June CQJP

This is my June block for the Crazy Quilt Journal Project (for more info, click the button on the left sidebar).  I am mostly happy with it.  It's just the tops on the left that are leaving something to be desired.  But since I'm not sure what, I'm going to just live with them for now.  They are stitched onto felt and then appliqued on.

I am very proud of the sewing vignette.  The petite spools are 1/4" tall.  The sewing machine I stamped onto silk and heat set.  I drew on all of the notions free hand and then embroidered them using silk mori (Kreinik) and floche and flower thread from DMC.  I just discovered those last two.  Why didn't someone clue me in long ago??

By the way, this is my grandfather.  My nephew looks exactly like him.  The picture is from the mid to late 20s. He is also the gentleman in the uniform in an earlier family block from this year.  I have some really cool pictures of him as a baby and toddler in the requisite boy dress.

The 3" windmill is from an Aunt Martha transfer that I shrank.  I added the tank and fence.  When I was growing up, the neighbors had a tank like this that we used to catch tadpoles from.  Life was so much simpler then.  

I have had a lot of trouble getting the red marks from the transfer pencil to go away, but I will keep trying.

One of the first things I put on the block was the trellis using hand dyed silk ribbon and Lizbeth thread as an experiment.  It looked lonely so I embellished it with hand dyed venice lace and more silk ribbon to resemble grapes. 

I used a different color green thread to attach the leaves with the intention of the change to look like veins, but it doesn't work very well.  I will probably rethink this.

Updates & Fixes

You will probably recognize these two blocks from the last few weeks.  I think I have fixed the problem spots.

Finished

Before

 

 

The first is my CQJP April block.  My son thought the boots and hat needed to be filled in, and he was right.  But we can just let that be our little secret.










Remember the problem with the Dia de los Muertos blocks?  It just needed more something.  I played around with lace roses and other ideas.  Then I stared at pictures of altars for Day of the Dead and decided on a candle.  This is the result:

I found a Sacred Heart picture and designed and printed a candle on printer fabric, then appliqued the glow of the flame and embroidered the flame itself.

Before

Little of This, Little of That

This year I have been trying to post every week.  But this week I just couldn't find anything to post about.   It's already Friday and I am still at a loss, so I thought I would show off my new treasures.
First, my jet-setting friend Roxann just got back from a month in Hawaii and brought me a new book: 

I am as crazy about books as I am about fabric.  The history of the Hawaiian quilt in the introduction is very interesting and the block patterns are inspiring.  One of these days I will try making a block.  That is the other cool thing about this book, the blocks are designed as 18" cushions so that a beginner does not get overwhelmed.
Today I got the Kreinik Silk Mori floss that I ordered from Jewel on ebay.  Her floss is the cheapest that I've found and the customer service was awesome.  It says that your order may take two weeks or so, but I received mine in 8 days, and I live in the middle of nowhere. 
This is what I'll be playing with during spring break (I don't think I will be getting all of those little jobs around the house done this week!):

First Block...Finished??

I think this block is finished.  It just seems like it still needs something.  I think it is because of the muted colors.  I am used to the vividness and contrast of the other quilt.  Any suggestions for additions?  After the whole thing is assembled (a looooong time from now), I may add some beads and more buttons for embellishment.  I am hesitant to do that until after all the blocks are sewn together, though, because I think it will be more difficult to work with if I add them before.  By the way, the block is 6 x 12.

 My little drum was very sad so I added some flowers to spruce it up.  The drum was my first foray into silk floss.  Yummm (she says with dreamy, far away eyes).

The teacup was my second try at silk floss.  It was just as good as the first time, so I guess the ease of it wasn't a fluke.  Unfortunately, I used the whole skein of green.  The little flower was cut off from a venise motif and dyed.

 The little girl in the picture is my great grandmother, Maggie Dukes Brown.  She is with her baby brother and parents in a circa 1900 photograph.  I am planning to use family pictures of children in the quilt.  This picture was originally a lot smaller and it just wasn't working, so I blew it up some more and ended up appliqueing it on.

This motif was inspired by Brian Haggerd.  Along with the Kreinik floss, Santa brought me his newest book.

Have you ever noticed that when you get something new (or want something) that you suddenly see that item everywhere?  Whenever my husband gets a new vehicle, he is suddenly able to point out everything similar in a 2 mile radius.  That is exactly how I am with this piece of lace.  I found it in an antique shop in Goliad, Texas (Hanging Tree Antiques--check them out if you are in the area, these are super nice people).  There are several pieces of it that equal a few yards.  Anyway, in the couple of weeks since I bought it, I have seen it online in at least 4 other blocks.  Then when the husband and I went to Goliad for Market Days on the 12th, we went back to the Hanging Tree and and I found another length of lace which has the above lace as an insertion.

New Loves

Oh, my.  Oh, my.  Oh, my!!  Why didn't someone tell me about silk embroidery floss before?  Santa brought me a couple of the small Kreinik Silk Mori sampler packs and I just tried them out on the drum.  Wow.  I am in love.  I really expected it to be like the DMC satin floss.  Pretty, but entirely too much trouble.  If you haven't tried this stuff, take it from someone who is really impatient with stubborn threads, fabrics, and needles.  Silk Mori is like the proverbial knife through butter.  If this is the kind of floss our Victorian ancestors sat around using, I understand why they were always acting so dainty.  It was so they could embroider all of the time!!!
Don't get me wrong, I still love my plain Jane DMC that I've been playing with for more than a few years (read:  decades).  And I have an awful lot of that to use up.  But I will definitely be saving up my fun money for more Silk Mori. 
This is my new toy:

It is a circa 1931 Singer Hand Operated Pinker and was a gift from a very good friend and her brother.  Because it was their mother's, they shall remain nameless because I don't want any children getting bent out of shape.  Why did I get it?  Because I appreciate such awesome sewing paraphernalia. I also appreciate awesome friends, and not for the cool stuff.  
This is what it does:

Don't you love my daughter's pink toenails in the picture?  I was going to crop it, but changed my mind.  This is the true story of where we live.  It was the middle of January and we were barefoot on the porch taking pictures.  Now it's cold again, though. 

This thing will reportedly cut through fabric, paper, and leather.  It has dials you change to adjust for the thickness of what you are cutting.  As my son said, it looks like an "old" pencil sharpener.  I remember when those pencil sharpeners weren't "old," but you get the idea.  There are other blades for the pinker, but they are a tad expensive and difficult to come by.  Hopefully some day I will get others.