Off to the Lake!

Another boring post with no photos!  Oh well, just a few words to say I am heading off to the lake for my summer job tomorrow.  I will be offline for a few days at least and next weekend I am heading to The Embroiderers' Association of Canada's National Seminar for 10 days in Winnipeg.  So, it will be quiet here on the blog likely but the upside is I will have lots to say once I get back from Winnipeg!  See you then...

ATCs for Swap??

I posted a little while ago about the EAC ATC Swap and how I was late getting mine in for the swap but that the wonderful host guild had managed to swap out most of them anyway.  These are the four lonely little ATCs of my own that came back to me, from my Broken Dishes series.  Would anyone like to swap for one of these?

Bath Bombs

 Once again, something totally different!  Last night I made bath bombs... or are they bath fizzes?... from supplies in the stash.  Very quick and easy!

I ended up with a few of them and I think they will make great stocking stuffers.  I gave dd one to take for a test drive and she reported back that they fizz beautifully when they hit the bathwater so I guess that means they work.

Bath Salts & Stash Reduction

 I spent a little time the other night making up little bags of bath salts with lavender in them - they smell delicious!

 Why am I making bath salts?  Back to the stash reduction!  Although I have only made soaps, etc. a couple times, I have collected a quantity of supplies for doing so because I thought it was something I would enjoy.  So, if I actually make all this soap, bath salts, bath fizzes, etc.  I will have this group of supplies out of my stash, right?  And I will have a lot of little gifts etc to give people or sell.  Sounded like a plan to me!

 I also have some Battenberg Lace supplies, but found this particular form of needlework was not my cup of tea.  I made a couple items but it is not something I want to pursue.  So, I dug out these ...

 and have listed them on my Etsy shop!

I'm not much of a knitter either so a couple knitting pattern books went in the shop.  The booklets charmed me because of their age and graphics but they have to go!   Eventually I will make a dent in all these accumulated treasures...  Wish me luck!

May AAAQI Auction Quilts are up!

You might want to check out the quilts in the May AAQI online auction.  Here are photos of a couple of them but it is worth clicking on the above link to see the rest.  

Russ' Horse

Susan Brewer
Bloomington, IN USA

All 27 of these quilts are from the Priority: Alzheimers Quilt project.

Falling Leaves

Barbara Beaumont
Hubbardston, MA USA

The AAQI online auctions are held during the first 10 days of each month, hosted by BenefitBidding.com.  All profits fund Alzheimer's research.  You can bid between May 1st and May 10th on these beauties.

The Beacon

Marlene Woodfield
LaPorte, IN USA

Have you ever wondered?

Have you ever been inspired by something you see and wanted to create it in stitches but wondered how to do it?  I was up to catch the sunrise the other morning and I was so struck by the big ball of the sun peeking through the brush, I had to take some photos.

 After I cropped off all the extraneous stuff in the yard from the photo, I was pleased that the photo represented accurately what I was seeing - not always the case with sunrise or sunset photos.

 So, now the question is.... how can you create this with a needle and thread?  The trees would not be too difficult since they all appear uniformly black in front of the sun.  Creating the background is where the work would come in - a little ingenuity would be needed!

After looking at these photos for a few days I have come up with ideas I think would work.  I would paint the background to achieve the grey, yellow and orange areas.  The sun itself is the part that had me stumped.  I have finally decided that the orange layer would have to be some very bright fabric - a neon orange really.  Then it would have to tone down all around so I think that layers of sheer could be used to do that, making them progressively lighter as the got closer to the sun itself, thereby graduating the colour.By cutting the sheer, you could also get the effect of the rays coming out from the sun I think.

So, what do you think?  Would it work?  How would you do it??  It is a nice little mind challenge!  lol

My ATCs arrived!

I took part in the Embroiderers' Association of Canada's annual ATC swap again this year.  I made ATCs with a vengence but was late getting them in, however, the gracious ladies in the Peterborough guild did their best to swap out as many of them as they could.  So, here's a shout out to the makers of the ATCs I received!

 This one is called "Firework" and was greated by Astrid of Nanaimo, BC.  The glitzy bits really pop against the plush velvet of the background.

 Bonnie of Simcoe, Ontario, is a member of Norfolks' Own Needle Arts Guild and she stitched this lovely bouquet.

 Deb of Lakefield, Ontario created this gem and it has a little poem on the back:

"I'd choose to be a daisy

If I might be a flower..."

 "Merrimbla" came all the way from Vicki in Gurley, NSW, Australia!

 Susan in Cambellcroft, Ontario, made these adorable little fish.

 These skates came from Linda - I wish you could see them better in this photo to appreciate the glitzy thread she used with the sequins to add sparkle to the skating scene.

 This one is another from Deb entitled "Great Hearts Think Alike" - isn't it awesome??

 These sparkly bugs - are they fireflies? - came from Mary-Wyn of Simcoe County Embroidery Guild in Ontario.

 This one from Christine of The Tangled Threads arrived with it's button broken in the mail but I will find one just like it to replace the broken one so it keeps it's original design.

 "Remember the Last Penny" came from Carolyn in London, Ontario.  This is so clever!  To appreciate it, you need to know that the penny was discontinued from Canadian currency back at the start of February.  What a great remembrance of a foresaken coin!

 This is another from Linda of the Embroiderers' Guild of Peterborough and is entitled "Cany Wrap Paper".  This is so cool!!  I have to try to do something with candy wrappers now.  Lord knows I eat enough candy! lol

 You won't believe the title of this one:  "First Try:  Ribbon"!  I am guessing that this is the first time Carol of Peterborough, Ontario, has worked with silk ribbon embroidery.  You would never know looking at it, would you?

 Here is another button bonanza from Christine of The Tangled Threads.  She must have a button collection like mine!

 Gorgeous or what?!  "Violet" is the name of this little hardanger angel created by Barbara of Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Last one from Linda in Peterborough.  Talk about a field of flowers!  

Thank you to all the people who took part in the annual ATC swap at EAC and especially the ladies who made the ATCs I received.  A special shout out to the wonderful ladies at the Peterborough guild who went to such lengths to swap out as many of my tardy ATCs as they could.  You rock!