Royal Tea

I'm very excited to have a project in Issue 10 -Fat Quarterly  ~  Sew Brittania. The issue is full of wonderful projects inspired by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the Summer Olympics in London..

I created "Royal Tea" a pillow pair using vintage crown and tea pot images I applied to fabric 

via transfer paper. The images were found at Graphics Fairy. 

I was going for a vintage, antique feel and used Moda Etchings by 3 sisters for the background fabric and the fabric I applied the transfers to.   The prints are Liberty Tana Lawn.  The project requires  very little fabric so I was able to splurge on Liberty fabric!!

The pillow back fabric is Botanika Collection by Paula Prass.
I hope you will take a peek at FQ Issue 10!

xo
Charise

A Woman's Work

I'm ecstatic - I got the last bit of fabric from the lovely Ayumi to finish  the equally lovely Leila's Cocorico Bee Block.

Leila's theme is "a woman's work" -  inspired by the 50's housewife.  She was inspired by vintage advertisements and this blog - very funny and worth the read!  I started a pinterest board to serve as my design board for images to draw from.  The apron was one of my favorites and this is how I interpreted it for Leila:

Yes...I made not just one but three : )  I couldn't stop they were so much fun to make.  Leila can choose her favorite!

Since Leila asked for 6" blocks and this block is a bit easier than most of my bee blocks I've made,  I decided to make "In the Cupboard - Mixing bowl set" for her as well.  There is a pic on my pinterest board of stacked vintage pyrex which was the inspiration for this block.

This one was also fun and very addictive to make.  The top left is my vintage bowl set - mismatched and much loved.  The other two are definitely a matching set though also vintage inspired.  Most of the fabrics were from Ayumi's wonderful shop.  The apple fabric on the bottom is Riley Blake Apple of my eye, which I just adore!  The yellow and red apron fabric is Hope Chest from the website Connecting Threads. 

The patterns are available in my Etsy shop and Craftsy shop should you want to make one of your own!!

On the home front, it has been crazy busy around here.  My hubs has been working hard on our new patio for our back yard with help from our boys!! They are actually at an age where they are helpful.  It is pretty cool.
It is going to be just beautiful but definitely making the rest of the yard look a bit shabby : )

I hope you are enjoying your summer!!

xo

Charise

Work in Progress Wednesday

I've been a busy bee the past week.  Getting close to having Leila's Cocorico bee blocks done:

I'm also working on a few things for a blog hop during the first week of August - more details soon!

xo

Charise

Summer Cocktail

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer!  It is finally nice here in Seattle. 

70-80 degrees - perfect summer weather. I thought Summer would never come - we have had one dreary Summer up until July 4th!

I just finished my latest Bee Block!!! 

Tamiko requested "Magnum PI" for her theme in the Ringo Pie Bee.  I didn't watch the show (I was a busy college girl at the time) but who doesn't remember the mustached Tom Selleck !!

Tamiko provided a great picture mosaic and I decide to go with a cocktail.  Mine has a pink umbrella.  I hope Magnum is in touch with his feminine side !!

After sketching this in the computer I decided to make a pattern.  I have it available in my Craftsy and Etsy shops : ) 

And speaking of summer, I just discovered Sew Mama Sew's newest Fat Quarter Idol.  I love this contest!!   If you have a few minutes I highly recommend it for the sheer fun of it.  You have until tomorrow to come up with your Fat Quarter set.  The theme is "Beach Blanket Bingo" and here is my entry:

Ok....I soooooo want a cocktail on the beach with a blanket made with these fabrics!!!!

 Hope you are enjoying your summer!

xo

Charise

Liberty Past and Present

Seems I have been seeing lots of lovely Liberty fabric projects popping up.  Kerry made this lovely tea set for the Liberty Cafe  - how cool is that?  Leila made an absolutely adorable frame pouch.

I thought I would share my past experience with Liberty Fabrics.  You may or may not know this, but I have been a fashion designer for the past 23 years.  I have taken the past few years away from my career to spend time with my youngest son who goes to Kindergarten in the Fall. 

