Mickey & Minnie Mouse for Eva

This was a big cake, 12" x 18" with buttercream filling and frosting.  Eva is my daughter's friends little girl and she's crazy for these two little characters.  The palm trees and lettering are gumpaste and Mickey and Minnie are in colourflow.  I've been decorating for heaven knows how many years and have never mastered those pokey parchment bags that you fold up yourself.  Well, with all those colours in the colourflow section,  I made myself work at folding until I got it to work. 

Eva has had two other cakes from me.  The first was when she was adopted to her wonderful new Mum and Dad.  I think this was a 12" x 18" too, fondant with colourflow lettering.  The Chinese characters represent her name "Eva" in Chinese.  The bottom corner has a large peony and sprigs of cherry blossom and a baby in the middle of the flower. 

For her second birthday (her first birthday in Canada) I gave her a bunch of playful monkeys with balloons.  The balloons were made with bent floral wire with a coloured mixture of gelatin.

Creative Cue 4: Rolling

Here is my interpretation of this week's Creative Cue word...rolling.

Did you know if you participate in Three Creative Studios Technique of the Month, that you have the chance to win a prize? Here is a peek at the first prize offered. You'll find the techniques for this program here.

Happy Weekend!

And we have a(nother) winner

Well, Baskets of Quilts, you were the one who left this comment: "Please please please pick me! I've been drooling over this pattern!"

Guess what? Random Number Generator listened to your plea(se) and picked you!!

I'm leaving you this weekend with a little organizational color to brighten up gray skies. It comes with all these one-in-every-color recycled cards and it's so cheery, even if you don't put a single business card in it.

However you spend your time this weekend, relaxing, organizing, sewing, have a great time.

Contemplating Rulers

I was doing some online ruler browsing recently. I've often wondered if a larger ruler would be a good addition to my toolbox. As you can see in the photo below, the largest rulers I own are a 12.5" square ruler and a 6" x 24" ruler. One of the largest square rulers I saw online was somewhere around 20" square. Wow! That's big. I have to wonder if that size is a little awkward. But I would also wonder if it isn't a great ruler for squaring up quilts.

So I'm curious as to what your largest ruler size is. Do you have a mega-large rule in your toolbox? If so, do you use it a lot or a little? What size is your largest ruler?

I got a new sketchbook today. I ordered it online as I had never seen one like this in my local store.

And here is why this sketchbook is so great! It's 12" x 12"!

This is the perfect size sketchbook to draw my quilt designs for the Twelve by Twelve group or when I make this size of quilt for other things....like the SAQA One Foot Square auction. And do you know what's even better than having a sketchbook like this?

Having two!

Rooster Giveaway

If you love roosters, and I do, run don't walk over to Bella Vista's blog to enter a wonderful anniversary giveaway!  You can also browse through her blog and see great tablescapes and more roosters!  Just double click on the button on my sidebar to visit there today!  Tell her that "The Corgi" sent you!  Enjoy!

Until tomorrow, happy quilting!

And speaking of Amy Butler...winners...and another giveaway

First of all, the winners of Amy's Temple Flowers 1/2-yard cuts are:

That Girl, who said: Oh how pretty! I would incorporate this fabric into the pieced backing for my daughter's new bed quilt!

and I Love Baby Quilts, who said: Is it too late? I'd love to win! Love AB.

If you each send me your address, I'll get that fabric on its way.

So, speaking of Amy Butler, in the midst of organizing patterns, I realized that I loved this pattern.

Yes, I loved it so much that I bought it twice. I know. Seriously. Patterns are expensive! So. You know the drill. Leave a comment by Friday noon Pacific time. What else will I find in all this organization? Only time will tell...

