Esmari has beautiful taste in fabric! In 2014 we joined forces and created an online calendar. These drawings weren’t in the Drygoods show as they sold last year (not a bad problem to have). Adding a new twist to “The Stash Drawing Project!”, Esmari supplied all the goodies and I supplied well, the drawing part. Through our online back and forth, although we did meet once in person, I’ve discovered she’s very funny, has great taste in music (similar to mine that is) and she can drive a forklift! You gotta love that! It’s on my bucket list!

Still how did this all come to be? How did we find each other? Well, we met through a challenge she gave our guild in mid 2013. At the time I was the FVMQG’s treasurer and needed to send her a cheque for the challenge. Naturally I used one of my cards to send it. Bada bing, bada boom… We got to chatting because she loved the card! Late in 2013, I proposed this crazy 2014 calendar idea. In turn she invited me to join her  Warp and Weft Sewing Society, an online community where several of us, with Esmari at the helm, sewed challenges using Lotta Jansdotters and Elizabeth Olwen’s fabric. It was such fun to see what everyone made! When we weren’t doing challenges everyone sewed all kinds of things and I drew these calendars. Everyone’s work, of course, was smashing, because remember Esmari has excellent taste in fabric… and people!

1. You’re the owner of Warp & Weft Exquisite Textiles. How on earth do you ever decide on what fabric and notions to bring in? Are they easy to pick? Do you have a system? Or do you just go by your gut? Hah! It’s never, ever easy. Unless there’s a quarter that’s really off for whatever reason it’s never easy to know which collections to pick because there’ll be so many fabulous ones to choose from. It’s torture, I tell ya! I do try to follow my gut, though, and I always pick something that I’ll be happy to use in my own home. I’m also quite critical of the designs and the overall look of a collection. There’s definitely a serious bit of curating that takes place before something hits the shelves at Warp & Weft!

December                                                            November                                                          October

 2. I’m intrigued by what you did before you opened your online fabric store. Can you tell us a bit about that? Ah well, yes, this is probably where the critiquing and curating of my inventory comes from. I trained as an Interior Designer in Belgium and have worked with high-end furniture and cabinetry manufacturers ever since. Most recently and before I started Warp & Weft I worked for a well-known German manufacturer in Toronto. The philosophy behind this company’s products is, purity of design, minimalism and the use of the absolute highest quality materials money can buy. That kind of set the tone for me with Warp & Weft too. Even though I’m not dealing with a super high-end product I still approach it from the same point of few as far as design and quality are concerned.

September                                                          August                                                                    July

3. In your 2013 Made In Feature I remember reading 5 thing people don’t know about you, that you can drive a forklift. Does that come in handy for moving bolts of fabric around? I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!! All this time I’ve been lugging bolts of fabric around and I could have been moving it with a forklift! Mind you, it would have to be a forklift that can do stairs because sadly my workspace is not on the ground floor…Let’s just say I’ve become quite buff since starting Warp & Weft!

June                                                                         May                                                                           April

4a. You know I’m enamoured by your Merchant and Mills line. I love the pins: the regular pins, the glass headed ones, the entomology pins (they glide like butta!), your safety pins (the black, the light bulb and the French ones). Then of course there is the sewing repair kit and the folding ruler! I had never seen this line before and I’ve only seen it in San Francisco since. How did you come across them? Mmmmh, I had to think about that one but I think this is how the story goes. I am quite a big fan of Uppercase magazine and I was paging through one around the time I was starting Warp & Weft and I came across an advertisement for a UK based quilt shop which looked quite interesting and in browsing through their products I came across Merchant & Mills. It was love at first sight. I then got in touch with M & M and the rest is history.

