Squash Squad Update

I've been making some progress on the 5 1/2 " wool applique, Squash Squad squares, by Sue Spargo. Monday, we start block 8 of 9. My seven blocks are in various stages of finishing. Here's six and seven:

Block 7 - Big Moon Pumpkin

Working on the vine.  Small buttons have to be added.

Block 6 - Knuckle Head Pumpkin

Couching the background woody vines. Small Detached Chains are to be randomly added for the base of the Bittersweet blossom. A small orange seed bead will be added to the base of each detached chain stitch. I also need to add more Raised Cup Stitches to the rest of the triangles.

• Blocks 1 - 4 
• Wool Applique patterns on Pinterest HERE, HERE, and HERE. 
• Using repurposed wool for applique    
• Wool Applique Tutorial    
• Tips and Tricks for Wool Applique
• Wool Applique   

Enjoy!!

More Circles: (half way mark just passed at # 45) Instastitch With Sue

Have a look at a few more of my one inch circles. The colours shown below are not exactly the same as in real life. I have five full rows plus three on row six.

Seven more have been stitched to the above 'doodle cloth"

I like this one. Too bad my circle wasn't yellow but I am working with the colours that I originally stitched in place.

Lime green is a challenge when on a black background.

My Irish Owl!!! Some variegated threads in use.

I believe I used the wrong weight of thread for the wings but it works!

The circle turned into an oval. Oh, well . . .

The colours are off on this one. There is more contrast in the loops than in this photo.

I choose the wrong colours for the ladybug but I was not about to change them. In the group photo,  the body is a purple shade not a gray.

Enjoy!

Check out my Instagram page @jctextileart

A Look Back . . .

Since I'm not working on anything new at the moment, here is a piece of Hardanger that was done quite a few years ago. It was a challenge but well worth the effort. Not sure I would do another one like this. 

Gold Work on silk.

Theodora (2007) stitched with single strands of silk. Some beading added. Original drawing.

Applique with hand embroidery and free-motion work. Original design

Enjoy!

Tree of Life

January is going out with sunny skies and above freezing temperatures! It's a lovely day outside with no wind here in Pine Grove, NS.

On another note:

In case I haven't mentioned it before, I'm the librarian for the Mahone Bay Quilt Guild. As a perk of this job, I get to see the newest magazines before anyone else. The latest issue of Quilt Mania, The Quilt Magazine # 135, (which will be at guild on Monday), has a small applique felted wall hanging of a Tree of Life  This one is geared to Valentine's Day. To view a thumbnail sketch of the pattern, go to their site HERE. Scroll down and click on the picture to make it bigger. When I glanced at this particular pattern, I immediately thought that it could be adapted for various occasions such as Easter, Christmas, Autumn, Winter, Spring, Birthdays etc by adding pieces of Velcro to the background and to the small shapes to be used. It can be as simple or as complicated as you wish!The skies the limit!

 

See a few other trees of life HERE, HERE and HERE (this link has printables)

Enjoy!!

Work in Progress

I've been working on some Flower Gardens that will eventually be framed. These are a bit bigger than the framed 5" x 5" ones previously created. So for the past few days, creating the bits and pieces needed for these small art pieces, from threads and organza, have taken up a chunk of my time.

In this photo, I've hooped green organza and free motion stitched small irregular pieces to use as foliage.  I do like the spring action hoops for quick release. These can be purchased quite inexpensively. I believe, mine came from Wal Mart.

I use trays to put project pieces on. As you can see, some of the tools needed are in easy reach. Besides that, I can carry them from room to room, depending where on where I wish to work.

Cut out stitched pieces from organza

Small flower pots were drawn on fabric, stitched, cut out and machine appliqued to a background.

I put a temporary mat over the background to give me a boundary for working. As you can see, some of the pieces are already stitched to the background. Some applique pins are holding a few other pieces in place that will get stitched tomorrow. Then the hand embroidery begins.

I will post about the finished pieces when they are completed. Stay tuned! Check out HERE how these came to be created.

On another note, I joined the Mahone Bay Quilt Guild in September. They have a great web site that goes back quite a number of years. Grab a cup of something and check them out HERE. 

Enjoy!!

Gobble, Gobble!!

Next weekend is the Canadian Thanksgiving! So today's post is dedicated to Thanksgiving related projects. Of course, our American neighbors have a bit of extra time to prepare for their celebrations.

Here goes:

• All Free Sewing  
• So Sew Easy
• Sewing. Org
• Sew News
• Fave Crafts
• Sewing Freebies
• Polkadot Chair
• Bella Online

Wall Hangings

• Hold The Gravy: Thanksgiving Turkey Wall Hanging 
• Turkey Applique
• Acorn Autumn Wall Hanging
• Holiday Quilt Patterns on Pinterest
• More Pinterest Boards HERE & HERE

Have fun & Enjoy!

Cozy Afternoon Free Block Of The Month

A new BOM for June was just announced! It's called, Cozy Afternoon Free Block Of The Month, by Jacquelynne Steves, The Art of Home.

