Member of do. Good Stitches {a charity bee}

Since December I’m a member of do. Good Stitches {a charity bee}.

We are a group of modern quilters that does quilts for different charity organisation. I’m very happy to be part of this group. It’s great to be able to contribute helping people in need. At the same time, I love doing blocks, but not necessarily to do a whole quilt on my own. I love trying out new blocks each month and working with different fabrics, colors and prints. So, I find it’s a good way to have fun and be helpful.

do. Good Stitches has now grown to many circles. Each circle makes a quilt each month. I’m in the Joy circle. Our circle makes quilts to benefit foster children through My Very Own Blanket, as well as quilts for cancer survivors through Canadian-based Victoria’s Quilts. I’m in the circle as a stitcher. This means I get to sew two blocks for each quilt made. Some members of the circle are in as quilters. They are the ones who design the quilts, assemble the blocks and do the quilting and binding.

For my first month, Elaine asked us to do airplane blocks following a tutorial at badskirt. We were asked to do the planes in primary colors and used a blue-ish color for the background. For do. Good Stitches we generally use fabrics from our stash. I didn’t have much in those colors, so I did a little stop at the fabric shop. Here are what my airplanes looks like.

I finished them up yesterday, just in time for the end of the month. I hope they will fit nicely with the other ones. I can wait to see what the entire quilt will look like. I do hope it will make the future owner happy!

Manly Kindle Case – Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway

Sew, Mama, Sew! is hosting a giveaway to which anyone can contribute this week. What a fun event! We get a chance to know other people’s blog.

The actual Giveaway Day was Monday, but it is open until the end of the week. I was working on my Christmas gifts sewing and I didn’t have anything ready for the giveaway until yesterday. Later is better than never! I was planning an e-reader case for my stepfather, when I thought I could make a second one for the giveaway.

My stepfather has a kindle, but it has no sleeve. I looked over the blogosphere and the fabrics in my stash. I wanted something manly. I didn’t use any specific tutorial or pattern, but I did follow the recommendation in this post for the size. The case I did is for a Kindle 3 which size is: 7.5″ x 4.8″ x 0.34″. The exterior is all solid color cottons. It is quilted to bamboo batting. The lining is a coordinating cotton print. So, here is what I came up with:

The case shown in the photo is the one for the giveaway (The only difference is the button). If you would like to win it, please enter a comment by December 16, 5 p.m. PST. I’m always searching for ideas to sew for boys and men. I find it so much harder to sew for them. So in your comments, I would like you to answer the following question: “What do you sew for all the men in your life?”. Thanks for your ideas. I will pick a winner using a random number generator and announce it by December 18.

My husband isn’t sure his dad will use a case. But, let see… It was made with love, so he might decide to snuggle his kindle in it when not reading.

The lucky winner is StephanieS. I enjoyed reading all your projects and suggestions. It was really a pleasure to participate to this event hosted by Sew, Mama, Sew!
Happy Holidays everyone!

… I was asked the size of the kindle, so I went back to my notes and here are the detailed measurements of the different fabric pieces. For the lining: width, 6.5″ and height, 18″. For the exterior, there is two pieces of tan, one for the front and one for the back, same for cream, and one piece for the grey fabric that is going from front to back. The width is 6.5″ like the lining. The height is 3.5″ for tan, 2.5″ for cream and 8.5″ for grey. I used 1/4″ seam allowance everywhere. For the batting, I used the same size as the lining less the seam allowance, so 6″ x 17.5″. I did this to avoid bulkiness at the seam but I’m not sure this was necessary. Hope this will help you out!

Felt Christmas Stockings!

I just finished up some stockings for all the family. I’m really happy with the result.

I have done it using Denyse Schmidt’s free pattern. But, I did a few modifications. First, I did it using only fabrics from my stash. I had some left overs from the furoshikis I made with my sister last year which I decided to used for the trimmings. Both prints are from the Sew Christmas! collection from Alexander Henry. I had some remnants of the wool felt I’ve used for my lily pillow covers published in Stitch. They were going pretty well with the Sew Christmas! prints. So, I’ve decided to use the green, red and cranberry for the actual stockings. Instead of quilting a layer of batting in between two layers of cotton. I just quilted the felt with some white lining. I did some straight line quilting to achieve a diamond pattern.

