Cocorico Bee: Annabel's Orchard

This month, Annabel asked us to make orchard inspired blocks measuring 12" x 16" so she could make them into placemats for her large family dinners. My mind works likes this...orchard to apples to apple pie. So there you go. I sketched an apple pie, an apple, a bowl with a pastry blender in it, and a rolling pin. Then the drawing sat for 3 weeks because I was intimidated by the pie in particular.

I wanted a jagged edge for the crust. I pondered it for some time and decided to traditionally piece 1/4" finished HST. That took me an evening. And then I waited two more weeks! I finally just tackled the rest in the last couple of days and I am so pleased with the end result.

I used traditional paper piecing methods with the exception of some very tame sketching with black thread for the pastry blender.
One of my favorite features is the boxed word "Family" in the pie. It's perfect for Annabel's idea of family dinners. And I am also pleased with the way I was able to line up the little row of white dots on the pastry blender handle. Oh, and I like the slightly darker red leaf shape on the apple fabric.
Heaven forbid anyone spill anything on this placemat as it took forever to make! It's a good thing that it will live far away in Australia where I won't have to see!

From my House to Yours

We are on round 9 of the Potholder Pass, my Flick swap that took off beyond my expectations. This round we are swapping "From my House to Yours" themed potholder sets and/or a set of four quilted coasters. I just signed up for the potholder swap. I had so much fun sewing for my partner.

I am not sure if my partner shares my love of miniatures and dollhouses but I think that if she does not, she is the type who would appreciate them at very least. So, I made one potholder a view inside the house, sort of dollhouse style. The furniture is just silhouetted in black except in the attic where it is dark and the boxes are bright. That's what you call artistic license. And the proportions aren't quite accurate. There was no attempt made to make them so. I am calling that whimsical! The curtains in the windows were free pieced to make them look a little more natural. The roof is one of my favorite fabrics! The chimneys are red and white chevron twill hangers. I really had a great time making these and am anxious to pop them in the mail so that my partner can receive them!

Stash Trad Bee

I was invited to join the Stash Trad Bee and we start with the month of October. October is a busy month around here with a birthday and Halloween and countless other school related events so I thought I had better check this off my list! This is my block for Angela. She chose a traditional block called Cracker and mixed it up a little, having us make four smallish blocks (about 10") to create one gigantic block that she is calling Cracker Scraps. Her directions are available here if you are interested in making one of your own.

Defining Kokeshi on Natural Essex Linen

I have printed a small batch of fuchsia "Defining Kokeshi" screenprints on Natural Essex Linen. I love the way the colors work together. The natural linen color softens the fuchsia. Once this Natural Essex Linen is back in stock at Marmalade Fabrics, I plans to buy more and print the black colorway as well. For now, I have used up my supply and my limited batch is in the shop. As with my other prints on linen, the price is slightly higher due to my material cost since I am not buying it in bulk (yet).

Here is a little close up on the text just because I like the way it looks!

Defining Kokeshi in the Shop!

There are listings for sherbet, fuchsia and black prints of "Defining Kokeshi" in my shop now. You can purchase them individually or as a trio.

You will also find my two sample pillows for sale there as well as the pillow cover pattern kit (includes pattern and piece of "Defining Kokeshi" silkscreen). Thank you in advance!
Mark thanks you for purchasing his handturned seam rippers too. He's already working on more!

"Defining Kokeshi" Pillow Cover Pattern

I just finished writing up a pattern for a project idea using a single panel of my new silkscreen design, "Defining Kokeshi." I was so excited when Monica Solorio-Snow, aka Happy Zombie, came out with her line of fabrics inspired by displays of sweet mochi confections in Japanese grocery stores, "Happy Mochi Yum Yum." I had previous freezer paper stencil and silkscreen designs using my Kokeshi doll drawings but I had it in my mind that I wanted to try something else with them. This fabric line gave me the nudge I needed to get moving. I really wanted to pair "Defining Kokeshi" with "Happy Mochi Yum Yum."

Here is what I did! I designed a pattern for a 20" pillow cover with an invisible zipper closure. To the left of the panel, I used two traditional pieced Japanese Lantern blocks. I used dense straight line quilting for the border and simple echo quilting in the center.

I love the sherbet silkscreen colorway with the blues and oranges in the "Happy Mochi Yum Yum."

And I found that the DS Quilt gingham coordinates so well with the pinks!

