Miss B went to Europe and brought me Tilda

Miss B celebrated earning her undergrad degree with a dream trip to the UK and a bit of Paris.
It was a wonderful opportunity, and she enjoyed every minute. She also went shopping a time or two, and she brought me several Tilda things and some Cath Kidson note cards. Miss B knows her mama well, bless her!
It felt like Christmas, honestly. (I may have squealed a couple of times.)
She has made me promise to actually use my treasures. I will try, but you know, it's Tilda. I won't be squandering it...
In other news, I harvested the first bit of my lavender. So lovely.
We had such a mild winter, I was a bit worried the plants had not fared well. There was a bit of winter kill, but lavender, like many shrubs, sprouts from the previous year's growth. Thankfully, I resisted the urge to prune too early. Most of the plants renewed themselves quite well, and even the winter killed bits have developed some lovely new growth at the base. I pruned the winter kill as I harvested the new buds. Now the plants look pretty as well as being productive. (That's MY long-term goal :-).....)
I am no gardener, but I have developed a genuine love of lavender. It is such fun to be able to use the lavender I have grown in my crafting.
I have three new plants in containers on the deck. In early fall, I will transplant them into the garden. This is the best way I have found to have well established shrubs that will survive year after year. The added bonus of growing lavender is that your hands smell so nice after working in the garden.

New beginnings and joyful bunting

Celebratory bunting in Queen's U colours

Paper Pieced gift pouch

Yesterday, we celebrated with my darling girl and her friends as they graduated from Queen's University. Miss B earned her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology, and will continue her education in the University of Ontario Institute of Information Technology's Bachelor of Education program starting in the fall. She wants to be an elementary school teacher.
There is no truth to the rumour that she will be doing research into the causes and long term effects of textile hoarding -- that is just her environment -- not her life's work.
No, her life's work will give me endless opportunities to sew and craft things for her classroom. So, really, a dream come true for me! I see a new Pintrest board coming on...
I did a few little things to celebrate her big day. I made some bunting in the Queen's U colours, and I did paper pieced blocks -- hearts in the same colours -- for her and her best friends.

Once the blocks were finished, I turned them into a little gift pouches, filled with fancy bath products and a bookstore gift card -- with instructions to get a trashy novel or two for the summer. (They have read enough serious works for now, I think.)
I made little quilt sleeves for the back of the blocks and ran a thin dowel through them, attached some hemp string, and they can hang them up if they wish.
It was so much fun to make some little keepsakes for clever young women who have been good friends and supporters to one another, and who deserve some down-time after all the hard work.
As we waited for the time appointed to retrieve her hood and gown, and pick up the convocation tickets, we had a nice breakfast and I was actually allowed to visit a lovely Kingston quilt store called Quilt and Stitch. I think my dear ones thought this might stop the tide of sentimental tears that kept flowing all day long. They were quite wrong, of course, but I didn't turn the trip down. I may be sappy, but I'm not silly ...
At the store, I found some Reunion by Sweet Water and some 40 per cent off Fig Tree and Co.'s Breakfast at Tiffany's. I also scored some little bits and pieces. More on that on another day.
After all our hot weather, my first crop of lavender is ready for harvesting. I am off to do that.
Have a handmade sort of day!

Tilda is at it again!

This is Rian's shop logo

I belong to a facebook group called the Craft Cafe. They are a great bunch, and we seem to chat almost everyday about what we are up to with sewing, baking and various other handmade projects.
The group is largely European, so I have to suffer through seeing all the lovely Tilda fabrics, papers, stickers and various other products I can't get easily.
The girls of the cafe are friendly, supportive and fun. Their personalities just sparkle through their posts and the lovely photos they put up on the page.
One of the cafe girls, Rian, lives in Holland. She also recently launched a web shop entirely devoted to Tilda. The site is in Dutch and English, and Rian is willing and ready to help with any language challenges. I think I have finally found a place to get my little Tilda crowns.
Just recently, Rian shared with us that the new winter line has been launched, and she's placed an order for all sorts of products from it.
There is also a new Tilda book!
This means that the English version won't be available to pre-order until late July or mid-August. The quick screen shots Rian shared with us in the cafe were inspiring. There are lovely cream/burgundy floral prints, along with some fun wintry projects. The angel on the front cover of the book is tucked up in a bed with a lovely eiderdown. I might have to make her, and then try to explain to my nearest and dearest about why I seem to be playing with dolls all of a sudden.
I know, it is sort of weird to be so attached the work of one designer, but I think the whole Tilda esthetic speaks to me on some sort of elemental level. In short, Tilda makes me happy.
And now, I have a new book to look forward to, as well as a source for the supplies. I promise to keep my fellow English-speaking Tilda fans posted about when the new Tilda Winter book is available for pre-order. Watch this space!

Thelma and Louise go to a quilt store sale

Evidence of quilt shop sale...

Yesterday Sandra and I went to Country Concessions' annual sale in Cookstown ON, which is about 45 minutes from us. The fabrics were offered for between 65 to 80 per cent off.
Then, because we could, we also drove to Fabricland in Keswick, a town about 35 minutes north of us. We had never been to that location before. (Believe it or not).
At the quilt store, Sandra scored some drastically reduced threads, some really cute bug fabric, and she bought each of us an electric blue FriXion pen in electric blue. (Thanks, Sandra!) Apparently, lime green is the best colour to use because it shows up on both light and dark fabrics. Electric blue, according to the lady at the quilt store, is second best. These are cool pens. All marks disappear when ironed. Amazing!
As we were waiting for our fabrics to be cut, we collectively pawned through the fill-a-bag-for $7 scrap bin for buried treasure. We both found bits we liked.

