Easter Cards

 I made these cards for Easter and thought I would share with you. 

The first one is my prototype and I had to make the lattice with 1/8 inch strips since I did not have a die. This was kind of a nuisance so I decided to make a run to one of my local paper crafts store - Scraps of Love in Peoria, AZ - and get a die. I had not been there in almost a year, so I was there a while looking at stuff and found other things I just NEEDED to have! HA HA.

I did find one lattice looking die that looked perfect! Until I used it, it did not cut out the squares!! But it worked great as a background for the bunny card!! Well, I did not want to go back to the store (it is about 24 miles one way) so I purchased a die from Stamps of Life, off Amazon. It came just in time, but the lattice squares were smaller than I wanted. So, I made some with the small squares and I cut some of the squares out to make bigger lattice for others. Phew!

I have not been in a card making mood for quite a while, but it seems to be picking up. Still, I did not make the usual numbers for Easter, so if you usually get a card from me and did not, I apologize! I hope to do better next year. 

 

This card uses the Stampin' UP! rainbow glitter paper for the egg.

This card is mostly balmy blue and uses Stampin' UP! big daisy punch to make the bunnies.

 I have a pile of loose bunny ears now!

Happy Easter! He has risen!!!!

Owl Cracker

I started this in the fall of 2016. It was a project my local ANG chapter decided to do from the ANG Chapter Project Notebook. It is a set of 5 fall designs called Autumn Crackers by Marilyn Owen.

There is a quilt block, a maple leaf, a fall tree, a pumpkin and an owl. I decided to do the owl. The design is 3 1/4" x 4 3/4" and it is on a piece of 8"x 9" 18 count mono canvas. It is supposed to be finished as a cracker - like the ones popular in Britain at Christmas time. It uses pearl cotton, Kreinik braid, Fyre Werks, Silk Lame, Gloriana silk and DMC floss (you can use Splendor instead, I opted for floss).

This is one of the projects I picked up to work on when my community stitch group started meeting again on Tuesdays and I have only been stitching it then.  As you can see I am almost done. I just need to finish the last column on the right, the background above and below the owl and a few stitches to help with the finishing. Then on to finishing!

Happy Stitching!!

Sampler and Antique Quarterly Magazine 2012 Sampler Update

Well, I picked this back up again. It seems to be my yo-yo project. I will just keep plodding along and it will get done. I last told you about it in November.  In 2012 the Sampler and Antique Needlework Quarterly Magazine (sure sad to see that one go) had a year long project that I fell in love with and had todo. It is rather large and so I work on it off and on. 

The design size is approx. 25 1/2" long by 10 1/4" wide. The fabric is 30 count linen cut to 32"x 17" It is designed by Susan Haverson of Cross Stitch It and was inspired by 17th Century English band samplers, adapted using her colors, designs etc. It done entirely with DMC floss.

Originally I had it on scroll bars, but that was when we had Miss Maddie, a 60 lb. Labrador that stayed on the floor. Now we have Li'l Coco, a 16 lb. mixed breed that is allowed on the sofa. She sets herself against my leg or my hubby's leg (we are her people pillows). Well when she was against my leg my scroll frame hit her in the head if I turned if over to start or end thread. So, I took if off and I am doing it in hand now. I am almost done with part 2 of 3. 

That is about all for now!

Geraniums Completed

I last told you about the online course I was taking called Geraniums through the Embroiderers' Guild of America, Inc. (EGA) here. Well, I got it all done and here it is!!

It was a very fun piece to work on and I hope to get it framed and hung in our house. I really love the colors. If you have not seen the earlier post, be sure to click on the link above to see how the wide border looked at the stages of completion.

Happy Stitching!!

Dog Park - A Beaded Square.

The Museum of Beadwork in Portland, Maine is working on a community project: Beaded Square. Be sure to click on the link to see all the amazing submissions. I decided to give it a try and here is  my completed project ready to send off. 

I have always wanted to create a knot garden in needlework. This is my first go at one, but with mixed media. I have beads (rules for project is that it had to at least be 50% beads), fabric, paper and embroidery. I purchased some special nails for the center and corners, but they are handcrafted and turned out to be difficult to get into the corners. I was able to get the one in the center, but had to go to plan B for the corners and I used brass needlepoint tacks. Always good to have a plan B (originally this was in case the nails did not arrive in time).

It is worked on sage green 18 count mono canvas with materials from my stash. Each corner represents a season - pink for spring, yellow for summer, dark red for fall and white for winter. Once I decided on the paw print fabric, the name of my project became apparent. The center has blue embroidery floss, not black as is seems in the photo, to represent a water fountain for the park.

I had a lot of fun making this since I could be creative and use all my creative passions. It is mounted on a wood base, which one of my nice neighbors cut and sanded for me since we no longer have a table saw, and he had scraps of wood to share.

Now I just have to package it up and send it off to Maine by March 19th!

Some Quilting Finished

I first told you about these quilts in progress on June 8, 2020. Now I can show you the finished pieces. 

I used Layer Cake pre-cuts from the Moda Fabrics Farmhouse II collection and solid white layer cake precuts (all 10" squares). I then used a Layer Cake Recipe 2 card to create the half square triangles and sewed them together to make T blocks.  I used Jelly Rolls from the same fabric collection, choosing predominantly green fabrics to make the binding.

This disappearing four patch star is based on month 4 of the Missouri Star Quilt Company's 2020 block of the month club. I am not a member, but stumbled across the you tube video about this block and decided to try it. It was fun! I was looking for a fun star block for my quilt club's quilt show challenge. The theme was seeing stars (I say was because due to covid-19 the quilt show was cancelled). 

If we wanted to participate in the challenge we paid $2 and received a surprise (a brown bad with a fat quarter in it), All the fabrics were different and all has stars. Mine is the gray fabric. The finished piece is about 17" square. 

Everyone who is in town, was given the opportunity to turn in our challenge pieces and there will be a  mini show for club members on Friday, March 5. The plan to do this again, so members not in town can participate. Sorry I do not seem to have a photo of the back.

Geraniums

I am in the middle of an Embroiderers Guild of America (EGA) online course called Geraniums by Merrilyn Hazelwood. It comes in three colorways. I chose mandarin. 

It is on white 18 count mono canvas using some Gumnuts wool, DMC #5 pearl cotton variations and a solid. Yet to be used is some DMC floss. The design area is about 9”x9”.

I started late and I am still on lesson one of three and I think lesson three comes out March 3!

The wide border is done in rice stitch using the wool for the cross and a variegated for the crossing of the legs. This is how it looks partially done and there is quite a difference! I did follow the teachers suggestion and tried to get color blocks rather than doing the legs row by row. 

The next photo is the completed rice stitch border. Now on to the rest of the border and lesson one will be complete!

Happy Stitching!