hand stitching

ever notice how lovely hand stitched pieces are small. like this beautiful elephant on the cover of Stitch magazine. It is 21 x 17.5cm. I now know why. I belong to a very small but great group of fibre artists - at our first meeting before Christmas last year we decided to work on a project from Quilting Arts Magazine Gifts issue. a bag from Linda & Laura Kemshall.
layers of sheers under tulle then lots of hand stitching. I worked on it diligently watching all the Christmas specials. you know the ones - the ones you know word for word - Grinch, Rudolph, Charlie Brown. Yup classics.
True to my theory that everything is smaller in the UK - cars, roads, fridges. I thought go big or go home. I started out with a fat quarter. so my stiched piece is a huge 42 x 48 cm. that's about 17 x 19"!!
all stitched and more than a few pricked fingertips!!
I love the texture, the bumpy surface where the stitching gathers up the batting.
the big question - what's next!!
Laura & Linda are know for painting on their quilted surfaces.
Yikes. but as Myrna said- the earth won't fall of its axis or birds fall out of the sky so why not!!

Cyber Fyber

The internet has been a great resource in building communities that wouldn't exist any other way. Meeting people from around the world with common interests. Susan Lenz had a wonderful exhibit of small art in the form of ATC's and postcards called recently called Cyber Fyber. These AtC's & postcard started out similar to these -same velvet,plaid scarf,foil, sheers -different wool and sheer on top. The sheer is more reflective and called for a cheerier finish. I love the fuzzy multi-coloured yarn.

souvenirs from Prague

I'm not a big fan of buying souvenirs when we travel. We take lots of photos and try to keep notes on each days events. But hand painted silk in a gallery window will draw me in regardless of where I am.
I bought this beautiful one-of-a-kind hand painted silk designer skirt at a gallery in Prague
this photo shows the detail of the fabric & the back of the skirt. It is by a designer Ivana Follova.
This sweater is designed by Martina Nevarilova and looks great with the skirt. I am so excited to have a truly unique outfit to remind me of a great visit to Prague.

falling leaves

I made & taught this wall hanging last fall - I call it a door style - great for that long skinny piece of wall at the top of the stairs.
It is from a pattern by Bee Creative Studio called Drifters. But I started calling it Falling Leaves. I like how the yellow leaves form a soft S shape for your eye to follow
the background is paper piece and provides wonderful variety. the leaves are freezer paper applique.

Horoscope

do you read the horoscopes? do you believe in them? I do and I admit they are very general so you can read into them what you want. this one from last week spoke to my heart.
There needs now to be a plan, a strategy, a real mood of certainty about what can be achieved. It is coming if you don't have it already. And it will alter everything in your life. Your daily world advances from black and white into full colour.

needlefelting

I like needlefelted work but prefer if all those little holes are not visible. Beryl Taylor always writes clear, concise instructions for projects that have such visual interest & depth. Her latest is in the Jan/Feb 08 issue of cloth, paper, scissors.
I had started working on my felt piece for Carmi's swap with a plaid mohair scarf. I bought the scarf at the Toronto Clothing Show but found it too itchy to wear. It was felted onto wool felt and felted to a piece of cotton velvet. circle of wooly yarn punched in & painted fusible ironed on.this is what it looked like at that point.
many more layers- copper & blue foil, punched sheer from an old skirt, a sprinkle of bo-nash & a layer of orange chiffon. then machine stitched, sliced & diced & the edges finished with yarn.
when I was cutting it up I realized it looks like rust or patinaed copper. Is patina a verb or a noun? both?
as a bonus the back looks great too.
this is the front scanned

and the back

extreme gleaning

I admire the work of Mary Fogg. I was fortunate enough to see one IRL at the quiltart 20 show at the Burlington Arts Centre.
While tidying up my work surface in the studio I decided either use em lose em. That lovely fuzzy first strip cut off a piece of washed fabric. Sew horizontally on a background with a pice of batting about journal size.
They became a lovely way to document the fabrics used in a piece and remind me of the exercise we did in Katie PM class

how I've felt

some times things are just MFEO (made for each other) I sometimes feel old cuz I've missed out on the whole IM, ICQ, now facebook thing. by choice that is. I don't even own a cell phone for pete's sake. but I digress.....
some things just fall into place, I've been wanting to play more with the Xpression. Having worked very hard on samples of classes I will be teaching at Ultimate Sewing Centre I rewarded myself with this little book. while tidying up in the studio these yummy supplies fit the bill. A cover-up top of unknown content - basically two panels stitched together with gathering ties at the shoulders and a huge skein of gorgeous wool yarn bought at a yarn shop on Queen St in Toronto. Here they are laid out on a piece of water soluble stabalizer with wisps of light pink roving following Her Majesty's directions!
flip & repeat on other side & pin to hold in place.
needle punch to hold everything together. then stitch. I used two kinds of water soluble stuff, one didn't even punch into the fibers so I got it all back (except for 1 tablespoon- remember the Crisco ad!)
Into the tub to wash away the remaining Solvy & scrunch to wet felt.
It it turned out gorgeous. still soft but not slinky. It shrank in length quite a bit so I am going to put a slit near one end to pull the other through so it will sit close to my neck.

