No News is Not Good News

I know, I haven't blogged in a while.  I am really stuck on the crazy quilt.  I finally have the back on and now I need to pin it and tie it.  Decisions, decisions.  Do I tie to the front and risk making the embroidery look messy?  Do I tie to the back and leave the little ends?  Do I try to hide the ends?  Do I match the thread to the backing?  Do I use something that contrasts?  Argh!!!!!  I don't need this pressure!!!

This is where I am now: 

As you can see, it really needs pressing and, of course, the tying.  The colors are so much more vivid than they look in the picture, or maybe it's my screen. 

In the middle of the madness, I am working on a customer's t-shirt quilt, which is really the main focus.  I like quilting for others and I really like making the extra money, especially at this time of the year.  But this darn crazy is making me, well, crazy!!

I am entering it in the Corpus Christi quilt show in February of 2013.  Just because my husband said it was ugly. 

And in the midst of all the hair pulling over finishing the darn thing, I have discovered the Crazy Quilt Journal Project for 2013.  I am seriously thinking about doing this.  It is a sickness, is it not?  There is no prize, just people around the world committing to making a crazy quilt block no smaller than 6" square of 36" in area each month for 12 months.  Simple, right?  Well, in theory it should be.  But now I'm obsessing on a theme.  And a block size.  I don't even want to consider how I will put it all together at the end. 

What do you think?  I am not making anything as big as my current project.  It will likely be a 9" block to make a simple wall hanging or table topper.  I have considered putting the twelve blocks around a themed center and I have two ideas for the center.  One would be the large piece of peacock lace that I wanted to use on the current quilt.  It is about 18" tall and 8" wide.  I would love to use that thing, but I have a lot of peacock stuff on the this quilt and I am not sure I want to do the same thing on the next. 

The other idea is to use something from Bonnet Girls as the center.  I have had one of Helen Scott's book forever (years and years) and have not used it.  Another thing on my list of stuff to accomplish.  Some people's bucket list has bungee cords and trips to Antarctica.  Mine includes a crazy quilt and a lone star. 

Of course, there is also Brian Haggard's new book, Embroidered Memories that I can't wait to see.  I could make a monochromatic design with more of a aesthetic, Eastlake feel to it. 

And because I love all things Victorian, a quilt focusing on things likes hats, shoes, and other accessories would be really cute. 

Last but not least (ok, probably not really the last, either), is something featuring needle tatting in the center. 

Please, please leave a comment and give me your ideas and feedback!! 

The Best Laid Plans...

Sigh.  Yesterday morning (a Monday, no less!) I got ready earlier than usual and went outside at the first light to take pictures of some additions to The Quilt and a few of all the blocks together.  Then I downloaded them onto my flash drive along with some other stuff from the weekend.  At some point I deleted them.  All of them.  The entire folder labeled "crazy quilt."  Every single blessed picture from the beginning is lost.  It makes me sick.  Of course, it's not as bad as losing the actual quilt!!!!  But still, it is maddening. So here we are on Tuesday, trying again. This time I at least got them on the blog! Cross your fingers that nothing else happens.  This time I took the pictures in the evening, but it was so windy most of them came out very blurry.  These are the best:

Mind boggling, isn't it?  There are twenty total blocks, ten of which have pictures.  They arranged so that the picture blocks do not touch.  In some cases I moved around items that had been appliqued, like two of the saints and their frames, and some of the small lace pieces.  I added the rooster and frog lace and still need to find places for a few of the other lace pieces. 

This is my shell and holy water to represent baptism.  The shell is appliqued from white velvet and the water is made of french knots from variegated thread. 

The satin stitched crown is in honor of my friend, Lanita.  Lanita passed away in April of 2011 from breast cancer and continues to inspire me today.  She was always smiling and serene even when she was in the worst pain.  Lanita was creative, down to earth, and an awesome mother.  When she decided to shave her hair instead of watching it all fall out, she had a shaving party.  All of her friends were instructed to bring "something to wear on her head."  She meant a hat or scarf, of course, but I took a tiara.  My favorite picture is of Lanita with a wig and the tiara. I thought of adding a breast cancer ribbon in her honor on my quilt, but the tiara means more to me.

I got my punch needle last week!  It was confusing at first and I am still not comfortable with it, but I managed to decorate my son's picture and make a peacock feather.  I will need more practice.  The feather is my own design.  Actually, I still have a real feather in my purse that I was looking at for inspiration.  I love peacocks. 

Speaking of my adorable son (and this picture was when he was almost two and he is now thirteen), I added a bit more to him.  The spokes of the wheel have been picked out in brown stem stitch and the red stripe with the same stitch.  Then I added a brown silk ribbon belt, tiny blue belt loop, and buckle using real gold thread in a satin stitch.

I am now working on four corner blocks and then will put on the 6" border.  Maybe it will be finished by Christmas.     

 

Blood, Sweat, and Tears

This block really has been all about blood, sweat, and tears.  The blood starts with my poor sore fingers.  For some reason, it has been a particularly rough week with the needle and I've never been comfortable with a thimble.  I have an aversion to things that confine, like shoes, gloves, and thimbles.  Chalk it up to claustrophobia, but this week I kind of wish I had learned to use the thimble years ago.  To top it off, I burned two fingers and a thumb (different hands) at lunch time. 

Remember what the block looked like last week without the embroidery?  It's quite a change, eh?  First up is the lace purse.  The lace was from a vintage lace sleeve from Roxann.  I hated cutting into it, but this way I can see the beauty instead of being stuck in a box. 
To the right is my take on a hibiscus, embroidered on top of a sliver of tropical barkcloth.  I used to wear a lot of Hawaiian shirts. 

