Blog Tour day 6: Happy Appliquer

Magazines may be able to dig up quotes and photos from years gone by, but nobody can dredge up the past like a mother! Thankfully she only shared the minimally embarrassing anecdote of my childhood cartoon creations (Mo-om!), and today I’m honored to present a guest post on my talented mom’s blog, Happy Appliquer. Be sure to look around to ogle the work of a truly accomplished appliqué artist.

Christmas Catch-Up: Pork Cuts free applique pattern

I don’t generally consider the slaughter of a pig cause for celebration, but apparently parts of Germany do. The Other and I were introduced to the idea of Schlachtfest several years ago through an East German children’s game of the same name (or rather, the similar “Schlacterfest”), in which players compete to assemble various cuts of pig into a full swine. (Though in true communist fashion, players eventually learn that to win the game, they have to cooperate rather than competing like capitalists.)


The Other is also the main cook in our household, and frequently comments that he’s never sure what defines particular cuts of meat. So what better Christmas gift than an apron with a pig appliqué handily labeled with pork cuts? OK, maybe it’s not so handy, but it’s gruesomely amusing. To our twisted senses of humor, at least.


I used a store-bought apron as the base to save sewing time. The pig and Schlachtfest label were stuck on with fusible web (my favorite is HeatnBond Lite). To avoid having to use a separate stabilizer, I sewed the detail lines on the pig and the letters and numbers before peeling off the backing paper of the fusible, gently tearing it away from the stitches. A zigzag round the outer edge, and the sow’s ready for the kitchen.

Download my free Pork Cuts appliqué pattern (in PDF or as an EQ7 project file) if you want to embellish your own apron—or whatever else! Of course, you could just use the pig shape without the cut lines if you’re not feeling so morbid.

Christmas Catch-Up: Giveaway!

The problem with craft blogging during the holidays is that if we want to show our handmade presents, we run the risk of giving away the surprise—at least, that’s what I tell myself when I’m sewing up to the Christmas deadline and don’t have a chance to post.
So this year, I thought I’d turn the first week of the New Year into belated gift-giving for you, my dear readers, based on what I made for my family. Later in the week I’ll post some tutorials and patterns, but I thought I’d kick things off with a giveaway!

Middle Brother has a peculiar terror of alligators, so naturally an alligator stuffed toy was in order for his son. Alligators somehow came up at Spring Quilt Market when I was talking with a rep from Clothworks, who was kind enough to send me this pattern by Penguin & Fish as well as fabric from the A Closer Look line—perfect for scaly gator flesh. The pattern was put together very well, which I always admire as both a pattern designer and technical editor.

No, I’m not giving away the plush I just made for my nephew—that’d just be cruel. Susie from Clothworks actually sent me three copies of the pattern, so I’m giving one away here and one on my Facebook page, each along with fabric for the main pieces.

Just leave a comment here between now and the end of Saturday (1/4/2014, 11:59 pm Pacific time) to enter. A winner will be randomly chosen and announced on Sunday. You can also enter the giveaway (with a slightly different set of fabrics) on Facebook by commenting or liking the post there; the winner there will also be random, but I’ll make sure the same person doesn’t win both. Good luck! The giveaway has ended and winners have been posted. Thanks for entering!

Appliqué retreat at Lake Tahoe

I spent last week at Sandra Mollon’s Appliqué Academy up at Lake Tahoe, and while we didn’t get up to quite the same chair-trolley antics as last year, the Mother was along this time so my quilting friends got a firsthand view of the tree from which the apple fell.

The Valentine, Halloween, and fruit blocks are the work of fellow retreat-goers, while the wild colors on the left, of course, are what I was working on—some peacocks for my next quilt pattern.

It was great having a chance to sew with the Mother rather than trying to describe our respective projects down the phone—and speaking of which, do you want to see what she was working on at the retreat?

