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!!!

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.

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

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

CQ Bedspread Block 5

I've pieced block #5! I've used several of the fabrics Jill gave to me and a piece of the lace that Tracy gave to me!

Then I'm going to sew on these pieces of lace as a motif. The three leaves are Venice lace for dying, and the crocheted rose was made and given to me by a very sweet lady in the Hand Embroidery Yahoo Group.
OH and I've finally caught on to a good way of piecing my blocks! I'm always getting twisted around and I'm not so good at direction that's not obvious! LOL Well I finally figured out that if I start piecing in the larger area right next to a smaller area when I get around the block it's easier to overlap the larger area...otherwise I'm left at an odd spot and still need to go around to put more pieces on the larger area. I feel like it's a little bit of a "duh" moment but I had been starting at the smaller area and having trouble!

Block #4 Update

Well here it is! I think I did pretty good! Now I know I can do curves if I want to! I usually don't like to do curves in my piecing. I enjoy the straight lines radiating look, and then I usually add curved embellishments and SRE motifs. Since I won't be doing as much SRE because this is a bedspread I think this is a nice alternative. Jill shared with me where she bought the fabric and I couldn't resist but to buy a yard to add to the bedspread and maybe make a throw pillow or two. The price per yard seemed a little high at first but when I saw that it's for extra wide 118" I figured it would be worth it after all. It's like buying 2 yards in normal sizes.

Update on blocks 1, 2, and 3

The last few weeks I've been sewing down the lace on my blocks, and figured an updated photo would be nice! I've found that I enjoy the hand stitching of sewing down the lace. It's really soothing and it's nice to do it when chatting with a friend too. I also feel like putting the lace on the block gives me a better feel for the block and how I'm going to embellish it.
Even though I'm numbering the blocks I probably won't sew them together in this order, mostly the numbers are so I know how many I've done! LOL

CQ Bedspread Block 4

Yesterday I started piecing block 4 and as you can see I just need to baste the edges and finish appliqueing the fabric that has the raised ribbon motif down. I've never done that before so it should be interesting...LOL! I hope it turns out good, the good thing is if it doesn't hand sewing is pretty easy to take out! So today I'm going to get that tackled.

I used 2 pieces of the fabric Jill sent me, one is on the lower right and the other is the upper right which is the raised ribbon motif fabric. The reason I'm going to applique it on is so that I get the full motif, I didn't want to cut it. So I'm placing it so it's just right on the block.

CQ Bedspread Block 3

Here is block 3 I pieced yesterday! I kind of don't like it as much because I feel the piecing is uneven with the small pieces to the lower left and larger pieces to the upper right, but at the same time I had been wanting to use that piece of gold lace like that for some time and felt this block was the one.

Here's my lace tryout, I felt this circular piece helps the balance of the block more as well as makes a nice frame for something special to be embroidered. It is also a piece that Marie tatted and sent to me!

CQ Bedspread Block 2

Yesterday I worked on piecing block #2 so here it is! Now for some lace tryouts for this block too. I've already sewn down the lace on block 1, it's now ready for some embroidery.Here is my lace tryouts for block 2! I'm using some of the tatted edging that Marie sent to me! So pretty, I just love the pattern! And a lace applique that Lillian sent to me!

CQ Bedspread Block 1

Here is block #1! I'm on my way! This is a perfect example of the color scheme I've chosen.

Here is a little preview from my lace tryouts. I'm really loving how this is turning out! I'm excited and a little overwhelmed with the idea of 120 blocks, LOL, but I just need to take it 1 block at a time and I'll have fun!
The challenge with this bedspread will be embellishing in washable ways, it will be gentle cycle of coarse but I usually rely on a lot of Silk Ribbon Embroidery but I'll need to rely more on regular embroidery and lace with touches of beads and buttons. I'm looking forward to this adventure!

New Long Term Project

I've been considering for sometime to start a long term project of a crazy quilt bedspread but never thought I could realisticly tackle it. Since I just moved and am putting together my home again I thought now would be the time to start it. It will be queen sized and consist of 120 eight inch blocks. I'm planning on embelishing the blocks very simply so that the finished bedspread can be washable if needed. Here are the colors of fabrics I'm planning on using. I love the white on whites, creams and light golds so that's what this will be. I've already pre-ripped 120 twelve inch muslin squares, now they just need to be marked at the 8 inch and 9 inch and I can start piecing. I'm not sure how I'm going to go about doing this, I'd like to try to get it done in a year which would mean 10 blocks a month. If I need to take longer I will though I don't want to wear myself out but it will be a nice WISP (work in slow progress) to work on.