Way back when in 1999 : )  I worked as the women's woven designer for Nordstrom's Evergreen, now Halogen, line of women's clothing.  It was a wonderful job.  Halogen was a new line for Nordstrom and I was the first of two designers.  Those of you who are familiar with Nordstrom may know a bit about the different departments. At the time, Halogen was to sit in the Savvy department at Nordstrom.  The Savvy department houses young, fresh, higher end fashion.  I was lucky enough to travel to Europe for design inspiration, work with factories in Italy and even more exciting, to shop the most wonderful fabric show - Premiére Vision -  outside Paris!  We purchased fabulous Europen fabrics and that is where the connection comes to Liberty Fabrics.  I chose Liberty lawn for this little top I designed, bottom right.

I even still have the swatch booklet from the 1999 Liberty Fabrics line.

Can you tell it is well loved?  It has been travelling with me for the past 13 years : )
I love to open it and admire all the wonderful designs.

Someday I'll muster the courage to cut into it........

So... all that being said, and thanks for listening, but I couldn't resist this F8 pack of Liberty from Pink Chalk fabrics!!  I think I'll make the Rose Dream block into a zip pouch.

 

xo

Charise

Have you seen this?

The Workroom had a photo of this on Flickr. 

 

I have soooo many projects in the works but I just had to buy the pattern.  You can get it as an instant download PDF.  The details are just amazing and I'm torn as to whether to make the top or dress! 

Or maybe the dress with the bishop sleeves.  The placket is bias cut stripes and I think it is an absolute genius detail.  It reminds me of something I would find at Anthropologie, my absolute favorite shop!!

The Victory website is here and she has many more adorable patterns!!

I made another Rose Dreams Block.  I just love this block!!

Thank you everyone for your comments about a Vintage Block Quilt Along.  I'm definitely going to start in the Fall when my little boys are in school.  It will be a block a month, no stress, no pressure.  Make an entire quilt or use the patterns for a bee block or any quilty project you can think of.

Have a lovely day!

xo

Charise

Work in Progress Wednesday and some random stuff

My little boys are camping with their grandparents for three days.

 Love 'em, but I'm so happy to have a break!!!  The house is so quiet : )

Today I decided to try a new block.  Well it isn't quite new.  I've been collecting vintage quilting patterns and this one is from Kansas City Star newspaper, "Rose Dream" from 1930. 

I've really been inspired by a new Flickr Group - Low Volume Quilt Along.  The idea of using a more subdued palette is very appealing to me right now.  I was looking through my patterns and thought this would be the perfect one.

I'm truly in love with this block!   I've pulled a stack to make more blocks - I'd like to make an entire quilt.

So.....here is a question for you.

Would you join a Vintage Block Quilt Along hosted by me?

I would pick vintage patterns from my collection and I would provide the pattern and a tutorial.  In the case of making this block, I'd share my tips and tricks I learned while doing curved piecing.

I'm thinking at least one block a month, maybe two.

What do you think??

As far as the random stuff, I had a chance to spend some time in the garden.  A few years back we planted a few strawberry plants.  Now we have a little patch : )  The boys love to pick them.

My latest project for Fat Quarterly is finished.  Yay!!  These are just the backs of the pillows I made for the next issue.  A little teaser : )

xo

Charise

May I make something for you?

Today I received the most lovely package from Mette.

 I love notebooks - you could almost say I collect them!
 I was so thrilled to receive this package from her!! 
I follow Mette's blog - erleperle.  It is so lovely. 
A few months back she had a blog post on Crafting it Forward and I jumped at the chance to sign up.  So now it is my turn to Craft if Forward! 

 If you would like a handmade gift from me,  add a comment below.  I will make and send you a gift handmade by me to the first five interested individuals. You will receive your gift in the next nine months.  You in return upon receiving your homemade gift, create a blog post showing what you received and then ask for comments in the post with interested and willing participants.  You then have nine months to make something for the five interested individuals. 

**I'd love to make something for you.  If you are interested, please leave a comment below**

xo

Charise 

Work(s) in Progress Wednesday

Right now I have five boys at my house ages 2-8!!!!  They are actually playing quite well together!
So I'm taking a few minutes to share what I was working on before they got here : )

I finished the top for my pillow in the Pillow Talk Swap.  Hoping my partner likes it.  She wanted a shape that wasn't a square and likes linen as a background.  She gave me lots of colour choices but I went with my favorite - aqua and red.

I thought my Starburst Spools Block would be the perfect design for this project!

I've also been working on a project for the next issue of Fat Quarterly.

A little Liberty of London and 3 Sister's Etchings.....

xo
Charise

 

Fun Find

I was shopping at Joanne's today and came across the book "Sweet and Simple Patchwork Gifts".  The cover was so cute I had to take a look inside!

