January Card Club - cute square images layered onto embossed layers with a ribbon and tag brad

 For our last card we made up these cute cards!!!  The images are all from Cre8tive Hands.  We adhered our backgrounds to our card fronts and then created our focal elements.  We first coloured our square images and I added a paper pierced line on all four sides of mine with a pattern tracing wheel.  Next, we embossed our layers, border punched one edge, added our image and then added our ribbon and tag brad.  We added this large layer to our cards using 3D foam tape.  We could have made landscape cards by simply rotating our image and tag brad 90 degrees.   Will give that a try next time as I have a few extra card kits to make up.  It was great to visit and share while we were creating cards!!  Always good!!

Therese

January Card Club - Card #2 - a little arch filled with fun images

 For our second card we worked with a little framed opening in our top most layer.  These were created by cutting a tag out of a 3.5" x 4.24" layer.  I had to position carefully as there were two tags on the die (SX) and I only wanted to cut the one.  We embossed our layer and then tied on our fiber/ribbon.  We then adhered our backgrounds to the card fronts and then our embossed layer over that.  Next, I had prepared a variety of focal elements different for each card.  These ones have a glittered yellow balloon with a string and a serendipty dragonfly with a bit of embossing on it.  I could have reversed the frame layer on my second card but forgot.  Would have been just a bit of variation.  Therese

January Card Club - Card #1 - a little birdie with a funky tail and a hot glue seal

 It was great to be back making cards after a busy Christmas and a cold snap with temperatures in the -35C to -45C!!  It has warmed up and we are now dealing with water running everywhere!!  It was a small crowd for cardmaking but it always a good time when you are with friends and being creative.  We started with making these fun bird cards.  The birds are 2.5" circle (Nestibilities) cut from decorative paper.  If it was not double sided I simply watercoloured the back to give the bird a bit of depth.  The circle is folded just short of half to allow the back to create a bit of a belly.  We added our fiber tails and then the beak before gluing our birds onto our backgrounds.  Next, we added the eye - 1/4" circle punchie - which we glued in place and then added the highlight with a white gel marker.  The legs were added next using a fine tip black Sharpie marker giving them a few toes.  Then we created our hot glue seals for our ribbon.  We placed a little 1/4" nub of hot glue stick on a piece of cardstock then onto a foil covered corrugated cardboard.  

Do Not use a heat gun right onto your counter!!!!!!!!

We held our paper in place with a long skewer while we heated the hot glue with the heat gun.  Takes less than a minute for it to melt into a small puddle of glue.  We placed decorative buttons which were coated with embossing ink into the puddle and let them cool off.  Once they are cool you can simply remove the button and see the impression in the hot glue.  Very cool!!!  

We added our ribbons across the decorative paper, added our second one by just crossing them and then added our seals.  We stripped the paper off the back of the seals and then use a dab of hot glue to secure them over our ribbons.  Birdie cards are useful for many occasions with the quote " A little birdie told me...".  These fun cards to make!!!  Therese

Slow Stitching - three more floral squares for my quilt

 I have managed a few more floral embroideries for my pink and green quilt.  It has been very pleasant to come up with new stitches and give them a try.  I think I will be going back and adding some extra stitches in the middle of the long stitches in the leaves on the one on the right.  It would  not be fun to have those be snagged somewhere.  I hope this quilt will be around for a good long while.  I am almost one third done my squares.  My sister, Stella, was here last weekend and as a quilter she consulted on my project so I have taken her advice and will try raw edge quilting on another quilt before I use it in the construction of this pink and green one in which will also include some of my Mom's embroidered roses which are special to me.  I will be including some lace which she also made for the tablecloth she gave me with the roses!!  She gave some input on the construction of my squares which I will incorporate.  She is a much more prolific quilter than I am.  She has been making quilt tops for Victoria Quilts.  This organization donates quilts to cancer patients all across Canada.  

I am joining the gang at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching!!!  

I encourage you to come along and check out the great projects that are being shared there.  

