Free Library of quilting blocks......

For my followers who do quilt here is a link of a libarary of free quilt blocks. A new one is added every month.

http://www.mccallsquilting.com/Block_Reference.html

It's on a site called McCall's Quilting that you all may already know about but if not...enjoy:)

Take care.

WIPS.....

Well Saturday was Grow Your Blog day and what fun it was and still is:) I have visited maybe a third of the almost 600 blogs that were involved. There are some really wonderful blogs out there and if you are interested and want to know what the heck I'm talking about go to my blog post here.

I'm having a giveaway that is open to everyone and will run until February 15th.  So go to my post and leave a comment to be entered.

I also want to send a big thank you to my new followers for joining me here....and, a thank you to all of you that visted my blog to take a look see:)

Now on to WIPs.  If you have looked at my previous posts you will know that I have just ventured into the realm of crazy quilting.

I read somewhere that you should do your block in stages.

• do the piecing
• add laces
• add trims
• do the embroidery
• add beads 
• and, then buttons if any

Sounds like a workable plan. I thought I'd give you peek at what I have done so far.  I added some bits of lace and trim. Some of it is just placed and not sewn on as yet....still pondering.

Rotten picture colour wise:(

You haven't done much you say.......well I have been visiting lots of blogs.....and doing some genealogical research.

Here's the latest.

I had this uncle named Henry but called Harry born in Glasgow in 1911 who was my mum's oldest brother. While I was able to find out about my mum's other siblings I have never been able to find out anything about Harry. All I knew was that he was married....to a war widow with a daughter....and had two other children.

WELL!!!!

My second cousin who is my research buddy lives in Scotland. She went to the records office in Glasgow on Monday determined to find anything she could about him.

She hit the mother lode.......I was speechless and for me to be speechless....well that never happens....LOL

Yes Harry was married but not to a war widow with a daughter......where that story came from I have no idea...my brother I think. What til I see him...ha!

AND......he had FIVE children. How about that then? I have five cousins born in Glasgow who I have never met and who probably know nothing about me. My family lived in London. We came to Canada when I was 4 1/2 and Harry's children were all born after me. That was strange to find out as Harry was the oldest so you'd think his children would be older but he married when he was 38.

His oldest daughter was married in 1974 to an American soldier. How she met him in Glasgow....who knows? She lives somewhere in the USA now...so close yet so far.

So that was Monday....hopefully the rest of my week will be less shocking:)

I'm joining up with The Needle & Thread Network so come on over and see what my fellow Canadians are up to. 

Take care.

Grow Your Blog.......

Hello everyone:)

I'm participating in the Grow Your Blog 2014 event hosted by 2 Bags Full which starts today.

Click on the above picture to go to 2 Bags Full

Since some of you are obviously new visitors I thought I'd tell you a bit about myself. 

My name is Mary Ann. I'm married, have two sons, a wonderful daughter-in-law and a beautiful granddaughter.  I also have two cats....Deva and Smokey.

Deva

Smokey

What do I like to do?........lots of stuff. Actually I think that is one of my biggest problems....LOL

I like to sew, make cloth art dolls, make felt mice, embroider, cross stitch, do crazy quilting and I'm addicted to genealogy.  I also like to blog.....at last count I have 7 blogs...not all public of course. I have four that are dedicated to genealogical research and are for family only. 

This blog is mainly about what I create....my WIP's and my finishes. I have some page tabs across the top to show what I have made in the last few years. I like to add lots of pictures to make it as interesting as I can for my followers. I also like to add videos and links that I find as I go along that I think my followers might enjoy.

I have giveaways for my Blogoversary and special events such as this. I do this because over the years I have won a lot of giveaways and I like to give back in turn. 

This giveaway is open to everyone. I doesn't matter where you live or whether you're a follower or not......so if you're interested please leave me a comment indicating your preferred choice. Please remember if you win and are a "no reply" blogger I won't be able to contact you. So please leave me your email address in your comment. Thank you:) 

Here are my giveaway offerings.....one of the following gently used books from my library.  I need to down size my craft book collection and I hate to throw away perfectly good books.

If you click on the books below you can go to Amazon and see inside:) 

I'm going to leave this giveaway open until February 15th.  I want everyone to get a chance to leave a comment if they wish. Good luck!!!!

So there you go.....I hope you have enjoyed your visit.

Take care:)

WIP......The Winter Blues:)

I put my crazy quilt block together yesterday afternoon. I hand appliqued the pieces on rather than use a sewing machine. They're a bit wonky in places as a result but I figure I'll be covering it up anyway.

I used gray, white and blue in various types and textures....a little bit boring but I'm going to bling it up.

I started looking through my stash and I found these snowflakes. I have them in a few sizes. They might be cute.

Errrmmm....I seem to have a LOT of sequins which is strange because I hardly ever use them. I bought them at Len's Mill Store....my newest favourite place. 

I have a ton more.....these are just the blues:)

I also have these very old sequins shaped like holly...I bought them at least 30 plus years ago for something I was making. I'd like to maybe use a few somehow.

