Friday Favourites: Acapulco Bags

Storage! Funky retro storage!

Or...

Horribly tacky, tourist storage.

I picked these up off the floor of my Mom's garage. She'd had a garage sale a few weeks before and shockingly, shockingly, no one bought them. I do remember them hiding in the closet of my parents' room and I have a vague recollection of the trip to Acapulco where these originated. Obviously they were well loved because my Mom found a bottle of rum from the same trip in the bags.

And now they hold in progress quilt projects. Hubby even kind of likes them. Then again, anything is probably preferable to a plastic bin in the corner. The small one holds my Maple Leaf blocks (more to share on those next week).

Still Life With Chair

Behold the cuteness. And I don't mean the little guy's chubby legs or the Monsterz quilt from Rashida or the handknits. Behold my chair. In my sewing room. And in a week I will be able to park my behind in that gorgeous new chair and sew.

Until then I am packing and cleaning and researching permanent design walls and buying outlet covers and and and...

Cabinet of Natural Curiosities (Weekend Reads)

For years now I've been treated to pictures of butterflies by The Monster. She's happy, she draws a butterfly. She's sad, she draws a butterfly. She's apologizing, she draws a butterfly. We often find pictures hidden under pillows, stuffed in bags, and not so furtively placed on the table while working.

Lately, the butterflies are getting more detailed and they are evolving into fantastical bugs and birds that she invents, then names. It is quite awesome to see.

I pulled out this book this week, in hopes of feeding her imagination. It was purchased just before the baby was born, but it didn't take. Now it is a different story. We had a discussion about inspiration and catalogues, then I let her loose. I see a lot of apology snakes in my future.

So Close Now

The other night Hubby and I stayed up very late cleaning the floors in our basement. We had to clear out rooms, give them a good vacuum, then wash them in anticipation of carpet going on. I couldn't help but think of the many late nights we spent with mops and a Shop Vac over seven years ago when we flooded.

We are FINALLY in the home stretch of a reno that started, unintentionally, with a flood in the summer of 2005. A month of rain + a house built on clay soil - any sort of waterproofing on a 50 year old house + a cracked foundation = lots of water in the basement. Lots.

It felt wrong to be celebrating colourful floors, finished baseboards and awesome wallpaper in the wake of Sandy and so much destruction for so many, but I had to remember that this was born of our own disaster. And we've worked very hard in the years since to get to this point.

It's kind of been like the Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly.

  To finish the basement we had to waterproof.
  To waterproof we had to dig a trench around our house.
  To dig the trench we had to rip out the driveway and tear down the fence.
  To tear down the fence we had to build a new one.
  To build a new fence we had to grade and landscape our front and back yards.

And all that before we could think about walls, toilets, and colourful floors.

So soon, very soon, the Dining Room Empire will change slightly. I will get my own sewing room (that room on the right there) and the baby gets his own room. I can't wait.

Wink Wink

Wink Wink

34" by 44''

Special Techniques: Improvised Curved Piecing

Bloggers' Quilt Festival Category: Baby Quilt

Made with and completely inspired by Mark Cesarik's Cosmic Burst line. It came out months ago, but I've been playing with these blocks and this quilt since March. That whole baby, new book, working, summer thing got in the way of finishing this top though. The last stitches in the binding finally went in over the weekend.

Check out all the process posts here:
The Fabric
Making Blocks
Layout Options 1
Layout Options 2
Finished Top
I absolutely love sharing the process like this. I don't always do it in such an intense burst (minus the finished quilt) because I'm always working on a million things at once. Or nothing at all.

And, as much as my little girl would love to keep this quilt for snuggles and fort building it is on its way to a baby boy. My husband actually commissioned the quilt for a friend and we'll be delivering it shortly.

Sharing this as part of the Blogger's Quilt Festival that Amy Ellis does twice a year. She is an awesome lady! And make sure to check out all the other quilts.

Weekend Reads - Launch

In an effort to appease my husband and focus on the family a little more I've decided to not quilt on the weekend. No work (even if a lot of my quilting is for fun) on Saturday and Sunday. That means I'm getting some relaxed mornings sitting in a comfy chair, tea in hand, reading. The girls read with me while the baby naps or we all watch cooking shows while I flip through cookbooks and magazines. Needless to say, I have a million things I could share with you.

