USE

I'm feeling blue but a good blue! 

 Interestingly blue is one of those colours I rarely use.    I like blue, I just don't seem to use it much.  On one of my studio purge/cleaning binges last winter, I decided it was time to use some of the fabric from my quilting days.  After all, it has been sitting in those drawers for years.  Amazingly, I DID NOT purchase any fabric for this quilt top - frightening isn't it!?  

Most of the blues were leftover from the one and only blue (and yellow) quilt I made years ago.

I did end up buying the backing fabric as my pieced backing just didn't work.  It also means I can reverse the quilt.  I came across a pattern using various size squares by Kaffe Fassett online which made construction very fast and easy.  Quilting was done by my friend Hilary on her long arm - thank you Hilary!

I added the yellow borders on only two sides as this covers an outdoor sofa.

A wonderful way to USE those fabrics!

Enjoy your weekend and chat again Monday.      

POSTCARD

I have a variety of projects in varying stages on the go.  So, decided to post another CQ postcard I played around with not long ago. 

Very simple stitching.  A great way to practice.

More Friday.

MORE COLOUR

What can I say, I'm on a roll dyeing these days!  I need more variety in greens for leaves etc.......   

Paler shades of greens.  Overdyed some previously dyed ribbon which turned out orange!!!

Then since I had more dye, MORE THREADS!!!

I'm afraid to say, it is a bit addictive....

Thanks to all who commented on my little "gem"...

A GEM!!

Isn't she a beauty! 

You just never know what you'll find at the thrift store.

During my blogging absence this summer, I came across her one day.  She is a Smith Corona Corsair Deluxe circa about 1970.

I have been looking for a small typewriter for the past year or so.

Who could resist the colour!  I cleaned her up and she glistens.

This is what she looks like in the case.  Measures about 13" square.  I had no idea there was one made this small and light weight.

The best part  $5.00!!!

Oh, how could I resist.

GIFTS

Several posts back I posted about my participation in the All About Grey challenge with the CQ International yahoo group.  What a surprise last week when I opened a surprise parcel from Colleen who organized the challenge.

Have a feeling you'll see these in upcoming blocks!!!

Thanks so much Colleen...

DIGITAL

After talking to my friend Joanne last week about digital, it reminded me I have not worked on any digital projects in quite some time.  I came to realize that I tend to work on digital art when the weather is poor in the late fall and winter - lots of dreary days waiting to be brightened up with some digital colour.  

Some time ago I played with backgrounds and mail art envelopes so  thought it was about time I played around with some digital mail art so here it is.

Credits to Cemerony, Tumblefish Studios, Irena Alexeeva, Moonlight Journey and Lisa's Altered Art.     

GLORIOUS SILK

I completed only a very small amount of silk ribbon in the class BUT I continued on at home and came up with this selection.

 
Thought a close up was warranted.
Well, I most definitely learned a lot in the workshop.
Enjoy your weekend, back with more next week.

THREADS

This gives you an idea of what I accomplished.  Quite a variety of colours and threads.  Varying sizes of perle cottons, silk thread, buttonhole twist and silk ribbon.

I thought you might like to see them close up!

Another close up of the silks!

More to come....

COLOUR!!!

Look at those glorious colours!!!  I recently attended a 3 day workshop "Dyeing to Stitch" taught by the very talented and knowledgeable, Elin Noble.  The samples above are some she dyed during the workshop. 

This is a photo of our "yarn" tree, dyed and hung to dry!

The workshop was held at FibreWorks which is about a 35 minute drive from me in Pender Harbour.  We are so lucky to have this wonderful facility.     

The other attendees were all spinners/weavers so I got to see rovings dyed - the colours were incredible!

 
Various fibers including ribbon were dyed!

I did tell you, this week would be all about colour!!!

What did I do in class, stay tuned....

Fabric collage

I'm not doing much fabric collage these days but thought I'd share this one from earlier in the year.  Very simple piece I'll likely use in a future postcard. 

Lots of leftover lace, upholstery fabric, muslin and cheesecloth.

Next week will be all about COLOUR!!!

Enjoy your weekend...

Thrift treasures

As most of you are no doubt aware by now, I visit our thrift stores about once weekly.  On occasion, I admit I do miss a week.  Several weeks back I came across this bag of ribbons, to be precise mostly VELVET ribbon - what a find!  All for a toonie - for my international friends that is $2.00!!!  

These are now stored for future use - have a feeling you'll see these in some seam treatments on crazy quilt projects....    

Vacation is over!!

Yes, I am back after a very lengthy vacation/blog break.  I thought I'd share a photo of one of my garden pots earlier in the summer -  I'm enjoying our late summer this year with lovely warm temperatures. 

First, thanks to all of you who left comments on my last post about my grey challenge.  All were appreciated.

I wish I could say I did lots of art related projects during vacation but must admit I read, gardened, relaxed but DID NOT do much art.  I did manage to keep myself VERY busy purging most of my scrapbook supplies (a massive project I might add) which as you can guess took me many more days than I had anticipated.  Having said this, I do like the results - more drawer space.  I decided it was time to part with items I simply was not using much.  So off went most of the brads/eyelets, papers, punches and rubber stamps.  I am left with about 3 boxes of various tools, stickers and stamps which I hope will go to good homes when participating in a couple of upcoming garage sales.  I have re-organized (I'll share in future posts) and generally cleaned up - it feels SO good....

I'll be back on Wednesday to show you some of the things I DID do....  

HOW ARE ALL OF YOU?