I bought the pattern for this at the last quilt show. I love English Paper Piecing and this pattern had at least six sizes. At one point Gail and I were looking for a hexie project and we decided to try this. There are also a number of variations depending on the fabric choices.

If I were to make it again I’d use much lighter interfacing as it was difficult stitching. Also, I’d find a better glue stick or dispenser as my fingers were constantly sticky and then the fabric stuck in all the wrong places. I used a machine stitch to join the two sides of the bowl and, again, a lighter interface would have made it a lot easier.

I think these bowls would be a good seller at the next quilt show but I don’t know if I want to make any others until I sort out a couple of the issues.

Since the fabric I picked matched a quilt I made for Kathryn I gave it to her on our recent trip.

Although this was my first attempt at wool felt embroidery it took me years to finish it. In fact I can’t even find a date for when I took this class.

The class was held just up the street at our local quilt shop (that has since closed). The instructor was from Woolies on the Coast and I’ve since purchased several of Ushi’s patterns (the chickens) and I’m currently taking a once-a-month class from her (my trees). Suffice it to say that this little project languished away over the years – traveling from home, to Texada and back home again.

Since I had some experience with the chickens and trees it didn’t take long to finish embellishing the piece. I still was stumped many times deciding what stitch I should use; looking up pictures online was a big help.

I’ve got it filled up with various needles and, for now, it will travel to and from my wool embroidery class. At the last class I was surprised at how many others had this same needle case but I suspect theirs weren’t years in the making.

Last year Elizabeth said she would like the embroidery I did called Summer. I already had a similar piece called Snowbird that I considered my winter piece so after Christmas I sent it along to her.

Now Spring is coming so I finished the piece and sent it off to her. Although Spring may be a ways off for her, here at home Spring is showing up almost every day.

Throughout December, Deloise provided Stacia and me with an Advent calendar full of many surprises. I was a few days in before I realized the end result would be a cross stitch project. I had something else on the go (12 Days of Christmas) so it was almost the new year before I got started.

The centre of the project went quite quickly but I struggled with both the top and bottom borders. It looks easy enough but ending and starting those brown lines in the right spot was a challenge.

Along the way, in our weekly chats, Deloise provided some very useful tips to go along with all the tools she sent.

At a later date, on one of our sewing days, Deloise is going to give us a tutorial on how to frame the piece.