Don't you hate it when...

Boy, have I been having sewing machine problems! I got my sewing machine back and then I was having problems with needles breaking. I think I went through 5 different needles before saying "I give up." So, I took my machine back to my shop and it ended up being that I needed a more heavy duty needle..a jeans needle. I had never needed this in the past and now I wonder if it is something that I now need because I had adjustments to my machine.

I made another paper and fabric card for my mother for a Christmas card. I think it turned out rather well and I love all the glitter.























Also, I hope soon to be able to experiment more with the Aquabond, it's really interesting how it completely disolves. I added gold metallic thread to connect it all together and some gold flakes. I am going to think a bit more how I might use this. I am thinking of creating some "window" type PC's to show the effect.

Work in Progress Wednesday

I found some "Aquabond" at my local quilt shop. What luck!!! Anyways, I really do like this stuff. It has a sticky surface so that you can lay fibers down and not worry about them moving.

So, what do you do when you don't have a sewing machine and you can't knit? You finger knit!!! So, I used finger knitting in my grid.


I was inspired by the grid stitching in Jan and Jean's new book, so here is my work in progress. I plan to add some gold stitching and other embellishments and we shall see where it goes!

Jan and Jean New Books

I just got the two new books from Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn. Love them! Now, I just have to find the time to incorporate some of their ideas into experimentation. I am so excited because they will be coming to our guild next May to teach and I know that I will learn a lot. They are such inspirational ladies!

I think I like Grids to Stitches best. There is a new product that I have to try and locate now. It is called "Aquabond". It has a sticky surface and is a soluable fabric. You can use it to make these amazing grids and weaving with threads. It is very inspiring. I think I'll try and get some and practice this weaving technique.

Quilters Resource has some of this Aquabond for anyone also interested in experimenting.

Here are pictures of their two new books...

More Christmas Projects!

I decided to do another Christmas project. It originally is a project for many houses from Santa's village to make a quilt. But, I decided to try out just one house.
My machine is giving me difficulties so I think I'll have to part with it for a few days!
I've finally finished my 12 days of Christmas project for SurfaceDesign. I won't show it because I don't want to spoil it for everyone! I am going to try and mail them out next week.

Quilting Arts

Thank you Terri! I was one of the first five to respond to the Quilting Arts blog question. In fact, I was number 5...whewwww. So, I get to have a renewal subscription for free. I must say this is my favorite magazine and when I come up with a great idea I would love to submit it to them.

In the meantime, my ATC is on their blog. I made this from a package of materials that was sent as part of the blog challenge.

Here's a picture of the materials that I posted in a previous entry.


Woo! Hoo!

Fairy Info

Ev had asked me a couple of questions about the fairy cards I created. So, I figured I would give all of you some links I have, if you are interested.

There is this lady called Astrid Shipper who did these great things with the little fairy cards...unfortunately, she is no longer showing them. This is such a shame. But, you can see some of her work here. This will give you an idea of how beautiful some of these cards can be.

I have orders some flower fairy sheets at the following links...

http://www.crea-kos.nl

http://www.jacobi.nl

Here is a picture of something that you would begin with. Then, you would cut them out and build upon them in parts. There are also sheets of fairies or other things that are already figured out for you and you can cut these types of things out.



I love doing these paper creations and I think if I get some time I will do a couple of Christmas ones..I'll post these if I do them.


Also, here are a couple of pictures of fairies I have received from my sister in law who does beautiful things with these creations as well.

Work in progress

Remember that piece of fabric I was speaking about that was just so lovely I didn't want to cut it up? Well, here it is in it's pre-cut glory! It is a piece of fabric from Melody Johnson. I have decided to have a go and cut it up and put it into a small piece. I figure if I don't like it at the end...I'll slice and make postcards. One thing I would like to play with is color composition. But, I don't want to test too many theories on one little piece. I would like to work with great color combos and also light to dark contrasts. But, maybe I'll save the light to dark contrasts for something different.

Here is also a ruff draft of what it will turn into...wish me luck!!!!


















P.S. I just had to share a couple of pictures of my son. This was his first halloween out and he just loved dressing as a mouse and trick or treating.