Santa's Helper

From now until December 15th, I am happy to offer selected Aurifil thread collections with free shipping and gift wrapping, to any address in Canada. The parcels will be shipped Canada Post and are within their Christmas delivery mail times. These collections contain 12 large spools (1300 m) of 50 weight cotton thread, in a reusable storage box. 

Three different collections are available, including the ever popular "Basics" by Mark Lipinski:

Pat Sloan's "Let's Go Sew" collection:

 ...and my favourite, Paula Nadelstern's "Deep Gems".

I would be happy to ship this directly to your recipient and provide a tracking number to you so you can see when it's delivered - just let me know where to send it. Quantities are limited, so let hubby know asap!

Click this link to order  and kindly email if there is a special inscription you would like on the card.

Nesting Santas

Every year I try to come up with a new and fun project for Christmas.  Nothing too heavy, or involved - just cute, fun, and happy.  It's no secret I have a "thing" for the jolly fellow in the big red suit, and it seems every year my Christmas offering involves him, like these Santa Sacks...

...or this Santa runner:

...and these personalized Santa ornaments...etc.  You get the picture :)  So this year I decided that my Christmas project would not involve Santa; I was going to make something with trees, and lots of greenery.

I headed down to Mrs Pugsley's Emporium and chose this elegant, rich green print.  Perfect!  I set about designing in my new EQ8 program, excited with the possibility of what I would create.

I ended up with these!!!  Nesting Santas! They remind me of the Russian Matryoska dolls that are so fun to play with.  Since these are just cloth - and unbreakable - I think they'd be great for  little hands.

The Santas are 3 sizes:  12", 8", and 6", and I also made a runner using the 12" foundation. (Note the boots: my favourite holiday salt & pepper shakers!)

The fabric I used is a gorgeous red and gold from Hoffman called Berries and Blooms.  The background green is from the Hoffman "Merry Birds" collection.

I quilted the runner using Aurifil gold metallic in the background, and 50 weight white cotton for the beard. It's got lots of sparkle.

The eyes are a simple straight stitch made with Aurifil 12 weight thread.

I took the Santas outside and posed them in the holly bushes. We had had snow that morning, but by the time I got outside, it was long gone.

This next shot struck me as funny;  I was trying to get a group photo, but it ended up looking like Santa is hanging upside down.  I expect this is the way he looks coming down the chimney.

The funniest picture is this one, below.  My elder son mischievously set one Santa on top of the salt and pepper shakers, to make it look like he is wearing boots.  I am not sure why this is so funny, but...it is.

I hope you enjoy this latest addition to my Santa obsession.  (Even though I didn't get a tree, I did get a TRI-O so that counts, right? :)My sincere thanks goes out to pattern editor Cheryl Coville.
The "Nesting Santas" pattern is available as an instant download, or as a printed version from my website.  It includes the pattern for the 15" x 29" runner/wallhanging.

Curvy Inspiration

Here are some photos of completed cushions from last year's "Curved Strip-piecing" class at Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival, offered as inspiration to this year's participants.  Enjoy!

Aurifil in Tata

I will be heading over to the Sunrise Quilt Guild show in Tatamagouche, Friday and Saturday. I will NOT be vending there, but if anyone would like to order Aurifil threads and pick them up at the show, I'd be pleased to bring them along. You can order from my checkout and on the first page select "pick up" from the drop-down shipping menu; this way, you don't get charged postage. I am very well stocked with beautiful threads and collections at the moment in anticipation of the Nova Scotia Fibre Arts Festival, and there is lots to choose from...including these sweet 12 weight sets by Lori Holt, of Bee In My Bonnet!

See you there!

Curvy Strips

As a sample of curved strip-piecing for my upcoming workshop, I have stitched this bright and colourful wall hanging using my favourite Hoffman 1895 Watercolours.

Last year, I made this "Stuffle" using the same fabrics, and loved how the colours worked together.

In July, La Guilde Acadienne de Clare posted this photo of a new sign for their quilt expo and member Joan and I both commented on how it looked like what we had done in our recent workshop.

Naturally, I had to try alternating black with the colours, and the result is fabulous.

Since this is going to be used as a wallhanging, instead of batting I used a product called Bosal In-R-Form.  This is normally used in bags to give stiffness, but it worked great for this application as well. It has a fusible side, so I ironed it on to the back of the patchwork before quilting.  The backing still needed to be pin-basted to the top.

I chose a plethora of Aurifil thread in various weights and colours to quilt the piece.

The quilting is all free-form free motion wavy lines.

Despite the stiffness of the In-R-Form, it does quilt easily.

Once quilted, I marked a wavy line on each side with my flexible ruler and a white Clover marker. The top and bottom edges were kept straight.

I stitched along the curvy line, then trimmed it with my scissors just outside the stitching.  Because of the curved edge, the binding needed to be cut on the bias.

With the addition of a hanging sleeve, this brings a nice, simple pop of colour to an otherwise plain wall.

If you'd like more information on the curved strip-piecing workshop, please email.

Only in Canada...

If you are looking to grow your thread stash, here's a great way to do so.  I am offering a limited number of Mark Lipinski "Basics" thread collections for $139.00, plus free shipping in Canada

The collection includes 2, 1300 m spools of finest quality 50 weight Aurifil cotton thread in basic colours (plus a reusable case):

#'s 2021, 2370,2310,2326,2000,2314,2325,2024,2610,2600, 2605, 2692

Click here to order. Quantities are limited (and they sold out quickly last time!)