Slow Stitching - #1 tree

I have finished my first square featuring trees!!  I really like how it turned out!!  I started stitching in one corner and kept going around and around until I was in the center and then tied off my thread.  I did add a small yellow star on the top but it doesn't look a lot like a star unfortunately but it does secure very nicely the top little portion of the tree fabric which works for me.  I added French knots as decoration on this one in a variety of colours.  I like the texture of the trees and yet the colours are still very visible though a bit subdued.  So far, I am not adding anything else though I did seriously consider it.    Therese

Slow Stitching - cross stitched heart accents

I have stitched up six little hearts for my next set of rainbow squares in my Slow Stitching project!!  They are all different and some have been modified from the patterns in my book!!  It has taken several days to get them done and I will now be able to get started on my third set of squares!!

Therese

A fabric needle book case as a gift

 My Mom is having a milestone birthday this year and we are celebrating as a family.  Not sure she has ever had any sort of birthday celebration so I am so grateful to my sister for suggesting it and getting it started!!!  I wanted to make her something special that would be just for her.  She is a long time sewer and quilt maker so I thought it would be appropriate to have my gift connected to these activities.  After a bit of time I was inspired to make her a needle book.  Not sure she has one but I do know that she has a little metal box in which she stores her hand stitching supplies which she often took with her when they traveled and went camping.  She certainly in the last few years has embroidered panels for quilts with little scenes especially for baby quilts.  It keeps her hands busy when Dad is watching TV.   So I went looking for inspiration online and there are a LOT of images and tutorials.  I was tempted to make several of them but eventually came to the realization that I had to make a needle book that my Mom would appreciate rather than one that was most appealing to me.  So I decided it had to have a quilted cover and it would be best to be rectangle in shape.  Blue is her favorite colour so I choose four fabrics that coordinated and cut strips that when combined would give me a 5" x 8" rectangle.  I wanted to include some hand stitching so I cut a strip from plain fabric and embroidered some flowers in pinks to echo the bit of pink in two of the fabrics.  I went back to the notes I had made when I embroidered these felted wool coasters.   I drew in a few basic lines, stitched the stems in green and then added the flowers which are all french knots in three different colours of pink embroidery thread.  Love how they worked out!!!!!  I stitched the panel to the area of my rectangle which would in the end be the front of my needle book.  I cut a piece of batting and then a piece of cotton for the inside.  I chose a subtle white and gray with a few pink flowers to again echo the pink from the front.  I added an elastic loop then stitched around the edge leaving an opening so I could turn it inside out. Once I had it turned I pressed it really well.  I hand stitched the opening closed and then added hand stitching to the rectangle to better incorporate the three layers and to give a bit of texture to the front.  Finally, I machine stitched all the way around the edge to finish it off nicely.  I cut two pieces of batting to create pages inside my needle book and stitched on ribbon to add a decorative feature and to help give a bit of order to the needles as they are added.  I stitched the pages to the cover down the center using my sewing machine.   I created a heart shaped button for my needle case using shrink plastic and embossed it with a rubber texture mat while it was hot to give some texture.  I hand stitched to the front of my book and the elastic loop will now keep all the pages nice and neat.  

I am looking forward to giving it to her and I hope it will always be a reminder of a special day and how much I love her and how much I appreciate how much of an inspiration she has been for my life.  It sometimes takes years to really appreciate how another's life has been an inspiration for your own!!!!  I am grateful my mother is still here with us so I can tell her in person!!!!  Therese

