kerrykatiecakes

If you haven't seen it yet, check out the new issue of CQMagOnline , which is now up.  There is some great stuff in this issue!  Of course, I am partial to the article that Lynn wrote about AAQI and my little quilt I donated.  Another article that I am taking as a challenge is Julie Hocking's "Its All About Scale".  She has made a fantastic miniature crazy quilt.  I have been thinking about trying the same type of project since my friend Lorna has been sharing her passion for dollhouses and minatures with me.  I have gone as far as to dig out a kit for building a dollhouse from my stash.  Of course the doll house is just a means to an end!  I can't wait to start making all kinds of minature needlework to go in the house!  Looking at Julie's wonderful quilt and seeing the techniques she used is really inspiring me! It was also exciting to read what Leslie wrote in an article about the Making Memories quilts made by CQI members - this ...

I finished embellishing this block for Cathy in the Pansy DYB (Do Your Block) Round Robin at CQI.  I chose this block to work on because I loved the colour combinations.  The first thing I did on this block was the purple butterfly in the corner, the one from the tutorial the other day.  I had two gorgeous little pansy buttons/beads so I built a seam treatment to highlight them. I dyed  a piece of lace trim with Adirondack alcohol inks to go along the pansy patch at the bottom right hand corner and attached it with translucent purple seed beads. The pansy appliques in the bottom left hand corner and along the right hand side were cut from a gorgeous piece of pansy ribbon I have been hoarding and I used Steam a Seam to attach them and buttonhole stitched around with Balgers braid in a gold/silver mix.  The button cluster I built because I wanted to use of my glass Czech buttons, the green one, and the other buttons are shell and a vintage glass button....

Here is the butterfly tutorial as promised.  I keep making small changes in the way I make them so all I can say is that this is the way I made this one. First you will need some fabric with realistic butterflies repeating in the design.  As you can see, I have already used this fabric once before.  Cut out two identical butterflies from the fabric.  These are rough cut - you will need to cut them out closer following the outline of the butterfly, clipping in the corners.  Or you can wait until you have stitched them together first before trimming them and then you will not have to contend with problems with the fabric fraying. Here is where I detoured this time. Usually I would pin the two butterflies with right sides together, matching them up well, and then stitch around most of the edges, leaving a space for turning. Then I would turn it right side out and use a ladder stitch to close the hole. Turning the little wings can be pretty fiddly. In...

Congratulations to the winner of last week's giveaway!  The randon number generator chose #2 so the winner is Mamaccessories with this comment:                I have been following your blog for about 1 week and I love it! If you will send me your mailing information I will get this right out to you!  If you need a reminder, last week's giveaway items  were the current issue of A Needle Pulling Thread (a great Canadian needlework magazine), The Floral Elegance Any Year Diary, and the Blessings Journal.  This week I celebrated my birthday so will keep celebrating with another giveaway. For this week's giveaway, I dove into the stash and came up with a variety of complete kits of one kind or another. The first kit is this Winnie the Pooh cross stitch kit.  Everything is included - originally I was thinking it would look cute done up on a jean jacket using waste canvas.  Or mayb...

I am happy that I have got back to stitching after being stalled for so long.  This is one of Cathy's blocks in the Pansy DYB round robin at CQI.  DYB stands for Do Your Block - each person in the round robin makes up six blocks, each six inches square, and as they come around each of the other five round robin participants completely embellishes an entire block.  Usually when you get your blocks back there is an empty one left for you to work up but in this case we have decided to each do some work on the 6th block so that it is complete when it returns home to.  So, that is why this one is the "shared block".   Carolyn was the first to stitch on Cathy's blocks so she chose this one to be the shared block and added the purple beaded seam and the gorgeous dragonfly.  I added two seams - the herringbone/cretan stitch combination and the light mauve sheaf stitch one.  I also added this little butterfly motif to keep Carolyn's dragonfly company....

Well, here it is.... the infamous dishcloth that I was making in an attempt to wake up my muse!  I think it worked, actually, since I am back to stitching at last!  You may notice that I managed to mess up this simple pattern - got turned around - but kept on knitting anyway.  The purpose of this little project was to discipline myself to get some handwork going again.  All the mistake means is that the finished dishcloth is destined for my sink instead of someone's Christmas stocking! 

First of all, congratulations to Nicki Lee, who won this week's giveaway of the assorted threads! I used the randon integer generator and up came her number!  I already have your address, Nicki Lee, so I will get the threads and the little charms out to you right away. Once again, I am celebrating with another giveaway.  This week I am celebrating having over 500 posts to my blog!  Wow - I do like to talk, don't I?  lol  Since this week I am celebrating writing posts for my blog and your reading them, how about reading and writing materials for a prize? First of all, the current issue of A Needle Pulling Thread!  This is a magazine that has been around since 2006 and I have been hooked since the first issue.  A Needle Pulling Thread celebrates Canadian needle arts and covers a diverse spectrum of needle and fibre arts:  quilting, fibre art, knitting, crochet, cross stitch, rughooking, embroidery, beading, creative sewing and more!  If y...

