Pattern Play on Vacation

While perusing my Netherlands photo set on Flickr for this post, I paused (as I often do) on a few of my favourite pictures. While traveling, I am often taken in by colour and pattern (aren't you?) and end up taking a lot of pictures that may not say much about the trip, but bring it all home for me in a different way. Photos like this from the Waterlooplein Market in Amsterdam:

tagger spray paint

felt balls

mini wrap skirts

I am repeatedly drawn to repetitive images. Over and over.

wit fiets in racks at the kroller muller

As mentioned here, this is what B was repeatedly drawn to. Over and over.

someone's gotta drink it- Bryan's beer selection, Watergraafsmeer huis

And my vice...koffie verkeerd (a Dutch latte).

koffee break with Josh on the Kalverstraat, Amsterdam

Maybe there will be some beautiful colour and repetitive pattern in your weekend (one can always hope for sewing time)!

Do you EQ?

I only know one person who owns EQ and isn't afraid to use it, and that's my friend "two-n-Dianne" that you've heard about a few times before. She's the designer of our guild mystery quilt, which she did on EQ!

Well, EQ is publishing version 7 soon and if you have a blog yourself, you could win your very own copy as well as one for a giveaway. Hurray, you won't have to make a thing! Check out this post on doyouEQ for info.

I've never owned or used EQ but I would LOVE to. I have lots of designs in my head, but from what I've heard EQ can really help out with illustrations, fabric quantities, uploading actual fabric swatches and more. I would really dig this program and it would look so fab on my new lime green laptop (I'm guessing...since I've never seen it in action...EQ, that is).

7 Random things you don't need to know....

Krista tagged me. First of all, I have to say how happy I am to have a new blogging friend named Krista with a 'k' -- all you "Blogging Amy's" watch out, it's only a matter of time before we catch up and take over the blogosphere....mwah haha!

So here goes:

1. My husband was the first stranger to introduce himself to me at university. We started dating three years later and married 5 years after that....15 years ago.

2. When I was 8, I swam 100 lengths of the Belleville, Ontario swimming pool and raised the most money of anyone in a charity swim-a-thon. No one thought I'd swim more than about 20 lengths, so when I went door-to-door, smiling sweetly, they sponsored me $0.25 to $0.50 per length. Suckas. In the local newspaper they described me as "the spunky 8 year old". They even gave me a trophy for Top Fundraiser! My dad swam too, then waited (a long time) for me to finish.

3. I've seen Mt. Everest in person. In 1990 I trekked to Gokyo Re in Nepal and had a most magnificent view of the world's highest peak. That was really tiring and probably the hardest physical thing I've ever done (yes, harderthan swimming 100 lengths, and because I know someone will ask, childbirth was a piece of cake compared to that day at 5500 m elevation).

4. I hate olives.

5. For one year, during university, I owned and rode this:

6. I can do a killer witchy cackle and am regularly called upon to do so at campfires by my kids, as in "my mom is a real witch you know...do it mom...do the cackle!"

7. Math was my best subject. Ever. But geography was my favourite.

So, who wants to go next? How about Carol and Amy? This is only a wee notch above a chain letter, so if you're not into it, that's okay with me, but on the upside, you don't have to make anything for this blogpost!

Amsterdam

We love it. B's mom was Dutch and he has several cousins and an aunt living in Holland. He has visited many times and before we had children, the two of us had two wonderful vacations there with his family. Two years ago, we took T & D for 5 weeks and had an incredible time. Friends (and a few cousins!) were amazed that we planned to spend so long in such a little country, but we never ran out of things to do, had lots of fun 'cousin' events, traveled up north to the Island of Tessel on our own for a week, went camping and saw so many sights. We rode fiets (bikes), ate pannekokken, cheese and frites mit mayonnaise, B drank about a million beers (I stuck with koffee vekkert - the Dutch version of a latte); we took trams, trains, busses, ferries and borrowed cars. We visited castles, museums, art galleries and the Anna Frank Huis. Finally T said "if we have to visit one more 'cute old town' I'm gonna diiiieeeeeeee."

It is almost impossible to take a bad photo on Amsterdam! I have hundreds of great shots of the gorgeous canal houses, like these ones.

see the houses in the reflection behind the sleeping kitty?