4b. I’m also in love with your Sajou line – I don’t know how I lived without the linen thread. It’s another line I haven’t seen anywhere else. Can you tell us about it? I can’t recall how I came across Sajou but I can remember the day I received the catalogue from them! You can’t believe how many beautiful things they have – let’s just say trying to stick to your budget is futile! Their story is quite interesting. The Maison Sajou company, which was started in the late 1800s, was revived by an avid haberdashery collector and graphic designer in 2005. Frédérique Crestin-Billet started collecting haberdashery items from a very young age and since she’s become involved with Maison Sajou she has made it her business to keep traditional and specialized French workshops in business. Each pair of Sajou embroidery scissors, for instance, is handcrafted in workshops that have often been in families for generations and Sajou linens and threads are all manufactured in the mills in the Northern parts of France, which is traditional the home of textiles and threads. So not only are their products of the same heritage and quality as back in the 1800s but they also still use the same packaging designs as back then which gives everything a wonderful vintage feel to it. I find it fascinating that in this day and age there are still some things we can use that haven’t changed a bit in more than 150 years. It kind of puts things into perspective for me.

* All calendars measured 14″ high by 11″ wide- 2″ deep

 5. Let’s say you were on the Newly-wed Game. Behind a curtain you pick your 3 favourite fabrics from your stash. Then your husband has to guess which 3 you picked. Would he pick correctly? You want to go test him now don’t you? Don’t worry we’ll wait… did he get it right? Which ones did you pick and which ones did he pick? Hahaha! I’d test him right now but as has been the case for most of this year my husband has been working away from home so the best I can do is send him the link to my website and ask him to pick three items. I’m pretty sure he won’t have a clue though…

I could, however, tell you which of my crafting and sewing items he really likes for himself. He has since been banned from using some of these – see if you can guess which ones they are:

1. My hot glue gun – I no longer know where it is or whether it is still functioning. It’s probably ended up in the garage. I do know that he complained to me about it being useless because the wires he tried to glue to the baseboards have come unstuck now. Go figure.
2. My rotary cutter – I caught him cutting something very random from the garage with it once. Once being the operative word her. Quite possibly it also had something to do with the hot glue gun…
3. My sewing machine – he wanted to take it apart the day I got it “because he’d never seen the insides of a sewing machine before!”. It led to use having a huge argument because he thought I was being selfish for not letting him poke around the guts of my brand new machine. He is an engineer after all – what could possibly go wrong??!!

Curious about the other fabric stashes? Just click HERE.

Earlier this summer my son was telling me about his friend in Vancouver, whose high school is being torn down over the summer. On the last day of school they gave the students buckets of paint with permission to graffiti the inside of the school. My son asked me, “Guess what they mostly painted?”

Without hesitation, I said, “penises.”

My son looked at me and blinked twice, “… That’s what I said too.” Then we both paused and stared at each other. Hmm, we both went there.

He broke the silence saying, “Mostly they wrote positive, life affirming messages.” We were both impressed (and mortified at our answers). Then he added, “mostly they were messages like, YOU CAN DO IT!  BUT there was one guy who painted,  apostrophe Ts  behind all the CANs.”

It was like all the air sucked out of the room when I heard that, well not the room, it was my car (we were driving at the time). I realized, I’ve had that same guy in my head! He’s added an apostrophe T to a bunch of my CANs. Although,  the apostrophe T has gotten smaller over time, I can still feel them occasionally. AND since 2015 is my year to live fearlessly, I’ve been diving in head first regardless of any apostrophe T twinges I might have. 

In January I registered for The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design. That was a biggie. I have one more module left. AND THEN! Earlier this week I discovered one of my designs from the first module was on the, to quote my friend Esmari,  “The holy grail” of design blogs, Print and Pattern!!!!! I’m not sure if I even recovered from that one yet. It’s the envelope design at the top of this post.

Then, this past February Esmari sent me an email telling me how I HAD to apply for the UPPERCASE Compendium book. She told me I just HAD, HAD to! So I took a deep breath and I did it. I just found out I was a finalist! I’ll take that. I didn’t get in the book but I’ve been told that my work will be shared on UPPERCASE’s newsletter. Which I LOVE! Again, I’ll take it!

In the next little bit I’m  finishing up two patterns, due to come out lickity split. My Match Needle Book pattern will be released for the Pacific Northwest MQG  meetup, (Aug 20-23rd). It will be posted on my blog as a free pattern.  Plus, my Hardcore Cassette Tape Mini Quilt is ooooh, so close to it’s final version. Yay!