If you are interested in this project, you can sign up HERE. It's free! There are three versions for each block

1. Applique
2. Embroidery
3. Piecing

Scroll down (on the blog page) to check out the blog hop and you will find more 'stuff' on the Cozy Afternoon Pinterest page.

I have no affiliation with this site but thought you might like to know about the free BOM.  

Meet and Greet Stitchers From Around the World

Greetings, stitchers! Thank you to Madame Samm from Sew we Stitch, for hosting this hop.

For those of you visiting for the first time, welcome to my part of the world. My name is Judy Cooper. I am a retired primary school teacher who now creates one-of-a-kind textile / fibre art. My complete bio can be found HERE and my artist statement HERE.

Besides having a place to show my original art and some of the techniques I use, I often write about other artist's work and link to their web sites. One of the other things I like to do is find tutorials and patterns for all kinds of textile / fibre art (usually freebies). Since 2009, I have blogged about a lot of interesting 'stuff". Please come back, grab a cup of something and explore my blog. I guarantee, you won't be disappointed! Check out my Garden Sewing Box, Structures and fish.

I am also hosting a giveaway and I will post anywhere in the world! You don't have to be a follower to participate. Just leave a comment on this post. Make sure I can contact you if you win.

Enjoy the blog hop. A list of participants can be found HERE.

Back Yard, combination of applique, hand embroidery and machine stitching

Theodora, hand stitched on silk with single strands of silk threads

Hand embroidery on linen

Combination of applique, hand embroidery and free motion machine stitching

Needlepoint Sampler

Winter

This is a wild and woolly day here on the east coast - our first snow storm of winter. We have been very lucky this year. I think the forecast shows three snow storms back to back to back!

I know Valentine's Day is Saturday, but I'm going to post some WINTER projects for inspiration instead. Seems fitting for today here in St. John's.

• Winter Quilts
• Winter Bear Applique
• Applique Snowflake
• Ruth Powers Art Quilts
• Winter Scene Wall Quilt
• Let It Snow
• Winter Wonderland
• Tweety's Snowflake
• Another Winter Wonderland
• Mittens and Snowflakes

I hope you enjoy today's search!!

Moe Man! This is what my granddaughter called him
when she was just starting to talk

Quilted Pottery

For the last few days, I have been posting about some beautiful pottery that was on exhibit (and for sale) during the Thanksgiving Weekend, at the Quidi Vidi Village Plantation, St. John's.

So, I thought, why not blog about quilted pottery. I've come across that topic before when researching other textile based art work!

Well, I found a bunch of 'stuff', among them a Quilted Mad Tea Party Set and it's free to download. Maybe someone out there will be inspired enough to give it a try. If not, check out these other tea pot related projects:

• Mary Beth Bellah has been making quilted tea pots for several years. Check them out.
• More quilted teapots HERE
• Teapot Ornament
• Tipnut Tea Cosies
• Paper Pieced Teapot Pattern
• Tea Cosy for a Proper English Tea
• Tea & Quilts - Part 1
• Tea & Quilts - Part 2
• Teapot Quilt Applique
• Teapot

Enjoy!

Quilted Mad Tea Party Set

Totally Baby!

This post is totally dedicated to babies! It's so easy to just go buy things for the little ones but if you want to personalize a gift, you have to make it! Some new moms also want to use hand crafted items. I have found some interesting things for you to make. Check these out! Most of them are freebies.

Baby On The Go Diaper Bag  and Baby Burp Cloths & Bib Set from Moda Bakeshop
Burp Cloths from Homemade Mamas
Patterns for Bibs! Lots more here at Sewing Support
A variety of baby crafts
Vanilla Joy has a Tablecloth Bib Tutorial
Baby Bibs from Martha Stewart
Knitted baby sweater
Bitty Booties to sew
Miniature Applique Quilt 
Vintage Toy Baby Elephant from Baby Bloggie
Kimono Baby Bootie Shoes
How to Sew a Bandana Bib

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I'm not much into quilted or stitched heart stuff and as a result didn't post any free patterns from any of the sites I visit. However, I just came across something on twitter that is useful. It's an altered heart shaped candy box tutorial. Recycle that candy box that you received today and turn it into a pincushion or storage box for applique . . . This tutorial is a great way to practice free motion stitching too.
 Alice Burke also has a bunch of tutorials using new & recycled materials.

Here's a pattern for a heart tote bag.
Lots of Hearts quilt
Valentine Heart Block
Cross Stitch Heart
Heart Quilt Block
Valentine's Day Cross Stitch Patterns
Tri-Rec Heart Block
Heart Blocks

Now just think what I would find if I was really looking for this stuff!!
Happy quilting and stitching.

Fat Cat Patterns

In an earlier post I wrote about a monthly pattern by Fat Cat Patterns called Christmas Row by Row. The second row of the pattern was just posted today. If you want to get a head start on Christmas, 2010, this is the one to do! In fact, I can also see making mini quilts by using bits and pieces from the various templates. 

This site offers a wealth of lovely free patterns for machine and hand applique! Many of the ideas can be incorporated in quilts/wall hangings of your own design. Don't always settle on doing what someone else has done. Spread your wings and do it your way. This may take a bit of planning but in the end you have the satisfaction of saying it's your own design.