Sunday, March 30, 2008

GTS

Green Thumb Sunday


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Though spring is clearly here, the weather finds it difficult to leave winter. We had some snow on last Monday, yesterday was rather warm and today is cooler...

The Xmas rose has decided that Easter is a better time to bloom:

The narcisses Delnashaugh are in all their glory, to my very delight.
The white muscari are doing well too:

Even the cat tree is searching light!
Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Madame Corbeau

Please meet Madame Corbeau: A crow doll as explained by Kelli Perkins in Cloth Paper Scissors, Nov/Dec 2007 issue.

I've just discovered that Arlee from Aldebo has made a series of birds from the same article. Don't miss them.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Cardholder, bis

Thank you all for your comments on the little house. I like the way it turned out.
Since then, I've been working on the Exquisite Corpse round robin, but am not allowed to show you any picture yet...
And I did a second batch of cardholders, still with the madras leftover, but appliqued on boiled wool with the embellisher. Then I have added some machine embroidery. Even on the ribbons. I even made my first buttonholes with that machine. The feet is big, with an extra connection to the machine. Looks very difficult but it is in fact very easy. I just had to give the size of the button (here of the ribbon), and the machine did the rest. Gosh!


Oh, have you noticed the new logo on the side bar? the Annuaire Patchwork Discount? You can find some nice French textile blogs there.

Now back to the couch!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Another house

I found the first one a bit too straight. So I made a second one, for myself:

Monday, March 24, 2008

TIF

I last I've found the time to work on March TIF project. I took my inspiration from a tutorial by Sarah Lechner for Fibre & Stitch.
Here are the cut pieces before embellishing. The same one afternoon later:
and this morning assembled into a book cover:

Most of the fabrics I've used are recycled ones, from old scarfs, sweaters and even a coat. The lining is a left over from a previous project.

Happy Xmas, sorry, Easter

Still half asleep, I went to the bathroom, and this I saw! Run to wake up my daughter (who had been out all night :-)), and then went to make some pictures.



When I was living in the North of France, as a kid, snow at Easter was far from unusual, but I think it is the first time I see snow that late since I'm in the South of France. However, the sky is turning blue again, and it is already melting.

Back to the sewing machine!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

GTS: Happy Easter!

Green Thumb Sunday



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Happy Easter to you all!
Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Sunday and misc.

Allison, Cat and Ruth, if only I knew what I'm going to do with those fabrics! This week has been very busy at work and I just could not think creatively... In the meantime, I've made some experiments with them, checking they are suitable for the embellisher, and I've washed those that needed to be.
Startare, I was so focused on the English word that I did not think French... It is a shame, it would have been great too. But I'll keep that in mind, for another time.
When I've received the last issue of Cloth Paper Scissors, I fell in love with the house on the cover. I had to make it for Easter.
Judy Coates Perez has a great tutorial, in two parts. The first one is about making the fabric. I confess I've tried it, but it was a complete failure...
The second part will explain how to mount the house, but that will be too late for Easter... I wonder how she makes the last seam on the walls, as well as the bottom one. In the meantime, I had to find a way. So I've zigzaged the walls together as it is easy to make the last seams by hand without showing to much. I've kept her idea of a nice lining inside, to add some interest. I really think it adds a nice touch. The roof is removable. The dimensions are 15cmx15cmx22cm.


Now I have to find a way to mail it (complete with chocolate eggs) to my niece...
And when I have Judy Coates Perez's second tutorial, I'll make another one, this time narrow and high. And I'll give the fabric another try...

Have a nice week all!

GTS

Green Thumb Sunday




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This is the surprise of the week. This is the first year I took the time to prepare tulips containers for spring. And here they are! I can see them from my kitchen.



Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tuesday...

Not much to report today, since I worked on the Exquisite Corpse round robin, and cannot tell a single word about it. Or just this little bit: the theme of the piece I'm working on is "What is your definition of weed?". For me it is an unwanted plant in the garden. But I google weed to get some more ideas, and ended with cannabis, wimp, weed like in urinated, etc... I did not know those meanings and was glad to have learnt something :-)

Thank you for the comments on the card holders. I might try another batch someday, they are really fun. And crazy embroidery by machine is perfect for them.

And I'm glad you liked the Strelitzia too.

