New Work

I told you I was sewing, I really was, but just not as much as I used to do. The church that I go to in Florida is very modern and had very contemporary stained glass windows.....no saints or scenes just shards of color set in pale grey glass. Every time I went there I would think to myself that it had to be a quilt. So a took a couple of pictures, not to copy, but for inspiration. My original thought was to use my hand-dyed fabrics, but decided instead to use Dupioni silk, another favorite of mine.

I wasn't sure how big I wanted to make it, but when one of the fiber groups I belong to issued a challenge for an upcoming show I knew the size. The pieces have to be exactly 18" wide by 36" long, a very doable size. The piece is also supposed to be indicative of our style and this one certainly is. I like to do improvizational piecing and this was no exception. I just start with one piece of fabric and keep adding as I go, adding more pieces and inserting those skinny black strips

And here it is. Not quite sure how I am going to quilt it.

I really tried to make it about two inches longer and wider than it needed to be, knowing that it would shrink with squaring up and quilting. But it ended up 19 "x 36 1/2," so I added the black border. I'm hoping I can cut most of it away after quilting and just bind it in black.

I also did a few cards marrying fabric with stamping. I still had my Dupioni silks out so I added a strip along the bottom of the card, first fusing, then doing a machine buttonhole stitch all around. The bottom flower and the sentiment are popped up with dimensionals.

I will be linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Little Boxes

I am still having fun with my paper crafting. I've made a lot of cards and am sending them to anyone for any reason. It's your birthday, you're not feeling well, you've had a loss in your family, you did something nice for me.....you get a handmade card in the mail. Everyone who gets them seems to appreciate them.

I also thought it would make a nice little hostess gift, a set of thank you notecards tied with a pretty ribbon. But them I thought how much nicer they would be in a handmade box or folder to match. Thanks to Pinterest, I found some great tutorials and this is what I made so far.

The lid on this one closes with hidden magnets. I had bought a pad of gold foil card stock and thought it would be good for this. The base of the holder is navy card stock. It holds 6 notecards and envelopes. The ribbon is just decorative.

Pretty inside, too.

The same box in different colors and more gold foil papers.

This little box also holds 6 note cards with envelopes, but it closes with a paper band that you slide down to open. I matched the colors and stamping to the cards inside.

This last one looks like a little book and holds 6 full size greeting cards. I had purchased a packet of very cheap inexpensive printed papers eons ago and then they sat there for years. Lucky me, they work very well as a decorative layer on the card stock.

It ties closed with a satin ribbon.

And, yes, I am also sewing. I am making progress on my stained glass window quilt made of Dupioni silk. Today is another rainy, gloomy day here in the northeast, and hopefully I will get a lot of sewing done. You will see it when I finish the piecing.

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Simple Pleasures

I do love my flowers and plant a lot of them each summer. I'm always amazed by the way they hybridize such fantastic color combinations in petunias. I used to get lured in by the pretty colors but then watch them get leggy and straggly, as least they did for me, no matter how much pinching back I did.

But, ah, these little Million Bells, miniature petunias are self cleaning (meaning no dead heading) that bush out and grow to make incredible displays. I have planted these in my railing planters on the deck. The flowers are only about an inch across, but look at those color combinations!

This next plant was found at the back of the succulent greenhouse (although it is not a succulent) at one of my favorite nurseries. There were only five or six of them and I was completely smitten. The label said that it is a house plant for a sunny window. It has about doubled its size in the two weeks since I bought it.

The flowers look like little purses made of velvet. When a flower has had its day, it just falls off intact, not at all wilted. The name on the card said it is a Calynopsis. A new one to me.

Happy gardening!