Here is my pocket watch appliqued from a piece of very pretty silk.  Ignore the purple marks, please.  That's just from the disappearing ink that hasn't disappeared.  I am planning to extend the chain into the next block when they are sewn together.  And yes, there is significance in the 3:00 time stamp.  The very pretty olive, beige, and rose fabric (which is also the softest thing on this quilt) is picked out with plain brown backstitching on the brown lines in the fabric.  It's subtle in the photograph, but very nice on the real thing.



This is where the tears come in.  Every time I located the peacock, it would disappear again.  Really.  I lost this thing at least 6 times.  I was so relieved to finally get it sewn on.  See the blue velvet it is mounted on?  I embossed that with a peacock feather rubber stamp, but you can really only see one of the feathers now. 



My corset mannequin took some doing.  I bought a stamp when out of town this weekend along with a set of dye markers.  Then, after coming home, realized that I didn't have the right stamp ink to apply it to my fabric.  Did I mention I live int he middle of nowhere?  I finally traced the design, embroidered it to the block, then filled it in with dye markers.  The flowers are those chiffon and tulle things I made before with the candle.  I like the outcome, but I still wish I had the right stamp pad.

One more block to go.  I don't think I will have it done for a couple of weeks due to time constraints, but next week I will post what the blocks are looking like sewn together.  I have ten together so far, but I am going to give my fingers a chance to heal before finishing the joining embroidery on them.

Little Bits of Randomness

Last week I had fun making lace with the embroidery machine.  All of my lace patterns are from Embroidery Library or Secrets of Embroidery.  Just search for "freestanding lace." 

These are some of my results:

green owl



brown rooster with lime bobbin-should be an "oops," but turned out very pretty

green frog with white bobbin

My favorite is the peacock (of course).  Like the others, it was designed to be sewn out in one color.  By watching very carefully I was able to switch out threads and come up with my masterpiece.  The dark color that may look brown is actually a deep plum.  The whole thing needs to have some more of the bobbin clipped, but that isn't nearly as much fun as the sewing.

I also assembled 3 sets of four crazy quilt blocks and have done the embroidery on the seams of two of the sets.  I've been worrying that they wouldn't fit together well and decided that the only way to stop worrying was to try it.  They work!  I haven't taken pictures of that yet.  Don't want to spoil the surprise.

This is what block 19 looks like without the embroidery.  I was going to take before pictures of all the blocks, but I was too anxious to get started that I only have pictures of one or two. 

Of course, crazy quilting is what I do in my free time.  I am currently working on a quilt using a young lady's baby and little girl clothes and dresses.  Hopefully I will have that top finished by next week and I will post a picture.  It's really cute so far.  The biggest challenge is the fabric availability.  I'm not sure if there will be enough for the twenty blocks I'm trying to squeeze out of it.  Otherwise I will have to add a border.  Not a problem, but not what I envisioned. 



The Log Cabin

Once again, the newest block is my favorite.  This is my take on a log cabin block, albeit a tad off, in greens and cream/brown.  You can't really see the cream and brown for the lace, but you get the idea.  I tried to keep the seam embellishments simple on this one.  I know, that's not the Victorian way, but the colors of the log cabin were just too pretty to cover.

Where to start...the purple geometric design on the solid green satin to the right is from the design on my aesthetic bedside table.  I think it started life as a plant stand and was painted black, but I stripped and refinished it and use it for my lamp and stuff.  Ok, it mostly has needles, thread, scissors, and ribbon.  But when I clean it off it's really pretty, and I try to clean it every time I finish a block. 
The yellow thistle-like embroidery on the green velvet is taken from my great-great grandmother's amber Madrid depression glass that I inherited.  I traced it onto water soluble stabilizer, but this time I used the paper kind and it's really, really hard to soak off.  You can still see traces.  I will get them off during a really patient moment.  It may be a while.

The flower basket took a while, but was so much fun!  All of the ribbon and lace motifs are hand dyed, including the brown velvet that makes up the basket.  I really tried to layer things when I put them on, but they were all so pretty that I didn't want to cover anything up.  I cut the yellow flowers, leaves, and butterfly from different larger Venetian lace pieces.  I hope they all show well. 

I bought the peacock last year at the Victoria, Texas quilt show from the same lady that I bought my dyes from.  I have been afraid to dye it all this time because I was afraid to mess it up.  I think it turned out pretty well.  I used blue satin DMC floss to make french knots as "eyes" in the feathers, which made a nice accent.  After I have sewn this to another block, I will tack his head down and add an eyeball. The yellow velvet ribbon that the peacock has roosted on and the turquoise lace were also hand dyed. 

Key to My Heart

Block 7!  Woo-hoo!!  I am going to have to take a break from the crazy quilt pretty soon so I can work on some more quilt patterns.  I hope to start selling them on etsy to get Lisa off my back drum up some business.  I really enjoy teaching classes, but I haven't had one since June.  Wow.  Time flies when you have no control over your life children.



Speaking of children, here is one of the little darlings who holds the key to my heart (get it?  There is a lock and key in the block under her).  The picture is about 9 years old because she was 5 at the time.  She is holding my baby doll, Mary, who was originally my dad's and is 70 years old.  Mary is wearing one of my baby outfits.  I spent a lot of time thinking about how to frame the picture.  I really like the wisteria tree I ended up with.  Embellishing this picture makes me want to go back and add more to my son's.  Ideas?  You probably can't tell, but I also picked out the headband in this picture with pink satin floss. 

The peacock is borrowed from Jenny Hart over at Sublime Stitching.  I hope to get one of her books soon.  She has a lot of vintage designs with a modern twist that appeal to me, like the birds and cameo.  Besides, you can't go wrong with a girl from Texas. 

Have a great weekend!