I showed my stuff first ’cause hers kind of puts it to shame, no? The way she shades the petals with fussy-cut fabric is incredible, and these blocks (along with the seven others that will make up the quilt) are of her own design, based on Chinese embroideries. While waiting for a flight delay, we hurriedly got her set up on Flickr and a blog of her own—stop by The Happy Appliquer and let her know you want to see more! She’s as prolific as she is talented with appliqué, so I’m sure it’ll be a good read as long as I haven’t totally confused her with the rushed explanation of the computery stuff.

Thanks for coming out, Mom, and thanks Sandra for another great retreat!

Snowflake pillow by Youngest Brother

Just a photo today, since it’s the weekend… Youngest Brother made this lovely fleece snowflake pillow for me a couple years ago, and it’s still fitting right in with my Christmas deco.

While trying to figure out what magazine he got the pattern from (Quick Quilts from January 2008), I discovered that he’d given me more of a gift than I even knew: according to quilt.spot, the magazine calls for velveteen. Thankfully Youngest Brother knows that touching velvet, velveteen, and similarly nappy fabrics makes me cringe in fingernails-on-a-chalkboard fashion. Seriously. It creeps me out royally—I can honestly say I will probably never sew anything with velvet. I know, never say never, but even the thought makes my skin crawl. Velvet ain’t no luxury fabric in my book. Is that weird?

Thanks for remembering my delicate sensibilities, Bro!

Happy Halloween

It’s only fair that Felis Domesticus Minor be subjected to the same Halloween torment as her big sister two years ago.

Had to run—and have to run again!

Usually when my blog posting goes quiet it’s ’cause I’ve got busy, lazy, or some combination of the two. But this time there’s an actual, real reason. On November 11, fellow crafter/sewer Youngest Brother was in a serious car accident and has been recovering from a brain injury ever since. To spare all the gory details, let’s skip from there to the present: he’s came out of inpatient rehab yesterday! He’s walking, talking, eating, and joking, and continued outpatient rehab should help with some remaining memory and strength issues, but we’ve been told to expect a pretty full recovery. It’s an incredible turnaround considering the initial prognosis and really gives us something to celebrate this Christmas. The Other and I are flying out there again today to join Middle Brother, his wife, the Mother, and the Father, so we’ll all be able to celebrate together.

In the meantime, there’s lots to catch up on here, so I’ll try to post as I can. But we’re finally moving out of this cruddy apartment and into a house in January, so it’ll still be busy!

I hope you all have a happy and especially a safe holiday season. Am at the airport, so have to dash!

Quilts are stupid

While I didn’t start quilting till after I left home, I thought I at least had respected the Mother’s prolific and masterful quilting. And though I surely do now, apparently that wasn’t always the case. When I was back at the old familial abode to pick up the Princess, I helped clean out the Mother’s enviable sewing room, where she unearthed an unfinished quilt top she had started making for me when I was about to finish high school. I vaguely remembered her making the center with carefully chosen fabrics—newsprint because I’d written for our local paper, cows and cow spots ’cause I’d had an inexplicable affection for all things bovine, scraps from the bed quilt she made me when I was a kid, and even fabric I’d used to cover a book I made for a fifth-grade English class. But I’d more or less pushed the entire quilt out of mind. (Forgive the rubbishy photo—was rushing out to the airport when I took it.)

“Why do you think I only sewed one border on?” the Mother reminded me. “You said quilts were stupid, so I wasn’t about to spend the time for some ungrateful teenager!” I had been a little shit, too concerned with what my potential friends in college might think about me sleeping under mummy’s quilt to appreciate what I was being offered. We had a good laugh upon seeing the quilt, since I’ve clearly got over the “quilts are stupid” mindset. Sorry Mom...

Going through her stash was a revelation—it was the first time I’d seen her accumulated quilting gear since actually becoming a quilter myself. Quite a history lesson, too: some of the older fabric was so stiff that I was sure it was about to get up and walk out of the room by itself.

All this gear is now in storage waiting for her new home in China. So Mother’s Day is over in her time zone, but love you anyway Mom! Sorry for the teenage embarrassment.

Life as Felis Domesticus knows it is over

Thanks for all the comments on my Bird Crossing quilt! I'm so glad people are excited about it. I'm really sorry I haven't had a chance to reply personally to more of your comments—we've a new addition to the family, so it's been quite busy of late!

