Making Memories Block One

Making Memories is a quilt block that is going to Leslie Urhlich of Colorado who kindly donates her time and talent to making quilts for those less fortunate and to aid special causes, this one is very dear to all o four hearts ' cancer ' and is made all with wedding dress materials.  I have a second block that I do as well and this is for my mom who lost her battle at the age of 49.  God bless you mom, I do every day.

Art Bra Block 2010

I am pleased and sad at the same time to finish this block, very pleased as I truly enjoyed working on it, and sad because it is now finished and there is truly no more room for embellishment, a first for me.

When I started to piece this block I was scared as I am not a paper piecer, let alone a fabric paper pieced block, and dh looked at me strangely. He said wow, that is some block when it was pieced as he said he did not know what I was doing with all the fabrics, that seemed to be flipping over one and another. I am impressed.


I chose the bright colours as a fan to me is radiant and should show through and in the dull winter days something sure has to sparkle. I added all seams with krenik metallic threads. I then beaded them in size 12 to larger beads. After adding the lace at the bottom which was so much a part of the fan, I decided that a butterfly and handmade pansy were the only embellishments I needed in the wedge part of the fan.

I wanted to do some silk ribbon work so chose to do a variety of different flowers that I enjoy making and haven't made in a while. I also chose to put a pearl angel that I had made into a pink cluster of silk ribbons as it looks like she is flying down the fox glove to the ground.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did piecing and thanks for the challenge. This one will be mailed out on Saturday.

Reflection - Comfort Kitties

This morning while reading the newspaper I was overwhelmed by the story of the little oriental angel with the voice of a Madonna. I was upset that she was not allowed to perform her song in person and had to have a " prettier " person perform for her. I saw her picture and she is adorable. I also feel sad for the little girl who had to perform a lip sync that was second to none and now will be haunted with this for the rest of her life. She was not at fault.

It brings to mind that some people want to live in a so called " perfect " world. If it were so perfect we would not be at war, there would be no hospitals, no foster homes, no orphanage's, no neglected or abused children or adults. People would accept those who are challenged for who they are and not for who they appear to be. Sometimes it takes stories like this to bring the " lost soul " in all of us to the front and place he/she where they really belong.

I thought yesterday that today I was going to work on the " Comfort Kitties " as I had promised them to Pat some time ago. I was and still am waiting for the lady who needed at least six or more for some children she had sponsored in Africa. I would love to do them for these little abused children, it would make my heart feel so proud. I still have the little tags that Pat Winter's gave me to attach to them. Only difference is I won't make them until I hear from the lady on my blog who asked for the pattern. I cannot share this pattern as it is not my original. It is one that I am choosing to adapt and share in a loving way to bring comfort and joy to a cause that Pat Winter's has started and I enjoy making for.

I also have an " Izzy Doll " made for a child...........a little African child.........but there are not enough made yet to make a difference so they will be placed in the basket until more are made and that will be my fall knitting project. Look up Izzy Doll and feel proud.

The more I dig the more I find that need to be finished so I will have to put them into separate categories of importance to me., as I do want to do my Christmas wall quilt and finish some stockings that have been embellished but never put together as yet. Where does time go.

Hope these little labours of love inspire you to " pay it forward ".

Art Bra Quilt Charity Block 2008

This is my block to date. There is still a lot of work to be done on it and seams to be embellished, but as my first love is silk ribbon embroidery I wanted to make sure that this block had more than it's share of this technique for a change.

This is a bower of roses and baby's breath that I created using different widths of silk ribbon. This is the main theme of the block and has set the tone for the rest. I truly loved doing this particular piece.

This is a little bouquet of roses that a butterfly is going to light upon and spread the love of the rose throughout the whole block. This is not done as yet, but is in a finishing stage.

This is the swag of roses that I finished with so far today. I have set it aside and will embellish with more fancy stitches, glitter and beads of love, before it is finished. As you can see there is a feature fabric in the top corner and there will also be one in the bottom corner of the block as we were all given a piece of the same colour rose silk, a six inch square to incorporate into our blocks. I just love it.

Below the centre piece is a seam that I wanted to stand out to sort of shelter the peachy rose that was above and so I rusched some ribbon and have started to form another cascade of roses from this point down. I had pretty soon start doing some seams or no one would believe this is a crazy quilt block.

Wedding Block 2 Finished!

A quiet, serene and breezy day was spent finishing this block so that I could put it in the post to Leslie tomorrow. I did a lot more bead work than I would normally do on a block as I wanted to keep the mood elegant and " wedding like ". Once again my favourite part was devoted to the hearts. I love it when someone actually gives you a theme and you can run with it., it sure simplifies the stitching. I must admit there is a lot of back stitching on the beads to make them stand up and some soft shades of peach and pink were added for colour.

Tomorrow I will work on the Art Bra block and play with colours, and if the mood is still with me start piecing my white on white quilt as well as my Victorian Christmas Wall Quilt for this Christmas..........all vintage and full of colours.

New Project on the Horizon

I received my beautiful piece of silk duponi in the mail this week from Barbara for this year's art bra quilt project and I sketched out what I thought I would do on the next block. The one just finished was 12.5 inches finished and the one for the art bra group is 8.5 inches finished and I want to do as much detail as I can on their block as well. Off to see if the sketch works. I normally just wing it and create, but this time I wanted to try to be professional.

Building the hearts

This morning I took some time to start filling in the hearts as they were overtaking the block and I did want them to set a mood। On the first one. I added a collage of sequined daisies and to the centre of this delicate little soft yellow sequins added a seed pearl. Of course, it covered up all of the gold herringbone stitches, but then this must have been for a reason. I then took some vintage heart beads as well as a few rice beads and an irridescent bead and did a collage that dangles from the centre. I did attach it to the block as swining items would have a way of being moved to easily.

I then moved down to the larger heart. I was getting braver. I had already selected some pale pink to white overdyed silk ribbon in 7 mm and made a collage of flowers and buds. I then went back in with some soft mint green 7 mm ribbon and added little leaves. I do want to add some beads and little bits of baby's breath. On the opposite side I have added rusched 15mm rayoln ribbon. I will also add beads to this and collage something special at the top. I can also picture a heart hanging inside a heart here.


Not being overly sure of what I wanted to add to the opposite side of the block I decided I had better do some work there so I came across a spool of antiqued beads and let them meander over the block and have them tacked down for now. I also want to add some bleeding hearts in a bowuet and try and see if I should bring the other large heart to life. I have it stitched in line art so I can just pull the threads if I decide not to..............then on to paisley heart buttons and beads.

This block is very addictive, but then they all are once we start on them.

These are five little hats that I finished crocheting this week. I added little roses and white buttons to the decos and one has a tie that will hold it tighter to a head. I also finished crocheting the little white dress in the background but have to add the ribbons to this one. It finished adorable.

For our local hospital

These are hand knit charity blankets and caps for preemies that will be going to the local regional hospital. Dh particularly loves the neon green glow in the dark one.......I love the pink set.........and there is also neon pink, a little red, hat, a pumpkin hat and a gorgeous eyelet with ribbons blanket. Makes me feel warm all over...........The power of giving.

Patterns for the blankets will be posted soon.

Charity Knitting

Here are several charity blankets that I have knit on the ISM knitting machine, but they can also be done by hand, and have edged with crochet.