This little crooked house is likely one of the most photographed in the city.

Yesterday the most beautiful thing arrived in the mail. When I saw this on Heleen's blog, I knew I would buy it the second it hit her Etsy shop. I was lucky enough to grab it up before anyone else did! It arrived (no doubt through ash clouds over Iceland), all beautifully wrapped.

Look at this gorgeous bag! I am so unbelievably excited to carry this around with me!

It is beautifully constructed with the perfect trims, corduroy body, taped seams, and a jaunty orange gingham lining with perfect pockets.

Heleen and her sister find discarded stitcheries in thrift shops and repurpose them into one-of-a-kind messenger bags. They also use felted sweater panels and always chose the perfect embellishments to finish off the bags. Check out their shop - I bet you'll find something you like there.

Now I can take Amsterdam with me wherever I go!

Sunday Stash on Monday

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a fantastic weekend. Mine was a blur: Roxy/Quicksilver sample sale with kids Friday night, then set up retreat, 14 hours at retreat Saturday, B & T overnight hike with Scouts from 7 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday, D on a sleepover, 8 km walk with doggie Sunday a.m. followed by whole house vacuum & folding of multiple loads of laundry, retreat unpack (sort of), afternoon of family games and pizza downtown with friends. I am super tired and attempting to keep my blood pressure in check because this is gonna be a very busy week.

I intended to jump on the "Sunday Stash" blog- bandwagon yesterday, but decided to take a much-needed break from the computer. So friends, now I give you Sunday stash on Monday:

I'm probably the last quilter to acquire this delicious Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt. My LQS is having a 30% off anniversary sale - DANGER - so I did a bit of stash-building last week.

My stash reds tend towards burgundy, so I just had to buy these nice, clear, bright ones. Really, I need them! My very talented flickr/blogger friend Carol just published this great pattern and my plan is to make this for my sister's family in time for Christmas. You read it here: Christmas project underway (sort of) 8 months in advance.....will she get it done, you ask? Keep an eye on me, and get ready to dish out some encouragement. You know how these Christmas projects always start with the best intentions, then summer comes along and the garden needs attention and before you know it, it's Hallowe'en costume-making-time and suddenly it's Dec.24th!

Moving along, these next ones are just because.

A fun Kaffe Fasset spot in brown & aqua, his Paperweight in lime (my all time fav Kaffe print) and a Kona solid, likely destined for sashing on some project or other.

And now to my busy week.....things may be quiet here for a few days!

Chinese Coin Swap - Success!

Another successful swap! Mary received the one I made for her (rather quickly, I might add. She lives in the Portland area, so our mini's didn't have too far to travel....just a quick jaunt up and down the I-5).

Here is the selvage mini I sent south:

It is all selvage strips that have been topstitched onto a 3" strip of muslin. I sew a line through the white edge of the selvage, which catches the coloured part of the overlapped selvage and attaches both to the muslin foundation. I purposely cut generous strips of selvage when I take them off my FQ's and yardage. I want to retain some of the fabric print so that any selvage projects are not merely white strips of words, but also a fun record of the prints I've been using. For these coins, I tried to include as many colour dot sections as well as some fun words....like "Wild Thyme". The blue sashing and binding is a Kaffe Fassett shot cotton and I simply quilted it with running stitches in a hand-dyed perle cotton.

It was so much fun and really quick to put together (after all, it's only 13" by 9") that I made myself one, too! You only need a 3 1/2" long piece of selvage, so they go a long way.

And now, here's the mini that Mary sent to me. The coins are only 1/2" high!

I love that it's so scrappy. It's beautifully pieced and she attached the binding to the front with a machine blanket stitch. She also sent along some really fun scraps (including some selvages!!) Thank you so much for this sweet swap, Mary!

Quilting retreat tomorrow, so I must get into the kitchen and prepare. I hope you find time to do something you love this weekend, too.

Earth Day

She's a beaut, isn't she?

Ford's Cove, Hornby Island, B.C.

Tidal pool, Helliwell Park, Hornby Island, B.C.

This is one of my favourite places on Earth. Where is your's?

