…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!

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!

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 are happily invited to a blog hop Giveaway with the Warp and Weft Sewing Society!

Enter to win 12 Fat Quaters (YES you read it right 12!) from Lotta Jansdotter’s latest collection MorMor and  Sylvia. I know right *LOVE*!

Here’s the Skinny: All the members of the Sewing Society  were  given bundles of Lotta Jansdotter’s new fabric collection to make something with. As you can see from the schedule below we have to keep what we made under wraps until our scheduled day. Mine is Sunday the 27th! But that gives you a week of inspiration of what you could do with all that yummy fabric!

To enter this Giveaway please follow the Rafflecopter instructions and leave a comment on each participating blogger’s Lotta Jansdotter Challenge post as they happen. That’s 7 chances to win! I like those odds!

Today kicks off with Esmari’s project, the owner of Warp and Weft and the founder of the Warp and Weft Sewing Society.  I’m so in love the quilt she made!

On your mark … Get set … GO!

Blog Hop Schedule
Esmari – Warp & Weft:  April 21^st
Sherri – Thread Riding Hood:  April 22^nd 
Carla – My ½ Dozen Daily:  April 23^rd
Shannon  – The Finished Garment:  April 24^th
Cathy – Blueberry Patch:  April 25^th
Cynthia – cynthiaf:  April 26^th
Lysa – Lysa Flower:  April 27^th

Winner to be announced April 28^th. Good luck and see ya Sunday!