I'VE BEEN MEANING TO MENTION...

A few weeks ago The Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild posted about the class that I'll be teaching. The workshop is called, "How to Design a Paper Pieced Block." Here's the write up and the details: 

When I learned to paper piece (from VMQG’s very own Sonja Callaghan) my brain exploded with possibilities. There were a ton of great blocks out there already but the challenge to design my own blocks was too irresistible to not give it a whirl. I didn’t jump in right away though, it was intimidating… all those pieces!

People seem to LOVE or really not love paper piecing but I’ve never met anyone who feels indifferent about it. If you love the process and the graphic nature of it then I bet you’re ready to design your own block. All you need is a basic understanding of paper piecing and you can join me on April 22 at the Croatian Cultural Centre, as we walk through the process of designing your own individual paper pieced blocks.

Registration is open! email workshops@vancouvermodernquiltguild.ca to register or to be added to the waiting list.

When: Sunday, April 22nd

Where: Croatian Cultural Center

Cost: $50 members; $65 non-members (fees are non-refundable)

Also on May 26th, I will be teaching a workshop for The Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild. The location, times and price are all still to be announced BUT we will be making Cassette Tape Zippy pouches! Small, medium and large. Yay! And if we have any left over time, maybe we can squeak in a Match Book Needle Book too! Fingers crossed. I'll keep you posted closer to the date.

Speaking of the FVMQG, Sherri Chalke and I have been invited to be the featured quilters at their Creative Stitches booth on March 16 and 17th at the Abbotsford Tradex. It's coming up quick AND it was a HUGE honour to be asked.

So there you go, hopefully we'll bump into each other at at least one of those venues!

Okay now for HAVE YOU SEEN: Sarah Watts' Craftedmoon enamel pins? BACK THE TRUCK UP! They're the BEST! I may have bought a few at Quiltcon...or three...but who's counting: wink, wink! And for the record, I hope they get to open that mini golf course one day!

And Last but not least RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR PLAYLIST: When deep down a Youtube rabbit hole I discovered this band called the FRIGHTS. The song is called "You are going to hate this" BUT I don't! I HEART IT!

 

OH KERMY!

Nope it's not Tuesday. It's Friday! This weeks newsletter is on a different day beacuse I wanted to share with you KERMY! And today was my day to share. Back in July Kerry Goulder of Kid Giddy and her twin sister Sue of Moss and Lotus asked if I'd like to be a part of their Mug Club Sew Along on Instagram. Everyone was invited to sew one of their 12 mug patterns. Have a peak at these hashtags #TheMugClub and #TheMugClubSAL. These are all projects people have already sewn. Super cute right!

I chose the bonus pattern Kermy that came with Kerry's pattern, The Mug Club Part 1. It truly was a no brainer. I have quite the soft spot for him and all things Sesame Street or Muppets. The pattern was a quick and easy sew, not to mention how tickled I felt as he came together. The longest part was the embroidery. offt! Doggie! But, totally worth it! I'm thrilled with my tea towel! ... and I got to use pom-poms so yay! And I even cleaned my oven for the photo shoot so double win!

The second photo is of Kerry and Sue's mug patterns The Mug Club Part 1 pattern can be found HERE and The Mug Club Part 2 pattern can be found HERE! Aren't they adorable! People have put them on zippy pouches, made mug rugs... ooh! Wouldn't a pillow be fantastic! Really if you're in a pinch for a quick Christmas gift they're perfect!

Sticking with the Kermy theme. RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR PLAYLIST: OKAY GO doing the MUPPET THEME SONG! Yayyy! OKAY GO does the BEST videos and this one is no exception. BUT WAIT! While I was down the rabbit hole that is YouTube I found this OKAY GO TED TALK, "How to find a Wonderful Idea". So good! (I love TED TALKS).

P.S. Did you see the Quiltcon show announcements went out yesterday? My Fangirl and Cause you can't, you won't, and you don't stop quilts made it in! 

SO WHAT'CHA, WHAT'CHA, WHAT'CHA WANT?

It's been quite a year! To top it off I've been flooded with requests for teaching. Yay! I'm super excited about that since I've been dying to get back at it. I need your help though. The requests coming in are very generous and are open to teach pretty much whatever I want! This is where I need your help... I have loads of ideas but "What'Cha" want? Do you want one day workshops on:

  • Paper Piecing? (specifically the Cassettes?)
  • Cassette Tape Zippy Pouches/ Book Cover?
  • The Control Freak pattern?
  • The Cassingle?
  • The Boombox? Or the sewing machine cover? (these would be a two or three day workshop)
  • How to create you own Paper Piecing pattern?
  • Repeat Lino Cut printing on fabric?
  • Letters in the Third Dimension? English paper pieced and machine sewn (embracing the Y-seam! Not as scary as one would assume. I can't wait to show you the new one I'm working on! Eep!)