This week I'm launching Weekend Reads, a new series here on Dining Room Empire. Each weekend I'll share with you what I'm reading, whether it be fiction, cookbooks, magazines, or quilting books. Perhaps it will involve a little book review, perhaps not. It might just be a capture of my weekend reads.

Take this weekend, for example. We went away to Banff for the weekend. A whole weekend of wonderful eats, total maniac time for the girls, some easy winter hiking/tourist activities, wood burning fireplaces, and lazy mornings. I actually got to read part of my novel yesterday. Now that was a treat!

Right now I'm reading Sweet Tooth, the latest from my favourite author, Ian McEwan. Curled up in a quilt (yes, I bring my own quilt to a hotel) I luxuriated in the time to get lost in a thrilling novel.

Lucky Penny Stripes

With no discredit to the designer, whenever I write the words in this post title I automatically default to Lucky Stripe. Blame it on Mad Men or a lack of sleep. I can say, however, that this fabric is a helluva lot nicer than a pack of cigarettes.

The colours are incredibly rich in the Lucky Penny line. I fell in love with these wavy, dotty stripes as soon as Allison Glass previewed them. The rest of the line is gorgeous, but I was definitely smitten with these. So much so that Allison sent me this stack of fat quarters. I've been fondling them since they arrived, a little too much like Gollum and his precious ring.

Those of you who know my work can recognize that the colours are a bit earthy compared to my usual choices. Sometimes, however, you can't explain the love you feel for something. It might be the arrival of winter, it might be that the richness is tempered by the amazing grey and that awesome chartreuse, it might just be because the fabrics are so damn pretty.

I'm not entirely sure what will become of these. Perhaps something that does indeed connote a lucky stripe, or some curves or, or, or...

Wine Gums Top

Well, I'm managing to sneak in bits of sewing here and there. The baby is napping well and my little girl loves to putter around the house on her own, when we aren't having tea parties. Phew.

It didn't take much to finish this top. Worked on in snippets (hah, get it Amanda?) it comes together rather easily. I love this top. I love the concept, I love the colours, I love the construction. I'm looking forward to the finished project.

At one point I can grand plans to make 4 square panels of these and use them as quadrants, all in opposing directions for a large quilt. It is SO hard for me to work small. But I decided to stay true to the original pattern size so people can appreciate it for what it is.

The Start of Mountain Meadows

Hmmm.... I'm not sure about these.

I had a chance to play with my green scraps recently and this is where I started. I did sort the scraps by value/colour to begin with. This is the first go around, with predominantly light greens. My overall concept is to have light and dark areas, to mimic the race of light across the mountain meadow. I don't want each area to be a solid block though, that's why there are some dark bits mixed in. The dark blocks will be the opposite.

This is also the beginning of adding in the idea of flowers in the meadow. In a real meadow the flowers are small and scattered across the hill, that's why there aren't many here. I've got some pink, yellow, orange, and white scraps set aside to make more flowers.

However, I'm not sure about these. Maybe the green chunks are too big? Maybe it is too random? Should I stop being so literal with my interpretation and make these blocks instead of one giant slab quilt? What I do know is that I need to play a little bit more before I make any more judgements.

Maple Leaves

There have been many bursts of patriotism in my life over the years:
- Silken Laumenn winning a silver medal at the 1992 Olympics after a brutal accident
- When our former Prime Minister Jean Chretien attacked a would be burgler with a soapstone sculpture
- Watching any Olympic hockey, but especially Crosby's goal in 2010
- The moment I see the mountains as I round the corner on the road to Banff, the splash of seals from the bow of my boat on the Halifax Arm, or the endless gold and blue of a Prairie sky
- Every time the gay marriage and abortion debates are raised in other countries I am thankful for our protection of freedoms
 - And when I saw Amy's Union Jack quilt

Yes, I'm serious about that last one. I have no special affinity to the UK, unless you count Earl Grey tea and Masterpiece Classic series. But Amy's quilt made me think about whether a Maple Leaf quilt could be made just as cool. She had confidence in me to do it and this weekend I finally tried.

I wanted to adapt our national flag into quilt form. The red portions are all pieced slabs - a technique we describe in Sunday Morning Quilts. The proportions are that of the real flag. And I eyeballed the actual leaf based on the original. Using fusible I cut the leaf out from a slab then fused it to a white background.

There are more blocks to be made, possibly in other colours. Let's see where this goes! Cool? Not sure about that, but I do think it is pretty neat.

