Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Thread Flowers


I took a course when I went to Creative Festival in Toronto, and it introduced me to the world of water soluble stabilizer. I knew it was out there, but didn't ever try it, till now. And of course am going gangbusters with it. My cutting table is currently full of organza and my design pad has so many drawings on it, I can't decide which one to go with.

I love organza but don't sew with it often due to getting grabbed by the machine, till now.

In the meantime, I have been playing with making thread flowers. Now these are the first two I have ever made, so yes, they are not great. There are lots of things I have learned already from doing this, so will keep practicing on my cheap thread before I pull out my expensive thread and give that a try.

Now if I could just decide on a design, I could actually start my next art quilt!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Falling Leaves


I have never taken a picture of this quilt properly and seeing as I was submitting it into a juried show, I had it out. So thought I would show it. It is entitled Falling Leaves as the leaves around here in the fall are splendid. There are hours and hours of beading on it and some larger beads on the leaves also.
The International Quilt Association is putting on their annual show in Chicago and they are hosting a special juried exhibit with the theme of 'O Canada'. Thus only Canadians living in Canada can apply. I sent in this one and another to see if it will be accepted.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Blazer #1



This is a Linda MacPhee pattern. I picked it up while in Toronto. It is fast and easy to make up. I usually wear a brooch to close it.
The edges are actually left raw as the material, a 4 way stretchy spandex like fabric, does not fray or unravel. Too bad all fabric was not like that.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Top #2



Here is the second top I made using the wild fabric I found on Queen Street. Of course it is a lovely Jalie pattern. This fabric was a knit and I was worried to work with a 4 way stretch again, but the serger ate it up nicely.

My sewing machine can often prove difficult to use with knits. And yes, I have tried different needles.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Journal Cover


As promised, here is the journal cover I have been working on the past couple of weeks. The inside is weaved and then covered with a layer of organza. My new version of 3D flowers is attached and buttons embellish the rest of it. I am not sure if the buttons are a bit much, but it needed something more than just the flowers.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Back From Festival


It is not the giant Quilt Festival Houston, but it was amazing! We are back from Creative Festival in Toronto and what a time. The market was fantastic. We spent 5 hours going from booth to booth, in quilting, sewing, knitting, and machines. It was mind boggling. I have so much to show you. And I even saw the Quilt of Belonging in real life! Now that you have to see.

The next day we hit Queen Street, fashion and fabric district. I have heard about this place for years and it was amazing.

I bought this knit down there and it not only is my very favourite design in the world, but the price was terrific. So of course I had to sew it up today. I have 2 more tops to sew and a funky blazer.

There is so much more to share over the next few days, but I will leave you with this little story. The shops on Queen Street are literally piled from ceiling to floor with fabric. Often they have the bolt on the 7' cardboard tubes all standing up together. I was in one such store and found some fabric so carefully removed a bolt from this gathering. Well, if they didn't start to lean....soon 6 fell over. No big deal I righted them back to position, but that caused the row of 15 to fall. I was still pretty calm at this point and was trying to get them to stand up, when the end of the row fell, and that was about 5 more, then the other end fell, and the middle went as well. By now, my face is flaming red and there are about 30 of these massive bolts around me. I did contemplate just casually running from the store, but I really wanted this fabric. My friend had seen what was happening and totally ditched me. I was in near hysterical laughter by now, and thankfully the sales lady was super nice and rescued me.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A new 3D flower


Here is my latest in using my 3D technique. I am making a couple of these and have a special place for them... that I hope to show you in the next few weeks.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Turkey

Yikes, I have been awol for a few days, almost a week. It is due to turkey. And alot of it. We have had family and friends and turkey all this weekend, and lots of it. I will post some lovely pictures of some new 3D quilty things I am working on very soon.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Bees and Flowers


I did some pattern testing for a friend over at The Quilted Fish. Check out her patterns, they are fabulous. This was one I tested. It can be larger if you put wider borders on it. But seeing as it is for a 3 year old's bedroom wall, I left it a bit on the small side. The wings are made of a sparkly fabric that is a bit heat sensitive. Yes, I did learn this from experience.

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Fondant


I love fondant icing. If you have never used it, think of playdough for cakes. I did some research and it seemed to show that the traditional fondant wasn't as tasty as the marshmallow one. So of course I used the one with marshmallows.

You know how you can read the directions and it seems so simple and should turn out exactly like the video you just watched, but then it never does? Well, that didn't happen. The recipe was super simple and I just rolled it out and dropped it on the cake, smoothed it out and cut out shapes, coloured it and had a blast. And I love how it turned out. This particular cake was for a 3 year old birthday party and the little girl loves horses.

I will definitely be using fondant for all my birthday and celebratory cakes in the future.