Sewing - slow stitched potholders with quilted backers

Two potholders that I have created using a slow stitched fabric collage on one side and a quilted square on the other side.  These are cacti on one side.  

 

This is another set featuring a dog and a cat which are slow stitched fabric collages with quilted squares on the back. 

These two feature tea cup fabric collages with quilted squares on the back

These two feature two fabric collages of flowers again with quilted squares on the other side.

These last two feature little bird fabric collages with quilted squares on the back.  

It has been a wonderful experience to create the fabric collages and then to use some of my scraps and acquired pieces to create the other side of these potholders.  I have added two layers of flannel with a layer of terry cloth in between.  I have laid the collages/flannel pieces front to front and added the terry cloth and then stitched around the edges leaving a gap in order to be able to turn them inside out.  After turning I pressed each one well then I hand stitched the openings closed.  I top stitched the outside edge about 1/4" from the edge in black.  I added another row of stitching 3/4" from the outside edge in order to secure the layers more firmly without interfering too much with the fabric collage.  I have added a simple hanger of heavy weight cotton cording in the middle of the top side which I stitched in and out and tied it off with an over hand knot.  These can displayed as small fabric art collages, hung in a kitchen as potholders and/or used as a trivet for hot dish on the dinner table.  Therese

Cardmaking - embossed handmade paper with two fussy cut and watercoloured hearts

Another card for a special occasion!!  I started with a deep burnt orange card and embossed the center of a coordinating piece of handmade paper (my own) with a spiral design (CB).  I stitched on two strips of the same cardstock using white thread and my sewing machine.  Framed the middle section very nicely.  I watercoloured the fussy cut hearts (Melonheadz) and then adhered them to my card over the embossed area with 3D foam tape.  Therese

 

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Cardmaking - embossed & stitched handmade paper pieces with embossed vellum and fussy cut heart with a bow

As a new month starts there are always special occasions that deserve to be celebrated!!! 

I started with a white card, tore the lavender handmade paper ( my own) into four pieces, embossed them with two different embossing folders and then stitched the edges with white thread.  I tied the thread ends on the back and then adhered them to my card front.  I embossed a piece of vellum (SU) which I adhered to the front of my card with double sided tape.  I watercoloured the heart  (Melonheadz) and then added gold glitter pen to the dots on the bow.  Fussy cut it and adhered it to the vellum with double sided tape.  

Good to be cardmaking again after a fairly busy summer with camping, company and canning.    Therese

 

Slow Stitching - wool trivet with stitched embellishments

I have been working on some wool trivets cut from some felted wool that my daughter sent my way several years ago.  I used a lavender piece and a brighter purple piece (8" square with slightly rounded corner) to which I stitched some wool elements made of a lighter wool fabric.  The flower was die cut (SZ) and the leaves were hand cut and them I stitched their edges down with simple straight stitches along the edges using cotton embroidery thread in coordinating colours.  I added a line in the leaves and straight stitches and french knots in the center of the flower.  

I cut a balloon from yellow wool, stitched the edges with straight stitches all the way around and all through the middle for a bit of texture.  I added a black cotton string which I couched with black embroidery thread.  

I laid them back to back and then added a row of straight stitches all the way around in a light lavender cotton embroidery thread which combined them into a unit which is stable and will serve very well as a trivet for a tea pot, a warm pie or a pan of brownies.   I have a few more cut and they will show up as they get stitched up.  Therese

 

Slow Stitching - balloon squares

I cut out a few extra balloons as I was preparing the squares for the other balloon quilt squares so I ripped out a few more off white cotton backers (8" x 9") and then stitched my spares onto them.  You can see that the two bottom ones are different.  These were too light compared to the others so I coloured them with Inktense paints which gave them a motley look but was not what I preferred for the other blocks.  So these will go on a different quilt -maybe as a row or a line depend on what I decide to surround them with.  On hold until I get inspired!!!

Therese
 

Slow Stitching - balloons for a quilt

I have been stitching on these quilt square (8" x 9") this summer and just got them finished this week.  I have taken them camping a couple of times.  It has been simply stitching to secure the balloons to the backers.  I created a rough balloon shape on paper, folded it in half and then cut it it out roughly.  Made a few adjustments and then cut the bottom part which adds a bit of an area where I will couch down some black strings once the quilt top is finished.  I traced the balloons on to solid cotton fabric and them cut them out.  I placed my balloons onto my backers - some tilting one way - some the other way.  I used daisy stitch with white cotton embroidery thread to embroider the highlight.  I stitched the outside edge using blanket stitch with two lengths of stitches using matching embroidery thread which I think will secure them sufficiently to the backers.  I have chosen my backing fabric but not yet what I will put around these squares to make them big enough to finish a quilt for Linus Project.  I have really enjoyed stitching these and will have to do another simple shape for my next quilt.  Therese

  
 

