Under The Sea DYB for Kerry

When I started this RR, I had some doubts, but now that I'm into it it's getting to be more fun with every block. This time I decided that I wanted to try embroidering a fish on felt and appliqueing it onto the block. I found a picture of an angel fish in one of my books and using old pattern paper got it onto the felt. I used long and short stitches and satin stitches to do the fish. It took quite a while, but I think it was worth it.

Summer Dreams DYB for Margreet

Margreet's blocks were bright colors, so I was in my glory. She included a red button for each block to tie them all together.

I tatted a row of lavender flowers for one seam, beaded another seam and framed her button with boullion knots and more beads.

Autumn / Fall DYB

What happened to December? Here it's almost the new year and I haven't blogged since the end of Nov. I have been busy, nevertheless. I managed to get 3 DYB blocks finished.

First was Lisa's Autumn / Fall block. Lisa has all quiet, neutral colors in her house and she wants to make a bell pull from the blocks. It took a lot of discipline to stick to quiet colors, but somehow I managed. I picked out a few things and tried over again until I came up with this.

CQ for Newbies Fall block swap

A few posts ago I told about the Fall block swap in CQ for Newbies, and posted a picture of the block I made. Well, the mail came today with the block I received. I got one of the blocks made by Ruby, and it's a knock-out! I love the way she uses buttons and lots of things with texture.

A needle book for Suzi

My cousin, Suzi, compiled a book of historical facts and figures about her hometown, Denison, Iowa. It was quite an undertaking and she did a great job. She sent me a copy for my own enjoyment, so I stitched up a needle book for her as she does quite a bit of hand work also.

NickiLee's UTS block

When I saw the blocks that Alice and Ritva had done for NickiLee, I went into a funk; feeling very inadequate. About that same time, they had a little 'chat' on CQI about that very same thing. Seems I'm not the only one, so I just "dove in" and started stitching. It turned out to be a lot of fun. I made a hunk of sunken wood, complete with barnicles, and a couple of mossy rocks. Then there was the crab with disjointed legs..lol.

Ritva's Summer Dreams DYB

I finished my block for Ritva in the Summer Dreams DYB rr. Her blocks were all pieced with bright cheery fabrics so I jumped right in with my gay threads. The roses are a new thing to me. They're called Banksia roses and done with all 6 strands of floss at once. The fun part is getting the needle threaded! I found the instructions in "Three-Dimentional Embroidery Stitches" by Pat Trott.

It was fun working on this block.

Margreet's Autumn DYB

I finished my block for Margreet in the Autumn DYB rr. The colors here are more subdued than what I usually go for so I had to practice some restraint. I had fun doing the fence post. It was the first time I tried that technique. It's called a Raised stem band. This is also in the "Three-Dimentional Embroidery Stitches" book by Pat Trott. There were spiders in the fabric in the lower left corner so I did a web and added my own spider sunning himself on the fence.

Autumn/Fall is here

CQ for newbies is having an Autumn/Fall block swap. I don't like to sign up for things before I know I can complete them so I usually wait until I have it finished before signing up. Crazy, I know, but then that's the name of the game.

Here's my Fall block. It was really lots of fun to do. Guess I'll go sign up now.

Summer Dreams DYB rr

Summer Dreams is the 3rd DYB rr I signed up for. It starts on the 15th of Oct. Here are my naked blocks - ready and waiting.

More Autumn/Fall

I've been busy since I somehow got signed up for 3 DYB rrs. This is my Autumn/Fall block for Rita.

Autnmn/Fall DYB

I haven't posted in quite a while. Vacation ate up about 10 days and then I discovered that I had signed up for yet another DYB rr. This one is Summer Dreams, but fortunately I have til Oct. 15 to get my blocks ready.

Meanwhile I've been stitiching away trying to make the Sept. 15 deadline for the UTS and the Autumn/Fall one. Well, I did make! With a couple days to spare.

Here's my work for Ritva in the Autumn/Fall rr.

Under the Sea DYB

I was a little nervous about doing this rr as I've never done anything with this theme. It turned out to be a lot of fun! Of course having the jellyfish silky already in place helped a lot.