Green Scraps

Much to my dismay, I'm still not getting much time to quilt. I would love to sit at the dining room table and make a giant mess with this gorgeous fabric. Alas, the mess being made in my house is from the painters and tilers working away in the basement. This, of course, is a very good thing. But between that and this, all I can manage on my mountain meadow quilt is a little organization by value.

Dream Big

I made a quilt. It's taken me almost a year. It was very intense to make. Both in terms of the effort in the quilting and the emotions it brought up. It's finally been delivered to the recipients.

Last August Jennie's husband died quite suddenly. He was helping his daughter on her bike on the streets of Brooklyn when he collapsed. Jennie was only someone I knew through her blog, tweets, and the occasional email. But I, like many others, needed to rally around her in a mass of support for this unexpected loss of the love of her life. We made pie, we sent notes, we read her posts about the grief. And I, well I did what I do, I sewed.

I think it was the fact that Jennie could have been me. Two young girls, a vibrant writing career, and a relationship with a great husband. Her story was tragic and life-altering and it could just as easily have happened to me. I've never met Jennie and so embarking on a queen sized quilt seemed overly generous to people I know. But it felt like the right thing to do - for me, yes, but for Jennie and her girls.

Grief can be all consuming and very lonely. It matters to know that people are thinking about you. And even though it wasn't my intention to take so long to finish, it is nice to have these gestures after the fact, when the initial support has gone away. I hope to meet Jennie one day, give her a hug, and watch our girls feel each other out then walk in front of us, hand in hand in their coordinating Saltwater Sandals. For now, I can only encourage her on her journey to Dream Big.

Dream Big

Approximately 80'' by 90"

Scrappy letters in low-volume fabrics, pieced then fused

Machine quilted at home with Aurifil 50wt

Fabric contributed by Jen Yu

Friday Favourites: Pigtails and a Sunny Colour Combo

My Evil Genius is obsessed with her hair. And I must say, it thrills me when she asks for pigtails. She has a slight curl to her hair so they look exactly like their namesake when she wears them. It is impossible not to smile when you see them.

I am also obsessed with this turquoise - green - yellow - and orange colour combo. I've always love the orange/turquoise contrast. My house is dominated by it. Lately, however, I've been adding in the green and yellow. A definite favourite right now.

Wine Gums in Progress

When we were writing the book I was in awe of Amanda Jean's quilts. She specializes in making use of the teeny tiny scraps. It's a great use of fabric, but all those pieces do mean that even a small quilt takes some effort. Don't be fooled by the size. You get great impact and an amazing use of fabric. And truly, it is hard to appreciate the scale of some of these quilts from the book.

It wasn't until we were giving our schoolhouse at Market that I could appreciate this. And now that I am out and about giving trunk shows I realize that I need to share these quilts to show more quilters the awesome opportunity presented by these designs. The first of Amanda Jean's little pieces quilts I'm tackling is Gumdrops.

I actually started this quilt in March, when I got my new scissors. And when cutting up little pieces of fabric was about all my big ol' pregnant body could handle. The little pieces then got put aside in favour of the baby and other work. But after my last trunk show I decided they needed return to daylight and be put to use.

Of course, I had to do things differently than Amanda's pattern. I have such a hard time following patterns. This time, however, it was unintentional.

In the pattern Amanda suggests fusing the scraps to a lightweight fusible BEFORE cutting the shapes. I neglected to read these instructions before I started cutting out my gumdrop shapes. That meant I would have to add fusible in tiny pieces, after the fact. That bit of work did not appeal to me. But, I do think you need some stabilization of the pieces to the background prior to assembly.

This piece has you sew down your applique and quilt as one step, so the pieces need to be stabilized prior to basting.

Instead of fusible I rummaged through the girls' craft supplies for a glue stick. Yup, a plain old glue stick. A little bit of glue on the back of each piece tacks it to the background. Then you can sew your strips together, baste, and quilt. As long as you don't coat the back there is no residue left after quilting and washing. You also don't get the stiffness associated with even a lightweight fusible.

As a bonus, this becomes a craft project with a bored preschooler missing her big sister at school all day. An excellent alternative to the endless tea parties.

Talk

I love to talk. Ask anyone who knows me, it's true. When I can't stand to hear one more word from my girls because all they do is talk talk talk talk talk talk I step back, remember my parents, and sigh knowingly. I'm lucky I'm still loved.