Always lots of inspiration!! Therese

Gramma Link Africa Fabric Sale in April!!

 Mark your calendars and join us for a wonderful day of perusing beautiful fabrics and choosing those that you will need for your next project no matter if it is a new dress, a quilt, new potholders, recovering the bench seat or baby burp cloths!!  We have it and everything in between!!  $4 a meter for quilting cottons (some on bolts) and $2 a meter for all fabrics regardless of content (some on bolts).  There are tools, notions and yarn as well!!!  

If you happen to be downsizing your stash or know someone who is looking to rehome fabric, notions, yarn and tools please give the girls a call and make arrangements for drop off.  

Therese 

All occasion card featuring a heart, a paper pieced and embossed layer and a bright background

A heart card for an upcoming anniversary!!!  I started with a large yellow envelope and chose the cardstock once I had chosen the decorative paper.  I added a bright double green flagged strip to my card after creating my focal element.  For my focal element I started with four strips of cardstock which I secured on the back with regular tape and then embossed with hearts (CB).  I layered it on an orange decorative paper trimmed to size.  I fussy cut the printed heart, watercoloured it to coordinate with my paper and added a little flower embellishment using a tin brad before I added it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  Not sure this one will fit in the mail slot so I will give it to her when she visits.  

Therese
 

All Occasion cards featuring little fabric birds stitched to handmade paper and layered onto decorative paper

I needed a few cards for sending our thanks for our gifts and special times over the Christmas season so I thought a little bird would do well for welcoming in the New Year!!  I dug through my scraps and found a few that were big enough to trace the little bird I had on hand.  After tracing I added lines to the beak and positioned a dot for the eye.  Next, I trimmed little heart wings for each of them.  Then I coloured the beaks with watercolour to highlight them compared the their bodies.  I found several sheets of handmade paper which were neutral enough to create a contrasting background for them.  I embossed these with a variety of embossing folders.  I added paper piercing to several of them using my pattern tracing wheel.  Then I positioned the birds on the handmade paper and stitched around the bird then added the little heart wings.  Some of the wings are pointy and others are bluntly.  No how that happened - not a conscious choice but at some point I put them on differently.  I like both options!! I added their legs next.  I then chose backgrounds and cardstock that worked with each bird and ran lines of paper piercing on all four edges of the backgrounds.  After that I took the time to tuck all the threads to the back and added the little gold sequins to create the eyes and securing them with a french knot with black embroidery thread.  I did consciously choose to have some facing left and some right.  I did cut out a few birds with different fabrics and two of those ended up being Christmas cards and I used a green handmade paper on them which I embossed with a word embossing folder.  It was fun to rummage in my scraps and find some fun fabrics to make these cards.  A bit of down time while I was tucking in threads and adding the eyes and then assembling them all in one session.  I added gold embossed stamped greetings inside the Christmas one.  Two more to add to my stash of cards for next Christmas!!  Therese

 

Slow Stitching - floral squares for my pink and green quilt

I have had sometime in the last week to work on my floral squares for a pink and green quilt which I am working on for the bed in the spare room.  It has been wonderful to be back to doing any sort of stitching I want on my project!!!  I am using variegated or different colours of pink on these flowers and so far I have added some sort of leaf element.  The leaves that were open I coloured with Inktense watercolours which become permanent once they are pressed.  

Not sure it they will all get some or not but this is what I have done so far.  I have 23 in all so a good start.  We have very cold temperatures - 35C to -43C overnight temperatures which is a really good reason to stay home and keep busy with inside projects!!  you can check out my first one here.   I have included all four in the bottom most photo!!  

