kerrykatiecakes

My season at the lake is drawing to a close - only two more days! I am anxious to get home but, still, every morning I see the sunrise and wonder if it will be the last one I see this summer? At home my view of the sunrises is blocked so I really enjoy them here - can't help noticing how much later it is each morning though. A sure sign winter is coming! I have not been posting for awhile - busy with a flurry of preparations for moving home again and getting the campsite ready for winter. This is liable to last through to the beginning of next week but I hope to be back in the swing of things soon.

I have found myself really challenged with this block! It is nearing completion in the round robin rotation and all the work already on it was so lovely - mostly really lovely silk ribbon florals done in gorgeous hand dyed ribbon. I could not manage any silk ribbon good enough not to stick out like a sore thumb so have decided instead to stay with the floral theme but to use another technique. So this is the first part of what I have done. Here I am again embroidering a plant I have never seen - or at least never seen in bloom except in pictures. It is an aloe vera. Someone on the CQI list had mentioned it would be helpful to them, and others new to cq, if it were explained what stitches are used, what threads, etc., so I am going to try to make it a practice to go into excrutiating detail from now on in hopes it is helpful. If you aren't interested in all the details, just look at the pretty picture! lol The inspiration for this motif came from the book, Ribbon Embroidery a...

This lovely puzzle piece arrived in the mail this week from Pat Winter, along with some lovely goodies I will put to use very soon in my stitching. I think this puzzle piece is adorable! Pat does such lovely stitching - it is a real pleasure to have a piece of her work now. Thanks Pat!

I came across more initial hankies at the thrift store, another box of three, with the initial "E" this time. I am popping one in the mail to my friend, Leslie E., and the other two are up for grabs. I love the embroidery on these ones and think they would make a lovely addition to a piece of crazy quilting. So, if your first or last name starts with "E", or if you have someone special in your life with an initial "E" that you would like to make a project for using one of these hankies, leave a comment on this post. The first two comments will receive the hankies.

This time the BAS Challenge is a stitch that can be used in either seams or motifs. It is an incredibly versatile stitch once you learn it. I put off learning the bullion stitch because I found it very intimidating, but I have to say that once I got the hang of it I have had a lot of fun with it. The possibilities are almost endless..... bullion roses... ... figures like watering cans... ...Christmas puddings... ... this little robin and worm - my personal favourite!... ....romantic hearts filled with roses... ... even a beehive and little bees.... ... or baby rattles! See, the possibilities really are endless! Now that I hope I have you inspired with ideas, here is the scoop on this stitch. It is simply a glorified french knot! There is an excellent video tutorial on Mary Corbet's Needle'nThread blog in her Video Library of Stitches. Mary has also written very good information and tips in this post. You can also check out Sharon B's Dictionary of Stitches ...

My friend, Ilys, came out for a few days to the campsite and worked on a baby quilt. This is one of the blocks (and Ilys!) The fabrics are all flannel and the prettiest colours! The centers are all these little animal characters that are fussy cut. The sashing that Ilys has planned is a white flannel with tiny mini-polkadots in multi-colours. I think this is going to be just adorable and I can't wait to see it finished!

Jo in NZ is having a great giveaway on her blog to celebrate her 600th post. Check it out! While you are surfing around, Jo also has a couple wonderful Etsy shops that are worth taking a peek at: the first one is where you will find all Jo's crazy quilted and embellished functional art , and the second is " Vintage Vices ", where you can find all sorts of vintage doilies, linens, etc to use in your own art.