So Long May!!!

I have never been soooo glad to see the end of a month as this one. Weather wise - it was terrible! Today was 20C and sunny, so hopefully things are looking up.

These lilies are from my sister's garden in Tennessee. We don't even have the leaves out on the trees yet. Soon . . .

Here's a couple of links to check:

• Learn How to Create a Fabric Divider Basket.
• The Picnic Tote  
• Tote with Pockets 
• Mini Hexagon Pouch Tutorial   

Enjoy!       

Stepping Stones

My brother, Don, besides stained glass, also makes Stepping Stones for the garden. I've received a couple as gifts over the years. The heart shaped one belonged to mom. They have survived many winters!

Spring Has Sprung - in my Garden!

The sun is shining!!! Yes, that's a wonder as St. John's has had its fair share of RDF (Rain, Drizzle, Fog) this spring. And it's been cold so it's a wonder that any spring flowers / shrubs have survived.

 This old fella has survived another winter too. No, I didn't bring him in out of the weather!

Maybe things will begin to look up this week (weather wise).

• Flower Quilts / Blocks on Pinterest HERE, HERE  
• Applique HERE, HERE,
• Fabric Flower Patterns HERE, 
• Hexagon Flower Mug Rug   
• More Mug Rugs HERE,  HERE, 

Enjoy!

Birthday Greetings!

Happy Birthday to my brother, Don, who is on vacation visiting his grandsons. As an avid Maple Leafs fan, it's not a surprise to see this birthday cake. I wonder if it's chocolate . . .

Enjoy!!

Underwater Fantasy - Finished!

Do you remember this one?  See the post HERE.

Well, I finished it this morning! I did not use the eyelash yarn shown in the left of the above photo. I stitched it on but it didn't work out. For the hand embroiderers, I used:

• Stem stitch
• French knots
• Fly Stitch
• Couching Stitch

The photo above is the correct colour balance. This one, I couldn't get it right.

 Enjoy!

Links!

My studio is up to your eyeballs! The downstairs storage for my supplies is partly packed up. Hopefully I'll find everything when it's all unpacked - sometime in the future. Trying to decide if I'll keep something or not is a difficult choice. I don't know about you but the minute I get rid of something is when I suddenly have a use for it - AND it's too late! It's gone!

Here's a few links to consider:

• The Art of Louise Smith (hand embroidery) 
• 25 Quilt As You Go Tutorials 
• 10 Travel Sewing Projects 
• Zipper Pouches 

This Sashiko pattern was just added to my stash and will be an easy summertime project. My friend brought it back from Australia with her. I think the photo of the Christmas Tree does not do justice to the actual colour of the fabric and some colour adjustments were needed.    

Sugar Free Quilted Designs

Do you have a quilt or some project in mind for the 150th Anniversary of Canada? I have thought about it but haven't got my act together yet. Renovations and getting ready to move have taken over my life. I picked up a needle last evening and managed a few stitches on a small seascape but that's it.

I have seen a few projects on the internet but the one that I really like is by Nova Scotia Artist, Karen Chase of Sugar Free Quilted Designs. My friend, Linda, at Scrapmaster, tested the pattern that I'm writing about. It has a definite "modern" feel to the design and would look good as a small wall hanging, in a quilt or as a pillow (which is what Linda created below).

permission to use photo from Linda

You can purchase the pattern HERE.

Other Projects:

• Canada 150 Quilting Events and Projects
• Paper Piecing Block from A Great Notion
• Canuck Quilter Designs 
• Pinterest HERE,  HERE,  HERE,  
• Celebrating Canada's 150th 

Enjoy!

 

Pineapples, Horses & Arrows

My sister, Joan, just sent a few photos of quilts she has finished this spring.

The pineapple quilt has vintage yellow backing from an estate sale. (Joan finds fabulous things at these sales). The flange and binding match the pineapple crown. The "Be a Pineapple" on the back, is a dish towel from Wal Mart.

 

 

  

The horses are for her rancher friend's birthday.

 

The arrows quilt has is bound in rainbow scraps from the arrows.

EAC Banquet

Last evening was the closing banquet for the Rock, Needle, Scissors 2017 EAC Seminar. (I would have posted about it last evening but my head cold was really acting up). The meal consisted of salad, roast salmon with rice and vegetables and a rich, creamy, custard crème brûlée with raspberries and cream. Delicious!

As part of the banquet scene, the hosting guild has favors for each guest. Our guild, St. John's Guild of Embroiderers', spent the last two years making cute little pincushion puffins. This particular bird is the national bird of Newfoundland Labrador. Each puffin was hand embroidered and then stitched together. We made over 160 + (I did know the exact number but . .  .)! In any case, they were a hugh hit with everyone. These first two photos were taken a few weeks ago.

Photo courtesy of Mary Pippy

Photo courtesy of Mary Pippy

A bunch from our table

This one is mine!

My embroidery machine made the tags for all the puffins

A few leftover puffins were put on silent auction. For those of you unfamiliar with Newfoundland place names, the names below are actual places.

Enjoy!!

Boutique at EAC Seminar

EAC Seminar always has a boutique that is separate from the Vendors Market. L'Atelier de Penelopne provided the embroidery merchandise this year. There were lots of embroidery items to choose from.