You can find "Happy Mochi Yum Yum" at Sew Fresh Fabrics and The Fat Quarter Shop as well as many Etsy shops. I got the adorable Chevron twill tape for the loop on the righthand side from Paper and Pinafore.
I am going to be putting this pattern in my shop as a part of a kit. You will be able to purchase the silkscreen panel and the pdf pattern full of step by step photographs and instructions. Kits should be in the shop tomorrow. The sample pillows are for sale too!

He's Been Busy!

My husband has been busy in the barn turning more seam rippers on his old Craftsman lathe! We chose some new colors this time around. Aren't the fun? From left to right we have Purple Crush, Zebra Stripes, Ruby Silk, Aquarius, Aqua with Black Swirl, and Pomegranate Martini.



This is what the seam rippers look liked closed.



And then, tada, when open! I have been using my seam ripper for months now and have to say that it works really well. It's nice and sharp and I don't lose it as often since it is bigger and colorful. My husband is so pleased with the positive feedback that you have all given him. He loves to feel that his seam rippers are in such hot demand by my sewing pals. Thank you!
These seam rippers have been listed in my shop.

Marmalade Giveaway Winner!

Who is the lucky winner of the Marmalade Fabric gift certificate???

It's #54, Ella said...
"Oooo.. The Theory Forest Mosaic in brown would be a perfect quilt back. Thanks for the chance to win!"
Happy shopping Ella!

Introducing "Defining Kokeshi"

I've been very busy designing and printing my new silkscreen design! I'd like to introduce "Defining Kokeshi." It features five hand drawn Kokeshi doll designs and a background with repeating text. The text is a simple definition of Kokeshi that I drafted.

"Defining Kokeshi" will be printed in black for a high contrast great texty looking piece!

I am also printing in fuchsia ink; the perfectly feminine choice.

The final colorway is sherbet. It is a slightly pearlescent soft orange.

This makes for a lower contrast, softer looking print.

And there you have it! All three happy little prints together....

I hope you like them! They will be available in my shop very soon along with a pattern for a project idea.

My prints are all derived from my own original hand drawn designs. I prepare a silk screen with emulsion layers and use a photo emulsion process to burn the image onto my screen. Each print is individually pulled and later heat set. This work is done by me, in my home. The fabric is an essex blend.

{Sponsored Giveaway} Marmalade Fabrics

I'm delighted to welcome a new sponsor to During Quiet Time. I was first introduced to Tammy from Marmalade Fabrics by Cindy and Krista when they started talking about her shop on their blogs. Next thing I knew, Tammy ordered a little something from my Etsy shop and commented on my blog. She seemed so nice that I decided to check out her shop and bought some fabrics to make this quilt for my husband.

I had a great customer experience. I was able to select fabrics on line that coordinated well with others that I had at home and those that I saw on the screen. Her image colors are very true to life. One fabric was back ordered so she sent my fabric immediately and put the back ordered fabric in the mail when it arrived for no extra cost. Her fabric came nicely wrapped with ribbon and a seal!
Please check out Marmalade Fabrics. I think you will be happy that you did! She has over 140 colors of Kona cotton, Essex and linen, and a wonderful selection of modern quilting fabrics. One of the newest lines in is Juicy Blossoms!

Would you be interested in a $30.00 gift certificate to Marmalade Fabrics? You would? Hop on over there and take a peek at Tammy's selection and let me know what you would buy. I will choose a winner with the random number generator on Friday September 23 (enter by Thursday evening September 22).

Share in my Glee?

A little while ago, I was contacted by a UK magazine called Cross Stitcher. They asked if I would send them some images of my Vintage Collection screenprinted tea towels for a feature in their "Out there" section. The magazine is on the newsstands now! It's issue 244 and my towels are on page 14. Can you read what it says there? It says "Every month we bring you the latest high street trends, cutting edge products and inspiring ideas..." and they chose my towels! I am very excited.

Let's look a little closer...here it says "created by designer Amy Friend." If you are in the UK, check it out!!

More Fall Fashions

At the beginning of each season, I usually find myself making a few new pieces of clothing for the girls. This time, they got coordinating outfits (cute!!). Lily is wearing a jumper made from corduroy from JoAnns and a coordinating Kona with lime green mini pom pom trim. She loved the material because it's covered with apples, acorns, mushrooms, deer, owls, and her favorite...the smiling bunnies. It's a super easy pattern, Simplicity 5489. I made four or five of them a few years ago in a size 5. She got about 3 years out of them. This time I jumped up to a size 7. It's a little long now (as are the shirt sleeves!) but that means she can wear it next year too.

