Embroidered Pillow Cover for Megan

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Ours was great. We went to church on Christmas eve and it was a lovely service done by our youth group that really reminded us of the real reason for celebrating Christmas.

I focused on taking it very easy with Christmas buying this year. I tried to make some handmade gifts and I actually only went into the mall once to buy some chocolate for the kids stockings; 20 minutes in and out! The kids actually really enjoyed a more low key Christmas which was really nice to see and it was great to come in well under budget too. It just reminded me that it really isn't necessary for the kids to get hoards of stuff they just forget about in a few weeks!

When my daughter asked for a handmade pillow cover with an embroidery on it on her Christmas list I was surprised as I had already started an embroidery to make exactly that!

In early December I received my stamp of the month kit from Unity Stamps and as a free gift there was a small set of  Love Bug stamps included. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to use the VW bug image designed by Lisa Hetrick as an embroidery pattern and make something for my daughter with it; she absolutely loves VW bugs! I promptly emailed Lisa and Angela from Unity and they were both gracious enough to allow me to enlarge the image and use it for embroidery.

When my daughter opened it she loved it. She thought it was so pretty and she was hugging the cushion quite a bit all evening. I know she will treasure it for years to come. I wish I had gotten a picture of her opening the gift.

Above is a back view of the pillow. I used every scrap I had cut. I cut 1 2.25 inch strip of WOF for each fabric I used on the front and the top panel and the back is what was leftover after completing the front of the cushion. I love it when I can use up everything I initially cut (Even the excess around the image was used up)!

Christmas Gift for Piano Teacher

I've been trying to hand make as many Christmas presents as possible this year. My daughter asked it we could make a Christmas card and cushion for her piano teacher. Last Friday I drew this larger image inspired by Musicabella (Stamping Bella) and hand embroidered it. Today I made a cushion using the embroidery.

We also made her a card using the Musicabella stamp. I hope she likes them!

Our Christmas Stockings

Thirteen years ago, my oldest child was 6 and my youngest of 4 was a couple of weeks from being born, I decided we needed stockings. I was pretty much housebound as it was snowing outside so I got creative with supplies I already had on hand.

St. Nick Close up (I made 2 using this design, it's my favorite)

Little did I know that I was creating precious family heirlooms. My kids love these stockings, and my husband and I love knowing that we made these, I made him help cut out shapes, I was in a hurry (I guess the nesting instincts were taking over)! These still thrill our kids when we pull them out of the decorations box. I always wrap these in tissue and place them carefully in a separate box within the large box so they don't get damaged.

They are designed by me. I used wool felt, drew the designs, cut out all the shapes, hand stitched them all on with blanket stitch and then took them to the sewing machine to sew the stocking. I feel delighted when I pull them out and see my kids are just as excited to see them as the boys were that first year when I made them and they remind me of such a precious time when I was expecting our daughter.

 
They just remind me to be thankful for the many blessings God has given us!

I Heart Pillows - Friday Flckr Finds

1. Patchwork quilted pillow, 2. Hexagon pillow, 3. Zig zag pillow 1, 4. Contest Winner, 5. Contest Winner, 6. birdie's wee friend, 7. toadstool quilted pillow cover, 8. Pillow Talk Swap *Sent*, 9. string block quilted pillows, 10. Hexillow, 11. green log cabin pillow, 12. Tuesday blog pillow, 13. colorful bits pillow 002, 14. linen and green pillow with embroidered dahlia, 15. Windmill pillow , 16. wood & wool pillow

I have been stalking the Pillow Talk Flckr Pool for a while now and there are just some amazing pillow sleeves showing up on  there. Above are some of my favorites; these are all pillows I would love to make one day.

Enjoy!

Ripple Blanket Finish

A few weeks ago I signed up for Jacquie's Joy in the New Year Challenge. We had to send in the amount of UFO's we wanted to finish before the new year; she is offering a prize and we get an entry for each finished object we finish before New Years.

