Wandering Rose Memorial: Swirlies!

So I'm trying to start building consistency of working on something every day.  Today I added some back stitched dark green swirlies in silk thread!  I plan on playing with them later on.  I know it seems extreme with the dark against the light but hopefully with later layering it will be balanced out...that is what I do!  I keep balancing the composition as I go!

Lately I also have been thinking about my dream to be an Artist.  And I know technically I already am one and I realize that now.  It's been hard for me to acknowledge that to myself feeling like I'm not a real artist.  But now I am going to start working on heading towards building a portfolio of work that could be considered fine art and be in a gallery.  I still feel like at this point people will totally laugh at me for thinking I might even have a slight chance to do that eventually.  But I think I can do it.  My media is different than traditional artists and I don't totally fit within the Crazy Quilting world for art quilts either.  I still think what I do is just as valid as anyone else, it's just different.  Right now I need to look into copyright issues that could come up with fabrics and materials I use and start working on pieces that are completely free of that issue.  When only working privately for myself and gifts it didn't really matter as much.  With the goal of being a Fine Artist it's important that I create with that in mind.  Also to create things that are the heart and soul of what I do but done in a way that I can allow to leave my possession.  So much of my current work could never leave my hands...including this Memorial Piece!  It has too much meaning for me personally.  So I need to work on things that are meaningful to me but I can let go of.  I also don't need to do this for income, my ultimate goal is *just* to create fine art!  It will only be icing on top of the cake to one day be sold.  If it never happens then I will be just as content having built up a portfolio of art!

I'm now acknowledging that what I do is art, it has emotion in it and people connect with it on an emotional level.  I always have a larger goal of showing people things that bring them enjoyment, maybe tickle a desire to find more details within it to enjoy.  It is meant to be framed on the wall, and has no use for it other than to bring enjoyment to the viewer!  It may be that I use pieced fabric as my "canvas" and I use forms of needle art, other objects, and textiles as my "paint" but it is art.  I'm not sure what genre it belongs in.  I don't think it's even fully crazy quilting because I don't finish it in a traditional way or create quilts.  So this is what I'm trying to hash out right now at the beginning of this new journey in my life!

Wandering Rose Memorial: Fearless Freehand

Almost a year later and I added a new seam treatment detail freehand inspired by the way she fearlessly created beautiful things without fear of imperfections!

I used a light pink swiss made cotton thread that was in my stash and used chain stitch in wavy lines.  When I first set out I thought they were going to inter-cross, but as I worked it ended up wanting to be parallel wavy lines.  No matter it's still overall like the idea I had in mind when setting out and taking the risk to just do something and not be paralyzed by fear.  I just kept remembering how she would be so fearless when creating!  She made such beautiful things all the time and fear of not doing well didn't seem to stop her!  I can see the imperfections in my waves but you know what?  There are no straight lines in nature, there really is beauty in imperfection.  I'm trying to embrace this more and more and take risks.  I want to just flow more!

Wandering Rose Memorial

 

I have a bit of bad news.  My dear sweet friend of 15 years passed away from cancer on Oct. 12th.  I don't know how many readers I still have that also knew her but Wendy aka Wandering Rose also did Crazy Quilting and Embroidery.  I remember when I first taught her CQ and she created her first block and also started a blog.  I was her friend when she met her wonderful husband and in her wedding.  She created a beautiful Wedding Pillow for an Anniversary Gift for me which I treasure very much!  She did beautiful thread painting, and created quilts for her children (that I also got to help her with).  She always amazed me in all that she accomplished and did!  She was a beautiful person and I got to be her friend.  She was there for me when I needed her, always gave the best hugs and made you feel valuable just because you were YOU.  We laughed together and we cried together!  We had bad times and wonderful good times!  If you need a laugh read this story she shared that cracked me up so bad and still gives me a giggle.  It's really hard to write this but I know I need to as part of my grieving process.

The wonderful thing about Needle Artists is that many of us share a common thread of having very romantic hearts.  There's a saying that is very popular in Crazy Quilting that makes an appearance on many quilts and that is this:  "When This You See Remember Me"
I will never forget her, she will forever reside in my heart as the dearest of friends.  I recently saw a quote on Pinterest that I thought was perfectly fitting of Wendy as well as what she would want each and every person to know about themselves as well:

"Always remember you're braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, smarter than you think, and twice as beautiful as you'd ever imagine."

