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!!!

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

A Piece of Heritage: Finished

I've finally finished it! If you are curious about the journey you can look back in my blog. Here is a link: A Piece of Heritage

Here is a nice close up for you. Click on any of the photos to see them larger.

I added a gold/pearl button to the top button cluster because I felt I need to add that gold color up there too.

Then I finished off the floral motif by adding seed beads the the center of the spiderweb roses and added sweetheart roses in a sepia type color. I think that finishes it of nicely!

I put it in the frame but not with the glass because it is not a shadow-boxed type of frame.
Now it's all ready to give to my Mother-In-Law!

Purple Tatted Heart Necklace

Here is yet another Tatted Heart Necklace for a birthday girl in my small group! Done in size 80 variegated purple DMC thread.

The Love Out Loud Sleepover

In our Youth Group I'm a Co-Leader of a Girls Small Group ('Love Out Loud' is our groups name) with Terri and we had a sleepover at my house!!! It was so much fun too!
First thing in the morning we had Crepes! I pre-made everything the day before so all I had to do was warm everything up in the morning! They were a lot of work beforehand but it was worth it. I had a request for them by one of the girls and as I was making 2 batches taking me 2 hours I thought...why did I agree to do this? LOL But then the happiness when I told her about them was exactly why. She was thrilled AND everyone loved them too thus making all the work and effort worthwhile in every way. LOL

Then we started to decorate flannel pillowcases for our group. I pre-sewed the cases from colorful flannel fabrics so that we could embellish them together (the fun part!). I also pre-made some heart appliques out of flannel prints.

Here is Terri ready to learn! She's never embroidered before.

I went around showing everyone how to do the blanket stitch around their applique hearts.

I also showed them how to create their own designs using stencils and a fade away pen or a pencil (we used both). Above is Amanda and she did the star in backstitch and found that it was very soothing and wants to do embroidery on her own now! I was plesantly surprised! I wasn't sure this would get a good reception from the girls but sure enough they all seemed to love it! Also I promised them a CQ day in the future because they saw Stephanie and Amanda's CQ pillows and wanted to make some too!

Here is Elizabeth, she already knew how to embroider so she was off and running. She's very creative and made bows to applique on the designs too. Right here she's shoving her needle through a bow! LOL

Here's Terri's work!

And here is what I was working on!
I had taken more photos but my new camera seems to "eat" photos and I don't know what happens to them they just mysteriously disappear. I know I had more than these yet where are they? Hubby is going to try to recover them off the SD card so if I find them I'll update this post.

Princess Block: #4 Complete

Here is another Princess Block that I've completed!

I started by adding a piece of pink tulle to the princesses hat and a teddy bear button in her hand Then I started adding jewel butterflies and sequin butterflies are fluttering around the block.

I added a rainbow braid to the right corner and above it added Rebekah's name using running stitch in pink and whipped it in purple, then added yellow and green buttons.
There is also some pre-made silk ribbon flowers that I attached above the princess.

The bouquet is made of of different ways to make flowers like using lace gathered together and a blue tulle gathered, an organza yo yo flower and some leaves made from lace. I added some feathers and buttons beads and some reclaimed wedding lace leaves and tatting that had been reclaimed from a mistake a friend was working on instead of getting trashed.

I added little buttons and running stitch "seams" to the patchwork print along with a fairy button.

Pretty Stash in Jars

Recently I was inspired to put stash in those pretty jars you find for the kitchen and have it out in the open so when I was browsing target I got 3 in different sizes. One for lace, DMC floss, and silk ribbon spools. I love it!
Here's a link to the glass jars online.

I put them on top of my little curio cabinet for now. I can reach them and they are out of the way yet I can see them. It's a fun way to have some of my stash, I enjoy it.