CQI Christmas Crackers

Here are my three items for the CQI secret Christmas Cracker exchange:







I hope the recipients love these little packages. I had great fun piecing the blocks and gathering all the crazy quilting bits and pieces to fill the crackers!

Benjamin Shine's textile portrait of Audrey Hepburn

I have to share this incredible portrait of Audrey Hepburn over at MrXstitch. It's by Benjamin Shine. The huge (4' x 5') portrait looks like a pastel sketch, yet it's ingeniously made by threading various ribbons and textiles through eyelets. I'm in AWE at how gorgeous the portrait looks (so much energy!!) and at what a novel medium he has chosen to use.

Lots of Fabric Postcards! (picture heavy)

I've received so many lovely fabric postcards these past few weeks!! Aren't these all STUNNING?? I really love seeing the different techniques up close. Textiles are so vibrant and alive with energy - these photos don't do justice to these little treasures.

For those whose cards are featured here who also have a blog or website, please email me with the link and I'll happily link your name.

I'm very curious how others store these little gems. Currently, I have mine sorted by group in shoe boxes - not the nicest way to display artwork, LOL! If you have a good display system, I'd love to hear from you!


This batch is from the members of the Fabric Postcard Birthday Swap over at Stitchin Fingers:

From Judy M:


From Leslie C:


From Sheila S:


From Pauline B:


From Robbie S:


From Marja:


From Dakotah:



This batch is from the Trading Fabric Postcards Yahoo Group Birthday Swap:

From Judith A:


From Rachel P:


From Ildika C:


From Nancy T:


From Rachel M:


From Patricia F:


From Marja:


From Lynn C:


From Chris Wheeler:


These are also from the Trading Fabric Postcards Yahoo Group:

From Cindy E:


From Gary Wheeler:


From Shawn F:


From Chris Wheeler:


From Felicia H:


From Trudy S:

Tristan's Giveaway!

Tristan Robin Blakeman over at Enchanted Revelry is having a fantastic giveaway! There are two prizes. The first is Holly Harrison's book Altered Books, Collaborative Journals, and other Adventures in Bookmaking. The second prize is a calligraphy dip pen by Stuart Houghton.

Tristan creates incredible artwork using many media. Art quilts, paper and vintage ephemera, vintage trims, and beautifully detailed mini-theatres that he sells through his Etsy shop. His blog features exquisite eye candy - vintage items, all things French, Art Deco furniture and accessories, and of course his own finished mixed media pieces. I've discovered many new inspirational blogs from browsing his blog roll.

I'll end this post by using Tristan's own sign-off - after you visit his blog and get inspired, "Go make something beautiful!"

Alice's RR Block

Here is Alice's block for our Round Robin over at CQI. I'm the first to work on her block:



And here's the detail of the stitching I added:



I had hoped to have a lot more stitching and knitting done these past two weeks, however I'm recovering from a cold (at least it's not flu!!).

Geta's Giveaway

Geta's Quilting Studio is offering monthly giveaways! If you've never visited Geta's blog, you're in for a treat. Geta specializes in shadow trapunto by machine, using batting to create intricate designs that are trapped underneath a layer of netting and free motion quilted. Her designs are stunning!! She also creates beautiful quilted bags and offers some of her designs as free downloads.

Lest you think I don't knit anymore, I'll be posting a few knitty things this week. The colder weather is perfect for knitting up some warm and wonderful scarves! I pulled out some autumn colours I have in my yarn stash and I'll post some pictures of my experiments in a few days.

Round Robin Block - Icy Pastels

We're starting a new Round Robin over at CQI and this is my block:



Quite a departure from my usual colour scheme!! I do love these colours as well as the fabrics. I've had these fabrics in my stash for years and I finally found a great project in which to feature them.

Fabric Postcards - Confetti Crazy Quilting

Here are my latest fabric postcards. I used J. Martha Michler's 'Confetti' technique as detailed in her book Crazy Quilting - The Complete Guide. It's a fun technique!

I probably wouldn't use this method to make a CQ block, though. It's too random and chaotic - I prefer a more controlled approach for larger projects. There's also a fair amount of waste with this method, so don't use your favourite fabrics or any precious fancies you've been saving! It's good for using up scraps.

I dipped into my huge collection of charm squares to make these:

Crazy Quilting Trims

I received two lovely packages of trims to use in my crazy quilts! The first is from Nicki Lee. She included the exquisite black and red trim for me to use in my Flamenco wallhanging. I adore these pieces of black lace!



This incredible monogrammed hankie was sent to me by Kerry. The stitching is so tiny and delicate! When I saw this on her blog I immediately thought "E is for Edwardian Elegance". I have an idea for a block but I haven't sketched it yet. I'd like to finish up my Flamenco piece first.

More Fabric Postcards

I received this gorgeous fabric postcard a few days ago:



And these are some of the fabric postcards I've mailed out:







I really like how these turned out. They were cut from the same base fabric, created by weaving wavy strips of two different fabrics. I came across this technique in Wendy Hill's book On The Surface and Mary Caplinger's book Weave It! Quilt It! Wear It! many years ago and I still love using it. I wanted to see how different I could make each one.

I've almost finished my other batches, so more pictures will be posted soon.