I was thinking over what I wanted to do and I thought of a Memorial Crazy Quilt Block to honor her but I had no idea how I would start it when I looked over and saw an old block that has been unfinished for years.  It's from the time before cancer and Wendy touched it and she loved it and the theme is ROSES, roses, roses and the colors are the exact colors I think of when I think of her.  Bright, bold and beautiful.  It's the perfect block to finish into a Wandering Rose Memorial.  I seem to do my best work when it has love and meaning behind it, and that's probably why that block sat for so long it never had a purpose.  But now it will and in my mind I can envision such a beautiful work filled with roses because that was her favorite flower of all time!

So yes I am still here and I do still love Crazy Quilting and Embroidery and everything!  A lot has happened in the last year or so since I've last blogged here.  But now I will be working on this project and blogging it.  Wendy deserves nothing short of the best eye candy I can create!  LOL  She would love that!  And that is what I will do!

Wendy I will always love you!

Wendy Lynn Blake
May 14, 1976 - October 12, 2014

 

Lillian's Tablet Pouch/Cover

 My dear friend Lillian had sent me tons and tons of crazy quilting stash and in it was one of her blocks that is soooooo stunning!  I knew I had to make it into something special for her to use!  Lillian also has a Galaxy Tab so I decided to make her a pouch/cover for hers.  Here is a link to the tutorial on how to create an easy pouch.  The CQ block was already in a U shape but in order for it to fit onto the flap I had to shorten it about an inch but it wasn't a problem since it was the bottom and didn't have embellishments all the way to the edge.

I used an easy applique method and then sewed it to the flap and sewed some purple ruffled lace around the edge as well.

It's nice to create useable things, so that instead of being put away somewhere we can enjoy all the work that goes into crazy quilting and see something gorgeous everyday!  Her block was definitely one of those blocks that needed to be enjoyed!

Before I sewed on the block applique I sewed in place some Velcro for a closure.

Elizabeth's Flower Accessory

 Having fun creating her flower!!!

 Stitching on her leaf sequin and star button to the center!

Here is her creation!!!  We also attached a hair clip to the back.

Kid's Christmas Gift Pillows

My dear friend Wendy has 3 kids who ADORE handmade gifts! Seriously they love the handmade ones more than any toy, it's amazing! So I enjoy making gifts for them! Here are their pillows I created for them for Christmas, each one unique to them!
Joseph is the oldest so I used a Camouflage Flannel print and then Appliqued a bright green 'J' (which looks lighter in the photo it's more vivid in person) and I found a cool lizard print fabric that I cut out a couple of lizards from and one I appliqued on with the 'J' and the other I sewed into a stuffed toy!

Rebekah is the middle kid and loves all things girly and sweet! I used a sweet rose bud print flannel fabric for her pillow. Also I used a bit more of a fancy font for her 'R' and cut out a scene from a print in a oval shape and appliqued that on as well. The eye cover I bought and just set it on the corner, funny thing about Rebekah is she actually wears an eye cover when she sleeps!!! LOL I also thought it was neat that it had the word 'relax' on it that also starts with 'R' LOL!

Jeremy is the baby so I used a cute monkey print with a camouflage background flannel fabric for his pillow and I appliqued a bright banana yellow 'J'! Then I cut 2 of the monkeys out and sewed them into a little stuffed toy that I then attached to a "vine" of fuzzy yarn and sewed into the top seam of the pillow. That way the monkey won't get lost and he swings around playfully!

Friendship Garden

My dear friend Wendy agreed to help me make a friendship wall hanging! She is going to embellish 3 (the below photo) of the 6 six inch blocks and I'm going to embellish 3 (the above photo) and then I'll combine them into a wall hanging of our friendship!
We've all heard the saying "Friends are the flowers in the garden of life" well Wendy is one of the best flowers I could ever ask for! I'm grateful that God put her in my life, she is truly special and I treasure her gift of friendship to me!

Here they are in a baggie ready to go to Wendy!
We aren't having any time deadline to get them done just whenever no stress! I know they will get done at just the right time, things always seem to work out like that!

