Scrappy Stitched Season's Greetings

So, I have another new fun pattern out! This one can be found in the Holiday 2012 issue of Stitch Craft Create on newsstands now!

Eeek, don't you just love the cover?! The centre embroidered piece there is done by the super-talented Mollie of Wild Olive and the pattern is included in this issue.

My pattern is called Scrappy Stitched Season's Greetings! I've been making stitched cards with fabric scraps for a couple of years now, but these specific cards were not only inspired by the holidays but also by the fact that I know some SCC readers asked for more projects featuring small scraps.

I made four cards which are featured in the magazine - presents, Christmas tree, ornament, and dreidel (y'all know we celebrate Chrismukkah around here, right?) - there are full instructions for the tree card and then notes for creating the other three using the same techniques and added embellishments.

I just love this picture of the cards on the mantle - the styling in SCC is just fabulous! As you can see the cards are all lined with cardstock to cover the backs of the stitching and there are instructions in the pattern for how to achieve that nicely.

The dreidel card also got it's own little special mention at the end of Sara Dahan's Hanukkah Stars & Hexagons bunting pattern.

The cards feature all kinds of scraps from my hoard! Both the tree and ornament cards have lots of scraps from Sheri McCulley's Have a Sherri Berry Holiday collection which came out a few years ago (some of the same fabric was used in both my Countdown-to-Christmas and Winter in the Woods patterns). There's also some Joel Dewberry (I am so going to cry when I run out of the herringbone and wood grain fabrics) and Sandi Henderson, along with some other random bits I had.

Actually, mentioning Countdown-to-Christmas made me think of something - Sheila took a fabulous picture of it at one of the recent TMQG meetings!

In this picture you can see the actual colours in my advent calendar for the Pretty in Patchwork Holidays book. Unfortunately the picture in the book is incredibly washed out and the calendar just doesn't look as cheery as it appears in real life! I'm glad Sheila took this picture because I don't think I took any pictures of it other than one sort of quick shot when it was completed.

Anywho, yes, so this issue of SCC is on magazine stands now and will be available until about midway through December (I believe the next issue comes out sometime around December 13th or so) - some of my favourite parts of this issue include the Alabama Christmas spread, the fun guide on what to put in a crafter's stocking, and Corey's Fresh Forest quilt pattern. Get it while it's hot!!

A Little Catch Up

So, it's been a while since I last posted! It's been a rough couple of months - what with not having a job and such, but I'm trying to keep myself busy and not dwell too much on all of the negatives. Let's do a little catch up post here! I've been crafting quite a bit and have a few things to share, so let's do a few now and then some more later in the week!

I finished the first of my Seaweed Socks - woot! The pattern is available for free on Wendy Johnson's site and the yarn is Madelinetosh Sock in Iceburg (which is a discontinued colourway). I'm just about to start working the gusset for the second sock and hopefully I'll have both socks fully done within the next week or so. When they're both done I'll take some better pictures so that you can really see the colour.

I stitched up this little Bob and Doug McKenzie duo as a gift for my mum. The pattern is from Wee Little Stitches on Etsy and was super fun to stitch! Seriously hard to photograph so in case you can't read it the line on the bottom says "take off, you hoser" (you may need to be Canadian to get this one).

I also knitted up three teeny-tiny preemie hats for charity; I'm going to make more since I can probably get five or so hats out of each skein and they really are super-fast. I feel good knowing that such a little thing I've made can bring some serious warmth and comfort to others. The pattern is available for free and there are five different variations on the hat; I'm planning on making one of each version in both pink and blue.

And, a little announcement, Pretty in Patchwork: Holidays is now available for purchase in the print edition!! It came out on August 7th and should be available in all major bookstores as well as online at places like Amazon and Indigo. Also, just in case print isn't your thing or you want to get the book instantly, it is still available as an ebook as well.

In case you don't remember (or weren't around these parts when I first announced it), this is my pattern from the book - the Countdown-to-Christmas Advent Calendar! My pattern mixes English paper piecing, stamping, and a little patchwork to create a fun and easy calendar with pockets just big enough for a small chocolate or toy.

I have a few other things and announcements to share but we'll wait and do that a little bit later! I hope y'all enjoyed catching up with me here. I'll talk to you soon!

Pretty in Patchwork: Holidays

So remember a few days ago when I said I had some news to share but I needed photographic evidence? Well I've got it and...I'm in a book and stuff...

Yup, that's right! Awhile back John asked me if I'd like to contribute to a book he was writing - of course I said yes! The result of this is the above book Pretty in Patchwork: Holidays! It is currently available as an e-book and will be released in print in the summer of 2012...which means that I will of course be blogging about it again when that happens! The book is full of really amazing projects and designers (I'm sure you will recognize most if not all of them) - contrary to what you might think not all of the projects are Christmas-related... there are also projects for Hanukkah and Thanksgiving as well as variations for even more.

This is the project that I designed for the book - the Countdown-to-Christmas Advent Calender! The tree is made using paper pieced hexagons and the letters are stamped onto the fabric using number stamps and an ink pad suitable for fabric. The pockets are just big enough for a small toy or small chocolate and are very simple to make.

Jeni (who also had a super-cute bunting project in the book) has already actually made a variation on my pattern and blogged about it - it's so awesome! You  can buy the e-book here if you'd like and one neat feature is that you can actually flip through the whole book before buying and see all the project - did I mention there over 30 of them?!

Geez guys, I'm so excited! It's so awesome to finally see it and I know I'll be even more excited when the print version comes out - you can be guaranteed there will be some goofy picture of me holding it in a bookstore (I mean, really, have you guys seen the pictures of me from Quilt Market with the Sample Spree sign?)! So what do y'all think?