January Cardmaking - an all occasion card featuring a serendipity leaf mounted to an embossed strip tied with a little bit of fiber

For our second card for cardmaking this month I decided to feature some serendipity paper.  I make some when I have a bit of time so I wanted to feature a few of the new pieces.

I started by die cutting the focal elements from the serendipity paper and embellishing them a bit if they needed a bit of something.  For instance, I tied a kraft cord to the stem of my leaves (TH SX) on my cards.  I adhered my background to a coordinating card front before mounting my strip of embossed cardstock.  On the first, I flagged one end, on the second I flagged both ends.  I used my tracing wheel on all the edges on the first one and only the sides on my second one.  I tied a length of coordinating fiber to the top of the strip finishing it with a couple of knots.  I adhered my leaves over the strips using 3D foam tape.  My second on has a layered greeting and I left my first one without a greeting to increase its versatility.           Therese

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January cardmaking - a card with a embossed resist background, a layered oval focal element and a small font greeting

I am back to cardmaking with my friends and happy to be at it.  We had very cold temperatures in the last couple of weeks or so and it is nice to have more temperate weather this week.
For our first card, I made up some embossed resist backgrounds using a decorative paper with a very slight floral design in white on blue.  I stamped the designs on the paper using embossing ink and then embossed them with silver embossing powder.  Once they were cool, I watercoloured them to coordinate with a selection of ovals I had in my stash - blue, several purples, turquoise and pink which pretty much completely overwhelmed the pattern which was what I was hoping would happen.  Getting the colours right took a bit of time but I am happy with how they all turned out.  I cut vellum ovals just one size smaller (Nestibilities) and they were dry embossed with a variety of designs/embossing folders.  I added a white star punchie to the purple oval and a white maple leaf to the turquoise one, layered on the embossed vellum oval and secured them together using two silver brads each with a couple of coordinating sequins on them. I adhered my background to a coordinating card and then adhered the oval focal element to it.  I embellished my little greeting with a flagged end and some paper piercing before adhering it to the oval using double sided tape.  It was really fun to be making decorative paper again!!    Therese

Birthday card featuring my doodled art, handmade washi tape and a tiny greeting

Still working on family cards for January!! 
For this card I started with a small envelope (great thrift store find) and made a deep rose card to fit inside.  I embossed the right hand edge of the front with the Swiss Dot embossing folder.  I found a piece of navy in my stash and embossed it with the Paisley embossing folder and then trimmed it to fit on my card.  I rummaged through my stash of handmade washi tape and found this piece that coordinated perfectly!  I cut a length and added to the navy layer before adhering it to my card front.  I found the laser printed flower  image - my own digital art - which I watercoloured.  I added some watercolour on the edges as well and then ran my tracing wheel on each side in a wavy line.  I mounted two strips of tan cardstock to the back which coordinate with the washi tape before mounting it to my card front.  The little punchie greeting was sponged before being added using 3D foam tape on the left and double sided tape on the right.           Therese

Slow stitching - snippet roll with stitching

I have started stitching my snippet roll!! I will be using a variety of thread colours and you can see above the pattern my stitching makes on the back of the strip.  My stitching pattern is an enclosed Z.  I start at the tip (mid point) and stitch up the side and down the other of the square, then across and down the other side and up to the other side to the mid point which is where I need to be to start the next square.  Works very well!!  

This is my whole strip with my little squares all pinned into place.  With all the prep done I will simply be stitching until I get to the other end.  If this one will get any other stitching or embellishment will be determined if I am inspired in the process of stitching it. 

