Final Block Finished for Wool CQ

This is the final block in the Wool DYB ("Do Your Own Block") Round Robin that I participated in this year with Crazy Quilting International.  The owner of these blocks, Karrin, pieced six different baskets and asked us to stitch flowers in them using threads or silk ribbons.  Here is the block I did.

Aargh!  I can see I still have forgotten to put the centers into the orange flowers on the right.  Hope I remember before I mail them tomorrow, LOL!  ;-)  Instead of a dragonfly, I decided to add a butterfly and red bug.  They seem to balance it out well, and are sort of folksy, which is the general feel of the blocks.  Here are all six blocks (the sixth and final will be done by Karrin herself).  The other stitchers in this round robin, besides Karrin and me, were Leslie, Hideko, Ritva, and Marya.

They'll be off in the mail to Karrin tomorrow.  And I move on to the next project, which is clean up my studio.  Then I can begin churning out some aprons for Farmers Market.  Next CQ project is an Art Nouveau block; ideas for that are percolating for the moment!

Stitching, Goodies & Something Cute

It's hard to title a post when it's a hodgepodge of STUFF.   I probably should've divided it up into different posts, but it's the weekend, and blogging time is at a premium.

A couple days ago I received a wonderful package in the mail from my friend Pam Kellogg of Kitty & Me Designs.    We've talked about our mutual fondness for vintage embroidery transfers, and in fact it was Pam that got me started on it about two years ago.    So, after finding some duplicates in her collection, she was kind enough to share!

Pam is so sweet!  She also included some trims.... and a surprise! Another fondness we share is for Marie Antoinette, and she surprised me with one of her M.A. pins.   She sells these in her Etsy shop along with so many of her other wonderful things.  Thank you, dear Pam!

We've had rain and very cool weather the last couple days, and I've enjoyed curling up in the evening with my DH and cat, a cup of coffee, and some stitching.  I've been working on a wool block for a Crazy Quilting International round robin.  Karrin appliqued baskets onto her blocks, and the previous stitchers have all filled their baskets with wonderully-stitched flowers.

This week's "Build-a-Stitch" challenge at CQI was the Buttonhole Eyelet Flower.  Kerry has links to tutorials on her blog, but I first "noticed" it on Sharron Boggon's blog and tried to recreate it from memory.  Of course, my memory being what it is (or, more acurately, what it ISN'T), I did a larger buttonhole center and cast-on stitch petals (top petals).

After discovering my error,  I tried one below it with bullion stitches, but my center was still too big.  The third (smallest) flower had a smaller center, but the bullions are all "drunken" and yukky.  My eyes were about crossed by then.  Maybe I just need to tickle their tummies...... hmmmm.   So, three versions..... with no centers, YET.  I will add the centers and post a picture of the completed block in the next day or two.  I still have to stitch some sort of "critter" to harmonize with the other baskets.  No one's done a dragonfly yet, so I'm thinking that I'll do that.

On Wednesday, I hit the thrift store again, and while I didn't get much of blogging interest (unless you want to see a picture of a display rack, butter knife and bias tape), I did score some great fabrics.  They're all gleaned from sheets, an idea which I got from another blogger (don't remember where, sorry) who supplements her fabrics for kid's clothing with vintage or vintage-like sheets and pillowcases.

That polka dot sheet was like new - still stiff with sizing - and came from The Pottery Barn.  The blue gingham with lace was one of a pair of never-used handmade pillowcases, too.  I can see some cute little upcycled girls' summer dresses here....

And speaking of cute and little girls, here is a Shameless Grandma Boast about my DGD London.

London has learned to crawl (yeah, I know.  She's 9 months old, so that's not exactly early or unexpected, LOL).  She's been crawling for about three weeks, but for the first two, this "crab-style" crawl was how she cruised around.  Her left leg is bent, but her right leg stays straight.  She got quite good at this, then it finally occurred to her  that she could bend both legs,  She trucks around now like crazy.

And this was her a couple days ago as we prepared to go shopping.  Her feet are constantly "dancing".  And that tongue!  She loves music and if it's playing, she'll bounce or kick depending on whether she's sitting or standing.  Aren't babies so precious!!!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Have You Any Wool?

I finished another block in our Crazy Quilting International Wool "Do Your Block" Round Robin.  This one was Hideko's block.  She asked for stitching only - mostly seams, but some small stitched motifs were OK.  So..... this is what I came up with.

It's basically just embroidery.  And it was relatively quick and oh so fun!  This round robin has been a really nice change of pace - a sort of "back to basics".

Bruce and I went to Home Depot today and spent a pretty penny on the yards.  We got flowers for my front porch pots, weed & feed, mulch, bark, a compost bin, a new gas barbecue, and rocks for an area I need to get some control over, LOL.

We also bought a red maple to plant in the front yard where we
had our old pine tree cut out last year (see this post).    Originally we had planned to put in a flower/vegetable garden there in the front because our neighbor had an ugly Siberian Elm (a junk tree) that grew nearly overnight to shade our vegetable garden in the backyard.   We asked them if they would consider trimming it, and they were so kind and removed it altogether (they didn't like it either).  So, we had our garden back last year.