Finally, this September (WOW! It’s coming fast!) I’ll be showing my Fabric Stash Drawing Project at Drygoods Designs in Seattle! I’m so thrilled! I’ve been searching for years and holding out for the exact right location to show this body of work. AND it’s happening. Yup, it’s on like Donkey KONG!

So take that, little man putting apostrophe Ts on peoples CANs. (…um you know I don’t mean boobs right?!)

Have you ever walked into a person’s creative space and felt in awe? That’s what it was like looking into Berene’s office where her fabric stash was… and it’s why I had to (had to!) title this piece “Organized Chaos”. (Drawn in March 2012 measures 12″high. 24″ deep-1″. Drawn on a wood canvas with coloured pencils.)

Berene made me swear to use blinders when I entered the room, however being a sprawler myself, I really didn’t think it was all that bad. If anything I found it inspirational. Books… tid bits of collections… the room oozed of creativity.

Unfortunately, Berene has since moved from that wonderful North Vancouver home… BUT she is now in the midst of setting up a new studio (with a very lovely view, I might add!).

Actually, that reminds me of a link my friend Esmari sent me… 40 inspiring Workspaces of the Famously Creative. I particularly relish the messy, chaotic ones, although I aim for a Georgia O’keefe kind of space (in my dreams!).

Photo credit goes to the fabulous Reaenne Schachter

…And speaking of December 1st, here is our,  last page of the Warp & Weft’s Calendar. You can download it HERE.  It feels bitter-sweet some how. A big, big thanks to Esmari for supplying me with such lovely goodies to draw all year long. As well for inviting me to join the Warp & Weft Sewing Society. I’ve loved every moment of it! Side note: Did you know Esmari is having a HUGE sale today? She is! And this is the last day, quick go have a look!

Ahhh… a long weekend. Perfect, last week was way too busy, busier than most. Add on daylight savings – that just messed with my head. Hello 3 am! 4 nights in a row. It’s so nice to finally get caught up. Do0-tee-do, let’s see… laundry is getting all caught up. Check! It’s been beautiful out, I’ve done a little bit of yard work. We aren’t going to get many days like this, I better not put that off. Ahhh, it feels so great to get that done. Check! Okie dokie, I’m a teeny bit behind in my emails, I better get caught up on those too. Oh hey, there’s a blog post from Cathy from Blue Berry Patch – click…

~All air gets sucked out of the room.~

This is like a bad dream…  I especially hate these moments. I’ve just realized I dropped the ball. Cathy had sent me an email last week asking if I’d be interested in being tagged for an “Around the World Blog Hop.” Of course I answered, “You bet, sounds like fun!” I’m late to the party but I’m very excited to have been invited. So here it goes!

What are you currently working on?
I’m picking up on a project I started back in May. I’m part of a Sewing Society for Warp & Weft Exquisite Textiles . Back in March we were given a Lotta Jansdotter challenge. I made these Match Needle Books and they went over really well! I had some requests for a pattern, which I wrote up promptly. I had the pattern tested but I wasn’t thrilled with my layout. On December 8th, Sew Mama Sew is having their Giveaway Day again.  I thought that would be a good date to work towards having the pattern done by. I’ll giveaway the pattern, plus a kit and some fabric. After that I’ll get it listed on Esty.

How does my work differ from others?

I like to sew 3-dimensionally. Well… I know it’s all 3-dimensional but I’ve fallen in love with sewing things you might see everyday but I like adding a twist of practicality to them. Like the “Match Needle Books” or more recently my “Cassette Zippy Pouches”

and my “Envelope Sewing Kit.”

I’ve done other things like a quillow that looks like a piece of paper,

… hot and cold packs that look like fortunes from fortune cookies.

And I made fortune cookies too, as baby quilts.

It tickles my funny bone, what can I say?