My internet has been kaput for days now and after becoming every customer service person's nightmare I am finally back up and running!  I will announce the giveaway winner and post the new giveaway for this week later today.  Soooo good to be back!  lol

This week the Build a Seam challenge is the Rosette Chain Stitch.  It is best done with a twisted thread such as perle cotton and makes a nice braided effect.  It is also sometimes referred to as Beaded Edging Stitch or simply the Rosette Stitch. This stitch is worked from right to left.  You begin as you would to make a Twisted Chain Stitch as soon above.  Although it is not shown in the picture for clarity purposes, use your thumb to loosely hold the loop in place as you complete the twisted chain stitch.   Next bring your needle up under the right hand top thread as shown, being careful not to catch your fabric at all. Continue on in this way to create a row of Rosette Chain Stitch (please excuse the quality of the stitches I have made.  It was my first attempt so I need to work on my tension and spacing).  This stitch works well on either straight seams or curved one.  It can also  be adapted into floral designs by working the sti...

Just a note to say thank you to everyone who commented on my post about my missing muse!  I am taking all your advice to heart and am sure I'll have a needle and thread in my hands again soon.  I did read a novel since then - a bit disappointing since it was so darned predictable - but entertaining nonetheless.  Much more interesting was the reading material that came in the mail!  Every quilting magazine seems to have at least one project I would like to make in it.  I know, I know, I am not a sane quilter, but one day I would like to be! Pieceworks is always a wonderful, substantial read and I was delighted to see Pat Winter`s entry in the annual contest.  Pat`s entry is a purple crazy quilted heart (hearts were the theme for this year`s contest) and her entry certainly deserved the recognition it received. I have lusted after Mary Web`s Embroidery Stitches book for some time and finally treated myself to a copy!  After Gayle sha...

The winner of last week's Friday Giveaway of the current issue of Spin Off magazine is Marilyn!  lol - an easy win for Marilyn since she was the only one who left a comment.  Marilyn didn't leave an email so I would ask her please to contact me - just leave a comment with your email and I will email you right back to get your mailing information. (I will not publish the comment with your email)  If I don't hear back from you by next Friday I will include the magazine in with the prize for next week.  Last week I asked for comments suggesting what would make a good giveaway item in the future.  Since Marilyn's suggestion was the only one, I will take it!  So, this week I will be giving away some specialty threads as Marilyn suggested, along with a package of these great clock charms I just received in the mail. Aren't these great charms?  When I found them I bought all that there were in stock, five packages, so I have enough to shar...

I got an exciting email this morning from Ami of Alzheimers Art Quilt Initiative - my first AAQI quilt has been chosen to travel with the "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope" exhibit.  The 53 quilts chosen  will hang in between quilts made of 10,000 purple name patches that honor individuals who have/had Alzheimer's (or a related dementia) in an exhibit called "Alzheimer's Illustrated: From Heartbreak to Hope." It will begin traveling in January 2011. My Aunt Olive is one of the ten thousand names.  The plan is to sell all the quilts in the exhibit when it retires. For a limited time you can see the quilts selected at the link above.  Not only that, but when I visited the new Alzheimers Art Quilt Initiative Update blog , the header at the top of the page is part of my quilt!  How exciting is this?!  I was honoured to create this quilt for AAQI and dedicate it to my beloved Aunt Olive who is struggling with this awful dise...

I hate a post with no pictures so here are the puppies together.  The new puppy, Bear, sleeps contentedly with the old girl, Nala.  I think it is a relief for Nala when the puppy runs out of steam and falls asleep.  Bear's favourite game has become grabbing a big mouthful of Nala's fur and playing tug of war.  She has a bit in her mouth in this picture - at the rate she is going she will get hairballs! Subject for today is a question - what do you do when you hit a dry spell - when your muse flies the coop and you just don't feel like picking up a needle and thread?  One day leads to the next and before you know it a week or two have gone by and you haven't taken a stitch.  That is where I am right now.  Initially I had reasons:  the wedding, company here, busy at work, etc.  Now I have excuses but no good reasons.  I have just fallen into a slump.  I can't seem to bring myself to take the first stitch and do my fifteen minu...

Hopefully this week I will get back on track.  With my son's wedding, the long weekend at the campground, my granddaughter visiting for a week, the new puppy and the whole family here on the long weekend, I haven't had a moment to myself it seems.  Added to that my internet is acting up supremely so that doing anything online takes hours and it has been hard to find moments for stitching.  But this morning it is just the dogs and me left here at the trailer, the campground is almost empty and once I finish mowing and cleaning up there should be room to breathe.  So, in the meantime I would love to share some of the wedding pictures.  DD, Katie, was a bridesmaid, and here we are, both looking very happy obviously!  This is Bobbi, my beautiful new daughter-in-law.  Bobbi is such a lovely person and the reason I have such a big happy smile in all the wedding pics.  I am overjoyed to have Bobbi in the family - she and my son are so happy together an...