I went into the studio and looked at my projects and came up with the following list:

1) Pink Ripple Blanket - finish last 12 colorbands

I  finished this yesterday (2009-12-06). I was so excited to have this done. I crocheted 142 rows of stash yarns of my daughters choice as it will be hers. I love the finished project. Here is a reveal photo.

Now I better get to work on the rest of the list.

2) Christmas Table Topper (Disappearing 9 Patch)- Quilt and bind

3) Brea Bag - Line and attach handles and button

4) Navy Ripple Blanket - finish last 15 colorbands

5) Brown Woodpile Quilt - quilt and bind  posted about here

6) Octagon Quilt - quilt and bind
(Photo is of a magazine pic of pattern I used from American Patchwork and Quilting-details on reveal)

7) Mambo Mod Sampler - Quilt and bind

Winner - SewMamaSew Giveaway

Wow 323 entries to the giveaway!

I just want to thank everyone for visiting my blog and especially welcome to those who decided to be followers of my blog. It is great to know that when I put the work into creating a post that there are people out there reading it and it is great to share things I create and get some feedback from others who share similar interests.

Now, I'm sure you are all waiting for the winner. The random generator picked number 283 which is Naptime Quilter. Please send me your address and I'll have the bag and 4 beautiful fabrics in the mail to you right away.

Sewmamasew Giveaway Day

This contest is now closed. I will be announcing a winner in the next post either later tonight or early tomorrow morning.  (Edited 9:00 pm 2009-12-06.)

It's time for the annual Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day and I am so excited to be giving away 4 half yard cuts of coordinating designer fabrics (3 by Dena Designs and 1 by Heather Bailey) & a fantastic coordinating felted bag knit and felted by me with a removable flower.

For 1 entry just leave a comment on this post to be entered into the giveaway between now and December 6 at 9 p.m. PST.

For a second chance to win become a follower of my blog or let me know you are already a follower in a separate comment.

On December 6th I will use the random generator to choose a winner. If your comment doesn't link up to a blog than please ensure you leave an email address where I can contact you to let you know you won or bookmark and check back on the 7th. International entries welcome. The giveaway prize will be shipped by December 12, 2009.

Close up of fabric set

Good luck and thanks for visiting!

Please stop by again.

Weekend Embroidery

I figured since I joined Hoop Up! I better do a practice piece just to make sure I still remember how to hand embroider. I don't think I have done any serious embroidery for about 20 some years (Other than cross-stitch) but it does come back fairly quickly! I've been wanting to try it again for so long.

WIP doe-c-doe pattern found here.

I thought I would try to stick with my latest favorite colour combination, red &aqua. I love the vintage look of it!

I love how it turned out and it was so relaxing and so fun. This is destined to be a part of a quilt block in the future!

I Won a Giveaway (Hawthorne Threads)

I won a Hawthorne Threads giveaway! Yay!  I received it on Friday. The fabric is beautiful so I thought I'd show it to you.

It is  a Girly, girl fabric bundle by Patricia Bravo.

Hello Betty Retro Jelly Roll Giveaway Winner

I had my daughter draw the winner, and I just thought it was cool that I had 42 different people enter the giveway and almost everyone sent in my puppies names. Thanks for doing a little extra reading to find Kia and Jasper's names.

Drumroll..........The winner is Lesly (aka Shadrach Meshach and Abednego). I will be mailing out the jelly roll this week. I've emailed Lesly to let her know she won.

I will be participating in the Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway day on December 2nd; so, be sure to come back and comment for a chance to win a Dena Designs (FreeSpirit designer) fabric bundle.

Friday Flckr Finds - Japan

I joined an embroidery swap "Hoop Up! Stitch & Send Swap" being organized by Quiltdad. He was cool enough to let me in at the last minute and added me as an extra in his own group. Thanks John!

John encouraged us to make an inspiration mosaic for our theme and my chosen theme is a Japan/Asian inspired theme. I really do love all of these photos so I thought I would post them here in my Friday Flckr Finds.

Enjoy!