VOMMPH!!! POWER OUTAGE What the…?! Awe, C’MON! This is like a bad dream…

15 Hours later…Well, that was fun. As I was saying… Also, I don’t only sew fabric but I have a tendency to draw it. I’m particularly interested in people’s stashes, what they collect and why. This is a detail of a drawing I did from Krista Hennebury’s Stash.

Why do you create what you do?
I L-O-V-E making things. I can’t help it! If I’m not sewing, I’m drawing or plotting what my next project will be. It’s been that way since I was little. I love the challenge of figuring out the small problems along the way and I love how every project teaches you something new. It never gets old… maybe it’s a habit but I don’t think it’s a bad habit to have! Could be worse right – hookers and blow?

How does your creative process work?
It’s different for every project. I have noticed I get a lot of my ideas while I drive though. After that it’s just git- r- done, not very romantic. I find the creative process is not quite as magical as one might think. Sometimes I play with glitter but that’s about as romantic as it gets. Aw and it’s a bitch to clean up.

Okay my turn to tag people. Since it’s an “Around the World Blog Hop” I thought I’d call out two bloggers that live the farthest away from me:

Joanne from Don’t Drink and Sew (You Might Spill Your Wine on the Fabric and that would be a waste of good wine and good fabric) Jo’s from the UK

and

Lizzie from Swedish Scrapper Can you guess where she’s from?

Let me start by saying, Happy Birthday Mom! Everyone sing it with me, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,  Happy Birthday dear Lysa’s Mooooom, Happy Birthday to you! Today isn’t her birthday but it is her birthday month. My Mom is the hardest person in the world to buy gifts for.  This is the conversation we’ve been having since I was little:

“Mom, what do you want for your <insert occasion>?”

“Hmmm, I don’t know. Oh you know me, anything is fine.”

That’s all of not helpful. Like not even a hint or a crumb. This year she changed it up a bit and was a little more cryptic, I sent her a text, it went like this:

“Hey you (see I’m getting more direct now, Ha! Lovingly direct however <3) What do you want for your Birthday?”

Her reply,  “Hey you! (appropriate directness, I thought) I don’t know same as last year only a differert type.” Ended with two emoji hearts and a blushing smiley face.

Problem is I can’t remember what I got her last year. What do I do with that?

I do toy with just getting her things I like. And I LOVE these folding rulers. Well, I love rulers (and measuring tapes) in general but a folding one, c’mon! A Merchant and Mills folding ruler. You know I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff. And now you can have a picture of one too by downloading it here.

I wanted to send out a big thank you as well to Esmari for displaying my calendars in her booth at the Creativ Festival this past weekend. It’s always a treat to show your work. I do believe my work enjoys sitting in my closet but still it was a real treat for them to leave the house, travel and go to a show in the big city of Toronto. Even better, some of them are getting settled in their new homes. I have Cathy from Steam Trunk Craft Works to thank for transporting them.

Happy November! And if you see my Mom tell her I said Happy Birthday!

A years worth of work. All stacked up. I played with the stack as I tried to let it soak in. I feel pretty proud of it. It started out as an idea, then a phone call to Esmari, owner of Warp & Weft Exquisite Textiles. A package arrived with loads of goodies, fabric, pins, sewing accessories… January 1st was the first calendar drawing, next came February… you get the picture. They’ve been free to download each month this year. Did you collect them all? I was quite tickled when I found out people actually had. Well, I guess we still have 2 months left to go don’t we.

Recently I finished up my November and December calendars (you get a sneak peek today!). It was important to get them done now since they were put on a skid and shipped to Toronto the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (graciously by Cathy of Steam Trunk Craft Works). Toronto? Yup, Toronto!

The original drawings have been converted into 2015 calendars. They are going to be on display and for sale at Esmari’s Warp & Weft’s booth at Creativ Festival! Drawn with coloured pencils, these wood canvases measure 11 by 14 inches and are 2 inches deep. The paper calendars are held on by magnets. The whole calendar is hung by a ribbon. You’ll also notice there are only 11 calendars here. The calendar that was done for October is already in Toronto. It was sent out last month for the Wildwood Challenge.

