It's a funny thing, winter.  I grew up in eastern Canada, where the winters were long and blisteringly cold.  The month of January seemed to linger on forever, a frigid expanse of snowy white hills rolling toward the horizon in all directions.  With the flurry of the Christmas holidays behind us, spring was the next thing to look forward to, and those months in between stretched endlessly in a sea of snowstorms, toboggans, hot chocolate, and wooly socks. 

As an adult, obviously my perspective has changed on winter.  Playing outside in the warm air is not high on my list of priorities (although maybe it should be...), so January's childhood connotations are no longer relevant.  

Now I find myself in a place where snow is non-existent.  Southern Florida isn't exactly prone to snowstorms, ergo toboggans and wooly socks are of little use here.  The hot chocolate isn't really de rigeur either, except on the odd visit to Godiva when I feel the need for a bit of decadent indulgence.  (Is anyone else in love with their dark chocolate drink?  Wow.)

The strange thing?  I miss winter.  It is so easy to look back through memory and fantasize about cold winter mornings waking up to a foot of snow blanketing the landscape in a sparkling, tinkling calm.  Days when huge fluffy flakes would fall gently past the big window in the living room of my old house and my kitties would sit in the window for hours, fascinated by the moving white landscape. 

Of course, in all of these amplified memories I omit the fact that in order to be able to leave the house I had to put on three layers of clothing, a huge down-filled coat, double-knitted mittens, a wool hat, heavy boots, wool socks (over my other socks) and a scarf wrapped around my neck enough times to break the cutting wind.  The walkway had to be shovelled in order to get to the garage (luckily my 'winter guy' would have already gotten up at 4am to plough out the main driveway), and then there was the difficult manoeuvering out of the end of the driveway over the mess that the plough had made when it went by and cleared the road in front of the house.  The car had to be started and allowed to run for 15 minutes to warm up the engine because running it cold would destroy it.  At least half an hour extra (sometimes more) had to be allowed in the morning to be able to get to work on time, over roads that were slick with black ice and snow.  The power bills in the winter would be at least $300 more than they were during the other months, and I had to invest in a heated mattress pad and turn it on to maximum power every night before going to bed--old houses are beautiful but not particularly energy-efficient.

But, having said all that, I still miss winter.  All the negative things recede to the back of my memory and I find myself longing for a few days of glorious winter.  And that being the case, I find myself fixating on snowflakes and incorporating them into a variety of projects.

I learned a beading technique many years ago to make an adorable little snowflake--and I find myself returning to it again and again.  It can be made into such a variety of items that are both beautiful and useful.  I used to sell them as keychains, necklaces, and bracelets both on my Etsy shop and at local craft markets.  They were a huge hit, and I really enjoyed making them. 

They can be done with any color combination, and are very beautiful when there is a color variation to create a unique design within the snowflake.  In the past I have done a few with hearts worked into the center, and I think I may try to do a few again this year with Valentine's Day coming right up!

If anyone is interested in trying the beading pattern, this one is somewhat similar to mine, and there are great step-by-step instructions with diagrams to help you figure out the technique and bead placement.  It may take a few attempts to become familiar with the technique, but once you get the tension right, you will get the hang of it pretty quickly!

I have also crocheted so many snowflakes in my lifetime--they are a great project and also make quick, lovely gifts!

I made a series of three of the above framed snowflakes and they were wonderful Christmas decor.  I used this pattern from Red Heart Yarn and substituted crochet cotton for the thicker yarn. 

Here we are--ten days into January. 

In Canada my family has experienced two snowstorms in the last ten days.  My Dad was out snowblowing the driveway this morning and Mum was telling me how cold it's been for the past several weeks as she has been trying to recuperate from a persistent winter virus.

Guess what I did this morning?  I put on jeans and a camisole, slid my feet into  sandals, donned a pair of sunglasses, and went on a neighborhood stroll with myfaithful companion  Charlie Rose.  The birds were singing, the sun was hot on my shoulders, and the  wind was flowing around us, rustling the heady fuschia blooms of the  bougainvillea that grows in profusion everywhere in our neighborhood.

The lesson?  Be thankful for the memories of winters past... and enjoy my  current lush, green, vibrant January. 

And keep making those snowflakes :-)

What's your current theme?  Please share it, I love inspiration!

Trapunto.  A fantastic word, wouldn't you agree?  

In Italian it means 'to embroider', but in stitching circles it is a very specific type of Italian quilting that was very popular during the 1500s and was used to embellish everything from household items to garments.  The technique migrated to the US in the 1700s and remained relatively popular up until the Civil War.

The above quilt is at the Victoria & Albert Museum and is apparently the oldest quilt known to be still in existence, having been made in Sicily sometime between 1360 and 1400.  It is constructed from linen padded with cotton wadding and quilted with brown and white linen thread.

