Out with the Old!

It's hard to believe this is the last day of 2014! I don't have any New Year's Resolutions other than to try and slow down! I've been told many times that I work too hard and for too long.

I have enjoyed posting to my blog and reading your comments. Thanks to everyone who has dropped by; who left comments; who joined my members list or bloglovin; and who signed up to get emails whenever I posted.

I was reading a few blogs this morning and came across a motto from Wild Olive that I think I will TRY to apply to myself:

Do What You Can Do! 

Until next year . . .

More Quilts

While I was busy getting things together for several Christmas Fairs, my sister was busy quilting. Not only did she make a quilt for us and our mother, she made quilts and a Jake the Pirate pillowcase for some little ones in her life:

Sisters

My sister never fails to send surprises for birthdays and for Christmas! Today I was flabbergasted to receive this beautiful quilt. The quilt label says it's for my husband too but I'm claiming it. Sisters are wonderful people! Thanks Joan.

Merry Christmas

I wish to extend a very Merry Christmas to everyone. It's been a very busy year and I'm taking a couple of days to relax and enjoy family.

Made by my friend. Isn't it beautiful!!

Steamed Christmas Pudding

My house smells wonderful. I just took my steamed Christmas Pudding out of the pudding pan. Too hot to handle! I used an old recipe that my mother used to make. It's got rum!

Check out a previous post about Christmas Puddings. There are a few "pudding" links for you to see.

Enjoy!!

Ornament Exchange

At the December Christmas Dinner, the St. John's Embroidery Guild had its annual ornament exchange. Here's a sample of the lovely work stitched by some of the members:

Time Flies!!!

Where does the time go? I had very successful Fall and Christmas Fairs. Thank you to all who visited and for those who purchased art pieces from me. You are very important people.

The tree is up and decorated. The shopping is done. Time to catch a breath and relax. If you still have a few more gifts to buy, check out your local art and craft shops. I'm sure there are lots of nifty gifts yet to find.

Here's my tree and a close up of a few ornaments on it.

From a trip to California

The 'baby' is now 3 1/2 years old

This peacock is the first ornament that goes on the tree.
My daughter gave it to me years ago.

Tiny Gardens

Today I will have five (one not shown) 'Tiny Gardens" Fibre Art Pendants at the Anna Templeton Tea & Sale. The background was needle felted. I also machine stitched this with Valdani variegated thread before doing any hand embroidery. The Valdani silk embroidery threads are just lovely to use!

I have created a couple of these before (sold) but didn't give them a name. They will cost a bit more than the others as they do take time to hand embroider.

Set Up

Today we set up our booths for the Anna Templeton Christmas Tea and Sale. I've been trying to get a space at this event and finally succeeded this fall. Yah!!! This is a lovely event and I usually attend as a visitor. The three floors are filled with crafty people selling lots of unique items. The lunch with tea and cookies is always a must do! It opens tomorrow. Check out the times on the poster below. If you are near, drop by for awhile! I'll be on the third floor.

A Bit of This & That

Today is sunny but brrrrrrr at -10 C! Yesterday it was +10 C. So much for weather in Newfoundland. It can change in the 'wink of an eye' or is it 'blink of an eye"? Whatever! I could write a book on all the changes I make to some of the odd sayings. Changes I don't even realize I've made until someone points it out or it suddenly comes to me that I did it again!

Anyway . . . a good friend was in Scotland this summer and visited The Great Tapestry of Scotland. To quote her "It took my breath away"! The tapestry consists of 160 panels (not connected) and is 143 metres long when put side by side. It's worth a visit to the link above. Be prepared to sit awhile, so get a cup of something to keep you company.

Next, Mary Corbet kindly offered a lovely Christmas Tree pattern to embroider. I did print it out. However, it will be added to my future 'to do list'. Also check out Mary's free embroidery patterns.

The Inspired Wren has a tutorial on making felted Christmas ornaments. It is quite nice and easy to make in felt or paper. Lots of other great tutorials on this site too.

