My New Year's Resoultion.....

....is to downsize my stash....HA! HA! HA!

I thought the picture below was funny :)...but oh so true. It's so hard to let go of even the smallest scrap just in case you might need it for something. Then I look at my piles of fabric and I think if I've had it for 20 odd years and haven't used will I ever?

SOURCE: HoopSisters

Thank you very much to the lovely people who have sent me emails asking me if I'm okay. Not to worry I'm still here.

It's just that I have so many WIP's that I don't know exactly where to start....so of course I have done nothing at all....sigh.

I even made a list of to-do's. Silly me.

Take care :)

Crazy Quilting Class......

I enrolled in the free quilting class with Kathy Shaw of Shawkl. There are 62 participants which is quite a lot.

Our first step was to make a neutral coloured block according to a block pattern that Kathy gave us. That way we are all working on the same setup as the seam treatment is going to be specific to the block.

I didn't want to buy any new fabrics so I used what I had in my stash. Sorry for the poor quality pictures but my little camera just wouldn't take good pictures. The light was just too wrong today.
 

This is as neutral as I could get:)

 

I finally bought myself a Q-Snap frame from Sew Sisters. It was about $20.00 CAD which was considerably cheaper that some I had seen offered online.

I went to the store to buy it and I was very very good...only 8 fat quarters came home with me.

Wow....you really need muscles to get the frame clip thingies off and on again though......LOL  It's fabulous. I don't know why I didn't buy one long ago.

We will be introducing colour into the block by using various threads and silk ribbon. I'm really looking forward to that part. Hopefully I can get better pictures next time.

Take care:)

My Spring Block......

I went with bright greens and yellows as they just seemed to make me think of spring.....bright sunshine and new green growth.

The smaller sized block was much easier to deal with as the embellishments were just little snippets instead of major productions:)

At first I got out all my yellow and green trims and beads but then I realized that it was all wrong and very boring. I had some pretty variegated pinky peachy DMC embroidery thread that I won from So September in October 2012. I made some little "flowers" with some iffy (don't look too close) French knots and that was it. Away I went:)

By the way, if you want a few ideas on how to couch rick rack and ribbon, Corinne at So September has just done two tutorials recently that you might find interesting.....here and here.

I made a cardboard window frame of sorts so you can see what it will look like once I bind it. I stole this idea from my buddy Vee over at The "Bearister" Bookcase. She made one so she could pick out areas on her white work for her pin pillows. I thought it was a brilliant idea:)

I have no idea how to describe my crazy quilting style...it's different from what I see in Bloggerland. I haven't learned the "rools" yet.

Lean to the left to view:)

Forget me whats.

The flowers are all different...don't look

I really really REALLY need to practice some embroidery stitches. I've been doing cross stitch so much that I've gotten out of the way of doing other stitching.

The next block is Summer.....sun, bright colours, buzzing bees...no snow...no freezing temps...heat:) 

Asian lilies in my garden... summer 2013.

I'll leave you with that image.

Take care:)

Hello!!!!!

I know.......I haven't been here for awhile.  I have been busy making dolls though.

I managed to get this ridiculous flu/cold thingy that went on and on and on. I have finally stopped coughing most of the time. I've gone for a couple of days now without much hacking and I'm sleeping again at night.

I emailed someone recently and she wanted to know why I was sending her mail at 3 o'clock in the morning. Well if you cough and cough and can't sleep what else is there to do?

Silly woman.....sheesh.

So......hello again and some news:)

Recently I was looking for some fabric to make this doll for an on line class called "Abundance" with the talented Angela Jarecki. As you can see she has a crazy quilted jacket....that's actually what attracted me most. I've always enjoyed embroidery and I've wanted to try crazy quilting so I figured why not:)

This is what I hope mine will look like......

Source: Whimsy Moon

So I went looking for fabric at various stores on Etsy and bought some from Dianem's Etsy Shop as she had some very nice crazy quilting bundles on sale that I thought I could use for this doll.