Back in my Costume Studies days (many, many moons ago) we studied the Trapunto technique.  It can be a tedious and time-consuming endeavour, but the finished results are stunning.  (It was made more tedious and time-consuming in my case because I used a piece of fronting fabric that had WAY too high a thread count, making the quilting part of the project difficult.  It is generally advised to use a medium-weight fronting fabric and a light weight backing to make the stuffing part of the project much easier.) 

There are a lot of new ways to produce the same look, but we were taught that the original technique was always done using white linen fabric (cotton in later times), cotton wadding, and linen thread.  The materials were always white in color as the monochromatic palette accentuates the play of shadows and light on the design and creates a bas-relief of sorts, increasing visual interest and texture.

The basic technique is to first lightly draw your design onto your fronting fabric, then add your backing fabric and quilt along the design lines (without any batting in between the front and back fabric layers. Once the design is completely quilted, small slits are made in the backing fabric in the area to be stuffed, then cotton wadding is carefully added to the area to puff it out and create the three-dimensional design. Once the section is suitably stuffed, the small slit is stitched back together, and you move on to the next section for stuffing. 

 It was also common to use cording in addition to the wadding, creating intricate  designs. Any backing areas that will contain cording are slit in two areas at opposite ends of the design and the cord is fed (via a needle) through the  quilted channel from the first opening to end at the second opening. 

There are tutorials online that will give you an idea as to the basic technique, but really you can just play with your design and do it as you like!  There are very good quilting books as well, that give step-by-step instructions.

If you choose to try Trapunto quilting, the key is patience.  Take it slowly and understand from the start that this is not a one-evening project, but the end result is absolutely stunning and makes for a wonderful challenge!

Have any of you tried Trapunto Quilting?  If you have, please share! :-)

We're having rather unusual weather here in South Florida at the moment--usually at this time of the year it feels like our version of 'winter', but at the moment the temperatures are reaching the upper 20s Celsius (it was 26 degrees C today).  Our mixed bag o'weather today included driving rain with intermittent blazing sunshine--which brought Mr Oliver Puss (aka Pussito) to the window to supervise my endeavours and let me know that he was unimpressed with his wet fur.

After two and a half days of straight knitting my little project is complete, and I am reminded that I really need to be conscious about posture while crafting--my shoulders and neck are definitely a bit stiff today!  (Photos to follow at a later date as the project is a surprise gift.)

Does anyone else do that?  I have to work at relaxing my shoulders because before I know it, I find that they have unconsciously risen to somewhere around ear level... definitely not a healthy situation!

So... today I worked on a little project for Sophie.  I'm going to take a photo of the finished product tomorrow as it will look much better in the warm light of day :-)

Now me and my aching shoulders are going to have a cup of tea and watch Ancient Aliens...  I have no idea why, but I love that crazy show!

What projects are you working on this week?

It was a sad day at Zoo Miami today as they said goodbye to Tevy, their 12 year old female Malayan Tiger.  She was found dead in her enclosure this morning by zoo workers and had been experiencing declining health for several weeks due to a liver condition. 

It has indeed been a hard 12 months for Zoo Miami as they lost Roshe, their 19 year old female tiger, last March.  Such a sad loss considering how few of these gorgeous creatures are left roaming the earth...

Rest well, Tevy.  Roshe is waiting for you on the other side.

I confess I just went out to run errands, to get the basics... like Kleenex with lotion because I just can't seem to shake this head cold that I've had since Christmas.  Truly, that was my mission.  It's not my fault that my local Big Box store has expanded its fabric and crafting section, and they just happen to have the most gorgeous wool now...

I've been twitching to knit lately, and when I ran across these gorgeous wools (Glacier Bay on the left and Violets on the right),  well... they asked to come home with me. 

Really, they did.

As always, my furry boys were on hand to supervise my outdoor activity (taking a photo of the gorgeous yarn)...

And then something really cute happened.

Today I brought Charlie home a doggie toy--one of the tennis ball contraptions with a rope attached to it.

He was completely uninterested in it.

Oliver, however, thought it was quite something...

... and proceded to bite it, roll around with it, and kick it with his back paws for the next 20 minutes.

Charlie isn't very interested in toys in general.  We're not sure why--we found him in the street two years ago, so we have no idea where he came from, or the story of his time before he became part of our family.  We're just glad he's with us now, and he's such a good boy!

Now.... enough Rambling. 

It's time to go find my knitting needles!  Sadly, they've been neglected for quite some time...

Happy Saturday!

I'm doing my happy dance right now--thanks so much to SCOTT at my site provider, because he managed to recover my blog page!!! 

WHEW!