Happy Feet

Ooooo, look at them! They're so happy in their new ankle socks....hand knit by my mom. My mom is a genius knitter and her specialty over the past few years has become socks. She's working towards 150 pairs! Her hand knit socks have become the coveted door prize at my quilting retreats, many of my friends are buying them 6 pairs at a time and we can't get enough of them here....I think my family of four must have about 20 pairs.

A while ago I asked her to try some ankle socks. I like ankle socks best and these are my current favs - they arrived in the mail yesterday. Each pair is made from different yarn she picks up from every wool shop she finds on her and Dad's travels...I've got blends of soy, silk, cotton, wool and even some wacky stuff called 'chitin' made from crab shells (check it out, it's for real....really!). I can tell you that particular yarn is called Tofutsies because I actually bought that skein at my LYS.

Unfortunately the porcelain tiles in my hallway and kitchen wreak havoc on my precious socks, so I'll be taking a few pairs home for repair this summer. Mom has started a new heel style (see the picture) that is supposed to be longer-wearing.

If you're a knitter and you want more info, I know nothing. I just wear 'em people.

Thanks Mom!!

Angelic Potholders

Yes! There is such a thing!

Ariane is my Potholder Pass II angel, and she really took her duties seriously. Look at the generous package I received in the mail today:

Not only did she make two beautiful potholders that will work perfectly in my red kitchen, she also renewed my Ginger Blossom by Sandi Henderson stash (which is getting dangerously low) with THREE fat quarters. Yowza, that's nice. I adore the coordinating stitched card she made as well. Thank you so much Ariane!! You can visit her blog here and see what else she's been up to.

I've been so inspired by all of the blogposts this week (and it's only Tuesday!). I'd say everyone is suitably inspired by spring because there is an abundance of creating going on right now in blogland....have a look around!

Happy Camper

Although it was gorgeous, sunny and warm today, I just wanted to get this little project all quilted, bound and finished for myself. I just love these 'minis'. For the purposes of the swap groups, a doll quilt measures 24" square or smaller and a mini is between 6" and 12" square.

Since I made this for myself, the size didn't really matter. It finished up at 11" X 14".

I used a 3" wide muslin strip as a foundation and topstitched the selvage pieces onto it, over lapping each one and stitching a line really close to the bottom edge of each selvage. I tried to include as many sections of colour dots and fun words as possible, to avoid lots of blank white rectangles. That's how I came up with the name "Happy Camper" for this piece. See it there?

Quilting with embroidery stitches was no problem (Arctic bamboo batting) as long as I did the poke and pull method (one stitch at a time) in lieu of trying to load multiple stitches onto the needle.

I have been collecting selvages since the fall. Cutting them with a generous 3/4 to full inch of the fabric keeps things colourful and provides a fun reference for the fabrics I've been using in my work over the past several months. I told someone the other day that I wasn't really a pink person, but seeing this quilt makes me realize that I so am a pink person. At least when it comes to fabric! Much of that has to do with my mystery quilt.

Speaking of which, I am a couple of clues behind on my piecing....perhaps that's what I'll work on tomorrow.

What are you up to this week?

The morning after….

Friday night sew-in, that is.  I spent part of the evening making myself a little doll quilt.  I’m going to try and quilt it with embroidery….not just the running stitch that you see here, but some back stitch vines, lazy daisy flowers, french knots and whatever else comes to mind as I go along.  I’m embroidering through the top, batting and backing.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

Time was also spent organizing for today.  In a few minutes, I’m off to a guild sewing day.  We all work on our UFO’s (many people will be finishing off their show quilts, getting them all ready for our June 11/12 show).  I’m going to do a demo this afternoon on proper measuring for, and attaching, borders and bindings so quilts will lie flat (in other words, how to avoid ripple-y binding syndrome).  We’ll also talk about how to make and attach a 4” hanging sleeve to the back of show quilts.

I hope you have great plans for your Saturday!

Penguin Peek

Sorry, but this is all you get:

Mini QT Swap for April: Chinese Coin

Until this mini arrives safely in the hands of 13insanepenguins, this is all I can show ya! I can tell you that my coins are all stacked up between some Kaffe shot and quilted with running stitch in an Elin Noble hand-dyed 12 wt perle cotton

I'll be staying in and sewing tonight....why? because it's Friday and that's what all the cool girls do (see my sidebar -------> over there for the details). Plus, I'm spending the day with friends at the sewing and craft fair. After that I'm sure to be busting with inspiration so I'll just have to sew!

