Vases and Bowls

Needless to say, today's felt making with Caroline Lindsay, was fantastic! We made vases and bowls. I won't go into detail on the method for making them as it would take too long but check here (click on photos to the right) and here for some 'how to'. In making our bowls, we used balloons instead of balls to get the shape. We also used silk hankies to cover the outside of the bowls. I forgot to take photos when we were making the vases until the very end!

We also got a brief demo on making felt beads.

I have needle felted in some of my art work and I have played around with wet felting. However, working the felt roving to get a 3-D piece was very rewarding. I think there is more lurking in my future.

Felting Workshop

The felting workshop with Caroline Lindsay was quite enjoyable and relaxing. Did I say relaxing? The wet felting method was quite the upper body workout. After laying out the wool roving and covering it with silk chiffon, we then rolled it up in bubble wrap. We had to constantly work the felt inside the bubble wrap with our hands. Of course, the felt had to be unrolled and rolled up over and over again. Check out this video clip from Google as it will show you basically what we did. That was the first day.

We took our felted pieces home that night to wash for 30 minutes in the washer and then dry it. I chose to air dry mine as I didn't want it to shrink further.

The second day we started to embellish our piece. Everyone got lots of individual attention and suggestions as to how to finish it. Needless to say, I have yet another workshop piece to finish. However, I will get it done as I quite like this piece.

Thursday, I'm going to make some bowls and vases with Caroline.

Notice how the yellow and hot pink coloured silk overlays changed the colour of the wool roving. The same coloured roving was used for both samples.

Cabot Quilt Guild - Show and Tell

The Cabot Quilt Guild, St. John's, NL, meets the 3rd Tuesday of each month. Here are some of the quilts shown at our last Show and Tell:

Felting

I spent yesterday at a felting workshop with teacher, Caroline Lindsay from the UK. We used a combination of wet felting and nuno techniques to create rich fabrics ideal for hand or machine embroidery. Today, we will be embellishing our pieces with stitching. Here's a sample of her work:

Previous Post

In my previous post about Row Houses, the photo of the green house and the cruise ship in the harbour, is missing from Fire Fox. Please check it out using Internet Explorer.

Row Houses, St. John's

It was a beautiful day here is St. John's so I spent the afternoon taking photos of downtown row houses. The Row House theme is frequently used in my textile art. These colourful wooden houses have their roots in the fishing industry. Whenever the ships returned from sea, each captain would search for his house all along the hills. So that they stood out from each other, every house was painted a different vibrant colour. Today, the tradition is still kept. As you go from street to street in the downtown area, you can see every colour imaginable. Even on a foggy, rainy day, the colours help to brighten things up.

Check my previous posts for references to row houses:
Experimental Piece
Work in Progress and More Buildings
View from the Rooms (photos used for textile piece)
View from the Rooms (textile piece) 

Cruise ship in the harbour.
Taken from the backyard of above green house

Down Under Blogs

One of the things I like to do when I visit another blog is check out the favorite sites listed there. You never know what you will come across. I've selected a few interesting blogs from the land down under for you to visit today. Enjoy!

Linda Stokes ... textile artist
The Quilters' Guild of NSW Inc. - check out the member's blogs
Serendipity and the Art of the Quilt
The Quilting Owl - traditional style quilting
Patchwork Fundamentals
Suzanne Gummow - a journey in Textiles
Crafty Quilting with Pamela
Fairholme Quilters

Design is Everywhere

Design is everywhere around us. I sometimes find it in unexpected places. 

For example, last weekend we were at Digby, Nova Scotia, where the annual Wharf Rat Rally was held. For those of you unfamiliar with this event, this is a rally for bikers. There were thousands of people with all kinds of motorcycles. The main street was shut down to all traffic except bikers and pedestrians. I'm not into motorcycles but I was impressed with the wide range of colours and designs of the various bikes. Big money is spent on customizing them. The imagery painted on some of the bikes was spectacular. I may not use any of the designs from the imagery I saw in my work, but who knows what tidbit from the whole experience might just influence something I do.

