Friday, May 23, 2014

Garden & Flowers DYB RR

Another "do your own block" Round Robin. This time, it is all about Gardens & Flowers. What fun! This is the second month, and I finished working on Dana's block, but I should show you the April block, which was for Arlene.

Arlene sent me a lovely block with printed fabrics. Not what I'm used to, but it was fun to try something different.

 
A little on the sparse side, but Arlene is making a quilt of some 20 blocks, and plans to wash the quilt. I did add some charms, but was afraid to add any beads for fear they would fall off during multiple washings.  

I added the three Vintage laces and the vintage tatting. Because of the red in the upper right corner, I added the red flowers on the tatting circle. Added the basket charm then started adding the Silk Ribbon Roses and other flowers and leaves.

I then added the embroidered scrollwork and charm tools. The silk ribbon flowers were next, followed by the pink rhinestone dragonfly.

The feather stitch vine with lazy daisy leaves and bullion stitch flowers, was added last. I thought I was done, and then I decided to add the Cast-on stitch flowers with black centers and lazy daisy leaves on the vintage lace in the lower left corner. I used a Princess Perle Petite silk thread by Gloriana, the color was #084, Laura's Garden. I thought they came out quite nicely. Ok, that pat on the back was a little much!
    


Dana's block, which is the May block, just "grabbed" me, and I had to work on it. LOL! The greens were so vivid and exciting.

I started with the two vintage laces and added the roses using a 2mm silk ribbon, as I thought this particular lace looked like a trellis.

The feather stitch vine in a princess perle petite silk with 4mm silk ribbon purple roses and sage green leaves added a color pop.  Speaking of pop, I did the Vivid blue roses with a 4mm turquoise silk ribbon and the same sage green leaves.

Below the turquoise roses was a fabric that has a floral motif, so I used an outline stitch on the motif and placed a 4mm blue rose montees stitched on crystal. Dana likes bling!

Next came the Silver (Japanese silver wrapped silk) thread for the web and added two small white beads for the spider.  The Spider head is a 4mm white Cat's eye bead and a 2mm frosted white bead.  

The Yellow glass flower beads and leaves were added and then came the Dragonfly. I saved that spot on the block just for the dragonfly. Head is the same Cat's eye bead as spider, followed by three 3mm frosted beads, 6 2mm frosted beads and finished off with white seed beads to add length to support the frosted Dagger bead wings.

The Topiary came last. I used my thimble to make a circle, after finding center of circle, added a line for the center trunk and finished with the planter.

I used my favorite thread, the Princess Perle Petite in brown for the three trunks (two twisting around the center), in an outline stitch. The ball is a #12 Perle Cotton with Red Princess Perle Petite Colonial Knots. I seem to have more control over the Colonial knot than I do with the French knot.

The planter is stitched in seed beads and antique gold 4mm Daisy spacer beads.  

 
That's it, all done. Now I can work on a secret project the last week of May, while I wait for the June RR block, which I think will be Flora's block.  Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

What a Nice Surprise

I have been so busy with different tasks, that I have not had time to Blog. However, my news today was such a surprise, that I just had to let everyone know about my nice little news.

I ordered a 2014 Spring Challenge Kit from Crazy Quilting Supplies. This store is located at http://www.crazyquiltingsupplies.com/ , which is owned by a CQ acquaintance, Thearica. I had high hopes for the Challenge and started working out a plan. That's what I did last year too, but never got around to finishing the Challenge. LOL!

Here is the picture of all the supplies in the kit, that had to be used in the project. The kit also included Perle Cotton (4) balls and Silk Ribbon (4) Bobbins, all of which were in Greens, pinks and blues. I knew this was going to be fun.


So, this year I was determined to complete the task. I finally finished the project the day before the deadline date, and started taking pictures.  Emailed the pictures in and kept my fingers crossed for at least top 4.

But I Won First Place in the Experienced category! It is a big deal to me and I'm so happy to have met the challenge and faced my fears and entered the finished project. I'm pleased that the judges thought enough about my work, that the liked my idea and work.  I am thrilled, surprised and over the moon.

Here is the little guy/gal that won for me: I was to create a finished project that reminded me of Spring. Well, to me, nothing says Spring like a Bunny. So I took  the



 
Close ups of the different parts of Bunny.
Right side of head.

 
Upper Right Leg (outside)

 
Inside of Left arm.

 
Inside of Left Leg.

 
Inside Left arm

 
 
Inside Right Leg 
 
 

Inside Left Ear
 
 
Left side of Head 
 

Body Back
 
 
 Inside Right Arm
 
 
 Outside right Leg
 
 
 Outside right arm
 
Outside right leg

 
Right side of belly

 
Right side of Top of Head

 
Top of Head