Quilt Block for Sue Spargo

Sue Spargo, the wonderful creator of the wool BOM quilt hangings I have been doing has been diagnosed with cancer & her family asked each of us to prepare a square for her back in May/June.  When they had received them all -they sewed them into a quilt for Sue!!

The left is the block I prepared - in honour of the butterfly hanging I did from her Craftsy course & on the right is my block amongst other blocks.

So exciting to be a part of this project for a wonderful instructor!!

Mug Rugs

MugRugs

It was Brenda's 65th birthday December 31st so I decided to make her some mugrugs.  Had the embroidery patterns from Jacquelynne Steves for Cozy Afternoon Quilt (which I have not yet made, & may not…).  So I used these two patterns and fabric leftover from United Stitches.  Jacquelynne was also having a contest using these patterns - I entered and received 3rd place.

I also gave 2 white mugs to go with the mugrugs.

SnowPeople Runner

Snow came & decided to finally finish the SnowPeople Table Runner - from Bird Designs.  Machine sewn, hand embroidered & big stitching quilting around the edge, using Presencia #8 thread.

In Full Bloom

I worked on Sue Spargo's "in Full Bloom" Block of the Month quilt during 2014.  I loved working with the wool and learning and stitching all those lovely embroidery stitches.

We were not allowed to show our work until this May - we had to wait until Sue put the quilt package up for sale on her website.

Below is the drawing that we were given at the beginning of January 2014 - I have not finished the top quilting yet, but I have inserted the final top before quilting.  I have also put each of the months blocks as I finished them.  I think I may have to find a long arm quilter to quilt the top - I hate to do it, but I do not want to ruin my hundreds of hours of work!

I really enjoyed this BOM and I am now working on the 2015 BOM.

Butterfly Sampler Progress

Because I cannot post the finished picture of "In Bloom" - Sue Spargo's 2014 BOM (everyone who signed up for the BOM had to sign an agreement that we would not post any pictures of it until Sue has published the pattern - probably not until May 2015), I will definitely show my progress on Sue Spargo's "Butterfly Sampler" that I signed up for at Craftsy.

She goes over all the stitches in her lessons that a person could use & she provides the butterfly template - the rest is up to you.  I had to decide what colours, fabrics, felts, shapes for each butterfly.  I also had to decide which threads and embroidery stitches I wanted to use.  I drew and wrote down for each butterfly a 'master' plan.  So far I have appliquéd the felt and fabrics on each butterfly.  I had started to just do one butterfly from start to finish - but that was taking too long & getting too confusing.  So I decided to plan it out, appliqué all of them and then complete the embroidery work on each one.

So far I am pleased with the progress...

Postcard Swap

I became involved with Postmark'd Art - a postcard swapping group.  I enjoy doing fabric postcards - but I do not wish to sell them and my friends and relatives may be getting tired of receiving them - so I joined this group.  I signed up for 2 themed groups (there were a few choices) - Winter and Music.  These are my 5 fabric Winter themed postcards that I am mailing out in a few days - 4 go to the USA and 1 goes to Wales, UK.  The object is to get 5 Winter themed cards back.  This is Round 21 for this group.

They measure 4" x 6" - I embroidered the snow people.  It was fun & I hope they get to their destinations, unharmed, and on time.

I now have to create 4 Music themed postcards ...

Christmas Sampler

My niece, Judy, was having the Christmas dinner this year - there were about 30 of us!  I found Red Brolly's Christmas samplers this year and decided to do this one for her.  This was was titled "Christmas Home".

I was originally just going to put it into a picture frame, but I had not left enough at the sides - so I quilt framed it instead.  It is about 9" x 10".  

Butterfly Sampler

Butterfly Sampler

Finally got the background completed (almost, except for the green one as the thread is on backorder) and ready to start embellishing each butterfly.

This is the Butterfly Sampler by Sue Spargo which she is offering via Craftsy.  The base is about 16" x 24".  Each shape and butterfly has been appliquéd down and I have done some embroidery on the shapes - will do more when the butterflies are completed.

Next I will appliqué cotton shapes onto each butterfly and then I will add embroidery stitches - lots of.

I do so love working with wool - as opposed to just appliquéing on cotton.  The BOM I have been doing with Sue Spargo, "In Full Bloom", has been a great learning experience and my stitches have definitely improved.  I cannot post a picture of this wall hanging yet, as we have to sign an agreement NOT to post any pictures during the year, so face expulsion from the BOM!!

I have also signed up to do next years' BOM with Sue Spargo, so I can work on this sampler while I am anxiously waiting each month for the next step.

2014 BOM

2015 BOM

Mug Rug Swap 2014

Mug Rugs & goodies I received

Mug Rugs & goodies I made & sent

This year I was asked to join the Quilting Gallery Mug Rug Swap through Stitching Cow website.  The idea is to join the group, receive a swapping partner (they ask if you are willing to post overseas), make two mug rugs and send them to your swap partner.

This swap's theme was 'Friends & Neighbours Live Here' - Butterfly Cottage & House on a Hill were patterns designed by Lenna Green of Stitching Cow.  Mug Rugs are 5.5" x 10.5" mini quilts.  Usually they just create a theme & the partner designs mug rugs based on this theme, but this time they went with a pattern.  I appliquéd the pieces on with blanket stitch and did the hand embroidery.

It was fun creating a gift for someone else (one who actually understands the amount of work and effort that goes into these pieces).  My swap partner was Diane Graham who lived in New Zealand and moved to Pomara, Queensland, Australia when it came time to post my parcel.  We corresponded by email and she sent these two lovely mug rugs and souvenirs of New Zealand.  Along with the mug rugs I also sent two Christmas potholders I had made, some snowflake buttons, and some lucky stones and beach glass that I had gathered from my walks on the beach, as well as a picture card that I had taken of Gimli Harbour

Bertie's Winter

Yeah!!  Finally finished Bertie's Winter by All Through The Night.

Final measures:  28" x 34" - looks good in the front entry.

Sumptuous Surfaces Monotones

I have been taking the Sumptuous Surfaces Embroidery course from Sharon Boggon at Pintangle - this was the last time she was teaching this course online, so I had to take it.  Over a six week period students are guided through the process of developing their own design,  as well as being introduced to techniques used in freeform textured hand embroidery.

Students are encouraged to create their own design and make one or two small hand embroidered panels. Sharon suggests students work on fabric postcards as this size enables students to complete a small design exercise. However if people want to work larger it is their choice.

This was my project for part one of the course - Sharon gave us notes on where to look for design ideas and how to develop them using composition, shape, geometrical and organic shape, space, handling positive and negative space, scale, density, weight, line, movement, direction and texture. Key principals of design are covered in order to develop a design for a monotone piece of embroidery.  

Mine is 6 x 6 and is representing my granddaughter running & jumping on the beach.

I also joined the Flickr group of other Sumptuous Surface members - https://www.flickr.com/groups/464263@N22/pool/

Embroidered Birds

For my Easter display this year - I made these embroidered felt birds (had great plans for making lots more, but ran out of time…).  I had them hanging from a branch.

My Shiny Happy World had these two lovely patterns this year - these are created from her Flora and Daisy patterns.  I enjoyed creating these - maybe next year I will make a few more.  My daughter has already snaffled one of them...