1,000,000,000 Pillowcase Challenge

If you haven't heard of it, you can find all of the information here. What they say about it is: " A pillowcase can provide comfort for a cancer patient, hope for a foster child, encouragement for a battered woman, or beauty for a nursing home resident."

I spent Wednesday cutting out twenty-five pillowcases for the ladies in my quilting group to sew and when I left them they were sewing them. Today, I decided to make a few myself. I have a huge fabric stash and I'm looking for ways to use up fabric so that I can justify buying more.

Here's a peek at the ones I made. You are looking at the cuff on the ones I made and the smaller strip in the photo is the fabric of the body of the pillowcase. They are well made and all of the edges are finished.



In case you want to participate here's the lowdown on how I cut my pillowcases.

1 - Body of case 27" x WOF ( width of fabric) - approx 44/45"

1 - Cuff of case 12" x WOF

1 - "Zinger" strip 1 1/2" x WOF.

Pin together and sew "zinger" (folded and pressed in half), cuff and body of case (right sides together). Then roll up body of case into cuff folded in half (right sides together) to make a tube. Sew tube. Pull pillowcase out of tube and finish remaining two seams as french seams.

And now, back to beading.

Gold Bling

These gorgeous gold Swarovski pearls were the inspiration for this necklace. The first piece of the set that was completed was the smaller of the two circles in the pendant. My granddaughter told me that it was too large for earrings so I decided that it would be a pendant. Then I added the larger circle of the pendant.



The Russian spiral rope contains pearly seed beads and is closed with a Swarovski button and loop. The sparkle and flash of the pendant were to be dominant so the rope needed to take a back seat to it.



Finally, the matching earrings were added. When I look at the set, I envision it worn with a full length strapless gown.



Oh and in between working this set, I managed to complete two more pairs of baby booties. They are available for sale in my Etsy Store!

Another NOT Beading Post

Lately, I've been learning to weave. I did not warp the loom for this project. Another weaver generously gave me the warp that was left on the loom when she finished her place mats and table runner which I had been admiring as she wove them.



I have a rather long dining room table. This table runner is 75 inches long.



The white threads in this piece are the weft - the part I did. The coloured threads are the warp. The reason I mention this is to show you that a large part of the work on this piece was done by the other weaver. I did the easy part. My next project begins with me warping the loom myself. (Actually, planning the project was the first step.)



And finally, this is Sophie, my 5 pound shih tzu/poodle cross dog. Sophie will be having puppies around February 28th.

Etsy BeadWeavers' Challenge

This is my entry in the EBW Challenge. The theme this time is "The Ocean" and since I live on the west coast of North America in Beautiful British Columbia, this challenge is a MUST for me. Head over to the EBW Blog and check over all of the amazing entries from so many talented beadweavers. Be sure and vote for your favourite! Voting closes at midnight February 15th.

You can get a better look at my entry (which is available for sale) and find more information about it by going HERE.

I've Been NOT Beading Again!

Several months ago I found this adorable free pattern for baby slippers and bought some wool to knit some. As you can see from the photos below...I couldn't just knit one pair. The biggest challenge was to make two of the slippers "match" and look like a pair while working with yarn that changes colours. The pairs aren't identical but I'm satisfied with how they look. Unfortunately, my youngest grandbaby is 13 - so long past these tiny slippers. A friend suggested that I wait for some great grandbabies but I'm hoping that doesn't happen for at least another five years! Twenty is too young for my oldest granddaughter to start a family!










These booties came from a free pattern that is available on patons.com. (NB: you'll need to be a member to get it)