Mother's Day 2011 - Ideas

Some great ideas for Mother's Day:
Tatertots & Jello have some handmade gifts. Also check out the projects listed at the side of the blog.
Sew News: Tasseled Tote
Jenny T's Grocery Tote Bag
Scrappy Hot Pad Tutorial from My Byrd House
Roll It Up from Sewing.com
Zakka Pincushion Tutorial from the Etsy Blog
Scottie Dog Pattern from Colorful Creative Ideas
Denim Do-it-all Bins from Up Craft (these are interesting)
Caterpillar Eyeglass Case Tutorial and  Reusable Sandwich Wrap Tutorial from Betz White
iPod Cozy Tutorial from Black Market Beagle
Tea Cozy Patterns and Potato Baker Bags from Tipnut

Also check out past posts for Mother's Day here, and here. 

St. John's Embroidery Guild - Show & Tell

Royal Wedding

Since this is Royal Wedding week in Britain, I thought you might find some of these interesting:

Wedding Quilts from the Satin Moon blog (lots of stuff here)
Royal Wedding 2011
Book: Knit Your Own Royal Wedding
Colouring pages of London
Colouring pages of Kings and Queens of England
Royal Wedding Baker  

Carrot Table Runner

The Cabot Quilt Guild just had its Spring Retreat. The quilters had a fabulous time. Of course, there is always a project to complete if one wishes to do it. This year, it was the flip and sew carrot table runner from All People Quilt.

This is one of the 21 runners made at the retreat. Aren't the orange batiks just beautiful!

Check out the Show and Tell pages for February 2011. I'm there holding my baby quilt, Sheep at Stonehenge. Our guild has a bunch of very talented quilters. Check them all out. I promise, you won't be disappointed.

Sites to Visit

Today I have a variety of web sites and blogs for you to visit.

Judith Trager, an international quilt artist. See a brief video with Judith here.
Jamie Fingal, mixed media artist. Whimsical house quilt video
Sue Gilgen, landscape quilts and fiber art. Video one,  Video two.
Leni Wiener, raw edge machine applique and thread painting
Nancy Daley, fiber artist (paper making video)
Eileen Doughty, quilt artist. Check out her sculptures here!
Carolyn Lee Vehslage, quilted wall hangings
Ken Smith, textile artist from Australia
Mary Manahan, quilt artist
Judy Cooper, textile art

Easter Row x Row

Fat Cat Patterns has started another block of the month free pattern called Easter Row x Row. You can also use the various motifs for smaller wall hangings for spring and not just Easter. A new pattern is added each month but if you miss one, you will have to purchase it. Also, check out Sindy's blog here.

You will find more Block of the Month Quilts here.
Claudia's Quilt Shoppe has Block-of-the-Month Projects
Row, Row, Row Your Boat  
Row-by-Row  (Autumn)
Block of the Month from Delaware Quilts

VidCasts

I just spent some time viewing some of the VidCasts on Bonnie McCaffery's web site. I didn't realize just how many she has listed. They are well worth watching!


Other VicCasts: (I haven't watched most of these yet)
Pam Holland
Alex Anderson
Quilting Stash
Quilting Gallery
Sue Gilgen   
Lisa & Lori Lubbesmeyer 
Laurie Swim 
Embellishing With Paint Sticks
Pat Sloan
Alicia Merrett

Enjoy!

Fabric Dyeing

Over the years, I have dyed fabrics for various projects. I started out using the Colour Vie Pigment System with Gunnel Hag. In fact, I still use it as it makes the most beautiful skies as you can see in this piece, 'In All Its Glory'.

For some reason, there are two photos of this piece showing up in Internet Explorer! I post in Fire Fox.

I have over dyed commercial fabric to get the right colour for a project. In the long piece, 'Western Brook Gorge', the binding fabric and some fabric used in the mountain range, were done this way. To get the texture I wanted for the mountain, dyed cheese cloth was used, as it is easy to crunch up to give the look of ridges.This sky was also dyed using the Colour Vie Pigment System mentioned above.

For other projects, I have used a variety of fabric paints, paint sticks, stamping inks, premixed fabric dyes, water colour pencils and crayons. I haven't used Ritz dyes yet. I came across a great tutorial on using these dyes that I just might try. It was posted by Vicki Miller, from Australia, called To Dye Another Day. Check it out.