This is my work on Alice's block.

Under The Sea DYB rr

Here are my blocks for the Under the Sea DYB round robin.

Getting ready for the Autumn DYB rr

I have joined 2 Do Your Block round robins. In a DYB rr each person pieces 6 blocks and they get mailed around to the 6 players. Each person picks one block and completes it. When the rr is finished each person will have 6 completed blocks, each done by a different person.
Here are my 6 blocks for the Autumn DYB rr.

The yearly additions - TWINS!

Every year, about when the daylilies bloom, Mama Deer brings her latest addition/s to the back yard to romp and learn how to eat daylilies. That's o.k. because they're on 2 edges of the perimeter and there is plenty for everyone. Most years there is only 1 fawn and I don't have a big problem getting pictures, but with 2 all they want to do it run, run, and run some more. Mama did look a bit weary.

BB&B - my finished block

Here is my completed BB&B block. This is so pretty! Thanks to Cathy L, Darlene, Margreet, and Ritva. Now I'm really getting the CQ fever!

Red Color Study

My red color study block is back home! I think everyone did a great job. It's difficult to get a good picture of some colors and red seems to be one of them. I have a garden window in the kitchen that faces west, so I can usually get a decent shot there in the a.m. before the sun gets around to that side of the house.

Season to Season Spring block

Lesa finished with my Spring block and sent it back. I love her spider web! Now I have all 4 seasons and I'll have to figure out what to make with them. Probably a wall hanging. Original, huh?

Red color study

I finished working on the last block for the red color study. This was Donna's block. She is making a family quilt, and this block will represent her grandmother who's favorite color is red, and who likes gypsys and spanish dancers. I did the dancer on felt with sequins, the bead flower to the left of that and the seam between. Then I did the seam below the dancer and the S shaped thing beside that. Then I did the herringbone stitching with detatched chain, straight stitches, and beads in the patch to the right of the dancer. Finally, I added the buttons to the large fan at the bottom of the square.

Motif swap

CQI is having a motif swap. I made some tatted hearts. All the motifs in the album are great. I can't wait to see what I get.

BBB Cathy's block

I finished working on Cathy's block for the BBB #2 RR.

What a nice group of stitchers. We even finished up earlier than scheduled!

Dimentional Butterfly

The CQI challenge for May is dimentional embroidery. I started making a stumpwork butterfly quite some time ago. What a lot of fussy work! But, now that it's done, I'll say it was fun. I made about every mistake there was to be made (I hope) so maybe next time things will go smoother. After it was complete I discovered that I had copied the enlarged pattern, not the original. No wonder it took so long to do those long and short stitches! The wings are made by couching thin wire to the base fabric in the shape of the wing, leaving ends free where the wing attaches to the body. Then the wings are filled in with long and short stitches. Finally, the wire is covered with buttonhole stitches, and the wings are carefully cut out. On the fabric where the butterfly is going to be placed, the body is done in turkey knot stitch and then clipped and fluffed. The wings are attached by poking the ends of the wire through the fabric to the back where the wires are fastened down with needle and thread. Being my first attempt, it's a little rough and looks like a cross between a moth and a bat. Oh well!

Spring Bling ATC swap

My ATCs arrived the other day. Clockwise from upper left, they came from Alice, Hazel, Jenni, and Ira. It's always fun to see the different interpretations of the topic. I think everyone did a great job.

Color Study - Cathy's block

We're getting close to the end in our red color study RR. This month I worked on Cathy's block. Her block has a heart theme and a large heart patch in the center of the block. The heart is surrounded with lace, so I did some seam stitching all around both edges of the lace. Then I added the tatted heart in the center and the little heart beads around that. Next I added the folded fabric flower on the right edge of the heart and sequins and beads on the lace. This block is going to be heavily beaded. What fun!

BBB Margreet's block

I finished working on Margreet's block for the Butterfly, Bees, and Beetles RR. I made a 3-D butterfly out of some butterfly fabric, several bullion bees, and some bullion butterflies. Also, I added a button that looked like a flower and added some SRE leaves and beads here and there.