I expect I will make snippet rolls with the other cushion covers as well but anticipate I will invent a new process for them!! No ideas at the moment but I have some time while I am in the process of stitching this one!!       Therese

Anniversary card featuring a stamped heart focal element, a little punchie greeting and beautiful background paper

Working on family cards for January!!  For this anniversary card, I started with a light yellow card and a small envelope.  These envelopes were a great find at a thrift store last year!!
I found the background paper in my stash.  It was in two pieces so I taped them together on the back and trimmed them to the right size.  I added some blue mesh over the joint and then a length of yellow ribbon securing the ends on the back with double sided tape.  I adhered this large layer to the front of my card.  I punched the stamped heart (SU), watercoloured it and then layered it onto a yellow scalloped heart die cut (SU) to create my focal element.  I adhered it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I found the greeting in my stash, sponged its edges in yellow and then layered it onto a blue oval which I trimmed with my scallop decorative scissors.  I used a push pin to pierce all the scallops to add more texture and interest.  I mounted the greeting below my heart using 3D foam tape.  Love that background paper!!  Therese

Slow stitching - new project - snippet roll with scraps

I have started by new slow stitching project - a snippet roll!!  I am using the cushion covers which I removed as a base for this project.  There were two that are falling apart so those have been relegated to the scrap pile but the other four are worn but usable so I did some research to see what I might use them for.  Because they are worn I do not want to put them into a quilt.  I decided on a snippet roll!!  There are a wide variety of them on line and I decided to make one that could be used as ribbon to wrap a gift.  I cut one of the cushion covers into 2" strips which works well because the quilted square are 4" finished.  I managed 8 sixteen inch strips and used my sewing machine to sew them end to end.   That gave me 132 inches!!  Overnight I decided to have finished edges so I used a bias tape maker for a two inch strip and ironed my strip to have the two edges meet in the middle as you can see above which is 1" wide.  Next, I cut over 250 little 3/4" squares in coordinating colours from my fabric scraps and separated them into darks, mediums, colours and lights.  I started from one end and pinned my squares to the back side (unfinished) of my strip going from dark to light and starting over again.  I will need to sort out how I am going to do my stitching!!        Therese

Slow Stitching - #6 of my third rainbow set of squares

This is my last square for my third set of rainbow squares.  It went well and I am happy to have been able to better situate my little heart cross stitch embellishment.  Love the colours of this one. 
I expect to be able to put a small quilt around these rainbow squares keeping with the rainbow theme.  I will be digging into my stash to see what I can put together and go from there!!
Not sure what the next series of slow stitching squares will look like but they could have a variety of themes - leaves, flowers, houses, trees, circles, weaving, etc.  I have been checking out some slow stitching sites to see what others are doing so maybe I will come up with some inspiration in the next few days!!
Therese

Cards from card kits featuring decorative backgrounds, tags with laser printed images, watercolour and ribbon

These are the final card kits from this class!!  They were originally all tags but I took some creative license and adapted the supplies to suit my current vision - happens to me all the time!!  I have hard time making lots of the very same!!

The cards feature decorative paper on coordinating card bases.  I added a strip of embossed cardstock to three of them.  Flagged the ends on two of them.  On the fourth one I added another layer of cardstock, flagged the ends, added a length of ribbon and glued the remainder tied with white thread to the middle of it.  I cut two of them into tag shapes, the other two I trimmed off the top portion and corner rounded the corners on one of them.  All the images (cups - Cre8tive Hands, dress and cake - Michelle Perkett) were watercolours some of them with shimmery paint!!  I just tied the ribbon onto the tag slot on the cups card, I added the ribbon to the corner for the dress one, used a distressing tool on the first cake one and stapled the ribbon to the tag on the last one.  A bit of variety from the same supplies provided in these card kits!!

Therese

Sympathy card featuring wild flower die cuts, a bit of lace and a stamped greeting

My uncle passed away just before Christmas and his celebration of life is coming up so I have made up this card for the family. 
I started with the TH wildflower die cut from black cardstock and found a soft gray background in my stash.  I stamped it with a script stamp (SU) in light green.  Next, I added the greeting in black ink.  I tied a short length of green raffia to a length of lace and adhered it just below the greeting securing both ends to the back of background using double sided tape before adhering this large layer to a coordinating green card front. I applied white glue to the back of my wildflower die cut where the flowers are and tucked it in behind the lace. 
It is always good when families get together!! Looking forward to seeing some I have not seen in decades!!

