really liked the trapunto effect around the signs in my quilt :o)

I sewed some small pockets onto the back before adding the binding which are perfect for hanging small quilts. One wonderful quilter at the retreat asked if she could use the idea so I will be writing a small tutorial in the next blog post.

I also received my contest prizes in the mail. I still haven't spent my $50 gift certificate for the Fat Quarter Shop because I am waiting for Lecien's Inkwell to be released!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Pattern Shop News!

2012-09-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

'Tis the Season wall-hanging pattern is now in my SHOP. Previously published in Taiwanese craft book Cotton Life no. 4, it is finally available as an individual pattern booklet and even better it is now written in English!

All PatchworkPottery digital pattern booklets include metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates. 'Tis the Season is a 13 page PDF containing 2 pages that make up the cover, 6 pages of instructions including basic paper-piecing, 4 template pages all reversed for use with fusible web applique and foundation piecing techniques, and 1 page on how to properly print and assemble your very own pattern booklet.

My patterns are instant downloads so if you do not receive an e-mail with the link to your pattern immediately, please check your junk mail folder.

The next patterns I'm working on include Partridge in a Pear Tree, Book Pillow, and Teapot Pillow. I'm also thinking of mixing in some fresh new patterns every now and then so that PatchworkPottery stays interesting.

Which pattern are you waiting for? Would you like to test one of my patterns? Let me know!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Texting While Sewing Surprise!

2012-09-08T23:52:00.000-07:00

We were away all weekend enjoying our last trip to visit my family and have fun at the Interior Provincial Exhibition & Fair so I missed the news that my block for the Texting While Sewing contest was chosen as one of the Top 10!

A bigger surprise awaited me when I opened my e-mail the next morning to discove that I won first place! I would have blogged sooner but I was sidetracked when I hopped on over to the Fat Quarter Shop to pick $50 of free fabric!

No really... it was the first week of school and we are all trying to get used to the new schedule. A reversible bug jar dress that was a special request for summer was finally sewn for the second day of grade 3. At least she said it was worth the wait and the boys at school gave me the thumbs up too!

I am also often lured into playing with our new kitty Opal. She is very sweet but can wreak havoc on the organized piles in my craftroom!

Oops! Sidetracked again! Now back to the contest...
Second place went to Cindy for this ingenious iphone block. I giggled when I first read the selvedge conversation!

And third place went to Kristy for her Quilter's Bible. I just love that selvedge bookmark!

Thank you to Amy of During Quiet Time for hosting such a fun contest. I joined before I even knew that there would be such fabulous prizes. Thank you also to the talented Kerry & Ayumi for their difficult work as judges. There were so many amazing blocks created with text fabrics and you can see them all in the Texting While Sewing flickr group.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Texting While Sewing

2012-08-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

When I was first invited to join the Texting While Sewing flickr group a few strange thoughts popped into my head... Maybe I won't join because I don't text while I sew. It's probably a good thing because that sounds dangerous. I don't want to see pictures of horrible accidents caused by texting while sewing!

I cautiously took a peek and realized that it was actually an online sewing contest held by Amy Friend of During Quiet Time. The challenge was to create a 12 x12 inch finished quilt block using text fabrics in a creative way. There were no other rules but sometimes too much choice can be a bad thing!

As the deadline approached and I was starting to worry, an idea finally came to me while searching with a friend for inspiration in my mountain of text fabrics that I seem to have collected over the years. We started to giggle as the words started coming together in a very odd way as we shouted out a combination of food and sewing terms. A creative trip to the cafe was called for and I was asked several times if I needed help as I stood at the counter sketching their espresso machine!

The idea for a cafe scene came to me early on but I couldn't figure out how to add text fabrics in an interesting way. Thanks to my friend Jana for suggesting a sandwich board because it ignited the menu board idea! I had way too much fun making it. I used a variety of techniques including regular patchwork, paper-piecing, three kinds of applique and embroidery.

I am thrilled with how my block turned out even though it did leave a huge mess in my sewing room! And finally the big reveal... my contest entry for the Texting While Sewing Contest entitled "Scalloping on the Bias Cafe". Wish me luck!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

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UPDATE: I'm excited to announce that I won first prize in the contest!

I Love Sushi

2012-07-04T14:33:00.000-07:00

Who loves sushi?

I love sushi... especially this type of sushi! I had lots of fun testing this fabulous paper-pieced "I Love Sushi" quilt pattern by Sonja Callaghan of Artisania. As always, I spent way too much time picking out just the right fabrics...

Any level quilter will be able to paper-piece these simple blocks with ease. The finished quilt is 37 x 43 inches which makes a lovely wall-hanging or baby quilt.