I was so excited to notice the same project that is in the Japanese House book I purchased on Etsy some time ago - it is the book on the top in both pics.

It is a wonderful book and has tons on cute projects!

If you don't have a Joanne's near you, you can find it on Amazon!

xo

Charise

Starburst Spools Pillow and a little Sunday night sewing

I'm not the best at finishing projects (Understatement!!) so I am ecstatic that I actually had a finsih this weekend!  I have at least 4 quilts in process, a bee block sketched, a few new paper pieced patterns started and a pillow for a pillow swap started.  But...I did finish my Starburst Spools pillow - yay!  I was inspired by Amy to try an invisible zip closure on this one.  I love that you cannot see the closure at all!  I put a lovely DS quilts floral on the back.

  I'd love to make a quilt with this pattern - eee gads, not another start : )

It was fun to come up with the quilting design for this one.  There is hand quilting around the star and echo quilting around the star and spools though I know it is a bit hard to see in the pic.

Hope you are having a lovely Sunday evening.  I'm doing a bit of sewing and this is the state of my table!  The kitchen is clean, I have three loads of laundry to fold and a check book to balance but the boys are asleep and I can sew.  I think the laundry and check book can wait until tomorrow!!

xo

Charise

Flowers in Vintage Bottles

I'm finally finished with my pattern "Flowers in Vintage Bottles"!!!  It took awhile to finish - a bit of redoing the pattern and some of the fabrics.

I love putting blossoms in found and vintage containers and this block was inspired by just that!

The pattern is available for instand download in my Craftsy shop and also in my Etsy shop!

Have a lovely Sunday!

xo

Charise

Design Process

Today I thought I'd share a bit of my design process. 

I was really hoping to have this paper pieced pattern sewn up today.

 It is inspired by some pics I found of flowers in vintage bottles.

It has been finished for at least a month and now that I'm sewing it I've decided to made some changes. Ugh!

The middle flower was too small so I enlarged it.  I really like the flower and bottle on the left but don't like the one on the right - so I'll take the time to redo it!  I'm always amazed at how organic the process is.  It isn't fast or easy but I do find it rewarding ~ if I take a breath and don't rush it : ) 

   

I also finished this pattern months ago.  It was a contender for the Sew Out Loud Quilt along but I decided to create "Design Studio" instead.  I have a bit more hand stitching to do and then it will be a pillow for my sewing chair.  The pattern is available as an instand download in my Craftsy shop and also on Etsy.

I'm a naughty girl and went back to the vintage estate warehouse.  I found a complete Featherweight accessories box with the original unopened machine oil and screwdriver for $5!

Also, this group of vintage sundries for just another $5.

Have a wonderful day!

xo

Charise

Kerry's House and some more bits and pieces

Kerry asked for houses for the Ringo Pie Bee.  I love to make houses so this was lots of fun.

She wanted a more traditional school house style block.  I picked a house from Kumiko Fujita's Patchwork Lessons.  I love this house because it has lots of windows to fill and you all know how much I love fussy cutting!! Here is the Kumiko Fujita version.

I added the attic window, and the pathway to the house.

As far as "bits and pieces" go, I started this log cabin to be one side of a purse.  It is mid size - about 15" x 12" which will be the perfect size to fit all my goodies.  I'm on the fence as far as the color scheme but it is growing on me.

   I picked the first flowers from my garden today!! 

 There is nothing like the scent of  fresh cut flowers.

I've been doing a bit too much vintage shopping lately.  

The pitcher came from a wonderful little antique shop near Hood Canal in Wa State. 

The sweet painting was $10 at a vintage store in Olympia, WA.

I thought the tea towel on the left was just so sweet.

The book on the right "From Me to You ~ A Gift of Friendly Thoughts"  is just wonderful.  It was written in 1911 and is filled with lovely little gems about friendship.

I'll leave you with this:

"Happy is the house that shelters a friend. "

~Emerson

xo

Charise 

An Apple and A Dumpling

I just love Keyka Lou's little dumpling pattern.  It is such a great little project.  I made this one for a friend and it will be traveling to her tomorrow! 

The apple coaster is made from my apple tute here.

It will also be travelling to the same lovely tomorrow : )

 

 Leila made this leaf coaster for me that I just love!

It cushions my coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon and wine in the evening!

I highly recommend the pattern.  It is wonderful!

Happy Creating to you

xo

Charise