PS:  I'm working on the cutest little project for Sopherella right now.... photos to follow soon  ;-)

Last August we had the blessing of welcoming a new little niece into the family!  She had been long-awaited and greatly anticipated, and her arrival was a joyous miracle for her happy parents.  They named her Francesca, and it was instant love.

Francesca is kind of special to me--she is not the only niece in the family by any means, but she is the first little one to be born after I became a part of my husband's family.  I am an only child myself, so the only nieces and nephews I'll ever have are by way of my husband's brothers and their wives.

What better way to welcome our new little sweetie than making her a crib quilt?!   It's an unofficial tradition in my family that all new little members receive a  quilt (hmm... maybe that's why the new furry members also end up with cuddle  quilts?  I never made that correlation before...)  So, I found some adorable  lightweight cotton and got to work...

First I washed the cotton and hung it out in my Mum's back yard to dry...  As you can see, I had a couple of feline backyard helpers:

I should mention that little Francesca lives in South America, so the quilt is more for comfort than warmth.  I used a pink cotton with white dots as the backing and an adorable bee and flower patterened cotton and matching pink and yellow solids for the front.  I used a lightweight cotton batting so it would not hold the heat as much as a synthetic material, and it was very basic and simple, something that could be washed frequently.

.It went together quite quickly and my Mum helped me sandwich it...

Sadly, I never took any photos of my little corner of my Mum's front porch where I set up my old sewing machine and worked on the quilt.  It was sunny and warm with a gentle breeze blowing through the window at my back, and I spent many happy hours working away in my hidey hole.  I machine-quilted 'stitch-in'the-ditch' style between the squares, and I like the clean appearance of the finished piece.

This is little Francesca Antonia enjoying her quilt--she was pretty much brand new when this shot was taken back in August, but she's growing quickly and we can't wait to spend more time with her soon! 

If any of you are like me, you'll understand what I mean when I say that I'm a 'fabric hoarder'.  Regardless of the amount of fabric in my stash, I always have room for more if it catches my eye... and that happens A LOT.  Sadly, I not only accumulate tons of pretty fabrics, but I have issues with throwing away the scraps.  I blame it on my childhood...  really. 

I spent my entire childhood in my Mum's fabric store.  Some of my fondest childhood memories involve rainy afternoons in the fabric aisles, matching up colors and patterns, or sitting on my Mum's lap to 'help' her while she was sewing.  It was an innocent, happy time and there is something in that which rubbed off on me and I now carry it with me as an adult. 

I've made quilts for Charlie Dog (see above) and Oliver Kitty (and actually bought the fabric specifically for them), so when little Sophie came into the household, I felt it only fair that she have something of her own too.  I wanted to make her something pretty and special, and went for a wander through my fabrics to decide what to use.  I found a whole bunch of scraps left over from a variety of projects--a dress, a skirt, a shirt for my husband--and decided to use them to make her something unique.

Here's the result:

I've always been a fan of the Log Cabin pattern, and I decided to create a modified version of the classic motif.  My Mum tells me that the fabric strips should be lighter in color on one side and darker on the opposite... but I did this my own way.  I've never been particularly traditional.

I didn't have any particular order in mind, I just prepared the strips and started it, making it up as I went along.  I really love how it turned out--the colors and patterns are so different when they're placed in strips as opposed to a whole larger piece, and the overall look is happy and colorful in an understated way. 

The pale blue border is repurposed fabric from one of my husband's old shirts--he was done with it and I loved the fabric, so of course I claimed it!  It had embroidery on the back, so I worked that into the overall look of the quilt and it is visible at two opposite corners.

Sophie absolutely loves it, and is always cuddled up on it, or burrowed under it for a snooze.* 

*Forgive the blurry cell phone shots--my blackberry sucks... I really need to modernize and go for a Galaxy :-)

I made the little quilt at the beginning of November, and you guessed it--I had scraps left over. 

Scraps of scraps....

So when it came time to make a Christmas stocking for the newest member of the household, out came said scraps (of scraps) and I whipped up something pretty for my girl.

Totally off topic, but overall it was a great Christmas--and one of the best gifts of all is that, after a long road to recovery for little Soph, she is doing so well!  She just had her second set of vaccinations on Sunday, and is going in for her spaying on the 20th.  She's come a long way from the sick, starving, emaciated little ball of fur that I found in mid-October, and I am so thankful to have her with us!

As I type this post she is laying in my lap asleep, paws and tail twitching as she dreams of chasing mice and cackling at birdies...  such a sweet little scrap of life--I will always wonder where she came from, but regardless, I am so glad that she found me!   

Black kitties never photograph very well, but isn't she the cutest little thing?  The vet estimates her to be around 5 months old... and with so much personality and love already!  She's going to be a beautiful girl!