A Dress for Elizabeth! ♥

Elizabeth has a dance this week and it's a special one the Eighth Grade Prom, so she came over to work on a dress for it! What she found while going through my fabric stash were some formals that I had bought at the thrift store but hadn't cut yet! LOL After trying on lots of them this purple one seemed to be the closest fit and the easiest to alter! I don't sew clothing...so I had no clue how to go about fixing it so it would fit her...THEN...I had the idea to cut off the top part, cut off the straps, and fold down the remaining "top" so that it was rounded and reattach the straps! Even this seemed impossible to me but somehow we managed! HAHA What I did was have it on her fold it under to look the shape we wanted and then made a running stitch (by hand) along the top to hold it in place...then as I was doing that Elizabeth loved how it looked gathered so we ended up gathering the top front edge and that fixed the need to take in the sides too!!! I also did the running stitch around the back too but left if flat, then I hand sewed the straps into place and then later reinforced them with the sewing machine. THEN Elizabeth had the idea to tie something around the waist and so we found a white ribbon and tacked it onto the dress on a seam and then it gets tied around the waist after she gets it on (there are no zippers etc. it's a slip on dress)! OH and Hubby helped by hemming the bottom! ♥
After we finished working out all the kinks of the dress we cut a piece of white lace from my stash for her to use as a wrap or like she did in the photo below tie it in the back to look like a bolero or shrug.
Voila! Two non-seamstresses but very creative gals created a pretty good looking formal if I do say so myself! LOL

A Sweet Ballerina CQ Heart: Framed

With Rebekah's birthday coming up I framed the Sweet Ballerina CQ Heart! I also ordered a light blue Tutu to go with it!
On the back I put a pretty wrapping paper and then printed a label that reads "To Rebekah, A sweet ballerina who will always be my friend! Love, Melissa"

A Sweet Ballerina CQ Heart: Finish

I've finished my work on the Sweet Ballerina Heart! Now all that is left is to frame it!
I added light blue bugle beads to the seam treatment on the left, and I added a Silk Ribbon Embroidery Motif that I created using sweetheart roses, french knot loop flowers, ribbon stitch leaves, and pink Swarovski crystals.
Then I made the heart into an applique (here is a link to how I did that) and I added a couple of bits of lace on opposite edges!

A Sweet Ballerina CQ Heart: Progress

I've been working and working and working and so far here is what I've done!
I added a bow to her costume and some netting to her bodice along with a rose done with a bead in the center and straight stitches around it in a similar fashion as a bullion rose is made.

I wanted to mimic the lace crossing on the ballet slippers so I used a metallic silver thread!
I also created a bullion rose motif with little daisies and forget-me-nots!

I stitched in the ballet slippers with satin stitch and straight stitches. Of course every ballerina needs music to dance too so I created a musical note seam treatment using straight stitches and lazy daisy's for the round parts of the notes. I also did a little bullion knot rose bud with stem stitch stem and lazy daisy leaves.
I also added a little braid that used the same colors as I'm using on the little pink fabric seam!

A Sweet Ballerina CQ Heart for a Sweet Ballerina!

The other day Rebekah was visiting and saw hanging on my wall a CQ heart and she exclaimed that she loved it and asked if I would make her one! LOL Granted she is 5 years old (about to be 6 soon) but she is also my friend! ;) Another amazing thing about Rebekah is even though she is still a little girl she already appreciates embroidery and crazy quilting! I have a video of her when she was 3 years old enjoying a block and she still enjoys seeing what I'm working on and what her Mom is working on too!

Rebekah by the way is a ballerina and I've even gotten to take her to dance class before and she always loves the ballerina figurines they have in a case there. She also loves blue! So I searched through my image collections and found this pretty blue ballerina and printed her onto fabric and pieced up this heart. The fabrics are really difficult to capture the true colors, I feel that the print and the rose print fabric are accurate, but the green print is a bit too bright in this photo and the blue Dupioni silk looks a bit darker then in person as well in the top photo. In the photo below I feel shows more of the softness of the colors better and the blue Dupioni silk. It's a very soft sweet block and I hope I can eventually capture an accurate photo.

Lillian's Hankie Block: Finished

I've been working on Lillian's Hankie Block for a few weeks and it's finally finished! Now I'll be looking for a frame to do it justice! If you'd like to see everything closer click on the photos.
I added bead work to the hankies, on the purple flowers I added green beads to the centers and on the blue flower hankies I added pink seed beads to polka dot it and I removed the pearls I had added previously.
I created SRE motifs on either side on the doilies using the sweetheart rose (pink), fly stitch fern (light green), some ribbon stitch flowers (dark blue), beads for sparkle, pearls, and I tried a new stitch a loop with a knot that turned into a wisteria flower using different amount of wraps french knots (light blue).
I also embellished the silkie by adding loops and ribbon stitches for the bows on the ladies. I also added some beads to the lilac in one of the ladies hair, and appliqued some lace for her shawl as well!

Lillian's Hankie Block: Progress

I don't usually keep track of how many hours it takes me to finish a piece so I'm trying to diligently keep track of time as I work on this block! So far I've spent 5 hours on it.