Therese

Card from a card kit featuring a serendipity heart die cut, some thread and a sanded embossed background

This is the final kit from this class.  I love the serendipity collage paper and this card showcases it very beautifully!!  I die cut the heart from some red serendipity paper and added three little clear rhinestones which I coloured with Sharpie markers so they would coordinate.  I corner rounded the white core cardstock, embossed it with a swirl embossing folder (D'vine swirl - CB) and sanded it to reveal the white core.  The sanding also makes the surface feel very velvety - great texture!!  I wrapped the red thread around the embossed layer and tied it off before adhering it to the red card front.  I mounted the heart using 3D foam tape over the threads!!  Great for Valentine's or an anniversary - hence there is no greeting. 

Therese

Cards from card kits featuring embossed rectangles, layered silk flower embellishments and little greetings

 I am in the process of cleaning up my craft room and preparing for my class at the end of the month so I started with seeing if I could refurbish the card kits I had sitting on my desk.  I remember now that I have tried that in the past and was not successful so I just made them up and will have them on hand for giving as hostess gifts or for the next mortgage fundraiser. 
These were all from the same card kits from the September card class.  I used the corner rounder on some of the corners and embossed them all to give them texture.  The focal elements are layered silk flowers with sequins and a brad to hold them together.  After adhering my decorative paper to the front of my cards I added the embossed rectangles in a variety of configurations.  I added the silk flower embellishments with 3D foam tape and finished two of them off with little laser printed font greetings.  I left one without a greeting because it makes the card more versatile!  Therese

Slow Stitching - #5 of my third set of rainbow squares

I am gaining on getting this current set of rainbow squares finished!  This is number five of my third set!!  Again, I am having trouble getting my little cross stitched embellishments square with my edges.  Just stitched the sides as I went along and I am happy with how it worked out.

Therese

Birthday card featuring double sided decorative paper, an original floral doodle and a layered greeting

I am working on special occasion cards for my family.  It is good to be back to making cards after the holidays. 
I started with a light yellow card.  I trimmed the flourished teal background (gift wrap) to fit with an even border all the way around and then punched three flowers from the left hand side.  I flipped over the punchies and fit them back into the openings and secured them with regular tape on the back.  I added black punchie centers and added a few details using a sharpie marker.  I found this laser printed flower in my image stash.  This is one of my own images which I doodle while watching a doodling tutorial on YouTube.  I scanned my doodles to create my own digital images for cardmaking!  Pretty cool!!  I coloured the flower to coordinate with the background and sponged around the edges with blue ink.  I created a layered greeting using a oval greeting punchie and a pink scalloped oval punchie which I punched from the background paper which will be under the flower image.  Coordinates perfectly!!  After adhering my background to the front of my card I added a length of pink paper twine on the right hand side.  I mounted my watercoloured flower image over the twine and opening using 3D foam tape and then added the layered greeting in the same way.  Finished!!           Therese

Slow Stitching - #4 of my third set of rainbow squares

I have finished this purple square which is my fourth square from my third rainbow set of squares.  I stitched the little cross stitch down first then the strips around it.  I had all of them laid out and pinned before I started so I had to take it apart a bit to get the stitching for the cross stitch element in place.  I am just realizing that I should first stitch the cross stitch elements in place and then add the strips all the way around that would ensure that they are square to the edges which it would seem this one is not.  It is the way it is and maybe the way it was meant to be so be it!! I has been really enjoyable to have some quiet stitching time in the mornings.  Therese

Thank you card featuring an embossed sanded white core background, an embellished silk flower and a flagged vellum greeting

For this thank you card, I started with a coral piece of white core cardstock which I trimmed to fit the white card I created to fit in my small envelope.  I embossed this layer with a floral embossing folder (SU) and sanded it. I took a small strip of the same paper and embossed it with polka dots and sanded it as well.  I adhered it to the main layer after tucking a small vellum greeting beneath it.  I added a little silk flower embellished with a white sequin and silver brad to secure the vellum greeting to the other layers.  I adhered this large layer to the front of my white card.  I flagged the end of the vellum greeting to finish off my card!!!!!!  Therese

