DARE TO BE CREATIVE!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

November Swap For All Seasons


The theme for the November Swap for All Seasons was Birthday and the color was brown.  This is the card I made for my swap partner.  She liked vintage photos so I used a vintage photo from my collection to make this birthday card.

This is the birthday tag I made.  I used scrapbook paper from my studio and an image from Vintage Workshop Art To Wear.  I embellished with ribbon, bead trim, and a little spoon and spatula.  I remembered the spoon and spatula from an altered cookbook I made a few years ago.  It fit perfectly with the cookbook theme.

Here is a photo of the card, tag, and the brown items.  We are to send something brown from our stash along with the card and tag.  I found brown bias trim, a fat quarter of brown fabric, some brown Fancy Fur to send in her package.  My partner was Joyce from Pittsburg.
 
To find out more about the Swap for All Seasons click on the link on the left.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Civil War Chronicles Quilt


I finally put the Civil War Chronicles quilt on our bed.  It was a 2011 block of the month at a local quilt shop.  It took me 2 years to complete the quilt.  I have no idea how many hours when into completing this quilt top.  It measures 108" x 108" and includes a "million" half-square triangles.  (Well it seemed like "a million"!) 

I had it professionally quilted and I love the work Sharon did.

 
She used lots of feathers and other designs of the era.  The photos don't do a good job of showing the wonderful quilting designs.  I have to admit that the quilt is quite impressive on our king size bed.  I will never attempt anything like this again but I do love the finished quilt.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Primitive Snowman Wall Hanging completed

 
 

I finished my primitive snowman wall hanging this week.  It as a fun project and I am so pleased with the way it turned out.  All the fabrics are from my stash (including the backing).  The design is by Anita Goodesigns. 



This is my favorite snowman with the blue bird on his arm.

 This little guy is holding stars but they blend into the background in the photo.
This is the candy cane snowman.  I love his green and gold scarf. 

I also used an Anita Goodesign to make a quilt label for the back of the quilt.  You can see the backing fabric in the photo.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Quilt Show and Card Making Weekend

 
 
My sister and I spent the weekend at her cabin up North.  We attended The Rim Country Quilt Roundup Quilt Show on Saturday.  What wonderful quilts and wearable art they had on display.  Animal quilts were a popular theme.  Horses, bears, dogs, and lots of owls.  Some quilts were embellished with crystals.  Lots to see.  Sorry I didn't take any photos.
 
In addition to the quilt show my sis and I spent the weekend making Christmas Cards featuring vintage images.  We took our scrapbooking supplies and Christmas embellishments and worked at her dining room table.  Sorry no room for food!
 
Here are some of the cards we made. We had so much fun on our sister's weekend! 
 





Many of the images are from my personal collection of vintage photos.  Others my sister found on the internet. 

Friday, October 4, 2013

PINKS from Jill


 
 
I received a wonderful little box of PINKS yesterday from my October Swap partner.  Linda at A Swap For All Seasons is hosting a monthly swap.  Stop by and check out the November Swap with a Birthday Theme.
 
 
The theme of the October Swap was pink.  We were to make a card and a tag.  We were also to add a pink item from our stash.  Jill out did herself on the stash item and included a number of wonderful pinks from her stash. 
 
Thank you Jill.  You can see what I send my partner, Melodie, here

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Primitive Snowman

 
This is the project I am currently working on.  I am now the lucky owner of a new Janome 15000.  It is a dream machine and an improvement over my 12000.  Traded in the 12000 and came home with the 15000. 
 
This square will be part of a wallhanging/tabletopper that I am making as a Christmas present.   The design is from Anita Goodesigns.  I just love their machine embroidery designs.
 
 
The snowmen will alternate with the crazy quilt squares like the one above.  This too is an Anita Goodesign embroidery block from Jelly Roll Quilts.  When you make the larger squares, you can't use a Jellyroll because you need wider pieces than 2 1/2".  I found these lovely Christmas fabrics in my stash.  So far I'm loving these blocks.  I have 6 blocks and am working on block 7.  I think I will stop with 9 blocks and then make the borders from the red and gold fabric above.
 
It's still in the 90s here in the desert but I'm ready to begin working on Christmas presents.  I try to give as many "handmade" by Pam items as possible each year.