CreativFestival - Toronto

This is the cake that CSSA (Canadian Society of Sugar Artists) members created for the entrance of the CreativFestival in celebration of the Festival's 25th Anniversary.  

And in the background, hanging on the curtain is my Flower Quilt.

The cake represents crafts and hobbies that have been featured over its 25 years:  quilting, scrapbooking, jewelery making, doll making, knitting, crochet, embroidery, smocking, and cake decorating, etc.

And this is me with my Flower Quilt at the same show.  My quilt made it into the 10 finalists in the Quilt Category! 

When the large cake was being discussed I volunteered to make the sugar "quilt" to go with the sewing machine.  Verdie (my cake partner) and I worked on it last week and Glenys (the big cake coordinator) and I manoevered it into place onto the sewing machine.

Here it is, the sugar quilt on the sugar sewing machine.

All these are made from sugar - knitting, jewelery, dolls, painting.

Cake mixer, scissors, buttons, cake decorating items.

Flower quilt - Crazy Quilts are Quilts too!

I want to thank all who voted for my quilt in Thearica's Competition and Show on her blog Pigtalesandquilts.  I was so pleased, it came in fourth!  

WIPocalypse January full moon report

I chose the flower quilt as the first project to tackle and I've made great headway with it.  I hadn't decided exactly what size it would be, but I settled on 3 blocks across by four down.  I had planned that each block would finish at 6" square, but instead I managed to make each block 7" square.  With that extra 1/2" all around that hadn't been embroidered, this has meant a lot of places where it needed a few more stitches and beads.  Most of the embroidery is completed, and next it needs to be backed after that. 


I'm pleased with my staying power with this.

More flower quilt blocks

Two more finished blocks on the road to the completed flower quilt.

I used wide two-tone wired ribbon for this flower.  

These three gorgeous hand made flowers were made by Sandy who took part in the Retreat in Colorado.  I loved these flowers and took them off the block they were on to make them part of my flower quilt.

Constructing a 6" CQ block

One of my ongoing projects if my flower quilt.  Here's one block that's completed to give you an idea of the size and construction.  Total size of the block is 8" square, but I only embroider 6" square.  The blocks all have a green centre and a flower.  The colour of the flower determines the outer fabric.  In this case shades of rust and orange.


I found a couple of really nice flowers on clearance. They are a little bigger than those I have already used, but they have fabric and lace petals and I could trim them later if I need to.

For this tutorial I will be using the pale green lace flower.

Here is the 8" muslin square.  I have marked the corners of the 6" square embroidery area.  I cut out a six sided piece of the green fabric and placed it in the centre.

Next I took pieces of green fabric to  blend with the green flower and laid them on three sides of the centre piece.  I tested it out with my cardboard frame.  

I carried on around the centre piece's six sides laying out fabric of my choice.  The final sixth piece of fabric was tucked under the first piece.

I tested to see if the flower looked OK. To begin sewing, gently pull out the muslin block from the centre , leaving the six fabrics in place.

Next, beginning with one of the six fabrics, lay it right sides together along one of the centre sides.  Sew only the length of the centre side, marked here with pins.

This photo shows the right side.  Press the seam flat.  I have  lined up my ruler with the second centre edge and drawn a straight lined across the first fabric.  Cut on that line, turn the block over and trim any overhanging fabric.

This is the block now.  First piece of fabric sewn down, pressed, trimmed.  Note that the first fabric that overlaps the muslin is not sewn down.  The last fabric will be tucked under this flap.

Second fabric lined up on second side of centre to the edge of the block.

Here's the second fabric sewn, pressed and marked for cutting.

This is the third fabric. 

Third fabric sewn and pressed.  Just a note to say that it makes a big difference to the finished block when you iron each seam.

Here is the third fabric sewn and the trimming line marked on the front.

Turn the block to the back and trim off the excess fabric. 

Carry on adding your fabric pieces,  sew and press, then trim.  Here five pieces of fabric are in place.

Here is the block ready to take the sixth piece of fabric.  The loose first piece of fabric is pinned back so that I can sew a little past the end of the centre block side.

This is the sixth piece pinned down ready to sew.

The sixth piece has been sewn down and I extended it about 1" beyond the end of the centre side.

Everything is sewn except that small pinned section where the sixth fabric was tucked under the first fabric.  I can either hand stitch this down, or machine top stitch with a big stitch that can be unpicked later.

The cardboard frame marks the sewing area.  The cardboard frame works very well.  This one is 8" x 8" on the outside, with 6" x 6" inside measurement. It was made especially for this series of flower blocks. 

Next I would machine a sewing line close to the edge to stop fraying, and then handstitch around the square on the 6" x 6" measurement.  

Flower quilt

I've finished two more blocks for the Flower Quilt.  That's eight completed.  They are small, just 6" square, so I'll probably need 64 blocks to make it a decent size.  It's a fun project because every time I learn how to do a new flower, it becomes a new block.  The flower always sits on a green centre patch, and the rest of the block is shades of the colour of the flower.

This flower was made by gathering up a wired ribbon on a smocking machine.  

This block was inspired by two things:  I found a faux ultrasuede jacket in a lovely shade of eggplant.  It had a long zipper and two different kinds of gimp trim that matched exactly.  Cathy K. showed me how to make a zipper flower.    

The stems are in a raised stem stitch.  The curves came from  a heart-shaped piece of plastic canvas.   For  raised stem stitch the horizontal stitches need to be measured and marked very accurately, the plastic canvas holes worked perfectly.

You can see the other blocks on Flickr - see my side bar on the right or click here.  I didn't realize that I haven't blogged about this project before.  My inspiration came from Alison Aller's workshop at last Spring's Adventure in Connecticut.  In her class we made flowers and leaves and drooled over her most beautiful flower quilt.