I love adding extra details so the embroidery around the sushi & rice was a pleasant break between the piecing and quilting stages. I even embroidered the name of the quilt pattern on the cup!

The following shows my usual quilting method. First, I doodle on a small black & white copy to figure out how I want to quilt it. Sonja has made it easy for you by including some design pages in the pattern booklet!

Then I trace the design onto Glad Press'n Seal with a Sharpie and once dry, I wipe it down to make sure none of the black transfers to the quilt... especially if it's white! Next, I position & stick the designs to the quilt. I quilt on the main lines through the plastic film, tear it away & add details later. As you can see in the picture, I have cut the centre from the flower. The film tends to be a bit tricky to pick out of intersecting & travel stitches. I use this same method for transferring embroidery patterns to linen.

Once my cherry blossoms were quilted, it was just a matter of filling in the empty space. I haven't done a lot of compact free-motion quilting especially on something this large so I admit I was a bit hesitant and terrified at first. I did some more doodling on paper and quilted a test swatch before I started on the quilt but once I got going it was quite fun and it was a lot easier & quicker than I expected.

After quilting the entire centre panel, I even felt confident enough to free-hand the blossoms in the outer border using only chalk dots marking the centres. The heavy quilting caused the quilt to pull into the centre and distort the shape but Krista came to my rescue. She suggested to quilt piano keys in the brown outer border and it worked perfectly!

Make your own "I Love Sushi" quilt by instantly downloading the pattern from the Artisania Pattern Shop or by running out to select local shops to add a professionally printed paper pattern booklet to your collection. You can find more information & watch some cute videos by visiting Sonja's blog.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Gardening on my Mind

2012-06-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

I started my seeds in newspaper pots this year so when I saw this fabulous "Seed Tray" paper-piecing block by Amy of During Quiet Time I knew that I had finally found the perfect use for that newspaper fabric in my stash!

These 10.5" x 10.5" blocks are quite challenging but very fun to make. I have purchased the first eight garden patterns from Amy's shop and plan to buy them all as they become available!

I may add some other garden blocks such as the magical Vintage Mason Jar Tea Lanterns block by Sonja of Artisania, and maybe try piecing some of my own so that I will end up with a queen-sized garden masterpiece!

We have had a lot of rain lately which means that my plants are small but on the other hand I haven't had to water my garden much! I whipped up Christie Fowler's "Rain Cloud" mugrug from Zakka Style that I was most recently published in.

Speaking of books, you will be able to find an article on my blog in this month's Russian CrossStitcher magazine! I think it's quite exciting because this is the first time to be published in Russia. I will give you all a peek at the article later :o)

Here are some more leaf potholders that I made for a friend's housewarming present a few months back. She loves purples and blues and celestial as you can probably tell by looking at them because they are not my usual colours to work with. I pieced together the fabrics in straight lines but curve-pieced the centre vein of each leaf. I like them even more than these crazy patch leaves.

And last but not least, after 5 years of using my Teacup Pouch every day I had finally worn all the fabric off the handle. It was time to make myself a new pouch... and of course it had to have something about gardening on it... and linen of course!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Paper-Piecing Fun

2012-06-03T23:26:00.001-07:00

This week I was having fun with some paper-piecing! A while back I did some pattern testing for Sew-Ichigo patterns. These sweet & simple "Kitchen Classics" are a wonderful collaborative collection of patterns by Kerry & Penny and can be purchased individually or as a set from their Craftsy Shop. I helped with editing the pattern before it was released but I hadn't actually found the time to sew some up until now. Why did I wait?!

These blocks were surprisingly quick and easy to make. The Enamel Coffee Pot & Vintage Label being the simplest, the Tea Kettle having slightly more pieces but still being very easy to assemble, and the more challenging KitchenAid which was lots of fun to make.

I would definitely recommend these sweet little blocks to anyone. Basic paper-piecing links can be found on their blog as well as free project tutorials so that you can turn your cute blocks into something even more fabulous.

Like all good patterns, these fun blocks can be made with any fabrics and still look great! The choices are endless and I have already chosen fabrics for some more Coffee Pots and Tea Kettles!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Pattern Shop News

2012-05-30T12:41:00.003-07:00

My Quilted Teacup pattern is available in my SHOP. Now you can make your very own Quilted Teacup but be warned that you will end up with an entire collection!

I was lucky to have the very talented Kerry of VeryKerryBerry in the UK test my pattern. Don't you just love her Liberty patchwork Teacup & Saucer? Please visit her blog to read her pattern review.

All PatchworkPottery digital pattern booklets include metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates. These patterns are instant downloads so if you do not receive an e-mail with the link to your pattern immediately, please check your junk mail folder. I no longer send e-newsletters so if you haven't already, please subscribe to my blog by e-mail to receive shop & pattern updates.