Big finds of the day!

As usual, I went slightly nuts at the sale. This is largely because I never met a notion I didn't like. All were half price. I found a clever seam gauge that is small enough to travel in my sewing bag, a button hole cutter, a flexible ruler, a couple of wooden needle cases, a snag mender, and some mesh transfer material -- useful for embroidery projects.Then, I found two half price Fig Tree patterns. They screamed please take us home. There was really no need for the screaming. As soon as I saw them, they were in my hand.
My big fabric finds of the day were:

1. Amy Butler Lotus fabric for 65 per cent off. (I'll take two meters, please.) 
2. Fat quarters to use in a Father's Day project for my favourite newspaper man.
3. Sweet Water fabrics  "Sunkissed" words for $6 a meter. I got 2.5 of that.

Yeah, like I needed more fabric. But it was so pretty, and so calling to me...

We finished off our big day out with lunch at a local 50s themed diner. I had onion rings with my burger. Sin on top of fabric sins...
OMG it was good.
The whole day was a bit like Thelma and Louise, minus the cowboy bar and the whole driving off the cliff thing...
I am currently working on some projects for some special graduation girls. All will be revealed very soon!

Everything old is new again...

My very favourite tea cup

Wendy, over at The Crafter's Apprentice is a  cheerful little bunny who will try almost any craft at least once. In other words, someone just like me.
Although, unlike me, she has the wherewithall to organize a competition open to one and all to come up with some fun and useful craft projects that employ recycling, upcycling -- maybe even bicycling (as along as it uses repurposed materials).
There is a button at the side -- look over there, to your right -- so you can join in the fun and get the word out too.
Each project posted is counted as an entry, and you can't spend more than C$20 on new materials. Although, truthfully, fess up: do any of us need to spend any money at all for this one? No, I didn't think so.
There is a prize. There will be sharing. There will be awesome ideas that will make you say, "Hey, why didn't I think of that?"
Make do and mend need not be a tedious chore. It can be fun, and possibly, profitable. Go, go on and look at Wendy's blog. You know you want to...
Not long ago, I came across my favourite tea cup from my mother's collection. I was only allowed to use it at Christmas and Easter, and I always think of that warm, milky, sort of sweet tea adults sometimes allow children to drink.
I took it for a test drive the other day, along with those macaroons one keeps hearing and seeing so much about. I have the other one to the boy child. He really enjoyed it. I was sort of unimpressed. However, my tea was magical in that magical cup.
I am going to use it more often from now on. All days can be special with the correct tea cup.

It's the unofficial start of Canadian summer!

Sum, sum, summertime...

This weekend is the unofficial start of summer in Canada. The old rhyme is "Horray, horray, it's the Queen's birthday, if we don't get a holiday, we'll all run away..."
In adulthood, this means loading the contents of your house into your car, drive north for three hours or so, unpack the car, remind the kids about bug spray, sunscreen and their hats -- all of which they have left at home on the table in the front hall. They run away to the lake, where they will stay for the whole long weekend.
The adults work for the rest of the day to remove the winter's grime from the cottage, cook dinner, sit by the lake until the blackflies come out. Once the blackflies start biting, we are driven indoors. I bring my stitch project. The thing is, on the May long weekend, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday are almost completely identical, except on Monday, we are loading some things back into the car, and then we sit on the highway, inching our way back home with all of the other cottagers.
I will be at home this weekend, but I am not doing Friday Night Sew In. I am working on my sewing machine cover's embroidery. It is nearly done.
Today, I did a new wreath for our front door. It is a Tilda-inspired frog wreath, featuring dragonflies, daisies and some solar-powered firefly effect lights which come on when it gets dark and go off  before dawn. The sort of ugly little solar panel could not be disguised, because it won't charge the lights if it is covered up. I am hoping the froggy will be so charming people won't notice the solar panel. I hope a lot of things. Have a magical weekend, y'all!

Mamma mia!

Pieced, Mamma!

And, here she is -- my very first paper pieced project. She is a little Russian doll. Sandra, my partner in all fabric crimes, gave me this pattern for my birthday, along with an offer of lessons on how to do this. It is not perfect, but for a first effort, it isn't bad. I really enjoyed the process.
Last Friday was the day of my lesson under the guidance of Sandra, who is an awesome teacher. We had a lot of fun.
Sandra had to leave before we were finished doing all the sub sections, so I was on my own for the last one.
That one went okay, it was the one before -- when she was there -- that went badly. It not Sandra's fault. I was pretty entertaining as I struggled to learn not to sew EXACTLY the way I have always sewn. It is a bit like learning a new language, driving, and reading a map -- all at once. Things were bond to go a bit wonky.
At first, I produced what can only be described as a cone head. I had to do the whole section all over again.

If at first you don't succeed, friends will take photos...

When it was time to put all the sub-sections together, I discovered another mistake. I just redid the other block. Bonus: all the redos helped reinforce my new skills!
And, it made Sandra laugh -- and she tried really hard not to -- but it was pretty darned funny. Now, my Things to Do and Make Pintrest Board is slowly filling up with paper piecing patterns. Sandra is also going to lend me some books. Oooo, I love learning new things and then obsessing about them, don't you?