Want to make Christmas Crackers? Go HERE. They can be made in either fabric or paper.

Sew Can She has lots of nice things to make. I like the shark pencil case. Why? My little granddaughter just got a pair of shark slippers from Costco (Chicago) and was delighted to show them to me via Skype!

The Christmas Ornaments from The Red Brolly are just lovely. More 'stuff' to add to my 'to do list'!

I can now close the various links in my browser and search for more ideas to make.

Enjoy!

Some Good Market

Tomorrow, I will be at Some Good Market. The market is located at Canon Wood Hall, on the corner of Military Road and Kingsbridge Road. This will be the last market in town until after Christmas.

I will have my one-of-a-kind Fibre Lace Scarves and Fibre Art Pendants. I will also have a limited number of covered journals, Credit Card Holders and Starfish Pincushions (new). There are still some Christmas shimmer ornaments and Christmas Wearable Art Pins.

Fibre Lace Scarves

Fibre Art Pendants

Christmas Tutorials / Patterns

 
 







I can't believe December is here! Where has this year gone?

Today I'm going to share a few sites with Christmas tutorials and patterns (mostly free).

Enjoy!

• Sew Can She 
• Sew What's New
• Sew to Speak
• Free Patterns . Com
• All Crafts
• Fairy Face Designs
• Buzzing and Bumbling
• Jacey Craft
• Free Christmas Quilt Patterns (Pinterest)
• Sewn Up by Teresa Down Under
• Stitch This and HERE for Christmas Pincushions
• Free Quilt Patterns
• Sewing Freebies
• Free Patterns (Christmas Stockings)
• Premeditated Leftovers

Pincushions

Yesterday I finished stuffing a few new embellished starfish pincushions. I have them all ready for Some Good Market next Saturday. They aren't tiny as I like to be able to stab my needles into a pincushion easily without having to search for it. I have been using one like these for the last year and the size is perfect.

Here's a few links with pincushions.  You might find one or two to make for Christmas gifts or for your own sewing space.

• Craft Passion
• Bella Online 
• Sew Mama Sew
• Connecting Threads Lamb Pincushion
• UK Lass in US Apple Pincushion
• Origami Mommy Tiny Pincushion
• Domestic Diva's Disasters
• Fave Crafts
• Sewing Support 20 Free Pincushions
• With Heart and Hands  
• Monkey Room
• Passionate for Pincushions Pinterest
• Diary of a Quilter

Christmas Craft Fair

It's hard to believe that the annual Christmas Craft Fair is over for another year. I would like to thank everyone who visited my booth and for those who purchased Christmas shimmer ornaments and other gifts. I know that some of my work will be going to China. A lovely young Chinese lady has been travelling across the country for several months and Newfoundland was her last stop. She is taking some of my shimmers, pins and cards back with her.

Other gifts will be going to West Africa, Spain, Scotland, Athens, USA, England, Australia and Eastern Europe. Years ago, I decided that some of my work had to be light enough and small enough to go into an envelope for mailing as the cost of mail is quite expensive. Over the years, I have found out that a lot of my work has travelled to most countries around the world. That is exciting!

My new Fibre Art Pendants were a hit this year! Now I have to make more for the Anna Templeton Tea and Sale in December.

Here's a few photos (taken by my husband) of my booth at the fair:

Just setting up so pendants aren't on the black
jewellery stands yet

 

Converted music stand holds a selection of Fibre Lace Scarves

Velcro is a wonderful invention!
Even the aluminum bars holding my art pins are attached to the back panel with it.

Guess What!!

Even though last week was an extremely busy one for me, I did manage to make a quick visit to the various blogs featured in Blogathon Canada. I did enter a few of the great giveaways too and guess what? I won a lovely teacup pincushion from Inch by Inch Quilting Blog. It was fashioned by Joanne of Etcetera. The pincushion is made from a vintage (children's) teacup.

