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!

Fabric Flower - Yellow Fluffy

I am trying different techniques to ensure all my flowers are unique.

For this flower I used yellow cotton fabric which I ripped into .5 inch strips.  I cut the strips to 4.5 inches long and wrapped them onto a metal ring that measured 1.75 inches in diameter. I used 25 strips to fill the flower. 

Once, I had that done, I cut a piece of cotton in yellow gingham about 2 inches square double and added a bit of batting in between the layers and a 2 inch circle of card stock to provide support. I placed it on the back of the flower and stitched all the way around through the yellow cotton petals. I then secured the metal wire (4 lengths of 24 gauge wire twisted together) stem through its circle at the top to the center of the flower back. I cut a 2.5 inch circle from the same yellow fabric and hand stitched over the wire to hide that connection.

Slow Stitching - No. 039 - Monochrome

Another piece for K3N Cloth Tales Slow Stitching Challenge 2024.

Week 39 - Monochrome - Pick a Color any Color - Green - House Top.

I decided to do my layout based on K3N's Wonky Wednesday last week of House Top.

I chose my bright piece in the center and then hand stitched my strips around till I had covered my foundation piece.  I trimmed all sides when I was done. 

I then top stitched in green thread along the inside edge of each strip. Going around the perimeter of the center green square. 

Photos - This Week

My aunt gave me this plant - Dracaena.  It is a good indoor plant and helps with cleaning the air.

When growing a dracaena plant, locate it in brightly filtered light, such as through a sheer curtain in front of a sunny window. Room temperatures of 60-70 F. (15-21 C.) are best during the day, with night temperatures about 10 degrees cooler. However, the dracaena is forgiving of temperatures, as long as they are not too cold. 

I have placed it near the east window which is the brightest I can provide.  I think right next to the window would be too cold so it is about 4 feet away. We will see how it goes.  It benefits from misting occasionally and moist soil but not soggy.  It enjoys a time of dormancy in the winter during which it does not need fertilizer.

I really don't have a green thumb and growing things does not come naturally. 





I finished this book recently.  A Sudden Change of Heart by Barbara Taylor Bradford. The story's main characters are Laura and Claire.  Laura is from a well to do family and Claire is taken into the family at about age 10.  Laura is an art consultant and works in New York but travels a lot.  She enjoys time with her grandmother, Megan Valiant.  And the family farm where the girls spent time together as children is in Connecticut. Claire lives in Paris with her teenage daughter following a divorce and works for a magazine.

When Laura's work takes her to Paris she always takes time to visit with Claire. 

Laura works on finding art which was stolen from Jewish families during the WWII.  She finds several pieces but the challenge is to have the current owners relinquish the art to the rightful owners or their descendants. Many are worth a lot of money.

Health challenges visit Claire and eventually she is back in Connecticut in the home she lived in as child.  Memories surface of her home life before coming to live with the Valiants.  She comes to terms with the life events with the help of Laura and Megan.

I cut a few 2.5 inch strips of bright fabric for our quilting time tonight.  We are working on making some kid quilts for a women's shelter.

These will be assembled like jelly rolls.  They will get a layer of polyester fiber fill and a backer.  I believe the small quilts will be machine quilted instead of long arm quilted.

Hopefully, others will have some coordinating colored strips.  I forgot to ask if I should have included solids as well.  We shall see.

Card - St. Patrick's Day HB

Here's the second card for the March 17th birthday.  I started with strips of green card stock which I played with until I found some that worked together.  I chose some wider and some narrower. I found a card that worked with the colors of green in the strips then I designed and color printed printed the greeting adding the small shamrock to the right.  I cut the flag ends with my square punch. I laid them out and tape them together on the back and then trimmed the top ends. The banners were then adhered to the greeting layer leaving room for the ribbon. I added dark green seam binding over the top of the banners then tied another piece in a knot. This was then adhered to the green card front.

Card Club - Sept - Felt Owl

Here's a cute felt owl. I chose a black card then put a turquoise layer embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. I cut the Tim Holtz Cameo Frame from black card stock and cut the die in half. I placed a .5 stripe of yellow across the card over the bottom edge of the Cameo diecut.  The circle is cut from white with Spellbinder Nestabilities and placed over the yellow strip.   I cut the branch he is sitting on from dark green card stock with the Stampin Up Small Leaves sizzlet.  The owl was then adhered in the centre of the white circle.

Card Club - Paper Strips

This is a great way to use your leftover strips of designer paper.  I went through my tray of left over designer paper and selected strips of paper.  I organized them by color. I laid a piece of black cardstock to simulate the card and put together strips until I was happy with combination.  I added a .75" strip of black cardstock which I trimmed the ends by adding a V in each end.  I wanted the ends to stand out so I cut it short enough that they rest against the DP.  I stamped the greeting with a clear stamp on a Stampin Up! Decorative label punchie in black Versafine ink which was raised from the surface with 3D foam tape.  Great versatile design that would make a masculine or feminine card based on the colors and patterns selected.  With using black as the neutral the colors just pop and any color will do!

Card - Birthday Oval

I made this card for a friend with a birthday today.
From my stash of designer paper I found several strips of paper in similar color scheme.  I cut them down and glued the to the card front.  I selected an off white paper for the scallop oval, then Always Artichoke DP for the oval then the same off white card stock for the greeting.  The ovals were cut with Nestabilities thin dies. I stamped the greeting in the centre of the small oval with Always Artichoke ink.  The sentiment accent was then assembled.  I chose Spring Moss and vanilla gross grain ribbon to create the horizontal element across the card.  The oval accent was then layered over the ribbon.  The "i" in birthday did not have a dot so I colored a tiny white brad with AA ink to have it fit in.  Worked well!

Card - Sympathy

I made this card for a friend who had a family member pass away this week.
I started with parchment card stock.  I found some complimentary strips of designer paper which I cut to length and glued them to the card front.  I then found and combined a couple of pieces of blue card stock which I embossed with the Cuttlebug Stylized Flowers folder.  I added an apricot gross grain ribbon across the join. I mounted a color printed sentiment which I distressed with Apricot Appeal. This accent was then mounted to the card front with 3D foam tape.

Card - CST Sketch Challenge

I made this card for a sketch challenge for one of my groups.  I went through my scraps and found the strips of paper first.  I embossed the rust colored solids with the Cuttlebug Mesh Texture embossing folder. I glued the stripes to the medium brown card.  I found a scrap of blue paper that worked with the blue in the striped paper.  I added a green gross grain ribbon along the top and added another piece of embossed rust paper along the edge of the blue one.  I brushed the edges of the blue with an ink pad.  I stamped a border punch tag with a sentiment in Tempting Turquoise.  Attached it with a rust brad.  The blue element was then held in place on the card front with 3D foam tape.  I place another piece under the end of the tag.