I also did the seam treatment with the green vine and beaded flowers. It was fun working on this block.

Color Study - Ruby's block

I just finished working on Ruby's block for the Coral red color study. I added a folded fabric flower and a dorset button on the floral lace part on the lower left corner. Then I added some beads around the dorset button. Next I did a beaded feather stitch on the seam below the center patch and added a tatted motif in that patch. Finally I added a couple of lazy dazy butterflies on the seam to the right and some tatted butterflies in the next patch.

CQforNewbies ATC swap

Spring, or Bling, or Spring Bling is the theme for this ATC swap. It's not so easy working on blocks this small. I discovered that while I have been busy making blocks, I have yet to finish the edges on one. First I tried satin stitching on the machine. Well, there were beads too close to the edge and this caused some problems so I tried using the button hole stitch by hand. That worked out better. I may not send the one I did with the machine.

Butterflys, Bees and Beetles RR

In CQI we're having a Butterflys, Bees, and Beetles RR. The RR just started up so this is the first block that I worked on. It belongs to Ritva and I just love the fabrics she used. These pix never come out where I think they're going to. The first one is the work I did on Ritva's block and the bottom is the blank block.

Season to Season - Janet's winter block

In the CQforNewbies group at Yahoo they have a season to season block share going on. This is Janet's winter block that I have been working on. She did 1/2 of the block and then it was sent to the host who determined who would be partners. Her block was sent to me, and mine to her, and we each finished the other's block. I regret that I never took a picture of her block when I received it. Janet had done the lovely green branches and red birds above the center, as well as the sledding snowman and the rest of that seamwork. I liked her cute snowman so much that I felt the need to copy him. Thus, the skating snowman on the pond. I also did the green seam on the right of the center patch, and everything below the center and to the right.

Weren't the Olympics fun though?

Red Color Study - Denise's block

I finished working on the first block in our red color study round robin. Red is not an easy color to photograph. This is Denise's block. I did a couple of the longer seams and then attached one of my folded fabric flowers and a tatted butterfly. I've been using mostly DMC perle cotton no. 8 for my seam work. I had read about Lizbeth cotton cord online somewhere, so the other day when I saw that they had some at JoAnns, I bought a couple balls. It's size no. 20, so it's also a nice size for tatting.

Kanzashi - folded fabric flowers

Over at the Clothpaperstudio yahoo group there has been some interest in Kanzashi. Diane found a tutorial at this link. http://www.craftypod.com/2009/09/16/now-with-video/

The tutorial was so intriguing that I wanted to do more, and since there was some leftover Christmas $ in my Amazon.com account I ordered the book and have been making some flowers. Here are my first attempts. Yes, the flower in the lower right corner has an eyepin and jump ring so it can be worn as a pendant.

BAS (build a seam)

In the CQInovice group we are doing a new stitch about every week. Each person does her own take on the stitch. Here are mine for the #45 Rhodes stitch and #46 laced straight stitches.
#45 is on the bottom and #46 is above it.

Red study ready to go.

I've finished my part of the work on my red study block. It is ready to be mailed out on the 15th of Feb. for the next person to work on. That bottom left patch isn't as puckery in real life as it is in the picture. Those costume fabrics are kind of slippery to work with.

Red Color Study

In CQforNewbies (a yahoo group) we are going to be doing a red color study. I never realized how difficult it would be to limit myself to one color for EVERYTHING! Not just the patches, but all the adornments. Here's a pic of my blank block. It's also difficult to get a decent pic when you use the glitzy fabrics from the costume section at JoAnns. I use my Ott light and no flash on the camera but it's still sorta blinding.

Bees, Butterflies and Beetles

I belong to the yahoo group CrazyQuiltingInternational (CQI). We do a lot of round robins, and right now I'm getting ready for the Bees, Butterflies and Beetles #2 RR. Here's a pic of my blank block.

A new blog

Welcome!
My intention with this blog is to post pictures and information on Crazy Quilt round robins, swaps, and challenges that I participate in.

There, I did it. My first post!