Busy beaver

I was reminded gently by Nancy that I hadn't posted anything on my blog recently. Yes, I *have* been lazy. I received back the dress forms from the swap I participated in. They are super fantastic and I will try and post them on my blog. I think I was waiting for permission from the owners of the dress forms to share their work. Meanwhile, I shall post some card samples I had made for my dear friend who is getting married later this year. Since it is a fall wedding, I went with some earth tones. Specifically, I used Stampin' Up!'s Cajun craze as a base and a vanilla or ivory for the contrast. I have since changed my mind and want to use Curious metallic cryogen white, which has a very subtle shimmer as it has mica impregnated in the paper. tracking down those babies has proven harder that I thought as they are selling at 1$ a piece and I am convinced I can get them cheaper if I buy them in bulk.
Without further ado, here are the samples.





Clean and simple. The tree is from the set very Versatile (Stampin' Up!).
The bride and groom liked this card but it was more suited to the usual card size and not the long card, which is what they wanted.

















I love leaves! This set is from Stampin' Up! Not sure where the set is so cannot verify the name just yet but I have hoards of leaves stamps. I really like clean and simple as well and this card embodies that.














I had to do it. I am in possession of a Stampin'Up!Owl Punch and I had to make a pair of owls although i told the bride and groom that no way was I making 240 fiddly owls (especially with the veil!!) as much as I loved them. The branch stamp is from Amuse Art Stamps.














I saw a really cute card made with this punch from Martha Stewart on the Memory Box website and thought it would make a whimsical wedding card.























I liked the sentiment but the groom wanted no sentiments. Stamp set is French Foliage (Stampin'Up!)














I really like this card. It is a bit more contemporary than the traditional card. The birds were from a Chinese set by Kodomo Design. Not sure where the set is to verify name of the set right now- the set had a stylized chinese pagoda scene typically seen on blue wedgewood china plates- very cute!!













I believe the bride and groom finally settled on a variation of this card. Silly me, I didn't take a picture of the other card. It has leaves just in the bottom left corner and the cream isn't as pronounced since I used off white instead of the poison ivory I used in this card.

So much to do, so little time....

My deadline is this week. I have to alter and finish seven (yes, count them, seven) dress forms from Maya Road. Of course I left it to the last minute. Inspiration comes slow to me and as much as I want to take my time on this, time is running out. Doesn't help that I am still scrambling to hunt down my gear. Like the quilling tool I *know* I have but cannot find. I need it to finish off some frog buttons for the cheongsam outfit for one of the dress forms. And all my miniature and cutesy findings- all missing because I have waaay too much stuff and don't know exactly where they are. I just returned from having dim sum with my mum and sister and subsequently paid a visit to the parental home. Found a box of miscellanous crafty stuff I had left behind so I dragged that home. There were some Prima flowers in the box. I shall have to examine it closely to see if I can incorporate some of the flowers on the dressforms.

Well, I guess I better get back to work. No rest for the wicked :)

I must love my brother

So, two years ago, my brother asked me to make him a pirate's outfit for Halloween. I am sad to say I directed him to a Halloween costume site since I didn't get round to making him a pirate shirt and the rest of the accoutrement for the costume. I did buy him an eye patch, though. And almost got a soft toy parrot as well.

He does not live in the same city as me and so we often chat via Facebook or Skype. One day, he asked me if I would make him some funky cushion covers. He directed me to this picture below. Dig Dug pillows he called them. I do not recall playing this game as a child. Space Invaders, yes. Frogger, yes. But not Dig Dug.
I spent hours trying to figure out the best way to do it. But it kinda fell to the wayside.




He came back and asked if I was going to make him Pacman pillows instead. He sent me this picture instead. The ghosts from Pacman I could identify with. So. after some hemming and hawing, it game me an excuse to increase my quilting stash.




















Last weekend, I got to work, trying to figure out how to get this done. Here is evidence I was working on it.


Oy vey!! There are over 200 squares. In order to make a decent sized pillow, each square would need to be about 1 inch. That was a lot of cutting,and sewing. I was going to make him at least 3 pillows. It seems like a very painstaking thing to do.
So, because this weekend, I was snowed in (at least 10 inches of snow over 2 days), I started working on the cushion cover.