Yes, I did visit the boutique and made a modest purchase. I've been looking at DMC Coloris floss since they came out and decided to finally get them. Not sure what I will use them in yet. I did discover that I don't have # 2, #23 & # 24 and I have two extras of # 12. It seems that some of the colors were in the wrong boxes. Tomorrow I will pay another visit to see if I can get the ones I missed.

Enjoy!

Vendor's Night

Tonight was Vendor's Night at 2017 Embroidery Seminar. There were 32 small booths set up at Gushue Hall and lots of people took advantage of this one night event. Here's my table top display. This time, I went with covered boxes to create step up shelving. It was much quicker to assemble and take down.

EAC Seminar 2017

Yesterday was a busy one for the St. John's Guild of Embroiderers' who are hosting this year's  EAC seminar, Rock, Needle, Scissors 2017. I was part of the committee that set up the display of all the beautiful embroidery entries sent in for this event. If you are in the area, drop by Gushue Hall, MUN campus. Entrance is free.

The opening reception was last night and classes started today. It will be a busy few days. Saturday will be the banquet and then everything clues up on Sunday.

 EAC Blog HERE
  

CBC Arts Instagram

I have to tell you, I'm a proud mom. My daughter's paintings, specifically 'Her Steady Horizon' series was featured on CBC Arts Instagram today. Needless to say, Jill has been excited over this promo of her work! We knew about this yesterday but had to wait until CBC contacted her toady before saying anything.

Congratulations, Jill

Threads of Resistance

I've been reading bits and pieces on Face Book, about the Threads of Resistance exhibit in the United States. This juried show was created by the Artist Circle Alliance to protest the Trump administration’s actions and policies. Over 500 entries were submitted in response to its call for art.

You can view all the entries by going HERE (click on The Artwork button at the top). However, a cup of something, is suggested before you start.

The Artist Circle Alliance includes the following artists:

Sue Bleiweiss

Susan Brubaker Knapp

Judy Coates-Perez

Jane Dunnewold

Victoria Findlay Wolfe

Jamie Fingal

Lyric Montgomery Kinard

Melanie Testa

Leslie Tucker Jenison

Kathy York

Happy Mother's Day

To all mother's

Home!

I'm back home after spending two weeks in Nova Scotia. I enjoyed time spent with family in Bridgewater and Brooklyn. Spring is certainly in Nova Scotia as everything is so green. Flying back home, however, it was easy to see that Spring is a bit later here. The ponds are still iced over.

All photos were taken with my phone, a Nokia, with a 41 mega pixel camera. 

It's amazing to see how the propellers appear in a photo!

Snail Mail

I was at my daughter's house this morning when the mail came. Gale was home with a head cold. We were both surprised to receive mail from a designer friend of Jill's, Christine Bennett.

During the month of April, Christine decided to send out 'snail' mail to about 100 people. She told Jill that the 'art of letter writing' was becoming a thing of the past and decided to do something about it.

Gale traced out her hand and decorated it, wrote a little note and mailed it to Christine.

Here is what Christine did with Gale's note:

The note cards were packaged in this bag

Christine's note paper with message for me

The front of blank Note Paper with envelopes

back

Please have a look at Christine's web site.

Birdy

We gave this cute little fella to Gale as part of her Christmas gift. It's one of my brother Don's stained glass pieces. I'd forgotten to take a photo of it before I sent it off to Nova Scotia. I love the facial expression on this one.

Enjoy!!

Spring in Nova Scotia

It was another beautiful spring day here in Nova Scotia. I spent the morning in Dartmouth, the afternoon in Bridgewater and the evening in Brooklyn (near Windsor). Not looking forward to the cooler temperatures home at the end of the week.

I hope your projects for Mother's Day are well underway.

To my non-facebook friends, here are a few links I found from Facebook Posts:

• 14 Quick-Sew Gifts for any Occasion  
• Sewing Instructions for Quick (and less quick) Fabric Baskets 
• Embroidery Tutorials 
• Bernina Zippered Rulerwork Bags 
• Round Robin Collection - Free Quilt Patterns 

Crossing the McKay Bridge after lunch, I managed to take this photo of a very large container ship heading into Halifax Harbour.

    

A Linky Day

It's been raining on and off all day. However, the temperature is quite warm (I'm still in Nova Scotia). I can live with that!

Mother's Day is next Sunday so you might find a quick sewing project in one of the links below:

• More Than 50 Fun Beginner Sewing Projects (actually the projects are great for any level of sewer)
• Lunch Tote 
• 100 + Scrap Fabric Projects  
• Rotating Craft Caddy 

Enjoy!

My brother sent this last week from somewhere between here and Ottawa.

      

A Brief Walk.

A brief walk along the Centennial Trail, Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. We took advantage of a sunny day because the province is suppose to get a full week of rain! This trail winds its way throughout Nova Scotia. It's quite pretty. On a hot, summer day, parts of the trail can be quite cool. I explained the word "dense" to Gale in relation to the branches and the shade showing in the shadows and the fact that it is a litter cooler in the shade of the trees.

signs of spring

Gale in her purple jacket!

Enjoy!!