Stitching fun....

At the end of her online Crazy Quilting class, Kathy suggested a Yahoo group that we might be interested in called StitchMAP.

The MAP in the name stands for Mentor Apprentice Program.  Since they are offering a further class in Crazy Quilting  I decided to join up. Not just for the CQ but because they offer so much more.

"Crazy Quilting, Hardanger, Redwork, Silk Ribbon Embroidery, Surface Hand Embroidery, Brazilian Embroidery, Needlepoint, Quilting, Blackwork, Color Theory for Stitchers, Cross Stitch, and other Counted Thread techniques."

I think this group will give me the much needed push to learn new stitching techniques and keep me focused:) 



In order to be able to take the CQ class you first have to complete two initial programs...Colour Theory and Red Work Embroidery.  Since those classes are currently running and can't be joined mid way they offer quite a lot of fun stuff to do while you wait.

Such as "Fun Friday Tut".......to make an Origami Lotus Drawstring Bag.

You can find the how to's here......Exchanging Fire.

The challenge is to of course make the bag but to also add some embroidery. The area you have to work is very small so I decided to do a tutorial and motif that I saw on Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread.

Buttonhole Stitch Leaves.........find the tutorial  here

Be warned.......those leaves are so cute and so addictive....LOL

Here's my finished bag.

I didn't do too bad on the leaves but the flowers....hmmm. Too teeny tiny for me.

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:)

WIP Wednesday.....

I decided to make some Christmas ornaments that are kid friendly. My granddaughter will be 2 1/2 years old this Christmas and is at that stage when she has to touch and look at everything. Last year all the Christmas trees in the family had bare branches at the bottom.......the decorations were placed up high and away from little hands.

the little imp:)

This year I'm putting decorations at the bottom that she can touch.

I found this really adorable decoration on Pinterest from a blog called....Flamingo Toes ....a mug of cocoa with two little marshmellows floating on top......you will find the pattern and the tutorial to make it at that site.

She's very interested in watching birds at a feeder she made at playschool so I thought an English Robin would be very cute too.....I love when I get cards from Britain with those cute robins on them.

I'm not much of an artist so I looked for a simple picture that I could use as a template and I found one at rspb.org.

I did learn a few lessons making this.......the tail was too skinny so I had to reenforce it with a tiny bit of armature wire.

I glued the wing on upside down but she won't know.....sshhh:)

 Then I made a little red winter coat .....

Of course I had to make some elf's shoes from a pattern designed by Jenny at Allsorts. This is an old pattern that I've made before but this time I printed them at a much smaller size......1/4 of the original pattern size.

I still have a ton of felt so I think it'll keep me busy for a wee while. I found a few more free felt ornament patterns on the internet and once I've made some I'll post some pictures.

I'm joining up today with The Needle & Thread Network..

Take care:) 

Monthly Make-It - September

I haven't done much this month as I'm working on a top secret mystery project that I can't reveal until November.

In the mean time here is a little shelf sitter doll I made for the "Halloween In July" challenge over at Cloth Doll Artistry that I'm adding into my Monthly Makes for September.....

 

If your interested you can go over and check out the rules for the Monthly Makes over at The Felt Fairy blog.

There are also Flickr groups for each month...here is the link for September:)

Also while blogging about I found a new toy to play with....

It's Play Crafts Palette Builder. You load on a photo and voila....how fun is that?

I'm off to play around with some pictures:)

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:)

Monthly Make-It Challenge - August

 

I'm cutting it close this month for the Monthly Make-It Challenge. I really didn't have anything to show.

I rummaged around and found a piece of embroidery that I had done about 2 years ago. The embroidery pattern was a freebie but I can't remember the source that I got it from at the moment. If anyone recognizes it let me know.

I had a fat quarter from the Sew-Sisters Bargain Lover's Club that I really didn't think I could use for anything but it matched the embroidery perfectly. I teamed them up together and made this little tote bag last night. The embroidery was done on a piece of unbleached cotton and I lined the bag with a remnant of sheeting which is a bit lighter shade than the fabric.
                                                                   

I had some flat faceted "buttons" that I used for the eyes...sparkly:)

The finished size is about 10 1/2 in. by 13 in.

Perfect for carrying a book or a magazine:)

I'm also joining up with the Needle&Thread Network. Please come over and visit and see the work of some talented Canadians.

I usually link up my other blog A Cloth Doll Maker's Diary and it's not a WIP but today I thought I'd do something different.

Take care:)

I love to be nosy.....:)

On July 14th, Karen over at  My Desert Cottage will be hosting her annual event.......Where Bloggers Create.

I didn't manage to get to everyone's space last year but those I did visit were really wonderful. It's amazing how people manage to find places to create.

My blog won't be participating in the above blog event but that won't stop me from being nosy and taking a look:)

Crochet Inspiration......