Mid week Post

Life is good but is rushing by at a rate of knots as they say. At the moment, it's all work and no play. My studio feels deserted and I am going through withdrawal symptoms from not being able to quilt. I am really hoping that I will be able to get a moment in my studio this weekend otherwise completing a needlepoint canvas of 2 kittens will have to "scratch the creative itch" :LOL

Darlene's Asian RR

Here is Darlene's Nekid Asian RR block.  It is another of the Round Robins organized by CQI.  I am the first in the RR to work on this wonderful blue block inspired by a willow pattern plate.  I love blue so this was a delight for me to work on and I have a nice selection of blue threads and beads in my stash.  I began with a patch of Edmar Frost feather stitches and added a couple of lazy daisies to each stem.  Then I added two rows of herringbone with sequins and beads in the spaces.  After that, three fans in different shades of blue Edmar Frost, mostly lazy daisy and beading.  Next came a white bullion chrysanthimum with clear bead leaves and navy stems.  And finally a row of buttonhole with a pearl in each space.  The final photo is a of all my work on Darlene's block.

Finally!

I have been needing to update my etsy shop for what feels like forever....and today I finally was able to get it done!  I feel so good.  I added 11 new items to the shop and these three were included.  In case you want to go check out the shop, you can get there with this link:  http://stegart.etsy.com

In other news, I recently took over the position of regional rep for the North Dakota/South Dakota SAQA region.  I hope I can do a good job.  We are a very, very, small region in terms of membership, with only four total members at the present time.  So if any of you out there who are reading this, live in ND/SD, would you like to join?  If so, or if you have any questions about SAQA, please feel free to contact me.

Thanks to all of you for your totally wonderful comments on Shades of Red.  You warm my heart!

Amy Butler giveaway

Although I love gray and rainy weather, it has been raining pretty much for a whole week and today even I am feeling a bit "under the weather." So I have been taking some time to de-stash (more on that later) and reorganize my fabric. Actually it just needs to get off the floor in my sewing room and office and into a space of its own.

In the midst of all this reorganization, guess what I found? Some Amy Butler fabric from a couple of her early lines, now out of print: Temple Flowers and Gypsy Caravan. This fabulous fabric is in all different sizes. I got it so long ago that it is entirely possible it was part of a kit that I decided against making. Who knows? Anyway, I got this pattern last week from Craft Hope, designed by Kate Conklin. Just perfect for showcasing these gems of Amy Butler greatness, don't you think?

I have some Kona cotton in "ash" on its way, a very light gray, and I'm thinking that might be the perfect background for these cheery florals.

What about you? Do you need some flowers to give you a little feeling of spring? I found a little over a yard of this piece of Temple Flowers, so guess what? I'm giving it away! A half-yard cut each to two people.

Leave a comment for one chance to win a half yard and tell me what ideas you have. If you want to increase your chances, become a follower, or let me know that you already follow this blog. I'll pick a winner on Wednesday morning.

In the meantime, I'm off to see what other forgotten fabric treasures may be buried around here...

Shades of Red

This quilt is finished, all except for the hanging sleeve and label. I basically created this over the period of last week, working on it whenever I could grab a minute or more here and there. I snapped a quick photo of it laying on my cutting table, so it's a bit wonky. I really need to get a free day so I can take a few "more professional looking" photos of some things I need photos of.

Thank you to all of you expressing congratulations on my blue ribbon. I'm just thrilled to have received it.

I also wanted to revisit the topic of reading blog posts in a feed reader such as Google Reader. I don't want to give anyone the wrong idea...I don't choose to not follow a blog that is shortened because of any personal issues I have with that blogger or their blog. I would be more than happy to spend time following them in my reader if they chose to share their full posts. The issue is about "my time". That's all! I have to pick and choose how I spend my time and clicking over to everyone's blog to follow them is one thing that I have modified so that I can have time for things I deem more important. Please don't read that as "I don't like you" or "Your blog is not worthy of my following it".