I hand embroidered our names in teal on some white cottons which I included in the trimmings.

We don’t have any mantel to hang them up, so I decided to put them up along our stairs just above our couch in the living room.

I did the small size from the pattern, because I didn’t have enough wool felt to go for the larger ones. So now, I just need to find some tiny gifts to fill them up!

First sale on Etsy!

I made my first sells on Etsy last week. I sold quite a few of the Holiday Furoshikis I had in the shop. In fact, I had made those with my sister last year, but we were too late for selling them.

A few weeks ago, I posted a link to my knitting needle case tutorial on the Pink Chalk Fabric blog to participate to the Handmade with Love contest.

I don’t know if it’s that or because Christmas is not so far away, but I’m seeing a lot more traffic in my Etsy shop. Like it didn’t exist before. Anyhow, I’m pretty grateful.

If you would like to have some of those to wrap up your Christmas presents, hurry up because there is only 11 left and there is not so much time left for shipping either (see Post Canada).

I hope you are enjoying your preparation for the Holidays. I’m working on some stocking and I did some little advent calendars for the boys. Well not in fabric this year. December 1st came to fast. I love the one made by Kathy Mack from Pink Chalk fabric. I plan to make something similar to this for next year.

Fat Stash Bee – November Blocks

November was Charlene‘s month in the Fat Stash Bee. She asked us to follow a tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman for it. It consist of log cabin with a center piece and 4 rings in 4 different colors. She wanted the rings in red, pink, aqua and white. I received an FQ in aqua and a small piece of red fabric to use for the rings. The other fabrics were coming from our stash. For the center piece, the tutorial was suggesting to fussy cut a square from a “picture print” fabric. Happily, I had the same one as in the tutorial: Alexander Henry Starling fabric. It was some remnants from my own project in the Fat Stash Bee. And Charlene seemed to like it.

I had to do a stop at a fabric shop to buy some pink fabric because my stash is lacking of this color. Probably, because I’ve mainly done projects for boys until recently. Anyway, I found a Jelly roll of mixed fabrics all in pink. So, that was pretty handy. I hope that Charlene will like my selection of fabrics and the 2 blocks I’ve sewn for her. So here they are.

Besides that, I got a chance to work on my Reflection Mini Quilt this weekend. So here is a quick update. I transferred my quilting design which is a large spiral.

Next step, basting and quilting. I was hesitating on whether I should hand or free motion quilted. But, I finally opted for the second choice. I chose to use a grey thread similar to the coal Kona cotton. Let see what I can came up with!

Colors of the Week

Last week, my husband came to me and suggested that we have something for our kids to visualize what day we are in the week. So, I did a little surfing on the internet and I came upon this interesting blog post. I found it interesting to use different colors to represent each days of the week.

I decided I would do a color wheel with colors of the rainbow. Of course, I chose to do it with fabric. I wanted my little boys to participate a bit so I didn’t do anything complicated. We went it my small stash of craft felt and chose our different colors together. Afterwards, I use my sewing machine to embroidery the days name (in French) with my two boys sittings on each of my laps. It was fun for them. I did the remaining in the evening after they went to bed. I had some binding ready that was left over from another project and that fitted well the color wheel.

I did two of them, one for each, that now hang on their bedroom walls. Each day is like a little pocket. And they use a clothespin to identify the current day. They change it when they go to bed or when they get dress in the morning. It was fun little projects to make and they love it!

Here is a quick update on my Reflection Mini Quilt. I finished assembling the top. And I did something really simple for the back as it will hang on the wall anyway.

Here it is … Stitch Winter 2011!

As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my project is featured in the Winter 2011 issue of Stitch from Interweave. It has just come out and I received my complimentary copies of the magazine in the mail this week. My pillow covers are back with them.

What a nice issue filled with lots of inspiring projects. I’m so glad to
be part of it. I particularly love a sewing machine cover by Ayumi
Takahashi from Pink Penguin. It’s mainly done out of wool felt with
hints of cotton prints for binding and appliqués.

As for the pillow covers, I just finished up a second pillow cover of each version.