There was a time when I had a hard time letting go of my work. I’m glad to say I’m quite fine with doing it now.

I often compare selling work as giving away kittens. You want them to go to a good home, a home where they will be appreciated and loved.

A friend of mine noted that she always has calendar’s she can write on. I thought about this. I realized I have two kinds of calendars in my home. One contains all my appointments, family stuff etc. I keep this one out of the way, where it’s not in plain view. Quite frankly this calendar has a tendency to stress me out. It’s close enough that I can quickly write down information in a rush, especially if I’m on the phone. My other calendar I keep in plain site, it’s the one I love to look at!

I glance at it through-out the day, every time it makes me smile on the inside (awww, sappy, I know!) I love lifting my head and looking at it when I’m working in the kitchen. Like I said sometimes it’s just a glance, but it’s pretty, it isn’t crammed with do this, do that. It’s peaceful and it feels like *sigh*, there is enough time, everything and anything is possible. And I hope one feels the same way about these calendars too.

Wildwood is inspired by long walks through the forest, searching the forest floor for rare flowers and interesting leaves and forms and revelling in how timeless it feels. One of the themes that inspires me throughout my work is that of the fairytale — the fields and forests of a British landscape, the places that wild-at-heart maidens run away to when they’re going to be married off to someone they don’t love, the sound of fallen leaves crunching as a horse gallops through. A ‘wild at heart’ spirit. A sense of romance. The wild forest. ‘Wildwood’ speaks  to these foresty areas and their uncultivated nature ~Elizabeth Olwen

Above was the description we received when we took on this Warp & Weft Challenge. British? Romance? Fairy tales? Perfect! I love anything British, especially anything from the BBC, hence recently watching “Call the Midwife“. The more I looked at Elizabeth Olwen’s Wildwood fabric I felt like it came from the same period as the show. The WW2 era I think we all have romanticize about at one time or another. In the show I loved seeing them handwriting letters, licking stamps and sending them off hopefully to arrive in time. You might already know but I have a thing for envelopes and stationary. When working on this project I cracked open my record player, broke out my Grandfather’s albums from the post WW2 era and scattered my vintage button collection about.

I thought about the story of Little Red Riding Hood – which I think the Wildwood in Crimson just screams. PS. The blue fabric is called Deco Petal Navy. I thought about Little Red Riding Hood travelling to visit her grandmother. Which led me to thinking about when I was a kid visiting my grandparents. Both sets lived about an hour from us. We’d ritually fill up at the gas station, dad would buy us each a bag of Old Dutch potato chips and a Pepsi. It was very comforting. Maybe not the healthiest but to this day I just love eating in cars, a habit I’ve had a difficult time breaking. I’ve always loved a good road trip (the right soundtrack is key) and I’ve always brought a project with me to work on, whether we’re driving or we’re flying.

So, for this challenge I wanted to make something that would be the ultimate travel sewing kit. Something to keep me organized, something to hold on my lap and something that’s better than throwing everything into a large pouch, which usually results in getting all my threads tangled, my scissors lost in my seat and having to reach around on the floor (ew!) looking for buttons I’ve dropped.

This is what I’ve come up with. I call it, “ To Grandmother’s House We Go!”

Inspired from some vintage buttons my friend Trudy gave me for my birthday last year, I attached two buttons with elastic to clasp the sewing kit together. That way the kit has plenty of room to grow!

The top flap opens and doubles for a thread catcher.

I always find I never have anywhere to put my teeny bits of thread. I either have to put them in to my pouch, then they mix with all my other supplies or I have to… shhh, don’t tell anyone, drop them on the floor.

The bottom flap I’ve sewn in some of my vintage buttons to hold my thread.

It’ll require some pre-planning and pre-loading of the thread but I think well worth it. I’ve developed a big pet peeve of thread unravelling in my project bags. This will keep everything nice and neat!

The flap on the right holds scissors and a seam ripper (perhaps a point turner depending on the project.)

I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve lost my scissors in my seat while travelling.  So annoying! This little button strap is to prevent that from ever happening again!

