Gayle's Finished Block for the Lace & Pearls RR

Today I finished Gayle S's Block for the CQI Lace & Pearls Round Robin. I love these colors, they are my Christmas Colors. But I've said that before.

I just had so much fun working on this block and although I stayed in the block color way, I feel that it turned out very nice. 

Gayle didn't want it to be a Christmas Block, so I tried to make it as Winter as I could. And since I do see deer in my back yard during the Winter months, I thought I'd throw in the Reindeer. 

I took a Reindeer charm that is made of raw brass, painted it with Acrylic paints and then used a non-toxic gloss sealer. I was quite happy with the finished results, as this was only the second time I have attempted this process, and I was following the directions from a class I took years ago.  Good thing I keep all those class handouts. LOL!

I use a Rayon thread from Edmar, for the Feather Stitch and embellished with 6x5mm White heart beads and a small vintage blue pearl bead to accent each heart bead.

The flower cluster is made with satin ribbon and I put pearl beads in the center of the larger flower and a very small crystal cluster in each of the smaller flowers. Blue and white French Knots make up the Lilac type flowers to the Left of the larger flower. I added blue glass AB Leaf beads and finished off with the Silver butterfly charm with Blue crystals.

A  Cretan Stitch in White Silk thread and embellished with Blue 5mm cupped sequins held on with the vintage Blue pearl beads. Small white pearl beads decorate the upper center portion of the stitch and Swarovski crystal beads are at the end of the upper long stitch.

The silver fan is a small charm that is stitched on with silver metallic thread by Krenik and some silver seed beads were added to the base of the fan.

I used a White velvet Ric Rac for the last seam and embellished with silver flower spacer beads that are held on with a small white pearl bead. Silver metallic and Blue rayon threads alternate along the ric rac, with blue bugle beads stitched over the joining of the two threads.

I finished off with a silver flat back button with blue crystals. This button looked like an icy snowflake to me and I just couldn't resist using it on this block.

I hope you enjoy this block as much as I enjoyed working it up.

Gayle's Block

I have received Gayle's block for the Lace and Pearls Round Robin (RR). Although I have enjoyed each of the ladies' blocks, I must admit that I was looking forward to getting this set of blocks.  Why?

Well, they are in my colors. I'm not into Red and Green for Christmas, I'm a blue ice, white snowflakes and Crystal and Silver individual. It just screams Winter!  Besides that, my eyes are blue and that color has always made me look good. Need I say more?

While working on the block, I used one of my favorite seam treatments. Velvet Ric Rac, decorated with silk or metallic threads and beads. I always work it differently for each project, but it always looks rich with detail and is a striking treatment.

I carry this Ric Rac in several different colors in my Etsy shop. It is such a lovely trim and has a multitude of uses. This is NOT your Grandmother's Ric Rac. LOL.

I used the White on Gayle's block and used blue silk thread and silver metallic thread, as well as blue bugle beads and  lovely little (ok, they are tiny) silver daisy spacer beads and size 15/0 white seed beads. 

This may be a technique you would like to try sometime in the future.  You can find my shop at: 

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewvictoriancrazy

I'll have Gayle's block finished early next week and I'll post it here for those of you that are interested in seeing the finished block. So far, I'm very pleased with it and rather wishing it was my block. LOL.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.