Monday, February 16, 2009

Hearts RR Work & Carefree Highway

While on vacation, I had plenty of leisure time to stitch AND I brought along Gerry Hookstra's incredibly lovely block for the Hearts II Round Robin we are in together for CQI. It was hard to take that first stitch, especially because of the meticulous piecing and beautiful fabrics with which it was made. The first person to stitch on a block usually sets the tone, and Gerry's lovely heart block deserves the finest stitching and embellishment. Intimidating!
The four corners of the piece had equal triangles, and I figured that each lady working on it could take one. Because there is a central heart in reds and the larger, outer area is gold (you'll see the full block below), I wanted to add a red floral motif to bring them together. That is also why I did the seam embellishment in golds - to enhance the seam but not to compete with the motif or the heart. Then I did some work in the center heart:

The trim is vintage, as is the little red montee at the top of the feather stitch heart. The heart bead was a recent purchase at a newly-opened bead store here in town. Here is Gerry's block after my work was completed. Isn't it classy?

And now, some pictures of our recent trip to Arizona as promised (or threatened, depending on your perspective, LOL). Our driving route from the Salt Lake area to Tubac, AZ (south of Tucson) took us down through Utah, over to Las Vegas, over Boulder Dam, along the Carefree Highway, and down through Central Arizona (and then Phoenix, Tucson and finally Tubac).

Does the name Carefree Highway sound familiar? You may remember Gordon Lightfoot's song about the highway. It was written after he spent some time in Arizona back in the seventies.



We snapped some pictures of the lovely saguaro cacti along the route. It was a beautiful,
warm day! Truly carefree for us!

And finally, we got a kick out of this "stop" sign at our hotel in Wickenberg, where we stopped one night. Wickenberg is still a quaint "Old West" town!


Until next time,


Cathy

7 comments:

  1. You certainly did Gerry's beautiful block justice with your gorgeous stitching, Cathy! You set a wonderful tone for the rest of the round robin!
    Hugs,
    Kerry

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  2. Cathy, I am speechless! It is just stunning! Fantastic! Amazing! WOW~~~~

    Thank you so much. BTW, I'm glad you had a great trip!

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  3. Gerry's heart is beautiful and your additions just set it off..BEAUTIFUL I say.

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  4. Cathy... how beautiful.... your work is fantastic! The whole thing is going to be so beautiful in that color palette.

    Love the "stop" sign. LOL!

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  5. Beautiful heart work. Hope to see when the other corners are crafted.
    Welcome home from your travels. Candy

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  6. Such gorgeous work while you were on the road!
    Did you stay at the old Wickenburg Hotel?

    I love the new look of your blog...so classy!

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  7. Hello Cathy. I love your ribbon work. Just beautiful. I did not know that there was a road called. CareFree Hwy. Pretty neat. And the sign Whoa is just to neat. Never seen one of those either. I must take a trip to the south west. Hugs Judy

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