Remember, it's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.

Festival Of Quilts - UK

I've been looking for photos from the Festival of Quilts 2011, Birmingham, UK. Some of the bloggers have been posting photos from the festival. Here are the ones I've been able to find so far:

• Kay in Scotland took the photo of the over all winner, Octopussy, created by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga of the Netherlands.
• Drinking Fabric (unique name) showcases some quilts from the festival. She has two posts. Part two is here.
• Some of the winners are also shown on A Quilters Journal. Have a look at the Wonky Houses. These are fantastic!
• Here are recent quilts as well as quilts from past festivals. More here and here.
• Dog Daisy Chains photos
• More photos 2011 Festival of Quilts - these are stunning!

Enjoy!
If you come across any other photos, I'd appreciate hearing from you.

Saidye Bronfman Nominee

Photo curtsy of Linda & David

Two craftspeople from Newfoundland and Labrador have been nominated for the Saidye Bronfman Award. This is Canada's foremost distinction for excellence in fine craft. Linda Yates and David Hayashida from King's Point Pottery, who specialize in salt / soda firing and high-fired functional stoneware, were nominated by the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador. Check out the media release here. 

Congratulations!

What's In a Name

As the old saying goes: You can't tell a book by its cover. The same can be said for a lot of things. I came across some interesting names for quilting blogs. There are lots more but here are a few of them:

Molly Flanders
Blue Mountain Daisy
Pings and Needles 
Saints and Pinners
The Stitching Room
Mama CJT
Little Miss Shabby
Pink Penguin
Quilts a Lot
Freda's Hive
Ivory Spring

Colour

I've spent the last couple of months (between been a gopher) painting! Don't get excited, as the paint was put on walls in my parent's house and not on fabric. However, now that I'm finished with that project, there is a bit more time to think of other things. Since our summer and spring has been so dreary with all the rain, drizzle and fog, I feel it's time to think about colour.

First of all, check out some Color Theory from Wikipedia and Tiger Color.
Then stop at Color Matters for more technical stuff. Click on the drop down menu.
Some Color Theory Lessons from Art Factory.
To find more information about colour, do a search for Colour Theory.

Now, on to Quilting and Colour:
Joen Wolfrom's blog is all about color for quilters. 
Leaves of Green from Blue Moon River
Patchwork Posse: Trunk Show Tuesday with the Color Wheel
Mingle Color Theory and Straight and Narrow from Craft Gossip
Color Beat Quilt from Robert Kaufman
Color your Way from Daily Craft
Circle Quilt Tutorial from Bijou Lovely

Enjoy!

Papillon

I have a little four legged creature visiting me this month. Pongo, my sister's dog, is a Papillon. Papillon is the French word for butterfly. Need I say more! The following links will have something to do with butterflies so enjoy! At the moment, our weather has been too wet and cold for butterflies to be out and about. Maybe I need to create some for inside.

To get you started, I found some free butterfly colouring pages and drawings.
This one is for inspiration. The colours are stunning. More inspiration.
Mug Rug Butterfly
Free machine embroidery Butterfly (scroll down)
Applique Butterfly Garden
Applique Butterfly Wall Hanging (inspiration)
Free Butterfly Quilt Patterns
Have a look back at The Butterfly Project on my site. Check out the Holocast Museum Houston

Down Under Textiles

I finally got a chance to check my blog list. I'm sure I've missed a lot this past month or two but things are starting to settle down. Life will get back to 'normal' soon (I hope)!

I came across Down Under Textiles, an Australian magazine, launched in 2009. In it are the latest techniques, tools and products; instructions for making projects; colour, design and composition theory as well as galleries of textile art work. Issue one is available online for FREE. I had a quick look through it and was impressed! It just might be my next magazine purchase. Have a look at it here.

Christmas in July 2011

For awhile I figured it was getting close to Christmas! St. John's had and still is, having the most terrible weather. In June we had 27 days of rain, drizzle and fog. July isn't much better except that the days are a little warmer. On that note, it's time for Christmas in July.

