Last weekend was spent making marbled fabrics.  What a great time we had.  Here is a small sampling of the fabric produced.

This one is printed on organza.

Here is a print on fusible stabilizer.

These are printed on white cotton.  The swirling effect is created by dragging a "rake" through the water/paint mixture.

These were printed on dark cotton.

CHRISTMAS ATC'S

I recently made some Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) for some friends.  

I started off by stamping an image onto blue and silver fabric.  Using fabric markers I added colour to the image.  A piece of poster board was sandwiched between the front and back (made from hand-marbled fabric).

The layers were stitched together using a zig-zag stitch.  A hole was pierced at the top of each card and a wire ornament hanger inserted.

Next, a bath using a mixture of 3 tablespoons of Borax (purchased at the local grocery store) to 1 cup of boiling water was made, then poured into a gallon bucket.  This mixture was made several times to fill the bucket to the top.

The ATC's were suspended from a dowel into the water/Borax mixture for about 10 hours.  Less time hanging  will create fewer crystals.  

The water mixture was then poured off and the ATC's were left to hang dry.  A workable fixative was then sprayed on each one, just to give the cards a little added life.

POSTCARD EXCHANGE

I have received another few postcards from around the world.  The November theme of the exchange group was "Pets".  I have two golden retrievers so this one from Barb in Ohio was a treat.  The colourful fish was from Lynette in South Africa.  

This card depicts the "Nguni" cattle from the Zulu tribe in South Africa.

Here is a postcard of a Basenji dog, coming from Alabama.

I've also started to receive the December themed cards - "Christmas".  

In a previous post I showed a few of the cards that I made.  Here are some more.  Strips of blue Christmas fabrics were raw-edge stitched overlapping edges.  The back of each card was stamped with Warms Wishes for the Holidays.

NOEL

I'm in a festive mood today.  I have itunes blasting out Holiday music and have even thought about putting up the Christmas tree..  A few weeks ago I went to a church bazaar and picked up some old burgundy ornaments for $1.00.  I thought that I may be able to do something with them as they weren't much to look at.  

Here's what I did:

I resurrected the local paper from the recycle bin and tore it into small pieces.  Next, I Mod Podged the surface of each ornament, Podging one at a time.

Using a foam brush, I glued the newspaper pieces to the ornament.  I let them dry but  noticed a few spots without paper and had to go back and redo a couple.  

I thought that I would just add a string, but the ornaments looked unfinished.  I decided to get out the glitter and coat each ornament.  Again, I coated each ball with Mod Podge and glittered away.

Now they were beginning to look a little better.  But something was missing - yes a tag and hanger.  I cut some poster board stock to my printer size and printed my tags.  The tags were distressed with Jim Holtz Distress Ink (antique linen) and edged with Stazon Ink (black).

I chose twine for the hanger, giving the ornament an earthy look to go with the recycled newspaper.  

I'm going to add them to the small twig tree that I have on my desk, but they could be used as a gift tag on a special gift to a special friend.

CHRISTMAS SHOW

I've been spending mucho time making quilted wall-hangings for a Christmas show.  I have 23 pieces hung.  I posted a couple previously and here are a few more:

POSTCARD EXCHANGE

I just received my first postcard in my Postcard Exchange Group, from Marina in South Africa.  This month's theme was pets.  

Tomorrow I will mail December's postcards.  During the Christmas season, letters and postcards to South Africa take a few weeks so I've worked hard to get these completed in a timely manner.

The red cards are made from embossed metal, stitched to a fabric background.  The "Wish" cards are made using fusible, machine zig-zag applique.  Each card was finished with a satin stitch.  

CHRISTMAS SHOW

November is almost over and I have only a couple weeks left to get some pieces ready to hang at the Unitarian Congregation in Mississauga for the month of December.  I'll hang some of my previous pieces, but the show will be updated with a few new ones.

I love the colours of this one - very retro!

This is a fabric panel, from Stonehenge - Christmas Traditions by Linda Ludavico for Northcott, machine quilted.

This pattern was received in a swag bag from Ruti's Needlebed in Mississauga.  The pattern is "A Star on Ice #0378", by A Little More Effect Pattern Company.  It's made using fusible, raw-edge applique, machine-quilted and embellished with tiny Christmas lights.

"I Love Winter" is the sum of winnings from the Halton Hills Quilters' Guild Block of the Month in December 2006.  There were only nine blocks in the original pile of blocks, so I had to make a couple extra to increase the overall size.  Thanks to all the ladies that contributed.  I had kept all of the blocks and fabrics together since 2006 and finally put it together a couple weeks ago.  

"TIS THE SEASON"

A couple weeks ago I attended a workshop with Jeanne Large and Shelley Wicks.  I finally finished the quilt, "Tis the Season", that I started in that class.  It's been a while since I've completed a bed-sized quilt with traditional block piecing and applique.  It was machine quilted on my domestic Pfaff, 1/4" from the seam lines, while the header was free-motion quilted.  I had a difficult time trying to take a photo of the quilt due to it's size.  

PETS & POSTCARDS

I've recently joined a postcard exchange group.  We are a group of ten and each month there is a theme that is used in the postcards that are made.  This month the theme is "Pets".  Here are my cards.  All I have to do is mail them.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Oh, my goodness.  Where does the time go?  It was just Halloween and now we're into November already. Here's what I was working on - pumpkins painted with white acrylic paint, grey stem, accented with a Sharpie marker and ribbon.  

EEK! - I cut out letters from fabric and glued them on to the painted pumpkin.

I knew that I wasn't going to keep these for long so I didn't finish them, but if you started with a craft pumpkin you could spray finish it to be kept for years.  My pumpkins have already been hollowed out and the seeds removed for roasting.

FIBRE CONTENT SHOW

The weekend is almost upon us.  Don't forget to visit the Fibre Content show at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre.  I'll be spending most of the weekend at the show.  Hope to see you there.

HHQG 20TH ANNIVERSARY

The Halton Hills Quilters' Guild celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a dinner, lecture and workshop with Jeanne Large and Shelly Wicks from That Quilt  Patch in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  150 quilters and friends met at the Fuzion Banquet hall for dinner, lots of laughs and fun.  One of the organizers of the event was allowed to use the cake from the Creativ Festival to great us at the front door of the hall - such beautiful and intricate work, and all edible!

Almost fifty door prizes were handed out during the evening.  Many thanks to local quilt shops for their donations.  Jeanne and Shelly spoke of their quilt shop, quilts, books (Tis the Season and Urban Country), patterns, fabric line (delicious colours) and a new book being published in the spring of 2013 - can't wait.

The next day forty of us took in a workshop.  We all worked on different patterns presented by Jeanne and Shelly.  I worked on Tis The Season.  Of course, we didn't finish our projects, but I hope to have my quilt top completed by the weekend.