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.

Second Quilt-as-you-go finished

Here's another one of those quilt-as-you-go strip quilts that we are making at our Seniors group.  These blocks are about 15" square, so is the size for a single bed.  

The cottons are mostly pastel shades of pink, lilac, blue, lemon, aqua and white, with some darker purple within the square and used as the sashing.  My friend Suzanne and I have been doing the machine sewing and we have a very neat quilter, Anna, hand-sewing the one finishing seam that cannot be done by machine.

We had so many fabrics to choose from.

August Block CQJP2012

Finished the August block, but only just before the September one is due!  This one is really the Technicolour Dreamcoat.  I used mostly Sassa Lynne variegated thread, and variegated silk ribbon with a good helping of orange and red.  

I used a selection of blue silk tie fabric for the block, but I don't remember why I chose to do so much orange and red embellishment.  But it worked OK. 

I know now because I'm in the middle of taking Stitchmap's Colour Theory Class and understanding the colour wheel a little more, I see that blue and orange are complementary colours. 

Here are a couple of close ups: 

  

CQJP2012 July's blocks

Here's my first block for July.  I used mostly  Caron Watercolours variegated thread for the fan part of the block.
Visit the CQJP2012 blog to feast your eyes.  

My swirls are improving.  These were drawn freehand with my disappearing pen.

I had a bit of fun with the various flowers.

This is my second block for July.
The embroidery here is all in a gold and silky thread.  

A close up of the buttons

A close up of the fan part.

"Birth"day girls

The newest little one to join our family is Lauren Grace, born 14 May.  Brothers Elijah 2 1/2 on the left and Josh 4 1/2 just love her to bits!  She's the calm in the storm.

And it's hard to believe, but little Emily is one.  The years fly by.  

Ooooh!

It took her a while, but she did get a little bit messy.

I tried Martha Stewart's Italian Meringue Buttercream and it was delicious.  This is a 12" diameter cake and those "Funky Letters" set fill it perfectly.

Off on a tangent....

These backpack style bags have kept me busy for the past week or so.  The pattern was a thank-you gift, and I had in mind to make a crazy quilted bag.  But that changed when I began to play with the vintage lacey pieces.  Size is about 15" x 15" with a large pocket with velcro closure.

This is my favourite with battenburg lace and the appliqued hanky on the pocket.   

The hanky is attached with little pearls rather than seeing stitches. it I added some ric rac too.  

The inside is lined with pink roses and  lots of pockets to hold stuff upright.
The bags are listed in my Etsy shop.

CQJP2012 - 2nd Block for June

This is my second block for June.  
Lots of gold in it, I think I was influenced 
by all the lovely "Fool's Gold" dyb blocks 
making their rounds right now.

These are cast on stitches with a small pearl bead tucked in.

And this is the sketch in Miss Carole Samples book "Crazy  Quilt Stitches" that I used as inspiration.  (I have permission to use the sketches.)

Lazy daisy and beaded flowers..........

..... from this sketch in the book. 

Another row, but I wandered a bit from the original, below.

This is the centre part of the bottom section.  There's quite a lot of space to fill in on the bottom part of these blocks.  The lace motif was cut from a tablecloth and embellished.  The golden swirls were from a image search on Google: "swirly patterns free".  Hundreds turn up!

This is the top corner and a button cluster.  Some of the buttons are stacked, an idea from a friend.

CQJP2012 is a challenge for participants to complete one block a month for a year and make something at the end of it.  We each submit photographs of our blocks to the CQJP2012 blog.  You can check out all the amazing selection of finished blocks, here is the link: CQJP

June's CQJP2012 block

This is June's CQJP 2012 block and the 9th block in the fan design series.  It's all silk and the patterned pieces are from silk ties.

This is a close up from my block above.  I've been using the designs from Carole Samples book "Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches" as inspiration, and below is the sketch from the book.  This is called a holbein stitch design. 

This is my version of the long-armed feather stitch.  Below is the sketch from Carole's book.

This is from the stem stitch design page.

A row of whipped circle flowers.

The top corner

The bottom section. Lovely lace with tiny gold beads.

East End Cake Decorators April Meeting

At our meeting in April, Glenys gave us an excellent demo all about a fairly new product called SugarVeil.  It comes as a powder to be mixed with water to a runny mixture, this stage is called the "wet stage".

Next it is spread onto special textured teflon mats and left to dry for about two hours.  This is the "dry" stage: dry to the touch, but still pliable and not sticky.  The "set" stage is when the piece is dry and brittle.   

While it is still pliable, Glenys cuts out a motifs from the larger piece.

This is another design that stretches out like a hammock.

It can also be piped into designs or letters  ......

butterfly or dragonfly wings

This and the photo below show how it can be cut to fashion a bride's gown or a dress for an old fashioned belle.

Thanks, Glenys for a really interesting demo. 

SugarVeil is available at Flour Confections in Pickering.  

May's meeting  is the Annual Cake Competition
The criteria is as follows:

Cover a board (not a cake or stryo dummy) with fondant and decorate it with spring flowers. Advanced members are required to use gum paste. The board can be displayed flat on the table or placed on a stand. There is a fee of $5.00 per entry in this category.