January's Crazy Quilt block

Back in November i told you that i joined the Crazy Quilt Journal Project with folks from around the world. you can see the info here  http://www.cqjp.org/blogs.html/  

I now have my January block done...i am trying to stay ahead on this project because i know next year will be very, very busy.

For my first 'real' attempt at this...i think it turned out ok...not fabulous but i am happy with it. my friend, Marilea, tells me by the time i get to December i will be much improved....i hope she is right. the design on the left...in the middle...was done on waste canvas with a mauve colored silk ribbon.

This corner has a butterfly and some embroidered flowers with silk ribbon leaves. the brown ribbon is a velvet ribbon that is tacked down with a buttonhole stitch. the trim to the right of the butterfly is a wide trim that i just stitched on...didn't add anything to it.

This lace corner looked like it need something so i added some beads...following the areas of the lace. there is a piece of black silk ribbon on the seam. the camera picks up more colors in the beads than they look in real life.

My friend Marilea showed us how to stitch on a covered button in class one day. i found this black covered button in my button box and made a simple flower on it. the top seam has a piece of black crocheted lace; the right seam has red velvet rickrack with french knots holding it down. i tacked down the black lace rose and added beads to the middle of it.

I like this piece a lot. it is a dark blue velvet. i added a small crocheted doily and then put a picture of a mother and child on top and added variegated ribbon around it. i put red french knots around the doily and added some black heart buttons. then added 4 buttons to the corner. there is a lot of rickrack on this piece...you can see some beige on the top seam...tacked down with dark brown embroidery thread.

This purple piece was the last one i did...i couldn't figure out what to do. i had already stitched the seam with purple embroidery threads. the middle had long ovals so i finally just stitched them across horizontally and vertically and put a french knot in the middle...using embrodiery thread.

This piece has silk ribbon flowers that were simply long and short lazy daisies with single long stitches around and french knots in the middle. the top seam has a piece of gold and black piping in the seam. the right seam is a blue and white rickrack with some gold threads in it. and the bottom seam is a continuation of the beige piece of rickrack that is tacked down with brown embroidery thread.

This took me several nights of work to finish. it is hard to decide what to do. and to find things that fit. i thought i had a large selection of embellishments but apparantly need more. LOL

My February block has blues and purples and i started it last night. this is fun but time consuming.

I better remember to take care of my quilting customers or i won't be able to buy any embellishments for crazy quilting. LOL

Later

Silk ribbon embroidery

We are learning some silk ribbon embroidery at class these days. i am working on a crazy quilt heart that will be the center of a neutral crazy quilt.

This might help to see it a bit better.

There is a white ribbon that i couched down with lazy daisy stitches.

And some gold lazy daisy stitches here. i think i will add some flowers of french knots with this.

This is one of the blocks. i did a yellow rose with leaves. i made the foundation of the rose a bit too large....you weave under and over the foundation to make the rose. i ran out of yellow ribbon so i put leaves over the foundation stitches that were sticking out. LOL    hey...i'm new at this.

And above the rose are some petals with a french knot in the middle of it.

We did these little rosebuds with leaves.  which are actually a lazy daisy stitch, too.  easy enough but i can't seem to get them all the same size.

And under those you see a white curvy line that is just a stem stitch.  nothing exciting.

But it is kind of fun and i like it. it takes a bit of time though. and finger dexterity. last night i worked on an aster...you have to use a needle in your other hand to hold the ribbon flat to pull it properly through the fabric. it takes a little getting used to. i need a third hand.

I don't know how these stitches will hold up on a quilt that will be put in a washing machine so i guess i better now get too fancy with it.

On another note.....we got a 'new to us' stove the other day.

The oven on our old stove finally died and it wasn't cost effective to fix it. but we have had this old stove for 10 years....and we bought it used at a yard sale for $50. so it has lasted well. it is now sitting outside waiting for a guy to come pick it up and junk it.

Here is the new one. to me...it LOOKS even older than the first one....not sure. we got it used for $125 from someone who converted to an electric stove. hope this one lasts 10 years, too.

We had to change the conversion from natural gas to propane and adjust the flames down. but the oven works and dh can now have his biscuits. .. as you can see he left one on the top of stove. LOL 

Gotta go do some physical therapy today and visit Wally World. will check in with you again in a day or so.

Later