Teesha Moore patches combined to make a cover for our Trailer Journal

A Teesha Moore cover for our trailer journal!!!!!!! I have been making Teesha Moore inspired squares for quite a while as I really love the hand stitching and the very creative look of them.  For some reason I have been resistant to combine them into larger projects though there is enough inspiration online to make a wide variety of projects from journal covers, trivets, mug rug, and bags!! I did do a composition book journal cover a few years ago. You can check it out here, but have not really come up with anything else for quite a while.  Recently, we purchased a travel trailer and at an event on the weekend my aunt, Maria, suggested that we keep a trailer journal to document our travels and the repairs and improvements along the way.  I was immediately inspired to use my stash of Teesha Moore patches!!!!!!!   
I dug out my bag and started sorting them to general size and then placing them on the cover of a composition book leaving a bit of over hang on the top and bottom so I could stitch up the flaps on both ends that will hold the book in the cover.  It was so great!!!!!  I decided to use my three stitch zigzag on my sewing machine and multicoloured thread to attach them to each other.  The stitch is wide enough to have decent purchase on both pieces and with the multicoloured thread I found it did not distract from the colourful hand stitching I had done on the edges of the patches.  I ensured that I double stitched at all the joining points to ensure integrity in the cover and it went together fairly quickly using the sewing machine.  I had individually hand stitch the surface of the patches and then used hand stitching to combine them into a cover when I made the last cover which was a bit time consuming.  I still plan on hand stitching the individual patches on this cover and using one of them to give it a title - probably the coral ferny one which will give the best contrast.  It will be a great hand stitching project for around the campfire!! I am so very pleased with it!!!!!!!! Here are a few more photos!!

The back of the cover!  Love that little rainbow on the right hand side of the front.

The two inside flaps.  The one on the left is quite loose so I will be adding an elastic to the inside to tighten that up a bit but the extra give will allow the storage of a pen or two.  

Here is the inside of the cover with the composition book removed.  You can see here that I used a blue bobbin thread and it is less beautiful than the cover.  It might have been better to use a neutral colour but in the end no one is likely to ever see this part of it so all is good!!

Therese

Felted Wool coasters

 My grand daughter is raising money for a trip and I have made up a few felted wool coasters to be sold at her next event. 
The felted wool comes from her Mom who enjoys felting wool and creating wonderful items from it.  This was felted wool from a reversible coat which was ivory one one side and beige on the other.  I cut the panels into four inch squares with a rotary cutter and mat.  I rounded the corners by fussy cutting them with scissors.  I machine stitched around the edges to create a bit of a border using thread in coordinating colours - beige on the ivory side and ivory on the beige side.   Next, I used tapestry wool to embroider designs onto the coasters.  I found a few ideas on line and then made up a few others after I got a bit of feel for the process and what I could do with it.  I am really happy with how they turned out!!  Every dollar counts so I hope they sell out!!                 Therese

"Some bunny cares" fabric postcards

I created these fabric postcards the other day from a thrift store find that had bunny lace and these two little embroidered bunnies!  I ironed the fabric and discovered that because the pieces were rounded these little guys would need to have additions in the corners to create a 4" x 6"postcard.  I added triangles of yellow that coordinate with the bows around their necks and then cut them to size leaving a half inch on each long side so I could fold them over to the back and adhere them in place using fusible hem tape.  When I cut the backs I left them a half inch longer on each short end so I could fold them over to the fronts and thereby creating finished edges all the way around my postcards.   I added some batting between the two and fused my edges down.  This worked very well for finishing them off nicely.  I stitched all the way around the edge as well to get all the layers nicely connected.  I added a line for the to and from and then stitched in some grass with green embroidery thread.  I had been experimenting with fabric labels for my next project so I had two of these little "some bunny cares" labels so I applied them to the bottom of the postcards.  I will be sending these as RAKs when I feel inclined to.

Therese

Art Quiltie - make it a great day!