Thank you card featuring sanded white core background, polka dot vellum and a little punchie greeting

I started with a small envelope and made a white card to fit inside.  I trimmed a piece of teal white core cardstock, embossed it with a dots embossing folder (SU) and sanded it to remove the top layer and reveal the white core.  I cut a piece of vellum with silver polka dots  just a bit smaller than my teal layer and adhered it to the teal one placing tiny pieces of double sided tape below the silver dots.  I added a little embossed and sanded strip of the teal over the vellum, flagged the end and added a black brad to adhere it to the other layers.  I added a piece of double sided tape behind the little laser printed greeting punchie and adhered it on the strip.  I adhered this large element to the front of my white card.  Love the look of this one!!

Therese

Thank you card featuring gift wrap background, a punched accent and a little punchie greeting

For this card, I started with a smaller envelope and created a white card to fit inside.  I tore a piece of this beautiful teal gift wrap (from England) and layered another piece of the same paper in behind with back facing front which is this beautiful pink colour.  You can see a hint of the pattern showing through the pink.  I punched a flower on the right hand side, flipped it and adhered it back into the opening using regular tape on the back to keep it in place.  I added a teal sequin on the front and a little silver brad to keep it in place.  I found the coordinating pink greeting in my stash.  I sponged its edges with teal ink and adhered to my card front over the torn gap using 3D foam tape.  I have enjoyed time in my craft room making these cards!!             Therese

Slow Stitching - #3 of my third set of rainbow squares

I have finished my third square for my third set of rainbow squares.  This red one had a fairly wonky cross stitched element which I adjusted and pinned but I see still did not manage to get it stitched in place very square to the edge.  So it is!!  No plan for stitching this one other than doing one side at a time.  I like the colours in this one and the embroidery thread is a variety of colours as well.   Three more to go and then I will see about working up some quilting squares to around them - still working on the exact pattern I will be using.          Therese

Thank you card featuring laser printed digital background, seam binding and a punchie greeting embellished with clear dimensional paint

For this card, I started with the colour printed background which I trimmed to size and adhered to a very deep rose card.  I added a length of deep rose seam binding just leaving one end flagged.  I mounted a laser printed (digital) punchie (SU) greeting which was watercoloured to coordinate with the paper.  I added clear dimensional paint to the center where the Thanks is and let it dry before mounting it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.            Therese

Thank you card featuring gift wrap, die cut gears, handmade washi tape and a little punchie greeting

After the holidays I always send cards to those who have blessed us with gifts over the season!  I got started with this card.  I started with a burnt orange card, added the kraft and black background (gift wrap from England) and then layered on three gears die cuts (TH-SX) in ivory, kraft and black.  I added a length of handmade washi tape from my stash (clothes pattern paper and double sided tape) over the bottom edge of all of them to give me a horizontal element to anchor my greeting.  The greeting ( laser printed punchie - Modern Label Punch - SU) I found in my stash, sponged the edges and added dots using a sharpie marker. I adhered it to my card using 3D foam tape.    I love the look of that washi tape and it is so easy to do.  Click on the link to go to the tutorial.    It is amazing how long supplies last - our trip to London was over a decade ago!!!            Therese

Slow Stitching - #2 of my third set of rainbow squares

I am enjoying stitching my little cross stitched elements to my squares!!  As in my last one, I did this orange very similarly.  I stitched the little cross stitched heart embellishment down first and then added strips of fabric all they way around pinning as I went.  For this square, I started by stitching with coordinating floss all the way around the center and then just kept going around the middle.  I stitched the edges as I encountered them.  I did not realize that I had incorporated one little strip that was the same as the background square until I had already stitched it down.  It makes it look like there is a blank spot so I will be careful of that in the future!!    Therese

Christmas cards featuring embossed foil gift wrap backgrounds, little greetings and vellum or fiber

