Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Victorian Ladies Round Robin Blocks

I am participating in a Round Robin (RR) called Victorian Ladies with the Crazy Quilting International Yahoo group.  This type of RR is called a Do Your Own Block or DYB. Each of the six participants pieces 6 crazy quilt blocks and sends them out in the rotation. When you get someone’s set of blocks, you pick one (they are only 6x6”) and embellish the entire thing; stitching, beads, silk ribbon, or whatever.

Here are my six “naked” blocks. I chose to print out vintage images on silk of Victorian women in different activities; reading, sewing, playing the piano, etc. The silk prints are just pinned on, because each stitcher will determine where on the block to place it. In most cases, the antique lace has not been sewn on either, and the stitchers can also determine where to put that.

The blocks are intended to be very low-color as they will be made into a small wall hanging in our neutral toned bedroom.

Playing the Piano

Picking Flowers

Reading

Out for a walk

Holding Baby

Sewing
These are winging their way to Hideko in Japan, who will be the first stitcher on my blocks.

I thought I had taken pictures of my CQ Journal Project block for July and posted it, but I could not even find any pictures on my computer.  I guess that is for the next post.

Tomorrow we are having a birthday party for DGD London, who will be three on Friday. But because of scheduling conflicts, the family party is tomorrow night here at our house. I am baking her a Winnie the Pooh birthday cake and today we went to Ikea and bought her an easel with a blackboard on one side and a whiteboard on the other. Plus markers, erasers, chalk, etc.  I can’t wait!!

Hugs,
Cathy maroon

Monday, August 27, 2012

Lauren Visits

Yikes! It has been almost a month since I posted!  Is anyone still out there?!?  LOL   I have actually been thinking about you all as I bustle about my summer.  It has been a busy one and a hot one, and from my blog reading, I can tell it has been the same for many of you.

I have taken pictures here and there, so I hope to get caught up a bit with blogging this week.  And I still need to take pictures of my CQ Journal Project blocks and to-date progress, and promise to do that this week.

Last week I had my granddaughter Lauren here to spend the day with me last week before school started. She’s 8 and going into 3rd grade.  Actually, my son Ryan and her mom Kim are getting married next June, but have been together for over 5 years and we have known and loved Lauren and her brother Easton since they were little.

The plan was to have sewing lesson #2.  The first one was about a month ago, when we made her a tote bag (visible in blue in the background of the second picture, below). She learns quickly and did 90% of the sewing. I only did enough to show her, plus I attached the handles.  No good pictures of that.

Anyway, our plan went awry as soon as Lauren saw the gold Victorian pincushion that my friend Gerry K had made for me some time ago.  Lauren fell in love with it and wanted to know if she could make one like it.

Well, luckily, I have been saving candlestick bases for just that, so, she selected her favorite (the biggest and heaviest one!) and we got to work.   There were plenty of crafty lessons along the way, but the only sewing was making the red velvet square into a round yo-yo; so I taught her about gathering stitches, yo-yos, and stuffing things.

We also had fun glueing the components together, and it was quite a challenge since both of my tubes of E6000 were dried up. We ended up using the silicone that I used to glue together my recent garden ornaments.

Another lesson was a color one. As a typical young girl, she loves anything flashy and bright. She wanted red, pink, purple, silver, gold, jewels, flowers, strawberries, butterflies, etc. on it.  So first we selected the color red, based on what I had in the way of trims that matched fancy fabrics she liked.

After that, I had her bring out everything she thought was a possibility, and once the stuffed yo-yo and trims were glued to the base, we began auditioning things.  To her credit, Lauren realized quickly that some things did not look good and others would have to be saved for another project later. It did not all have to go onto this one.

One thing she really liked was the dangly things, so even I made concessions to let her design and put on as many as she liked; a key, jewels, a tiny locket, fancy pins, vintage jewelry, etc.  I had previously made the organdy rose, and she wanted to add the gold vintage leaf brooch to it.


Lauren also fell in love with rhinestones (that’s my girl!!) and so to satisfy her Deep Need for More Bling, we included a vintage rhinestone clip-on earring on the back side.   It turned out really cute and she wants to come back as soon as she can to make another one!!


Here is a picture of some of garden produce, taken about a month ago. Our corn is gone now, so we are picking it from the Community Garden we participate in (that is also where the peppers and onions come from).


Over the last couple weeks I have made a lot of strawberry-rhubarb compote, frozen green beans, peppers, and tomatoes. And then there is the jam: strawberry was early summer, but jumbleberry peach was this past weekend (peach, red and black raspberries and strawberries).   Later this week I will freeze more peaches and make some peach jam.   And the tomatoes, peppers and squash (zucchini and yellow crookneck) keep coming.  We are eating soooooo healthily!

Talk to you soon!
Cathy maroon