Short and Sweet!

Today I have a couple of blogs for you to check:

• The Raspberry Rabbit - interesting eye candy
• Sew Fresh Quilts -  Blog Hop for the 85th Anniversary of Jaftex - which is the parent company for Blank Quilting, Studio Fabrics, and Henry Glass Fabrics. Lots of interesting things to see.
• Mark Lipnski's Blog - a fun blog

While my sister was home this summer, I gave her several bags of fabric. Among the fat quarters, half lengths and scraps, she found the perfect pieces to make this pincushion. She said it is 6" high and 11" across. Not one that she would misplace easily!

Thinking Spring!

It's a beautiful, sunny day but still very cold. It snowed all day yesterday (light, fluffy stuff) so we still have lots of snow on the ground.

Spring! It seems as if we have been forgotten in this part of the world and there's not a thing we can do about it. However, there is something you can do to make it look like spring has arrived inside your own sewing space (and get organized at the same time). I've found a few nice projects to get you Thinking Spring at least. Using up some of those bright spring like fabrics is one way to go.

Have a look!

• Cube Pincushion and Pin Cushion Jar
• Cutting Mat Caddy
• Fabric Storage Bin, another one HERE
• Thread Catcher / Pin Cushion
• Sofa Organizer
• Scrap Basket
• Oval Bag Tutorial
• Tool Organizer

Cabot Quilt Guild - Program

Last evening was the monthly meeting of the Cabot Quilt Guild. I have to congratulate the program committee for a wonderful presentation. It's sometimes very difficult to come up with ideas for a large group of ladies but they managed to do it. Several quilters got together and found some simple projects on-line for the sewing room. They took photos of the steps in each of the projects and did a power point presention. Not only that, they were very generous and had draws for the projects they made. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the projects but I do have the links.

• Ironing Board Caddy with Thread Catcher
• Patchwork Pincushion
• Heart Needle Case

Here's a great site for freebies! Lots to see and if you are an eager beaver, lots to make. . .
Also, take a look at some previous posts on this site:
Sewing Portfolio
Sewing Stuff HERE and HERE

The photo is of a couple of my scissors holders made from 'fantasy' fabric. No two are ever the same.

Enjoy!

Cup Cakes

The Cup Cake theme seems to be everywhere these days! I read that cup cakes are even taking the place of the traditional wedding cake. They have been used for years as treats for kids parties so why not weddings. I remember having them at parties when I was a child. Because this is such a popular theme, I did do a journal cover with a cupcake motif. But that is for another day.

These two fabrics are from the Robert Kaufman cupcake collection.

In my research for cup cake themed items, I found some interesting stuff. Some you might like while others you may wonder about. Anyway, have fun - you never know when an occasion will arise that cries out for a cup cake!



Cupcake Purse
Cupcake Doll
Cupcake Coin Purse 
Cupcake Pin Cushion
Felt Cupcake  (I like the way the icing was constructed for this one)
Needle felted cupcakes and other treats
Cupcake Crocheted Hat
Fancy knitted cupcake
Cupcake Ornament  (check out the other free patterns on this site)
Check out the Quilted Cupcake's Sewing Machine! Free quilted cupcake pattern here.
Rug with cupcake applique
Cupcake Embroidery Patterns. More here and here!
Cupcake Mini Quilt

    

Steamed Christmas Pudding

This year I made a steamed Christmas Pudding for the first time! It turned out to be a good one!

However, this is the Christmas Pudding Decoration I made yesterday for a friend. I can't take credit for the pattern. The original pattern is from The Contented Quilter and is a pincushion.

Check out the following patterns:

Here is another pudding ornament
Christmas Pud Pincushion
A cute crocheted pudding - scroll down
Knitted Christmas Pudding  
Knitted Christmas Tea Cosy -  suppose to resemble a pudding but there is no photo. Thought I'd include it anyway.
Christmas Pudding Tree Ornament
Line drawing of a pudding - template

Have Fun! Merry Christmas

46 Days Until Christmas!

Wow! 46 days left - Christmas will be here before you know it. I hadn't given it much thought until I started to pay attention to the Christmas projects in the various craft and quilting magazines on the news stands. I started looking and found a few simple free projects to get you started on your Christmas list.
Christmas Pudding Pin Cushion
BOM quilts has lots of free patterns for Christmas
Christmas Basket Applique
Figgy Pudding and Holiday Magic Place mats, Napkins & Napkin Rings from Red Rooster Quilts
Simply Santa from CompuQuilt - paper piecing
Christmas Ornaments from Better Homes & Gardens
Christmas Tree Quilt Pattern - applique

Also check out my previous posts:

Freebies for Crafters
Pincushions
Freebies From Freda's Hive

Trees - We Lost Lots of Them due to Egor!