I am posting this to Kathy's Quilts for her Slow Sunday Stitching.  I started last week on Monday and have managed to get four done this week.  I expect the pace will slow as the weather eases and we get back to a more regular routine.  Therese

 

Little felted wool candle mat in ivory and variegated blue embroidery thread

I made up this little trivet from little triangles of felted wool which I cut a while back to create little tree ornaments.  The ornament concept did not pan because they were too thick to include in Christmas cards.  I did send the other one in a card and it cost me $1.07 more to send it than the regular postage stamps.  That was an untenable way ahead.  So after a bit of pondering I figured could combine them and make a little mat for our Christmas candle.  I stitched them to each other and then did blanket stitch all the way around to finish it off.  I added a stitched snowflake in the center to help disguise where they all joined which was not perfectly flat.  I am very happy to have found a useful purpose for these little triangle and the mat will help to protect the table.  Therese

 

Christmas cards from kits - embossed ornaments, silver wreaths and gold embossed On Holy Nights

I hope you all had a good Christmas and I wish you all every blessing in 2024!!

I managed to finish assembling the card kits leftover after Card Club at the end of November.  That is 11 cards to add to the few I had left over this year.  You can see more information on each of these by following these links - Embossed ornaments, Silver wreaths and O Holy Night.   I have three wreath cards below which were my first attempts as I worked on prototypes for the wreath card. 

They were not good candidates for card club due to the complexity of glitter glue, double die cutting and embossing and the silver metallic tape which I used.  Another three for the box which brings me up to more than I need for the first two months of 2024.  I will attempt to keep up this year with making cards regularly if not monthly.  Therese

 

Slow Stitching - floral squares for a pink and green quilt

I worked on this slow stitching project over the holiday season.  I have been collecting pink and green fabrics - some florals - for making a quilt for our spare bed.  After checking out my collection I realized that I had some warm tones and some cooler tones which might not work so well together.  I want to include some of my Mom's embroider into the quilt so I needed warm tones.  I set those aside and then dug into my stash for more warm florals, pinks and greens.  I was in need of a new slow stitch project so I decided to embellish some of the squares in my quilt with some slow stitched flowers.  I cut 6.5" squares out of a very light green fabric and then trimmed out rough circles about 4" round from a pink fabric.  I did tea dye the fabric to tone it down just a bit and make it overall a little warmer.  Worked really well!!!  After getting my 23 flowers ready I trimmed 1" circles from a golden yellow fabric to create the flower centers.  I pinned them to the squares and the machine stitched the flowers to the squares.  Makes it easier when you are stitching to keep the layers together and flat.  I will be covering the machine stitching with hand stitching.  

Below you can see my first one!!  I used 2 ply embroidery thread in a coordinating pink and added a long row of chain stitches that ran from the outside to just under the edge of the yellow center.  I did add a light pencil mark to keep me on track.  After I finished the flower I decided to add some leaves which I drew with pencil and then embroidered with stem stitch.  I used Derwent Inktense watercolours to colour in the leaves.  These watercolours become permanent on fabric once they are heat set!!  What a wonderful tool to accent and embellish hand stitching.  As you can see from the photos this involves raw edge applique which I think will give the quilt a really home spun look which is just what I wanted!!!  

The quilt will be for a queen sized bed and will be put together with a QAYG technique with 12" squares which will also leave some raw edges which will echo the raw edges on the floral squares.  It will take a while to get it done but for now I will work on the hand stitching on these squares.  

Therese

 

Mug markers

After a recent family gathering DH indicated that it would be useful for our son to have some way to mark the mugs we had been using.  My sister who was visiting and I immediately got on online searching for some mug marker options.  We did some brainstorming and the next morning came up with these.  They consist of a length of black elastic (we cut hair elastics) with a coloured bead slipped on then an over hand knot near the ends.  These work very well.  You hold the bead on the mug handle, pass the knotted end under the handle and up and over the bead.  Done!!  These beads were glittery ones from a Christmas garland purchased a while back.  We had silver and gold.  After a bit of experimenting we settled on using Sharpies to colour the beads which was more permanent so the markers could be washed if needed.  We made a bakers dozen and packaged them in a little plastic box which I had in my stash collected from somewhere!!  We used them at Christmas and they worked really well to keep everyone using one cup over the course of the day!!  Therese

 

A quick sympathy card

One of our friends' father past away over the holidays and so I made up a quick sympathy card for them.  