One reader mentioned that she couldn't understand why shortened posts were so offensive that I'd stop reading them. I want to say that I don't find it offensive at all. I never felt it was offensive, just more time consuming. I think it is each blogger's ultimate decision on how they choose to share their blog posts. I totally understand that. I'm just telling you what works or doesn't work for me. Also, I do take the time when I "have the time" to occasionally click around on others artist's blogs, to see how they have decorated their blog and to see who they follow, etc. I do enjoy that, it's just that I don't always have free time to do that.

I do hope I haven't upset anyone with this discussion. I basically just wanted to discuss it, that's all!

To Elaine:

I know this is just to one person, however, I cannot reply to you because I do not have your email address or your blog address.  You are coming through as a:  noreply blogger.  Please contact me and I will help you with what you need! 

Have a great night, until tomorrow, happy quilting!

Valentine's Day Giveaway!

If you are in the mood for a great Valentine's Day Giveaway, the go over to Quilting Can Be Fun's blog to enter!

Still working on some Valentine Day things myself.....will show some pictures when I get some more done!  Until tomorrow, happy quilting!

January 2010 Stash Report

Stash report for the month. I'm not doing good at reducing.

used 2 yds 8"

added 9 yds 16"

So that's unbusted

7 yds 8"

so as you can see the fabric on the shelf is growing I have 34" of fabric staked on top. My goal is to get it to fit on the shelves nothing on top.

January 2010 Stash Report

Stash report for the month. I'm not doing good at reducing.

used 2 yds 8"

added 9 yds 16"

So that's unbusted

7 yds 8"

so as you can see the fabric on the shelf is growing I have 34" of fabric staked on top. My goal is to get it to fit on the shelves nothing on top.

Another chance to help

In fall I was part of an online scrappy Christmas quilt block exchange. I made thirteen quilt blocks, twelve to exchange and the extra one as a donation to a charity quilt. At that time, no one knew where the donation blocks would be going. And then the earthquake happened in Haiti. You can find out more about the auction here. The proceeds from this auction will go to either Partners in Health or Doctors Without Borders.

Here are the items up for auction starting today.

(My block is on the bottom row, second one in from the left.)

I haven't yet put my quilt blocks together. Many thanks to the quilters who pieced the charity blocks together and did the quilting for these amazing quilts and tree skirts.

Cathy's Bees, Butterflies & Beetles RR Block

To finish my part of Cathy's Bees, Butterflies and Beetles block, I've added a beaded butterfly, a row of herringbone and straight stitches with beads, and a row of pistil stitches under the swarm of bees.  I used Sassa Lynne #5 Perle Flower Garden variegated for the pistil stitches. This thread works very well here because it changes colour so quickly.



I'm using mostly  Delica 11/0 beads which are the green ones in the row of herringbone, and the crystal on the bottom butterfly wings and Charlotte 13/0, the pink beads on the top wings in the butterfly. 



My stash of these tiny beads has grown since I found BeadFX in Toronto.  They have an amazing selection.

Work Quilt #2 - Finished!

Finally finished my 2nd "Work Quilt"! (My fingers are very relieved!)


Now, I have tried sooooo hard to get the colors accurate.... almost to the point of insanity. Proving very difficult as the shot cotton seems to constantly change and shift colors depending on the angle it is viewed and how the light hits it. Some days it looks more green to me and some days more blue. But that is one of the things I love about shot cotton!


Looking at my monitor, the red squares are showing up more bright then they actually are... in truth they are more of a brick red, actually being woven with a rust weft and a purple warp! (who-da thunk?) I believe that quiet purple warp helps this particular red fabric get along very well with the surrounding blues and greens.


This photo above seems to be the best as far as color accuracy.... of course every monitor is different. (I am working on a Mac, but just looked at these pictures on my daughter's PC and surprisingly they looked very accurate on the PC. Again... who-da-thunk? Never-the-less, I love my Mac!) ...But I digress... back to the quilt...