I was trying to find the source of an idea I saw on Pinterest and ended up at a Tumblr group called The Crochet Collection.

"A small collection of crocheted things ranging from delightfully beautiful to ridiculously wonky."

It might interest anyone who likes to crochet..........tons of pictures from various contributors in a very nice presentation.

Enjoy:)

FYI: If anyone out there was a follower of Judy's Fabrications you will have noticed that her blog has disappeared. Not to worry...she has started a new one that you can find here......jfabrications

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 day were you born on?

Here is a little fun for you......a very old bit of fortune telling of a sort.....

Monday's child is fair of face

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe,

Thursday's child has far to go,

Friday's child is loving and giving,

Saturday's child works hard for a living,

But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay

Go here.......Day Born....and find out what day you were born on:) I was born on a Friday.

I remember memorizing this poem in school in order to remember the days of the week.  I did a bit of research and apparently it was first recorded in 1838 in A. E. Bray's Traditions of Devonshire (Volume II, pp.287-288).

I remember being rather disappointed that I wasn't a Monday child and I was certainly very happy I wasn't a Wednesday child! Talk about childhood trauma for some little tyke....the person who wrote this had a lot to answer for....sheesh.

Take care:)

Something old......

I found this link for lots of a very very old pattern booklets for crochet, knitting, tatting, netting, embroidery, needle lace, beading and so on.......they can be opened and saved as PDF's.

 Home page

Antique Pattern Library Catalog

Befunky:)

So I was visiting Soggibottom and she was blogging about a new photo editor that she just discovered called Befunky so I had a look see and it's lots of fun and what's more even I can figure it out:) Bonus!!

Here is my before picture....

and, here are a few of my changes......

definitely a self portrait...LOL

There are lots of different effects you can do.....even add lipstick, blush and what I need most...remove wrinkles.

I think I'll enjoy fooling around with this:)

Downton Abbey Paper Dolls......

This is for serious fans of Downton Abbey.......like me:)

I didn't believe it at first when I heard about this but I kid you not.........go here.......Vulture and print out your very own Downton Abbey paper dolls created by Kyle Hilton.

I really love the Dowager Countess.......she has all these interchangeable expressions......too funny:)

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.

Wrapping Paper Topiaries......

This is for all of us who have tons of wrapping paper that is not quite the right size for that giftie........or for people like me who use gift bags and now have tons of wrapping paper not being used:)

52 Mantels

A simple little project that doesn't take too much time. This idea is from.....52 Mantels...go here and see how it's done:)

Take care.

p.s. You could use fabric instead of paper:)

Elf Clogs......

Yes I said Elf Clogs....

Photo from Allsorts

I was wandering around looking for something and I found the directions to make these adorable shoes on Allsorts.

So, I thought I'd post the link because you never know when you will need to know how to make Elf Clogs....right?

Take care:)

What you always wanted for Christmas.....

A free Holiday Mitten Ornament pattern ............!!!!!!!!

I know:)..... not what you expected eh? Hee. Hee.

I haven't posted a freebie in awhile. I was looking for some easy peasy ornaments to make for my Christmas tree and I found this one in my email today from Sew What's New .......

Photo from Oliver + S

Photo from Sew What's New

The idea is from a blog called Oliver + S and the pattern can be found here in PDF form.

If your like me and like to see how it's done in pictures there is a Flickr group just for that.......Here. Click on the pics and there are instructions written underneath.

Aren't they sweet.........go crazy decorating them and have fun:)

Take care.

Artists In Blogland

How about a blog where you can find a collection of blogs by artists who blog....sounds like a good idea to me.

A new blog is being set up to establish a directory of artists who blog...... all types of media are welcome: painting, drawing, ceramics, jewelry, photography, collage, scrap booking, mosaics, fibre art, sculpture, doll making and a bunch more that I can't think of at the moment.

Anyone is welcome to go and visit .....Artists In Blogland....and take a look and if it interests you perhaps add your blog link. Can't hurt and might even bring traffic to your blog which is definitely a bonus if you have an online business you are trying to promote.

Take care:)

Something really cool....

A while back I did a post about paper artist Elsa Mora. Today I found an artist that does similar work not with paper but with leaves. Definitely unique.

The blog is called naturayarte........

http://naturayarte.blogspot.com/p/inicio.html

http://naturayarte.blogspot.com/p/inicio.html

http://naturayarte.blogspot.com/p/inicio.html

http://naturayarte.blogspot.com/p/inicio.html

Go to Lorenzo's site to see more.........http://naturayarte.blogspot.com/p/inicio.html
Take care:)

The Felt Fairy - Monthly Make-Its Challenge - July

Here is my July make-it. It's a blue felt dolphin:) If you want to make your own dolphin you can find the free pattern from doll designer Runo here on Nuno Life.

Take care:)