Have a fantastic weekend!!

Nesting....

Seems my April Mini QT swap partner and I are birds of a feather. In complete isolation, hunkered down in our respective sewing rooms about 800 km apart, we both created mini quilts featuring a nest of three little blue eggs on a brown branch amongst cherry blossoms! Mine arrived today...look at what Lisa made for me:

I just love that we were both inspired by the same tree, and had a shared vision of spring that included a nest full of hopeful little eggs. That's some fantastic quilter's karma right there.

It's about 81/2" square. I just love this cheerful little number! When Lisa received the one I made for her, she wrote me an email saying I was going to laugh when I saw mine. I did have a chuckle at this fun coincidence.

Last night I made my April swap mini...the design this month was "Chinese coin". I had a ball making this little 12" quilt and I love it so much I'm going to make a second one for myself. I can't wait to show you, but my swap partner gets the first look. Tomorrow I might throw you a little sneaky peek, though.

All in all, spring 2010 is turning out to be a very happy one for me!

Zipping along...

In my never-ending bid to avoid the big projects on my never-ending to-do list, I started making these fun zippy pouches in between rounds of watching Master's golf last weekend. I had a terrible head cold, so something small was the limit of my focus.

I pieced together a bunch of scrappy strips, then cross cut them to form the middle panels between some organic linen/cotton blend. I think colourful zippers are the bees knees and I decided to go all matchy matchy with the linings. If you're going to all the trouble (and honestly, it's not that much trouble, really) to sew zippers into things, you might as well put something surprising and fun inside that zip!

There are literally tons of tutorials on how to build lined zippy pouches, so rather than reinvent the wheel, you can check this out, or this, or this, or simply google "zippy pouch tutorial" and go from there. I came across this helpful idea and put it to use on some longer pencil pouches:

Along with these, the pouches are intended for the boutique at my guild's quilt show in June. The hardest part for me is to put them away and not gift them to people before the show! I know you're all with me on that....almost every quilter I know is a chronic gift-giver. Generally a great thing, except when you're trying to stock a boutique!

Hey, notice anything unusual in today's photos?

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Ahh, those would be shadows! Which means the sun is shining brilliantly. Il fait du soleil! Big time! Yippee.

Enjoy. I am!

Be Still

Be Mine

Dicentra spp.

Something for Everyone on TV this Weekend

Just when you thought the Master's couldn't get anymore exciting, CBS crafted an opening sequence featuring SEWING!!! Imagine my surprise when B called me into the playroom from my sewing room just now (where I was actually getting something done) with this news "hey, they've got a sewing theme on the Master's today." Hunh? Wha? Sure enough, interspersed with majestic images of Tiger, Phil, Vijay and the boys strolling along the rhododendron-lined fairways, a slo-mo embroidery machine was stitching out the green jacket logo, one glorious stitch at a time. Golf + sewing! The perfect match!

Did anyone else see it? Cos, you're all probably glued to your HD screens just waiting to see what Tiger will do next, right? Who am I to kidd? Last year I spent the ENTIRE Easter Sunday in my jammies watching golf. We had just installed an HD widescreen with cable, and ya know, I could see every blade of grass on those gorgeous Augusta greens!

Golf. Who knew?

Not me.

I only play if there is astro-turf and windmills.

Working my way down the March list....

My latest finish happened just in the nick of time....on March 31st I put this little number in the mail to Lisa in Nelson, B.C. She is my March partner for the Mini QT Swap on Flickr.

It is about 8" X 10". My inspiration came from the blossoms that fill my neighbourhood every March (the swap theme was "Spring Fling"....perfect!). I posted some blossom photos from a beach walk here and then used the close-ups for ideas on how to place the individual flowers on the branches, and how to do the flower centres. Luckily my Pfaff has a 9mm stitch that was perfect for representing the yellow stamens. All of the blossoms are free cut from the same pink print fabric and fused down with transweb.

