"This Hurts Me More Than It Hurts You"

Let me start by apologizing for this post.  I wrote it several months ago, but it's taken me this long to gather the courage to publish it.  I promise you I'm not narcissistic as one might think with this seemingly self-indulgent stream of pictures.  But I'm often curious about the face behind a name and I thought you might be a little curious about what I look like.  On a good day.  Sort of. 

So as painful as this is for me, here's a "behind the scenes" look at a photo shoot I subjected myself to last May ...

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I know I'm not alone when I say I don't particularly like having my picture taken.  But when you're foolish enough to write a book and the publisher REQUIRES a mug shot ... AND it's gonna be seen by at least a few strangers around the world ... well ... ya kinda wanna look your best, right?

For me, that meant coloring my hair a few days earlier.  And then having my first haircut in ... too many months.

(Not bad, but too windy)

I know you can't really tell here, but I actually put makeup on.  I went all out with concealer, eyeliner, mascara AND lipstick.  Yeah, I really spackled it on.  Most days it's just chapstick.  Or lipgloss.  If I'm lucky.

Then I dug out my nicest pink outfit (more of a lavender pink) - a twin set from my sister.

(I think a bird just landed on a branch above me and I was hoping it wasn't going to poop on my head.)

I wanted a pretty nature background, but trees blossom for all of 48 hours here so if you blink you miss them.  In fact, a wicked storm stripped this poor tree bare the very next day.

(Trying the other side)

A good friend of mine took these pictures.  (Thanks Maggie!)  As you can see, I was having a hard time taking this whole thing seriously.  But these few shots ... out of almost 200 ... (told ya she's a good friend!) ... are ones where I look ridiculous on purpose ... as opposed to the other 190 ... where I look ridiculous without even trying.  Clearly I won't be appearing on America's Next Top Model any time soon.

(Back to my left - apparently it's my better side.)

When my 9 year old came in the room as I was writing this post, she exclaimed how beautiful I looked.  (Love her.)   And then - as children are apt to do - honestly clarified that I NEVER look like this in real life.  (Still love her.)

She's quite right.  It's amazing what good light, a studied angle, a talented photographer and the miracle of photoshop can do for a girl.

Seriously.

(I was insisting that I was NOT old enough to be Channing Tatum's mother, but only just barely.)

Anyhow, here I am ...

... on the "About the Author" page of my book. 

So that's me.  Wife, mother, crafter, blogger, occasional bad parent ... and most recently new author.

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Okay, that was one Bandaid ripped off.  Now that you know what I look like, tune in Monday ... I'll tell you how to find out what I sound like ... yet another Bandaid for me.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Another Year to Celebrate

Wow.  Today is the second anniversary of my blog.

I'm trying to remember life without a blog.

I know there was a time when I didn't tear my fabric stash apart looking for the perfect print to match the icing on a cupcake I didn't make.

Or dig through my china cupboard looking for my favorite tea set (Laura Ashley "Hazelbury") I never use.  And then make tea that will be too cold and gross to actually drink by the time I finish taking pictures.

Or polish my favorite heirloom teaspoon for the first time in over a decade. 

Or find my really pretty lace hankerchief to prop as a napkin ...

... 'cause we all know how TOTALLY PRACTICAL that is.

Nope.  Can't remember. :) 

Thank you so much for keeping me company.  I always appreciate it when you visit.  I love it when you take the time to comment.  And I'm grateful when you let me know that my little blog makes you happy.

Cheers y'all!

Love is in the Air

Amy and I had so much fun with the Holiday Tag-a-Long we did at Christmas we decided to do it again ... for Valentine's Day!

Here's the first one.

I need to thank Amy for cluing me in to the whole scalloped scissors thing.  I got mine on eBay.

And the backstitch - although not my favorite - was necessary to create the delicate scrollwork.  I also really like the red heart - it reminds me of enamel.  I like to think Faberge would be impressed. ;)

This one was fun.  I cut out a heart from freezer paper, ironed it to the fabric and just went all Colonial knotty for an hour or so with graduating shades of the same color family.

I struggled for a bit trying to come up with a good idea to finish it off and finally came up with the little bow. 

I know ... predictable.

Reminds me of a friend's new pair of shoes.

And then finally this ... 

It all started with a lovely print.