I've been tagged

by LennaHere are the simple rules to being tagged:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs

so here goes in no particular order ..........

1. I am a pharmacist. have been for a little while now. lets see, oh ya it will be 25 years in 2008!!! holy &*^%$ where does time go??

2. I have 2 gorgeous delightful darling daughters. my greatest creations ever!! just thinking of them makes my heart swell with love. They are on their own now so when I see them I want to gobble them up just like when they were babies.

3. I'm engaged. for over 3 years now. 2008 WILL be the year.

4.I never work on just one project at a time. I always have many on the go at once. I am trying very hard to finish most though.

5. I can't leave a surface uncovered. It just happens.I can clean the coffee table and in what seems like mere seconds- magazines, notes,books, fabric, newspaper, the odd coffee mug, folded laundry appear. Its like magic, not good magic. good magic would be if things disappeared with equal ease.

6. I want to write a book one day.

7. I am usually very happy & extremely grateful for my life.

hey that wasn't so bad. not much weird stuff. sorry

do I know 7 people I can tag? here goes - Melissa, Nadine,Myrna apparently I don't.

snow day

Here in Southern Ontario we had a good winter storm over the weekend with lots of snow. at least a couple of feet. the best part is getting to stay indoors all day guilt free (well yes this is something I do at least once a week - most Sundays and occasionally from Friday am through to Monday am.)
A good change to finish a few projects for Christmas gifts. There is very little chance the recipient will see this as she has a strong dislike for computers and wouldn't own one except she is in college. Yup we are talking about my youngest daughter. I won't have to ban her from the blog like some people!!
anywho this is a little wallhanging for my tree-loving daughter.

A piece of hand-dyed fabric from my course in Kingston last summer. The centre stitching is machine embroidered from a design made on 4D Sketch by Laura Kemshall from her journal Thr3fold.
It may look familiar as it is very similar to the pillow Laura made for Quilting Arts magazine.
I don't have very much hand-dyed fabric so I used a commercial fabric for the binding. I like the way it looks like looking up through a tree full of leaves. there is a tiny bit of bronzy gold in the binding that ties into the painted leaves.

sometimes a quiz says it all.....

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You're a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life's problems. Don't worry - everyone know's it's not easy being green. Just remember, time's fun when you're having flies!

The Muppet Personality Test

The only TV show I made a point of watching while in University--- The Muppets. The only stuffed toy I still own - Kermit. My only kitschy garden ornament - Kermit.
what else is there to say? oh ya KERMIT RULES!!!
Hey Mel I didn't cheat either.

Pay it Forward

I received my lovely Pay It Forward prezzie from Lenna. a beautiful piece to hang in my studio.
picture of dets

and inside the pocket were these lovely photos printed on fabric

my Pay It Forward treats will be made from this - a dyed & painted fabric from last summer sliced & diced into these itty bitty pieces. stay tuned to see what they will be or better yet jump in to Pay It Forward and you will get a surprise in the mail from moi!

my work from Katie's class

These are my pieces from Katie's class.

This is one of my favourites - developing depth using the rainbow colours in order of value. This was from a favourite photo of Monceau Park in Paris. remember these are just quick cut & fuse exercises that could be developed if desired.

Color & composition with Katie PM

I spent 3 days in a workshop with Katie Pasquini Masopust and had a blast. We worked from her book Color & Composition for the Creative Quilter. Katie prepares a kit of all the colours fused ready to work through the exercises from the book. After each exercise we would tape them to a large wall for group discussion. Her is Katie with our monochromatic & achromatic pieces.

I won..........

this beautiful piece by Penny Milton at the Oshawa Fibre Arts Show recently. Bidding on the silent auction, benefitting Osteoporosis Society of Canada, had a prize for bidders and I WON!!

Pay it Forward

Artists are such a generous group of people. I'm thrilled to be participating in a great challenge called Pay It Forward. I met Lenna last summer at her husbands family compound on St. Lawrence River near Kingston. Lenna has some pictures of us here, sitting in what I know as Muskoka chairs or as Lenna & Steve called them Adirondack chairs!!
The first 3 people to leave a comment here for me will receive a gift handmade by me. Hmmm? what to make, what to make?? shall I embeliish, quilt or paint?!
Your part is to Pay it forward. simple!
To participate:

1. Comment on this post, expressing your wish to participate in ‘Pay it Forward’. I will contact the first three responders for your mailing address so I can send you your giftie. Make sure I have your email! If I can't contact you, I won't be able to include you : (

2. The first 3 to comment here who I can contact, will receive a little handmade gift from ME!

3. The first three who comment here will post this message on their own blog, and offer three more small gifts, handmade by them. You will be making one gift for each of the first three people who comment on your post, who in turn will go ahead and announce this idea on their blog and then make gifts for the first three people that sign up with them!