 These are the last two cards I was able to make from the one piece of gift wrap salvaged from the Community Dinner we attended with our friends and neighbours. 
For this first card, I embossed the layered giftwrap/paper combo with the ornaments.  The bottom seemed plain in comparison so I added some dots to it by manually embossing them in place.  After gluing this layer to the front of my green card I added a length of red fiber to the top above the ornaments adhering the ends to the inside with double sided tape and then tied on a short piece to simulate a bow.  Next, I  added a little stamped punchie greeting over the fiber using 3D foam tape on the back.  I sponged and added dots with a gel pen to embellish the little greeting. 
For my other card, I embossed the layer background with snowflakes, added a strip of vellum before adhering it to my green card.  I added a layered snowflake embellishment (large silver, small silver foil, tiny red) over the vellum and tucked a small font greeting to the left of the vellum and snowflake.    Therese

Exchange cards featuring wood grain tags, botanical prints and wildflower die cuts

My Exchange cards for this month!  I started with a hammered botanical print which I created with my Big Shot a while back!!  I trimmed them to fit on my brown layers which are just a slight bit smaller than the green cards created to fit in my smaller envelopes.  I sponged their edges with green and brown ink.  I used wood grain tags cut from Christmas crackers which our daughter included in our box of gifts.  I ran my tracing wheel over them and sponged their edges.  I added some coordinating fiber to the tops, added them to the botanical layer using 3D foam tape and then ran their ends to the back using regular tape to secure them.  I die cut two wildflowers (TH-SX) from brown cardstock and used white glue to adhere them to the tags.  I adhered the botanical layers to the brown and then to the front of my green cards.  Love the soft look of those botanical backgrounds!!

Therese

Christmas cards with embossed foil gift wrap, fiber ribbon and colour printed images

For these two cards I glued foil gift wrap (Community Christmas Dinner gift) to scrap paper and then embossed it with a poinsettia embossing folder (SU) before trimming them to size for my red cards.  On the first one, I added the green fiber ribbon to the card after adhering the background to the card.  I layered the Christmas image -Joyeux Noel - from my stash onto red and then mounted it to my card using 3D foam tape.  I tied an extra length of the ribbon to the right of the image.  On the second card, I added the green ribbon to the background before adhering to my card front and then tied on three lengths of red fiber as accents.  I mounted a similar image - Merry Christmas - from my stash to red cardstock before adhering it to my card front using 3D foam tape.   This paper does so well with being embossed!  Really nice cards!!           Therese

Christmas cards from foil gift wrap from the season

 A few more cards from the gift wrap I collected at the Community Christmas dinner!!  Thanks to my neighbour who very carefully unwrapping her gift so I could have the paper!!  For these two cards I glued the gift wrap to scrap paper and then embossed them with two different snowflake embossing folders before trimming them to fit on my red cards!!
For the first one, I coloured the JOY in light blue shimmery watercolour, distressed the edge and adhered it to the front of the card using 3D foam tape.  I die cut two leafy branches (TH- SX) from silver foil cardstock and mounted one above and the other below which very nicely yielded a wreath shape.  Love the way the paper looks embossed and the little branches looking like a wreath!!
For the second card, I coloured the JOY using a pink/red shimmery watercolour, ran the pattern tracing wheel around the edges and mounted it to my card front using 3D foam tape.  I added a little silver foil star punchie using 3D foam tape as well.  Really happy with these two!  Therese

Slow Stitching - #1 in third set of rainbow squares

Here is my first square incorporating the little cross stitched hearts I made earlier.  I positioned the little yellow heart embellishment and then stitched all the way to secure it properly to my base square.  I added strips of fabric around it and pinned them into place before starting my stitching.  Generally, I did one side before moving on to the other sides using coordinating floss.  I stitched down the edges as I went when they did not incorporate into the basic stitching.  I like how this one worked out!!           Therese

Thank you card featuring a layered punchie greeting with a length of folded seam binding

