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:

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!

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!

A very productive evening!

It's been a while since I participated in the Friday Night Sew-In, so I thought I'd better make a valiant effort for last night's event.

I had the center of this quilt done, using a Ruby jelly roll. I found a free online tutorial for a "strip tube" quilt, and thought it would be perfect for these bright cheerful fabric strips. The center has been done for about 5 weeks; I've been waiting for the pink border fabric to arrive so that I could finish the top. Thankfully, the mail carrier dropped a fat package into my mailbox yesterday - and there was my fabric! (It only took 4 weeks to get here from Tennessee...). I quickly got it washed, dried and pressed; cut the strips, sewed them on, and... (big sigh of relief), it's ready to sandwich with the batting and backing. The binding strips are cut, ready to sew together and then to complete the quilt after I get the quilting done. Next up was my Super Zigzag quilt - another freebie on the internet. I had cut and sewn a few of the print/white fabric sections, before realizing that I'd also need to cut fabric triangles to finish off the rows. I had about 40 cm. of the fabric left, and a quick tour of my 5 "local" quilt shops were all in vain. Then a quilting friend mentioned that another friend was closing her online quilt shop, and her prices were really good - and there, amid all the other white tone-on-tone fabrics, was my white fabric!!! I ordered it right away, and 6 days later, my fabric was here from Wyoming (the state, not the s.w. Ontario town). It also got the wash, dry, pressing treatment; last night I finished making all of the blocks, and even got a few of the block strips partially sewn. I laid it out on the living room floor, to get a rough idea of how it will look when the center section is completely assembled. Now I'll get the triangles cut and maybe finish the top tonight yet.

Now I've got to go - have one more quilt top to finish tonight, if possible - and then I have to check for a card for someone having surgery this week - just want her to know that we'll be praying for her...

A card or two...

I decided that I was going to treat myself this past Friday night! Two dear friends (and Stampin' Up consultants) hosted a card-making workshop and I joined them for a few hours. We ended up making 6 cards altogether - some very pretty and time-consuming, others quick and easy. Here are 2 of the cards (I've already given one away, and the others are in my stash box).

The top card is a center-fold card, embossed on the right-hand panel. The left panel has a crimped panel - you then stamp a sentiment on the large scalloped circle; stamp 6 flowers using the Triple Treat Flower stamp (which I later won!), and then, after cutting the centers of the flowers out of 3 of the flowers, you stack and assemble the flowers, which then are attached to the card roughly around the sentiment. The second card looks complicated to make, but was actually quite easy, if you read the instructions! You need two CS panels, 2 pieces of designer paper, a length of baker's twine, a few circles, a template and mini brads. Attach the DP to the appropriate cardstock, wrap the twine around one panel, fasten those panels to the card. Then, stamp the image; using the template, punch holes around the dark circle, insert the brads, affix the sailboat circle, and attach it to the card. Add a sentiment, and you're good to go! It was wonderful to get out for a fun evening - and I now have a few pretty cards to show for it!

Finally have some quilt-y pics!

Well, it's been a long time coming, but I finally have pictures of a quilt! I finished the top late last night, and hubby helped with the holding-up this morning so I could get a decent pic.
This is another quilt for my single-moms pile. I think I have 3 or 4 tops done now, and need 8 (I think). A few others are started - two of them are mystery projects.
What's that? You want to see this quilt? Oh, all right.....
This is one of my favourite patterns - it's called "Warm Wishes" and it goes together fairly quickly IF you keep the colours in the right order. I love these fabrics together! I chose the print fabric first (I fell in love with it at first sight!), and then chose the 3 fabrics for the striped blocks, using colours from the print fabric.
Now I need to go shopping - there's a Shop Hop going on today, and one of my daughters (a quilter too!) is taking me away! to 5 different shops. Last year we both won door prizes, so we did well - we'll see what today brings!

My latest cards...

I really haven't had any time in the last week or so to do any quilting, and it's been almost as difficult to find time to make a card - but I needed a few cards, so that's what I'm sharing today.
It was my dad's 83rd birthday on Friday, and I found a card design on-line that worked with his interests and my stamp sets - and here's my card for him:
The C/S is Old Olive and Chocolate Chip from Stampin' Up, and both of the DPs and stamp set (Lovely as a Tree) are as well.

The second card is for a couple from church - she's fighting cancer, and he's in a rehab facility after having had a stroke. I wanted to remind them that they're in my thoughts and prayers. I CASE'd this design from a friend, and even tried one of her favourite embellishments - Viva Pearls. I'm quite pleased with the end product!
The cardstock, designer paper and ribbon are all River Rock from Stampin' Up, and the butterfly die is as well. I had previously inked the raised side of an embossing folder, and then embossed a piece of white cardstock - that ended up becoming the butterfly!
Thanks for checking in!