I haven't posted in ages as I haven't been up to much. I've spent the winter months hibernating doing genealogy mostly.
I did do a bit of sewing. I posted way back when about redoing a block. Here is the before and after then.
I framed it to use as a page in a soft book. It really brought out the colours.
When I set out to do this project I had no idea what the outcome would be. The rules said that the participants were to complete a 6-inch or larger crazy quilt block each month.
I made mine 10 1/2 by 11 1/2 because I wanted to do the hearts and six inches didn't give me enough area to work on. The hearts themselves are 8 by 8 1/2. Now my first mistake was not making my background block larger and second not finishing the edges. The fabric I used frayed a lot. My background blocks slowly lost their square shape. But I plodded on.
I soon realized that a wall hanging was not going to happen as the colours I used in each "block" didn't really all blend well together. So I decided since it was the Crazy Quilt Journal project that I would make a book.
My first plan was to add a matching piece of fabric for the back of the block and use that to bind the edges. It worked for my wall hanging but for a book it was a bit floppy. So I decided to add a layer of thin felt between the block and backing. It sounded like a good idea.
Thankfully before I started to sew all this together I gathered my stuff and I piled it up to see how thick this "book" would be. It was massive and it soon became apparent that the hearts created a mound in the middle and the edges drooped. Pretty ugly.
Plan B.
I sewed one block to a backing fabric and make a square pillow. I then cut a piece of thin cardboard to fit (I used cardboard from file folders that I had at hand) and inserted it into the pillow or pocket or whatever you want to call it 😀 UGLY!!!
Plan C.
I unpicked my pillow and glued the edges only of the block to the cardboard...see pic. I used Aleene's Original Tacky Glue. From my experience it's the best to use with fabric because of it's tackiness and it dries very fast.
Then I cut a second cardboard and glued the edges of the backing fabric to that. My plan was to sew both together using pearl cotton. The problem was I did such a good job stretching and gluing the fabric edges flat to the back of the cardboard that it was difficult to sew together. I had no leeway without bending the cardboard which I didn't want to do.
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Also this really screwed up my plan to sew the boards together at the spine side to make a book. In the end I decided to glue both pieces of cardboard together.
But before I did the gluing I had to figure out a way to sew my pages together. I had some tape in my stash that I've had for eons and luckily I had just enough. I cut the lengths I needed the did a blanket stitch along one edge. I then glued this tape to one of the cardboard sides. This gave me "loops" to sew the pages together.
I then glued the block and it's backing together to make one page. Here are some of the pages finished.
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Some dolls made for past Halloween challenges.
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| Goodie Witch |
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| The Corpse Bride |
So technically I have finished the CQJP2022. Next I have to do something with my blocks and not a wall hanging.
Not a great day to take pictures. I usually take them outside on a dull day. My son who works in the photography/film industry tells me this is the best natural light. Today was way too windy. I considered taping them down but decided that was nuts 😀
Take care 😀
I have no idea what I was thinking when I put these fabrics together. They do sorta match but it was very hard finding thread colours, trims and beads etc for the seams that looked okay. I'm surprised I had what I had in my stash of stuff. I have a lot of beads and I sat there and wondered to myself where the heck some of them came from?? Like those large greyish purplish seed beads I used on the top left hand seam. I can't imagine actually going out and buying them. Oh well :) Anyway it's done !!!
Bees. That was my thought after I put this block together. I finally found a place for some of my black beads. I really like how it turned out in the end.
Block seven done. I finally found a place for the little cat I made in 2014 while taking an online CQ class with Kathy Seaman Shaw. I always thought he looked a bit worried LOL And....I finally used a bit of some lace I bought at least 10 years ago if not more.
Take care 😀
Another block to add to the done pile. Someone on Facebook asked me what I was going to do with them. They don't have a theme as such....except heart shaped....or match colour wise. So I'm going to put them into a cloth book.
Take care :)
I must have been in a very weird mind set when I made up this very very bright orange block. I never realized I had so many orange fabrics. It looks better in person. Much milder. Getting the right light to photo this today was next to impossible. It needed to be a cloudy day.
Take care 😊
I finally finished another block for CQJP2022. Well I think it's finished. I may go back and add some wee touch later as there are a few blank spots. For now I'm calling it done!!!!
On to block 5.......
Take care 😀
So I'm getting into the swing of things again after a bit of a creative slump. I have finished my block for March 2022. When I first put these colours together I thought maybe not but I kinda like them now. They look very bright in this pic but in actual fact they are bit more subdued in reality...honest.
No complicated stitching...chain stitch, outline stitch, French knot, fly stitch, lazy daisy stitch and wheat ear. I had a lot of one of beads in green left over from other projects so I used them to secure some dyed hem tape.
I am very proud of my itty bitty spider.
I belong to a Facebook group called Crazy Quilt Divas and they have started a new thread called Finish Friday. The thread is designed to get you back stitching on an abandoned CQ project. I really don't have a lot of those (itty bitty fib) but I will join in when I can.
This is a before and after of a block I did last year. I'm really not sure what I was thinking of when I did it?? I never finished it because I couldn't decide what to put in the middle.
The first pic was taken inside last December and the second taken today outside on a cloudy day. I can't believe how washed out the first one looks. The second is pretty close to the actual colours.
Basically all I did was take out the beige seams and using the three main colours in the embroidery redid them. Then I used those colours for the small flowers in the middle. I'm calling it done.
Take care :)
