Sewing Project - Memory Quilt Square

We are making a quilt in memory of our Mom who was a great quilter.

We have requested the squares include the colors Cornflower Blue and Sunshine Yellow and White.

I worked on designs most of the day yesterday and did not come up with something I was happy with.  Overnight I decided that it would be a scrappy design. I gathered my cotton fabric scraps in the right colors.

We have asked the squares to be 11" square so that they can be trimmed to an consistent size once all the squares are together.

This is my square. It had to have a bit of embroidery stitching as Mom did a lot of it. I started with a white center knowing that I would put stitching on it.  Then I just added yellow strips then blue strips and alternated till I got to the edge. 

This is my third scrappy fabric project and I did better this time. I did have to unpick a couple of times.

I am very happy with the results. Looking forward to what others in the family will come up with. I will be gathering the squares and assembling the quilt.

2026 Slow Stitching Project - Page 21 - K1 - Kantha Stitching

I am following K3N Cloth Tales' A to Z project for 2026.

This week's prompt was Kantha Stitching. No surprise there.

I wanted mine to be bright so I selected a bunch of colors.

I did the 3 outside circles in stem stitch in red, yellow and navy. 

I did the next circle and quadrants in leaf green.

I did the cross in dark grey thread.

I filled the quadrants with orange, purple, turquoise and pink. 

I finished it a needle craft night.
 

Senior Art Show - Submissions

These are my submissions to the Senior Art Show at the Spruce Grove Art Gallery in Heavy Metal Place. I am part of the Allied Arts Council.

Title: Flowers in Blue Vase

Medium: Watercolor on Mixed Media Paper

Size: 8 x 10 inches

Frame: Gold Metal Matte Frame

Mat: Double Warm White Mat

Art: 5x7 inches

This piece is one I made for Inktober 2024.  It is watercolor on Fluid Mixed Media paper featuring a blue vase with a variety of flowers and twigs set on a table.

Outlined with a Micron Acid Free fine black permanent marker.

This art piece is made with felted wool and entirely hand stitched.  

Title: Hoot the Owl

Medium: Felted Wool 

Size: 10 x 15 inches plus the hanger

Hanger: A stick which has been sanded and finished with Tung Oil

I cut the wool in a shape. You can see that some bands did not shrink evenly which added texture to the piece.

I stitched it's wings first on both sides with wool yarn in a light brown shade.  I use an ivory wool yarn in the center to create it's breast.  I layered ivory and deep yellow wool for this eyes with buttons in the centers. A small triangle of yellow for his bill and for his feet.

I put a piece of small branch at the top of the body to represent it's ears.  It was finished and then stitched on with dark brown wool yarn.  I crocheted deep yellow wool yarn to make a hanger and attached it to the back of the head. 

I created an art piece with bees as the focal element.

Title: Save the Bees  SOLD

Medium: Mixed Media

Size: 8 x 8 inches

Frame: Wooden Cradle Board

Frame: Gold Brushed Resin Frame

Photo: 4x4 inches

The wooden cradle board was primed in white then painted with a light yellow artist grade acrylic paint. I cut a hexagon stencil and then added them to the piece with darker yellow acrylic paint.  I brushed some of the gold acrylic paint used on the small frame on the cradle board. To connect the color in photo with the board I spattered it with a deep rose red acrylic paint by tapping a wet brush on a butterknife. I placed the photo behind the square frame and used Bling Zots to hold it in place. Once it was dry I adhered the small square frame with glue dots to ensure no damage to the wood surface.

The show is currently hung at the gallery.

Our reception being held on is 

Saturday, May 30th, 2026

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Awards will be presented.

2026 Slow Stitching Project - Page 20 - J2

I am following K3N Cloth Tales' A to Z slow stitching project.

I chose Jet Black and Japanese Red for my prompts this week. 

I followed the block that she chose which is the Court House Steps - a variation on Log Cabin block.

I chose a piece of Japanese Red silk for the center then added Jet Black and white cotton for the steps on my foundation layer.

I invisible stitch the outside edge to keep in integral to the rest of the block.  I liked this one because it was very straight forward. 

Two white, rotate two black and repeat.  

