kerrykatiecakes

 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!

 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.

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

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 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!

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

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.