Thursday, 20 October 2011

Mary Lou Weidman Out of the Box Fish Swap

I started with this group of fabrics for my most recent on-line swap with Mary Lou Weidman's yahoo group.  The fish you see below is the result of some fun sewing.  In total I made 24 fish to send away to swap.  36 fish were swapped in 3 groups, I participated in 2 of them.  We all used the same batik for background for our fish.
This colourful floral fish was made by Linda Ahn.
Next up was made by Maree in N.C.
Edie Faile treated us to this lovely duo.
Wendy Price put this long tailed beauty for us.
Janice Larson is the maker of this rick rack guy.
Liz Linebrink got inventive with prairie points.
Pam Toombs gave this lovely green wide eyed wonder.
Dawn Tonioli got inventive with these fish lips, I met Dawn at Mary Lou's retreat in Post Falls in June.
Molly Evangelisti got inventive with polka do lips on this dotty soul.  Thanks for the scissor fob!
Mari Linfesty who acted as our swap hostess sent along this starry wonder.
Mary Lou Weidman sent two options for eyes for this striped guy with the rickrack grin.
In the second group of fish I got this flirty long eye-lashed fish from Nancy McCain.
Beth McDonald combined checkerboard with prairie point fins and a yo-yo eye.
Watch out for the long tail on this goldfish by Robin Medley.
Love the blue and yellow in this fish. Once again, I don't know who made this guy.
You've got to love the stripes and polka dots that this fish is sporting. Once again, not sure who made this one.
Love the three D ruffle on the dorsal fin. One more that I don't know who made but
Karen Schmucker had fun with polka dots.
Dots and Batiks show off this beauty, love the eye fabric.

I surely don't want this guy to nibble on my toes, those lips look sharp.  The unnamed fish were made by the following, Liz Titus, Reena Kaplowitz, Karen McCaffrey, Michalee Sloan and Sandi Fisher.  If they let me know which one was theirs I will identify them later.
Rebecka Schaffer made this boy/girl duo to share with us.
Mary Lou Sanders went all out with this toothy guy chasing after some small appetizers!
This was one of the two fish that I had fun designing.  I used a Kaffe Fasset and got this incredible tail.
Another one of mine with two more Kaffe Fasset fabrics.
To keep my two lonely fish company while the rest of the school swam away I made this turtle.  Now to figure out how to put them all together in a wonderful quilt.
Many Thanks to Mary Lou Weidman for coming up with a couple of basic designs for us to use our imagination and develop our own fish.  Come and join us in the fun at her yahoo group!

Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Canadian Christmas Blog Hop!



Canadian Christmas 2011 Blog Hop

Date of Post
Designer
Blog
October 16
Dougal Walker
October 23
Daphne Grieg
October 30
Benita Skinner
November 6
Kathy K Wylie
November 13
Maria Hrabovsky
November 20
Jean Boyd
November 27
Susan Purney-Mark
December 4
Sue Jensen
December 11
Cheryl Wall

Starting Sunday October 16th check out some Canadian designers as they share a pattern and a recipe.

First off is Dougal Walker at http://frecklescollection.com/blog/

Sunday, 9 October 2011

Long weekend in October

Friday night I came home to a pleasant surprise.  "They" had predicted a wet rainy day and I enjoyed the sun setting on the river instead.
 This morning I went for a walk and despite the rain overnight and lots of clouds, the sun decided to play peek a boo with the clouds. The droplets of rain on this leaf looks so inspiring.

The oak leaf hydrangea is turning colours.
 This looks like it should be hanging off a Christmas tree. 
 A closer view of the interesting visual texture of the petals.
 Looking west along the Fraser River and starting to see the leaves turn.
 Fuchsia as a autumn colour.
 I like the blossoms of this flowering tree.
 Pink and orange zinnias for some interesting colour.
 Variegated geranium leaves contrasting against the feathery silver dusty miller.
 More droplets of rain,
 Droplets of rain with some great visual curves.
 Love the small leaf all twisted waiting to unfurl like it's big brother.  The asymmetry in the leaf is inspirational.
 Recurring pattern and design.
 Droplets looking like crystal accents on the leaf.
 Orange and yellow, the colours of Autumn.
 Some last blooms of the hydrangea plants.
 A blue flower amongst the pinks!
 More yellow and orange.
 I've never noticed the berries on this plant before, check out the eggplant coloured ones in the background.
 Droplets and leaves caught in the papyrus.
 A double Rose of Sharon still blooming brightly.
 My first Primitive Gatherings Block of the Week finished...due to a postal strike I got a late start.
 Block number two is also done and I'm started on block three.
Have a safe and happy long weekend everyone.