Designing applique borders and a "Giveaway"!!!

Earlier in the year, I appliqued a block called "Miss Kelly" designed by Erin Russek. I have decided to finish it in a "Round Robin" sort of fashion. I wanted to start by designing an applique border for this piece, first I scanned a few my own flowers/buds and leaves that I planned to work with. After a little tweaking on the computer, I printed out several pages of these elements (actual size) in greyscale. Now I could cut them up and start arranging, a little dab of LAPEL stick ( I love this product) holds it all in place as I play to find a layout I like. As an added bonus, the paper version can be used as my placement template.........its just too easy!!!


Then I got busy making the required number of pieces in fabric using my preferred method (freezer paper and gluestick) you can read an earlier post that describes this method here

So......you want to know about the giveaway?.....have you seen LAPEL stick for sale at your local quilt shop? Have you tried it yet? They are terrific and have many uses............want a chance to win one? Leslie Durand, Sales and Marketing Director for LAPEL Stick contacted me yesterday and generously offered to let me host a giveaway. She has told me I can pick 2 winners, so....... just leave me a comment in this post. I'll post the winners Monday Dec 5th. and Leslie will send you your very own LAPEL stick......keep it for yourself or use it as a stocking stuffer
You can learn more about this product at www.lapelstick.com or www.fashionemergencies.com

My most recent article

The Winter issue of The Canadian Quilter is currently showing up in quilters mailboxes across the country and contains my second article as CQA's Artist in Residence. This article is about creating quilted postcards, and while I do give instructions, hints and tips in making these little works, I also point out that they don't necessarily have to be made with fabrics. Unfortunately some of the text got omitted alongside the photos, so I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you what materials were used in constructing the top layer of some of the cards shown.

This first one was made using a painted paper towel (heavily stitched) which was then embellished with rubber stamping, a few fabric scraps, beads and bits of broken costume jewelry.
This one, is again, paper toweling that had been painted, rubber stamped and stitched.This is one of my favourites. It is just so simple, a plain brown paper bag (I think it was from the liquor store) was stamped and stitched. Selvage edges, buttons and a small safety pin finishes the look.
and these? well they are nothing more than pre-printed paper napkins found at the dollar store. Lots of stitching was applied to make some of the areas really stand out.

Play time.........and a beer?

Okay, well ......actually....the beer can was already empty when I got this idea.
I have wanted to try some metal embossing for a while now, but just had not gotten around to picking up any supplies.......you didn't think that would stop me did you?
So I began with a clean beer can, cut it apart (carefully because those edges can be quite sharp)
With the printed side of the can face up and those sharp edges taped down on to the cork trivet, I drew a design, pressing firmly with the pen, then, flipped it over and drew echo lines around those first lines, which really gives the design it's depth, the cork trivet has enough cushion to allow for a fairly good imprint. (it would be best to use a pen that no longer has ink but a little spritz of hairspray and the ink dissolves so it can be wiped right off)I simply stitched these to some fabric covered Timtex and created postcardsThen I decided to do a slightly larger one......as you can see, I used a can of Moosehead for this one, repeated the process of embossing, but this time I stitched it onto a piece of Timtex that I had first painted black..........reminds me of those decorative tin ceilings.

Sometimes, you just have to CUT!

Do you recall this little painted quilt I did a while back? It was a project I really enjoyed doing and was pleased with the painting and stitching on the blossom. BUT I was not at all happy with the composition or my colour choice in that blue background. I continued on though, I thought perhaps if I gave it a nice border and lots of quilting I might like it better, well I did NOT! and it has been stuffed into a drawer ever since. Last week I decided to do something with this. I chopped it up and put it in a frame. Now I see just the part I was pleased with and the rest has gone away.Since I was in a cutting mood I did a couple more snowflakes as Creative Prompt Project word responses.
#123 is Butterfly..........this made up of butterflies, flowers and cocoons
#128 is Candy, here I incorporated life savers, jelly beans, gum drops, wrapped candies, tootsie pops and rope licorice