I created this quiltie for a swap on one of my groups for July!!  I am happy to have the chance to make a few more of these!!
I started with an experiment in free motion stitching that I made up a while back. I took small pieces of fabric and used small pieces of fusible webbing to tack them in place on my substrate fabric. I just kept laying on pieces overlapping until all the surface was covered.  I started free motion sewing and I found that the tension was off so the fabric wrinkled up a lot. I had set it aside as an unfortunate experiment and when I found it the other day it looked better than I remembered. So I decided to trim it up (4" x 4") and use it as the front of my little quiltie.  A while back I had my sister print off some sayings for me onto printable fusible fabric because it requires an inkjet printer which I no longer have.  I chose this little saying from the sheet and cut a strip of green fabric which coordinated with my front.  I trimmed out the saying, fused it to the strip and then stitched all the way around. Next, I stitched the strip to my front.  I went looking into my fabric embellishments and found this flower and leaf combo that worked well with it.  I stitched them into place with embroidery floss in the right colour and then added sequins and a seed bead to the middle of the flower.  To add a bit more texture I decided to embroider some flowers on the green strip as well.  I used seven french knots to create the flowers and added green leaves using several chain stitches.  I was happy with that!!  I used several scraps to create a little quilt for the back and stitched it to a layer of thick flannel using one line of stitching that spirialed from the outside edge to the inside.  I backed the two pieces and stitched all the way around the edge and then did blanket stitch all the way around with brown embroidery floss!!  Pretty happy with my little creation!!  Half way through my border stitching I remembered that I had wanted to try couching yarn into the edge when I did blanket stitch the next time.  Needless to say that will have to wait until next time!!!

Therese

Art Quiltie for October!!

Has been a few months since we swapped Art Quilties but we are once again getting that process started.  It was a No Theme swap so I decided to do a fall theme and used the reverse applique technique. Reverse applique means that instead of applying a shape to a panel. you cut out a shape in the panel and back it with something interesting.  I used fall colour scraps and fused them to a backer until I had a piece big enough to fit behind the leaf pattern I had drawn free hand.  I drew the leaf on the blue panel, positioned the fall coloured layer behind it and then stitched a line with yellow thread over the line I had drawn using my sewing machine.  I used sharp pointy scissors to cut away the blue panel fabric inside the leaf as close as I could to the stitching.  After that, I stitched over the edge of the blue fabric leaf outline using a tight zigzag stitch with the same yellow thread.  Worked out really well!!  I backed this piece with a bit of fiberfill and added the stitching all the way around the leaf.  Next, I cut a piece of dark peach fabric larger than the 4" square of my panel, positioned it on the back, folded over the extra to the front and used blue embroidery thread to do blanket stitch all the way around the edge.  Really happy with how well that finished off the edge.  Next, I hand stitched coloured seed beads all the way around the leaf shape and added some veining inside the leaf shape using shimmery yellow thread.  Next, I added some square sequins and dark orange seed beads along the stitching lines and then some gold/copper seed beads in between where ever it looked good.  I did add some french knots to secure the backing fabric to the whole quiltie and then added my credits using iron on label fabric tape on which I had written using a fine tipped Sharpie!!  My art quiltie  - a fabric chunky book page - is already off to my swap partner!!
Lots of fun and I am happy to be making these again!!

Therese

Three denim and lace cards

Needed a swap card that included denim and a rose so I printed off a few roses (with added leaves) overlaid onto a brick background (CLKER), dug some denim from my mending stash and started playing!!
For my first card, I stamped all over the worn denim using dark blue ink and a set of rose stamps (Stampendous).  I watercoloured my rose image, cut around the petals with my exacto knife, added a light blue background and some short lengths of white lacy seam binding.  I used double sided tape to hold this element to my stamped denim and used my sewing machine with white thread to stitch all the way around.  I trimmed two of the lace ends diagonally and tucked the other two under the denim and then stitched this whole element to a navy card front!! Cutting out the petals really gives the flower dimension!!  I added a scroll greeting which I watercoloured to coordinate with the flower element.  I found that the denim stretches when I am stitching it into place so I will have to stabilize it with double sided tape in a few more places next time.

I used the same flower image (CLKER) for this card.  I watercoloured it and added a piece of denim to the top and bottom of it which I die cut on one edge using a border die (SU).  I added some cotton eyelet trim to the left hand side of the card, overlaid my image over its edge and then my denim pieces over it and stitched everything to a navy card front using white thread.  I added more double sided tape behind the denim this time and it stayed in place much better.  I stitched "kindness" on the bottom right hand corner which was stamped and trimmed from an all over stamp (SU).  It still needed a bit of something so I added french knots on the points using yellow embroidery thread that coordinated with the center of the flower.  Just what it needed!!