Cardmaking - several batches for butterfly and Thinking of you cards for IWIN

My sister came for a visit and we worked on cards for IWIN which vulnerable people in our communities.  It is always so satisfying to make these cards because they have so few criteria - at least one butterfly and a "thinking of you" greeting.  We just go with it and combine as many things as we want and try new layering methods or new ways to use standard materials.  I bought a bag of butterfly diecuts at a garage sale earlier this year and so we used some of those on our cards.  There were some 3D ones in there as well so they were added to our cards.  They will be packaged and I will bring them to my daughters and she will drop them off to the office for me.  I have 90 in this batch.  Therese

 

Sewing - chicken pin cushions from quilted squares

 About 4-5 weeks ago I made up these little chicken pincushions using instructions from online. Lots of people are making them!! You need two quilted squares (3"-4") lined with flannel and some orange fabric to make the tail, the comb and the beak.  You position the beak and the comb and sew up the three sides leaving an opening in the bottom and then fold the two seams to each other, insert the tail and sew the last seam.  Once turned inside out you stuff it with batting, polyfill, etc and stitch up the bottom opening by hand.  They are very cute.   I have another batch coming!!  Therese

Wedding card with fabric hearts on rose petal paper

I made a card for a nephew that got married on May 3rd and we saw at our family reunion in July!!  I added some lace to one of the fabric hearts and then used a bit of glue to secure them to the handmade rose petal paper and stitched them in place.  I added lines of paper piercing with my pattern tracing wheel before adhering it to an off white card.  I gave them some handmade cards as a gift.  Theres
 

Cardmaking - a stitched square of collaged fabric scraps that make a gift

I started by stitching small scraps to a substrate of white cotton ensuring that all the pieces were secure.  For the first card I stitched it to the handmade paper and added a stitched bow.  For the second one I added short strips of yellow and green fabric folded in half about where they needed to be and stitched them into place on their bottom edges.  I added a yellow strip to my collaged fabric square and then placed it over the bottom of the strips and stitched it into place.  It created a very different kind of bow but still effective.  I stitched a border all the way around each of these pieces.  I added paper piercing lines to the top of the green one and then watercoloured white cards on their edges to coordinate with each of these large elements.  A different look which I like!!!  Therese
 

Cardmaking - circles of fabric forming a flower

For these two cards I cut three circles from red fabrics and a small one from yellow.  I positioned all the element and then stitched the stem and leaves.  Next, I stitched the largest circle of the flower in place then added stitching from the outside to the middle several times to secure all the other pieces of the flower.  Lastly I stitched an outside border in coordinating thread.  

Therese
 

Cardmaking featuring handmade paper with stitched fabric appliques which form butterflies

I am on a roll!!!!  These cards were all made with the same concept where I used the little triangles cut from darts when making bowl cozies to create wings for butterflies!!!  Worked really well and I was able to make three cards with two butterflies on each card.  I just offset the triangles, applied a little glue with a glue stick to keep them in place and then I stitched them down to the handmade paper.  I added a stitched border all the way around to finish off the top layer and then watercoloured my white cards to coordinate with the elements on the front.  I then adhered the large handmade paper piece to my cards using glue stick.  I pressed them to keep them flat.  I love how they worked out!!!  Therese

 

Cardmaking - handmade paper and layered fabric flowers in pink

 Another one in my current series of cards which features layered pink flowers and green leaves which are stitched with coordinating thread.  The flower layers were hand cut from scraps as were the yellow centers and green leaves.  I added a border of dark pink thread.  I watercoloured the edge of my white card to coordinate before adhering the large element to the card front.  Therese

Crafting - new Sizzix multipurpose platform

 I have pretty much worn out my platform which came with my Sizzix Big Shot when I bought it.  I am not sure how long it has been but it may be twenty years ago!!  It has certainly been used extensively during that time and has held up very well.  My older platform still works but the individual layers are delaminating and no longer very neat.  I was able to buy this one from Amazon.ca as they are no longer available at Michaels.  Looking forward to using it soon!!  Therese

Crafting - slow stitching - final bunch of card holders

I managed to finish up all the cardholders that I had kitted up a while back.  It has been fun but a bit tedious to get these all done but they are now ready for Christmas so I have stashed them away and will be digging them out when the time comes.  It has been fun to see all the bright fabrics and to find buttons coordinate with them.  I think I have just over 50 which I hope will be enough.  Theres

 

Cardmaking - fabric triangles stitched to handmade paper to create a forest

 For this card I used little triangles to create a forest!!!  These little triangles are ones trimmed from the darts made in the bowl cozies I have been making.  I simply removed the stitching and then stitched them to the handmade paper using yellow thread. I did cut a larger tree from a scrap to give the composition a focal element.  I watercoloured the edge of my white card to coordinate with this large composition.  

