Sewing - table topper in grays and soft greens - GA

 I have finished up this project which started as a strip of quilted fabric that came in with donations to our Fabric Sale happening on Saturday, April 25, 2026!!  I took on the piece thinking it might make potholders but it did not have enough batting for that purpose so I started looking for a coordinating fabric to make it into a table topper/runner.  I found gray one in the pieces that one of the ladies working with quilting cottons had set aside and asked the GLA Makers group to choose from to be saved for future projects.  I brought it home and started to figure out how to add to the borders on each side which also needed batting.  I cut wide strips and sewed them first to the front and then folded them over to the back. I cut batting to fit inside before stitching it from the back to the front.  I worked out well.  I did the short ends first and then added the long edges.  I had picked the thread from my stash and when I ran out I was lucky enough to find another that matched perfectly from a different company!!  Blessed!!!  It is off to our bins for our upcoming events.  Therese 

Cardmaking - reusing images with 3D embellishments and punched borders

I worked on cards last week and started with a few for my stash to prime my mojo into cardmaking.  I reused card fronts that have been donated to me and added punched borders, cardstock buttons and paper piercing.  It was fun to be making cards again and I have added these to my stash for my next donation.  Therese

 

Sewing - medium hot pad with a removeable and washable cover with four different fabrics

Another hot pad with a removable and reversible cover which features four different fabrics!!  This one is just a medium size 10" x 12" and will certainly work better for anyone with a smaller table.  I used the same fabrics as the last one - subtle Christmas, green with maroon and ochre flowers, red poppy with black and a shaded maroon.  Again, the hot pad has cotton batting, insulbrite, and a knitted wool batting encased with dark flannel.   

Therese

 

Sewing - large hotpad with a removable/washable cover that features four different fabrics

I have made a cover for this large hot pad which I made a while back. I used four pieces of fabric all the same size about 3/4" or so larger than the hot pad and sewed them into a tube by leaving an opening on one of the sides when I sewed them together.  It allows for the cover to have four "different" looks.  The one that is folded over is a very subtle Christmas print that went well with the other fabrics.  This way you can simply wash the cover and reuse it for next time.  Less wear and tear on the hot pad and another cover could certainly be made up if this one should have an "accident".  You can see the other two fabrics in the photo below.  

Therese

 

Sewing - bowl cozies made from cotton fabric and batting and stitched with cotton thread

 I made up another bunch of bowl cozies for the Gramma Link Africa group.  They are 100% cotton - fabric, batting and thread.  I use two layers of cotton fabric (10" squares), two layers of cotton batting(9.5" squares) and cotton thread to stitch all the pieces together (even to piece batting if that is necessary).  I  had done most of the cutting and sorting of materials previously which allowed me to get so many done this weekend.   Therese

Slow Stitching - some fun and colourful card holders made with scraps and CDs

I made up some card holders on the weekend.  I had all the supplies cut out and ready to go so in a few hours I was able to get 12 of these made up.  They are not complicated - 6.5" circles  (2), 5.5" of lightweight batting (2), used CDs (2) and buttons (2).  I hand stitched a gathering thread on the outer edge of each fabric circle, added a batting layer and a CD then pulled the thread to secure all of these pieces to each other.  Repeat for the other side of the card holder.  It is wise to use strong thread for this process because if the thread breaks you have to start over.  Next, you place your two sides with the good side facing out on both sides and stitch a button on each side through the center openings in the CDs.  This required heavyweight thread because it is the crucial part of the substructure that makes the card holder work well.  I collected some bright buttons from our stash for the fabric sale which were perfect for most of these cardholders.  I have come up with a little trick to hide my thread in the process of securing the two sides together.  After clipping my two sides together with a bull clip I insert my needle through the holes in the center of the CDs on one side leaving a length of thread and then thread through one button from the bottom, back through the top and through the two sides again.  I usually do three layers of thread and before sending  my needle back through the last time (to the side where I started and I have a length of thread) I insert a wire below the button right up to the threads in the center  When I insert my needled through this sandwich I make sure that the wire is between the threads and the needle and I pull it through.  Next, I pull both ends of the wire which brings the thread with it.  I pull until I have enough thread to tie off (2-3") and then cut the thread.  This way I can tie several knots with the two ends which makes it quite secure.  I then trim the threads close to the edge of the button and scoot then until the edge.  Keep both sides nice and tight to each other and secures the button very well.    These are off to our inventory bin for our Gramma Link Africa which will be for sale at our events this coming year.    These sell very well as they make holding a large amount of card very easy and also enables little or shaky hands to manage any amount of cards.  

Therese

Sewing - table topper in blue, green and pink with a variety of quilted squares

I also managed to get this table topper (15.5" x 25.5") made up.  I had chosen all the fabrics and already sewn the little quilted squares.  They were placed in our cotton scraps bin which will be available at the Fabric Sale on Saturday, April 25 at Gaetz United.  They were bagged and some of the smaller parts were already sewn so I simply made up six squares from what was in the collection of pieces - hence none are the same.  I framed them in a solid coordinating green cotton and then added a cotton knit batting and a blue backing.  I added some of the backing on both ends to get a few more inches of length for this table topper.  I added quilting lines around each square to secure the three layers to each other.  It will be added to our inventory for our table at the Spring Tea at Gaetz United on Saturday, May2, 2026.  

