Thursday, March 27, 2014

Plan B....C....and perhaps D :)

I was looking through my stash of stuff this morning and I found some dodads for want of a better name:) They are really ancient as they belonged to my mum. I believe they were for lingerie. I put two together and they sort of look like a butterfly don't they? Too big in scale for what I'm doing but maybe a future embellishment on something.


I fussy cut some flowers off some lace I had and then dyed them various colours just too see how they would turn out. They're still wet here and will dry a paler colour....hopefully :)


I used strong colours when I did the embroidery on my block so I think my embellishments need to have some depth as well. I can't wimp out and do pastels.

I cut the lace bits some more and made a motif....of sorts :)



I took the metal butterfly and painted it black as an experiment. I then covered the back with some orange/ yellow fabric. It turned out quite good.

Hmm...I can see a few small spots I missed...need to touch it up a bit...

I've pinned it in place for the moment and I'll look at it for a couple of days to see what I think.


I think I need some bees in this garden......:)

Take care.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

WIP.....

I have done all the seam treatments except one on my block for Kathy Shaw's class on Crazy Quilting. The final seam will have ribbon flowers and leaves which we will get "how to" info on hopefully soon.

It's snowing here today so no light for a decent picture.

I'm supposed to add lace motifs now to a few spots here and there but as yet I haven't done that step. I haven't got any lace motifs....ha ha. I couldn't find any that I liked in the right size. I checked out some sites on line but the cost for shipping three or four little lace thingies was twice the actual cost of them. I'm too cheap:)

So I guess I'll have to go with a plan "B". 

After we do the sik ribbon stuff we will be doing beading and adding some charms. I have a few that I might use. Then again maybe not. I like the dragonfly but not in silver so much.

So that's where I am with this block.

On my other seasonal wall hanging crazy quilt project I had a rethink about the fabrics I was using for Summer. Not enough variety in colour and that butterfly bit had to go. What was I thinking? So I'm making a new block which I will show you soon:)

I'll be back soon.

I'm linking up today with Needlework Tuesday.





I'm also joining up with the Needle & Thread Network as I  haven't done so in a while. I'm not a traditional quilter but I figure when I do participate at TN&TN  it's to bring something different into the mix whether it's about my doll making or now my new venture into crazy quilting.

Right Click to Save Image

Take care:) 

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Crazy Quliting Class....

Kathy has very kindly allowed us to post a picture of the finished block we are working on. This is what it should look like.....when it's finished.


I bought a few metal charms at Michael's but I still need to get a few lacy motifs. We have covered creating and planing a block, seam treatments and the use of templates. The seam treatments are very basic but are very pretty. I really like the row of flowers at the top left corner.

Now to get stitching:)

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Crazy Quilting Class......

I enrolled in the free quilting class with Kathy Shaw of Shawkl. There are 62 participants which is quite a lot.

Our first step was to make a neutral coloured block according to a block pattern that Kathy gave us. That way we are all working on the same setup as the seam treatment is going to be specific to the block.

I didn't want to buy any new fabrics so I used what I had in my stash. Sorry for the poor quality pictures but my little camera just wouldn't take good pictures. The light was just too wrong today.
 
This is as neutral as I could get:)

 

I finally bought myself a Q-Snap frame from Sew Sisters. It was about $20.00 CAD which was considerably cheaper that some I had seen offered online.

I went to the store to buy it and I was very very good...only 8 fat quarters came home with me.

Wow....you really need muscles to get the frame clip thingies off and on again though......LOL  It's fabulous. I don't know why I didn't buy one long ago.


We will be introducing colour into the block by using various threads and silk ribbon. I'm really looking forward to that part. Hopefully I can get better pictures next time.

Take care:)

Friday, March 7, 2014

My Spring Block......

I went with bright greens and yellows as they just seemed to make me think of spring.....bright sunshine and new green growth.

The smaller sized block was much easier to deal with as the embellishments were just little snippets instead of major productions:)

At first I got out all my yellow and green trims and beads but then I realized that it was all wrong and very boring. I had some pretty variegated pinky peachy DMC embroidery thread that I won from So September in October 2012. I made some little "flowers" with some iffy (don't look too close) French knots and that was it. Away I went:)

By the way, if you want a few ideas on how to couch rick rack and ribbon, Corinne at So September has just done two tutorials recently that you might find interesting.....here and here.

I made a cardboard window frame of sorts so you can see what it will look like once I bind it. I stole this idea from my buddy Vee over at The "Bearister" Bookcase. She made one so she could pick out areas on her white work for her pin pillows. I thought it was a brilliant idea:)

I have no idea how to describe my crazy quilting style...it's different from what I see in Bloggerland. I haven't learned the "rools" yet.

Lean to the left to view:)


Forget me whats.




The flowers are all different...don't look

I really really REALLY need to practice some embroidery stitches. I've been doing cross stitch so much that I've gotten out of the way of doing other stitching.

The next block is Summer.....sun, bright colours, buzzing bees...no snow...no freezing temps...heat:) 

Asian lilies in my garden... summer 2013.

I'll leave you with that image.

Take care:)

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Shrove Tuesday......


Don't forget to put on your apron and your bonnet and toss those pancakes in the time old tradition of Onley, Buckinghamshire where they have been pancake racing for 569 years.

You can't say you don't learn daft stuff on this blog can you:)

I'm trying out a new pancake recipe this year...oatmeal pancakes. They are the recipe for the month of February on my calendar. I've been staring at them for 28 days.

Take care:)

WIP.......


Some news.

Kathy Shaw of Shawkl Designs is offering a free beginners class in crazy quilting. The sign up is open until March 6th. If you're interested you can find out more over on her blog.

Kathy's blog link.........here

I decided to do some hexagons in quilters cottons for my crazy quilting wall hanging. I do have a plan in mind...honest:)

I'm also doing a project that requires this.....


Take care.

I'm joining up with Needlework Tuesday :)

Needlework Tuesday