CAN THAT FIT INTO A STOCKING? IT'LL FIT DEFINITELY UNDER THE TREE!

This time next month we’ll all be recovering from the flurry that Christmas time is! Can you believe it?! I have to admit, this year I’m quite excited about all the hoopla. I love to put on a Christmas record… make hot chocolate… put on a fire and write out my Christmas cards… er, at least that’s what I fantasize doing each year. The great thing about Christmas, there’s always another one next year to try again. Fingers crossed, this is the year!

It’s a busy time of year so I’ve compiled a little list to help you with your Christmas shopping experience… (One for them, one for you, one for them, two for you… wink, wink!)

MAGAZINES

I have a Present Sack pattern in Issue 80 of Love Patchwork and Quilting. I’m thinking you can justify this two ways:

1. Get the magazine for yourself and make it for your favourite person (I also think this pattern would lend it self to a pillow or a table runner).

2. Roll that baby up and put it in your favourite sewing person’s stocking! (Who might be yourself!)

Mollie Makes just came out with a new issue called Mollie Makes - a Quilting special! My cassette tape zippy pouch is in it, along with a whole bunch of other neato patterns! (#1 and #2 can be also applied here)

BOOKS

I’ve been collecting Uppercase Magazine since issue 24. I’m a huge lover of all things Uppercase (she has three fabric collections too!). When Janine invited me to share a Quilt Story in her latest Encyclopedia series, Quilted, I was super tickled. Not only that, it was a pretty important project in my creative journey. I’m on page 180/181!

ART

The more times I’ve circled around the sun, I’ve asked myself how much stuff do I really need? Then I asked what feels like a real treat anymore? My answer? Art! I’ve begun a small collection but it’s growing and I LOVE each and every piece SO much. This December Bettina Harvey, Chelsey Hornsby, Puneet Datewas, Dominque Norville, Bambi EdLund, Laura Clark and I are in a group show at the COUP, called Square Roots. If you’re local, join us at the opening December 13th at 7pm! We’d love to see you! All pieces will be 6”x 6” ($80) or 8” x 8” ($100). I will be showing my cassette tape tower that I’ve been posting on Instagram! And a few other pieces (that aren’t cassettes. I know “gasp!” lol!) .

CARDS

This lovely lady Gail Mayerscough is who I bought my Christmas cards from last year. Check out her new collection HERE!

VINYL

Want something extra ordinary for the maker in your life? This clear vinyl with white hearts made my heart skip a beat. Check it out at Natalie Santini’s, Sew Hungry Hippie’s shop HERE.

CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

I’m madly in love with Bambi EdLund’s Beatrix and Midge’s Instagram account. Her pets are HI-LARRY-US! I highly recommend going into their highlights and scroll all the way to the right to “Bea’s photo bomb”. That one cracks me up every time! Anyhoo! They also have a shop where they release these snazzy ornaments. They sell out fast so you gotta be quick! The hardest part will be figuring out which one… or maybe buy them all! HERE

QUILT PATTERNS

I L O V E this pattern by Devon Iott. What maker wouldn’t want this pattern? (just between you and me, I applied #1 and #2 to this. Hey I figure, everyone will benefit from snuggling under it right?! Purchase justified!). Buy the digital PDF or the printed paper version HERE.

Let the mayhem begin! And all the while have a safe, cozy holiday season with your lovely people. I wish you all the very, very best! xo

WE GOT THE BEAT!

Wow, another summer is almost gone! It’s hard to believe this time last year I had a bazillion tiny squares on my work table partially sewn …and here we are this summer and it’s in the pages of Love Patchwork and Quilting Issue 75. I’m pretty delighted about it, dream come true! I’ve always loved their magazine. I was especially thrilled about the photos they took. They’re always so dreamy!

This issue came out a few months ago in the UK but it’s now on the shelves in North America. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see that I had a heart to heart with my mom to not buy up all the issues. Chapters and Indigo carry them here in Canada… that is if my mom hasn’t been there yet! Wink, wink!.

Hey Heart-breaker: Pop culture and music has always been a huge part of my work. The quilt in LP&Q was named after the Go-Go’s, We got the beat. It influenced the vibe and the colour way big time. Which means I’m always on the hunt for new music and when I find a girl band, EVEN BETTER! Right now I can’t get enough of Dream Wife! They are a UK feminist group that started as an art school performance project in 2015.

Being brave: I completed my first #the100dayproject! And it was HARD. But it was such an incredible experience. I rolled into a second one the day I finished the first. A little a day goes a long way. It took me 75 days in to figure that out-HA! I posted all of the first 100 days in my IG stories and stored them in my Highlights. I also created a “Sketchbook” on my website to show case my favourite ones. These ones I haven’t add yet. I wanted to show you first!

Hot summer WALLS?!: Have you heard of the Vancouver Mural Festival? It happens every August. I was super happy to help out my Thrive sister Carmen Chan on her first mural. Her wall was HUGE and it was so hot out! Holy moly! Her glorious mural can be found by 33 Acres Brewery.

The superstar muralist they brought in was Shepard Fairey. You know, the OBEY guy. LOVE! I was super pumped to see 30 years worth of his work at the Burrard Art Foundation. AND! I was able to pick up one of the 300 posters printed just for the Vancouver show. I’m extra pumped about that! The show runs until September 28th but if you can’t make it I highly suggest watching Beautiful Losers and Exit Through the Gift-shop. Two of my all time favourite movies that he happens to be in.

Have a great rest of the summer and a happy getting back into it this fall to you!

A CASSETTE TAPE BOOK COVER TUTORIAL!