Little Treasures

The program at the Eastern Edge Quilt Guild on Tuesday evening was called 'Little Treasures' by Carol Fletcher. This project was published in issue 20 of the Quilting Arts Magazine, 2005.

The pattern was enlarged to make a casserole carrier as shown in the first photo. Several sizes of 'Little Treasures' were on display during the evening. Some of them were embellished with dimensional flowers. 

For some reason, Internet Explorer doesn't like the posts I do in Fire Fox! It has added an extra large photo of one of the Little Treasures. The post is shown correctly in the Fire Fox version.

Paper Piecing - Eastern Edge Guild

Paper Piecing was the topic for last month's guild challenge. Here are the ones brought to guild last night.

The first piece with the three iris and the one showing the sail boat were wrapped around a canvas frame. It is a very nice way to display a small textile art piece.

Chasing Cottons

Just when I was wondering what I would post today, I came across Chasing Cottons by Rebecca Johnson from Central Coast, Australia. Her latest venture into quilting is by offering Quilt Class 101 which starts on Wednesday (April 6) and continues for 12 weeks. The class runs every Wednesday. The best part - it's free. Here's her class outline:

The Course Outline

Week 1 - Fabric - Choosing fabric, fabric designers, fabric bundles, Fat Quarters, jelly Rolls etc, Where to buy fabric locally or online overseas, shipping costs.. My favorite online shops etc.
Week 2 - Design - 'Sew as you go' OR the Designer - Using a graph book and planning, no rules.. Books/ blogs/ flickr... all the online sources or inspiration..
Week 3 - Cutting - Tools I use, how to cut your material properly, to wash or not to wash, incorporating seam allowances etc.
Week 4 - Sewing - Your machine, threads, needles, 1/4" foot, seam allowances, joining seams accurately, pins,
Week 5 - Constructing your Quilt Top - sections etc
Week 6 - Borders - adding borders the correct way,
Week 7 - Batting - The different types and what each one is used for..
Week 8 - Basting - how to Baste your quilt, spray? Pins? Types of pins? Tape etc..
Week 9 - Quilting by machine - Straight line Quilting, using a guide, free motion quilting, stitching in the ditch etc..
Week 10 - Quilting by hand - Cottons to use, technique, needles, hoops...
Week 11 - Binding - By machine or by hand.. or both.
Week 12 - Quilt block techniques.... This last tutorial will prob run over another 6 week period where i will teach the basics to make various traditional and modern quilt blocks. Sewing curves, 9 Patch, Stars and diamonds, Stack and Slash, Raw edge applique, Needle turn applique, paper piecing, log cabin, spider block, etc... 

If you have not quilted before or are new to quilting, this just might be what you are looking for.

 

Graft Paper Generator

I was reading the most recent post from a blog called Sol Y Sombra, United Arab Emirates.  Ansie was looking for some triangular graph paper and came across a free online graph creator which is pretty neat. Quite a few years ago, I needed some specific sized graph paper too. At that time, I had to create my own. But with this handy tool, any type of graph paper is possible to make. Just think of the possibilities for your own design work! The best thing about it - it's free. Design and print. . .

Creating Art

On one of the sites I frequent, I found a unique way to use a cleaning product called Citra Solv. This is a natural cleaner that cuts through grease and grime, but did you know that textile artists are printing with it? Check out the Cirta Solv Artist Site. You will also find some How-To art videos as well as work by artists who have used this product. Stampington & Company also has a free how-to video and artists gallery using Citra Solv.

Now I have another method for image transfer on fabric to add to my list of things to try - maybe!

Happy April

Well, April is here! I hope we are done with snow. St. John's had more snow in March that the rest of the winter. Thank goodness I missed most of it as I was in Chicago and I can now get back to blogging on a regular basis. The Apple ipad is great for travel but I don't like it for blogging. I prefer to be able to add pictures and websites on a much larger monitor where I can open multiple screens and move from one to the other by one click. I do like the ipad as a photo album. Right now there are over 4000 photos on it. The latest are those of my new granddaughter (the reason I was in Chicago).
The quilt, Ducks at Stonehenge, was a hit! I have some wonderful photos of the baby on it. 

