Paper Bunnies

No calories, unlike those chocolate ones.
Yesterday, I went out for a few things and found myself caught in the craziness of people rushing about for flowers, baskets of chocolate eggs and of course, bunnies. That was my inspiration for this papercut.

Happy Easter!

If you have not yet entered for your chance to win a copy of "The Giving Quilt" be sure to scroll down to last Thursday's post, you still have time, I won't be drawing the winner until late Tuesday afternoon

Book review and Giveaway

Next week, April 2nd, the 20th novel in Jennifer Chiaverini's The Elm Creek Quilts series will be released in softcover. The good folks at Plume (member of Penguin Group) sent me a copy to review and an extra to giveaway.

Jennifer Chiaverini's  "The Giving Quilt"  reacquaints us with familiar characters and introduces a few new ones, quilters gather to spend a week at Elm Creek Manor for a very special purpose. This is not your average quilt retreat, during their stay at the historical manor, the participants enjoy the many amenities of the vast property, learn new skills and form new friendships, but it is not all about what they are gaining...it is about giving,  you see, the quilts they create this week are to be donated to Project Linus.
While you won't find mystery and intrigue.....no page turning drama, many readers may relate to the story. Much of the book takes place far from Elm Creek Manor, chronicling the lives of 5 women, who each have their own reason for attending the retreat, we are taken to their home towns, where we are witness to their everyday life, struggles and triumphs.

Here is your chance to win a copy of The Giving Quilt along with 3 Elm Creek Quilt lapel pins. Entering is simple, just leave a comment in this post, answering the question below.

Are you a fan of the Elm Creek Quilt series? If so, which is your favourite or least favourite of the books....if you have not yet read any of them, (what are you waiting for?) would you start back at the beginning or jump in with the current novel?

I will draw a random winner on Tuesday April 2nd, please be sure I have a way to contact you.

Find a chapter near you  Project Linus     Project Linus Canada     Project Linus UK 

Papercut to Fabric

I wanted to try combining my papercut design with some of my snow dyed fabric.
I paired this one with black

Layered them with batting and backing

from the backside I stitched the design

then I began cutting away

The result is not as crisp and clean as it could be, think I might try different method next time.

Linking up with Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Fridays

Inspiration in ink

I never know what might inspire my next doodle, the World Figure Skating Championships are taking place here in town this week and this is what landed in my sketchbook.

One thing leads to another

In addition to snow dyeing a bit of fabric, I just had to have a go with some threads as well.

of course, I wanted to stitch something with them to see the effect on cloth.
Deciding what to stitch?..... I drew this dragonfly

hand stitched with my new multi-coloured thread.....I like it!

 This one, blue/green dyed threads stitched on my dyed fabric, became a pin cushion.

Then,..... well...... you know I could not resist doing a complete doodle

linking up to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Fridays

Sewing Organizer

Once a month, I meet up with a small group, we enjoy an entire day of socialized sewing. We each work on what ever projects we like. I am kinda new to this sort of thing. I am so used to having everything I need on hand, I had to figure a way to make being prepared for these days easier......in other words...get organized.  I almost always seem to forget something I might need, so I decided to create this organizer that can not only hold my various sewing tools, but extras like drawing supplies, freezer paper, fusibles, stabilizers, threads and well.......... you get the idea.
I recently showed you a piece of twill fabric that I over-dyed, that cotton twill was perfect for this project.

I started by marking cutting lines on some clear vinyl......and made binding pieces for the cut edges where I would then be adding zippers

The "pages" were made by fmq stitching the twill to batting, laying the zipper pocketed vinyl on top, stitching all around the edges and then putting two of the pages back to back.

I stitched a fabric "spine" to the pages to allow extra room, this way the pages can expand as supplies begin to fill the pockets.

Using a very stiff interfacing (a Timtex type product) I created the cover, added vinyl pockets on the inside of the cover (to hold more treasure) and used webbing for handles.  The pages were then stitched into the cover......and now I have everything I need in one place, easy to transport and with lots of room for more stuff.

closed organizer measures 18" x 15"

I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's Off the Wall Fridays