2026 Slow Stitching Project - Page 19 - J1

I am following K3N Cloth Tales' A to Z slow stitching project.  I am a little behind.

Her prompt was Jewelery and Jaali Stitch.

I chose a Jade button and the Jaali stitch.  I picked thread in Jade color and black.

Once I reached the edge with the Jaali stitched I continued in circles with the Jade and black thread.

I really like how this one turned out.

 

Cards - Stitched on Fabric

I chose to upcycle a piece of denim. 

I trimmed it to 4.00 x 5.25" keeping the seam on the left of center. I added a square of red gingham in top left hand corner.  I stitched it with white crosses and red French knots. 

I added running stitches parallel to the seam then red running stitching horizontally along the top of the piece of denim. 

I found a metal button that I thought would work well and then added a circle of white then a circle of red running stitch around the button.

I had pulled threads to create some fluffy edges so I had threads which matched in color. I couched some in an arch around the button. 

I stitched the fabric to a navy A2 card base. A nice country looking card.

I loved this scrap piece of linen because of the colors and the watercolor feeling.

I saw a flower so I stitched along the edges of the petals and added some dark in and around the center.

I stitched on a metal butterfly charm on the right hand side where there was a bit of open space.

I stitched the fabric layer to the front of a turquoise A2 card base.

I will bringing fabric cards to the gallery.

Fabric Flowers - More

I checked with the gallery and I had sold a couple of flowers so I decided to replenish those.

This is more of the microfiber cloth I used to make this bag.  Soft and pliable I thought would work well with this 5 circle pattern.

Traced the 4.25' inch circles onto the back of the fabric and cut them out by hand. I folded them in half then quarter and stitched along the raw edge of the shape. Strung all 5 onto the same strong thread and pulled tight. 

I stuffed the hole in the middle with a bit of batting.  I sewed the silver 12" wire to the 1.25" card stock circle and then to the flower and center. 

Then I assembled the center of the flower with a scallop circle of white felt, a green smaller shape and a warm pink button. This element was stitched from the front through the flower and center and the card stock wire piece. After all those layers were secure and hand stitched circle of raspberry polyester fabric to cover the mess of stitches at the back. 

I made another fabric flower with yellow cotton strips. I used a 1" wire ring from a set of cafe curtain rings. I had to close the gap where I cut the extra wire off so I added tape. Should use duck tape next time.

I ripped my strips of yellow cotton a bit narrower than 1/2" but it was hard because the fabric ripped horizontally sometimes.  The strips measured 4" long. I put on 25 strips.

I padded my orange center with batting and stitched that on.  The 12" wire was stitched to a card stock circle and that was stitched to the back of the flower.

I stitched on a 1.5 inch circle on the back to hide all the stitching

Another 5 circle flower.  This was a cotton scarf with circle pattern on it.  The circles measure 4.25 inches in diameter.  This fabric is quite a bit looser weave and cinched a lot tighter than the micro fiber cloth.

I decided to put a yellow felt circle in the middle with French knots with black thread.  It was easy stitching through the thin fabric.

A cardstock circle on the back to which the gold 12" wire was stitched and the securely stitched to the flower. 

The backer was a 1.5 inch blue felt circle to hide the stitching.

This fabric is nice and light but the loose weave may not be the best.

These were delivered to the gallery today!

Sewing Project - Shopping Bag - Pink Floral

Another shopping bag from project bags which I unpacked this week.  This collection has been put away for at least 2 years with the flood and the move I was not sewing much. 

The pink floral fabric is 100% polyester and therefore quite thin.  I decided to supplement it with some flannel. Both were cut to 20"W x 36" T which will be folded in half.  I put some curvy decorative stitch seams through out the piece to hold those layers together.

The lining is good quality white microfiber fabric. 

I created 2 pockets for the inside with some of the dark pink pieces in the print.  I put on both the front and and the back of the lining.  They measure about 5:00"W x 6.5"T and are lined with the same white fabric. I stitched the layers together, turned it right side out, added top stitch to the top edge then top stitched it to the lining on the center line.  Making sure that the opening was facing the top of the bag.

