Pincushions

Do you have a favorite pincushion? I have several that I use all the time in my studio. I prefer large ones when working on a large work surface. That's why my starfish works perfectly.





















The pincushion by my one of my machines is rectangular shaped to fit in front within easy reach. I have velcro on its bottom and on the table. The one below is very old. I made it from melton cloth which was leftover from a coat I made.

My work horse sits on a thick rubber mat. The mat is also my pincushion and scissors holder. As you can see, it works perfectly!

Today, I finished several new pincushions for the Anna Templeton Tea & Sale on December 11 - 13. These are suitable to sit in front of a machine or to carry in a sewing pouch. Stick-on velcro can be placed on the bottom easily or hand stitched in place. You will need a sticky part for the table.  Metallic thread was used for the needles and thimble. 

All designs used in the embroidery machines are all our own.

Count Down To Christmas

Let the countdown begin - TUESDAY! Today, you search, among all the Christmas decorations, for that special piece to hang on December 1st. Well, maybe it's not a quilted piece but a special candle or whatever. In any case, I found a few interesting sites about this with some historical and religious context, as well as fun.

• British Christmas Traditions  / Advent Calendars  (this site has lots of information just click on the links to the left)
• Free Printable Christmas Calendar (this is a cute one) 
• Wikipedia on Advent Calendar
• All Free Christmas Crafts - calendars to make
• Advent Calendars on Pinterest and another HERE
• Christmas Countdown 
• Why Christmas - Traditional 
• Make Your Own
• Sew Main Street  
• Tip Junkie tutorials

Here's my Granddaughter's Wonky Houses Countdown to Christmas!

Several of my readers were working on their own Wonky Houses. I wonder if you ever got them done? My sister, Joan, has been working on one this past week. Maybe she will share it with me when it's done then I'll share it with you.

Enjoy!

Wonky Houses Countdown

Temari - Colour Compliments

As many of you know, I have posted quite a few photos of Temari Ball Ornaments that my friend, Verna, has created. You can see some of them HERE, HERE & HERE. Well, Lorraine, from Colour Compliments, is a follower of my blog. She got in touch with me about Verna's Temari Ornaments.

To make a long story short - that's now history!

Please check out Lorraine's Friday blog post to read all about it.

Enjoy

Verna's Temari Tree from 2014.

A Look Back . . .

Here's a look back at some quilts that I have shown over the years:

Wall hanging from a class with Libby Leaman

Western Brook Gorge, NL

Sashiko Table Topper

By Gertie Little

By Gertie Little

Made for my Granddaughter

Happy American Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American relatives, friends and visitors to my blog! Today we are having a glorious, sunny day in St. John's. There was a sprinkle of snow last evening but the sun is quickly taking care of that (thank goodness as I'm not ready for that).

Here's something for all my Quilting friends - Pumpkin Tutorial - Crazy Quilt Style! The Painted Quilt has lots of tutorials and projects for you to check.

Enjoy . . .

Holders!!

I just finished a bunch of Credit Card / Business Card Holders for the next Fair. It's difficult to see all the glitzy fabrics and threads I used. I so do enjoy making up bits of fantasy fabrics to use in projects.

A quilt friend purchased a holder at the Christmas Craft Fair last week and is using it for her sewing needles.

Small Projects:

• from Pinterest and another HERE
• Easy Sewing Projects  
• Free Sewing Patterns 
• 25 Beginner Sewing Projects
• Scrap Happy
• Freeneedle
• Simple Sewing Projects

Enjoy!!

Foxy Loxy

I found a cute Festive Fox Ornament on Beck and Lundy and decided to make one. This one doesn't have the hand embroidery on the face as in the original. Mine is called Foxy Loxy and will be mailed to my granddaughter in Chicago. When I traveled to Chicago, my suitcase always carried a fox hand puppet, called Foxy Loxy. It traveled back and forth with me for a couple of years. However, last year, Gale claimed him and he stayed there. I get to see him occasionally. Making memories is important!! Every time I see a cute little fox, I think of Gale.

Here's a few fox projects:

• Heart Made
• Erica Catarina
• Fox Embroidery on Pinterest 

I've linked up with the Needle & Thread Network.

A Work Day

This was a work day! The two embroidery machines were busy all day stitching out snowflake shimmers. I believe there are over 50 of them cut out and ready to be finished. I sold out of these at the craft fair.