Get inspired by visiting these sites:
Satin Moon's countdown calendar and other stuff
Sew Mama Sew also has an advent calendar, and stockings from a vintage quilt
Gail Pan has a free christmas stitch project to try
This pleated pouch from Skip to my Lou might be the perfect gift for any occasion
I love these Christmas Booties from Cute'n Crafty
BOM Quilts has lots to choose from
Christmas Quilt Round Up from A Sewing Journal, is worth a look
This snowflake pillow is cute. It's from Diary of a Quilter.
Another advent calendar from Moda Bake Shop

Last but not least, check out my last year post for Christmas in July.

Enjoy!

55 Top Blogs

Quilter's Home has made a list of the 55 top quilty blogs for 2011. In their article, they explain how they came up with this list. I am familiar with some of the blogs they chose and I will have to fine time to check out the rest. To make it easy, I have made links for these blogs. However, I only found 54 links. I doubled checked but still could not find the missing one. If you do, please let me know. here's your 'quick find' list. They are in the same order as listed in the magazine article.

http://quiltville.blogspot.com/

http://myquiltskickass.blogspot.com/

http://alamodefabric.blogspot.com/

http://twinfibers.blogspot.com/

http://artfabrik.blogspot.com/

http://poppyprintcreates.blogspot.com/

http://www.textileevolution.com/

http://www.gingerhendrix.com/

http://www.ryanwalshquilts.com/

http://miss-print.blogspot.com/

http://www.psiquilt.com/

http://blog.lukehaynes.com/

http://moderndayquilts.tumblr.com/

http://pieceandpress.blogspot.com/

http://ayumills.blogspot.com/

http://duringquiettime.blogspot.com/

http://lavieenrosie.typepad.com/

http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogspot.com/

http://www.filminthefridge.com/

http://stitchindye.blogspot.com/

http://vintagesheets.blogspot.com

http://angrychicken.typepad.com/

http://thehappyzombie.com/

http://tessellationnation.com/

http://cicadadaydream.blogspot.com/

http://www.virginiagreaves.com/blog/

http://barbarabrackman.blogspot.com/

http://www.trueup.net/

http://www.stitchedincolor.com/

http://quiltstory.blogspot.com/

http://syko.typepad.com/

http://westcoastcrafty.wordpress.com/

http://wendiaarons.com/

http://feeddog.blogspot.com/

http://www.thequiltengineer.com/

http://www.handmadebyalissa.com/

http://www.ohfransson.com/

http://quiltish.blogspot.com/

http://www.redpepperquilts.com/

http://stitchinpostinsisters.typepad.com/

http://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/

http://threadgatherer.blogspot.com/

http://stashmanicure.blogspot.com/

http://sammisofties.blogspot.com/

http://www.celebrate-creativity.com/

http://sewmamasew.com/blog2/

http://blog.craftzine.com/

http://craftfail.com/

http://erinrussek.typepad.com/

http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/

http://iheartlinen.typepad.com/

http://color-collective.blogspot.com/

http://exitthroughthethriftshop.com/

http://whileshenaps.typepad.com/

Happy July 4th

Happy 4th of July to our neighbours to the south! In my case, to family living in the USA. The blog post from last year with patterns is here.

I did manage to find some other patterns for you to check out:
A Real Firecracker
Sunbonnet Sue changed to Sunburst Sue
Firecracker

Almost any quilt pattern can be changed into a celebration quilt for July 4th by using red, white and blue fabrics or designer fabrics with specific motifs for that special holiday. The same can be said for Canada with the red and white. Enjoy!

Canada Day 2011

On July 1, 2011, Canada celebrates its 144th birthday! This year is a special one as Their Royal Highnesses, Prince William and Catherine, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will be in Ottawa, Canada's capital city, as part of their Royal Tour of Canada. You can check their itinerary here. Last year, Ottawa was host to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip on Canada Day. Will there be more Royals next year to make it three in a row?
As usual, I found some projects to go with the Canada Day Theme.
Check last year's freebies here. I also found a couple of other projects to add to the list:
12" Maple Leaf Block
Table Runner Idea
Canada Day Bib
T-Shirts
This next project is called Royalty Block - quite fitting for our Royal Visitors. However, instead of using the American theme fabrics, try colours from the new Prince William Flag which will be flying in Ottawa tomorrow to honor the prince. The flag sports his personal red, white, blue and gold banner featuring a wreath of maple leaves and a cursive W.