I'm planning to release some of my Christmas patterns this summer but I'm still trying to decide which pattern comes next. Which pattern are you waiting for?

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Closet or Fun

2012-05-29T18:54:00.003-07:00

Remember this challenge quilt I made with Habitat fabrics? It has been sitting in the closet since then so I decided to donate it to our school's silent auction fundraiser event.

The money raised will be used to send Hume Park Elementary School students to the Farm to Fork weekend retreat this month on Gambier Island. They will learn to compost, grow, harvest and prepare food.

I titled it "Apple Tree" and finally made a label for it. I ironed some matching fabric onto freezer paper and printed the label directly on it using my inkjet printer. Then I peeled off the freezer paper, let the ink dry and ironed it again to set the ink. I think it turned out fabulous!

Note: Some brands of ink will not set permanently. You will want to make a test label first. If the ink runs, you can use my label tutorial using fabric instead of cotton twill tape.

The quilt that started off as "the ugly quilt" was starting to grow on us while it was hanging on the wall "relaxing" for a week and Claire was sad to hear that it would be going to a new home but happy that she would be going to camp.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Pattern Shop News

2012-05-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

My SpringTime Bag pattern booklet is available in my SHOP! This pattern was originally featured last Spring in Taiwanese craft book Cotton Life No. 5. You'll be happy to know that instructions are now in English. This bag features a flowerpot-shaped pocket and instructions for pillow-cased applique technique. The Butterfly Keychain is not included in this pattern booklet due to lack of space but will be available as a small pattern booklet of its own.

A special thanks to my wonderful pattern testers from across the globe... Veronica from Italy and her blog Purr-Stitch:

and Joanna from Germany and her blog Shape Moth:

All PatchworkPottery digital pattern booklets include metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates. I no longer send e-newsletters so if you haven't already, please subscribe to my blog by e-mail to receive shop & pattern updates.

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Doodles & Log Cabins

2012-05-07T22:14:00.001-07:00

Instead of sewing sunflowers, I have been planting real ones lately! Back in March, I doodled a quilting design for my sunflower quilt and was deciding on thread when the sun decided to brighten my craftroom. I'm eager to get started on the quilting but want to try some variegated thread in the border...

Here's a few pictures of Claire sewing her first log cabin block. It's the first time she has used the "big" machine all by herself. This is also the first quilt we are making together. We were both proud! When I was seven, I remember playing under the quilt frame as my mom was hand-quilting.

Recently, I was featured on Tickled by Inspiration. Be sure to hop on over. Thank you Rachel!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Lonely Crane

2012-03-29T10:37:00.003-07:00

I found this little crane lying in the corner on the floor of my craftroom looking all lonely. It was my prototype and the first crane I paper-pieced using my CraneStar pattern.

I decided to turn it into a little quilt to showcase that first crane. Right now I'm not certain if I will just bind it and leave it as a mini quilt or quilt some back panels and turn it into a pillow like the original CraneStar pattern. If I sew another single crane block, I would position the crane a bit lower. I will eventually add this mini quilt as a free pattern extra on my blog so that those who have the pattern will have another fun option :o)

I designed the free-motion quilting pattern in the blue border to mimic the flowers in the fabric I used for the crane. I love how it turned out (even more-so on the back) and would like to do it again on a solid border! The red thread on cream is nice.

Mr. Scruffy is critically eyeing the lonely crane quilt but I think he likes it because he ended up falling asleep on it!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Pattern Shop News!

2012-03-20T16:41:00.001-07:00

My Teacup Pouch pattern is now available in my SHOP! This digital pattern booklet includes templates for CoffeeMug & HotCocoa pouches, detailed instructions for installing the zipper as well as making the handle and tea tag zipper pull.

All PatchworkPottery digital pattern booklets include metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, fully illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates. I am no longer sending out e-newsletters so please subscribe to my blog by e-mail to receive shop & pattern updates.

Thank you Sonja for helping me test this pattern. Your Teacup Pouch turned out amazing! I especially like your matching tag! To see or add creations made using PatchworkPottery patterns, please visit the PatchworkPottery Patterns flickr group!

Coming soon: SpringTime Bag in April and Quilted Teacup & Saucer in May. Is anyone interested in testing these patterns for me?

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Lovely Scraps

2012-03-15T17:09:00.002-07:00

My fabric scraps have finally outgrown their bin so lately I have been trying to incorporate more scraps into my projects. One sunny morning at the breakfast table, I sketched out this idea for a sunflower made of strips of scraps.

Well... it hardly made a dent in my orange scraps. I cut into some of my freshly purchased fabrics for the background and enjoyed a bit of embroidery. I do believe that Percy Persimmon likes all the orange!