The Mother and Father are moving to China, so we've taken in their adorable pooch Mazie. Poor Felis Domesticus didn't know what hit her, but though she looks entirely demonic in the photo, the two critters have made their peace with each other and are on their way to becoming best of friends. Maybe.

Check out the new APQ!

I'm so excited to announce that a pattern for one of my quilt designs is in the April issue of American Patchwork & Quilting! Credit for making and beautifully quilting the quilt (and buying the fabrics!) goes to the one-and-only Mother, who's been alerted by her LQS that issues are coming in now.

I called the quilt Bird Crossing, but it's Birds of a Feather in the mag. Somehow my first quilt pattern slipped into the “expert tips” issue, which has me giving advice alongside the more experienced likes of Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle, Joanna Figueroa, and Amy Butler, and I'm even included in the “Tips from Quilt Designers and Teachers” feature on the APQ website. Not bad, eh? Perhaps I should have the Mother make all my quilts! Alas, it'd be tricky from the provinces of China (more on that later).

There'll also be a pattern for a matching stuffed bird made by Youngest Brother in the next Quilts & More—and it's even on the cover (I'll totally be making that cake pincushion)! Thanks Mom and Bro for lending your talents to these projects.

I have a few more projects in the publishing pipeline too (ones that didn't involve [as much] pimping my family out), so watch this space.

Update: Even if you missed the magazine while it was on newsstands, it’s not too late to get the pattern! Download it (with a new pillow pattern) from my website.

Christmas catch-up, part 1

I hate to admit that I only got my last Chrimbo package sent out yesterday, so it'll be another day or two before I can show all the pressies I made. Despite the lack of travel, 'twas a busy holiday season round here with work and whatnot, so things got a little delayed. Felis Domesticus of course was no help in getting things done:

Yes, thank you, beast, it really helps when you plop down on something I'm sewing. Cheers for that.

As you can see she's been more naughty than nice this year, but the Other insisted that I needed to make her a stocking. All the better to fill with coal, I thought, but Father Christmas took a rosier view of her behaviour and showered her with gifts. And though she was meant to wait for Christmas morning like everyone else, she insisted on stuffing her snout into the stocking on Christmas Eve.

So Felis Domesticus had a very merry Christmas spreading this new toy's feathers all over the place. And if she stays on her best behaviour, perhaps Santa will be as kind to her next year.

Canuck Christmas cookies, Yankified

Spending my first Christmas away from my family, I've been discovering that cookies were one of the biggest parts of my Christmases growing up. I'm not sure I'm even all that fond of this time of year, but as December started, I found myself hankering for the half-dozen types of cookies the Mother would bake annually. I pestered her for the recipes, and the Other and I baked up a batch of nearly all the old faves.

That includes two Canadian sweets you don't see very often round these parts. It wouldn't be Christmas without Nanaimo bars, and butter tarts bring a nice contrast to the chocolate that covers our cookie tray. The gooey butter tarts—similar in flavour to pecan pie—are the Other's new favourite indulgence. So if you haven't done all your baking yet, here's a couple recipes to try, with the Mother's Americanization tricks included.

Nanaimo Bars

The Mother's Canuck-in-Yankland Trick

Authentic Nanaimo bars use custard powder, which is virtually nonexistent in the States. Instead, use vanilla instant pudding mix, but add a bit of almond extract to get closer to the custard flavour.

¾ cup butter
¼ cup white sugar
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup coconut
½ cup walnuts (optional; we usually skip 'em)
2 Tbsp custard powder (or instant vanilla pudding mix)
1/8–¼ tsp almond extract (if using pudding mix)
3 Tbsp milk
2 cups icing sugar
6–8 oz chocolate chips

Melt ½ cup butter. Blend in the sugar, cocoa, vanilla, egg, graham cracker crumbs, coconut, and walnuts, if using. Press into a buttered 8" square pan. Refrigerate.

Cream the remaining ¼ cup butter with the dry custard powder or pudding mix. Add milk and icing sugar. Add almond extract if using. Blend together. Spread onto the bottom layer; return to fridge.

