Sunday, May 31, 2009

Summer Breeze Wall Hanging with Lace Edging

Here is the final result from a wall hanging I made over a year ago from Round Robin blocks! I thought I finished it at the time but hated the end result you can see that post here. Anyway I had the idea back then to add lace around the edge to make up for the crookedness. I had decided on this pretty morning glory lace and that I would coffee dye it...I got as far as doing the coffee dye and then it sat in a drawer until I got it out recently and fiddled with it and started to hand sew the lace on! I've slowly worked on it for about a month now, while in the car, in waiting rooms, chatting with Wendy, and finally finished it! I love the result so much better than before! The lace covers that horrid crookedness and I think it looks better with the blocks! Before the plain solid edge was too stark against the busy blocks and now the lace adds a touch of busyness to the edge that I think better balances the piece as a whole. To me it feels like it brings everything together better.

Crazy Quilt Throw: Blocks #39 - #40

#39 of 48
#40 of 48
Two more blocks done and eight left to go! Yeay!!!

Crazy Quilt Throw: Blocks #30 Heart Applique

I got the heart applique finished! It's hard to read in the photo and it is faint looking even in person but in the middle is "Love never faileth" so I'm not sure if I'm going to enhance it somehow or just leave it as is. I would like to put sweetheart roses around the edge maybe cream roses or a hint of gold roses would bring out the lettering better.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Crazy Quilt Throw: Blocks #29 - #38

Well this week I got 10 blocks pieced and basted so now I only have 10 of 48 left to go before I start embellishing!
#29 of 48
#30 of 48
On this block when I finished piecing it I felt it needed more gold so I had the idea to do a heart applique the center words say "Love never fails" while waiting during hubby's last hip appointment I basted the rest of the blocks and had time left so I started on the applique. When I embellish this one I have an idea to put sweetheart roses all around the edge, won't that be pretty!
#31 of 48
Here I started using some printed fabric motifs that came with the "Love" fabric. I thought they made nice centers!
#32 of 48
#33 of 48
#34 of 48
#35 of 48
#36 of 48
#37 of 48
#38 of 48

Friday, May 22, 2009

Crazy Quilt Throw: Blocks #26, #27, #28

#26 of 48
I used a hankie for the center and a hankie at the top in this block.
#27 of 48
This block has a piece of white velvet in the upper right.
#28 of 48
In the center is a piece of bridal gown.
Now I only have 20 blocks left to piece!!! Yeay!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

CQ Bedspread Turned Throw Quilt: Blocks #17 - #25

As I've been piecing I've been thinking over my delima of the non-useableness that the bedspread would be and I started to think, what if I changed it to a throw...
There are so many bonuses to creating it throw size:
1~Less blocks to make
2~Easier to handle size
3~More practical for use and to be shown off (heehee for what is doing all this work without showing it?)
4~It would be safer from "little claws" and probably other "evils" as well! LOL
And Last but not Least...
5~It would get done sooner!
Therefore my plan is now to create a 48 block (blocks are 8") throw that will be 6 blocks wide by 8 blocks long. The measurements will be 48"Wx64"L and I think that is the perfect size!
Now onto my newest block photos!
#17 of 48
#18 of 48
#19 of 48
#20 of 48
#21 of 48
#22 of 48
#23 of 48
#24 of 48
#25 of 48
And you know what that means...I'm half way done with piecing!!!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Blue Tatted Heart

Peacock Heart by Birgit Phelps
Here is another heart tatted in Helm's Deep HDT size 80 thread as another Birthday gift for one of my small group girls!

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Baby Gift: Applique 'B'

I was slacking and didn't pre-plan making a baby gift for Wendy's shower so last minute I had the idea to do a monogram applique! So I choose 'B' which could be for their last name, baby, or boy since they still haven't picked a name yet! LOL
All I did was open Word type in a 'B' made it size 300 went through the fonts till I found one I liked printed it out. Then I just placed the paper under the fabric, since the fabric was a thin striped textured teal cotton, and traced it with the water erasable pen. I looked up reverse applique since I hadn't done that before and This Web Site was very helpful.
I'm so surprised that I love doing hand applique so much and I love how they turned out! So cute!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

CQ Bedspread: Blocks #14,#15,#16

Yesterday I got 3 more blocks pieced!
#14 of 120
The 'Love' stem stitched was my very first time I had gotten the stitch right on a scrap and I just saved that scrap for the right project!
#15 of 120
I love the monogram that was on a hankie given to me! And the tatted edged hankie I found in an antique shop.
#16 of 120
This one has a piece of wedding dress lace in the corner, the photo makes it look blue but it is truly white.