And I love to talk about quilts. Especially quilts. That's why I get such a thrill each time I head out the door with my suitcase of quilts. It always means that they get to see the light of day again (oh, the joys of living in the chaos of a reno) and it means I get to talk quilts.

At the front of the room a stack of quilts waits for willing volunteers to strain their arms holding up the big ones while I bounce around chit chatting with my hosts. With a gentle tsk I shoo them away from helping me set up because I like everyone to get the reaction when they see the quilts. I would also be tempted to start telling their stories right then and there. Those stories need to wait until the room is still and I take my place upfront. That means the business of the guilds must be attended to and everyone has their friends beside them. After what is always a lovely introduction by my host I start talking. And if it wasn't for questions or the need to vacate the hall I probably wouldn't stop.

Every quilt does indeed have a story. Sometimes it is a short one, with a focus on the process or the inspiration. Sometimes there is so much to be said that the volunteers tire from holding up the quilt while I yammer on and on. But the stories need to be shared. It isn't just about a pretty thing or a warm bed covering. Likewise the book has a story and I love to tell that one too. That's why you will find me in community halls, stores, and even on the street talking away.

I am always so happy when I get the call or the email to have me talk. Even more exciting is that people want to listen!

Currently, I'm booking trunk shows and classes well into the New Year. If you or your guild are interested, check out my classes page or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you!

Cosmos Blocks

 

Isn't this fabric loverly? It is the new Cosmos Collection by Laura Gunn, produced by Michael Miller. Paired with her awesome Painter's Canvas.

I must admit that while I've always loved Laura's fabric and have purchased bits and pieces before, I've never used it. It is just so different from the rest of my stash that I felt unsure what to do with it. There is a clear painterly quality to the prints that set them apart. Not surprising considering Laura is an artist! So this time, when Laura sent me a charm pack of her latest collection, I decided to stop fighting my stash and use Laura's fabrics with Laura's fabric. And what a smart decision it was.

Such a simple quilt. The charms, in both the Painter's Canvas and Cosmos Collection, paired with big chunks of Painters' Canvas in vibrant colours. I think it is a rather modern bit of piecing that really does highlight Laura's fabrics. Admittedly, it felt kind of lazy to do something so simple. But I don't care. I love the big blocks of colour, the texture of all the prints, and the final result.

Once quilted, this one will also be destined for Camp Kindle through the 100 Quilts for Kids blog drive.

Laura graciously shared the charms with me. I purchased the additional Painter's Canvas from Hawthorne Threads.

100 Quilts for Kids - The Donation

The wonderful Katie at Swim, Bike, Quilt is hosting the 100 Quilts for Kids blog hop and quilt drive, along with the DC Modern Quilt Guild. Have you heard about it?

A series of posts from a tonne of bloggers highlighting great, and easy quilts. Perfect for easy construction or group work. In other words, perfect for quick, gorgeous quilts. Perfect for donation. Rather than a central quilt drive and delivery, however, she encourages us to make and donate a quilt locally. (After having done the work for Quilts Recover, I completely get this!)

Today, rather than highlight a specific quilt, I want to highlight the giving portion of this project.

Recently, my husband and his crew had the muddy pleasure of working on the new buildings at Camp Kindle. Camp Kindle is the summer camp built and run by the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta. Nestled in the foothills, surrounded by aspen and spruce forests, the camp is a refuge for kids and families living with and surviving cancer.

We look at our own kids and know that we are tremendously lucky. We also know that should we face the challenges of cancer so directly that a place like Camp Kindle would be a lifesaver for all of us. As one family shared with us, camp is where you can go and not have cancer.

The camp ran all summer, even as the finishing touches remain. As Hubby and his crew grumbled about the mud and hour long drive to get to work each day the first campers started to arrive. And when they saw the first kids, some with IVs and chemo treatments, they immediately shut up. That's when Hubby came home and informed me that I needed to donate some quilts to the camp. He well knows the comfort of a quilt, of something handmade wrapped around you.

Today we were able to visit the camp. We gathered the kids, the rest of Hubby's employees and their families, and journeyed to the gorgeous fall vistas provided at Camp Kindle. The camp, Foundation, and many volunteers were hosting the trades that worked on the camp for a BBQ. It was merely wonderful to finally see the place and more importantly, speak to families and counsellors who truly make the camp what it is. Hubby and his colleagues may have used their tools to put the buildings up, but it is the campers and counsellors who make the camp what it is.