I got it from Shabby Fabrics a while ago, thinking it'd be great for fussy cutting.  

And believe it or not, this was my first time ever tea-dying something.  I usually go for whites.  But the inspiration fabric has a creamy background and my white lace was too ... white.  This lace just needed to hang out for a few minutes in a mug with a bag if Irish Breakfast tea. 

I hope you enjoy these little romance-inspired tags.

You can see Amy's over at nanaCompany.  (Love that girl!)

The tutorial & template is always available on my sidebar.  And please remember to add your tags to our Flickr Group.  We'd love to see what you come up with in the spirit of Valentine's Day.

So do you feel some tag love in the air now too?

C'mon.  You know ya do!

I Think I'm Turning Japanese

Here's a little something I've been playing around with ...

You may think this is a confusing departure from my beloved "shabby chic" style.

You get no argument from me.

But I really do love these colors and prints.

It's weird, right?  I can't explain it. 

All I know is that I fell in love with "Japanese Taupes" almost a decade ago.  I don't use them very much.  I mean, I play around with my taupe stash all the time.  But for some reason I don't very often sew with them. 

I think maybe I feel a little like this ...

But I also have a growing collection of Japanese quilt/craft books & magazines - which I paw through pretty much daily - and I fantasize about emulating the style I see on those pages.

And I have this lovely stack of Yoko Saito's latest Centenary Collection (by Lecien) I've been dying to use. 

I guess you could say Yoko Saito is my Alice Cooper. 

... (?!) ...

LOL!

Anyhow, I started playing around with Centenary - and a few older Yoko prints from my stash - the other day after my daughter asked me to make her something very specific for school (that's the only hint I'm giving you).  My imagination took her request and ran with it. 

If it turns out even half as good in real life as it exists in my imagination right now I'll be very happy.

But this is always the trickiest part for me - getting an idea out of my head without totally ruining it.

Fingers crossed.

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

Remember my "Sugar Sugar" quilt? 

It was the first quilt Lecien commissioned me to make for their Fall 2011 Quilt Market booth.

I wrote a free pattern which is available on Lecien's website (scroll to the bottom).

You will always find a permanent link near the top of my blog's right sidebar under Tutorials & Free Patterns.

Well, almost a year and a half later it finally came back home to me. 

Apparently it took a detour to a few trade shows in Japan and China.  I'm really proud that my quilt was used to promote one of my all-time favorite fabric collections, "Flower Sugar".  (Exhibit A - my Farmer's Wife quilt ... still patiently waiting to be longarmed ... )

Anyhow, I was a total doorknob when I made it because I forgot to take pictures before I sent it off for it's tour of duty.  So I thought you might like an up close and personal look now.

I designed it specifically to showcase an entire fabric line.

I think this quilt would look great done in almost ANY collection - or even scraps. 

It's also super easy to make bigger or smaller by adding or subtracting a few columns and changing the length.

I even turned the design into a great tote with a small-scale version.

We're in the dead of winter these days.

The bright, happy colors in this quilt really cheer me up.

Sew Deerly Loved and Shabby Fabrics both have really good selections of Flower Sugar fabric available, if you're interested.

I had recently mastered FMQing and I remember being so happy to make good use of my new top-stitching skill ...

I wrote a tutorial on how to do this very design.  Again, the free tutorial is in my sidebar. 

Well what do you know ... the only things between you and your own version of this quilt are a few clicks, a few hours (ok, may more than just a few) and a yummy stack of fabric.  (And some fusible web, unless you prefer to hand applique ... and some batting, of course.)

Now you have no excuses to not quilt this weekend. ;)

Small Favor

For all you lovely people who are reading or have read my book, I have a little favor to ask.

Apparently, positive reviews really do help book sales ... like this holy-cow-make-me-blush-all-the-way-to-my-toes review over at Oh Sew Retro.  Thank you, Mary!

If you would be so kind as to pop over to Amazon and write a nice little review about "S is for Stitch", I'd be very grateful.  (It doesn't need to be long!)

There's also a "Like" button you can click.

Thanks a bunch! :)

PS:  Still recovering from Sunday's Downton Abbey Episode ...

What do you do when you're watching Downton Abbey?

While I'm hanging on the edge of my sofa waiting to find out what happens to poor Mr. Bates, I make these.

Little ones.

Lots and lots of 'em.