I also took a few credit card holders to the Christmas Craft Fair and most of them were sold. Several customers asked if I would have more for the December fair, so below are the results of today's free-motion stitching with Sulky Sliver Thread on embellished fabric (several more to do tomorrow). These pieces of fantasy fabric will be made into business / credit card holders. See some finished ones, from a previous post, HERE.

Check out all the links at Crazy Mom Quilts. Lots of projects to see! (scroll down)
Enjoy!!

This was a gorgeous sunny but cool day here in St. John's. AND there was no wind!!! We went downtown this afternoon for a walk around and some shopping.

I remembered that the Book Arts Association for Newfoundland & Labrador was hosting their 3rd annual printers fair in the Rocket Room (Rocket Bakery, Water Street) from 11:00am to 5:00pm. Local artists and craftspeople of the paper persuasion were selling their wares – books, broadsides, prints, cards, chapbooks, lino cuts, etchings, lithographs, screen prints, letterpress goods and more!

We saw lots of locally made paper products and made a couple of card purchases from two of the vendors.

Merry Chris-Moose can be viewed at Driven To Ink. 

Warm Greetings card set is part of Running The Goat Books. This set was printed and hand painted, making each card very unique.

It's important to support our local artists! 

Workshop Weekend!

Here's a quick look at my progress at the textile landscape workshop that the Eastern Edge Quilt Guild held this weekend. It was a welcome diversion from the flurry of getting ready for the Christmas Craft Fair and the actual fair last week. Thanks to local textile artist, Karen Martin, for a great workshop!

The sky in this background is my own dyed fabric. I used batiks for the hills and water. However, the building fabric is cotton which can be used on both sides. The right side is dark, while the back is slightly lighter. This kind of fabric is good for shading. At the moment, this piece won't be completed due to Christmas projects! I will post more on my progress next year (which isn't far off!!).

Strips for clapboard

The two strips on the left are the 'right' side while the three on the right are the 'wrong' side

One side of the shed. The darker strips are used here.

Christmas Projects

Today's post is all about small projects to make for Christmas. Hope you find something interesting.

• Tree Table Runner
• Felted Wool Mitten Ornaments
• Christmas Silverware Holders
• Felt Mittens
• Snowmen from Mittens 
• Fabric Origami Ornament
• Textured Trees with Pleats
• Felt Ogee Ornament

I made this about 35 years ago! Wow!!! It is still hung up for Christmas

Blog Hop - Christmas is in my Heart

I spent some time last evening surfing the net and came across a blog hop, Christmas is in my Heart at Seams to be Sew.

There are lots of interesting projects to check out. I really like the snowmen at Just Because Quilts. The snowmen are on one large piece of white fabric. Read about Charlene McCain's unique method of construction! Great job, Charlene!

Thursday, November 12
Bejeweled Quilts
Quilt Shop Gal
The Quilting Queen OnlineIn The Boon Docks
BumbleBerry Stitches

Friday, November 13
All Thingz Sewn
Marjorie’s Busy Corner
Jane’s Quilting
Just Sew Quilter
Batts in the Attic

Monday, November 16
A Stitch In Time
Apple Avenue Quilts
From This To That
Just Let Me Quilt
Quilting Affection Blog
Kwilt Krazy

Tuesday, November 17
Just Because Quilts
Words & Stitches
Feather Your Nest
Patchwork Breeze
Quilt In Piece

Wednesday, November 18
Pink Doxies
Miss Loreen’s Schoolhouse
Morning Glory
In Stitches and Seams
Moose Stash Quilting

Thursday, November 19
Meadowbrook
Tea Time Creations
Selina Quilts
Living My Dream
Seams To Be Sew

Sponsored By The Fat Quarter Shop

Getting Ready!

This morning was spent getting my studio tidied up so that I can get back to doing 'stuff'! Now the table is 'cluttered' up again. But this time, I was collecting all the supplies I need for a workshop this Friday evening and all day Saturday. More on the workshop later but take a look at what I've gathered together! I will do some weeding tomorrow. Not sure if I'll take any dyed cheesecloth or not.

I've also linked up with The Needle & Thread Network. Please check out all the Canadian links.

Freebies!

Now that the Christmas Craft Fair is over, I have a bit of time to check out stuff for Christmas. Check these out:

• I just found the site, Top Ten Tuesday (Christmas Fun) and Top Ten Tuesday (Ornaments). Lots of interesting things on this site. Just click on the links to the right of the blog. 
• Sewing Support has lots of free Christmas Ornaments. More at Sewing Freebies.
• Cute ornaments at All Free Sewing 
• Christmas at Sew Mama Sew
• Sew Pin has ornaments too! Mostly felted ones.
• Christmas Sewing Crafts on Pinterest
• Fabrics N Quilts Free Christmas Ornaments
• Love To Sew Studio Tree Ornaments 

This is several years old!