And I took a quilt with me. The camp staff decided that it would be best used in the Rekindle Clinic - the on-site medical facility. Luckily for the camp they do have 4 quilts for the 4 hospital beds - donated by the wives of a local fiddle group! But when they have to change over beds the quilts aren't available.  And having extras to cuddle are always welcome.

It is such a small thing, really, to make a donate a quilt. Early on in my quilt career I gave everything away - baby quilts, wedding gifts... Then I started hoarding the quilts because I couldn't pick a favourite. But now is the time to pass on some creations. And to keep doing so. Such a small thing.

The quilt I donated is the bold and rather easy To a T quilt. 

Made from a pattern I drafted for the Modern Blocks book.

Friday Favourites: Continuous Bias Binding

Up until a few months ago I was deathly afraid of continuous bias binding. As afraid of it as I am of falling and failure.  Then I had a project that was just begging to be bound with a bias stripe. Begging for it. So I gritted my teeth, consulted the interwebs, and our book (Amanda wrote great instructions for continuous bindings with mitered corners). Then I dove right in.

And it was easy!

Yes, it requires patience. Yes, it requires more fabric if you don't feel like doing any math. But it is so worth it. For the effect it gives, for the feel of the binding. (And, for many, for the wear of the binding.)

Now I feel like I have another tool in my arsenal to make each quilt uniquely mine. Not to mention to fuel for another favourite - custom bias tape - but that is for another time.

Not Quilting

And this is why.

Baby, breast pumps, baking to spend time with The Evil Genius while The Monster spends all her day in school (oh, how she misses her big sister), and tea to keep me awake. What you don't see in the Dining Room Empire is the boxes of this year's canning escapades, a suitcase full of quilts for my trunk shows, the jolly jumper and dog bed, and the messy kitchen just beyond.

My only 'quilting' these days is buying fabric and sketching. But it is isn't the same. I'm desperate to sew, to make a mess with my fabric, to create.

"How do you get it done?" They ask.
"Get what done?" I answer.

Summer Party Salad (Recipe: Potato, Tomato, and Green Bean Salad)

It was time for a party.

I've avoided having people at the house for well over a year now. We are simply living in too much chaos. No matter how much I clean there is simply too much crap around, there is nowhere for anyone to be without staring at the detritus of our daily existence. And I find it infuriating. Oh, then there is that whole three kids and incontinent dog thing.

That being said, it was time we celebrated. Business is going well for Hubby. It was our 10th anniversary. The book is doing well. We're surrounded by a wonderful community of friends. Name the reason, we had an excuse for a party. So we invited our community of friends and all their kids over for a party. They deserved a solid thank-you for all the support, chearleading, and playdates they've given me over the last year. And I know that they don't care about the pile of laundry in the hallway or the ironing board in the dining room.

I made salads, a lot of salads. One of the salads I made was this potato, tomato, and green bean salad. It is a summer staple for our family. Really very simple, a good use of the CSA staple potatoes and the green beans from one of said friend's aunt's garden.

It was a glorious night that called for little cooking and loads of kidlets screaming while we parents drank beer. So I chopped, roasted some chickens, someone brought a poached salmon, and we ate. The kids ran around like maniacs and most likely caused my neighbour to drop the price on her house a little more. All the more room for kids and late nights with friends.

Potato, Tomato, and Green Bean Salad

2 shallots or 1/6 of a red onion

2 tbsp red wine or sherry vinegar

6 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp grainy or Dijon mustard

1 tsp honey

1 pint cherry tomatoes

12 small red skinned potatoes, cut in half or quarters
small bundle green beans

Finely chop the shallots or onions. Top with vinegar and let sit while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Halve the cherry tomatoes and place in a large bowl. Trim the string end off the green beans.

Place the potatoes in a pot of cold water.  Bring to the boil. Once boiling, cook the potatoes for XXXX minutes.  Check your potatoes for doneness. They should be firm, with a fork wanting to not quite go through it easily. At this time, add the green beans. Cook for another 2 minutes. Drain and add to the tomatoes.

While the potatoes are cooking, finish the vinaigrette by adding the oil, mustard, and honey to the vinegar and shallots/onions.

As soon as you drain the potatoes and green beans toss with the vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with chopped fresh parsley if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.