With a little math I have estimated that there are approximately over 15,000 hand stitches in this piece, which after washing now measures 40" x 41.5"



Not wanting to use up my shot cottons on the back side, I instead choose solid Kona fabrics, giving the back a more contemporary feel...


If you look closely at the back, you can see small patches of horizontal stitching where the patches on the front have been quilted down. I like that subtle variation.

This "Work Quilt", at least for now, is another keeper.... I want the Work quilts in my possession so I can refer back to them as I continue on this series. The next one is in the planning stages, but I also want to make some smaller, related pieces to put in the shop.... Oh my. These are a bit more labor intensive then I am use to. If only I could get by on 2 hours sleep!

On Track

This week's Creative Cue word was track. Here is my quick drawing on that subject.

This weekend there was a quilt show in town. I thought I wasn't going to be able to go to it because we were supposed to have a winter storm. Luckily there was a lull in the storm action and I was able to go to the show today. I have a quilt hanging in the show. The quilt I have there is Waiting, which you can see here on my website. I was thrilled to walk up to it at the show and find a blue ribbon hanging on it.

While at the quilt show I usually can't resist purchasing some fabrics, and here is what I came home with today. I was in an orange mood. That teal fabric is one I'm using in one of my block of the month quilts and I was starting to get low on it. Now I will have more than enough to finish the rest of the blocks in the BOM. I'm sort of liking the teal with those oranges too!

Below is my progress on the collage quilt I've been working on sporadically throughout the week. I shared a bit of it in the previous post.

Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts on the issue of shortened blog posts in feed readers, such as Google Reader. Many of you didn't know how to check to see if your blog appears shortened in feed readers. I can only tell you how to look if you have a Blogger blog, as I am unfamiliar with the other blog hosts and their settings.

In your blog's Dashboard, click on Settings. Find the sub-heading labeled Site Feed and click it. Look for the section labeled Blog Posts Feed (it should be at or near the top). Click the drop-down arrow to the right, there will be three choices for your blog post feed. None - Short - Full. If it is set to full, then those who follow your blog in a reader, such as Google Reader or Bloglines, will be able to read your full posts without having to click to your blog. If you make a change on this setting, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page and click Save. Hope that was clear as mud! Have a great weekend.

A treasure trove from Down-Under

I'm so excited!  For those of you who dabble in genealogy, trying to add to your family tree, finding third, fourth or fifth cousins is an achievement that makes you happy!  This past week I have actually made contact with two FIRST cousins, that is we share the same Grandfather!   We would call each other's parents Aunty and Uncle.  It's a very close relationship and it's absolutely amazing that it has happened.  This big branch of my family tree are on the other side of world, but with this wonderful computer age, we are in close contact by e-mail.  It's marvellous, and the nice thing is, I feel that they feel the same way!

Craft Hope

There have already been a lot of posts on this amazing etsy shop that is raising money for Haitian Relief, with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders. The initial goal was to raise $5,000, but then things just took off and at last count over $10,000 has been raised.

I had planned to donate an item, but I was too slow (another hard lesson on the price of procrasination). There has been such a tremendous response and the shop is closed to donations of items for sale at this point. So....to compensate, I tried to do my part by doing a little shopping.

Three quilt patterns by a great designer, Kate Conklin.

A PDF for this super calendar, especially great if you hang out at the public library (with places to write in the name of the books you checked out and the due dates--you can also get a version without the "date due").

And this T-shirt because it was too cutely irresistible.
Craft Hope is being run by a mom with three kids under the age of 5 and another mom who is seven months pregnant and homeschooling two kids. This undertaking was such an act of generosity on their part. The shop will remain open until everything has sold. Etsy shop owners have been extremely generous and there are LOTS of great items still remaining. This is a tremendous opportunity to multi-task--buy handmade and receive something great, and above all, help those who are in such need of help.

Note: All purchases are made directly from the Craft Hope etsy shop. The individual links are to give more info on the generous artists and crafters who donated items to the Craft Hope shop.