Round Robin Work - I Love Paris, Spring 2013

One of the things I want to do on my blog is get caught up sharing some of the Round Robin work I have done this year.  Last winter and spring I was in two round robins with the Crazy Quilting International (Yahoo) group.  They were “I Love Paris” and “Victorian Ladies”.  This post is about the “I Love Paris” RR - work done on my block as well as work I did for the other ladies.

The “I Love Paris” Round Robin was a traditional RR.  We each sent out a 12” square (30cm) block and it was returned to us fully embellished after the other participants (in this case, there were 5 of us) had a chance to stitch.

My naked “I Love Paris” block

Finished Block.  Work by Wilma Van W., Kathy S, Theresa F., Darlene

Didn’t they do a lovely job?  They treated the lavender curved pieces as an “avenue”. That fantastic Eiffel Tower was stitched by Wilma and the bistro set by Kathy.  I love the whole thing!

As far as my stitching on others’ blocks, I showed what I did for Darlene here and for Wilma here.

This was my work for Kathy Shaw. It’s a girl sitting on a wall (see her bike leaning against the wall?), gazing out over the city to the Eiffel Tower (rather crude, but it is supposed to be in the distance).

I also did the seam treatments on either side of the gray patch. It was a particularly fun motif to stitch.  :-)

On Theresa`s block, I was the last stitcher, so I had free rein to “fill in the blanks” and tie everything together.

Wilma had stitched the sitting lady, but I added the pearl bow (button) at the waist to hide marks (stitching guides) that wouldn’t come out.  At the very top I added the flower and leaf, then the pink vine that meandered over the top 25% and the black trim - to break it up and guide the eye.  The lovely decoration of the Eiffel silkie was done by Kathy Shaw. I added  the scallop lace seam treatment to the right and the pink trim and black lines over the black lace (which was very visually heavy) on the bottom right. I also beaded that little flower.

Finally, I added the pink pleated ribbon and its decorations, along with some vintage millinery and painted lace “flowers” for the lovely lady to sit amongst.

Next time I'll show my work in the Victorian Ladies RR, as well as the beautiful blocks that returned home to me with stitching from the other participants.  I was so thrilled!

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This morning, I decided it was time to lay in a supply of food in the freezer.  So, over 2-3 hours I prepared lots of things for dinners, divided them up, labeled them and froze them. There was one little accident with a container of chili that we won`t talk about, but suffice it to say that my kitchen rugs are now in the washing machine.  :-)    The results of this morning’s efforts:  4 meals of split pea and ham soup; 4 meals of meatloaf; 3 meals of chili (would have been 4, LOL), and 4 meals of pancakes. We like “Breakfast for Dinner” occasionally, so if I have the pancakes or waffles done ahead of time, then I can just do scrambled eggs/omelets and add some fruit for a nice dinner.

I still plan to make Carmel Apple Salad this evening to go with our split pea soup and muffin dinner.  Next weekend I am planning to do lentil soup, lasagna, beef enchiladas and bran muffins.  Cooking in batches is great, especially when I have had a busy day working at home (my Etsy shop).  Then all I have to do is zap dinner in the microwave.

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And speaking of my Etsy, the busy Holiday season has started.  If Christmas is too far off for you to think of yet (I do have all my Christmas motifs listed), then check out all the leaves, pumpkins and other goodies I have added.  

Well,  Alfie and Darla are asleep at my feet here under my desk.  I think I will take advantage of that (they are soooo curious about everything, so when they finally conk out, I can do things that would be hard if they were awake. Like little kids!).  Off to dye some more lace.

Until next time,

Hugs,

Paris Round Robin Block for Wilma

In the Crazy Quilting International Yahoo group, I am participating in the “I Love Paris” round robin.  Today I finished a block for my friend Wilma from The Netherlands (whom we are hoping will be joining us in September for our 6th annual retreat!).

I stitched a perfume - er, Parfum - bottle, and embellished some lace that a prior stitcher had added.

The colors on this block are brown and black, with accents of gold, mustard through light yellow and tidbits of burgundy. It is very elegant, and the prints used in the block (pieced for her several years ago by a friend) suggest a Paris Fashion theme.  Hence, I did not do a bicycle with flowers filling the basket, LOL.

 Lower in the block I ruffled some ribbon and stitched on the letters for PARIS from sew-on “typewriter keys”. I think the colors are perfect, and they blend well with the Roaring Twenties theme in the fabrics.  I also added the lace fleur de lis and did the seam stitching of the burgundy chain with gold flowers.
 

This is Wilma’s block to date, and it will be mailed on to the next stitcher tomorrow. Dear Wilma, I hope you are liking it as much as I am!

Hugs,

Beginning a Round Robin, Ending the Harvest

Without putting too fine a point on it, Autumn always seems to be a time of endings (nice weather, long sunny days, fresh veggies and fruits) and beginnings (school, new projects, new clothes).

Our little personal garden went out with a bang this year. A colorful ending to a educational (for the grandkids) and delicious year.

These were the pumpkins we picked last week - the last of them. That was after sharing with the grandkids and the neighbors. We thought we only had a “few” left. HA!  I’ve been giving them to passers-by and used a few to decorate my house inside and on the front porch area (see below).

I’ve also tied some of the dried cornstalks to the front pillars (not pictured).  The red and green grapes have made great snacks for the last month or more, and these were the last of the large bunches. The rest I left on the vines for the bees (gone now since the frost) and the birds. The purple Concord grapes in the yellow colander is another batch that I picked on that morning. Later they were juiced into about 4 quarts of grape juice and bottled.  Yum!!  We got almost 12 quarts off the one bush this year.

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My latest “beginning” is a round robin for Crazy Quilting International.  This one is called “I Love Paris”.  Sound familiar?  It was my idea because I wanted MORE after doing my Paris purse a couple years ago.  (see posts here).

Among those posts is one that explains how I do my piecing. This one was more complicated than my purse, and I had to add that central lavender piece (vertical, curvy, to the right of the toile) because I didn’t leave large enough selvages on my pieces.  But it finally came together with some hand stitching and adding trim to cover some raw edges. Luckily, the many imperfections will be covered up by the embellishments!

This is in the mail to Theresa, and I look forward to stitching on their blocks! 

Until next time,