I realized half way through that I needed to glue baste all the petals down because they were flopping all over the place. I will be finishing it off with some yummy free-motion quilting... lots of petals to secure all the scraps and then something fun in the wide outer border. Off to do some doodling!

And here is a scrappy mug rug I made for the VMQG March challenge & swap. I tried different free-motion quilting on each strip! I quite like how it turned out and since I'm unable to go to tonight's meeting I guess that means I can keep it ;o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Crane Star Pattern

2012-03-11T22:08:00.006-07:00

The Crane Star pillow pattern is now available in my SHOP. The Crane Star is a versatile pattern made up of six cranes. This pattern includes instructions for basic paper-piecing technique as well as layout & instructions to make a 19 x 19 inch pillow cover.

Paper-piecing allows the quilter to create intricate blocks with accuracy and ease. The fabric is sewn directly to the paper template. Felicity tested my pattern using her own choice of fabrics which I think looks fabulous. I have enlarged the pattern ever so slightly. Read her review here.

PatchworkPottery pattern booklets include a metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, fully illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates. Try joining rows of half Crane Stars to make a matching quilt or incorporating a single crane into a quilt.

The Teacup Pouch pattern will be available next week. The SpringTime Bag and Quilted Teacup & Saucer patterns are coming soon!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Rainbows

2012-03-11T18:48:00.001-07:00

There is nothing like a rainbow on a dark & dreary day...

This lovely quilt is a collaborative effort to which I added some different prairie points and pieced rainbow binding. I wanted the points to echo the points on the wonky stars and I think it turned out nicely! The fabulous quilting was done by Janet!

Here is the full front and back of the Rainbow Wonky Stars quilt. I also pieced the aqua block on the front :o)

And here it is all washed and folded... super yummy!

Some more rainbow wonky stars appeared in my craftroom. The pieced rainbow stripes were the backing for my wonky star quilt but looked amazing as borders along the top & bottom of the quilt. A herd of cranes were slowly spreading across the floor...

And now for some random cute fluffy Percy cat-ness...

And some more rainbows in Claire's hand! I hope you see rainbows today too!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Feedback

2012-01-15T13:44:00.003-08:00

Today I added a feedback section to my BigCartel shop! I think it's very important to receive feedback from my customers so that I can improve my shop and my patterns.

The button is now on my shop's sidebar as well as in every shop e-mail as a FEEDBACK link. It also shows a link to feedback from my old Etsy shop which I hope helps to relieve doubts about purchasing that first pattern.

Now I'm asking for your help :o) If you have purchased a PatchworkPottery pattern and would like to leave feedback, please click on the image below. Right now I have no feedback for my 355 sales in my BigCartel shop.

I can't wait to hear about your shopping experience. I want to know if the pattern was easy to print & assemble, instructions easy to follow & if there any mistakes no matter how small. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Mosaic & Magic

2012-01-05T19:15:00.003-08:00

I made this mosaic today showing some of the things that I posted on flickr in 2011. I can't say I made it all in 2011 because patterns published in books take about a year before you can tell anyone!

Today was a wonderful sunny day that was too warm for a scarf. It reminded me of a little quilt I made in August 2010 that I totally forgot about! I called it "Sunny Day Neighbourhood" and it started out as a Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild challenge to use leftover triangles from a flying geese block...

I just can't get enough of these cute little houses and the fun loopy quilting...

And yes..."neighbourhood" is spelled the Canadian way. My blogger preview window doesn't like it ;o)

Yesterday, I received a lovely e-mail from one of my fans in the Ukraine..."Hello Laurraine, Looked at your work and simply fell in love with each one. Do you have a magic wand? This is something unreal! You are an extraordinary person with special hands and creative head. Good luck to you." I thought it was quite hilarious because there just happened to be a magic wand in my studio at the time!

Claire asked Santa Claus for a real magic wand... not those plastic sparkly light-up ones which are obviously just toys... a real wand... a wood wand. She was absolutely thrilled to find this amazing wand in her stocking Christmas morning. She makes sure that everyone knows it is made from "100% wood" which is apparently a VERY important detail! Oh... and apparently it works!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Butterflies!

2011-12-28T18:16:00.003-08:00

The Butterfly Potholder is now available as a PDF pattern booklet in my SHOP! PatchworkPottery pattern booklets include a metric conversion chart, stitches & terms section, fully illustrated step-by-step instructions, and full size templates.

It's easy to make a Butterfly Potholder to suit any decor from modern to country. Just slide your fingers into the pocket wings, tuck the rickrack antennae under your hand & you are ready to take that blackberry pie out of the oven!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)