…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!

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!

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!

It’s August 1st, which means it’s Warp & Weft Calendar Day!

I made this downloadable calendar especially for you!

Let me start by stating, “I love TRIANGLES!” It’s this month’s theme for the calendar and in real life! Our guild is bringing in Barb Mortell (back by popular demand) to do a couple of workshops with us.

What are the workshops about?

Funny you should ask.

Triangles!

Last week I mentioned, I took a Deynse Schmidt workshop in Portland two years ago. In the workshop we de-constructed triangles.  I never did make the blocks into a quilt. I’m glad I waited though. Now I have a plan that I’m really excited about and I can’t wait to play with it in Barb’s workshops.

Our guild also has our Warp & Weft’s Challenge due this month. I snuck some of the fabric in this month’s calendar. Shh, don’t tell anyone, wink wink!

Oh and P.S., did you know Warp & Weft now has an $8 (within Canada) flat shipping fee! And it’s FREE if you spend over $100! How’s that for snazzy? I must add, Esmari sends the prettiest packages too! She’s the best!

Here is my June calendar drawing… just click here.

Last weekend I went to visit my friend Cori in Vancouver. She lives in Coal Harbour and it’s beautiful. Everyone was outside enjoying the parks which made me think of this Warp & Weft bundle of fabric Esmari sent me called  Bluebird Park by Kate and Birdie for Moda.  Just like the fabric, we saw…

Bicycles

Birds

Hedgehogs (okay you got me there, we didn’t see any hedgehogs but I have seen one in real life and I almost held it. Almost.)

Fountain Magnolias

Peach Magnolias

Rabbits

Stones (a really great low volume fabric by the way!) 

…at the City Park that evening.

Yup, the fabric pretty much summed up everything we saw at the park that day… well, except for the giant public art sculpture that we thought possibly could be Godzilla poo. You gotta think it would be substantial. Funny I never thought to take a picture of it… and I don’t think we’ll see in in any park themed fabric any time soon. I’m just say’n.

Thanks for popping by! (whoops I almost wrote pooping! I know potty humour, the best!)

April showers brings… for this month of May (here’s the link for you to download-just click here) I drew these Warp & Weft beautiful Sajou Linen Thread Star cards. I thought they looked like flowers and followed up last month’s calendar nicely. 

What do you have planned on your calendar this month? May is a pretty big deal of a month for us. It was a pretty life altering month 14 years ago when our oldest son was born. 14? 14! As you can tell I’m  having a hard time digesting it. I keep thinking if I repeat it enough times it will feel more… un-weird. How can time fly like that? It seems like only yesterday I was 14!

Oh wait, I forgot to tell you what happened last month! Esmari from Warp & Weft came to Vancouver for a visit and we were able to meet up at the Londale Quay. As you can tell Esmari has a wicked sense of humour and before these ladies crashed our party we had a chance to chat about pretty mail, our mad computer skills and the lovely and exciting Warp & Weft Sewing Society!

You guessed it… this month’s calendar was inspired by the saying “April showers bring May flowers”. You can download it here . What you do with it is completely up to you… because it’s completely for you!

The Warp and Weft goodies I used this month for the calendar were from Merchant Mills Five Pins Set.  I just LOVE this pin pack! Okay, full admission, I go ga-ga over this pin pack! It includes:

• the prettiest ever Dressmaking pins (practical!)
• Entomology pins- which are the pins they use for pinning bugs (nope, not gross) and they are the most beautiful pins ever! They slide through fabric like nobody’s business!
• Black bulb pins- the little rain drops are the black light bulb pins, again so pretty! I use them to group my collection of selvages by different designers.
• Glass Headed Pins- not your plastic crap pins here.
• and Black Safely Pins. I used those in the February drawing.

They are all SOOOOOoooo exquisite! Then of course the fabric I drew:

• The large cloud is fabric is  Cloud9 called Up, up and Away – Dots Blue Moon.
• The middle cloud, again is Cloud9, Up, up and Away – Air Blue Moon
• Then the last little cloud Cloud9, Up, up and Away – Free Blue Moon

What I want to know is whose fun job it is to name collections? I want that job! How fun would that be!

So there you have it April’s calendar, have a great month! …remember, watch your back for practical jokers today!

This month, with fresh spring fabric from Warp and Weft Exquisite Textiles, I went old school; back to drawing stacks of fabric.

The leaning fabric, from left to right is:

Petite Street-Houses by Wendy Kendall for Dashwood Studio

Bark and Branch-Line Leaf Grey by Eloise Renouf for Cloud9

Bluebird Park-Rabbits by Kate and Birdie for Moda

The other fabric from top to bottom is:

Bluebird Park -Birds by Kate and Birdie for Moda

Appropriately so, considering the month. Love it or hate it, February is also the month of Valentine’s day! Everyone likes a little treat on Valentine’s day, so I’m sending mine to you early. . . and in the form of a calendar. Once again I’ve teamed up with Esmari from Warp and Weft Exquisite Textiles . Just click here and the February calendar will be yours to printout or to keep on your computer.

This month I used Merchant & Mills Fine Black Safety Pins,  from their box of 5 pin set. They’re quite lovely and glide in and out of fabric. They don’t get stuck like other ones. Doesn’t that make you shiver when they do that? I kind of have a crush on the Merchant & Mills products but you might know that from last month.

From top right to left the lovely fabric used was :

• Damask, Aubergine- Spring 2013 – Ty Pennington for Ty Pennington Impressions
• Indo Sunset- Fall 2012 – Ty Pennington for Ty Pennington Impressions
• The Birds and the Bees-Squirrel – Tula Pink for Freespirit

Ty Pennington, isn’t Ty Pennington that hottie from Trading Spaces. I guess he’s better known for Extreme Make Over nowadays.

Then bottom right to left:

• Birds and Berries – Lauren & Jessi Jung For Moda
• The Birds and the Bees-Meteror – Tula Pink for Freespirit
• Bromely- Breeze Brown – Vicotia & Albert Museum for Rownan Fabrics

Have a lovely February, keep warm and know you’ve already received a Valentine treat! The rest will be gravy!

January is a little drawing of the Merchant and Mill Sewing Repair Kit! It seemed to make the most sense since, January is the month we take stock, set goals and paint a picture of what we want our year to look like. And, well, I’ve been on a bit of a Downton Abbeybinge, soooo that probably added to me falling in love with this little sewing kit! It almost makes me wish for a mishap. It’s unbelievable high quality! Most sewing repair kits-cringe, the thread, it give me goose bumps, it’s right up with  cotton that’s in pill bottles -yeek! Not this set. It just like Esmari’s store… exquisite! And, I hope your 2014 is… exquisite!