Next weekend is the Creative Stitches show at the Abbotsford Tradex. Our guild, The Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild will have a booth again this year (feel free to pop by and say hi!). It’s always fun with lots of shopping opportunities. One of the booths I’m most looking forward to is The Steam Truck Craftworks. These are some goodies I bought last year!
Vintage ribbons, spools and laces. Eep! I can’t wait!
And as if it couldn’t be any more fantastic, Cathy the owner of Steam Trunk, is… awesome! She gave our guild, to whom accepted the challenge, each a pack of Sari silk. The challenge was to make a project with it. Immediately I knew what I wanted to do. The Madrona Road Challenge fabric had just came in from the MQG and when I saw that fabric I knew I wanted to do a Chickadee sitting on a branch. I’ve been wanting to do something with Chickadees (my favorite bird) since last year and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Then, when I saw a green pack of the Sari Silk, I knew what I could use it for.
First I started with some sketches.
And this is what I came up with… Ta
HEY! NO Photo BOMBERS!
Um, EXCUSE ME, I’m kinda doing a thing here!
Yes, you, I’m talking to you…
Okay sure, why don’t you make yourself comfortable then? Okay, now..
I didn’t mean literally, clearly you missed my sarcastic tone.
What, oh no, don’t… don’t go to sleep! Seriously! How can you fall asleep that fast? C’mon!
*Shuffling around* as I move the cat delicately to another comfy location so as not to wake him. Good Grief!
Ahem… now where were we… Oh yes, so I did these sketches trying to decide which Chickadee to put on the pillow. In the end I couldn’t decide so I put a bunch of them on.
I specifically picked out green Sari Silk so I could do the buds on the trees, then later came up with this trim for the pillow, which I love!
The tree branches and all the birdies were raw edge appliqued.
Then machine stitched on.
I sewed beads on for the eyes and hand embroidered the feet.
I just loved the Madrona Road colours.
For the back I used a full piece of fabric, I couldn’t bare to cut it up! It’s so beautiful.
Then of course I added a little label. Amy Dame would be so proud, she’s always after us in the FVMQG to label our work.
The best part is I still have fabric left from the Madrona Road Challenge to make another project! Well, I might have to buy a bit more but I’m not too upset about that.
Thanks for popping by!
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AGAIN! You are amazing!
And the goodies you bought last year are stunning! I didn’t know how great my stuff looks!
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Really enjoyed this post, which gave us a glimpse of the process. The pillow looks amazing–it’s really you!
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Your chickadees are way cute. The dialogue with the cat model-so funny!
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Your photography is so dreamy! I love the styling of your photography in this post!
Also, those are very brave chickadees. CHOMP! By LEGO! Heh.