kerrykatiecakes

I have just finished my work on Lorrie's tea time round robin block.  These blocks were absolutely gorgeous before anyone even stitched on them.  Lorrie used vintage linens and did the central cross stitch on each, added the hankie "tablecloth" and enclosed the other corners for us to use our imagination with, and even sent along a package of her grandmother's buttons and some tea cup charms for us to use on the blocks. It seemed like a shame to add anything to these blocks!  (Bare block) I had so much fun with this block, so be prepared for me to go into excruciating detail on this one!  lol  Or, you can just look at the photo at the top and forget the rest - your choice! To start with, before I even saw the blocks, I knew I wanted to make a tea bag for Lorrie.  I found some shimmery translucent white ribbon and used it to construct a tea bag with beads added as the tea.  Since I used blue beads, maybe it is blueberry tea?  I parked the tea bag on one of the lo

My wonderfully embellished blocks arrived home in the Tea Time DYB I am in.  Thank you to Cathy K, Cathy L, Lorrie, Peggy and Ritva for your stitching! I have one block left to embellish myself and then I need to decide what to do with them all!

CT Publishing has recently announced that a few quilts, in their guardianship, disappeared after Spring Quilt Market. They've done everything they can do to find these quilts and are now asking for our help to find 3 cover quilts and a table runner. The quilts have gone missing from a quilt show. Please take a good look at the photos, and watch for these turning up somewhere.  CT Publishing, who had these quilts in their possession, has offered a $4,000.00 reward for the return of the quilts.  If only one quilt is found, the reward will be pro-rated on the appraised values of the quilt. It breaks my heart that Allison Aller has lost her beautiful crazy quilt especially.  This quilt is such a work of art from Allison's heart and hands, and is definitely irreplaceable.  Years ago, my mother entered a large embroidered tablecloth in the local handicraft show.  The tablecloth was embroidered by my sister, who was away at university at the time, and my mother acted out of a sens

I counted up all the folks who entered my little giveaway (13) and gave each person a number.  I used random.org to choose a number (#12!) and then went back to my list and the winner of the last issue of Fibre Arts magazine is.... SewCalGal!  Congratulations!  It seems fair since I have entered many giveaways on your site!  lol 

 I was born near the ocean, in the Maritime provinces, and my heart has remained there all my life.  Once in awhile I have to remind myself of what I like about the prairies where I have made my home for the last forty-odd years. One thing, of course, is the big sky.  Stand on the prairies and you can see the horizon far in the distance in every direction.  When you look around there is more sky than land in your view.  My brother is fond of saying that when the wagon trains came across the prairie, they would get up in the morning and go all day before setting up camp in the evening.  Then they would be able to look back and see where they had camped the previous night! This field of canola is a common site and is one of the reasons that flying into the prairies is such a visual treat - the different colours of the crops create a patchwork quilt for your eyes.  Since the blocks of crops are not all the same size and shape I guess it would be considered a crazy quilt!  When I came he

I was saddened to read in my mail yesterday that FiberArts magazine has come to an end - this is the last issue.  Kind of the end of an era.  How many fiber artists have been inspired by this magazine?  How many have been featured in its pages?  Sad to see good things end! In honour of Fiber Arts magazine and all the inspiration they have provided over the years, I'm giving away this copy of the last issue.  Leave a comment on this post and tell me something that inspires you - a magazine, a book, nature, whatever.  I will draw a name on Monday, July 18th and get this mailed off to you!

Well, I am stitching away here - but I can't show you!  We are having a Retreat Challenge Round Robin and I can't share pictures until the unveiling of the finished pieces at CQI Retreat in September.  I'll post all my pictures then though so that you can see what I have been up to.  Colleen is running this challenge and had two colourways for us to choose from.  Right now I have finished working on Janet's block that makes use of the yellow/pink/blue challenge fabric.  Here is the photo of that challenge fabric - that part is not hush-hush.  There have been grumblings about the fabrics but that is what a challenge is all about, right? To challenge you!  I have to say I loved this one!  For me, it was very bossy - told me what it wanted in no uncertain terms!  lol Well, since I can't share my most recent stitching, I'll tell you what I have been reading instead.  This is my absolute favourite book so far this summer - Water for Elephants , written by Sara Gru

This is the seam treatment I made using the BAS #72, Zigzag Stitch.  I really liked this one because of all the angles and spaces to add more embellishment.  I added trios of detached chain stitch and more straight stitches in blue inside the boxes.  Sorry about the photo quality - not sure what went wrong with this photo!

The stitch for this Build a Seam (BAS) Challenge is the Zigzag Stitch.  A tutorial follows in the next post so you can see how it is constructed.  I am really liking this one for seam treatments since there are so many corners, spaces, etc where you can add extra stitches or beads to embellish it.  I hope you will enjoy this one as much as I do!

 Zigzag Stitch is another stitch that is great as a base for seam treatments. There are lots of spaces and corners you can add further embellishment to.  Begin by bringing your needle up at point 1, and down at point 2, creating a vertical straight stitch.  Bring your needle up at point 1 again and take it down at point 3, creating a diagonal straight stitch.  Bring your needle up at point 4 and down at point 3 creating another vertical straight stitch.  At this point you have created the letter "N" if you have followed the directions correctly.  Bring your needle up at point 4 again and down at point 5, for another diagonal straight stitch.  Bring your needle up at 6 and down at 5 making another vertical straight stitch.  You would continue on in this way until you reach the length you want.  For this sample I am only doing two stitches.  Assuming you have gone as far as you want to, bring your needle up at 6 again and down at 5 making a second vertical straight st

As promised, here is more on my process on the little quilt I wrote about in a recent previous post .  Now that the piecing was done and all the securing of seams with invisible ladder stitch, the fun begins!  There were lots of short little seams on this so it was a great chance to try some new seam treatment ideas and to use old favourites.  The colours on this quilt were so much fun to work with - I got a chance to drag out all the bright threads I have stashed but never get a chance to use! This seam was a variation on a sheaf stitch .  I used two different threads on this, alternating them between the bars and the wraps.  I finally realized on this seam that it was easier to make the shorter horizontal stitches and then thread the longer vertical stitches through them as I made them.  Sometimes it take quite a while to see the easier way!  lol This one was fun!  (Please ignore the messy right end that eventually disappeared  when the binding was sewn onthe quilt.)  I started with

Here in Canada, we celebrate the confederation of our country every year on July 1st.  In honour of Canada Day, I got up at 5:00 so I could have my morning chores done in time to go to the nearly village of Milo for the free Canada Day breakfast held at the Community Hall every year.   The population of Milo is approximately 300 people but I know more than that come through the breakfast during the two hours it is on.  Sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes, juice and coffee are served to the masses by the local Lions Club!  This well tanned but cheerful grey-haired lady is yours truly.  As you can see, I thoroughly enjoyed my breakfast!  It was a nice break to take an hour out of a very hectic weekend to share a meal with the good people of Milo and celebrate!  I am on my own here today, as my husband left after breakfast to go to the city for the opening game of Calgary's CFL team, the Stampeders. Wishing everyone a happy Canada Day and to my friends south of the border, ha