Melt chocolate chips in a glass cup in the microwave (6 oz is half a bag, but it can take a little more). Make sure the bottom layers are cold, then spread the chips on top.

Butter Tarts

The Mother's Canuck-in-Yankland Trick

The poor American excuse for corn syrup will do for this recipe, but Canadian corn syrup, more like English golden syrup, is better. So use golden syrup if you can find it. And avoid the temptation to use pecans if you're going for the real thing!

1 cup corn syrup (or golden syrup)
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
¼ cup butter
¼ tsp salt
2/3 cup chopped walnuts and/or raisins
½ tsp vanilla
Pastry or tart shells (1 box of refrigerated pie crusts is enough but will require rerolling)

Mix corn syrup and brown sugar in a saucepan. Cook gently for 5 minutes. Cool slightly. Pour mixture over slightly beaten eggs; beat continuously, adding remaining ingredients (except pastry, duh).

Press circles of pastry into 12 tart tins or muffin cups. Fill unbaked shells 2/3 full. Bake at 450°F for 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350°F and continue baking for an additional 15 minutes, until set. Don't overcook—it's better to pull them out a little on the underdone side so the tarts stay runny.

The Other woke me up on Saturday morning with the aroma of butter tarts coming out of the oven—not the healthiest breakfast by any means, but a tasty one!

Happy Halloween

Embarrassing Felis Domesticus is about as festive as it gets over here.

Ugh, two cat posts in a row. I have a tutorial in the works—promise.

Felis Domesticus and paramecium

Oh dear, I've been woefully neglectful of my online persona yet again. This time I shall blame the Mother, who invaded for a week and dragged me (kicking and screaming, of course) to PIQF and every quilt shop in the land. And to top it all off, she insisted on paying for all of my fabric—can you believe the nerve?

Felis Domesticus was on her best behaviour with the Mother, ignoring but eyeing her suspiciously her for days.

Here's the beast protectively clutching her paramecium toy. I found the felt microbe in a bag when cleaning and finished it up for her—it was a very early, abandoned sewing project—and she quite enjoys the wool flagellum and catnip-stuffed cytoplasm.

And here she is disemboweling the poor paramecium. The Mother eventually earned Felis Domesticus's affection by dangling the flagellum in front of her, and when they were finished playing Felis expressed her appreciation by licking the Mother's hair. Cats are gross.

Alas, Felis has been lulled into a very tentative sense of security, as the parents will soon be moving overseas and leaving their dog with us. Felis Domesticus ain't gonna be the only beast on the block for long....

I am NOT becoming a cat lady

Yes, I know I just posted about Felis Domesticus. But you need to see what I have to contend with at home. (Ignore the dusty apartment, made uglier by the addition of the cat's hair absolutely everywhere.)

You can't see me, sitting on the sofa and minding my own business as the beast prowls around the cookie jar (three guesses what I'd been stuffing my face with moments before).

The beast becomes curious. She must like the hippo cookie jar we scored at the flea market.

Or perhaps she's drawn by the sweet aroma of cookies?

No, she just can't leave loose round objects well enough alone. She actually managed to get a cookie out of the jar, but it slipped from her claws before she could bat it to the floor.

I never fail to marvel at the extent of her evildoings, and I offer these photos as evidence of the nastiness felinekind gets up to. But hear this: just because I'm putting photos of my the Other's cat up on a blog, I am by no means becoming a crazy cat lady. I don't even like cats. I particularly don't like Felis Domesticus here, especially when she's conniving ways to steal my sweets.

An innocent face conceals a sinister soul.

As for hippos, more on them as the week goes progresses....

Three beasts on a sofa

Here's Felis Domesticus, looking especially elegant as she licks herself with her legs splayed. The more attractive creature with its tongue out is by Youngest Brother, who now has his own blog, Campus Crafts. The room he's living in just for the summer looks more put together than many middle-aged, two-income homes, and you can also check out his other sock creatures and bizarre stitched projects for school and fun.

I'll post some updates on my own projects soon, I promise!