For this thank you card I started with a pink card and added the patterned scrapbook paper background.  I found a coordinating oval font greeting punchie (SU) in my stash and sponged its edges in pink.  I adhered it to a green punched oval (SU) and then to a scalloped oval punchie from vellum.  I cut a piece of deep rose seam binding and folded it in half and crossed the ends.  I added a small piece of double sided tape where they crossed to keep the two lengths together and added another piece to adhere it to the front of my card.  I added 3D foam tape to the back of my greeting and positioned it over the fold seam binding!  Pink and green is my favorite colour combination so I am inclined to really like this card and it soft background and greeting with a bit of punch with the seam binding!!          Therese

Christmas cards with gift wrap from gifts

We attended a Community Christmas dinner on Christmas day and our neighbours won a prize!!  I loved the paper so she very carefully unwrapped it so I could reuse the paper!!  It was beautiful foiled paper in this diamond pattern!!
So for this card I trimmed the gift wrap and glued it to scrap paper to give it a bit of weight and then trimmed it to size for my green card.  As foil is want to do you can see the little areas where the glue was a little heavier which I found a bit disappointing.  I hoped that they would be less visible when the glue dried but not really.  Anyway, I added a silver ribbon from top to bottom and tied the ends together on the front.  After trimming the ends, I added silver shimmer paint to the JOY on this laser printed greeting which I had in my stash.  It is a fun font to use for large greetings.  I ran my tracing wheel on all four sides before mounting it to the front of my card using 3D foam tape.

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

Birthday day card with a fun fold and lots of candles!!!!!

 I am getting started on my 2020 family cards as some have their birthdays early in the new year!!  I made this one for my brother.  It has a LOT of candles which were created by using strips of decorative papers.  I rounded their tops a bit by hand and then glued them all across my card.  It is a Z fold card so the back is full size and the front is folded over to the right which leaves the whole length available for decorating!!  I hand cut gold foil (Christmas chocolate) for the flames of each candle and added a wick with a black sharpie!  I had embossed the top edges with this sort of starburst design which I thought look a lot like the glow of a flame.  Next time, I will try to get the flames all in the middle of a glow which will be more effective!!  I added a length of green fiber ribbon to the card using double sided tape to secure the edges to the back and a few places along the way to keep lined up from the front to the back.  I found this large greeting in my stash.  I used the corner punch on it and on the navy layer as well.  I watercoloured the greeting, layered the greeting and the navy rectangle and adhered it to only the front piece of my card which allows it to move with the front.  I added white embossed layer to the inside for my handwritten wishes for him.  It is nice to be back to making cards!!!!!!  Therese

Slow Stitching - cross stitch embellishments for my next rainbow set

I have a large book of cross stitch projects which I at one time thought I would like to make up a few projects but after trying several of the small ones I found that I did not much like how long it took to complete a project and I don't have all the colours of floss.  So, I have decided to work up a few small motifs from the book into little embellishments for my third set of rainbow squares.  There are a lot to choose from and I am considering several different hearts.  We shall see!!        Therese

Slow Stitching - #6 in the second set of rainbow squares

I played with floss colours and the direction of stitching on my little fabric strips for my background on this one as well.  My heart is hand cut from two pieces of fabric which I stitched together.  I used white floss to stitch it to my background and then ran a length of the same floss under all the stitches which gives a bit of a neat look.  I have several more sets of rainbow squares cut so I will see if I can come up with a different way of stitching them up!!     Therese

Slow Stitching - #5 - second set of rainbow squares

This is #5 - the blue one from my second set of rainbow squares in my Slow Stitching project!!
For this one I used small strips as well for the back ground and did vertical stitching on the top portion and horizontal stitching on the bottom section in a variety of colours of blue floss.  I used white floss to stitch on my hand cut heart.  Not quite as much contrast on this one but I like it!!

Therese

Wild and crazy dryer balls made of felted wool scraps, an old sock and bright jersey fabric

 Dryer balls!!!!!!!!!  I love how these turned out!!  I was less than successful getting wool to felt in hot water and the dryer as so many online tutorials indicate it can be done.  In the end, I did find one place where the lady simply stuff an old sock with other old socks until it was the size and weight she wanted to make her dryer balls SO..... I just decided to make my own version.  I have a bag full of small felted wool scraps which my daughter gifted me so I used them to create a ball wrapping it with yarn as I went to keep all the pieces together.  When it was big enough I stuffed the ball into a piece of old sock and tied off both end using cording woven through the sock and tied off.  I have made a supply of these for my dryer and because they have sock wrappers they are boring brown and black but do the job. 

