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Showing posts from November, 2014

Ornaments in the Mail!

 It was a good mail day on Friday!  I received two Christmas ornaments in the mail.  This cute embroidered felt one is from the EAC ornament swap.  It is an original design by the maker and just so cute with it's little scarf and the touches of embroidery!  This second ornament is from my friend, Bunny, and just beautiful!  It is made with black Dupioni silk, elaborate yet subtle embroidery and beads. The photos had to be a bit washed out in colour for the stitching to be visable in them but it is a lovely black with the purple beads really setting it off - the colour of the beads just pops. Thank you to both these stitchers for their generous gift of their creativity and stitching.  Two more beauties for my Christmas tree this year!

A Bit of Crazy Quilting

 I offered to do a block for the quilt being made by CQI representing all the countries where they have members.  I was given a block put together by Gerry H for Ecuador that already had several seam treatments on it from the ladies at the last retreat.  So, I was off to a good start before I even put in a stitch, as you can see above. It has been awhile since I did any crazy quilting and I know very little about Ecuador (although I know more now than I did before I started researching!) so I thought I would share a play by play on this one to help keep me motivated to continue  moving forward on it. The first thing I did is go looking for images of the Ecuadorian flag and I found one of it in a heart shape.  I printed it out on silk and appliqued it to a small section of the block and then outlined it in three rows of chain stitch, one in each of the main colours of the flag - simple but an okay start.

Another Christmas Mini Project done

Well, I finished the last project I had from the Christmas Workshops last Saturday.  This one was a fun off kilter Christmas tree, foundation piecing, and it made up into a little gift bag.  Fun!  Now I really need to start working on some of the projects I NEED to get done instead of fun little stuff.  The little stuff is so tempting though because I can actually finish it!  lol

Can you believe it? Another Ornament!

Saturday was a fun day for me!  Calgary Guild of Needle & Fibre Arts reinstated their past habit of holding a Christmas Workshop - a whole day of mini-workshops free to all the guild members.  One of the projects taught was by Freda of Freda's Fancy Stitching and was this Christmas Ornament.  I love the elegance of the gold and ivory together and as you can see, mine is completed now!  I will be sending this off in the Virtual Threads EAC cyber chapter ornament swap and now I'll get to make another for myself.

Another Christmas Ornie done!

Another Christmas ornament done!  This one was a meeting program at The Calgary Guild of Needle & Fibre Arts.  We started during the October meeting and finished them up this month.  Freda Murfin or Freda's Fancy Stitching is a guild member and she graciously donated her time to teach us. It is hard to get a photo that shows the stitching and beads properly - it's so sparkly!  This is the best I could do at toning down the sparkle.  Lots of fun to make!

Upcycled Stitching

I love rescuing bits of stitching from the thrift stores - my latest find was a really lovely petit point rose.  Another thing I am always on the look out for on my treasure hunts are wooden boxes that can be used to showcase these bits of beauty.  This photo box was just what I needed for the petit point rose!  It was a simple matter to take the box top apart and insert a bit of bridal satin for a backing and then the petit point.  The result is what I hope will be a welcome gift for a friend for her birthday. I l

More Fun with Zippers!

I had some fun making another project to teach at the zipper fun mini workshop at the Calgary Guild of Needle & Fibre Art's upcoming Christmas Workshop day a week from now.  This one is a rose brooch and could although this one is done up as a pin, it could also make a fun embellishment for other uses.  I think that a grouping of them would look good on a purse.

Zipper Tree Ornament

It must be getting close to Christmas - this is three Christmas project posts in a row!  This is a little zipper and bead Christmas tree ornament I will be teaching as one of the free mini workshops for the Calgary Guild of Needle and Fibre Arts this month  There are quite a few tutorials for these online but they all seem to involve a glue gun./  Instead I used a large tapestry needle and perle cotton to hold mine together.  Either way, they are cute and fun to make!

Advent Calendar for my Vegan Princess

 Since my daughter has been living a vegan lifestyle the last two years, I have learned a lot about the many sacrifices she makes to stick to it.  One of these has been giving up her beloved advent calendar of chocolate goodies every year. So, this year I promised myself I would do something about that! I made this Icy Crystal Advent Calendar using a wonderful freebie from Mr. Printables .  My colour ink cartridge was almost empty so I didn't get a good printing of the lovely pink, mauve and blue highlights on the crystals but I am happy with them the way they are and I think she will be too. I hope so since it took me the better part of three days to cut these, fold them and assemble them all together. Each little crystal is numbered and I have filled them with vegan goodies:  vegan butterscotch, dark chocolate hard candies, candied ginger, pistachios, macadamia nuts and other goodies - little treats a starving student doesn't buy for herself.  I hope that she will ope

EAC Winter Ornament Exchange

EAC is having another Winter Ornament Exchange this year so of course I have to take part - just can't miss out on anything so fun!  Calgary Guild of Needle & Fibre Arts is hosting the exchange this year so we will get to see lots of the ornaments in person. I picked up a Susan Portra kit at the thrift store awhile back and worked it up but got stalled on the finishing (of course!).  With the mailing deadline this week, I finally got motivated.  I used a bit of cardboard in the center to give it some oomph and then used buttonhole stitch to attach a blue wool felt backing to the canvas.  It turned out quite well and I am pleased with it.  Canvaswork is not something I have done a lot of and it was great fun!

Thrift Store Treasures

Sometimes thrift stores can be a gold mine of treasures! Last week two thrift store items came home with me,  I occasionally find an issue of Inspirations magazine and always pick them up to fill in the gaps in my collection.  This time it was Issue #3 - not an easy one to find!  My friend picked up an odd looking ball of fabric for me at the salvage center and I am so happy she did - a collection of silkies all stitched together with insertion stitches. After carefully picking out the stitches, here is what I was left with - 51 (!!) lovely little floral cigarette silks!  How cool is this!  I think she paid a quarter for this!  lol Doesn't it make you want to start a project with them?  I am imagining a vintage look crazy quilt with a lovely little floral silkie on each block...