Angelina Fibers

Today my order of Angelina Fibers arrived! I always order the straight-cut fibers as the crimped cut ones don't always bond as well as the straight-cut ones. Ask me how I know!! I always order lots of the white as I go through quite a bit of it. These fibers will be used in more shimmers.

The End - of the fair, that is!!

The fair ended today! All in all, it was a very successful and busy one. In fact, I hardly had a chance to check out the other vendors. I sold out of the needle felted mittens and several shimmers such as snowflakes and the Newfoundland Map. Most of my Christmas Wearable Art Pins need to be replaced as well as the credit card / business card holders.

However, tonight and tomorrow my studio will remain closed to work. I have to catch up on sleep, read some email and visit my mother.

I will also have a look at this Christmas Tutorial:  Folded Fabric Christmas Ornament.

One More Day . . .

Another fabulous day at the Christmas Craft Fair! Tomorrow is the last day.

This year, I decided to display one of my larger pieces, View From The Rooms, to let customers know that I create more than Christmas items. Lots of great comments - several from other prominent Newfoundland artists. Needless to say, I was very pleased.

View From The Rooms

Thanks to everyone who stopped by my booth the last few days.

The snowflakes and felted mittens were very popular. I will have to make more of these for the Anna Templeton Tea & Sale next month.

My Booth

Day Two, yesterday, at the Craft Fair (Thursday) - my booth.

Shimmer Ornaments

I decided to have a tree set up with just Shimmer Ornaments for my display at the Christmas Craft Fair. I didn't realize how many Christmas ones there were until they were gathered together on the table. However, since trying them on the tree, I decided to go with coloured lights instead of the white ones.

Tomorrow I will post photos from the craft fair.

This bag from Michaels holds all my gift bags / boxes and tissue paper. Looks nice in the booth.

November 11th - Remember

For Uncle Charlie Emberley, WW ll Veteran.

Poppies from my garden.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

This is a few weeks late as the Blogger's Quilt Festival started on October 15! But, better late than never and you still have time to view the quilts on display. I copied the links from Amy's Creative Side for quick access. Have fun as there are lots of quilts to see. In fact, have a cup of something and have a relaxing viewing time. You might find something to inspire your next project.


Clink on the links below to view the winners in the various categories:

• Mini Quilts
• Small Quilts
• Large Quilts
• Applique Quilts
• Art Quilts
• Hand Quilted
• Home Machine Quilted
• Modern Quilts
• Original Design
• ROYGBIV Quilts
• Scrappy Quilts

Enjoy the quilts!!

Fantasy Fish

This is the last underwater art piece that I've done for the Christmas Craft Fair. All my framing will be finished in the morning.

Have a look at some other fish! I hope you enjoy them.

• Quilts with Fish - Pinterest; More HERE
• Making an Art Quilt with Fish
• River Fish, Art by Rose Rushbrooke
• Art Quilt: Jelly Fish
• Fish Patterns for Applique

Happy Birthday, Mom

My mother was 94 years old today. So this post is about birthdays!

When we were growing up, it was the tradition for mom to bake a fruitcake for all birthdays and Christmas. Usually it was her dark fruitcake recipe which was the favorite of everyone.  I made a light fruitcake this year due to time! After the Christmas Craft Fair, I will get into holiday baking!

Here are a few links with sewing projects to make for birthday gifts:

• Previous post about Birthdays 
• Kids Sewing on Pinterest 
• Tip Junkie
• Sewing Projects from Martha Stewart 
• Birthday Quilts (search results on Bing) 
• Birthday Quilts on Pinterest 

Light Fruitcake for mom's birthday

Flowers from her grandson who lives far away!

Market Day

Yesterday there was snow on the ground and today it was up to 13 + C and sunny. Go figure but I hope it stays warm for awhile.

Today was spent at Some Good Market. It was a bit of a slow morning but things picked up after lunch. Apparently there was a lot going on in the city today with a some school markets, the Farmer's market, tax free day downtown and a continuation of 20% off at the Avalon Mall. I did give out all the advertising brochures for next weeks Christmas Craft Fair. Since the venue has changed this year, we want to pass along this infomation on to as many people as possible.

I took a couple of pictures of my table space. You will laugh at the wall colours!
The colours on my scarves are a bit off too. I didn't notice until I viewed the post.