Sheep at Stonehenge

 I can finally tell you about the baby quilt I made since Christmas. I just delivered it. It is called Sheep at Stonehenge. You may think it a strange name for a baby quilt but I did see lots of sheep on my England trip in October, especially at Stonehenge. Also the main fabrics used are from the Stonehenge collection. The pattern is by British quilter, Lynn Edwards. I had been looking for something different and as soon as I saw this one, I knew it was the one to do. If I hadn't come across this one, I would have designed one from scratch. The sheep bodies are fleece with flannel for the faces. Everything else is cotton. I used the blanket stitch on my machine to stitch around the sheep. The flowers were hand stitched.  Free motion stippling was used to quilt it.

The sheep dog is on the back. I will embroider the baby's name and date of birth on the dog's chest when she arrives. 

 This is the book where I found the pattern for the above quilt. A few years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Lynn when she did some workshops and had a trunk show for the Cabot Quilt Guild here in St. John's.

Blogs to Visit

I came across the verykerryberry blog from Devon, United Kingdom. It's an interesting spot to visit with some tutorials and swaps. What caught my eye was the list of online fabric shops from the UK.

Closer to home is Island Sweet with Shawn O'Hagan. Shawn is a visual artist living and working on the west coast of Newfoundland. Take a look at some of her hand dyed yarns!

Now, from the other west coast, San Diego, USA, is Jane LaFazio of Plain Jane Studio. The common theme in her art is texture and colour. She is inspired by traditional folk art symbols and icons of Mexico and Asia.

From Sydney, Australia, is Creative Dabbing with Erica Spinks.  Erica was editor of the Down Under Quilts magazine. Now she likes to design, make, teach and write about quilts and textiles.

Still down under, is the Stitchery Grub blog, from Perth, Australia. If you are interested in lace making, embroidery, textiles and hand painted bobbins, check it out.

Another interesting site from Australia is Eiloren, Art & Design by Neroli Henderson. Check out the tutorials and galleries.

That's it for today. Enjoy!

Spring is in the Air - Somewhere!!

Spring seems to be near - I hope! Today the temperature in my back garden has registered 10C (in the shade) and the snow is melting. I've also been doing some early spring cleaning. Clearing out the clutter is really what I'm doing. I have several bags of books from my studio that I am moving out (to make room for a few new ones!).

Yesterday's mail delivered Fanciful Stitches Colorful Quilts by Laura Wasilowski and Freemotion Quilting by Judy Woodworth. Today, Stitchscapes by Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn arrived. I'm looking forward to reading these.

Anyway, since spring is just around the corner, I found a few sites for you to visit with some SPRING ideas:
The Floss Box   
Spring Patterns
Homeberries embroidery patterns
Spring Fling
Flower of Spring

Have fun. . . 

Stitchin Fingers

After posting my sashiko piece on Thursday, I decided to also put its photo on the Stitchin Fingers blog. I didn't give it any more thought until I started getting comments from members about it. It's now # 2 for Top Content on the home page! Thanks to everyone for the comments.

If you are interested in textiles and fibre arts, this is the site to visit. You might be so inspired as to join too. They have almost 4000 members at the moment. There are lots of inspirational photos of work by members as well as groups to join. Visit and have a look around. I don't think you will be disappointed.
Enjoy!

Eastern Edge Quilt Guild

Esmerelda 2006

Tuesday night the Eastern Edge Quilt Guild had a wonderful presentation by local artist, Carolyn Morgan.  She works in several different media, one-of-a-kind art dolls, painting, textiles, clay and enameled copper. 
Carolyn had photos of her work which were displayed via computer unto a large screen as well as actual pieces of her art. Everyone was delighted with her show and tell. It gave all of us something to think about when designing our own art.

Sashiko

Finally! My Sashiko cloth is finished. The designs were already printed on the fabric which I purchased in St. John's, Quilt Canada, 2008. I certainly enjoyed stitching it as I didn't have to concentrate on following a paper pattern or count threads. In this pattern, the cross hatching, which I did in a green thread, went through the squares. However, I felt this was a bit too busy and opted to have them end at the blocks so that the blocks appear to float above the grid pattern.

Now I'm looking for a piece of black sashiko fabric at least 25 x 45 as I would like to do a top for my coffee table. Finding a source for the black fabric other than some of the Asian countries or Australia & New Zealand, is a challenge.
If you aren't familiar with this kind of embroidery, check out the following sites:
The Origin of Sashiko
Studio Aika
Sashiko Flickr Group    
Tutorial from Sashiko Stitchers

I own a number of excellent books on this topic:

The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook by Susan Briscoe
Sensational Sashiko by Sharon Pederson
Sashiko by Mary Parker
Sashiko, Japanese Traditional Hand Stitching by Ai Takeda
Sashiko and Beyond by Saikoh Takano
Sashiko - Traditional Japanese Quilt Designs by Nihon Vogue
Paradise Stitched by Sylvia Pippen
For some reason, when this post is viewed in Internet Explorer, two photos of the same thing is showing. I had this problem before and it took quite awhile to correct. 