The flower image is one of my doodles for a while back.  I watercoloured it to coordinate with the background which is decorative paper that was embossed and then rubbed with ink to highlight the script.  I added the background to a small white card, added the flowers and then the butterfly embellishment.    Therese
 

A custom camo cover for a composition book

I stitched together this fun camo cover for a composition book for one of my grandson's for Christmas.  I am encouraging him to write down one good thing for everyday.  I added a pen on the inside and the flap and snap helps to keep it inside.  

Therese
 

Sewing - cape to go with the crown

 I found this little crown this summer when we were touring town during Trash to Treasure.  It was perfect for my youngest grand daughter.  She and her brother have tigers made with exactly the same technique!!  I decided to make her a little cape to go with the crown for Christmas.  I used a light weight polyester fabric in orange and added some shimmery green fabric as the drawstring and added little handstitched stars on the end of the draw strings that coordinate with the crown.  She is just turning three and very much into capes!!  I see after taking the photo that I have stitched my snaps backwards to the cape so I will fix that up before packaging it up for her.  Therese

Slow Stitching kits for Christmas

I made up two slow stitching kits for special people this Christmas season.  There is a larger backer, 7" batting and front layer and then three squares in decreasing sizes which they can arrange as they see fit and slow stitch to the front piece.  I provided some coordinating embroidery thread not sure if they would be able to find what they need in their stash.  Once all the hand stitching is done they will be able to self bind these little trivets and use them on their dinner tables.  They would also make large mug rugs if they are so inclined!! Therese

 

Sewing - crochet hook case

 I stitched up this little case for a special someone who has been doing some little crocheted projects lately and it will go nicely with a selection of yarn as a gift for Christmas for them this year.  I was worried about the pattern when I folded up the bottom but when I turned it over it was right side up which is what I had wanted.  Love that is says "Give me my space"!!!  It will hold a dozen crochet hooks and the last opening is a little wider to accommodate any other tool that they might want to store with the hooks.  Therese

Birthday card featuring a little bear with a gift, pastel background paper and little ribbon flags

My youngest grand daughter will be three this month.  I have prepared this card for her birthday!!!  I created a peach card to fit in a large pearly peach envelope from my stash and added a layer of coordinating pastel paper (SU).  I watercoloured the little bear and gift (Cre8tive Hand) to coordinate.  I ran my pattern tracing wheel on each edge to create a line of paper piercing.  I layered it with a pieced layer of peach and green before adding four little coordinating ribbon flags.  I trimmed the top and bottom with scallop decorative scissors and pierced each scallop with a push pin to echo the paper piercing I used on the image.  I added clear glitter to the gift's ribbon and the little butterfly.  A fun card for a little girl turning three!!  Therese
 

Slow Stitching - little ivory tree ornaments

I have been working on these little ivory wool ornaments for a bit.  They are little harder two work than the felted wool because the wool is just a smidge less thick and dense.  It is harder to keep the stitches from showing on the back.  I did several lines of chain stitch on this little tree - one each in variegated pink, green and yellow.  I also did blanket stitch all the way around in ivory thread.  I added a little hanger and added to my god child's Christmas card.  It cost me $1.07 over a regular stamp to mail it off.   So these are not a viable option for little gifts for friends and family that I can send in my cards.  It is good to know so I will see if I can invent some other way to use the little triangles I have cut out before I add any more stitching.  I started one with little snowflakes using variegated blue thread.  I will do some brainstorming over the holidays and see what I can come up with.  Therese

 

