Big Craftsy Sale This Weekend.

It's the big Craftsy sale this weekend. You can get classes that normally sell for $40 for $20 or even $15! It's a great deal.

I've had a few Craftsy classes downloaded myself, but have never watched them. But in part of my efforts to move through this recent slump I decided to brush the lint off the laptop and watch some. Now why haven't I done that sooner?! The classes were inspiring for sure. So far I've watched Quilt As You Go Patchwork Bags and Improvisational Piecing and Modern Design. And I've already bought the supplies to make my own Tinkertote from the bag class. Considering I've never wanted to make a patchwork bag in my life, this is a very big deal!

One of my favourite things about the Craftsy classes in the focus on teaching technique. Even when there is a specific project the instructors are all about tips, shortcuts, and general guidance on technique. You can pick up so many neat tricks and insights. So, even if you are comfortable with the concepts taught in the class you will still pick up something new. It's pretty awesome.

So check out the classes on offer and pick up something on sale. Sale ends at Midnight on June 9.

Don't forget, you can always pick up my class - Inset and Applique Circles by Machine - while you're shopping.

Friday Favourites - Scrappy Fabric Rug

It's awesome when friends just get you. They know what you need, when you need it, or anticipate the joy they can give you. After the last few weeks it was so perfect to have this awesome rug arrive in the mail.

Amanda Jean made it for me. She is such a generous person and I'm really quite lucky to consider her a friend. Now, she may have finally got tired of me talking about how much I wanted one of her scrap rugs. Or maybe each of her showers had their own already? I'm going to go with she was just being her awesome self. It was quite a surprising birthday present.

Right now I'm not sure where to put it. I actually just did some spring cleaning and rearranging in my living/dining room. So it sits in the now dining room, hosting an up cycled table. It sits, rather like its own piece of art, in front of the picture window. Seems like a pretty good spot for now. That way I get to see it every day and think of my dear friend.

Now, I am no expert in knitting or crochet. That means I don't know exactly which technique she used to make this one (I think it is crochet?). But she has provided tutorials for both crochet and knitting one of these rugs. What an amazing use of scraps!

Playing for Karen

So many people are on Instagram these days and many people credit it with the downfall of blogs. It may be that people love the immediacy of Instagram. Me, I love the inspiration and camaraderie of it.

I follow Karen Lewis on Instagram. She does incredible screen printed fabrics, and even sells bags and such. Not to mention she's got a book coming out called Screen Printing at Home. On Instagram I find her funny and wildly inspirational. If there wasn't a continent and ocean separating us I imagine a good old fashioned catch up with her over challah and tea. And then she would teach me just an ounce of what she does and I would explode with creative joy.

A few weeks back Karen posted pictures of a bee project she has going on. Her contributors are making rows of isosceles triangles, inspired by this incredible antique quilt. Now, I'm not in her bee. I'm quite a bad bee member, if I'm being perfectly honest. But I loved the fabrics and thought this might be a perfect small challenge. Maybe something to pull me a little bit out of my slump?

While I cannot attest to the success or failure of a life changing bit of sewing, I can say that I quite enjoyed a little rustle through my fabric and an hour of sewing in the sunshine.

Playing with Stars

I'm chugging along and playing where I can. Working through this slump, pulling out old projects and trying new things. Last week, on my birthday, I got in the mood for some precision piecing. Rather than create any old random block I decided to add to my star collection.

Sitting in a bin was a little collection of 8 stars. I started them 7 years ago. Yup, that's how long ago. They were a Block of the Month from Planet Patchwork called Celestial Migraine. At the time I started them I did plan on keeping up - don't we always plan that with BOMs?! Then, as now, most of my sewing was improv based so taking a mental break to precision piece was nice. I also chose these soft colours and that provided a respite from the saturated colours I was using all the time too.

Well, I never downloaded all the patterns and the final quilt layout. It disappeared from the site and I could no longer find it. But, I did remember that is was a sampler of star blocks, with loads of Friendship Stars scattered among them. So last week I picked a star pattern (Pat's Star) off of Quilters' Cache to add to my collection. It was a spot of fun sewing and complemented the existing stars quite well.

I must admit, I'm kind of excited about these now. I'm going to make a few Friendship Stars and float them in background fabric. The stars I have finish at 12'' square, so I'm going to finish my Friendship Stars at 6'' square. I'd like to have all my stars float on the background a bit more so I'm going to play with layout.

(Scroll through here to see a version of the original pattern.)

Who knows how long these will stay up on my wall and when I can play again? I am quite enjoying their sunny nature and it was exciting to shop my stash for fabric additions. Another step forward in reclaiming my creativity.