For my third card, I used the same flower image (CLKER) which I watercoloured and layered onto black cardstock. I stamped a piece of denim with some flower images in blue ink and stitched it to the left hand flap of a navy gate fold card capturing a piece of lace seam binding in the process.  Next, I laid my layered flower image onto the flap, tucked in a piece of lace seam binding and stitched all the way around my image which very nicely attached it to the flap!! I stamped the same flower images in white on the right hand flap of my card.  To finish off my card, I tied the two pieces of lace in a single knot and trimmed the ends diagonally.  To keep the knot tight I used a dab of glue just beneath it.

One of these will be off to my swap partner and the other two I will use for my monthly card exchange.  I really love the look of white lace with denim and it was fun to use some denim scraps on my cards.

Therese

Navy and purple felted wool cuff

Another cuff for my giftie swap!!  This one began with a pieced layer of navy blue felted wool (3" x 8").  Because I am using scraps I had to combine two pieces of felted wool to create the length I wanted.  I butted the two pieces up very tightly and sewed them together using a wide zigzag stitch and black thread.  The thread is very matte and therefore pretty much disappeared.  I did position the main focal point - a beautiful embroidered floral design -  over the

seam so it would camouflage it was much as possible.  I started by doing buttonhole stitch all the way around using thin lavender wool yarn (thrift store find).  I positioned the focal element (thrift store find), pinned it in place and sewed it in place using embroidery thread that was the same colour.  I wanted to add yet more texture but not take away from the beauty of the embroidered piece so went looking for seed beads I could use to embellish it with.  I found these that did exactly what I wanted - they almost look like stars in the night sky!!  I sewed them on randomly using navy embroidery thread so the stitching does not show.

 This wood bead was just the right colour so I drilled an extra hole in it to make it a button and sewed it on with navy thread.  I created a wrap by braiding three pieces of lavender wool yarn into a string which will create an adjustable closure on this cuff.
Really happy with how this one turned out and love the colours!
The giftie swap was for Christmas so this is appearing here only after the gift has arrived and been opened by the recipient.

Therese

Tarot card calendar

 Another calendar for the holiday season!  It is a gift you can give anyone!!  Overnight, I remembered I had these wonderful image in my stash so yesterday morning I went searching and was lucky enough to find them straight away!!  They come from a glossy publication that I purchased years ago at a thrift store.  At the time, I thought they were wonderful images and would certainly work into one of my projects somewhere along the way. They are images of very old tarots cards - from a time when they were all hand painted and used by royalty to play a game. I trimmed the images leaving a slim black border.  I cut kraft cardstock to 3.5" x 8.5" (6 of them) and stamped a flourish background (IO) on the top portion using black ink then mounted my image.  I punched a ribbon border (SU) out of black cardstock and mounted it below the stamping using a glue stick.  I adhered my trimmed 2015 calendar page (12 to page from calendarlabs.com) which I sponged lightly around the edges below that using a glue stick.  This is a double sided calendar - January to June are on one side and July to December on the other.  I did the one side first and then when I was doing the back sides I positioned the ribbon borders back to back.  I pierced through a hole on each end so I could align them exactly over each other.  Once they were dry, I pierced all the holes with a push pin over foam and used gold embroidery thread to add stitching to the ribbon border. Love the way it turned out!!!  I created straight stitches on one side and diagonal ones on the other.

Thinking they needed just a bit more texture I added gold coins using large glue dots.

Just enough embellishment!!  Here are all the pages I created!!  I do have a few images left over for another project!!

You can check out the other calendars I have created here and here!

 One uses handmade paper and pressed botanicals and the other, little blue bird collage photos  

reused from a 2014 calendar.  

These are quick and easy!!  You

can use themed paper, printed digital images, printed clipart or old calendar images as 

  your focal elements.  Just work out your cardstock size by laying out your images, calendar pages and any 

other elements you would like to add for texture and interest. 

I hope you are well on your way in preparing for the holiday season!!  

I am very happy with the calendars I have created and am looking forward to getting my Christmas cards out the door!!

Therese