This is my first work on TIF. Mostly recycled stuff, like old sweaters or dresses. I'd love to combine the palette with the theme, but this requires more thinking.
I wish you all a good week!

Sunday, March 9, 2008

GTS - Barcelona

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Strelitzia growing outside, in January ... My ray of sun to those under the snow ...

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

Magic Cardholder

I'm part of the Exquisite Corpse round robin launched by Arlee. This round robin is a bit special, as you have to hide your work, except for a little strip around the edge, so that other participants can connet their work without knowing what yours is. That's the reason why I did not post about it until now.
However, I wanted to make some goodies for my fellow stitchers. I saw the idea in Quilting Arts some time ago, a magic cardholder, i.e. the cardholder has a ribbon in it. Just pull that ribbon to get the card out.
Besides, I had some tiny leftovers of fabrics that I like a lot. Their sizes were perfect for that project. So cardholders it was going to be.
First, I've fused the bits on fast2fuse, and used the built-in stitches of my sewing machine to embellish that crazy patch:
For each cardholder, I've cut 2 pieces for the external sides of the cardholders from that patch, plus one piece for the inside from plain lavender fabric fused to fast2fuse. On the inside piece, I sew the ribbon. I made a buttonhole on one of the external piece, for the ribbon to go through.
Then I made a sandwich of three pieces (one external+one inside+one external again). When I saw how thick it was, I had some doubt about how to zigzag them together, but my machine did it alright. And there they are:

Monday, March 3, 2008

Answers

Regarding the door:
Wurzel, es sind inches, nicht Zentimeter. Das Stück ist 23cmx23cm. Ja, ich verbringe wirklich eine tolle Zeit mit den neuen Maschinen. Und es freut mich immer, ein Fan wie Du zu haben :-)
Glad you like the colors, Annica and Angelcat. I've tried to make the door itself less vibrant, but apparently, dull colors are something out of my reach :-)
Fifiquilter, Startare, I was really not inspired by the exercice. In fact, it is for an exhibition, but I don't know where, for what purpose, etc... When we asked for the size, shape, ... the lady gave us the answers out of the blue. So I had the feeling this was leading nowhere. Once I went over this little detail and decided to do it, I had fun. I've spent the whole afternoon on the door itself, but did not see the time go by.

Regarding orange trees:
Aiyana, I would not have thought of the trick with the foliage. I don't know if those suffer from the heat, they are surrounded by high walls, so there must be a lot of shadow...
I hätte gern ein Obst probiert, bin aber zu klein... I would have tasted one, but I'm too small...
Sisah, die sind in Barcelona, im Zentrum.

Regarding TIF:
Thank you all for your comments. The piece is 13cmx21cm. I try to keep them small, in order to finish them in the month...

I wish you all a beautiful week!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Sunrise over a door

At our patchwork group, we were asked to make a door or a gate. None of us has been very thrilled by the idea, but it had to be done. So here is what I came with, just finished it. The background is made of a layer of black net, with patches of colored organza, simply sewed with a black metallic thread. The gate itself was made with the embellisher, one layer of commercial felt, one of scrim in the same colores as the background patches, little patches of fabrics embroidered with the built-in stitches of my sewing maching (great fun, by the way) and a layer of orange organza. Then again sewed by machine on the background, and the "stones" are hightlighted with the same metallic thread. The piece is 10"x10".

GTS - Barcelona

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It was the first time I saw citrus tree of this size. I suppose some kind of tangerine tree...

Just wanted to share it with you.




Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Saturday, March 1, 2008

TIF and Cyber Fyber Exhibition

Pfffff, I'm just a little bit late. I've just completed my TIF project for February.

One of my earliest memories is the kitchen. Because we spent most of our time in that room, and because my mother seemed to be very attracted to all the new appliances that appeared then. This is my interpretation of a kitchen of the 60's.

In the meantime, Sharon has announced the theme and the color scheme for March TIF.

The theme sounds like..."This months challenge is to do just that, pay attention to the tiny details. Sometimes the small things become emblematic for something larger."...

and the color palette isThank you Sharon for pushing me out of my comfort zones!

This week, I have received a postcard from Susan Lenz, in the frame of the Cyber Fyber Exhibition. This card is simply gorgeous. Thank you so much Susan for this swap and for organizing this exhibition!