Sunday, June 24, 2012

My Father's Day card for dad...just a bit belatedly!

For those of you who don't know my dad, he made a living for himself and his family as a carpenter. He's also an avid gardener, and he loves trees - both as part of God's creation, and also as a source for the lumber for the many houses he's built and renovated over the last 30 or more years. He takes great delight in being able to share where each tree on his property came from - and there have been a few unusual ones. Father's Day 2012 - a little bittersweet - the first day to "celebrate" dad after mom's death. It was tough, and he shed more than a few tears... Now to the card - I had JUST bought Tim Holtz' woodgrain embossing folder, and I knew it would be perfect for this card. I ran a Close to Cocoa panel through the Cuttlebug with the emb. folder. I love the look it gives! Dad's eyesight is failing somewhat too, so having the raised pattern was an added bonus. I also picked up a simple tree stamp at Michael's a while back, and I stamped it onto a piece of patterned brown DP, and the leafy "canopy" onto a few pieces of green DP. I paper-pieced the green DP onto the trees I'd also cut, and popped the "leaves" up with pop-dots. I also used the pop-dots to lift the trees up off the surface of the card, partly to help dad distinguish the different browns - maybe next year I'll choose a different colour combinations ;-). I stamped the sentiment on green C/S. The card was a big hit! Here's the finished card:

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Not the most productive evening!

I had such grand plans for last night's Friday Night Sew-In - start sewing early, and sew late. That should have given me at least 6 or 7 hours to sew, right? There's a saying about the "best laid plans of mice and men...", and that sure seemed to be the case last night! First up, I wanted to make a few coasters for a dear friend's special birthday. Her kitchen has an apple theme, and she loves chocolate; I couldn't choose which to go with, so I planned to make 2 sets. Oh, did I tell you that I broke the guide off my 1/4" foot the last time I did some sewing? Yeah... So, last week I finally got into the city so I could buy a replacement. Got it in place and ready to sew - and immediately broke a needle. Replaced the needle, checked my settings - oh look, I had the needle in the wrong position (no wonder the needle broke); change that, try again, break another needle... This isn't the kind of fun I was hoping to have. Turns out that the new foot isn't exactly like the old one, and the needle will ALWAYS hit the foot... so, a trip into the city again is in order. SO... put the old foot back on, and hope I can get a true 1/4" seam without the guide. The coasters turned out well, and I don't think that the quilt police will be around to check out my seams! Turns out that my next job didn't need that foot - I finally got some of the centers done for my Scrappy (Dresden) Plate Club quilt that I started back in January - and then I had to check out how well they looked, so I assembled some of the plates as well - and then I realized that it was WELL after midnight, and time to head to bed. I got a pic of my efforts - the coaster sets are at the top left, completed plates are on the right side, and a few of the centers ready to attach to the plates are bottom left. At this rate, I just might have this quilt finished by next summer! Thanks for checking in on me!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

It's been a while...

I haven't been here in a while - unfortunately, I don't have much new to share either, apart from a few cards. My mother passed away 2 1/2 weeks ago after a 10 month battle with cancer, and we needed a LOT of thank-you cards for the people that took part in her memorial service or made charitable donations in her name, and especially for all the different nurses, personal support workers and therapists that enabled her to stay at home until the end. We were SO blessed to be able to provide most of her care, with the support of various organizations. My 3 sisters and I took care of sending out the Thank-you cards - and I'm so glad that I had a tiny card stash! I made both of these cards at workshops - and I usually debate whether or not to put a sentiment on it, or leave it bare until I know what I need the card for. That wasn't an option with the green and yellow card - I didn't have any of the necesary items to create the sentiment section at home. We used a few punches for the flower elements and Smooch for the gold for the letters. The butterfly card just seemed like a thank-you card when I made it - so that's what the sentiment said. We "inked up" the stamp with Versamark and then dabbed the blue and pink inks over top, before stamping it onto the cardstock - then it got a sprinkling of embossing powder, a shot of heat applied, and voila! a bright and sort-of sparkly butterfly. An embossing folder gave some dimension to the center panel, and a border punch added interest as well. I'm hoping to make a dent in my overflowing to-do quilt projects tomorrow night - it's FNSI again!