messenger bag

I made this cute bag from a felted sweater & navy wool felt. The pattern is from Betz's Warm & Fuzzies. The felt is fused to the sweater bits on the strap & flap. This gives the strap real body & should stand up to real use & abuse!
she also has a new book coming out any day now called Sew Green
I love all things green!!

mountains of snow

that's what's outside our home. Mountains of snow. piles of it. what's the best thing to do?
Make something bright & cheery & floral.......
like this.
A tote with lots of outside pockets. Pattern from Quilting Arts - Stitch magazine.I made one before Christmas for our guild secret Santa exchange but didn't get a picture of it. This one is made with a heavy treated cotton one of my fibre art friends was passing on! Lucky me!

cyber Fyber

see my fiber postcard on display at the Cyber Fyber . It is the middle one in the row to the left in this photo.

a cute little purse

following Melanie Testa's instructions in the Dec/Jan 09 Quilting Arts Magazine I made this cute little purse- using a different version of this wallhanging.
There is a cute video of Melanie making her purse here.

and the mitts to match

is this upcycling?

let it snow, let it snow,let it snow

It is going to be a white Christmas here in Southern Ontario!
My DD will be toasty warm in her new hat we made together yesterday.
Second hand wool sweater fulled in the washing machine. I used the pattern from the book Warm Fuzzies by Betz White. a great pattern, clear concise instructions. We picked rick rack for the ties - perfect for Spot!!

one block wonder

first there was stack n whack, then the four corner posy, now one-block wonder seems to be the latest thing to do in quilting.
all of these are basically the same - taking advantage of how fabric is printed - stacking identical repeats of motifs in varying numbers 4-8. cutting them into pieces then arranging them.
I had fun with some ladies ohhing & aweing over their blocks in a class recently
mine is this yellow one

CreativFestival

Imagine a whole convention centre full of paper & fabric & beads & ink & buttons &sewing machines & yarn & thread. oh my.
Add in free demos, classes, door prizes and you have the CreativFestival.
in the big smoke, TO or Torona. (actually TORONTO)
I'm headed there towmorrow to hang 29 gorgeous pices of art made by Canadian members of SAQA.
all 16" square, all based on the theme Synthesis, all different, all brilliant.
I will be teaching a class Sunday morning called Art Quilts 101. We could spend hours trying to define art but we're gonna have fun instead.
see ya there

Thr3fold

Thr3fold is the name of a unique book published by the very talented team of Linda Kemshall, Laura Kemshall and Catherine Nicholls.
Each journal is full of wonderful projects and insight into how these artists work together and individually. There is also a CD with video clips, more projects and photos to use. I used Laura's machine embroidery to make this piece. Laura has been kind enough to include it in the Reader's Gallery of Thr3fold.

wreaths

I had a great time helping these ladies in class to make a wallhanging wreath. Floral fabric cut into squares - that's what quilter's do don'tyaknow, cut up fabric to sew it back together!!
the squares are arranged on fusible grid - endlessly sometimes! - into a wreath. I love how they are each so unique just like the creators.

I predicted it first........

I've been saying it for about a year........macrame is making a comeback.
If you were crafting in the 70's you did macrame.
Evidence here

brilliant flowers

these bright flowers are in my front flower bed. They are a wonderful golden yellow. I got a used copy of David Hornung's workshop book on e-bay. He is teaching a workshop at Nancy Crow's in the spring. He spent some time making quilts and has written the intro in one of Nancy's books. dets are here. There are wonderful examples of the mysteries of color. I guess it really is a mystery of light and our eyes together. Like many books the real learning comes from doing the exercises. I'll be buying gouache. I'll need to learn how to pronounce it first!!
for Gail - the paisley fabric in the card trick quilt top is by Timeless Treasures pattern name Mirage. Actually all the fabrics in that quilt top except the solid black are from that line. HTH

playing around

I made some 'fabric' like I did at Nancy Crow's from this funky fabric and some hand dyes.cut & sewn into this small loose checkerboard piece. I'm not sure how to quilt it. any suggestions?

card trick

There are still so many traditional quilt patterns I want to try. I've always loved Card Trick. The pattern is from Northcott fabrics. I will be teaching this class in the fall. My part is finished - someone else will be doing the quilting. just as well, because I am feeling very frustrated at my quilting. I am working on machine quilting the Knotted Bouquet. After working so hard to have everything even & straight - it looks not so good now! I sure hope I will love it again when it is finished. I am just frustrated that my quilting skills don't match my piecing skills at this stage.

an award winning quilter

I am, I am said Sam!!
yup I won a ribbon -I tied for first place in the Twisted Stitcher's Guild Food Challenge with my Menton lemons wallhanging. It was from a workshop with Velda Newman at QBL last year. Teachers & students alike are busy packing for this years wonderful line up of classes. have fun everyone!

Lemons from Menton because it is one of my favourite towns in France. You can sit at the waterfront & look out over Italy. They do with lemons what Pasedena does with roses!

new class sample

2 shots of my latest quilt top. I'll be teaching this class in the fall. Its a pattern called Knotted Bouquet by Shawna Case of Quilter's Clutter in Alberta - I'm not doing the bouquet applique part on the outer border - why because I don't want to - yes that is the sound of a grown woman ( H. E. double hockey sticks - grown? nudging on half a century old ) stomping her feet like a 3 year old!! I just don't wanna!!!
I really enjoyed doing it. I love the secondary pattern created by the four blocks. To me that is the magic of quilt design - those secondary patterns.

quilting community

This wonderful craft/art/skill of quilting has always generated so much more than comfort cloths. building community. From quilting bees with generations sitting side by side to the internet we connect over fabric and thread. blogs have made it easy for everyone to share their journey.
The hottest place right now is Quilting Gallery. Add YOUR blog & watch the numbers grow.

saying something

with that vocabulary was interesting. more cutting & sewing. Robin next to me, is an experienced Nancy Crow workshop student. She cut her units directly from the fabric & made a beautiful piece. Kim worked quietly in a corner space and has her thoughts and work posted in her blog.
my strips were large so there was no 'unit' without additional sewing & construction.
4 was enough! After trying all the predictable stuff -Nancy helped me with this setting.
I like it. 2 full days of work plenty of blood sweat & tears went into this little piece.

creating vocabulary

lots of the fabrics I took to Nancy Crow's workshop were used to create vocabulary. Fabric was cut freehand with curves and waves and sewn into sets. Here are mine
It was very interesting to see everyone's work. I understood what we were doing on an intellectual basis but actually doing it made me really get it. I understood it on a visceral level. I know even if we all started with the same fabrics they would still be very different at the end.

colours and shapes everywhere....

Life has returned to normal. work, teaching classes, renovating the kitchen but my mind just wants to think about line and shape and colour. That's all I see.
like these paint chips I picked up at Rona.
who names colours anyway? Hymn to the sun??! en francais is much better!! -Melodie pour le soleil.

This is a black and white exercise using shapes. We used it to make a larger multi-coloured version. I'm going to replace the bottom right 2 corners- I don't like the shapes. they are more like lines than shapes at this point. It is big enough to use as a picnic blanket or to makes tents. not a masterpiece but someday someone (maybe my grandbabies) will cherish it all the same.