Therese
 

Quilting - a baby quilt featuring hand stitched stars in yellow thread on white squares with pink, green and yellow pinwheel squares

I made up this baby quilt this weekend.  The squares had all been stitched up so it was a matter of sewing them together, adding a cotton batting and a flannel backing which were already cut to size.  It took the better part of the day but it is now done.  The pink and yellow are cotton scraps that we acquired last year for our Gramma Link Africa fabric sale.  Those solid cotton scraps will be packaged for our Fabric sale this year which takes place on Saturday, April 25 at Gaetz United Church in Red Deer.  There are variety of colours and some of the scraps are quite large.  This is my first "real" quilt where I cut all the pieces and stitched them into squares.  I framed the hand embroidered stars with pink cotton and then stitched them all together to make a quilt top.  I put a pink themed flannel on the back that features a teddy bears in pink , yellow and brown.  Worked really well with the front.  I brought the backing to the front for a self bound edge and them stitched in white around the stars and added diamonds to all the pinwheels in green thread.  I also over stitched all the horizontal lines as well which should provide enough quilting for this baby quilt.  It measures 39" x 48".  It will be available at the Fabric Sale as an example of what can be done with the cotton scraps we will have for sale.    Therese

 

Quilting - scrappy diamond quilt

A scrappy quilt made up from a LOT of diamond shaped pieces of a variety of different fabrics!!  Some were already sewn in strips and I stitched the remaining to finish up the quilt top.  They were not all the same size and all on the bias which is always tricky to sew so I did not bother trying to match the seams.  I made a very scrappy look which I like.  It came out to about 35" x 69".  I found a piece of fleece that would accommodate the size trimmed it to fit.  I pinned the fleece to the front of the quilt and then stitched all the way around leaving a 4" gap.  I trimmed off the extra triangles left on the edges and bottom and then turned it inside out.  I top stitched all the way around which secured the opening.  Next, I pin basted it to keep it as flat as possible and quilted it by tying knots from the front to the back in every second diamond in each row.  It does not show very much from the front and there are lots of fuzzy ends on the back which contrast with the fleece.  It finished at 34" x 68" which makes this quilt the perfect couch blanket!!! It will be off to its next home this week!  Therese

 

Cardmaking - sympathy card with a handmade paper background, embossing and a serendipity butterfly die cut

We have had a death in our extended family so I have prepared this sympathy card for the family.  It is never easy to lose a loved one.  

I started with a large blue card and added a handmade paper background which I embossed with a decorative frame.  I cut out the inside of the frame and added the serendipity butterfly with 3D foam tape.  It still needed something so I added paper piercing on both edges of the embossed area.  

Therese

 

Cardmaking - another set of cards from March card club

 One of the girls was not able to make it but sent along her requests for finished cards so I made up a set for her from the card kits I had prepared!!!  Therese

March Card Club - Card #3 - embossed & sanded backgrounds with embossed serendipity die cuts

 For our last card we made sanded backgrounds!!  These were cut from decorative paper and embossed before we sanded them.  Some were quite resistant to sanding which surprised me.  Usually paper succumbs more easily to sanding!!  Anyway, we added a bit of ink to the resistant ones to help highlight the embossing.  We added ribbon and tried on a short piece before adhering this large element to our card fronts.  The focal elements were die cut from embossed serendipity paper which I had in my stash and were added using 3D foam tape.  A quick and easy card for our last one!!  It was a great evening of creative fun and connecting.  Therese

March Card Club - Card #2 - stripy background with a long slim image

 For our second card we played with strips of decorative paper!!!  It was no holds barred as we created backgrounds with strips - some this way, others butting up to them, some overlapping, etc!!  I had printed some vertical and horizontal images to accommodate different orientations in the card design.  I left spaces in between the strips on the blue one and none on the green one.  I could have put them all horizontally and layered the image on that way was well.  SO MANY possibilities!!!!  Butterflies and ferns are from  CLKER.  The longest time was spent on deciding between options!!  Therese

March Card Club - Card #1 - pinwheel backgrounds with a round images over metallic scalloped circles

 

It was great to be crafting with friends again!!! The group was smaller this time around but it was a great evening none the less.  

For this card I cut rectangles of decorative paper to fit fully cover my 4" x 5.25" layer.  I then layered two of the same colour and trimmed them - two cut diagonally in one direction and the other two cut diagonally in the other direction which when all put together created two pinwheels in contrasting colours.  It took a bit to get all the triangles in their proper places.  It was easiest if we made up the rectangles with the contrasting triangle and then placed them on our substrate.  Once on the substrate it was easy enough to glue them down properly.  We made sure our edges were as even as possible because if the middles did not line up as well they were going to be covered by our focal element.  We then adhered our pinwheel background to our card fronts and coloured our images.  The birds  are from Birdie Brown and the poppy is from  Cruzine.  We layered our coloured images onto the metallic scalloped circles and added them to our card fronts using 3D foam tape.  That finished our cards!!  Therese