Today we decided to plant a maple and have the front area sodded where the old tree had been.  We contacted a local landscape contractor for a bid today.  These contractors, who gave us a reasonable bid early this afternoon, were out here in force an hour later working their fannies off.   Wow, people must really be in need of work!  I don't know whether to be sad about the situation, or happy that we can help them as they help us!  Anyway, the maple tree and sod are in.  They're digging up our parking strip sod.  We'll cap the sprinklers there and do some xeriscaping along the parking strip, since it never seems to look nice anyway.  And they're removing my d*@% holly bush that I've wanted out for years, but could never dig up myself.  And they're removing a dead tree stump of my beautiful golden chain tree (see picture above) that died last year.  We think it got poisoned when the contractors who removed the pine tree were poisoning the roots of the removed tree.

I've planted 3 colorful flowerpots for my front steps and have several to go.  I'll share pictures soon; the snowball bush and my irises are getting ready to bloom, so I should be able to take some good pictures next week.

I'm way behind on my commitments to CQI (posting about the June Challenge, which is Dimensional Embroidery).  So that is what I'm off to take care of now.    I'll continue with the purse-making posts early next week!

Wool Block for Round Robin

I've been participating (s l o w l y) in a Wool round robin in Crazy Quilting International, a Yahoo group for crazy quilters where I am one of the moderators.  We're in the midst of a purse contest, which is what  I spent the majority of my March stitching time on.  That caused me to fall behind on my Wool RR obligations, so I am madly trying to catch up.


Unfortunately, once I began working in the yard, former problems with my arms falling asleep came back with a vengeance.  So, off I trotted to the doctor, who diagnosed it as TOS or Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.  Apparently the muscles and nerve bundles (etc) on my right side which go from the spinal column at the neck and through the collarbone down to the arm are very tight and being pinched or rubbed.  They suspect it may be an extra rib (apparently not all that unusual), but won't know until we do x-rays when my doctor gets back from South Africa in 2-3 weeks.  


In the meantime, it's twice-daily exercises, some non-steroid anti-inflammatory meds and twice-weekly physical therapy.  At the physical therapist I also get electro-massage (heavenly).  I've seen some improvement in my arms and hands and have begun to stitch again.  I was able to complete this wool block this week.  But I also worked out in the yard for an hour this afternoon.  I couldn't help myself; it was so beautiful and sunny!  I hope I don't pay for it tonight.  So far so good......

This is my work for Ritva in Finland.  Her block is 6"x6", and she requested wool or cotton.  I know the light green in the center area is wool; the rest is either perle cotton or silk perle.  Ritva did not want beads, ribbons, etc., so it's stitching only.  

This is all four blocks done for Ritva in this RR to date.  They were done (top L-R, bottom L-R) by Hideko in Japan, Marya in California,  Leslie in Colorado, and me (Cathy in Utah).   Next they move on to Karrin, who will stitch her block and then send them all home to Ritva.  


And now I get to start on Hideko's lovely blocks!  

Another Wool Block

I was able to complete this 6" wool block for Marya.  We are in a Wool round robin together at CQI.  My friend Gerry K (olderrose) was visiting this week, and we got a lot of quality stitching time.  We also visited an antique mall, thrift stores, a home dec fabric store and a bead store.  But I'll save those pictures for my next post!!

Here's my work for Marya:

The flower is leftover dyed silk cocoon waste with a silk floss center.  I received a children's clothing catalog this week and in it noticed some cute flower stems that were just torn/wound fabric strips rolled over (I presume) cording. So that's how I did the stem and leaf of the big flower.  The dyed flower and button in the upper right corner were from my friend Donna Johnson, and that rattail cord echoes the twisty feel of the other flower stem.  The embroidery was all silk perle.  The flower vine on the left is made from leftover scraps of silk ribbon (1" or less) that were gathered and tacked on with thread.  The rest is pretty basic; the "leaves" of the bottom lavender flower are actually part of the same lace piece that the upper flower came from.   There are some seed beads in the floral vine for sparkle, but they aren't showing up in the picture.

Thanks for stopping by!

First Wool Block Completed

Today I finished my work on Leslie's block for our Wool RR.  Actually, it's a DYB "do your block", where everyone stitches one complete block that's been pieced by its owner.

Leslie requested no beads or SRE because this will go into a utility crazy quilt she's making.  Stitching on wool with perle cotton or silk perle is a dream, so I had fun doing seams and adding a few motifs.  I wanted to include the three friendship rings instead of a spiderweb as a traditional motif to let Leslie know I consider her a special friend.  We've worked on so many things together that it seemed appropriate.

The tatted butterfly was received as a gift somewhere along the line (wish I remembered when and who, LOL).  The "Breckenridge" label was a bit of serendipity.  I do save clothing labels, and this one just jumped out at me since both Leslie and I planned and attended a Retreat for CQI last September in Breckenridge. The leaves are left over from my November autumn block that was published in the 2002 Quilting Arts Calendar.

Until next time,

Wool Blocks

I recently was asked to fill in at Crazy Quilting International for member who had to withdraw from our Wool "DYB" (do your own block) Round Robin.  In that type of RR, we each piece six 6" blocks - in this case WOOL blocks, and send them around.  Each person completes one full block for each of the other participants.

These are my naked blocks.  I pieced three in red, green and purple, on which I've asked the ladies to do a Christmas theme.

The other three blocks are green and cream, with a requested theme of North Woods - Seasons (winter, spring, etc. in the woods/forest).  

 

Naked blocks aren't too exciting, but what IS exciting to me is that this is my first blog post using my new Mac computer and its iPhoto program.   I also have the new Photoshop Elements, but haven't learned that yet.  I was able to crop and enhance the photos from iPhoto.  However, before doing any real manipulating on them (like saving them with more dpi), I'll have to learn Elements.  Luckily, I've got 4 days off work and a new Photoshop book...