Stick a lunch in it, valentine

You've heard all the cynical anti-Valentine's arguments before, so suffice it to say that when I was in university I circulated a "Fuck Love" pamphlet of romance-gone-wrong poetry on St Val's. The Other is travelling for business today, so we can go out to dinner later without the wait, cost, and general stress of enforced sentiment. But I do like excuses to make stuff for people, so this is the lunch bag I've been promising for some time and gave to him just before he flew away. I adapted Tumbling Blocks's pattern so the seams would face in and used a thrifted vinyl tablecloth printed with Andy Warhol's Campbell's soup cans (the label gives the copyright to Campbell's, which supports my hypothesis that his art wouldn't be possible with today's infringement-frantic companies/lawyers).

So, grumpy old man tendencies aside, happy Valentine's Day, and my love to the Other!

Happy birthday to the Father!

The Mother gets a lot of play round these parts, mainly because her interests align with mine so well. But any creativity I may have comes from both of my parents. The Father definitely has a creative streak, which sometimes brings out his inner engineer in bizarre ways.

For instance, what makes this lamp sparkle in the "after" photo?

None other than automotive engine paint. You might think it's just for jazzing up the V8, but not the Father. When he saw the under-$10 lamp the Mother had found for me at a junk shop, he knew it needed a paint job (that was obvious), but he also knew regular spray paint wouldn't stand up to the heat of the bulbs sizzling in metal shades. Ugly as the "before" version was, I didn't think there was any way to keep the detail of it—the lamp had three colours, including one metallic, and that sounded like a royal pain to repaint. But the Father disassembled the whole thing, sandblasted the hell out of each part (or maybe sanded them? At any rate, each piece was smooth as new), primed everything, and then sprayed each piece individually in one of three colours of engine paint. For the silver metallic, he even taped off rings in the center bit of the neck (where the three arms meet) to do detail work that not only replicated the original colour scheme but also added new detail! I couldn't believe it. If you look closely, you can catch lamps just like this (sometimes with different shades) on TV-show sets or at flea markets, but I've never seen one look this good, especially considering the deal we got on it (we probably spent more on paint than on the actual lamp!).

In the same vein, the Father was also responsible for repairing this lamp from an antique mall in Ohio. See how the base lights up as well as the shade?

We only discovered that it did this after buying it, but the base wasn't working. So the Father disassembled the whole thing again and determined that it must be a three-way socket running the show. He eventually figured out how to jury-rig a new socket—I distinctly remember him snapping off bits of it in mad scientist fashion—so the switch would turn on the base, the shade, or both in sequence. I don't know how he did it, but it's pretty impressive. And he was giddily impressed with his own handiwork, as I recall.

Happy birthday, the Father! You're the greatest.

PS—I'll stop bragging about my family now. I promise.

Christmas catch-up: what I got

Mine weren't the only needles busy last month. For starters, check out this snowflake pillow that Youngest Brother gave me for Christmas! It was his first crack at machine sewing, which he claims he picked up out of boredom (what was that about the thought that counts?). The pillow's made from fleece, and I think he got the pattern from Quick Quilts. How great does it look? Felis Domesticus loved it too—the foul creature soils every new fluffy object with a coating of her fur—so I had to move it from her chosen throne to this chair, where it looks rather smashing against the orange.

You may have seen this sock creature designed and made by Youngest Brother before, but the Mother had been holding it hostage. So now that Dieter's finally in our clutches, here he is occupying another of Felis Domesticus's favourite perches. This Youngest Brother has talent, no? Skills and an eye, in fact. I'll have to get a photo of his dorm room—I've known 4-bedroom houses without an ounce of the style.

The Mother and I creepily often think along the same wavelenth, and here's proof: I made her an apron for Christmas, and she made me one. We seem to have each other's fabric preferences down pretty well. She also made an apron for the Other, but they're pictured kind of lifelessly here, since we're still trying to work off our holiday weight (we put it all on during the holidays, honest). We now understand the Mother's reluctance to broadcast her aproned waistline to all the world.