In fact, I completed the pink and green one, the others were all done at the same time as I wrote the project for the magazine. The green and pink took a bit more time than the other version as the appliqués are hand embroidered compared to shell and red for which they were sewn using free motion embroidery. So, I now have a pair of each version and they are all up for sell on my Etsy shop.

A few weeks ago, I win a copy of Quilting Arts Gifts (also by Interweave) in a giveaway hosted by Malka Dubrawsky on her blog. I found it was such a nice idea, that I decided to the same. So, I have 2 copies of Stitch Winter 2011 to giveaway. To get a chance to win you just need to leave a comment at the end of this post. Since, my blog is relatively new, I will pick-up a winner in a week from now, on Oct. 28 in the comments using a random number generator.

As you may have noticed, I also decided to have my own custom domain. So, my blog is now at http://www.thecharmingneedle.com/ and you can reach me at josee@thecharmingneedle.com. Also, I have created a group on Flickr. If you make pillow covers following this project or other tutorials/patterns by me, I would love to see them. Please add them to the group pool! I also added a little photo to my profile to be a bit less anonymous. Eh! Eh! Nice to meet all of you!

Visit to New York!

I went to New York City last week for the long weekend (Thanks Giving in Canada, Columbus day in the US). I was there on a tourist trip. It was my first time. What a nice city. I was there with my sister, my mom and her spouse. First time on a trip without my two little boys in 3 years. We walked a lot! Visiting all the sites tourists usually see: Times Square, Fifth Avenue, Top of the Rock, Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park … We were there 3 full days and we saw a lot. But, I had to do one fabric stop and it was Purl. Here you see me in their shop.

We went there after a good brunch in Soho. And I wasn’t disappointed. What a nice fabric selection they have! I wish there was more quilt shop like this around here! But, I was reasonable and I didn’t bought anything. I have so much fabrics in my stash for which I have projects in mind and not so much time to actually do them. But, I was really happy to see their shop.

I made a second fabric related stop, but this one wasn’t planned. As we were eating lunch next to the Flat Iron Building, I saw this Marimekko store. I first heard/read about this Finnish textile and clothing design company in Stitch (Fall 2009). They make fabric with bold graphics all in saturated colors. They started by printing on fabrics. But they now print their patterns on all kind of objects from table wares to umbrella, including bags, pillows and much more. It was a happy finding. They have a lovely boutique. Here it’s me and my sister sitting on their large bean cushion in front of the store.

Reflection Mini Quilt

I started to work on a project using only solids. It’s my first one and I love it. I find it offers a lot of possibilities in regards to designing graphic elements. This one is a mini quilt to hang on the wall of the washroom upstairs. Later on, this will be our two little boys washroom as it sits in between their bedrooms. But for now, they are two young for that. I had this design idea in mind for a while and I thought a wall art would be a first little project to try it out. I made some progress and I wanted to share it with you.

I’ve called it Reflection. I first did my mockup up in Ilustrator as I’m working on a pattern for it at the same time I’m sewing it. So here is an idea of what it will look like.

I had a lot fun chain piecing all those strips together. It makes it so much faster.

I had to number all pieces to keep track of them as they are of different widths, lengths and colors and also to help me laying them out following my design.

I just finished up sewing the smaller half of the reflection. And here is the result.

I intend to do the quilting in a large spiral centered on the two reflection lines in the middle. I’ll keep you updated to show you the end result and to let you know about a pattern for those interested.

Featured in Stitch!

Yeah! I received this Sew Daily eNewsletter last week, where you can read “Josée Carrier’s Lily Pillow Covers”. Yes, it’s me. I’m so happy! It will be my first project featured in Stitch magazine from Interweave. It will appear in the Winter 2011 issue coming out soon.

Photo by Joe Hancock, Interweave

The project is two pillow covers in wool felt with appliqués. It is the same design: abstract lilies, but different color scheme and different ways to stitch the appliqués.

Lily Pillow Covers - Featured in Stitch!

I proposed this project for the felt theme to appear in the Winter issue. It was based on pillow covers I had made earlier this year.

I was really happy it was accepted. I can’t wait to actually hold a copy of the magazine in my hand!

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