While at Len's I also picked up a small assorted package of bugle and seed beads. I just opened it and was really pleased at the variety...even flat bugle beads. You can't really see in this picture but there are quite a lot of different shades.

I have also picked out more beads from my collection and some buttons.  I didn't realize how much blue stuff I have as I vary rarely make anything in blue.

I've spread everything out to try and get some inspiration.

Take care:)

Click to visit Carli at Good Earth Quilting

Crazy Quilt Along 2014......

I joined up with Carli from Good Earth Quilting for her Crazy Quilt Along 2014. We are going to be doing a wall hanging representing Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.

I am not a quilter at all....never did one in my life. I love them and admire the work put into them but I'm a small project type of person. So my mindset is that this CQA project has four small pieces and then the finishing to make it a wall hanging. I figure that I can handle that...hopefully:)

I'm very new to crazy quilting so I'm a bit nervous. 

Just deciding on what fabrics to use was my first hurdle. Carli has a free spirited approach to crazy quilting which I like but the conformist in me is really having a hard time putting the crazy into the quilting....LOL

I have a shoebox of small pieces of fabric that I have been gathering up for awhile......satins, brocades, velvets, laces...that sort of stuff. I got some of my bits from Diane's Etsy store when she had a fabulous sale last year. I also won some from her in a blog giveaway too:)

The first square we are doing is winter. So Carli asked us to gather together bits and pieces that suggest the colours of winter to us and build a block to work on.  I have a ton of white pieces......I'm thinking winter is mostly whitish isn't it?

Just for fun...while I was considering my options.... I found a stock photo of winter scenery on Google and  loaded in on Palette Builder at Play Crafts.

Lots of blues and grays. It even gave me the Kona cotton colours!

Source

Well after fooling around with winter themed pictures for awhile I put some bits together. Lots to ponder:

I think it should have some shades of white, blue and gray.......I also found a piece of bluey purple which is very pretty.......decisions........decisions:)

Once I get it all together I'll post my nude block for you to see. Stay tuned. 

Grow Your Blog Event.....

Here's some news for any of you out there that would like to grow your blog.

2 Bags Full is hosting an event this month. If you are interested in joining you can find the rules here..........GROW YOUR BLOG 2014.

It's very simple to join and sounds like a fun way to gather new followers and also find new blogs to follow in turn.

You must sign up by January 15th so go on over and take a look:)

Year In Review.......Makes and Finishes for 2013.......

Last year I posted about the work I had done in 2012 and was a bit surprised at how much my output was. Sheesh I was one busy lady.

This year I was positive that I hadn't done very much but when you put it all together I have been busy this year too.

Here goes....not in any chronological order.....

A mouse.....with a cute hat. I love making little hats and mice :)

I completely forgot about this one. I participated in an altered CD challenge over at Cloth Doll Artistry.  I made a Steampunk themed picture book.

More pics here

Another CDA challenge. They usually have three each quarter. For this one I had to alter an Altoid tin. I made it into a small fold out book with pictures of butterflies and such on one side and pictures of little girls and more butterflies on the other side. On the front page is a house with a garden gate and at the end inside the box is a small scene of a little girl with her doll.  You can't really see it but each of the butterflies is lightly gilded in gold. Click to enlarge the pics.

 A mini sewing box for my dollhouse....it was a kit and fit together perfectly.

A mermaid from a pattern by Barbara Schoenoff. I used batik that I covered with green lace that had metallic gold highlights.. Her top is made from leaves and flowers that I fussy cut from the same lace. I thought it looked like seaweed. I also made the bead belt around her waist.

This was another CDA challenge. We had to take a New Year's cover from the Saturday Evening Post and interpret the image in clay type medium. This was my first ever and probably my last effort in FIMO...LOL

I also took some online classes to improve my doll making skills.

Abundance with Angela Jarecki....

I loved making that crow:)

The Princess and the Pea with Cindee Moyer....

Lillian and Max with Cindee Moyer....

Max was made of paper clay then covered with strips of paper from an old book.

 Enkai Nou with Angela Jarecki.....

Cloth over a soft sculpted face.. I found it very difficult but I think I would do it again.

More fussy cut lace:)

 I also did some more challenges at Cloth Doll Artistry.....

A Witch.

A Garden Friend...a lady bug.

A Marie Antoinette paper doll. I made her skirt from ordinary white tissue paper that I painted with red acrylic paint. It's amazing how the paint changed the texture of the tissue paper.

A Steampunk Halloween mask. I've decided it may be an owl. I'm not sure what I was thinking about at the time:)

A Zombie Bride......sadly looking for her lost love. I think she looks pretty hopeful.

And, then I tried a little bit of crazy quilting. An idea from Allie Allers Crazy Quilting book.

And a stitch diary to put all my small bits and pieces of stitching.

I think that about does it.

I have no idea what 2014 will bring but I hope you visit with me and see what I get up to.

I'm linking up with The Needle & Thread Network.

Take care:)

P.S.
Thank you  for your comments about our power outage. The turkey was finally cooked and eaten on Boxing Day so all was well.  It was delish:)