i'll be there, will you?

Come join us for a fabulous display of traditional and non-traditional quilting and fibre art. I belong to the largest quilt guild in Canada and believe me, this show promises to be spectacular!! Eye candy, shopping, food and demos.....what more could anyone want? Dust off your credit cards and exercise them in our Member's Boutique, Vendor's Mall and Cafe. Remember, these are not just your grandmother's quilts and there's something for everyone!



Unfortunately, my work schedule prevented me from entering any new pieces in the show this year, but I'll be demonstrating bead embroidery techniques at noon on November 12th and plan to have some smaller items available for sale in the Member's Boutique. BTW, it's just a short hop across the border for some of our American neighbours, so living in another country is not really an excuse. Well perhaps for some, but certainly not those in our neighbouring states....LOL!

Alas, no time to make anything new, so unfortunately, nothing in the shop for me this year!! I'm sorry if any of you were hoping to buy a 2011 version of my scarves or postcards. Don't worry, I'll be sure to let you know the next time I have them up for sale.

See you there!!


Photography and graphics by Deborah Milton.

possibly paisley

As discussed with the others in my Sparkly Chickens Yahoo Group, Beth's choice of a paisley pattern for her Receiver's choice block was a bit of a puzzle for me, as I didn't really know where to start. I'm rarely lacking in creativity, but for some reason it took a while for me to get the right inspiration for this block. I couldn't use my normal battery of techniques, so decided to dig out one I'd learned from Penny Berens many years ago. You layer three to four different fabrics and then stitch out your design (Penny had us scribble with crayons first - no designing required!). The paisley outline was drawn on freezer paper, which was then ironed onto the stacked fabrics and free motion stitched. I then stitch sketched the designs on the inside of the shape. Next, the embroidery scissors and I snip, snip, snipped to reveal the different layers of fabric. Then out came the embroidery floss and three simple stitches, buttonhole, french knot and running. Time consuming, but oh so satisfying!




I suspect that Beth was looking for complicated and unusual and I'm happy to say I think I gave it to her.



This block is now happily living with Beth in South Africa. It took a month to get to her. Two weeks from Canada to the US and then two weeks to South Africa via diplomatic mail. Sheesh! That was a very long time to have to wait for a reaction....

By the way, don't forget to drop by Beth's blog to say hello! Her photography is amazing and she even sprinkles in a little bit of stitching......

merry christmas to one and to all

I'm wishing you a happy, healthy and safe holiday season, full of friends, family and good times.

rocks & mouse trails

Mouse Trails:

This is the piece I made for the President's challenge at my guild. The theme was "Small World". I scraped three or four colours of acrylic paint onto part of an old sheet, with an expired credit card. Then I stamped into it with more acrylic paint on the bottom of a large round tub. After it dried, I hand cut the little circles (ouch!), layered them like a quilt (it IS a quilting guild) and free motion quilted with my sewing machine. After that, I finished the edges by butting yarn up against the edge and zigzagging it in place. I laid out the circles and then stitched them together, first with a thread bridge (heavier stitching) and then by stitching the weblike strands. None of this was done with any type of stabilizer. I was stitching across the gap!!! You gotta love Bernina's!!! I was worried that it would be too flimsy and wouldn't hold together, but I'm pleased to report that it has.

How does this all relate to "Small World", you say? Well, it's all about how small the world has become with the internet, my communication with like minded artists all over the world, the inspiration I gain and the techniques that I learn. All for the cost of my high-speed internet. The sun shines on all of us and the open thread work represents the lines of communication. North, south, east and west......my mouse travels all over the world. The title of this piece is thanks to a suggestion from my friend Kaite in Australia.





Pinned on the corkboard, while I was contemplating adding more circles, and trying to figure out how the heck I was going to hang this!



Not a great photo, but this is what I eventually decided to do. I added a narrow sleeve on the back, used more of the yarn to make a length of machine wrapped braid and then hung it from one of the beaver sticks I picked up in Sault Ste Marie, last summer. I'll have you know that the bark was REALLY chewed off by a beaver! Right now the piece is hanging on a door, but I think that I'll eventually hang it from a hook on the ceiling.



I'm contemplating entering this in another show in the spring, so will need to take a better photo before then.

Rocks:

My friend Penny in Nova Scotia recently posted about some rocks and a nest. I thought that I would show you my version.



The nest is a bit of wet felting and I've been meaning to wrap some floss around the edges for years. Does anyone know how I coloured the rocks? A couple of you really might know (because you've either done it before or I talked/wrote about it in an earlier email), so please hold off on your answers until we get in a few guesses.

Yeah, I know that three would be more pleasing to the eye, but I only made two! LOL!

Happy guessing!