Totally having fun with this process!!  Therese

Crafting - buttons for card holders using decorative butterflies

 

I have been making card holders for Christmas and thought I would see if I could find some colourful buttons at our local thrift or dollar stores.  Unfortunately, not much was available.  I did find some colourful wood ones but with such bright and busy fabrics they would probably blend in too much.  Maybe it doesn't matter if they blend in???  I will think on that!!  They were $2 for less than a dozen buttons.  So I kept looking to see if I could find any sort of resource with which I could make buttons.  I was successful in finding these plastic butterflies at Dollarama.  There are about 50 in a package for just under $2 with tax.  I brought them home and thought they would make great buttons and fit quite well on the card holders so I made them into buttons.  I used a 5/64" bit in the drill press and made a hole on each side of the body just about where the wings meet.  Worked out really well and they look great on the the card holders.  I put regular buttons on the other side.  So I will be looking for other options in this vein to make buttons with.  In the meantime I bought a few more packages and will make them into buttons and add them to my stash and use them where they work the best.  Therese

Slow stitching - another batch of card holders for Christmas

 I have been busy making up card holders with the kits I prepared a little while back.  It is fun to repurpose unused CDs along with some fabric scraps and buttons to make a functional and useful tool for anyone who has trouble managing lots of cards when playing card games.  I have been raiding my stash of buttons so will be on the look out for a few more for the next batch!!!

Therese

Cardmaking - lots of fun candles made from decorative paper strips, marker wicks and bird wing flames

Another card for a family occasion!!  Lots of candles - paper strips trimmed diagonally and adhered to the long card front.  I added wicks with a black fine tipped marker and then embellished some "flames" punched with the wing of the SU bird punch to more realistic and added clear glitter to give them a bit of shine.  I adhered them to the card front over the wicks to finish my card.  It will be a fun card for a birthday!!  Therese

 

Cardmaking - handmade paper and fabric scraps to make a kite

For this card I used two triangles to create a square and them trimmed the two sides to create the kite shape.  I stitched it to the handmade paper all the way around, added stitching to make the cross in the middle and then stitched the tail by using a very narrow zigzag with very short stitches and added little navy bits as I went.  Worked really well!!!!!  I added the navy border of stitching, coloured my white card base with watercolour and adhered the large piece to the card front.  Really enjoying the process!!

Therese
 

Cardmaking - handmade paper and fabric scrap hearts with ribbon

Another card I created recently which follows the same format as the candles ones I made.  This one features two hand trimmed hearts cut from a red/yellow batik scrap.  I added a strip of white dryer sheet fabric and overlaid a gold ribbon and them stitched them down with yellow thread.   I added the two hearts and stitched them with red along with the outside border of stitching.  You can check out my first two cards here.  

Therese
 

Hand stitching - a few more card holders in some fun fabrics

 A few more card holders ready to go!!!  I have a good bunch of precut and kitted card holders which I made up a while back so I did manage to make a few more this week!!  I will add them to the stash - several will be prizes at our family reunion in July and others are ready for Christmas!!

Therese

Cardmaking - white card with watercoloured edges, handmade paper with stitched candles and a stitched border

 Wanting to change up my cards this week I decided to create large cards using handmade paper (I have a large stash) and fabric scraps (I have a large stash).  I trimmed the candles and the flames from fabric scraps.  I embellished the flames with Derwent Inktense watercolours and then dried them between sheets of white paper using the iron.  I used a bit of glue stick to keep them in place and then stitched all the way around using my sewing machine with a slim needle (#11) and thread that I did not have enough on the spool to really sew anything else.  I added a border with the navy thread and then used watercolour to paint the edges of a white card to coordinate.  I made another one with different colours which I have added below.  Worked really well and will be making more of these!!

Therese

Crafting with fabric - three more card holders with fun fabrics

 I have made up quite a few "kits" for card holders (fabric circles, batting circles, CDs, buttons) that are now in line to get made up when I have a bit of time.  I managed to get three of these done this week and I will keep working the system until they are all done.  I did manage to get some free CDs during our last session of Trash to Treasure which was really good!!  Therese

Fabric dyeing - braided trivets, floral fabric, a few cottons and some poly cottons

I played with dying fabric this weekend.  I started with these braided trivets which I made a while back.  The original fabric was multicoloured with red, blue, black and white and I upcycled it by tearing strips of about 1.25" and braiding them into long lengths.  I used navy thread and a wavy decorative stitch when I sewed up these round trivets using a heavyweight brown and navy floral fabric as the substrate.  So the colours were off in regards to coordinating so I dyed them with Navy Rit Fabric Dye!!!  They turned out well in colour but in hindsight I would have preferred to have a finished substrate as the dying and washing frayed it quite a bit.  I will trim off the long pieces and use blanket stitch with navy embroidery thread to finish off the edge of the substrates.  I really like how the front of these look with the original colours providing some variety in the colour and the braiding giving them nice texture.  I have one more length of the braid which I dyed and so will see about sewing that up into a trivet with a more suitable substrate fabric.  I did dye some of the brown and navy floral so I may use some of those pieces.  The two lighter ones were only left for a few minutes and therefore the pattern shows quite nicely.  As the dye became diluted I continued to add pieces of fabric - white cotton, blue cotton with a printed white zigzag pattern, the peony fabric (cotton) had a white background, several pieces of white poly cotton which did not take the dye as easily and lastly a pair of light coloured jeans which are now more a medium tone.  I rinsed them until the water ran clear and then washed and dried them.  New fodder for getting creative with!!!!   I always enjoy dying fabric and am looking forward to doing some red and maybe brown as well.  Therese