Hurricane Egor certainly did a lot of damage here on Tuesday! A category one hurricane - I would not want to experience any other higher category. For those of you out there who have been hit with severe hurricanes, this one was a baby and I feel for you. We lost a lot of trees in the St. John's area especially around Bannerman Park in the downtown. We were lucky that we didn't lose the electricity although with a couple of power surges, our server's power supply was fried.
Because we lost so many trees, this post will be about trees to use in quilting and stitching.

Tree Quilt for Baby from The Heart of Sewing
A Pine Tree Block from Quilting Assistant
Apple Tree Block (download PDF), from Quilt Mag
Paper Pieced Tree Block from Bella On Line
Weeping Willow Quilt Pattern 
Pine Tree (traditional pieced block)
Autumn - quilted wall hanging with maple leaves
Winter Harvest - an idea to think about
Tree Napkins
Tree Pincushion from Connecting Threads 
Turning Over a New Leaf
Most of the links provided above are mostly for quilters. I had a difficult time finding non Christmas free patterns.
Enjoy these!

Everything Blueberry

photo by Judy Cooper

This is blueberry season here in Newfoundland and we just finished cleaning and bagging several gallons of them. As a result, I decided to see what I could find that was related to textile art and blueberries. I  searched for blueberry art quilts, blueberry stitching, and just plain blueberry. Then I remembered an art quilt I saw in 2001 at the Houston International Quilt Festival. One of the pieces that intrigued me was a very large quilt displaying a cluster of blueberries. The use of hand dyed fabrics to get the blending of shades for the berries was fantastic. I don't remember the name of the quilt or it's creator. If anyone knows about this quilt, please contact me so that I can give credit to its creator.
I did find a few sites with a blueberry connection. Have a look!

• Heidi Lund has an art piece called Blueberry Chrysalis (scroll down a bit)
• Blueberry Teapot by Jeanette McCall
• Blueberry Pin keep (pincushion) directions included!
• Pie anyone! This one is a pie pincushion. . . (scroll down for the blueberry one)
• Machine Embroidery alphabet (B is for Blueberry)
• More Machine Embroidery (scroll down)
• Needle Felting - Bird & Bloom
• Machine Embroidery - Blueberry Coaster
• Baking Designs for the kitchen - using blueberry fabric for a border on potholder
• Blueberry Tea 
• Blueberry - Food Museum  (interesting stuff)  
• Blueberry Recipes
• More Recipes

photo by Judy Cooper

Just writing about these delicious berries makes me hungry! What will I bake?

Tea Time

Tea! I've been trying some different teas this summer. When visiting Chicago in June, I got funny looks from a couple of waiters when I asked for a hot tea. I was asked if I wanted an ice tea instead as it was so hot outside. This posting is about tea related 'stuff' to make.

To start things off, I found a few nice patterns for a tea cosy. We All Sew has a simple one to make. You can also try this Insulated Tea Cozy or this Quilted one. Here's another quilted tea cozy with a placemat.
 
A very nice teapot pattern can be downloaded from Pink Penguin.

Going traveling, take your own special teas in this Tea Wallet from Christy Creations or this one from Tipnut.
Quilted Hot Pad  is located at Love To Sew and Amazing Designs has a Tea Pot Mat. Try your hand on some hand embroidery or free motion stitching for the center part of the mat.

Of course, you need to have your own teacup pincushion!
Pat Sloan's Mad Hatter's Tea Party Blocks (scroll down) is just perfect for when you have the ladies in for a cup.
Here's a paper pieced cup.
Debbie Mumm has a simple Tea for Six Wallhanging.
Don't forget the Crazy Quilt Teacup Wall Hanging mentioned a couple of posts ago!

For a bit of fun - if you want to eat your tea cup, have a look at these cupcakes! How to instructions are included.

Sewing Portfolio

A couple of years ago, I designed and created a Sewing Portfolio (scroll down) which was exhibited at the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador Member's Exhibit, Devon House. That particular piece was sold at the gallery opening. The piece featured here is one I made for myself.

The flap has two magnetic purse closures to keep it closed. I put a full size pocket with flap on the back for note paper/patterns.

The pockets for the inside are made from vinyl window screen bought from the local hardware store. This product sews up very nicely. In fact, I've embroidered the edges of several pockets. This piece was a bit of a challenge as I wanted to have places for a small cutting mat, ruler, rotary cutter, scissors, thread, glue, pin cushion, needles, note pads etc. I'm pleased with the design however, after using it, I realized that I should have put flaps on all the pockets as things do occasionally fall out of them.

Here are some free sewing project patterns that I found while surfing the web:
Here's a needle book from the Crazy Quilt Studio
Sew, Mama, Sew has a nice pincushion organizer for your sewing room
Sewing Organizer tutorial from Tipnut
Sewing machine cover from About .com
Small sewing caddy from All People Quilt

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!!!

 

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.