Counting squares isn't fun. That was why I gave up on cross stitch. I was too impatient. After two hours, it wasn't even half done.
Oy! Oy! Oy! Still, after over two hours, I kinda got the hang of it and persisted. I am happy to say, it is completed, The jury is still out on whether I am going to complete two more pillow covers...... I know I have a healthy masochistic streak but that seems like a whole lot of work. The orange in the completed cushion cover isn't as bright as I do not have a flash on the Blackberry I took the picture with.The orange is a lot more intense.



I was poking around someone's blog yesterday and she had done a disappearing nine patch which she deconstructed and added plain borders around. I like what she did and I think I am going to do the same with my first quilt top. I still shudder at the thought of unpicking everything but I think for the long run, I will be happier with that decision. Plus, I do think the borders will make the quilt bigger and also improve the way it looks.

Happy New Year ( two weeks late)

Belated Happy 2011!

Christmas was pretty quiet for my family as we don't have little one's to celebrate with. We did have a little bit of excitement, though. My sister adopted another greyhound. It was very hard because we had only recently lost Salvador, her previous greyhound. He was such a sweetie and was so brave to endure bone cancer at such a young age.

Ella came into out lives December 22. She is only 3 years old. All black, full of dandruff and sweet as can be. Well, except for her covert peeing habit. Despite numerous attempts to take her out to pee, she hasn't gotten the concept fully and still pees inside the house. In part, it is because she is allowed to drink water all the time and she is not used to that. She is from Miami and is adjusting well to the frigid north. She runs around in doggie jammies and has an outdoor coat as well as booties. Van Gogh doesn't seem to mind her and although they don't play much together, they get along. She does seem to like cuddling, much to Van Gogh's chagrin.



I've also been working on a new quilt. It is blocks of coins and I can't wait to see it done. I love the bright colours and am slowly working on getting more coins made. I think I meed about 50 or 60 blocks. for a decent sized quilt.











Oh, yeah, did anyone notice my new blog layout? I have been a big fan of The Graphics Fairy and was poking around last night and also found that she has also crated free backgrounds so I thought, why not? New year, new look too, right?


Last year, for Christmas, I felt I needed a challenge and so I challenged my mum to a Sugee Cake Throwdown. Sorta like Bobby Flay and his throwdowns, I wanted to see if I could recreate the family sugee cake. Sugee or suji or sooji is cream of wheat or semolina (not to be confused with salmonella. The name sugee is east indian in origin. The Sugee Cake is a Eurasian specialty. Recipes are passed down and guarded jealously. Some people think it came from Sri Lanka or India but no matter what. it is a very rich cake, with loads of butter, and eggs. I used to call it the heartclogger cake as it required 22 egg yolks and 1 1/2 lb of butter.
Along with raisins, chopped almonds and also candied winter melon.

I made three attempts. The first two were just trail runs and the third was my mama's recipe. The trail runs were from miscellaneous recipes I gleaned from the web. Christmas eve, we had my dad and by brother in law taste test the cakes (was competing against mum) and I happened to win unanimously. I felt badly for mum but seeing it was my first time, I think I did well. I got my sister to freeze most of it since it is far too much a temptation, sitting around. She claimed that the cake called to her in Malay, inviting her to eat it. So, we may take some sugee cake out at Easter or maybe at our birthdays.

To end it all or not.....

I have been debating if or not I would like to keep up with blogging since my posts are so inconsistent and few and far between.Creatively, I have been parched. It's not as if I am not doing anything but my papercrafting has tapered off as I explore quilting. And I discovered I am not all that good at quilting either. learning proper 1/4 inch seams are vital. I seem to have a problem with them (ie they aren't true 1/4 inch) and that seems to compound then you are doing patchwork.

I have been diligently working on a quilt using the Chinese Takeout line. Initially, I wasn't crazy about it, but after I put on a turquoise border and the lovely chocolate binding, I am in lurve with it. The backing is a salvage from some material I picked up at a fabric sale last year and it is just fishes on a cream background. It is ancient and badly needs washing, which I fully plan to do after I finish quilting. It smells a bit mothbally.



Can you see where I havn't yet finished quilting? I am quilting the white squares.



I am getting more and more attached to the quilt and maybe planning to give it to my mum so I can have it remain in my life still :)


I have also been working on a couple of Hopscotch quilts- the pattern I picked up from a quilt show earlier this fall- from the Quilt Patch in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It's a great pattern since it uses 12 fat quarters and a metre of fabric for the border and the binding.