I decided to gift my daughter a set of six of these dryer balls for Christmas so I decided to give them a make over before wrapping them.  I dug through my fabric stash and found this really stretchy jersey top which was too large for me and I upcycled it into covers for the dryer balls.  I cut a 5" square of the jersey, I fold it in half and stitched up the side using zig zag first and then next to it a line of straight stitching using very short stitches.  You can see the seam on the right hand side of this ball.  I turned it inside out and stuffed a dryer ball into it - amazing how much that jersey stretches!!!  Then I used a large needle and cording to make a line of running stitch on one end about where the fabric meets if you stretch it into place.  Once all they way around I tightened ed only slightly the stitching and then tucked the extra fabric inside and under the edge of the line of running stitch.  As I pulled the ends of the cording tight I kept tucking the inner fabric inside so that once the two ends were as tight as they could be you no longer can see the sock dryer ball.  I tied a square knot and then pulled the ends into the ball to hide them.  I did the same thing on the other end. Dressed up those dryer balls pretty nicely!!!!   

 I wrapped them in one of the Bento Bags I made earlier this year and they fill it perfectly!!!

It will be a happy little surprise for her for Christmas!!!         Therese

Slow Stitching - All three floral hand stitched collage bookmarks

I managed to get a shot of all three bookmarks together before they are sent on their way to their new homes!!  

Therese

Slow Stitching - #4 in my second set of rainbow squares

For this purple square I pinned my strips (its a now the theme of this set  vertically and then stitched horizontal lines of running stitch to secure them in place.  I tried to catch the edges of the fabric on each strip to prevent raveling when this square finds its final home in a quilt.  I used various combinations of thread.  I am using small pieces so sometimes I find 2 threads and some singles so in this case the one set of stitches was executed with a 2 purple and 2 green thread combination.  For another I used 2 purple and one gold thread but I see it is not obvious in my scan.  For this square I secured the ends of all my strips with stab stitches and then added stars (three overlapping stab stitches) on five of them using red thread.  This heart was also cut from a combination of fabrics which I machine stitched.  I did one row of stab stitches all the way around a bit far apart with purple floss and then went back around and added another set of stab stitches using red floss.  To finish off my square I added a red star on the inside of my heart.  I am liking those star stitches and can make them more consistently even because I have come to the realization that I should first make an X and then add a stitch across its center.    Therese

Handmade thread holders

I have been saving some ruined sign holders (election leftovers) for this purpose.  I finally got to making them up!!  Thanks to DH's extensive wood scrap bin we have some very nice mahogany bases 5" x 5" with three drilled holes on the diagonal. He routed the edges and sanded them all down very nicely.
I cut the rods I needed from the sign uprights - 1.5" for the bobbin holder, 6.5" for the spool holder and about 12" for thread holder AFTER I formed the eye at the top.  I used the vise and a hacksaw to cut the pieces and used a file to remove the burrs.  There are two because my sister is getting one for Christmas from me!

Therese

Slow Stitching - #3 in my second set of rainbow squares

Here is my red square in my second set of rainbow squares.  Again I chose some strips from my little stash of red fabrics and pinned them vertically on my square.  Instead of long rows of running stitch I decided to secure all the edges of my strips with stab stitches with red floss.  I added some star stitches (3 overlapping stab stitches) using yellow floss on the one on the right hand side and then added vertical running stitches in yellow on the red and white striped strip and then added french knots on the strip on the left hand side to finish off the background.  My heart is hand cut from a piece of fabric which I stitched together from scraps using my sewing machine.  I laid it over my background and stitched it into place using white floss.  To finish off my square, I added a star in its middle with white floss.    Therese