Rest in Peace

Heather M. of In Love With Threads was inspired by the Hari-kuyo needlebook to make this final resting place for dead needles...

A steampunk-inspired coffin.

Old, gold silk and copper gears with embroidered bullions...

Finished beautifully into this miniature box...

It's only 3" tall x 2" wide!

I loved it so much that I bought it for Irene.  Though she doesn't know it yet.  (ahem. hi Irene.  I have a present for you.)

It seems to me like Heather and Irene had similar ideas for their broken needles.  (I shared Irene's needlebook last post...here.)



So I'd like to get Heather's coffin together with Irene's needlebook.

Who knows.  Something very creative might come from a coffin full of broken needles.

And should you think that a coffin isn't necessarily the gentlest place for a tired and broken needle to rest.  Well, this is no pine box.  Heather lined this casket with velvet...

Nothing but the best for our beloved dead needles.

Happy Halloween everyone.

May your broken needles...rest in peace.

P.S.  You can visit Heather's blog here.  And her Etsy shop here.  Thank you Heather, for a great idea.

Note:  This post was pre-scheduled before Hurricane Sandy hit, in anticipation of my loss of power.  It seems a little trivial at this point given the devastation and loss experienced by those in New York, New Jersey and other areas in the Northeast. Sending love and support to all our friends who were affected.

Dye Candy Velvet

Look what came in the mail yesterday...

Easter candy!! It's hand-dyed velvet from Chris Daly. Her store name is Dye Candy and candy is right!!

I know I've talked about Chris before but I am absolutely in love with the vibrance and joy of her hand-dyed velvet. She carries lots of other fabrics too...but for crazy quilting, I am always on the hunt for a nice quality silk/rayon velvet. It's not easy to find, and when you do, trying to find desirable colors is even harder...

Not only is it hard to find but it can be challenging to sew since it has a tendency to shift around and it's not easily press-able -- embroidering on it can be challenging too since many stitches sink into the nap and are "lost". Having said all that, once you learn the tricks to managing this beautiful fiber, you can't beat it for adding interest, texture and lusciousness to your work.

One of our classes at the Adventure is focusing exclusively on the challenges and beauty of working with velvet. Betty Pillsbury will be teaching Velvet: Taming the Beast and I knew that the class would likely create a renewed love for velvet from those attending.

Enter Chris Daly and her gorgeous work. I used Chris' velvet in the mushrooms for my Alice block and loved it! I even tested swatches of her velvets for bleeding and found none. (Note: I test every hand-dyed fiber before using it just in case.)

I plan to use a bit of Chris' velvet when piecing some blocks for my upcoming classes as soon as I'm finished my flowers...

I'm almost ready for their leaves...I'll try to come up for air again soon...

Happy Moo Day!

Like many of my fellow Adventurers, I am knee deep in preparations for the Adventure in Crazy Quilting being held in Glastonbury, CT next week!

I've admired these Moo cards on many of the scrapbooking blogs over the years but never taken the time to have my own printed.

Until now...

Moo cards are about half the size of a business card and are printed on both sides and come in sets of 100 cards for about $20. I chose 50 images from my blog and ordered two sets to use as calling cards to give away to my fellow adventurers.

I was very pleased with the overall results but I think that the simpler pictures turned out better in this super small format.

Also, the pictures printed a little darker than I expected so brighter pics turned out better. All that being said, the paper quality was exceptional...it's much more substantial than a typical business card.

Here's a discount code in case you want to get your Moo on. They arrived within 5 days of my ordering them.

My nieces were over this weekend and they loved them. They're already dreaming of making their own...which leads to lots of thoughts about how to use them...