I have three pictures of Penny to share because she really got into modelling and the pictures make me laugh. I used Made by Rae's Big Butt Baby Pants pattern again. I have made 5 pairs of pants from this pattern so far, this being number 6. She is in the largest size now, 2T.

I chose the cuffed leg version though they need not be cuffed because she apparently has long legs. I would have measured but she was napping at the time. Thankfully, they should fit through the fall and early winter and given the apple and acorn print, I wouldn't have her wear them after that. Her "cuffs" and the panel on her bottom are made with scraps from Lily's jumper.

And one last cute picture.

Easiest "No Pattern Needed" Skirt Ever

Want to thrill your daughter? I whipped up this skirt in about a half hour and my five year old daughter loves it.

For the skirt, I simply took one width of fabric and seamed it. Then I made a casing for a 3/4" elastic at the top and I stitched a 1" wide hem at the bottom. Obviously, it's the pocket that steals the show. I borrowed the pocket from Jennifer Paganelli's book, Girl's World. It's found on page 84, used on the Annabel Apron with Frilly Pocket project. I made the pocket even easier by threading ribbon through the casing instead of a tiny turned pocket tie made of fabric as the pattern suggests.

Here she is before school this morning, momentarily distracted from her modelling to announce that she sees a butterfly.

Basic Grey Saffron Canvas

It's a long story, but I ended up with an extra sampler canvas from Basic Grey. This one measures 8 x 10" and is the Saffron design. If you missed it, I designed another Basic Grey sampler awhile ago and you can see it here. The Saffron canvas is so different from the Rook canvas that I used the first time. The openings are not square and because this is the smaller sized canvas AND five of the nine windows have preprinted designs, it didn't seem to make sense to use this canvas for a fabric swatch sampler. As I thought about it, it occurred to me that it would be perfect for embroidery.



Due to the time of the year, I went with a fall theme. Using french knots, I embellished the flowers in all of the preprinted designs. I added one of the Basic Grey stitched buttons to the lower right opening.



In the lower left, I embroidered a little sketch of a branch with berries.



Above that opening, I stitched a little squirrel with the suggestion of grass at his feet.



And finally, in the upper right, I stitched a little yellow and black bird on a branch. The bird is holding a red leaf in his beak. It's so fitting because Penny and I found our first red leaf of the season while on a stroller walk last Friday.



I've had many people ask where they can purchase Basic Grey samplers. These canvases are a very new product and many fabric stores are still picking them up. One easy place to order them online is here.

Edited to add: For those who have asked, the squirrel, bird and branch were my own sketches not a pattern.

Hanging Hoop Wall Pocket Swap

I'm hosting a new swap on Flickr called the Hanging Hoop Wall Pocket Swap. It was suggested by a member of the Potholder Pass but I decided to make it a separate swap since it isn't a kitchen related item. We are using the Embroidery Hoop Wall Pocket free tutorial. We will be using these hoops for storage in our sewing rooms.


I made this one for my partner, if she likes it. If not, I have another idea to try out. I made a little patchwork section in aqua, yellow and white with a touch of grey and black. I stamped the words "Sew Happy" in a longer patchwork piece. The bottom pocket is aqua linen with a piece of measuring tape twill along the upper edge. I also added a little piece of satin ribbon measuring tape and a button along the seam line of the pocket.
What do you think partner?

I have to say that it was tricky to get all the layers into the hoop. In our discussion on Flickr, someone suggested trimming the fusible fleece layer to just the size of the hoop and that helped a lot. I still had trouble making it as neat as I would have liked on the backside due to the three layers on the pocket.

More Dumplings

As with the edible variety, it is hard to stop at just one of these cute little Dumplings by Michele at Keyka Lou!



I made one with Anna Maria Horner Loulouthi Curated Bloom on the exterior and Lizzy House 1001 Peeps Jewels in Turquoise for the lining.



I did my best to center the design while cutting out the pattern.



I mentioned awhile back that I was eager to receive my charm pack of Little Apples from Sew Fresh Fabrics because I thought that the prints would coordinate so well with "My Happy Place" silkscreen. My original plan was to make a cushion for a chair sits in the corner of my dining room. Sadly, the green in the prints couldn't have clashed any worse with the green of my dining room walls.

So, here is my alternate plan. I pieced 1 1/2" finished size squares of "Little Apples" and "My Happy Place" for the bag exterior. The interior is Alexander Henry Heath in Tomato.

These bags will all be gifts at Christmastime!