If you haven't already checked out the terrific Canadian Bloggers from last week, it is a great way to meet new quilters and see what they are doing. It is also interesting to see the various links, tutorials and projects quilters list on their blogs.

Thanks again, Edith from Calgary, Alberta. (I borrowed your teacup photo to show off what I won).

Thank You Everyone

Thank you to everyone (old friends and new) who visited my blog today. I only had time to take a quick visit to the blogs listed yesterday and today as I'm gearing up for setting up tomorrow for the Christmas Craft Fair at the Arts and Culture Center. Hoping to be able to relax on Monday, revisit all the fabulous Canadian bloggers who are participating in this Blogathon and reply to comments received.

New Sterling Silver Fibre Art Pendants

Here's a peek at some of my new Sterling Silver Fibre Art Pendants.  They will be at the craft fair this weekend.

Bolgathon, Canada - Maritimes

Welcome to the second day of Blogathon Canada! Thanks to Sew Sisters Quilt Shop for sponsoring this event and to Linda at Scrapmaster, and Linda at Stitch Lines, for co-hosting the Maritimes and Newfoundland Labrador.

A little about myself:  I live in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. I've been retired from teaching 17 years (I can't believe it) and having a great time creating with all kinds of fabric, threads, and yarns. To find out how I started creating textile art, please go to a previous post from 2010, Voyage of Discovery.

Since 1999, I have created many textile pieces portraying Newfoundland landscapes and seascapes. I have won several awards for my work, have been published, and had a gallery opening in Chicago, IL. Several pieces of my art have been purchased by the Government of Newfoundland Labrador and by the City of St. John's as part of the art procurement program.

I wasn't satisfied with the commercial fabrics printed with rocks (we have a very rocky terrain) so I researched how to print on fabric from my computer. The discovery of Bubble Jet Set 2000, saved the day, and I have been using it until pretreated fabric became available. I was printing on fabric long before it became popular with many textile artists. The rock fabrics I use are printed from my own photos. I usually cut up a printed sheet and applique the rocks to the background.

In All It's Glory is an example using 'rocks' printed from my computer. This piece was on exhibit at the Grand National Quilt Show, Ontario in 2002. The sky and ocean are hand dyed. The rocks and beach are printed on silk, cut out and each piece appliqued to the surface. The foliage and flowers are stitched onto organza using free motion stitching, cut out and stitched in place.

 

The other photos are samples of the textile art I have created. I thoroughly enjoy what I do. 

Check out my other photos and please visit my Website and things I have saved to Pinterest.

 

At the moment, I am getting ready to participate in the annual Christmas Craft Fair sponsored by the Craft Council of NL. This is the first time in four years that I will have a booth at the fair so needless to say, it's been a busy fall. Since my previous display was dismantled, my husband has been working overtime to get another one ready for set up Wednesday afternoon. The fair opens at noon, Thursday, Nov 20th and runs until Sunday, Nov 23. Maybe I'll see some of my local visitors to my blog there. Please drop by and say hello!

 

Thanks for visiting!

Click on the Blogathon Canada logo to the right of my post for the lists of hosts for the week. Lots to see and lots of quilters to meet.

There will also be some great giveaways!

 

Enjoy 

In All It's Glory

Treasures of the Sea, Award for Innovation and Design

Calm (private collection, California, USA) 

View From The Rooms

The Deep

Quilt for granddaughter

Western Brook Gorge (commissioned piece)
The mountain is dyed cheese cloth.

Gower Street, St. John's (commissioned piece)



Fishermen's Museum, English Harbour West
 (Part of the City of St. John's art collection)

Fishing Stage, Quidi Vidi, St. John's (commissioned piece)

Tea Cosy (private collection)

Pisces Fantastica

Garden Sewing Box (published in magazine, A Needle Pulling Thread;

also won award for Technical Mastery, NL; and Original Design, EAC)

Back Garden (commissioned piece)