Slow Stitching - Trees

 I have been working on my slow stitching tree project for the last few weeks getting the little tree squares stitched to larger squares.  I have used blue floss for all the stitching in order to have the trees remain the focal points.  It has been fun to find stitches in my books which I have not done before that will overlap the edge of the square  - cretan, fern, closed fern, etc.  I have also used blanket stitch and a variety of combinations as well including fern, stab, daisy, etc. 
I am feeling like there is not enough stitching to keep these little squares attached to the larger one so more stitching will definitely be added.  Not yet inspired as to what exactly that will be so I will sleep on it and see what I can come up with tomorrow.          Therese

Birthday card featuring a watercoloured coffee cup, some hand stitching and embossed velvet paper

 I made this card for DH birthday later this week.  I found some brown velvet paper in a box of serendipity supplies when I was making this heart in support of front line workers who are out there every day during this health crisis.  I embossed it with a coffee bean border from Pink Cat Studio which belongs to a set I bought a while back.  I simply laid the rubber stamp on the velvet surface of the paper and passed it through my Big Shot with very little pressure. Worked really well!  I adhered this little piece of embossed paper to a piece of mottled watercolour paper which I had stamped with a script stamp (SU) in brown.  I added a strip of red cardstock which I border punched with a ribbon/eyelet punch (SU).  I added stitching by hand using ivory and gold floss using the holes in the border.  I tied another short end to the left hand side before adhering it over where the two paper join.  I adhered this large layer to a dark brown card front.  For my focal image I chose a large coffee cup (Stamp Barn) which I stamped and gold embossed.  I watercoloured the cup and added a bit of colour to the background to make it less stark.  I used my distress tool on the edge and then smudged it with a brown stamp pad to help it stand out from the background.  I mounted this large image to my card front using 3D foam tape and then trimmed and layered a small font greeting with brown which I tucked under its bottom edge and adhered in place with double sided tape.   Therese

Another quilt top

I found this quilt top in my stash when I was sorting through fabric on the weekend. It was square and fortunately I had cut pieces and scraps of the same fabrics as well. I added a strip of the colourful fabric at the top and then a narrow piece of the wrinkly gray fabric and then at the bottom I added a narrow strip of the colourful fabric and then another of the wrinkly gray fabric.   Using the scraps I created pieces that were 3.5" wide and then arranged them into piles so I could evenly distribute the colours and textures into the border that I needed to add all the way around to get the quilt top to be about 35" x 45".  I stitched the border pieces to each other and then added a length of the border to each side which worked out really well.  I think the quilt looks reasonably balanced the large white areas are pretty much centered.  I will now have to find some batting and a backer.  I will also investigate if I have enough fabric left to actually create a binding for it.  It would be really nice if it coordinated.  If not, I will see if I can find a piece of dark green which would work very well for the binding.  Very happy to be able to give this little quilt top another chance!!!!!!!!  Therese