Embroidery Guild

Last evening was the St. John's Guild of Embroiderers monthly meeting. Here are the ATC's that were received during March.

For the last couple of months, trinket/jewelery boxes were embroidered and constructed. The design for the embroidery was sketched by several ladies of the program committee. The box design is from the book, Hand-Stitched Boxes by Meg Evans. The inside is constructed from silk.

Traditional Quilting

I'm not into traditional quilting even though I belong to two quilt guilds. However, a lot of my friends do beautiful quilting. I have made a couple of quilts and one is for a queen size bed. My daughter, who lives in Chicago, has claimed it.

I just discovered Cluck Cluck Sew , a site with easy to follow (visuals) directions for making traditional quilts, applique pillows, and easy tote bag. Lots of links to other free tutorials and patterns at Cluck Cluck Sew as well.
For example:
oven mitt pattern
square pin cushion (PDF file)
fabric beach balls
little boxy pouch
bird ornament  (lots of patterns)        


I think I got off the track a bit! I was writing about traditional quilts, wasn't I ?!!! So much for a short attention span. Here goes again:
How Stuff Works has a traditional quilt patterns channel library.
I've mentioned Quilter's Cache before. They have oodles of patterns.
Check out Canadian Living
Bed quilts at Free Quilting

I hope this helps you get into the quilting mood! Now I need to get inspired to try something new, however it won't be making a quilt!!!

 

Artist Trading Cards (ATC's)

I belong to the St. John's Guild of Embroiderers. Just after Christmas, the guild decided to make ATC's to send to Embroidery Canada. This is actually a challenge started by the national association. Have a look at last years cards. There is such a wonderful variety. Here's a sneak peek at a few of the ones some of our guild members embroidered.

I hope you enjoy looking at the work!

Spring

Well, tomorrow is the first day of spring! I must say that St. John's has experienced a full week of beautiful weather. Maybe we'll even have a spring this year as the weather is often quite unpredictable. I have finally gotten some work done in the studio. It's been a struggle to get the mind in gear and do something productive. I have signed up to take a seminar next weekend on Cultural Product Development. This should prove interesting.

Last evening, I did some searching for Spring projects for both embroiderers and quilters.

• Erica's site has patterns for machine embroidery. Welcome spring with a free embroidery of flower pots and a watering can. 
•  The Floss Box and Needlework have lovely free line drawings for hand embroidery.
• For quilters, You Can Quilt This, has lots of free projects to help welcome spring! Here's a spring basket from Quilters Online Resource. This site has lots of nifty stuff for quilters.
• A floral sampler, from Coats & Clark , might be the right project for you !
• About.com has some spring paper piecing patterns for scrap-booking. However, why not use them with fabric instead. The baby lamb is a cute one for a baby quilt!
• I like this spring-colored felted bowl. This also comes from About.com.
• I love the spiders introducing Homeberries! Scroll down to see the little 'Whimsical' free hand embroidery designs.
• Check out e Quilt Patterns for a Spring Treats Quilt Pattern and Spring Celebration. These are paper pieced.
• There is a Welcome Spring Quilt at Cranson Village.
• Hoffman Fabrics, Spring Fling, is ready for quilters.
• Need a new tote for spring? Try the Luscious Bow Tote from Kaufman fabrics.
• Cross stitch your way into Spring with Free Patterns Online.
• McCall's Quilting has a simple Flower of Spring quilt block.
• I like this coiled fabric basket from Cultured Expressions. This is a nice site to visit.
• If Easter is your thing, go to Craft Ideas.
• If you like Baltimore Album applique, check out the block at Marcus Fabrics.

I think I have exhausted the list of Spring stuff I found last evening. Enjoy looking at the sites I found. If you find some more interesting sites, please let me know. You can reach me at judy@cbiz.ca 
or leave a comment at the end of this post.

Needlework Shops and Fabric Stores in London

I will be visiting London this fall as part of the group going on the 12 Day Quilting and Needlework Tour to England. Of course, one of the things I want to do is visit some needlework shops and fabric stores. While exploring the Works of Hand site, I came across Vincent's London vacation. His list, which came from members of Stitching Fingers, is great. You can visit his site (with photos) or check them out here:

• All the Fun of the Fair
• Broadwick Silks
• The Cloth House
• Soho Silks
• Liberty & Co of London
• Sewing & Knitting - John Lewis
• MacCulloch & Wallis
• The London Bead Co. / Delicate Stitches 

 Other places I found:

•  London Quilt Shops ( The London Quilters Guild)
• Tikki Patchwork  (Kew Gardens, London)
• Quilt Related Links to UK sites (lots to check out here)!
• More Here!
• Quilters Cloth (Cambridge) 
• The Knitting & Stitching Show - London (one of our tour stops)

Works of Hands - Vincent Valiente

I discovered the exquisite embroidery of  Vincent Valiente when I was exploring the Hand Embroidery Network.  His work is amazing! I am a fan of the needlework trees he did. These are entered in the Winter Wonderland Exhibit on the Hand Embroidery Network (HEN). Explore his site.

More Table Toppers

Just as I promised, here are some more pictures of the table toppers the Eastern Edge Quilters are sending to Quilt Canada, Calgary. I must say, there are a variety of shapes, patterns and colours!

My Table Topper

I have been learning to use Corel Photo Paint. This progran can do a lot of stuff to images. For my purposes, I am sharpening up photos, adjusting colour if needed and resizing the image for use on the web. Here is the table topper I made for Quilt Canada 2010. As I'm not into piecing, I have done a mini wholecloth topper using free motion stitching. This particular piece is reversible. The back comes to the front to form the border. I basted on a temporary quilt label. In case you are wondering, the greens are that green!


The Eastern Edge Quilters, St. John's, have made a bunch of table toppers to send. More photos will be posted as soon as I get my photos ready.