A Piece of Heritage: Mother's Day '09

This Mother's Day we met up with my Mother-In-Law, Gloria, so that we could give her the 'Piece of Heritage' which is her mother who died when she was born. She told me that her mother's name was Prudencia and that she always wondered what she looked like and if she looked like her mother at all. Then one day while visiting family someone gave her that photo, and she does look like her mother! It is the only photo she has of her, which is why I wanted to do something special with it.
Needless to say she was thrilled!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

CQ Bedspread: Blocks #9,#10,#11,#12,#13

Well I got another 5 done yesterday and just finished hand basting them this morning, it would probably be easier to machine baste but I just like how the fabric lays better with hand basting. So now I have 13 of 120 pieced!
#9 of 120
#10 of 120
#11 of 120
#12 of 120
#13 of 120

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

CQ Bedspread: Blocks #6,#7,#8

It's been a long time since I worked on my cream CQ Bedspread! Over a year! I'm not sure why exactly but I got discouraged by several things and then busy and it just got put on hold. A few things have changed for example it no longer will be a washable quilt since I didn't pre-wash any of the fabrics including the foundation muslin...yeah. And our little mini schnauzer sleeps at our feet and I'm not sure if I want her claws on my work of art! HAHA
Wendy is almost finished with her princess quilt for her daugher and wow seeing it all put together is so inspiring that I thought I may as well keep working on this one even if it ends up a special quilt not used very often or hung on the wall or something like that. I think just the fact that it would be awesome done just to look at to take out and show people would be fun. So even though I stopped at #5 of 120 over a year ago here I go again! A nice surprise for me is they are so much easier to piece now, I think the additional year of experience helps! I think I was over thinking them before too, making it too hard on myself all perfectionistic. It's a crazy quilt...therefore no need to be perfect! It will turn out just right just because it's crazy...the whole point! LOL Anyway that's the lesson I've learned from watching Wendy put together the princess quilt.
My goal right now is to get the blocks pieced, I may take embellishment breaks if I get bored in the future but I'd like to have them at least pieced right now.
#6 of 120
#7 of 120
#8 of 120

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Tea in the Garden

This morning I felt like having tea in the garden! A cup of Assam tea with sugar and milk! Yum! So I took some photos here are a few I thought were pretty! I cut a stem of pink sweetheart roses and a sweet pea! It was wonderful!


Monday, May 04, 2009

Princess Block: #5 The Strawberry Block

Here is the last of the Princess Block's that I've worked on! Wendy also worked on this block and I took it and finished it up to help her out. She is working on putting the whole quilt together now for Bekah's birthday party in about 2 weeks!
Here are some of the lovely flowers that Wendy embroidered on the block before I started any work. She also did all the embroidery you see on the seams.
For this princess block since it had a strong strawberry feel to it I went with that theme. I added the orange butterfly sequins floating about the block.
Then the princess in the center needed some pink, red and white additions to make her blend better so where there was aqua bits I covered the hem with white and red lace and appliqued it down then I added a cut out of some vintage pink and red lace that looks like a bow with a red sequin and bead. At the top of her bodice I added a bit of silk ribbon trim that is red and pink. I gave her red bead earrings, and in her hand is a tatted red rose that a tatting friend gave to me!
At the very bottom I attached a silk ribbon flower motif.
At the top I added in some little pink flower bits and a tatted rabbit the same tatting friend gave to me! The pink and green seam treatment you see is all Wendy's work!
To this patch I put Rebekah's nickname "Bekah" in red floss and sprinkled it with pearly white flower buttons attached with pink floss and accented with lazy daisy leaves.
This side patch has Wendy's seam treawtments but I added the strawberry motif!
The strawberries were reclaimed from a toddler's shirt I found at the thrift store for 25 cents. I added stem stitch stems in green perle cotton. I also added a felt flower I had in my stash.
For the strawberry leaflet I filled in the leaf shapes with fly stitches and then went back around the edges with blanket stitching to create the texturedness of stawberry leaves!