And the last flap is a needle book.

A needle book with  three layers of felt.

The travel kit includes two pockets (three if you include the thread catcher) and one zippy pouch.

The Essex linen holds most fabric-y things in place but I thought I might need pouch with a zipper, for those slippery things like buttons or do-dads. (I love the word do-dads!)

… and really, I just wanted an excuse to make a 3 dimensional cassette tape zippy pouch.

I worked in the salvage on the cassette tape. On one side I used Elizabeth Olwen’s signature. On the other side I pieced it to say, “Wildwood”, ” For Cloud 9″. I can’t believe how well it worked out!

And of course, I had to do the bottom true to form.

TA DA! My Warp & Weft Challenge with Elizabeth Olwen’s fabric for Cloud 9!

Be sure to stop by the other blogs from the Sewing Society. Carla’s clutches and Cynthia’s table runner are just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve seen a sneak preview of a few of  the other projects. You’re gonna love them! I know I do. Thanks so much for popping by!

Blog hop schedule:
September 26- Carla from “My 1/2 Dozen Daily”
September 27-Cynthia from “Cynthiaf”
September 28- Me
September 29-Cathy from “Blueberry Patch”
September 30-Esmari from “Warp and Weft”
October 1- Shannon from “The Finished Garment”
October 2-Hedi from “Elegance & Elephants”
October 3- Sherri from “Thread Riding Hood”

On the morning of August 20th an email arrived in my inbox. It was from Esmari, the founder, leader and wrangler of the Warp & Weft Sewing Society. In the email she excitedly told us an idea she had to showcase Elizabeth Olwen’s second Cloud9 fabric collection. Esmari went on to describe Elizabeth’s inspiration for the collection as having Fairy Tale folklore themes, with influences of the English countryside and woodlands. Her next question was if we’d be interested in making projects and doing another blog hop. It was a no brainer – you bet!!! I can’t reveal my project (I’m scheduled for Sunday the 28th. The whole schedule is posted below. Prepare to be blown away by these talented ladies!) however,  I can reveal the fabric I used for my project. One problem; I excitedly made my project (and I’m quite thrilled with it!) but I forgot to photograph the fabric. Insert light-bulb moment!  I thought I’d release the October calendar early.  It showcases the fabric I received, Deco Petal in Navy and Wildflower in Crimson (um, I’m a tad bit in love with both!). I mixed it in with some of my vintage buttons (seemed fitting) and some lovely embroidery thread  and pins from Esmari’s shop. You can download it HERE.

Esmari also had one last request, that we all move closer! And for this weekend I so wish I could. I’d happily move to Toronto for the Warp & Weft Weekend featuring a project with Sherri from “Thread Riding Hood!” Oh, they are going to have so much fun! There will be a pop up shop and trunk show running though out the weekend too!

Blog hop schedule:
September 26- Carla from “My 1/2 Dozen Daily”
September 27-Cynthia from “Cynthiaf”
September 28- Me
September 29-Cathy from “Blueberry Patch”
September 30-Esmari from “Warp and Weft”
October 1- Shannon from “The Finished Garment”
October 2-Hedi from “Elegance & Elephants”
October 3- Sherri from “Thread Riding Hood”

In my humble opinion, September is the month that gets a raw deal in most calendars. I know this because I’ve always skipped ahead in calendars to check out September’s picture. Why would I do that? It’s my birthday month. You do it for your birthday month too, don’t you?!  September always gets the busy looking trees, with all the changing colours of the season. Yes, the changing leaves are pretty but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s predictable (wink, wink, see what I did there, limb, ha!), which is why I chose one of my favourite designers (Melody Miller) for this month’s calendar (and really haven’t we all been ga-ga over the much anticipated Cotton + Steel collection!). I pre-ordered mine through Warp & Weft and bought some down in Oregon, at Modern Domestic, when I was there this summer.

Feel free to download this non-leafy September Calendar here.

…and yes, as I stood back and looked at my finished calendar, I realized it is a little Cowboys and Indians… but at least they’re not autumn leaves!