In a mad dash outside in the heat and humidity to quickly water some plants, I was stopped by the beauty of this spider and her (his?) web. The beautiful Chevron stitch down the center of the large web in my rose bush was spectacular.
This spider knows needlework, so I’m assuming it’s a her (I know there are men who create gorgeous needlework and think Rosie Grier  and his needlepoint, but women do outnumber in this category). I know spiders can be terrifying, in spite of being such small creatures. But you have to admit that this one is a beauty with its yellow colors.

I did find this spider on the internet and its name is, are you ready?  ”Black and Yellow Garden Spider”.  That’s not very imaginative and I think she deserves a much prettier name. Any suggestions for a name – please leave a comment if you do!

I wonder if she knows any other stitches….

Phyllis

Note, it has been almost a week since I posted this and the spider is still there.  But her body has doubled in size!

These jungle animals are huge and colorful …. and knitted.  One of the most fun exhibits I’ve seen, this was the booth for Lion Brand Yarns at the winter Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) trade show.  (I know, the show was in January, but I just found them in my camera).  What else can I say – the pictures tell the story.

Everything – flowers, blades of grass and the rugs were all made of yarn. The animals were all so cute! It was definitely an exhibit with the “awe” factor.

Have a “roaring” fun day.

Phyllis

If you love reading about crafts with plenty of tutorials, free patterns, information, projects that are being created, and much more on various blogs, then Creating the Hive is for you.  This is a website started for the craft world which includes sewing, quilting and needlework.

You join (free of course), then set up your profile for the type of crafts that interest you.  Also, you can join groups for your favorite crafts, such as Love of Sewing, Fabric Lovers, and Aprons if  you love sewing and quilting.  There are other groups for the many various crafts, such as scrapbooking, Christmas crafts, color, dolls, general crafts and many, many more.

People post their blogs to these groups so that you can have a condensed place to read great blogs, find out about new products, as well as free patterns, and more.  You can post your blogs and if you don’t have a blog, you can write a blog right on this site and have it go to the groups you choose.

Creating the Hive is new, slightly over a month old, but growing rapidly.  You will find your favorite blogs there.

Check creating the hive out and if you join, let me know by following me and I will follow and see what’s going on with you.

Have a great week of sewing, quilting or crafting!

Phyllis

I want to show you this fabulous quilt from Leona Harden and her original pattern.  It won Best of Show Wall in The Smoky Mountain Quilters of Knoxville TN quilt show last month.

I just love this quilt and all the detail that Leona put in it. Its easy to see why it won.

Leona is an amazing quilter.  She has only been quilting for 3 years and started off winning quilting competitions right away.  She learns everything about quilting from the internet and made 50 quilts in her first 2 years of quilting.

In addition, Leona recently started a blog so you can view her original quilts and her quilt studio.  When Leona decided to take up quilting, she went faster than zero to 60.

Thanks Leona for sharing your award-quilt and your amazing talent.

And here’s to beautiful spring days to each of you (and a beautiful fall to those of you down under).

Phyllis

Create a Pumpkin Candle

What better to put in the middle of the feast. David Fisher will show you how to make this easy and impressive pumpkin tealight holder.

Make a Sesame Street Wreath

For 40 years, Sesame Street has been part of our lives and has encouraged us to accept all holiday traditions. Barbara Crews will show you how to create this wreath dedicated to some of our favorite Muppets.

Draw a Penguin Pilgrim

For Thanksgiving crafts like place mats and name cards, you’ll need some festive art. How about a lesson from Helen South on drawing this cutie penguin.

Embroider a Gift Bag

Save cash for presents when you reuse gift bags or buy those inexpensive plain bags. Phyllis Dobbs will show you how to dress them up for the re-gifting process with a touch of delightful embroidery.

Stitch a Swedish Ornament

If you’ve got an ornament exchange to attend this year, a traditional Swedish ornament will really stand out in the crowd. Cheryl Fall will show you how to hand stitch this original piece.

Wax Resist Holiday Cards

Add a contemporary look to your holiday while saving some cash on Christmas Cards. This wax resist technique from Marion Boddy-Evans is just what you need.

Pumpkin Foam Sticker Earrings

For a quick Fall look in a pinch, try these pumpkin sticker earrings from Tammy Powley. She’ll show you how to make them in five easy steps.

Paper Globe Ornament

This dimensional ornament has an intricate look, but is actually simple in design. Kate Pullen will show you how to cut and stamp this delightful addition to your decor.

Knit a Stocking Ornament

A mini stocking is a creative way to give a gift card, or hide a little treat on the tree. Sarah E. White shows us how to knit this cute little sock.

Christmas Tree Bunting

Decking the Halls has never been so fun, and this one is perfect for helpful kids to take part in. Use up those scraps of fabric with this decorative craft from the Sadie and Lance blog.

Make a Mini Hippo

Stuffed animals add a bit of fun and tenderness to any slew of presents. Stuff a stocking with a smile when you sew this little hippo from Lesley Shepherd.

Snowman Candy Jar

Top off your candy jar with a snowman face as sweet as the treats inside. Sherri Osborn will show you how to paint and assemble this wintry decoration that is appropriate to show off all season long.

Joy Ornament Crosstitch

Stitch a little bit of joy for someone this Christmas. Connie G. Barwick has the free pattern for this jolly cross stitch project.

