Upcycling ideas for the holidays

It's never too early to start with self made presents and even better canadian made. Oh yah! Roots ( a true Canadian store) has their shopping bags this season with a grey/red knit image. If you kindly ask they are happy to give you one.
I took the larger shopping bag to cut two panels 9"x14" to make a zipper bag. For the lining I used the red monkey print.

Fuzzy cut three monkeys and hand sew the fabric on the hexagon shapes. Machine sew it on the front panel of the zipper bag .

There are several tutorials for zipper bags on-line . I matched the bag with a red zipper and topstitched.
The lining gets a clean edge with a serger.

If you are very ambitious make your own sock monkey or stuff it the original pair of Rockford Red Heel Socks.

Feeling better again...

At the end of the week even my dog Skip looks forward to run up north. Everything was fine but on Saturday night she acted very restless going out through the front door and coming in through the back door. I knew something was off but I couldn't read her mind. The next day I knew something was very wrong with her, she was lying in her favourite spot and breathing very rapidly and getting up with an arched back I know she was in pain.

We took her to our vet and the blood test showed that she had pancreatitis, an inflammation of the organ which is life threatening and has to be treated immediately. Administration of the medication wasn't easy and I had to get creative  with my border collie. So we had birthday cakes every 8 hours, spiked with little dried liver pieces. It paid off and we are taking her for short walks. I am so happy to see her eating again and waiting at the door to go for a walk.

Hexagon craze!

I have been to a few quilt shows and seeing a grandma's garden quilt I thought one day I will start....
The one day started last week and my first 100 hexagons are nicely stacked in a tray. Will this be a two year project??? I remember reading the labeled quilts at show "2500 pieces/ hand sewn/ 1994-1998" .
Hexagons are everywhere, even my xmas light I put up this weekend had this bokeh effect.

One of my favorite places to shop for small print fabric is bee modern fabrics in Niagara-on-the lake, Ontario.

There are different methods how to approach the production of a large number of hexagons. You need patients and many evenings in front of a fireplace. There is the freezer paper method, inexpensive and lots of prep-work to make the shapes, the other one is to download the pattern and print it out on a heavier text stock, but you have to cut each one out by hand. I am ordering my shapes online from Paper Pieces here. You safe time and instead of sewing I am dabbing water soluble fabric glue at the corners. 

This granny quilt will have a fresh look and might be ready in 2013!

Day 3 Sue Spargo

I am a little bit behind with my posts because ran out of space on blogger. Here is our group shot with Jocelyn , the owner of Stitch and Sue Spargo.

Valdani thread

working on my bird

Sue's work

Day 2 with Sue Spargo

Tomorrow will be the last day of getting up early and heading to the Niagara wine country. The hours are flying by, there is so much to learn and I see me working at night and early morning at 6 A.M. Today the focus was on embellishments and the importance of the right needle and thread.
 Sue published a booklet the " Creative Stitching" how to create textures using 50 different stitches. I think we got the first dip and I call it my stitch bible.

  Here are great tips Sue shared with us:

if you are travelling wind up spools with the wool thread and keep it in the travelling case

to keep the Valdani thread from unraveling secure it with a baby hair clip

add texture to your fabric by ironing it over a rubber stamp

a gift from Sue ( why did I never thought doing it???) a printed cotton sheet to sew it into the 

needle case

You can find all her supply here.

Day 1 with Sue Spargo

In the early morning hours I left Toronto and drove to Jordan, a small village near Niagara-on-the Lake.
Jocelyn, the owner of Stitch has lovingly decorated  antiques between her fabrics and notions and sayings like these....R E L A X   and that's how I felt taking the class with Sue. I think nobody wanted to leave tonight, the long harvest tables had mountains of wool felt where we were working on our foundation for tomorrows embellishments .

Exquisite wool thread from Italy, Silken Pearl, ribbons, Valdani threads and chenille.

These are close-ups photos of her amazing detailed embellished leaves.

Workshop with Sue Spargo

It is late in the evening and tomorrow I have my first day of the 3-day workshop with Sue Spargo. Her folk-art style is whimsical and happy. She is coming to Canada and is teaching at Stitch in Jordan.

I prepared my background for the different wool felt applique embroidery.

I left the inner space neutral but added a long strip of different light colours to get this rectangle shape.

My bags are packed and more of my progress tomorrow!