I'm also a follower of her blog and went over to see what was up and lo and behold she had a giveaway for a crazy quilting selection and guess what.......I won more FABRIC!!!!!!

I really couldn't believe it as I was the last person to put a comment.  I know I've said this before but I should really start buying lottery tickets.

So I received the package today and I thought maybe I'd share what I'd won......lots of pretties to play with........

That last piece is so beautifully crafted.......really lovely.

Take care:)

Stash Play......

I thought I'd join up today with M-R over at Quilt Matters and play with some fabric....lots of fun:)

The idea is to pick any colour palette from Design Seeds (or another palette source) that appeals and play around with the fabrics in your stash.

I chose one with colours that I don't think I would normally put together ever and I was really surprised to find that I had most of the colours in my stash.

Finding plain fabrics that matched the palette was the hardest. I came pretty close though I think I need to buy some more blues and yellows and oranges.

Kona solids

The real challenge was photographing the fabric and getting the true colour which was impossible using my wee camera. The orange is much deeper and the brown is rust...honest:) Not quite the right blue or pink either.

I was actually really surprised that I had so many prints in these colours. Specially orange and pink...my two least favourite colours:)

I don't think I would put any of these fabrics together though??

Not true colours I'm afraid...again:(

Cottons and batiks.

 
An interesting exercise and I rediscovered some bits of fabric I had forgotten about which was very nice indeed:)

Fabric Postcards.....

My online doll club is having a challenge to make Fabric Postcards with the theme "Lazy Summer Afternoon".

We can make as many cards as we want as long as they are made from fabric...the card can be stitched, painted, have small amounts of paper, photographs and embellishments but predominantly it must be made from fabric.

These cards are not going to be exchanged as it is a "show and tell" challenge only.

I have only made one fabric postcard before for a swap and at the time I didn't know that there are "rules". So this time I thought I'd do a bit of research.

Here are some videos I found on YouTube........there are lots more:)

I found a couple of Flickr groups for inspiration too.....

• Fabric Postcards Pool 
• Fabric Postcard Exchange 
• Fabric Postcard Swap

Take care:)

We're Having A Heat Wave.........

It is so hot here that it is unbearable when you go outside. Specially after leaving the lovely air conditioning. It's so hard to breath as the air is sooooo hot......like opening an oven.

On my back porch the temperature is now 35C and rising...eeek. Yesterday my hubby took the temperature of the wood on the back deck......42C.......bare foot burning hot!

And, the humidity.....right now it's supposed to be at 78% ....arrgghhh.....it's only June and we have had every possible extreme of weather.

Last night we ate dinner late at about 7:30 and it was still in the 30's......we had cold salad as there was no way I was cooking anything:(

Tomorrow is is going down to 25C with rain hopefully....bliss:)

I received some lovely mail this week.......to get my crafty muse in gear again.

I belong to a fabric club at Sew Sisters...a local quilt shop...and every month I receive 10 fat quarters of a coordinated selection of fabrics.

The selection this month was quite different than anything I would normally purchase...which is a good thing.......it's always a surprise every month:)

I also get 4 fat quarters of Kona plain.......this month the theme was......

Cream, Sour Apple, Tomato and White

AND.......from my lovely blogger buddy Judy...of Judy's Fabrications fame...a Dotee Doll:)

Isn't she gorgeous. The small details are sweet and the face is amazing.

Judy sent this to me as we decided to do a swap after I blogged about Dotee Dolls over here........ and also because I haven't been feeling so great lately. Judy is one of a kind.....she really is.....and she is so talented.

Also, I finally finished a doll I started in March that I made for a Show and Tell Challenge over at Cloth Doll Artistry called "Flower Power". We were to make a doll representing a favourite flower.........after much trial and tribulation.......and a wee bit of swearing.......I made a dandelion doll......Astera Delion.

She will be one of my Monthly Makes for June:) 

So that's it for now. I hope all of you are well. 