'Quilts from Pigeon Inlet' Quilt Show - Viewer's Choice

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining won the Viewer's Choice Award at the Quilts from Pigeon Inlet Quilt Show last weekend. This piece was hand appliqued and hand quilted by Joanne O'Brien. It was a block of the month quilt (pattern by Aie Rossmann) which she started in 2004 or 2005. Joanne made about 12 blocks (three each month) and then proceeded very sporadically until spring 2009 when she spent two weeks in hospital because of a heart problem. During this time in hospital, she worked on the 'heart' blocks and completed most of them. When the guild decided to have the quilt show, she decided that this quilt would be ready.

Joanne said that 'working on the quilt helped me through the past two years - thus the title of the work Every Cloud has a Silver Lining.

More Quilts from Pigeon Inlet Quilt Show

Here are a few more quilts from the Pigeon Inlet Quilt Show.

The first piece is called The Way We Were. It was made for the 45th Nursing Reunion from the St. John's General Hospital School of Nursing in memory of a class mate who had died. A few years ago, my husband and I did the photo reproduction and digital imaging for the quilter.

Quilts From Pigeon Inlet Quilt Guild

Today I visited the Pigeon Inlet Quilt Show, Bay Robert's, NL.
There were over 200 exhibits, quilting demonstrations, vendors, and tea room. The quilters certainly had a great show of quilts, some garments and smaller quilted pieces.
I took a few photos and permission was given by the individual quilters to show some of them here. I will post more at a later time. Visit the Pigeon Inlet Quilters' Guild on Facebook here. Check out their photos!

Stitching in the Sun

For all the embroiderers out there, here is a very interesting site called Stitching in the Sun. I wish I was stitching in the sun at the moment as it's pouring rain and cold outside. Tomorrow is suppose to be the first day of summer. Around here, it feels as if fall is creeping back instead. However, on that note, my garden is doing well.

To get back on topic, Daniela is working towards her Level 3 Certificate Embroidery with Sian Martin's Distant Stitch Course. I decided to go back and revisit her earlier posts. She certainly is doing a great deal of experimenting/work for this course. Very inspiring!

Enjoy

Summer is Around the Corner - I hope!

This has to be a Spring for the record books! I can count on one hand the number of sunny days we've had here in St. John's. The rain, drizzle & fog is great for the plants but enough is enough. Sunshine is in demand. Summer will be officially here next week. With that thought, here are some things I found for those summer days:

Picnic Helpers Tutorial
Quilted Back Pack Pattern
Beach Bag Pattern
Pleated Tote/Beach Bag
Watermelon Table Runner 
On-the-Go Project Pouch
Strawberry Bag Tutorial & Strawberry Pillows
Picnic Basket Liner
Insulated Soda Can Wrap    

Enjoy!

Canadian Quilters' Association - Quilt Canada 2011

This year, Quilt Canada was held in London, Ontario. Ninety-four quilted pieces were juried into the show. To see the winners, go here. See the Trend-Tex Quilters Challenge here.
Quilt Canada 2012, Seams Like Home,  will be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

For more photo gallery shows, check below:
The Canadian Quilters' Association
The Grand National Quilt Show - Balancing Act
Bach Music Festival of Canada Quilt Show
Dallas Quilt Show 2011
Caravan of Quilts - Dubai (2011), 2010
Arizona Quilters Guild - 2011 winners
Paducah Quilt Show
2011 Annual Central Vermont Quilt Show 
Tokyo Quilt Show
More from the Tokyo Quilt Show (169 photos) - well worth the look!
About Quilts - a web log just about quilts