Yippee, I got a prize

I was one of the winners of the STITCHMAP teaser last month. I won two lovely quilting patterns.  Shari was kind enough to add some beautiful fancy fabrics and threads to the package.

Corda was taking a nap when I spread out all my glory, but she deigned to take interest - especially in the bright and shiney fabrics.  That's mamma's girl all right.

The next lesson in my CQ class was to practice using our stitching templates.  The templates are stitch guides for several stitches.  I printed mine on overlay plastic.  Then came the tedious part of punching out where the dots would be to guide my stitches.  I found that with the limited vision I have in my left eye I couldn't focus well enough to use the small hold punch I bought.  So out came the large pins and I punched them all out.  It was a tedious job, but well worth it.  I had a little trouble figuring out how to translate the dots on my cloth to a feather stitch or a herringbone stitch, but once it got it started it was great.  I'm definitely sold.

The big herringbone is a little wonkey - until I figured out the template is for a double herringbone.  But I liked the weird slant so I left it there.

The uneven blanket stitch is really uneven . but all in all, the templates were great.

CQ Class

I have been taking a CQ class with STITCHMAP.  We are making a threadholder, a needlebook, and a pin cushion.  I got them pieced and am going to start stitching.

I tend to be color challenged, so it took awhile to figure out how to combine fabrics.  Shari, my mentor, helped me narrow down my choices.

Can you tell I LOVE PURPLE!!!

SNOW DYEING

Our list mom at STITCHMAP, Shari, came up with a suggestion on how to use the snow so many of us were innundated with - Snow Dyeing.  This was so much fun.  I took some fabric, scrunched it up, covered it with snow, and drizzled food coloring over the top.

This was a lot of fun, and the fabric looked great after the snow melted.  Then, I put them in the microwave to heat set the color.  3 minutes was WAY too long.  I ended up with a charred mess and an unholy stink in the house. 

Oh well, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Wonderful Giveaway

Debbie is having a "Launch My Blog" giveaway to celebrate her new blog. 

Please pay her a visit.

http://debbie-mylife-myloves-mystuff.blogspot.com/

CQ Magazine

The newest issue of CQ Magazine Online is out.  Go to http://cqmagonline.com/ and see a great (and free) online resource for CQ.  I found this ezine when I first got interested in CQ and got totally hooked.  You can search through their past issues as well.  Check it out.

Stitchmap CQ Class

I got good news this weekend.  A space became available in the beginning crazy quilt class on the STITCHMAP group.  I will get my first lessons this week.  I'm really excited about this because it was the main reason I joined the group.  I thought I would have to wait until the next round of lessons came up.