Take care:)

What do you do on a rainy day?

It is raining......a lot.........buckets!

In fact we are supposed to be getting even more and even heavier tonight. My garden needs it as it's been way too hot for the month of May. The grass is very brown and dead looking already which is usually something you see in the heavy hot days of August.

With nothing much else to do I decided I needed to do something I have been putting off for awhile. A very long while:)

Make some lined curtains for my son's bedroom....arrrggghhh

I'm a very adept seamstress. I couldn't be anything else with a mother who was a tailoress by trade. I started using her treadle sewing machine...an old Singer.... by the time I was about seven. I could just reach one foot on the treadle and get it going and feed the material under the needle.

I grew up in the "trade" in that we lived above my family's wholesale/retail fabric store. We lived in a lovely Victorian house in a very tiny village along a highway. The front and back parlours of the house were the store front and we lived in all the rest. The highway was fairly busy in the day and we would get lots of passing by business. Lots of tourists and such. We had a very large clientele despite our remote location that included of course the villagers and the local farmers. We even were the go to store for the local Mennonite community.

With that kind of background you know I can sew.....I can make almost anything.


However...........I very rarely "sew" now and I absolutely despise making curtains with a passion. I would always get my mum to make them.....:) My mum was a whiz at making anything. I do regret that I didn't learn more of her tricks of the trade. She sewed constantly right up until three days before she died at the age of 90. I really think that's why she lived as long as she did because she had so many ideas in her head of what she wanted to make.

But... I have made a promise so I bought the fabric on Monday. I took the son to Fabricland. He wasn't too comfortable about being there but I figure he had to have some input as he would have to live with it.

I got a bargoon too.........60 inch wide material for $4.75 a yard (it was in metric but I only work in inches and yards).....so for $19.00 plus tax he will have curtains.

It was in the bargain section.....it's really dress or shirt fabric but you can really use anything to make curtains.......my mum did:)

It's kind of a beige grey natural linen looking fabric with a white stripe.....ooops I just realized this is the wrong side...oh well.

Masculine enough and not too dark for the room it's going into. Here is one panel done and dusted waiting to be pressed and hung.

I already had the material that I used for the lining. It's a dress/suit weight material that was left over from our store so it's at least 35 plus years old. I made a promise to use up all my stash of material one way or another.

The material I bought made up beautifully.....I'm really pleased with how it turned out.....

Not bad for someone who hasn't done any major sewing in years... I haven't lost the knack.

Ummm...no comments please about the fact that I bought the fabric Monday and I didn't start until Friday....I had to psyche myself up first.

Okay....one more panel to go........I can do it:)

Take care.

Postcard swap....

I don't usually do swaps because the postage costs here in Canada are prohibitive (I'm a miserly old misery) but I was interested in a swap that happened over at Frayed At The Edge.

It was for fabric postcards. I hadn't heard of these before but since I have seen more and more out there in blogland. I didn't know the rules but I do now...LOL

My swap partner was a lady who lived in Berwick upon Tweed in England. She wasn't a blogger so I was a bit tentative as to what to do and what she would like. I couldn't visit and spy....drat.

This is what I sent her......

I thought I would do something that was Canadianish.....hence the North American Robin. Our robins are very different than the robins found in Britain. The embroidery pattern is from Sublime Stitching and is based on the artwork of Ryan Berkley. I faffed around with this thing for ages and ended up just putting the head onto the card. I did have a print of an old fashioned postcard on the back but I forgot to take a picture of it.

I was also supposed to send a postcard showing where I lived.....

I used to work on the 50th floor of one of the tall office buildings to the right of the CN Tower....I had a fabulous view of Lake Ontario:)

Now my swap partner wrote me a lovely letter and she did do a bit of research on me so her postcard is totally me....it's purple and has a mouse on it:)

Isn't it cute:)

She also sent me a map and some postcards.....