Trees

The photo speaks for itself! We do have lots of snow. This tree is just outside my studio window.

Here's some more trees to view:

Trees for Leslie 
Winter Visitor 
Sunset 
Grove of Trees
Tree Art Quilt
Art Quilts
Autumn in the Park
Trees
Landscape Quilts   

Enjoy!   

Quilt Counterpoint Video

 I was just reading through the postings from some of my favorite sites and came across the Quilt Counterpoint Video (thanks Leah Day). The video is fantastic and that comes from one who isn't into traditional quilting - but I do like to look at them. It was created by Gayle Thomas in 1966 and produced here in Canada. At the end of the video you see all the blocks that were used.

Here's the quilting video! Enjoy . . . we have to go clean up after another dump of snow. I really don't like winter!

Photos for Inspiration!

Chicago Skyline by Judy Cooper

Photos are always great sources of inspiration for artists. I always have a camera with me so if I see something that catches my eye, I can capture it instantly. If you are unable to do this, the internet can offer a wealth of possibilities. For example, quilt artist, Sue Bleiweiss, has a blog devoted to her photos. These photos are available to anyone to use but please read her blurb on copyright related to her work.

Here are some interesting sites I found.

• When designing landscape quilts, images of real landscapes are ideal.

• I couldn't pass up on these photos as they are stunning! (scroll down) And these! Here's more!

• Check out these creative and inspiring photographs. There were some very creative minds at work here. Think of the possibilities in your own creations!

• If you are eager to start taking pictures, read about these 60 Sources of Inspiration for Photography.

• 30 photos from nature.

• The colours in these photos are fantastic. 

• Funky Architecture but think of the possibilities! Look at some of the designs.

• All I can say about these, is WOW!

• Close-ups anyone. . . Macro Photography

• Long Exposures  

• Underwater  

• Flowers (choose the colour at the bottom of the page) More flowers

It was very difficult to stop listing sites with awe inspiring photographs!

Sites to Inspire

Do you need some inspiration to get you kick started into creating new works of art? Check out these quilt artists. All of them have one thing in common - their creative use of colourful dyed fabrics.

Wendy Butler Berns
Terry Waldron
Susan K. Cleveland
Mickey Depre
Frieda Anderson
Ann Fahl
Caryl Bryer Fallert
Laura Wasilowski
Michele Hardy
Melody Johnson
Anne Lullie


Enjoy! 
    
  

Show & Tell at Cabot Quilt Guild

Have a look at some of the beautiful quilts shown at the Cabot Quilt Guild this month. Click to view them a bit larger.

 

More Journal Book Covers

I finally finished all the journal book covers. You can see the previous ones here. Looking at my photos, the little yellow house and red bird are there twice. So much for trying to be careful!! The other photo shows some of the batiks I used. If you click on the fabric photo, you will see the free motion stitching I did using the Rainbow threads. These journal covers can be purchased at Devon House Craft Shop, Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Crafty Blogs - UK

On Sunday, I blogged about the Patchwork & Quilting Blog List at Red Pepper Quilts. Today I came across another source of blogs. This time it is Crafty Blogs exclusive to the UK. Reading down through the list of blogs I came across some very interesting names. A lot of the sites listed are for paper crafts. I found it a tad frustrating trying to find the sewing /quilting / stitching blogs among all the paper related ones. A search engine for the site would have been nice.
Since there are so many sites to view, I've selected a few blogs (some with free downloads) related to quilting, sewing, and needle craft.

Cross Stitch Charts
Needle Work & Knitting  (lots of different stuff here)
Tutorials at Flossie Teacakes
Knitted Toy Box
Bustle & Sew (interesting stuff)
Very Berry Handmade (list of some more blogs)
Crafty Corner
Ellieskeepers Creations (list of blogs)
Hand Embroidery Network (HEN) I have a link to this site on my blog list
The Magic Bean(patterns
The Patchwork Heart 
Hand Knitted Things
Indigo Blue

I went only as far as the end of page 12 to find these.