 1. Faked Geisha, 2. #385 青背藍桐 (Like a Butterfly), 3. Cherry Blossom Doe, 4. Pretty Monarch Butterfly 003, 5. cute chinese girls paper dolls, 6. Reflections  (new Time Lapse Video added), 7. japanese man and lady paper dolls, 8. . Home Is Where The Heart Is ., 9. Geisha Look-Alike, 10. Ajisai, 11. japanese geisha paper dolls, 12. a bamboo forest, 13. もみじ, 14. Untitled, 15. bloemstuk2, 16. wintry yellow
Created with fd's Flickr Toys

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway. I'm giving away a Hello Betty Retro jelly roll! Sign up ends tomorrow!

Grandmother's Flower Garden Fabric Giveaway - You just can't pass up

To win some of this fabulous fabric go here

.

Giveaway

This post is my 42nd blog post and it happens to be my 42nd birthday. I think that is just too coincidental to ignore, so I think it is time for my first giveaway. This giveaway will remain open until 7pm PST next Saturday, November 28 and I will announce the winner on a blog post next Sunday.

Since I have been focused on aqua and red this past week I have decided to giveaway 1 Hello Betty Retro jelly roll pictured below (I'm sorry about the quality of the photo).

All you have to do is leave a comment and you will be entered for the draw. (International welcome)

To receive 2 extra entries email me at dmpenn@telus.net with the names of my 2 schnauzers mentioned on previous blog entries.

Friday Flckr Finds - Red & Aqua

1. red and aqua retro doll quilt, 2. red and aqua, 3. FMF grey and blue, 4. birdie's wee friend, 5. Bubblegum Hexagon quilt...finished., 6. Studio colors/colours, 7. Christmas zigzag gift closeup, 8. Dressing room, now teal, 9. Close-up quilting ORBC Quilt-along, 10. Detail at Ingrid's house, 11. DQS7 Finished 1, 12. Fabric storage

I've been seeing a lot of aqua and red photos on Flckr lately and in particular in quilting and embroidery. I'm really liking this combination.

Kay's Christmas Table Toppers

Early this year Kay brought me 7 table toppers which she pieced for each of her 6 children and 1 for her to keep. They are all a large "Lonestar" but all done in different Christmas colourways.

I  had a lot of fun watching these come alive while I was quilting them. They are all backed with white flannel and also have a layer of white flannel inside (no batting). Pantographs used were Snazzy Snowflake, Stars and Loops, and Whirligig Lg.

Here are some pis of the ones I got photo's of. (Click on any of the photos for a larger view)

Enjoy!

Friday Flckr Finds

I just learnt how to make these mosaics and I've decided to make these into a regular feature called "Friday  Flckr Finds".

You can click on the mosaic to go to flckr to view individual photos and credits or use my links below.

Enjoy!

1.  Blue Wren - Free pattern by Cinderberry Stitches . This photo and stitchery done by Bloom. Go check out their blogs - they are incredibly talented women. Bloom also has a couple of quilt tutorials at the Moda Bakeshop!

2.  From the photostream of WendyLouP. Can you believe this is the back of a quilt! It is equally stunning to the front.

3.   Wood & Wood Stool - she does the most amazing crochet - so inspiring. You should check out her stool covers. Makes me want to make my husband put together a few stools so I can have one too. 

4.  myittybittyquilts - A riot of reproduction color. I just love the pieced hexagons using a 60 degree angle. Yummy!


5.  cutter 007 - Love the contrast of the grey neutral and the orange and the pieced circles are fabulous.


6. piotr m - Isn't that the cutest little face ever. She looks just like our Kia!


7.  Ben - I've been fascinated by mushrooms since I was a little girl. I always colored them red with white spots but I've never actually seen a red one in real life (our area just gets the yukky brown ones), so I just had to add this photo. I really like the shot because of all of the grass pointing in different directions behind the mushroom!  I guess the whole pic appeals to my artist side!


8.  Sixth on Seventh - I just love the ordered wonkiness of this quilt top and the colors are delicious. Check out all the other wonky quilts over at the ORBC Quilt Along Flckr pool.