My husband and I recently went to Mexico for a wedding. There were excursions, ruins, snorkeling, salsa, laughter and sand... lots of sand. But I have to admit my happy place (and not just when in Mexico) is when I'm tucked in somewhere with a book. It can be a journal, a magazine, even a great kids picture book. You name it, I'm pretty much in love with anything that has two covers with pages in between. So it's probably no shock that I created a Cassette Tape Book Cover PDF Tutorial just for you! It can be downloaded from HERE. I've also archived it under my "SEWING DESIGNS", for whenever you need it.

The first book cover I ever made (the yellow one) was for a swap at the Pacific Northwest Modern Quilt Guild Meetup back in 2015 that the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild had put on. It was so much fun and I got the chance to meet my partner in crime Jonna (my pattern tester extraordinaire)! Check out her floral version of the book covers. The centers of the cassettes are brilliant! 

In writing the tutorial Jonna (@bespokeoutlaw) and I discovered if you enlarge the medium Cassette Tapes pattern by 15% on your printer it makes a perfect cover for a 5" x 7" notebook. If you increase the small pattern by 39% on your printer it perfectly covers a small moleskin! Just remember to increase or decrease the same percentage for the spines (cassette bottoms). 

P.S. I don't know about you but I'm still basking in Jenny Haynes (@pappersaxsten) work. Have you seen what she's been working on lately? O M G!

P.S.S. One of the benefits of being away on a trip is MAIL! Happy mail! I received my copy of Modern Quilts! Yay! And my packet from THRIVE MASTERMIND, a new group I joined. I'm super duper looking forward to it!

RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR PLAYLIST: Elvis Costello & The Attractions- Everyday I write the Book (the Lady Di and Charles look a likes are not too shabby!) ALTHOUGH my very favourite Elvis Costello moment was on Saturday Night Live, when he changed mid song and broke into Radio Radio (getting himself banned from the show for over a decade). AND then in 1989 he jumped into the Beastie Boys set on SNL and started playing... you guessed it... Radio Radio! Genius!

SNAP TO GRID

I'm beyond thrilled to see SNAP TO GRID finally hitting the shelves! Honestly, I've never had so much fun sewing with a collection before! When Kim Kight asked me to sew for her 80's inspired Spring 2017 collection I happily through myself into the design challenge. I had planned to make a SEWING MACHINE BOOMBOX at some point BUT when I saw this collection it just HAD TO HAPPEN! And with many cheers of, "I want to make one too!!"... I'm pleased to release the official BOOMBOX SEWING MACHINE COVER TUTORIAL today! You to can get it HERE.

As soon as I saw the Big Pill Dot in Black I knew the CASSINGLE also had to happen. This 60" lap quilt (brilliantly named by Kim), tickled every Memphis Group bone in my body. It's the largest, simplest and fastest to make of all my patterns. (It's only 14 weeks to Christmas... WHAT! Did I really just say that?!)

Cotton + Steel have the BEST selvages, am I right?! Which lends themselves so well to the The CASSETTE TAPE mini quilt cassette labels AND it allowed me to showcase ALL of the collection! FUN FACT: Jonna came up from Washington to sew this quilt with me! There were many giggles, squeals and most importantly much dill pickle dip! 

Second FUN FACT: The CASSETTE TAPE pattern is needed to make the zippy cassette pouch. Make it to fit inside the Boom Box Sewing Machine Cover or just to have all by it's self. (More about that next week-wink, wink!) 

Speaking of endless possibilities with this collection, you saw Kerry Goulder's Hot Skates Quilt right? SO GOOD!

When I went to Spring Market this past May, I wanted to take some bags with me sewn in the Snap to Grid collection BUT I had run out time. Instead of scrapping the idea I commissioned Reece Montgomery (www.happyokapie.ca) and Sherri Chalke to make some.

Reece modified Sara Lawson's Polaris Bag along with my CASSETTE TAPE pattern piece "D". The result was this stunning bag! I HEART IT SO MUCH! It makes me SO happy just to look at it!

Sherri and I went to Quiltcon 2016 together. For the trip she had made a bag using Sonja Callaghan's, Bag PDF Pattern AND CASSETTE TAPE pattern pieces (I posted about it HERE). I've always loved Sherri's bag, so you know what I asked her to do right. The bag was PERFECT for the trip. I was always getting stopped in the isles with people asking about it.

Phew! So much to chat about this week. And I haven't even mentioned the SNAP TO GRID thread pack. Gah!!! How do Cotton + Steel always get it so right?!

RECOMMEMDED FOR YOUR PLAYLIST: Just like the Snap to Grid collection, the possibilities are endless... so I've settled on, THE CURE: Friday I'm in Love. Happy week everyone!

#putacassettetapeonit

I've been off the grid lately. I've been in the depths of writing my boombox pattern (side note spellcheck is pretty sure when I write "boombox", I mean boob box... interesting). 

While I've been underground I have been enjoying the notifications from Instagram. It seems people are using my cassette tape pattern and putting them on zippy pouches! So clever! I was chatting with my friend Dana (@danahannah310) about how we should, instead of Portlandia's "put a bird on it", we should flip it to "put a cassette on it"!

Which brings me to these photos. This is Sherri (@sherrichalke). She's a ray of sunshine! She tested the Hard-core Mixed Cassette Tape Pattern and  when she was done the mini quilt, she used the cassette pattern pieces and combined them with Sonja Callaghan's (@artisania) bag pattern (second, side note: Sonja taught me how to paper piece!) Sherri and I went to Quiltcon 2016 together and I must say the bag was quite the hit. But I think also because of her sun shiny smile!