The nest is a bunch of thread snippets and frayed linen fibre that I couched on with a free motion zigzag and then fluffed up a bit. The eggs were the hardest part. I made an oval shaped yoyo and stuffed it, but achieving smooth curves was impossible (and, you know, the deadline was looming!). I love quilting small pieces with embroidery floss: the green area is seed-stitched with 2 strands of DMC variegated green floss.

A binding just didn't look right, so I self-faced the quilt by sewing the quilt right sides together to a rectangle of the same fabric that's on the back. Then I carefully poked my scissors in & cut out a large oval from that rectangle (leaving at least 1" of fabric all around), flipped the works right side out, pressed the seam allowance to the back and needle-turn-appliqued the facing fabric to the back. Sorry I forgot to photograph the back to show you what I mean (once again, deadline!! no time for extra pictures!).

It arrived safely and Lisa wrote last night to say she loved it and it was on her wall already. Nice! She's still working on my quilt in return (and said I will laugh when I see it...hmmm I wonder if blossoms are coming my way, too?). That would be funny.

No hail yet today, the sun is shining, but it's blustery out there. Flynn's ears were flapping in the wind on our walk this morning.

Hope you're having a springy day!

All Hail April

If April showers bring May flowers, we should be buried in blossoms in a few weeks' time. I cannot believe that we've had hail fall almost every day of the past 9 days. Crazy! Luckily there are brief rays of sunshine between the nasty black clouds that are literally charging across the sky and unleashing vast amounts of precip at will. The only mild consolation I take is in my imagination: maybe those hail pellets have formed from moisture brought all the way from Hawaii....yeah, that's it. Tropical hail -- I wish!

Yesterday was spent quilting and binding 7 potholders. I think I've mastered a new technique for joining my binding at the end. I've been using an awkward 45 degree cutting-then-piecing-the-two-ends-method (which is nerve-wracking, getting a rotary cutter that close to a finished quilt!). By sewing the ends together you avoid the bulk that comes with tucking the tail into the fold of the beginning of your binding (still with me?). Anyhoo, before I dig a myself into a bigger hole of confusion, let me just say that Christina at The Sometimes Crafter has a method that is working a treat. Check it out, you won't be sorry. Her photography, quilting and blog design is beautiful, so you may want to stay a while.

And the best part? It is just one more way I can use my secret quilting weapon: Roxanne's Glue-Baste-It (just google it for retailers). I LOVE THIS STUFF! They don't pay me, honest. With Roxanne's you only need about 6 tiny dots along the fold of your beginning binding to get a firm hold on the inserted tail. Trust me...read Christina's tutorial, then give it a try.

What is she doing with all those potholders, you ask? I'm starting to build a collection of quilted items to sell at my guild's quilt show in June. We always have a "Member's Boutique" where we can sell items (with a small percentage of the income going to the guild's charity quilt program). If you live in B.C., or are trying to figure out a good time to visit Vancouver, then may I recommend the weekend of June 11 and 12? We'll have over 250 fabulous quilts made by our members, 2 stunning raffle quilts, a merchant mall with 15 incredible vendors, a tea room (yum!), an education display and lots of friendly faces hosting this, our 10th bienniel show. Sure hope you can make it. Here are the details:

Lions Gate Quilters' Guild

Album of Quilts

June 11, 9:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

June 12, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Delbrook Recreation Centre

600 W.Queen's Rd., North Vancouver, B.C.

Admission $6, children

Any guess who is heading up the publicity committee?

75th Post Giveaway Winner!

Mornin' !

After a fun dinner with neighbours last night we came home and I remembered the draw! B helped me by drawing the winner from my list of Followers on the sidebar....

Betcha can't read that, can you? It's KIM of SKEENA DESIGNS! Congratulations Kim! I would love to send you the needle wallet and a couple of other wee treats, but I'll need your mailing address (please use my email address over there in my profile on the sidebar).

There just might be a large, furry someone with buck teeth and floppy ears hopping around tomorrow, dropping chocolate eggs here and there. We got things started yesterday by making these delicious Easter nests (SO easy, just squish the rice krispie treats into a buttered muffin tin and pop in 3 little eggs!).

Last Easter I made these, but now I can't remember where I put them for the rest of the year! Oh dear.

I used a tutorial by Kim at RetroMama to sew the eggs from scraps. Sew cute!

Hoppy Easter, all!