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

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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!