I added pearls to the blue and pink hankies!

I also added onto the seam treatment around the silkie. I used pastel pink TESS Sleave Silk thread in lazy daisy stitch with 2 small straight stitches on either side! Then I used a small bugle bead in pastel blue at the top of each scallop.

I think the seam treatment gives the silkie a pretty frame!

At the top I created a running stitch flight path in 1 strand of variegated floss. A butterfly in variegated 4mm silk ribbon using two lazy daisy stitches and two ribbon stitches with a couple of straight stitches in the floss for antenna.

For a touch of color in the lace around the silkie, no beads or stitches looked right there so what I did was create "shadow work" by using the blue 4mm silk ribbon in one large straight stitch beneath the tip of the lace and then tacking it down from the top of the lace. What it creates is just a hint of color through the lace!

Lillian's Hankie Block: Beginning Work

I've finally picked up Lillian's Hankie block and started working on it! First I've had it hanging near my work space for about 6 months, here is a link to when it first arrived. I always gave it a little thought every time I saw it, as to how I was going to embellish it and didn't really feel confident to start work until I had a solid idea to work around. I did need to back it with some muslin because it was very light and almost sheer. Then I talked about it with a dear friend (Wendy) who also crazy quilts, I think that was the most valuable tool to get me started! Bouncing ideas and talking about the feel of the block and what I could do or why I wouldn't want to do certain things was the most helpful thing I could do! A lot of people do SRE over the top of prints to make them 3D but I felt that would ruin the whole aim which is showing off the hankies, so I decided that I'll do little touches to the prints to bring the eye to them but not cover over them. Also anything really large, bulky or motif like is out of the question and would just take over the block, so I started thinking...How am I going to embellish it? I came to the conclusion that the block is pretty much perfect as is, so all it needs is little touches to make things pop, which is a lot different than most blocks which are usually blank canvases! The blocks really do "tell you what they want" in a sense, and all it takes is some deductive reasoning! LOL Anyway this block wants to be very dainty, not over done, just enhancing it's natural beauty!

The first idea that came to me was the birds nest, Lillian really loved the idea of finding a nest during a walk. At first I pulled a few threads to mix together but as I started stitching it in, using a stem stitch and a metallic thread it seemed perfect just like that. I added some tiny size 15 blue seed beads for little eggs. The next idea was the scallops around the print and I made them using a small button and traced half of it repeatedly and worked it in stem stitch using 1 strand of light green YLI silk floss. I plan to embellish the scallops further later on. Then I had the idea to add light green size 15 seed beads along the 2 long sides and all the green really pulls out the embroidered flowers which were originally on the hankie edge.

It's really hard to capture what the eye sees in photos, and even though these photos look really well the block and work looks even better in person.
I had an idea to tack the hankies with the pink flowers with three straight stitches in a green to match the leaves and a size 15 bead that matches the flower color perfectly. One at the tip of the corner and 2 more in dips on the sides.

Lillian's Hankie Block and Gifty

My friend Lillian asked me if I could work on a sweet block for her that she made using her great grandmother's hankies. Of course I said yes! Just look at the sweetness of this block it will be an honor to work on it!

Lillian also sent me a wonderful gifty!!! I just love all the lace she sent! I never can get enough lace!

Birthday Gift Tatted Bookmark

My fellow leader Terri who we both lead our small group at Uturn (youth group), is having her birthday so I wanted to make her something special. She is not the jewelery type so a heart necklace wouldn't have been the most thoughtful. So I thought about what I could do and a bookmark for the books we use to teach lessons to our small group would be useful! So I searched for a sweet simple flower pattern and found this one. The pattern is not the best written pattern out there and I was confused while tatting it so I ended up with a "variation" that I repeated so it is continuous LOL! The thread I used was size 80, one a solid green DMC, and the variagated blue is Lady Shuttle Maker's "Helms Deep". I love that color way she made and the varigation is short and I love that it moves faster than the typical varigation!

I attatched a the tatting to a ribbon with fabric glue since it would have been unstable as a bookmark by itself with my *cough* mess-up-variation. When the book is closed it just looks like a ribbon but...

When the book is open you see the little vine of flowers!

I think she's gonna love it! Now I want one! LOL

The Tea Party

Welcome to our tea party!

The sweet delights!

Kaity and Elizabeth

Amanda

Wendy and Stephanie

Wendy

Joyce

Heather

Lucy

Terri

Terri won the Best Dressed door prize for being the Queen! Can you believe it the Queen came to tea with us! Woo Hoo! LOL

Madie

Where's my tea?