Slow Stitching - handstitched PEI to my dirt dyed fabric on the back of my potholders

 I added hand stitched letters to the back of all my potholders in the rust colour of PEI dirt!!  I simply drew the letters on the fabric with a pencil on one of the corners and then embroidered them with stem stitch.  

I am joining Kathy at Kathy Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching.  Always lots of inspiration and 

interesting projects so be sure to check them out!!

Therese

Sewing - potholders backed with PEI dirt dyed fabric and a colourful scrappy bowtie quilt block on the front

 For my next set of potholders I chose to make the Bowtie block.  It consists of four large blocks (2 in one colour/pattern and 2 in a different one) and two small blocks in one or the other.  You sew the little blocks diagonally onto the corners of the contrasting colour blocks, trim off a 1/4" from the seam and press it over to complete the block.  To finish the block you sew all four to each other.  I really like this block and it is super easy to do.  I will have to research how many ways they can be laid out to make different designs.  Same as before - three layers of flannel for the batting, a little hanger on the corner, an oversized backing and the folded over binding to finish off the potholders.  I added some quilting lines all around the inside of the bowtie.  It is much more visible on the solid fabric.  You can see that I used the pattern for one of the bowties and the solid for the other.  A different look!!  Therese

Sewing - potholders backed with PEI dirt dyed fabric featuring a pinwheel block made with small flying geese

 For this set of potholders I decided to make this pinwheel quilt block.  I knew how to make Flying Geese blocks so I dug out some red fabric to go with the lighter background which I had picked out and made some flying geese units using this No Waste Flying Geese tutorial .  I figured how to customize the size so I could make them the size I wanted my potholders (around 7.5").  I made up four sets (4 at a time) and then laid them out so they formed the pinwheel pattern.  I sewed two together to make the squares and then sewed the squares together to make the quilt blocks.  Again, I added three layers of flannel for the batting, stitched on the little hangers across the corners and then added the backing (extra 1"on all four sides) and bound them by folding the sides in a half inch then folding the remainder over onto the front and stitching it in place.  I added quilting lines inside the pinwheel flying geese to keep all the layers together.  I just realized that I could have made the flying geese in two different colours and that would have made the pinwheel stand out more!!  Next time!!  Therese

Sewing - potholders backed with PEI dirt dyed fabric and scrappy log cabin quilt block on the front

 It is been a fun week of sewing!!  I have made up a few sets of potholders as souvenirs of our trip to PEI using the fabric I dyed with PEI dirt.  I dug through my fabric scraps and found some that coordinated with the dyed fabric and a few that coordinated with them before I got started. I did some internet research on log cabin quilt blocks to see if I could find some measurements so I could make them the size I needed for potholders.  I did find one place that had measurements that were close so I simply increased the size of the center square a bit (2") and then cut strips of 1.25" wide from two of the scraps I had picked out.  I just sewed the first strip to the center square, trimmed it square and then sewed the strip to the other side and trimmed it square again.  Just kept going around changing colours when needed until I had completed two full corners in the two different fabrics.  They ended up a bit bigger than I expected and I am not sure why but in the end it may have been that my seam allowances were a bit off.  I added three layers of flannel as batting, trimmed them square and then cut backings from my dyed fabric an inch bigger on each side.  I chose to add an unconventional hanger on these ones which makes them more versatile as they can also be used as trivets.  For the hanger I added a folded and stitched strip of fabric across a corner once I had the front pinned to the batting and stitched the ends to the sides so they would stay in place when I was sewing the folded to the front binding.  The binding process worked really well and they look neater without the hanger on the corner.  I added two quilting lines diagonally across the middle - one around the edges of each of the two halves of the potholders to keep all the layers together  

It was easier than I expected to make these quilt blocks so I went looking for a place which would give me instructions on a few more quilt blocks I could try.  I found Threadbare Creations which had a link under Quilting to Classic Quilt Blocks.  I looked them over and found a few I was willing to try.  

Therese

Sewing - cotton dyed with PEI dirt

We recently visited Prince Edward Island and my sister and I decided to give dying fabric with PEI dirt as they do on the island for T-shirts.  We gathered some dirt by Confederation Bridge, added some water to make a slurry and slathered it all over our white cotton quilting fabric!  It was so fun and after letting is sit for a few days in a plastic bag we rinsed it in the ocean and washed it with the other PEI Dirt Shirts we had bought.  It came up quite a bit lighter than we expected but I will be incorporating it into potholders as souvenirs of our trip!! Therese

 

September Card Club - card #3 - paper napking and ribbon for quick & easy card

 

For our last card we adhered paper napkins which had all the back layers removed to a rectangle of light coloured cardstock after liberally applying glue to its surface.  Smoothed it down carefully to remove bubbles though I see I was not as successful at getting the napkin well adhered as I had hoped.  We glued the sides and top and bottom to the back of the layer and then added a length of ribbon before adhering this large layer to the front of our cards.  To finish them off some of us tied our short piece of ribbon to the one on the card.  Several tied a knot in the short piece and added it with double sided tape and one adhered it flat on the other one and I provided little buttons for the ends!!!  Love that this group is very creative and are always ready to do it their way!!!  Therese

September Card Club - card #2 - decorative paper, watercoloured digital images and a layered strip

 For our next card we adhered our decorative paper to our card front and then watercoloured our images.  Once dry, we added paper piercing using a pattern tracing wheel and adhered it to a square of cardstock  with distressed edges.  We adhered this element to our card front and then layered our paper pieces to a strip of the same cardstock and mounted it over the image using 3D foam tape to finish off our cards.  A new sketch for me!!  Therese

September Card Club - card #1 - Versamark on card front, frame die cut, embossing and metal dragonfly embellishment

 

 It was so great to get back together with my card making friends for a great evening of creativity!!  We just returned from our PEI vacation so the kits had been made up before I left.  I had to reacquaint myself with my inspiration and I was grateful for the instructions I had printed.  

We used Versamark ink on our card front to create subtle texture (SU).  We embossed our vellum strip and our little square of cardstock using two different embossing folders (CB) and then proceeded to arrange our elements on our card front and estimated where we needed to apply double sided tape on our vellum so it would be hidden by our frames.  I flagged the end of one of the vellums and trimmed the other one even with the bottom of the card.  We glued our frames in place and then adhered our little squares inside the frame.  The metal dragonflies were adhered with 3D foam tape to finish off our cards.   Great to be back to making cards!!  Therese