I created a narrow strip for the key clip and strung it onto the black support.  I connected the 2 ends to give me a loop on the outside of the bag while the clip was on the inside of the bag.

The straps were 1" wide by 31" long.  They were placed between the outside fabric and the lining leaving about 4" on the inside of the bag to allow me to reinforce them to the bag later.

I created the sandwich of front floral/flannel layer and the back white lining and stitched all the way around leaving a gap for turning it right side out.  That done, I ironed it carefully. I folded it right side out. I then topstitched the top edge and followed the strap extra between the layers to reinforce the straps to the bag and closing the gap I had left earlier. I placed the key clip between the layers with the key on the inside and loop on the outside.  I then topstitched both side seams. 

The bag measures 17.25 T  x 18" W.  It is quite a large bag.

Sewing Project - Shopping Bag - Sage and Tangerine

I am finally getting to projects which have been sitting for a couple of years.  With the flood and the move I have had no time to sew. My past self had assembled all the supplies, the main fabric, the lining fabric, the accents so moving forward went pretty well. 

The tangerine floral is microfiber fabric and well as the sage lining.  I paired it with this dark green cotton polyester fabric for the accent.

I cut the fabric for the outside and lining the same size.  Once the each was sewn, I zigzagged the raw edges on both pieces even though the bag will be fully lined because the fabric was raveling quite a bit.  I assembled the bag itself by putting the outside inside the lining right sides together and sewing around leaving a gap to turn it right side out. I then turn it out and ironed it really well. I top stitched the top edge to close the gap that I had left earlier.

Now, how will I decorate this bag as it was just an envelope at this stage. I had dark green fabric which was one of the colors was in the main fabric.  I wanted to add a band at the top to help give the bag a bit of structure as microfiber fabric is quite soft. I cut a strip of green 3.5 inches wide and longer than the measurement of the bag all the way around. I wanted it to overlap on the front. I ironed a half inch seam allowance on each edge and then top stitched down along the top edge leaving about 1/4 inch of the floral fabric showing. I decided to just over lap the band and put a button in the square I created with the decorative stitching.

I made the straps very long about 42 inches long.  Again, I ironed them in half the ironed each raw edge to the middle. I then used my curvy decorative stitch down the middle and a straight seam on the open edge. When I placed the straps on I saw a space for a outside pocket.  

I cut a piece of dark green fabric 7.5 inches wide and 6 inches tall. I added a strip of the floral fabric vertically just off the center line to tie the pocket to the bag in design. I then hemmed the top edge. I then sewed the bottom edge of the pocket to the front of the bag where it will fall between the straps. I ironed the pocket right side out towards the top of the bag.

I then pin the straps over the right and left sides of the pocket so that when I top stitched the strap the pocket would be captured as well. This took a lot of detailed measuring and pinning.  Once I had it the way I wanted and sewed the front strap down.  Then, I had to duplicate the measurements on the back piece and top stitched that one down.

I hand sewed the tangerine button in the space I had made for it on the top band.  The finished size of the bag itself is 17" T x 1" W.

2026 Slow Stitching Project - Page 18 - I2

 I am following the slow stitch project hosted by K3N Cloth Tales.  The community prompt was Interlocking Is.  I chose Interlocking circles which is an Irish symbol for the Trinity.  The rings are Indigo on Ivory linen.  I cut the circles from Indigo fabric with 2 thin dies from my Spellbinder smooth circle dies. Once laid out, I cut 2 of the circles to ensure that the were positioned by going under the other rings appropriately. I used the couching stitch along both outside edges of the rings. I chose yellow, red and white embroidery floss of the 3 separate objects.

Slow Stitching Project - Memory Game

I was inspired to make a Memory Game as a slow stitching project.

The round game pieces are fleece circles with black on the back side and white with shapes in colors stitched on the front side. The shapes are stitched to the white circle with the overcast stitch in matching thread.  Then the black and white circles are held together with blanket stitch in black thread so the backs are solid color. 

The game rules are posted on the right.

The game pieces are stored in gold spray paint Tetley Tea tins which dictated the pieces would be round.  There are 6 pairs (12 pieces) which are stored in the tin.

Coming to a Christmas Craft sale in November.