Tuesday 27 May 2014

Back to Quilting

This is my first block completed for the quilt that I am making.  I am not sure what made me go rummaging through my cupboard to find the material that I had bought to start making this quilt.  I think it was just that I wanted something extra to throw on the bed for the winter that I decided that I needed to go back to quilting.
 
When I told my Mother that I had fished the material out and was quilting, she said that I had gone back to my real love and I suppose that it true.  It is just that it has been quicker to make cards than to make a quilt.
 
This was a pattern that was in Australian Patchwork and Quilting some years ago and I had bought the material at the time but it then just got left and I never actually did anything with it.  The original pattern was for a wall hanging but I just increase the amount of material required to make it a king size quilt.
 
I don't think that I have done any quilting for at least 12 years or more but there was no way that when I cleared out my craft room that any of my quilting stash was going to go and I was pleased that I hadn't.
 
This pattern is foundation pieced but I do not use paper, I use a light interfacing and trace the pattern on to it as it gives a little stability to the block.  Also, it does not blunt your needle as quick as paper does.
 
I was really pleased to get this first block done and now only have another 41 to go! I am hoping that I will be able to get all the blocks made within a year as I will still be making my cards and going to workshops for papercrafting.  I hope then it will be perhaps another two months for the quilting and binding before the quilt is complete.    It is certainly going to be a labour of love.

Sunday 18 May 2014

Out the kitchen Window

This is little smaller card than I usually make but I just loved the pattern.  This was from an old copy of a Parchment Craft Magazine.
 
I traced the pattern by using a stylus and then went over the border with Tinta Ink using green and yellow.
 
I inked around the edge of the card, teapot and cup with silver ink and then embossed the frame, curtains, teapot, card, mug, the petals of the border flowers and the border.
 
I painted the leaves of the border with Tinta Ink and the flowerpot and plant.  I also used ink for the decorations on the card, teapot and mug.
 
I then used a blue dorso crayon to colour the clouds and then mounted onto some blue card.  Using a two hole tool, I went around the edge of the card and then cut to finish.

Thursday 8 May 2014

Another Quick Card

Whilst going through my peel offs stack for the 2 quick cards I made the other week, I found that I had some medallion peel offs and thought that I would make another quick card from them.

I seem to have so many birthdays from April to June and need to end up making quick cards for some.  As I also have another rather large project on the go, I have needed to make some really quick cards.  This was not quite as quick as the other two as I had to cut out each layer by hand and was a little fiddly.

At first I was going to use glitter but then decided that I would pearlised card although that does not show up on the photo.

I stuck the peels offs on to alternating dark blue and white card and then cut each layer (of which there are five) and then mounted them with foam tape between layers.

I then mounted this onto some plain light blue card and put peel offs around the edge of the card and added peel off corners.

I then put a Dufex greeting on the finish the card.  I wanted the medallion to be the main focus and wanted the rest plain.

This card reminds me of the cards that I first starting making before I had the luxury of being able to die cut my shapes and sometimes it is nice to take that step back again.