*All my classes include colour theory.  

Which would you choose, or do you have any other suggestions? I'd love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below and for your time, one commenter will receive a free Lysa Flower Pattern of their choice! Easy Peasy just like that. 

Speaking of giveaways! Did you see these ones? Stephanie from Patch & Dot is giving away some fat quarters plus other goodies (ooo! I really want those pencils!) AND that ray of sunshine, Natalie (HungryHippie Sews) is giving away NINE of her favourites (products, patterns, and books)! Can't beat that!

Now you're never going to guess what I'm recommending for your playlist this week! While I was down the YouTube rabbit hole I found a Muppets version of the Beastie Boys doing SO What'Cha Want! Perfection.

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!

LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

I've said it before, I'll say it again... by far my favourite part about writing patterns are when you guys sew them and make them completely your own. My intention has always been for my patterns to be a jumping off point... and boy you guys sure know how to nail it! 

  • Kim (@iadorepattern) slayed me with her crisp monotone cassette tape block. I'm eagerly awaiting her embroidered label. Remember the collection Good Hair Day? That super cute collection for Windham Fabrics was hers! 
  • Chelsey (@chelseylanefeilds) recently made a Boombox pillow. With piping!
  • Angelini (@suchastitch) has finished the front of her boombox. Gah! I'm loving the prints she's used.
  • Saru (@sewaftersix) has just begun her Boombox sewing machine cover journey. I'm LOVING her fabric pulls! Even though technically the sew-a-long is over, the instructions are still up on the newsletters. This fall I'll be compiling the instructions into two tutorials: one for the sewing machine cover and one for the zippy pouch.

At the beginning of the summer I made myself a nice hefty list... and now that we're down to our final weeks I'm getting them done! It feels SOOO good! Gosh, I love deadlines! Top of my list was to catch up on my ABOUT page and get the PRESS/TEACHING/SHOW section up to date. It's been a busy year... I hadn't realized how busy until it was all laid out. A few highlights that I haven't posted about yet were:

In both cases I am so honoured and tickled to be included with such talented makers. It's all been pretty surreal!

HAVE YOU SEEN: Felice Regina's (@lamlunasol) Quilting & Sewing Enamel Pins on Kickstarter? They are SO snazzy!!! I WANT ALL OF THEM!

Which leads me to...RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR 80's PLAYLIST this week: A good old Canadian band. Loverboy! TURN ME LOOSE and LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Which is how we all feel when we go fabric shopping right?! 

PS. I met Loverboys' front man, Mike Reno in the late 90's. Sadly he wasn't wearing his red pants!

 

 

BOOMBOX SEW-A-LONG! HERE WE GO!...

Y'all want this party started, right? Y'all want this party started quickly, right? Get this weeks BOOMBOX sew-a-long PDF instructions... HERE.

In it you will find the schedule, how to figure out the dimensions for your sewing machine cover, a list of extra supplies, fabric AND instructions for the first block: the radio (the top band). Lots of things to decide this week and a little bit of sewing. Next week there will be more sewing, so if you feel behind, there'll be time to catch up. Oh and if you've never heard of Bosal foam and are wondering what's the difference is, I found this link for you.  

I'd like to add that the Boombox pattern is a leaping off point, either keep it exactly the same or change it up. Don't want to make the equalizer, no problem, make more knobs. See easy! Also, if making the tape open makes your head spin, just sew the front all together as one piece. It's allowed. It'll still look awesome! 

I can't wait to see your fabric selections and progress! Remember to post on Instagram under #lysaflowerpatterns, #boomboxsewalong or #sewinglikeamothertrucker. If you're not on Instagram, feel free to post on the Lysa Flower FACEBOOK page. That's also a great place to post if you have a question. 

RECOMMENDED TOOL: Love it or hate it, hello seam ripper (again)! We spend a lot of time with this tool, don't we? I don't mind ripping any more but I've become quite fussy about which seam ripper I use. My favourite seam ripper is a Seam-Fix by Dritz. I LOVE how skinny the poky thing is (highly technical term). The rubbery ball on the end, I CAN NOT live without it! It's great for pulling out those straggler threads. And yes I decorated them with poop emoji stickers. HA!

Warning there are 1/4" pieces in the pattern. Hang in there, you can DO IT!  Oh did I mention I'm a TED TALK junkie?

RECOMMENDED PEP TALK: TED TALK, Grit: the power of passion and perseverance by Angela Lee Duckworth.

RECOMMENDED FOR YOUR PLAYLIST: NEW 80's sounding DREAMCAR! Dare I call them a super group?! It's a mash up between No Doubt's band and the singer from AFI. Totally RAD!