International Treasures

For those of you who do not follow my Flickr pages, all of this will be new to you! For those who do, you will have seen most of this already but hopefully my words will add some extra interest as I try to catch up on my blogging :o)

My two newest purchases were handmade in France by Sonia of Cozy Memories. One very sweet felt gingerbread garland, and this amazing hand-embroidered house pillow that I fell in love with while watching it being created step by step on Flickr!

When friends visit, I enjoy showing off my growing collection of crafty treasures from friends all over the world including the works of Syko from Finland, Cyn Contemporary from Italy, Hip to Piece Squares from the USA, and my many friends from Brazil.

I also won a Willowberry Designs Giveaway and received all this goodness in the mail last week all the way from Australia- 2 patterns, fabric, felt, beads, gift tags and buttons. What a great giveaway! Thank you Cheryl!

My latest projects include this skirt I made for a friend's daughter who just turned 2! This is my daughter Claire modelling the skirt. She almost didn't want to take it off!

And finally, I found a mini shopping basket at the dollar store. I thought it would be fun to make some felt fruit and veggies for one of Claire's Christmas gifts. I started with a carrot...

I ordered this wonderful felt from One of the Flock to make more felt food and to use as icing on my CupCake Pincushions. The texture is just yummy!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Coziness

What says COZY more than Storytime book pillows and the smell of bread baking in the oven on a cold day! I have been a bit slow with my blogging lately so I will try to catch up over the next week. I finished all my book pillows...

I always ask people what kind of software they use for editing their photos so I thought it might be fun to share my secrets. For the basics, I use photoshop. I fix the levels to brighten all my photos, adjust colours and crop. Sometimes, I have fun editing my photos using free online photo editing software called Picnik which I used on these 2 Book Pillow photos. My favourite tools to Create are 1960's for a vintage effect, focal soften, and orton-ish for a dreamy effect!

I realized after I made these book pillows that I had transferred the writing for the title labels in three different ways! The first method I used was to simply write onto the fabric using a water soluble pen and a keen eye for copying what I had printed out from my computer. It worked well but was not precise and wetting the piece afterwards to dissolve the marker stressed me out! The second time I made a label I hand wrote the title onto the paper side of freezer paper. I then flipped it over and traced over it on the waxy side of the freezer paper with a fine Sharpie permanent marker. I carefully positioned and immediately ironed it. The title transferred lightly to the fabric.

Don't ask me how I come up with these things! I know there are easier ways but expermenting and problem-solving is half the fun! I made the last label while waiting for my daughter at preschool. I forgot to bring any sort of marker or pencil with me but I had printed the font out with my printer at home. How would I transfer the title without a marker? I positioned the printed title on the fabric label and with my needle I poked through the paper into the fabric following the line. I poked and embroidered the letters one at a time until the title was finished! Problem solved :o)

And I will end this post with my latest bread creations from the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. After a lengthy fight with pancake-shaped loaves, I increased the flour for the basic boule to 7 cups. Perfect! I shaped them and placed them on a parchment covered cookie sheet and draped plastic wrap over top. I put them in the fridge overnight (10-11 hours) In the morning, I took them out of the fridge, sprinkled them with flour & scored the tops. Baked for 35 minutes in a 450 degree oven. The crust was crackley and full of tiny bubbles! Amazing!

I also made the tiniest loaves of bread I have ever seen! This one is 50% whole wheat and 2 slices fit on a teacup saucer! I can just imagine mini sandwiches for high tea!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

More about Me

I have been the Featured Artist on several blogs in the past few weeks! I want to thank:

Jodi of Simply This That and the Other, Catherine of 3400 Ave of the Arts, and Garlic for her profound questions on Path of Heart. I am Artist of the Week on Path of Heart so please keep checking for more of the interview! Please see the sidebar for direct links.

Thank you! I feel honoured that all of you chose me!

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)

Update: I am sad to say that Path of Heart has been deleted so my interview is no longer available.

Lucky Winner

As much as I would have liked to choose a winner the old-fashioned way, 323 names were way too many to write down on pieces of paper and fit in my hat! I was truly overwhelmed by the number of comments... definitely exceeding my expectations of 30-40!

Now it is time to announce the winner! The Random Number Generator chose #300. Comment number 300 belongs to...

Sabine from Hessen, Germany!

Sabine said:
It´s so wonderful, I would be happy to win it. You make wonderful things.
Greetings from Sabine

November 3, 2008 5:39 AM

Congratulations Sabine! The Peppermint pouch will be on its way to you this week! Thanks to each and every one of you who left a comment :o)

Enjoy your afternoon tea & quilted crafts :o)