Done!

Well - not done really, but planned! I'm off to India and China for 3 weeks to visit apparel factories for my work (day job work that is). I need some crafty projects to keep me entertained while I'm gone so I've planned to dive back into embroidery.

My signed copy of Doodle Stitching arrived today and the other 3 embroidery books I ordered on Amazon were shipped yesterday! I only wish I could embroider on the plane. It's that darned "no scissors" rule that really gets in the way. I have 15 flights in total on this trip so there will be a lot of waiting around time....

I'll try and post some pictures while I'm away. I'll have a laptop with me and hopefully I'll be able to find a few good internet connections. Even though I'll be looking at Tee shirts and pants during the day, I'll be hunting for embroidery and colourful fabrics in my off work time!

Jicama Salad

I didn't do any Crafting this weekend so I thought I would share a recipe instead. This is a fast and easy Jicama salad and works as a great side dish with Mexican food. I served mine along side Chicken Enchiladas.

Jicamas are not the easiest thing to find in Vancouver but sometimes the Chinese veggie markets sell them, and the gourmet grocery stores usually always have them (at twice the cost)! I suspect they are more abundant in the United States.

Ingredients for Salad:

- 1 Jicima peeled and sliced into long strips
- 1 red sweet pepper sliced into long strips
- 1 orange sweet pepper sliced into long strips
- 1/2 red onion diced small
- 1 can of corn
- cilantro chopped fine

Ingredients for Dressing:

- 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
- 2 Tbsp. orange juice
- 1 Tbsp. grainy mustard
- juice of 1 lime

Mix all ingredients for the salad together in a large bow. Wisk together the Dressing ingredients and pour onto salad just before serving.

Enjoy!

Feelin' Stitchy Valentine

I've been so excited to use my new Crewel wool embroidery thread that I decided to stitch up these little hearts for my Valentine. I used wool from the charm packs I purchased from this lovely Etsy seller Feltpro. I stuffed them with cotton balls to make them a bit "plump" and that was it! I was pleased with how they turned out, but I need to practice my stitching skills. I'm rusty...

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Jodi xxx

So Crewel!

Sorry I just couldn't resist the pun! This Crewel embroidery thread was waiting for me in the mailbox when I arrived home today. I'm bursting with excitement over this! I've been wanting to get back into embroidery and was totally inspired when I discovered Aimee Rae's book Doodle Stitching. This is exactly the style of embroidery I love so much. I have to travel over seas for work in March and I think this will be the perfect project to take along for those long boring nights in hotels.

The thread is from Renaissance Dyes in France. The colours are gorgeous and earthy, all done with natural plant based dyes & it's 100% merino wool. The quality is excellent and their shipping is fast and reasonable, considering it is coming from Europe.

Now I just need to find a nice linen fabric to embroider onto!

Tie One On!

I finally managed to whip up an Apron for this month's "Tie One On" Flickr group. The theme for February's Aprons was Polka dots! I've been "thinking" about making an Apron for this group for the past year - every deadline comes and goes, and my apron remains untouched. Finally tonight I gave myself only 2 hours to come up with something simple. Better a simple Apron than no Apron! I've named this Apron "How does your garden grow"....The fabrics are random scraps that I had on hand and some vintage rick-rack I purchased on eBay (about a year ago) when I first started thinking about making Aprons!

More fabric!

I forgot to mention that I won some fabric in a blog giveaway before Christmas. I was lucky enough to score these great fabric prints from Linda Lum DeBono. If you aren't already familiar with her work, be sure to check out her blog or website! She is an accomplished quilter, knitwear designer, fabric designer and author.

Now, what should I do with these fun fabrics? Maybe a new Polka dot apron for this month's "Tie One on" Apron theme?

Something new!

Hello!

Finally a new project to warrant a blog post. The crafting has been few and far between these past few months. I spent the better part of my Christmas holidays making a cover for our new down duvet. I wanted it to "feel" like a quilt which is why I chose to do a patchwork composition for the main top part of the cover. I've been collecting Amy Butler fabrics for almost a year now and I finally had a place to use them all - yes I used every last fat quarter I had for this quilt top!

I really let the design of this duvet evolve organically. In the end it turned out quite different than what I imagined it would be when I started. This was due mostly to the limiting colours of sheets for sale after all the Boxing day madness (which I avoided). By the time I showed up in the stores all the good sheet colours were well picked over. Originally I thought would like blue borders and pillow cases. However I couldn't find any blues that worked with the colours of the prints. In the end I settled for something I like a whole lot more (and might not have even considered) if I had found blue right from the start. The coordinating sheets I picked are white with a small beige geometric print. I decided to go with beige and brown as my two border colours (due to lack of blues) and because browns are really the secondary colours in these prints.

In the end I think the cover turned out looking more modern with the brown accents. I'm glad I was open enough to consider other options - I also had cut out another Amy Butler print initially as the final border but decided it was just too much pattern and opted with the brown....

I tried to plan the quilt and lay out the measurements in Illustrator before I started but in the end resorted to quick pencil sketches and my trusty calculator. I still find this the fastest way to work!

As with any good quilt photo - I asked my cat Weasel to pose for me! She didn't really get into it until I had already started shooting with her stuffed cat toy....because she got jealous!