Large bag with a zipper, short handles, QAYG patchwork and a pocket inside

I have been mulling this concept in my head for a while and decided to just get at it.  I cut a large piece of the turquoise floral medium weight fabric - 22" x 60".  I trimmed two strips of 5" x 122" off of each end to make the handles.  They are a bit wider than usual so I folded both sided to the middle in the center of the handle and stitched it down.  It makes them both nice and sturdy and not too bulky.  I started by stitching my little folk art bird embroidery on the front of the bag which was white as it was the wrong side of the fabric.  The floral is on the inside of the bag.  Next, I created a pocket for the inside and stitched it place over the sewing lines I could see on the inside of the bag.  I stitched the pocket in place from the inside and the proceeded with sewing two pieces of coordinating patch work fabric to each side of the bird.  Next, I added two strips of fabric QAYG (right sides together, stitching, and flipping over the top one).  I pinned my top piece of fabric to the top edge of my bag cut long enough that it would be captured by the next fabric strip.   I add my handles  sewing them in place so they would stay where they should be before adding the little turquoise checkered strip.  Because it overlaps the handles it had to be folded over and top stitched which secured all the pieces in place.  I finished the bottom half of the front in the same fashion leaving a bit of an open space for the piece I would be putting on the bottom of the bag.  I did the back in the same way I had made the front.  I used a wide strip of black for the bottom of the bag which I pinned and top stitched into place.  Next, I added the zipper.  I added two small pieces of fabric to each end of the zipper to create a single piece to encase in the seams.  I folded over about a half inch on both  pieces of the top front and top back of the bag.  I pinned the zipper in between very carefully so I could sew one seam on each side to secure all three pieces of each side together.  Worked well!!   Next, I created a French seam on each of the sides to give a finished look to the inside.   I boxed the bottom at 6" wide which encase most of my black bottom which I had failed to calculate in my design.  I would have preferred to have my bottom piece come up a little higher so the whole bottom showed the black fabric.  I will know better next time.  It is a large bag and I will be donating it to a local Charity for their clients.  I like that I have a nice finished inside without a lining and that the bag is a little more robust due to the two layers of fabric.   Therese

 

Tree skirt - Christmas fabric done QAYG onto a used tree skirt

I had a tooth pulled this week and was feeling like a quiet activity so I decided to make a tree skirt.  I had been mulling this idea in my head for a while and wondered if it would work.  I had picked up a used tree skirt during Trash to Treasure without realizing that it was torn.  I have wanted to find a way to make it useful again and was playing with the idea of QAYG strips on the front.  The front was a velvety surface on which someone had very nicely painted several beautiful partridges but with the rip it made trying to repair it impossible.  I cut out the Christmas scraps I had on hand and a few from Mom's pile and looked to see what would be possible.  I found a Merry Christmas border and decided I should work around that.  I added fabric to each end to make it long enough to fit where I thought it would best be seen.  I found the bottom white piece which was tall enough to fill in between the greeting and the edge of the skirt though I had to add to each end to make it wide enough.  I positioned the white piece where I wanted it and then the strip with Merry Christmas so that it was even from side to side upside down over it.  I stitched both down to the skirt using white thread on the top and a red in the bottom so it would blend with the red on the back.  I ironed the greeting over and then started finding more strips to add above.  Most of these were already strips so I did not have to cut too much fabric.  I kept adding strips until I was pass the middle and then used shorter pieces to do each side of the back.  Once finished I stitched from the back really close to the stitched edge to secure all the ends down.  Next,  I trimmed between the line of stitching and the edge of the bottom layer so the stitched edge of the skirt was all that showed.  Then, it was a matter of figuring how I would finish the two edges at the back and the circle for the trunk of the tree.  After a bit of mucking in m supplies I decided to use black seam binding with a decorative stitch in red to finish off those edges.  It worked really well and made a very cool looking tree skirt.  Glad to have made this piece usable again!!  Therese

 

November Card Club - embossed ornament framed with cardstock strips over a Christmas background

 This last card was a quick and easy one!!  The embossed and die cut ornament was positioned on the decorative paper background and then strips of cardstock were adhered to each side and trimmed to the edge of the paper.  I started with the top strip and aligned the square end to the left edge of the ornament.  Then just did the same for the other three sides.  Glued this large element to our card fronts and then added little sparkly embellishments to the ornaments to finish off our cards!!   I like the movement in this card and it is so much easier than it looks!!!  Therese