I think my hubby wants the map...maybe I'll give it to him.

Take care:)

Kaffe Fusion Quilt....

As I was wandering around in Pinterest I found the most amazing quilt on a site called Sewing Daisies. It is called a Kaffe Fusion Quilt...a) because it uses Kaffe fabrics and b) because there is crocheting involved.

Here is a picture of the finished quilt from the site......

Source

I think it's lovely and even though I don't quilt and am not that great at crochet....I think I might be able to do this....a great summer project for when I'm sitting on the deck on a nice warm day:)

There are directions that you can find here.

Purse handles:)

Annie over at The Felt Fairy was giving away 22 sets of handles for purses and I was the lucky recipient of a pair....and, since she hosts the Monthly Make-it Challenge I will be making a new purse for one of my makes.

As some of you know, I belong to a monthly fabric club over at Sew Sisters....10 fat quarters per month for $18.99....and this months selection are retro spring and are a very nice match to my new handles:)

Hmmmm......sorry but the colours are a bit faded looking with the horrible light today. They are really pretty bright colours.  I really like the polka dot one. I might even visit the store and buy more for some curtains for my kitchen. It's a very pale cream colour with multi coloured dots....:)

Take care:)

The Green Man Class.....

Well I had fun at the CreativFestival and of course bought stuff I probably don't need. The show is mainly focused on quilting and of course there are lots of vendors selling yummy fabric. I was looking for solid colours in fat quarters and I hit the motherlode and bought some beautiful Robert Kaufman high count cottons. I bought a multi colour selection and then because I couldn't help myself I bought the purple bundle as well........it's so beautiful I don't know if I will ever take it apart.........LOL

I took some pics but as usual it's raining so the colours are a bit off. It seems that all we are getting lately is rain and more rain:(

Then I took the Green Man class with Colleen Babcock. It was so much fun. Colleen provided the pre-made head and all the supplies. She then showed us how to draw the face, colour it and then do soft sculpture to bring out the features. She is a wonderful teacher and I learned quite a lot in the three hour class.

This is a picture of what the finished face should look like....

Here is my effort.....

I gave my guy green eyes instead of blue:)

Take care:)

Monthly Fabric Club.....

Last fall I went to the Creative Needlecraft show here in Toronto and discovered a quilt shop called Sew Sisters. Of all the vendors at the show their fabric was the most reasonable and of beautiful quality. Better yet they are not far from where I live. They also have an on-line store.

Well I'm not a quilter but I'm always looking for fabric to make other stuff from so I decided to join their Bargain Lover's Club. I get 10 fat quarters a month for $17.99 (plus postage shipping).

I got my June batch finally....we have had a mail strike.....and I was very pleased:)

The last quarter is hard to see in the picture as it is a very pale print called Baby Face.

Now I better get sewing:)

Take care.

Carrying on.......

Not much is happening here today. The snow has finally melted in the back yard but the ground is too wet and mushy to walk on and I saw my first robin yesterday. So things are looking up:) The sun is shining but it's a bit nippy temperature wise.

I got my hair cut this morning. I wear it short...wash and wear. I was shocked at how much hair was on the ground when the stylist had finished. Where did it all come from...eeek. I feel much lighter now.

We have a new piece of deco in the sewing room.....

Inside there is a first aid kit......with thingies for when I do myself an injury.

I sorted some of my stuff yesterday and found some fabric that I bought at least 15 years ago. It was a warehouse sale for a company that was closing down. It was a bargain at 3 yards for $1.00 so naturally I had to get 3 yards. The pattern is called Garden Market.

I was going to make some aprons but obviously I didn't:) The pic doesn't show the colour very well. It's really much nicer and brighter.

I do have something in mind for it.

While I was looking for ideas I found a blog called "A Spoonful of Sugar" which had a tutorial for a fabric basket....here. I thought it was a great idea and so easy to make......reversible, washable and easy to store away.

As I said, not much happening....:)

Take care.