1 Year Blogiversary

Well here it is! My one year blogiversary! August 22 2006 was my very first blog post! My blog has grown with me as I have learned more and more about embroidery, crazy quilting, along with learning tatting. I have a few spin off blogs for my garden and my dogs. I love sharing what I'm working on and following other online crazy quilters, tatters, and embroiderers. I've made a ton of friends, been inspired left and right, explored fiber arts, and am continuing on my journey loving every step of the way!

Summer Breeze DYB RR: Jakkie's block finished

I love how soft and romantic this block is with a feminine feel.

I love how the yellow rose brings out the lavender color in the block.

The dangle is an earring part that I salvaged and thought it looked nice on the block. I made spiderweb roses in lavender and sweetheart roses in 7mm ivory and 4mm pink. The fern are made from the Caron Rachelette thread.

This seam is a single feather stitch with 3 ribbon stitches done with 2mm silk ribbon on each prong, then I added purple flower sequins to the seam. I also placed clear lavender glass flower bead to the fabric since I wanted to keep the soft watercolor feel of it.

Click Here to see all the posts Summer Breeze Blocks

Wendy's Blog

I wanted to let everyone know that Wendy has now started her own blog! It's Wandering Rose, so if you'd like to stop by and welcome her to blogland, I know she would love it! It is all of your sweet comments and encouragement that has inspired her to begin blogging.
She is also working on her 2nd crazy quilt block and will soon be blogging it too!

The Beautiful Desert!

I just love desert mountain views! This one was in New Mexico, I just loved the way the sun rays were shining from the clouds!

These were in the wonderful high desert of California! I missed the wonderful views! I teared up seeing them again! I missed the beautiful desert mountains so much! One of the awesome things about them is the view changes with different times of the day or if a storm comes through! God really is an awesome artist!

Wendy's First Block Finished!

Wendy finished her block last night! LOL She couldn't put it down and kept coming back to work on it! LOL Oh yeah she's totally addicted now! I really think it is stunning! I taught her what I've learned from the Encrusted CQ with Sharon B.

I love how she trailed the pearls from the button/bead cluster.

I also love that pink button, it brings the pink around very nicely.

This seam treatment she saw in one of the Judith Baker Montano books, and I told her about the element of surprise with how the flower beads kind of blend in but when you look over the block a few times you suddenly notice them and are pleasantly surprised. She loved the idea!

Here is her stunning SRE motif all finished! She just took off with this! All I had to do was show her the stitches and some photos of motifs and she just ran with it!
I am so excited to see what she will do next!

Summer Breeze DYB RR: Jakkie's block

Lately I've been slowly working on Jakkie's block, I love the soft purple, lavender, pink shades in the block. It's very soft and feminine. I've done sweetheart roses with ribbon stitch leaves at the points of a zig zag chain stitch with bugle beads on the opposite side. Then I added some buttons and beads below that seam treatment. Then I worked on the other seam which is a five to each side feather stitch with lazy daisy leaves and Czech glass bead flowers. I stitched in a few different butterflies making each one with different stitches and added little pink colonial knot flowers which aren't complete yet.
To Be Continued...

Wendy's First Block and SRE!

Okay I have to brag on my sweet friend!!! Look at what she's doing!!!!! I taught her some Silk Ribbon Embroidery stitches and she's off and making her own motif!!! All this in only 1 day! She says she's totally addicted to working on it and can't put it down...we all know how that is! LOL Also the seam treatment of beads and sequins is from salvaged beads from an old shirt! She's totally a natural CQer has the brain for it totally! At one time she had done sane quilting but it seems going crazy is more fitting. She says she wants to make 6 of these blocks like a sampler of different types of things she can do and to practice to join in a RR. I personally feel she could already join in an RR!

Chihuahua T-Shirt

I finally worked on and finished this T-Shirt for my Mother-In-Law and got to give it to her when we visited! I only stitched in the 2 Chihuahua's and the heart between them but decided to skip the rest. The paper is difficult to stitch on with a large complicated design and I should have used a different transfer method but I think it turned out pretty well anyway.

Look, look who I got hooked!!!

Now that I'm back in CA I showed my dear friend Wendy all my CQ and Silk Ribbon Embroidery, and guess what!?!! She wanted to learn! I'm so excited she pulled out a bunch of fabrics she had saved that she didn't know why she had saved them (oh yeah she was a crazy quilter in waiting) and I started teaching her how to piece and this is the result! Isn't it awesome! It's a 6 inch block, I felt 6 inch is a good starting out size perfect for learning and not overwhelming. There is only one little spot that got missed but it's the perfect spot for a SRE motif so not a problem at all! I'll try to get an updated photo up soon to show her progress! She's totally a natural CQer! I'm having such a blast with her it's the best! It's my first time getting to share what I know with someone in person too! Nah I'm not excited at all!!! (yeah right!) LOL

Tatted Shirt Edging Finished

Here is my completed collar that I added tatted edging to! I've been wearing it too, and I just LOVE the nice touch it gives! I am definitely going to be adding more tatted edgings to my clothes. It took me 5 days to complete the back section, I ended up doing more than 4 repeats a day but I was enjoying tatting it on our car ride across the country. Also it ended up being 25 repeats across the back instead of 26 as I originally estimated.Motif #14 of the 25 Motif Challenge