November Card Club - gold embossed nativity scene on a beautiful gold foil background

For our second card we created these cards.  The O Holy Night (inkadinkado) was stamped and embossed with gold embossing powder and trimmed to size.  I had considered adding colour but could not decide just where and with which medium so decided against any colour.  I used my distress tool on the edges.  The layer was punched on the bottom and then the nativity was adhered to it.  A window punchie (SU) was added with a gold brad and adhered on the back.  The beautiful flourished foil paper was adhered to the coordinating card and then the large O Holy Night was added with 3D foam tape.  There were a variety of colours for the cards, layers and window punches which provided some variety to our cards.  

Therese
 

November Card Club - silver wreath, blue backgrounds and embossed greetings

 It was fun to make up card kits for this Christmas card class!!  Always so many options!!  I decided to use a few tools I have had for a while and not used.  I started with this wreath die and embossing folder set which I acquired from my sister, Sylvia.  I tried it in traditional colours but the time it took to get all the pieces finished and the berries dried was longer than we have at Card Club so I went with a quicker version.  I cut these from silver foiled cardstock and then embossed them - done!! The white layer (3") was embossed - I provided a variety of embossing folders.  I used the distress tool on mine.  I added the wreath to the white square using double sided tape being as I was adhering an embossed layer to an embossed layer and sometimes the surfaces are always aligned.  I provided strips of white cardstock and greeting embossing folder and they could chose which one they wanted for their card.  I used two different ones for my cards.  I adhered my backgrounds to my white cards then arranged my elements before adding them to my card.  I used 3D foam tape for the wreath element to give it a bit of dimension.  We all added a few rhinestones to our greetings to finish them off!!  Always the best to spend time being creative with friends!!!  Therese

Wine bottle bag

I worked on a design for a wine bottle bag which was two layers of fabric but not an outer and a lining.  Instead I stitched both layers together and then created the bag.  I made a finished seam on both sides and across the bottom.  I added the handles and the top inside strip afterwards which was interesting keeping the handles in their proper place while using my free arm.  It was a bit easier doing the top stitch because everything was secure.  I hemmed the inside strip by hand to avoid making another row of stitching in the blue outside strip.  I had decided on using the Japanese Knot for the handles but in the end it was not as effective as I had originally imagined and did not any ease of use so I will just do two identical handles next time.  This one is quite spacious at a diameter of 14.5 inches.  More generous than is necessary for a wine bottle but does accommodate almost any other liquor bottle which tend to be a little bigger in there body size.  I boxed the bottom which worked out really well and I will consider adding a cardboard square on the bottom for a neater look but it stands very well on its own as is.  I will reduce the size of the body next time to better accommodate a wine bottle.  It might serve very well as a knitting project bag though only for a single project.  Therese
 

Christmas cards featuring embellished snowflakes and decorative paper backgrounds

Inspired by the last set of cards I made with snowflakes I decided to make a few cards for my Christmas cards stash which has not been fed too many times this year!!  I will be in a time crunch very soon!!!

I started with both pieces of the snowflake die cut - the full quarter sheet as a background and the snowflake die cut.  I found some envelopes in my stash that were just a bit bigger than A2 which worked really well for these cards.  I chose some Christmas decorative papers and then cut cards that coordinated and fit in the envelopes.  I trimmed the decorative paper to size and then added the back of die cut which I paper pierced with several lines using my pattern tracing wheel.  I glued this piece to my background.  I coloured the snowflakes to contrast with both backgrounds.  I added tiny snowflake embellishments with a brad and then the large snow flake and added this large element to my backgrounds.  These were glued to my card fronts to finish off my cards!!  Really like how they worked out!!!  Fun to be inspired by previous projects!!  So I am adding 8 to the stash!!  Therese