Found some fun Stamping stuff as well!

I've explored a couple of craft shops since I've been in Seattle. One of them is Impress. Wow! When you walk in that place all you see is stamps! I'm so in my element there! It took me at least an hour to skim over everything, then I went back and looked at things that interested me, then I grabbed a basket and started loading it up. Of course! Just thought I'd share some 0f the things I got between Impress and another place that I can't remember the name of... they were mostly about card stock...

Aren't these cute?! They're brads

These are brand new stamp pads that Impress just recently got in. Apparently they will be replacing all of their current Impress pads. The sales lady told me they'd be getting the re-inkers sometime soon, I hope so, the pads don't really look all that full, however, the colors are so bright and pretty. They also dry quickly and are permanent. At $24.95 per pack US, they're a pretty good deal.

These are just some pictures of stamps I picked up, had to have, whatever we need to call them to justify the purchases... (smirk)

Its been awhile... I know

I've had to make a quick trip to the US due to a death in the family and haven't updated this blog in a while. I have so many pictures, but I'll share the quilting ones first.

I found this great quilt shop in Seattle at the Pike Place Market. They had some beautiful fabrics of course but what really blew me away was the quilts they had on consignment. Just wait till you see them!

This is the quilting as seen from the other side of the quilt above...

Two weddings and a funeral

Last week, my next door neighbour came over and asked if I could make her some wedding cards... she'd gladly pay me... When I asked when they needed to be done, her reply was "well, I need one in two days" ACCKKK! Two days?!

I know she has a little background in card making, so I thought I would pull her into it. I asked her to come over to my place the next day and we'd do some together, since I too needed some cards. I asked her if she could just bring her tools over and I'd supply the cardstock. Good excuse to go cardstock shopping! She asked me "what tools?" Hmmm, better pick up some tools for her as well.

This is the first one we tried

It's done on cream ribbed cardstock, with the decorative paper taped on. To cover the join, we used some cream colored grosgrain ribbon. And don't even ask who the stamp is by, I don't know. I thought it looked a bit plain so we added little heart brads to the corner.

This was the second

Again, I used ribbed cardstock, but in light pink. The paper we taped on was interesting because where the silver looking hearts were, it was actually foiled. We distressed the edges after using a pink chalk pad on them. We used a rose colored grosgrain ribbon and the same congratulations stamp except we layered it on a bit of black cardstock and foam tape.

The final card I did that day wasn't for a wedding, but for a card everyone hates to do, a sympathy card. I did this for a special family that lost their dad last month to cancer. I made 6 of them and sent them to all the kids and their mom. He was a very special man who will be missed immensely. Fortunately we all know where he's spending his eternity and that wipes some of the pain away and replaces it with jealousy.

Done! Finally!

Well, here is the finished product.
















Its taken a while, and I have one word... ok, maybe two, or three words about flannel...

1. Stretchy
2. Stretchy
3. and Stretchy

I'm not sure exactly how to combat this, except for be careful and don't over work it. I learned a lot from this project, and almost promised myself that I would never do another one, but I've learned my lesson about never saying never.

















This is, of course, the back. I kinda wish it was a bit more interesting, but my quilt teacher, Janelle, talked me out of complicated. Good for her. Each time the quilting didn't work, or it bunched up the fabric, I would have to "unsew" it, and each time I unsewed it, the fabric would stretch a bit more. So I think the less work I had to put into it, the better.

You can also see the quilting here.

I finished it off with satin binding, and mitered corners. I really need to learn exactly how to do those. As I was sitting here finishing up the binding, I realized how warm and wonderful this quilt felt, and I thought about how it looks... even though some spots embarrass me, the warmth and feel of the fabric more than make up for the little things, and as a whole, it doesn't look so bad either.

Procrastinating again!

Did I ever mention here that when I find that a current project is going to be a bit difficult, I tend to procrastinate? Actually that's why my parents scrapbook was so late! Because Brooke's baby quilt is promising to be difficult to quilt, I've set it aside today and decided to create something completely different than anything I have on this blog so far... Bird toys! My female ekkie, Tirsa, is going through a phase of chewing. She is the champion wood chewer in this household. So in order to save the woodwork (which doesn't belong to us) I keep giving her bits of untreated pine that hang from bits of cotton rope or leather strips and she reduces it to rubble in no time.

A couple weeks ago I ordered a whole bunch of parts from my favorite bird toy store Fowl Play. I got a bit carried away, but you can see that the princess is happy! Her betrothed, Jonah, is sitting on his cage door, a safe distance away... he's a fraidy bird!For the few days previous to today, Tirsa would look whistfully down at the box on the floor containing all the parts, then grab her empty rope and shake it a bit, probably trying to get me started making something for her to destroy... either that or she wanted the box! So I finally gave in and while sitting in front of the tv today, I made this

As you can see, Tirsa couldn't wait to get into it! I had to take it away from her cage to get a few other pictures before she set out to tear it apart. After putting it in her cage, I didn't hear a peep out of her for the longest time. I think she was in chewing heaven! Jonah however, couldn't see the big deal. He finally got brave enough to go check it out, but it just didn't do anything for him. Now, Tirsa's untouched dinner, THAT was another story! Oh well, she made her choice!

Here's a close up

It should take her a while to get through this... maybe!

The borders are on!

Here is the fun little quilt I've been working on with the borders attachedAnd now its all pinned together to begin the quilting process.I realized that trying to put three layers of quilt together by myself, while being picky as, is not the easiest thing in the world. It took me about 3 hours to get it to this point. Next time I'll ask for help! The back has three panels, the yellow with the hearts in the middle, then the green with the safety pins on either side... I can't possibly make things easy on myself! That's why I had so much trouble pinning it together. All the seams on the front AND back had to match up so when I go to quilt it it won't look wonky. Janelle suggested that next time I decide to make the back as complicated as the front, I should probably plan it a little better! yeah yeah... I told her to just expect me to do things the hard way from now on, that way neither of us will be surprised!

This will be my next project, and I'll probably use lots of rich dark greens, browns and blacks, its going to be gorgeous! However, I'll probably go light on the back for this one since the front is going to be really complicated. I'm actually looking forward to it. Perhaps its just being hopeful!

Is this not the cutest little thing you've ever seen?

Look at that little face!

This little boy birdie is one of Sandra's (from ekkie chat) and he is an eclectus parrot. He's about 4-5 weeks old. For those of you who don't know, male eclectus parrots are all green... well, kinda. See the picture, top right of this blog.

Makes me feel a bit clucky! I think my couple are getting a nest box toward the end of next month!