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.