 

Believe it or not, these are both the same pattern. Isn't it amazing how different they look just because of the fabrics chosen? I have also seen a cream variation of this quilt and it is simply gorgeous and I may attempt it sometime in the future. The green quilt has a border on it and it is essentially ready to be quilted (ie attached to some batting and a quilt backing and be actually quilted.I have been attempting handquilting since I havn't been all that successful at machine quilting. Something about stitch length and other issues I need to figure out so that the quilt doesn't pucker. Obviously, there is still much to learn.)



Well, I am off the the quilt store in search of more fabric. I need to get a matching border fabric for the bright quilt.

Staying crafty and some wildflowers

I was out traipsing in the hills for work and came across some lovely wildflowers. Luckily for me, I carry a camera for work so of course I snapped these pictures.
The first was the lovely purple crocuses. I always thought they were called prairie crocuses but it is actually called a pasqueflower. I wonder if they will fare well in my garden? Am so very tempted :)
















I also came across these lovely shooting stars. They look so delicate and stellar. The colours in the picture don't do it justice since in real life, it was a vibrant magenta.
















This is the most recent quilt I completed. I used Moda's charm pack since I love the scrappy appearance of the quilt. It is a mixture of Miss June's Scrapbag and Portobello Market line from Moda. It turned out nicely, did it not? I am still working on quilting the lap quilt. I am sure my stitches are uneven and clumsy but from afar, it looks great :0

The backing is a pale yellow and pink polka dot material I picked up from a material sale I attended earlier this year.















The quilt below was made just before the one above. I loved the colours and so got the charm squares at another sewing event I attended in the fall. It is, of course from the Moda line, a mixture of Astor Manor, Mill House Inn and another non moda charm pack. It is larger than a lap quilt and I adore how it turned out.
















Both pictures were taken out in my back yard against the white fence. I was going to try and artfully lay the quilts on the patio furniture but decided to go with the fence.

I have also been working on some miscellaneous cards but did not have the time to take pictures. Maybe I will post them next time.

Clean and simple cards

In keeping with my desire to remain crafty, more cards I have been working on. This card was inspired by a card I saw in Papercrafts magazine. I just worked with what I had. The 3D flower is very popular these days. I believe Tim Holtz started this with his 12 days of Christmas tags that he does. I used tissue paper for mine.Just scalloped punched many layers and scrunched them up to give them dimension. And I am wondering if I should have looked for some more substantial tissue paper since the almost dissolved when i tried to colour them with ink after.




I started a variation of this card in black and white. It was pretty stark and I decided I wanted some colour in my card. Really rust is one of my favourites that is going to be retiring from Stampin'Up!'s colour family- ah, well, gotta clean up so they can add more colours, right? It may not be very visible, but the stamped image has some shimmer on it because I used pearlescent ink.





I guess this really isn't a clean and simple card since there was a bit of work involved. It was inspired by Andrea Walford. I watercoloured the flowers with a water pen and reinkers after embossing the flower outline with black embossing powder.






I got some cheapo stamps from Michaels ages ago with the dessert images and the sentiment "You're Sweet" from their $1.50 bin (yes, up here in Canada, the stamps really are 1.50, even if our dollar is pretty much on par with the US Dollar- no bitterness here). I used a watercolour pen and some inks to colour the donuts and cupcakes then went over time image with Glossy Accents/ Crystal Effects. I like how the markers ran a little on the donut, making the sprinkles look brighter.






The ice creams got the same treatment as the previous card and so the chocolate covering got the glossy accents treatment. That kinda warped the card a little. The white cardstock is either 120lb Papertrey ink paper or some 120lb paper I picked up at a specialty paper store in Edmonton.



I've also been working on quilt number 3. I went to a juried quilt show earlier this month and picked up some more charm packs. The show itself was a little snobby for me ( there were volunteers there wearing white gloves to make sure people don't fondle the work and I am such a tactile person, it was so painful to refrain from touching) but there were wonderful vendors there and I was so tempted to buy more but I want to use up whatever I buy and not have the problem I have with the paper collection. Hence me making cards like the devil.
I'll leave the pictures for when I complete the quilt.