One of my resolutions for the new year is that I plan to do a lot more sewing--in fact, I have my eye on some left-over fabric (of course) that I plan to make into some modified Log Cabin pattern pillow covers.  Our beautiful modern sectional sofa came with the most hideous throw pillows I've ever seen, and I've been meaning to get rid of them for almost two years now (there's the procrastination I mentioned yesterday... ugh), so this is the year! 

Update to follow :-)

Happy crafting, y'all! 

Happy New Year to you all! 

Hard to believe that we are at the start of a brand new year--but I welcome the fresh energy that 2013 brings.  Last year was a difficult one in so many ways...  from the natural disaster that devastated my hometown in Canada and completely destroyed my house there, to a number of very special people and furry ones who are no longer with us.  Putting up the new calendar at midnight was like taking a deep breath and letting go of all of the trials and tests of 2012.

It has been very hard not to focus on the negative aspects of 2012 when thinking back over the year--loss does that, it makes you dwell on what might have happened, on the things you should have done or said, on the phone calls you put off that now won't ever have the opportunity to make. 

But, it's time to let it all go and appreciate the present while looking toward tomorrow.  I am so thankful for so many things, despite all of last year's challenges.

The flood that devastated my hometown could have been worse--I lost my house, my parents lost a house, many of the neighbors' homes were also destroyed.  However, everyone survived.  It could have been so much worse... thank God everyone is still with us.   Although it didn't seem as if it could possibly go on as the village was lying under 8+ feet of freezing water from March 23-25th, the town is slowly rebuilding and life has continued.   A new normal has slowly been created, and we all learned the incredible value of people--family, friends, and strangers alike--and the transience of material posessions.  If you can, give to the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, or any other organization that helps the victims of natural disasters--as I learned from experience this year, you never know when you may yourself become a victim.  They were a lifeline and a Godsend--many thanks to them all!

Health is one of the most important things in life--put its value high on your list, and be thankful if you are hale and hearty!  Several of my close family members have had major health issues during the past year, and I am so thankful that they are still with us, relatively unscathed.  Sadly, I also lost close family members as well--all of them sudden and completely unexpected.  Their loss cuts, taking away a bit of myself and completely rearranging the landscape of my life.  The lesson learned is an old one--never take anything for granted.  Enjoy people, pets, and places and focus on the time you have with them in your life, because time truly is precious.

In October my husband and I rescued a kitty that we named Ella.  She had been abandoned in our neighborhood when her family lost their home to foreclosure, and had been living rough for some time.  It is a long and sad story, but we discovered that she had become unable to walk, and took her for veterinary care.  We hoped and prayed that she had only been hit by a car and would be mobile again once the inflammation subsided, but sadly that was not to be.  In retrospect (and after taking her to a veterinary Neurologist) she probably had cancer in her paw that spread to her spinal column, causing progressive degeneration.  We tried so hard to help her, but in the end she passed away at home with us comforting her, telling her it was okay to go.  That was my first personal experience with death, and in a strange way it has removed a lot of my fear of the transition from this plane to the next.  For a while I kept going over everything in my mind, thinking that if only we had realized that she needed help sooner, then we could have maybe helped her and she would not have suffered.  But that thinking is not productive, and what we have to focus on is that in the end, Ella kitty was loved and cared for.  She had the best medical care and she left this life held by hands that soothed and stroked her, surrounded by loving words and energy.  She knew, in her own way, that there were people who loved her, who cared what happened to her, and who will always remember her. 

In a happy contrast to Ella's story, there is Sophie.  While out for a walk one night in mid-October, I was surprised to hear a rusty little meow and to see a little black ball of fluff running after me.  She was painfully thin and I knew that she wouldn't last long without help, so I took her bony little body in my arms and we went home.  She was so malnourished that I could feel all of her ribs and vertebrae, which broke my heart, and when we got to the vet I cried when he told me that she was about 3 months old... and only weighed 1.6 pounds.  She was dehydrated and had diarrhea that was due to coccidiosis, so we began a long journey of medication, special diet, and lots of love.  I am so thankful to report that Sophie now weighs 5 pounds, has beautiful sleek and healthy fur, and is playful and loving.  She is one of the nicest little kitties I have had the priviledge to know, and has become a permanent member of the household.  The moral of the story?  Do what you can, and although the outcome may not be what you had hoped, at least you tried.  It means the world to a little creature in need, and you can save a life--or at least lessen the suffering and make a difference.  

So, this year's resolutions?  Be grateful.  Be thankful.  Spend important time with family and friends.  Volunteer.  Donate.  Focus on the good in life, and learn to negotiate the difficult times without letting them destroy you. 

Hello January... let's be friends.