I've been using and loving the cheesy pincushion the Mother made me last Christmas, and this year she made a little sister to go in my hand-sewing box. She used a pattern in Pretty Little Pincushions, and while the bloodshot eye is little, I don't know that it'd qualify under most people's definition of pretty. No matter; I for one find it imminently satisfying to stab an eyeball with pins and needles. I flipped through the pincushions book a bit, and there are plenty of other cool ones in there too (which you might like better if you're a pretty kind of person).

So how cool is it to have such a creative and talented family? Well, ask the Father and the Other, who all Christmas had to suffer through endless quilting conversations and deal with the Mother, Youngest Brother, and me bickering over who got which sewing machine ("No, I want the Viking!" "No, use the Pfaff!" "Yes, it sews like a knife through butter, but there's no thread cutter!" If my parents don't want me to move back in, they'd better keep me away from the Mother's sewing machines). But we could be into drugs or Hello Kitty! or gambling instead of sewing, so perhaps they should consider themselves lucky. On the other hand, we could be a family with normal things in common, like football or something. And I think the Father, the Other, and all the rest of us would take sewing over football any day.

Oh, by the way! You have the Mother and Father to thank for the improved photos here on the blog. As if all the stuff above wasn't enough, they bought the Other and me a new Canon Powershot SX100 IS! It's a huge, huge improvement over my old, outdated camera—thanks!

Christmas catch-up: what I gave

For apologies on the belated Christmas report, see here. (Extra apologies to Middle Brother, who I still haven't shipped to—bad Feed Dog!) On to the what kept me busy last month....

What, I thought, would be a more romantic gift for the Other than a stuffed Jabba the Hutt toy? We've been known to invoke the name of the Hutt when we're feeling especially piggish, full, or otherwise gluttonous, and I do a mean impression of his laugh on a semi-regular basis; the Other appreciates all things felt, so the two were a natural marriage.

I sketched out a pattern in EQ6 (surprisingly well-suited to his bulbous curves), added a gusset for his gut, sewed him together, and gloated over the results to anyone who would listen. I mean, it's a felt Jabba doll! I was disappointed that I couldn't locate a bikini-clad Leia for him, but she does only play a supporting role to His Slugness. The Other was very amused to find Mr Hutt under the tree—for once I managed to not give away what I'd been working on.

Feeling my pattern-design energies sapped, I resorted to the Spring 2007 issue of Quilts and More. I combined two of their three apron patterns 'cause I liked the ruffle on one but the rickrack on another. I cleverly left the magazine at home when I went to Jo-Ann, but fortunately the 2 yards of rickrack I bought left me with only 2 inches to spare. Phew! I knew the Mother was in a need of an apron and liked vintage-looking ones, and the fabric was perfect for her kitchen. Nevertheless, she declined to be photographed, so the apron is modelled here by Youngest Brother.

Speaking of him, Youngest Brother got my latest appliquéd ransom note, featuring a line from French and Saunders that we love to quote to each other. Dawn French says it as Catherine Spartacus Zeta-Douglas-Jones, Queen of Wales. It's seriously funny, unless you're the Father, who can't understand why the Mother, Youngest Brother, the Other, and I are always shouting "You're just not cutting it, baby!" and other choice bits at one another.

That, of course, brings us to the Father. I'd had this car fabric for a while and wanted to make him a necktie, since he's an automotive engineer. Considering how often he wears ties (never) and how often he'd be caught dead in a tie made from this fabric (less than never), I went for slippers, which he's always wearing. I forgot to get a photo of what I whipped together more or less freehand: the cars went over the toes and front of the feet, and the sole was just a few layers of stiff felt. I was worried I'd made them too small, but they seemed to fit the Father. Much to my surprise, he actually seemed to find them warm and fairly functional. But they're definitely not hard-wearing, so we'll see how long they survive.

There's a niggling impulse to wrap up with some comment about homemade gifts being the best expression of love and appreciation and all those heartwarming things (blech), but I tend to think that the best part of making presents is that you can come up with totally weird stuff that may only make sense to the intended recipient. And if you're wondering where I got that idea, stay tuned for my post on the Christmas gifts made for me.