Annual Challenge Update

Tree Challenge 2011

Our Tree Challenge was a success!  We both (mostly) finished our project, although in all honesty we had more than enough time to complete it and then some - you know how it is - knowing you have plenty of time to work on it you do something else first until it is down to crunch time. The main thing though is that we are both happy with our results.  As soon as I finish thread painting a few more areas on my tree it will be finished.  I've decided to frame and hang it in my sewing room. Truth be told I could hang it up now and no one would know it wasn't finished except me!  Since I last wrote a  post about the tree, I embroidered a little cardinal sitting on one of the branches.  I'm not sure you will be able to see it in the photo though so in the future I will try to do better and take close-up photos of some of the details. 

The quilt show was very inspirational. I just love seeing all the different quilt types and the different techniques that are being used in the quilts. While at the show I purchased the Clover small oval yo-yo maker and the butterfly yo-yo maker. The small oval yo-yo maker so far is my favorite as I'm still trying to figure out the butterfly yo-yo maker with it's two-step process. Hopefully, soon I'll be able to show you some beautiful yo-yo butterflies.

Part of our annual trip to the quilt show is to select our next challenge. This year it was Connie's turn to choose and we will be making a bird (possibly using the Artful Bird: Feathered Friends to Make and Sew by Abigail Patner Glassenberg ) but we can use any pattern or make up our own plus we need to make a brooch to be worn at the 2012 quilt show. For the bird we can use any pattern but we must personalize it somehow - for me that may be figuring out how to embellish it with some yo-yos and for Connie she might create and use some of her fantasy fabric.  For now - anything and everything is possible!

"Romancing Spring" Butterfly Yo-Yo Card

With February being such a short month I knew I could not get a Valentine's Day Card made in time to send to my mom but I wanted to use my heart yo-yos. About the time I was working on the card we were having some very pretty "spring-like" days and I looked at my design and it looked like the butterfly was romancing spring and that is how the card got it's name. The butterfly was made using Clover's Large Heart Yo-Yo Maker for the wings and for the body I used Clover's Extra Small and Small Yo-Yo Makers. Did I mention I love my Cricut Expression machine? It is the best for cutting out letters and designs.

Romancing Spring-Mom's February Card

Of course I have never been good working at just one thing at a time so while working on my mom's February card I have also been paring down and weeding out some of the craft supplies I no longer use or use very seldom as I want to make room for a new table I purchased which has been riding around in my car, still in its box, for the last several weeks.  The other project (besides the Tree Challenge piece) I started was a collage binder. While going through my many boxes I came across some old seam binding packets produced by Penneys with the prices on the top.  One packet of 1/2" wide seam binding sold for 17 cents and another one that was extra wide sold for 27 cents. As I had several of these packets I decided I would decoupage them onto one of my empty binders and when completed it can hold some more of my magazine articles. My husband often refers to me as "Monica" for the Monica on the sitcom Friends who categoried and organized everything - as I have a strong tendency to do that too. My magazine articles are broken down by reference such as the best glues or threads to buy and project type such as home decor, clothing, or kids projects. Other items to be included in the collage are old zipper and snap packets. You may remember back in 2010 I had a play date with my friend Connie and covered a binder using a few of Julie Nutting's techniques. It was so much fun I decided to try it again.  If you haven't seen any of Julie's work I really encourage you to visit her site.

Painted Faces Binder Cover Completion

Finished Painted Faces Binder Cover

This week as I was looking around my sewing room I saw the unfinished binder cover taunting me as it sat stashed away on the shelf (my version of "out of sight - out of mind") so I grabbed the pattern directions and read through them one more time to figure out how the cover was sewn together.  Although I would have liked it to turn out a little better I am happy overall, especially since this was my first time using this pattern and my first attempt at making a binder cover. The pattern said the inside lining wouldn't show much so it didn't matter what fabric you used so I chose something I really didn't care for.  Unfortunately, when you open the binder it shows just a little more than I would like. I think having a coordinating lining fabric would have given it a better overall appearance. The other thing I didn't take into account was the back of the binder cover. The directions were for quilting an entire piece of fabric for the cover but since I was using my painted face project thinking how good it would look on the front I coordinated a plain piece of green fabric to wrap around to the back and that's the look I got - a plain back cover piece. You notice I made sure that didn't show in the photo. If I were to do this again I would definitely make sure that I had something a little more exciting for the back piece too. Guess I'll just have to make another cover!

Tree Challenge - Budding Leaves

Tree Challenge-Leaf Highlights

Yesterday I finally got brave enough, although I was still careful and did a mini trial run on a piece of scrap fabric, and added some leaf highlights to my tree.  It was exciting to watch the tree start to come to life as I sat and sewed the leaves onto the fabric. The leaf embroidery stitch setting on my sewing machine worked wonderful and I was even able to set the stitch length and width to add a little extra detail to the tree. I would have sewn more but pretty much I had shaded in all the light areas (at least for now). I looked through all my threads for some darker green thread that matched the tree but I didn't have the exact shades I was looking for so needless to say I went shopping for thread. Today I hope to add some of the darker shades of green to the tree.  So as to keep a few details a surprise from Connie I won't be posting anymore photos until after we meet and have our "show n' tell".

This photo is so small I 'm not sure you will be able to see all the  thread painting for the leaves, especially since I was just working on the lighter shades of green.

Challenge Update

Tree with dimension

It is getting closer to the deadline for our Tree Challenge. The due date is the day of the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton Roads. Getting together on the day of the quilt show and having our "show in tell" during breakfast is one of the highlights.  The other is seeing all the magnificant quilts that inspire us to want to try our hand at trying to create something spectacular.  I feel good if I just manage to get the concept right and this time I feel I've learned a lot more about shading and coloring and that's got to be a good thing, right? Hopefully, you will be able to tell by the photo that the tree has been enhanced by couching perl cotton embroidery thread to the trunk of the tree and into some of it's branches. There are also little tiny french knots in the flower bed to enhance the mulched area. Next, will be to add some grass blades to the fence line and then machine stitch the tree leaves.  For the leaves I'm considering using the leaf stitch on my sewing machine.  My best bet will be to try it on a practice piece so I can get my stitch length set to scale. With just eighteen (18) more days to finish I better go and get busy.