Want to Join Make it Merry to show off your holiday crafts? We will showcase your crafts and recipes of all holiday traditions. Learn more.

Embroider a plain gift bag to make it unique and tell someone they are special – all you need is some Pearl Cotton and assorted buttons.

This is so quick and easy to make, you can make several.  Starting with a plain white gift bag, I used Pearl Cotton #3 from The DMC Corporation for the embroidery.  Draw 2 top lines 1 1/4″ apart and stitch the lines with a back stitch using 1 strand of green Pearl Cotton.  Stitch the inside lines with a running stitch and then stitch assorted sizes of red buttons between the embroidered lines.

Stitch a large lazy daisy flower with 2 strands of red Pearl Cotton.  Use a second needle and red sewing thread to anchor the loops at the outside edge with a small stitch over the Pearl Cotton.  Sew a large green button at the flower center to finish the bag.

You can add your own personal touches as you make your bags.  I would love to see what you make.

Have fun and happy stitching.

Phyllis

Copyright – this design if for your personal use and may not be used commercially without written permission.

I was invited to write a guest blog on ThinkCrafts.com by Create for Less.  I enjoyed writing about crafting and how it inspired and influenced a creative career for me.  I learned crafts early, taught by my mother and aunt.  As I see all the emphasis on various retro periods, I think of the crafts I was doing during each period.

ThinkCrafts.com is hosted by a craft expert and professional of many years, Maria Nerius and is a fabulous site for anyone who loves art, crafts, creative design and working with their hands.

I invite you to read my post and would love to receive comments from you.

Phyllis

The International Quilt Market in Pittsburgh this month was wonderful as usual.  Color was everywhere as new fabrics were displayed (including mine – Its a Dog’s Life with Quiting Treasures).  The mood was upbeat throughout the show and buyers were doing just that – buying.  I took loads of pictures of great vendors as well as my friends   But, if you read my last post, you know that my photo files were corrupted on the disk (the file names are all goofy symbols and Windows doesn’t know what file types they are- so if anyone can tell me what happened, I would love to know).

I am really excited about something that I purchased at the show (actually its being purchased through my local dealer).  I bought Bernina’s digitizing software, “DesignerPlus Version 5″ so that I can turn my art images into machine embroidery.

I plan to start with the motifs from my fabric collections. I also want to create designs to put on some of my projects featured in magazines and books.

Call me a nut, but I actually love learning new software, until I get to a frustration point!  The good thing about this software is that my local shop (Robin’s Sewing Shoppe) will give me lessons on using it, in addition to the demo I received at Quilt Market.  So, any frustration points can be resolved locally!

But the next step is that after getting home, I have decided that I want to upgrade my sewing machine.  That actually means starting new since my machine can’t be “upgraded”.  I’ve been visiting the websites of ALL the sewing machine companies to see which one has the features I want. Boy, now that’s frustration!  Some of the websites have much more information than others and its frustrating looking at one that has very little information on the features of their machines.  Then when I find a feature of one machine that I really like, I look back at all the sites again to see which ones have that feature.  And I love features! Unfortunately, the $$’s go up with each feature so I am going to have to tone it down.

So now, I’m off to visit local dealers to make a decision on which machine I want and to see if I can find one in my budget.

Oh well, wish me luck!

Phyllis

Quiltopoly Board Game

If you are a quilter or sewer, you will love the new “Quilt-opoly” board game from The DMC Corporation that debuted at International Quilt Market.  Its like Monopoly, (which by the way,  I’ve always loved to play) but features quilts and quilting.  The properties are all quilt blocks with escalating degrees of complexity.

Quilt-opoly board game for quilt lovers

I have a special love for “Quilt-opoly” – I designed the graphics for it, including the quilt block properties, the the actual quilt stitching properties shown in the center of each row, as well as some of the sayings on the cards.  It was a fun project to work on and I just love the way it turned out. And I can’t wait to play!

In addition to “Quilt-opoly”, I designed and created the quilt blocks in DMC’s booth featuring their fibers and threads for quilting.  I really loved working with the various textures represented in the various fibers of their product line.

Log Cabin Quilt Block

Sunflower Quilt Block

Diamond In Block

Butterfly Quilt Block

As a special note, I want to say that The DMC Corporation is not going bankrupt or out of business.  Since I have worked with DMC a lot over the past several years, I occasionally get asked this question.  DMC-US is a separate entity and is doing just fine.  They have sold their other divisions and are concentrating on the fibers only and are doing extremely well, I’m happy to say!

Tomorrow, I will write about another “celebrity” that I met at Quilt Market as well as show come of the many gorgeous quilts that I saw there.  So, please check back!

Embroidery is a fabulous way to embellish your jeans (or jean jacket).  I just received the July issue of Sewing Savvy that has the “Hot Mama” chili pepper iean embroidery that I designed.

Embroidery designs will add some colorful and spicy accents to your jeans, so check out this issue of Sewing Savvy, curently at your news stand, for the instructions and patterns.

To see more jean embroidery designs that I created, click “Denimbroidery” in my category list to the right.  This link will show jean embroidery kits that I designed for Janlynn, Inc.

While you are looking through the July issue of Sewing Savvy, check out the ad for the Meow Meow cat fabrics that I designed for Quilting Treasures (Page 55).

I hope that you will give your jeans a little tweaking with a needle and a few strands of floss.  I would love to see what you stitch.