I have 144 yo-yos so far.

Don't ask me what I'm going to do with them.  That is totally, utterly and completely irrelevant.

At least I hope it is.

Otherwise, this is just the latest in a long chain of evidence that I'm going cray-cray.

So is stacking them & taking their picture, I suppose.

I won't tell you how many tries it took me to figure out that 6 yo-yos were the most I could stack before they fell over ...

or how many photos I took.

Hope you have a nice weekend - and that you find a little cray-cray time for yourself too. :)

Book Signing!

Who:  Yours Truly

What:  "S is for Stitch" Book Signing

Where:  Out of Hand

12-6449 Crowchild Trail, SW  Calgary, Alberta

When:  Saturday, January 26th @ 1:00 pm

I'm very excited and proud to announce that Out of Hand has invited me to do a book signing this weekend.

Out of Hand - an amazing local shop where I always find beautiful and unique things like this and these - is hosting their annual Open House and I was honoured to be asked to participate.

I'll have a few original samples from the book with me too.

So come by and say hi - it'll be fun!

Pom-Pom Awesome

I finally got down to business and made pom-poms for my felt skate ornaments (pattern available here). 

It's been years since I made a pom-pom. 

I remember getting a pom-pom making kit for Christmas when I was 9 years old.  It came with these great plastic pom-pom makers in 3 sizes and instructions on how to make little animals.  That kit definitely contributed to my life-long addiction to crafting.

I have no idea what happened to them, but thank goodness for Clover - a few years ago they came out with pom-pom makers in 4 sizes!

I know, I know ... there are a few easy ways to make pom-poms by winding yarn around a fork or even just a piece of cardboard.  I'm not a total tool snob.  But I just really wanted to have these in my crafting arsenal.  I hope my daughters will have as much fun with pom-poms as I did/do.

So now they can.

And those pom-poms really do finish off the skate perfectly.

Ok.  I think that's it for my felt ornamenting until next Christmas.  We finally took the tree down yesterday ... our record is Valentine's Day, so compared to that we're a month early, LOL!

Check back with me tomorrow ... I have a little announcement.

What I've Been Up To ...

Hello my dear friends!  I've missed you so much.  Can't believe it's been almost 2 weeks since I was here. I didn't intend to keep away for so long.  But I was out of town for a few days visiting my mom for her 70th birthday.  Poor mom has to celebrate this wonderful milestone with her first cast ever - she slipped on some ice and broke her arm.  But my daughters had no end of fun covering her cast with flowers and curli-q's and the like.  Then my sister was here for a few days.  (You remember Auntie Jill ... although we didn't have time to scour farmland & backroads in search of another elusive winged creature.)

There was also our 17th wedding anniversary - we celebrated by going to see The Hobbit.  We don't get out on "dates" much so it was a nice evening out.

Plus I've been working very hard on a few new patterns.  They've been taking waaaaay too long ... probably because I was so happily distracted by these ...

(Still not done the skates ... just have to stuff and lace ... and make pom-poms.)

So even though I don't have anything officially ready, maybe you will forgive my absence if I show you a little sneak peek of my favorite new design.

Last summer I was invited to join a sewing group of the most lovely ladies.  We are the Applique Circle of Friends and we meet once a month.  A few months ago (ok, August ... told you this is taking too long!) it was suggested that it would be fun to find a cute little notions pouch pattern that we could all make and then use to store & carry our supplies to and from our gatherings.

Of course I offered - or more likely begged - to have the honour of designing something.  Collectively we decided on the right size & shape.  A few design element ideas were tossed out.  Then I went home and got straight to work.

I've turned this project into a class and taught part one to my Applique Friends a few weeks ago.  Part two is later on this week.  (Can't wait!)

If you are falling in love with the fabric you see in these photos, please don't be mad at me.  It is called "Petit Fleur" by Lecien and it came out over a year ago so it's really hard to find.  I just did a quick search and found a little bit here (one of my favorite online fabric shops) and here. 

I used them for my book (the girl alphabet quilt) and I don't have much left.  I die just a little bit every time I cut into them because I know once they're gone ... 

But because this project is pretty small, I somehow managed to convince myself that the world would not come to an end if I just used a very teeny tiny wee little bit.

No sign of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Yet. 

But I'm sleeping with one eye open.

Just in case.