9.  Sewingmomx4 - A fabulous quilt with great color and amazing longarm quilting using the Square Dance Pantograph by Anne Bright. This quilt design is a quilt along by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Frannson.

I'm Still Here!

I haven't been posting much but I'm still here! Brace yourselves this is going to be a long post!

You can click on any of the photos for a larger view.

I've been doing a lot of work on my LongArm machine. Here is a Vanity Square quilt pieced by Val using Mambo fabrics plus a few others. Val pieced this masterpiece for her teenage daughter.

I quilted Twilight on this one in honor of "New Moon", set to start in theaters on November 20th.

I have quilted Vanity Square in 2 other colorways which you can view here. (These two were pieced by Val's sister)

Because Val's work is so awesome and because I always enjoy viewing others workspace I thought I would share some pictures of Val's studio workspace.

There she is, Isn't her stash out of this world? It makes me weak at the knees!

See her project on the design wall. That quilt won a ribbon at our local guild show!

I've also been doing some piecing work. My sister and I got together to piece our Christmas table topper's using Rachel of p.s. i quilt's design (Moda Bakeshop tutorial) and kits made up using Moda's Glace. We bought the kits from the Quilt Shoppe and they were packaged so nice. You can view the package as I received it here.

Here are a couple of sneak peeks at my quilt top, yet to be quilted.

Isn't Glace deliciously festive?

And... just because of the cuteness factor here are some photos of our precious Schnauzer's.

  

We couldn't resist taking a picture of Kia with her sweater on which she hates, but which was necessary because she was shivering and a picture of Jasper looking extremely bored.

Introducing Hawthorne Threads - Giveaway

Remember Charlie and Lindsey at Fabric Supplies?

They have opened a new and improved .com shop now Hawthorne Threads. At their new shop you have access to tiered pricing, available yardage, and shopping by color!

I have ordered from them when they were Fabric Supplies and the service I received was fantastic!

Hurry on over because with the new shop they are having a giveaway - just go sign up for their newsletter!

Edit: I was advised by email that I won the FQ Girly Girl Bundle. I'll post photos when i receive it!

Finish - ORBC Quilt Along Round 1 - Quilt 1

I finally finished the first quilt from the Old Red Barn Quilt Along. This one is done using Basic Grey's Urban Couture. I used the leftovers from the strip ends for a top and bottom border, which I really like but I have been wishing I had chosen the periwinkle blue for the binding. I think it would have been a bit more dramatic.

I previously posted about this quilt while it was WIP here.

 I love the way the quilting turned out though. I used a bronze Cucirini Tre Stelle thread for the Page Boy pantograph by Patricia Ritter. I just love all of the interlocking curls; I'll definitely use this pantograph again.

 

Instead of 1/2 yards, I had purchased 1/2 metres here in Canada; so, I had an extra 1 1/2 inch strip left over from each fabric. I decided to do some extra piecing for the back; I think it turned out fairly well!

 

Here are my 2 finished quilts from last week just hanging out together on my back railing. Whew, that looks like an awful lot of work, but I enjoy every minute of it.

PS I posted previously about the quilt on the right here.

Finish - Wild Thing Whirligig

Even though I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner last night for my husbands family I had a pretty productive week and I managed to sew the binding onto my whirligig quilt and also another which I will post about on a separate post.

I previously posted about this quilt WIP here and here.

This quilt turned out pretty well. My favorite part is actually the back of it, and the best part is I got to use a large amount of a fabric that has been in  my stash for a long time. When I was squaring down my blocks I trimmed a few too small, oops, so I did something a little special on the back!

I used Camille Roskelley's Wild Thing pattern for this quilt. The pattern was easy to follow. I used 4 Benartex Sampler charm packs for this quilt.

I quilted this quilt with Daisies and Loops pantograph by Sue Schmeiden. I used a rose variegated King Tut thread. I love the panto on this one.

This quilt finished at 62 x 78 inches; this is a great throw size for my family since we are all close to or over 6 feet tall! This quilt will reside on our green family room couch for now; my kids are already using it.