Christmas stars

a fun easy piece as a wallhanging or lap quilts. A variety of Christmas reds & greens & a few stars good............





but this is better.

Finished with it

This is a quilt top I started years, many years ago as a gift. It is or I should say WAS my guilt piece. It is no longer appropriate for its original intent. I have finished with it - I finished the top to the easiest size and all the extra blocks, strips, every scrap of fabric from the project is now gone. I donated it to our guild for someone to quilt & then it will be donated.

shopping in US

There's a lot of noise in the media about people trying to buy cars in the US now that our buck is worth a few more pennies than the greenback. I don't want to buy a car I just want more fabric! what quilter doesn't!! I dodn't realize how much cheaper fabric is in the US until last summer when I went to QBL. Johnnie in my class recommended zandsfabrics . The I had a look there was a 10% discount on everything so I figured - as good a time as any.
Its fun shopping in the comfort of your own home. I knew some of the lines I wanted so there were no surprises there. some fabrics were on sale. My only limit was 18 yards for $23 shipping. My parcel arrived yesterday. No taxes,no duty, no additional brokerage fees. so ya wanna know eh?!

WITH shipping





under $6.45 per yard!!! not bad eh? A neat little box - every piece of fabric folded and stacked perfectly, wrapped with a strip of fabric.The packing slip has a little colour picture of each fabric in order to make checking it off so easy.
these last 2 on the left go with this collection of fabrics

more finished

I started this in 1999 after a week camping in Algonquin park with DDs. I read Larry McMurtry's Comanche Moon. so I'm calling it Comanche in Algoquin. cheap striped stuff from F-land & upholstery fabric with butterflies. I still love diamonds and may do something on a smaller scale like this one in Mark Lipinski's magazine.

Bee Day

we had a great day at the guild workshop. We cut & stitched & sandwiched many quilts for our charity groups. Bea showed us how she takes orphan blocks assorted strips & joins them together to make charming quilt tops.
these are 2 simple tops I made. The first one makes a great zigzag with the orientation of the 2 part block.
the other is a contemporary zigzag from Denise Schmidt's book

is there any easier way to...

ease your guilt about blogging than a silly quiz?

You Are From Jupiter

You are exuberantly curious - and you love to explore newness. Enthusiastic and optimistic, you get a kick out of stimulating intellectual discussions. Foreign cultures and languages fascinate you. You love the outdoors, animals, and freedom. Chances are you tend to exaggerate, so try to keep a lid on that. If you do, you'll continue to be known for your confidence, generosity, and sense of justice.

What Planet Are You From?

what I've been doing

I had a wonder trip to France with my SO & his parents. I have a ton of pictures to share but instead of loading them. I've been watching this
thanks Mel!!

I've been tagged

makes me think of playing tag in the yard at school!
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) –kuchushe sunfire!

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) sticky toffee puddin' Mcvitie

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) -MHan ps what is a fly girl?

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - green lion

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born)-Ann Newmarket

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) -Hannma

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink put “The”)The yellow coffee

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers)- Mike Joseph (?)

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne, favorite candy) brown sugar ripple

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) help don't know

burn baby burn

another fun weekend in Kingston at St. Lawrence College playing with fabric & stitch.
used my painted fabric & covered it will rows of sheers. then zapped it with the heat gun. them sliced & diced and woven with the hand dyed. Its so funny at every stage other classmates where like, oh my your gonna do WHAT?! its only fabric people. repeat after me 'its only fabric'. It had a long way to go. I have to sew down the rows may with more sheers to zap then cut open the darker parts & roll them back to reveal the fabric underneath.
dets on this one to follow

my melon

This is one of the samples I did in Velda Newman's class or it might be Velda's sample. I can't remember!! they start with a plain piece of white or yellow fabric over cotton batting then plain cheesecloth stretched & pulled this & that way to get rid of the grid. the lots of free motion circles to make the texture. the next step will be to paint

fabric stash at QBL

sew much fabric sew little time!! my we have come a long way. from using old clothes & feedsacks for quilts. Now if we are in a class and we need something - rather want something - we can just pop down to the merchants mall & buy it!!
There is something to be said for limits. Having all the fabric in the world at your fingertips doesn't necessarily make for a better quilt. I brought a large amount of fabric to Carol's and still had lots less than some others. I ended up using many of them but edited them back to a more manageable palette.

but I digress.........I did manage to do some shopping at the merchants' mall. I like to get things that I can't always find elsewhere. I got lovely felted handbags from Nepal for $14. and matching felted balls. I couldn't make them for that price. I bought 5 books by Doubletrouble Press - Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn's stuff. They will be in Ontario in the fall but everything is booked!!
I'm not a big fan of co-ordinated things. furniture, clothes, bedding, fabric. but I may have to change my opinion if the fabric designers keep this up!
a gorgeous collection of fabrics called Beatnik. I love the colours and they go so well with the piece of dyed cotton sateen I bought from Carol Soderlund.
I'm thinking of a very modern quilt pattern - something like this.
what do you think?