Christmas Cracker Swap

This is the Christmas Cracker I made for the CQI swap. It was a great project and I used green, maroon and gold with only embroidery and embellishment on the seams, I had to restrain myself from filling in the empty spaces! Then a piece of a cardboard paper roll was pushed inside to give it shape and hold all the goodies that could be shoved in. When my cracker arrives from my swap buddy I am NOT to allowed to peek. It has to be saved until Christmas!

Backyardigans

My little grandson Joshua is nearly two and sits mesmerized with his daddy, watching these cute characters on TV each night before bed. His birthday is soon and during our Wednesday sugar session last week, my friend Verdie and I made these sugar folk for the top of his cake.

Monday Challenge - fourth week

I'm moving on well with my holiday block. Above is the Colorado section. I added more snow to the mountains and have put some snow covered trees on the section right below it. In Colorado the small patches of aspens in amongst the firs were brilliant and I've tried to duplicate the look of that here. Below is a closeup of the mountains.

I also worked on the wrought iron railings in the New Orleans section. This was tricky stitching!

These are two needle cases that I made on short notice for the Bazaar at St. Margaret's in the Pines Peacemakers craft group. Just one piece of fabric embellished with lace and beads. I think the monotone colour scheme worked out really pretty. This is one opened up to show the front side.

The front closeup.

The back closeup.

A second one with just one fold, this is the front.

This is the back.

Next week I have to get the waste canvas angel mastered, or it comes out and a nice piece of lace goes in it's place.

Monday Challenge - third week

I don't have much to show for the third week of this Challenge. I'm still trying to get the cross stitch angel on the waste canvas good enough to leave on the block. I've unpicked twice already. I'm making some wrought iron railings on the New Orleans part of my holiday block. I've also been shopping for snow tires and trying to use up 20lbs each of carrots, beets, onions and potatoes that I bought for $2 for 10 pounds! So even though I don't have stitching photos, I could take a picture of ten big jars of pickled beets, and lots of containers of carrot ginger soup, and Lesley's baked potato soup that are now in the freezer!

ATC for my birthday

This birthday ATC arrived while I was on my vacation this past Fall. It's from CQI and was made by Hideko. I've always admired Hideko's wonderful stitching, so I'm extra pleased that I can see it up close.

Interesting stuff

I came across some little gems this week. This small piece of smocking is just pretty, I'm not sure what I will do with it!This is trim on the hem of a long tunic. There's also bands of it on the sleeves and around the neck. Masses of square mirrors that are kept in place by seed beads. It's quite heavy and very colourful. Part of a large embroidered section on a dress of pale blue cotton.

More fiddly beading...

I added this little daisy chain after I had already posted the piece below. The colours are not true, it's the most delicate pink and pale green. It would make a very pretty seam treatment.

It takes a lot of practice, a good magnifying glass and my Ott-lite. I did try a more complicated one and didn't have much luck with it, so I'm going to keep making the simplest shape until I know what I am doing! The multi-coloured star is pretty, but even more important, I could learn the pattern and check for errors easily by using the different coloured beads.

Monday Challenge - second week

This past week I finished the tea cosy. I even managed to get the piping braid in neatly too!

I added a little face to the angel. She is ready to be mailed. Her wings are three layers of sparkly white organza ribbon. I drew the pattern on the ribbon, sewed small running stitches on the pattern line, then embroidered blanket stitched over the running stitches very close together and I trimmed very close to the stitching. The Florida part of my holiday wall hanging is finished. I redid the sunset reflection in the water and added a few grasses around the feet of the upper bird just so he doesn't look as if he is floating, but has his feet on the sand. I took out the cross stitch mesh, because my stitching on the cross stitch angel was very uneven and some of the crosses went the wrong way. So this needs to be taken out and redone. I might use a bigger mesh the next time.

Beading.....

I bought a new book...... and this is my first attempt at a beaded flower. I used 11/0 Delicas which the book recommended for uniformity. It only measures 5/8" across! I see mistakes in the photo, but I did it without using a magnifying glass, which I think will be necessary for me when I try more.

The book is full of wonderful designs - pansies, orchids, daffodils, lily of the valley, iris and ...... I want to do them all!!!

Crazyquilters-ca Monday Challenge

This challenge suggested by our Canadian group of Crazy Quilters may spur me on to finish some projects that have been on the back burner for ages. I have several that I need to complete before the end of the year. Two projects are well on their way - a cream tea cosy and a baby birth announcement block, and shouldn't take too long to finish. I also have a Christmas Cracker swap to prepare and a special Christmas tree decoration to make, both of which are due to be mailed out by the middle of November. The tea cosy embroidery is done, it needs batting and lining. The baby block needs the photo in the middle and the birth details for the baby. Right now there is a patch of paper in place of a photo. When I prepared the block I set my machine to the largest stitch so that the paper would be easy to remove later. On the Retreat I bought a roll of silk for printing photos from the computer so I'll be trying that out soon.

Definitely a sweetie!

I'd like to introduce you to Elijah, my new grandson, born on October 29th. This was his cousin Jack's haul on Halloween night!

Elijah wearing his pumpkin hat, Jack (6 years old) as Spiderman, and Monkey Josh 23 months, Elijah's big brother.

My talented son-in-law John carves amazing pumpkins.

And then there were two....

My one little guy needed a friend. The second seagull has a separate wing. He's not supposed to be flying here, but just on another part of the sand. But I think that would be neat to have some flying critters with 3-D wings on a block. Just for the record, I sat down and said to myself that I could have one hour to sew, but in actual fact it took me two hours and I worked on it until it was finished.

A presentable bird

It was quite good fun to do this little seagull. I made the stitches much closer together than my first attempt (see previous post) and because of that I needed to work with a magnifying glass to get the stitches into the right place. He's 1 1/4" from tail to beak and 1/2" high, not including legs and I stuffed a little cotton under the wing to give him a little more dimension. He's now on Nokomis Beach on my holiday block!

Another try at Needle lace

Last February I tried making a needle lace dragonfly and I posted about it. I followed instructions that used a heavy cardboard and several layers of strong fabric. I found it very difficult to lay down the thread pattern. Trying to find the hole in the cardboard from underneath was slow and frustrating. One of my new books, Beginners Guide to Stumpwork by Kay Dennis gives instructions for a way to do it that's much easier on the fingers. The photo below is from the book. I tried the seagull.

Kay Dennis suggests three layers of thin cloth, like muslin, your paper pattern and then cover it with a piece of Press-and-Seal wrap. Below is my pattern after I had finished using it. I didn't think to take a photo before I started. I used three layers of muslin, my paper pattern and the press and seal on top of it. It was very easy to couch down the outline.

And here is my humble first attempt. The eye and legs will be embroidered later. I used the same stitch but much looser. I'll try again with the tighter stitch.

Vacation block - progress

It's been lots of fun working on this block that represents my three-part month vacation this Fall. From left to right: The CQI crazy quilt retreat in Breckenridge in Colorado; New Orleans; and Nokomis, Florida. It's not finished, I have a lot more ideas, beads and other stuff to add, but it's well on its way.

A beach scene with the setting sun. Need to work on the reflection in the water. It's funny how things look different in a photograph! The long pointy bit is a bit of a crab claw that I actually ate. And most of the shells I found on the beach. It's surprising how many already had small holes in them.

This is the Colorado section. I ran out of the dark green thread so the forest needs to be finished. The little yellow patch represents the yellow aspens, but I can see that they need to be much more vibrant in colour. They actually glowed on the mountainside.

This is my last day in Florida before I fly home tomorrow. It's pretty cold up north, but I have nice warm memories of all the places I visited across the U.S. this past month.