July block finished and June block addition

I just finished my July block for CQJP 2012. So now I'm back on track, with almost two weeks to work on my August block! (I blurred out her birthday, like I did on the other blocks). I haven't actually attached that butterfly charm yet. Since it only gets attached by the top, I'm going to wait until after I sew all the blocks together. I don't want it to get caught up under the machine's needle.

Here are a few rows of Cretan stitch, with each row done up in a different thread.

 In this small triangle, I made a buttonhole half-wheel with a pearly white bead in the center.

The stitching on the upper right of this photo is from Carole Samples' book, Treasury of CrazyQuilt Stitches. I put a sequin and bead in the center of each stitch. On the left you can see how I used gold beads to couch the trim around her photo.

The large button in this button cluster is from Kendra's old dress-up dress. I placed it on the fabric patch from that same dress.

 Here's a feather-stitch with beads on the ends.

After "living" with my June block for a few weeks, I realized that the upper right patch, with the butterfly, seemed a bit bland. So I added some clear beads around the butterfly. I think that adds just the right amount of pizzazz that I was looking for.

That's all for now. Happy stitching!

CQ Christmas Ornament 2012

I have been a member of the Quiltropolis Crazy Quilt email list for several years now. Each year, Lisa D. hosts a Christmas Ornament Swap. I participated in 2008; here's a photo of that ornament. Then in 2010, I started working on an ornament for the swap, but I didn't finish it. This summer, I decided to finish it up and send it off to Lisa.

I decided to make a diamond shape for this year's orny. I went with the traditional colors of red, green, and gold because I love them! The photo, above, shows how far I had gotten in 2010. All the embellishing was done, I only needed to assemble the orny.

I don't usually use printed cotton in my crazy quilt blocks, but I just love this red poinsettia fabric witht the gold highlights, so I used it in the center patch. I added several gold seed beads to the middle of the poinsettia.

I used a bit of green ribbon to make this bow, which I then couched down with clear beads. Underneath it, there are red bead "flowers" as part of the seam treatment.

These little red sequins were in an embellishing packet I bought somewhere. I used beads to attach them.

The center button in this cluster is from a huge jar of buttons I bought at an antique shop. It's very sparkly in real life.

A bead cluster with several different shapes, sizes, and colors of beads.

When I went to assemble the ornament this week, I pulled out this beaded fringe that I had left over from a different project. I added two strands of the beads to the bottom of the ornament.

I added a metallic-floss hanger to the top of the ornament. The back is solid red fabric, with my initials and the year embroidered on it. Not including the beaded fringe, the ornament is 4 1/2 inches tall by 4 inches wide.

I start back to work on Monday (the students don't come until the Tuesday a week later). I'm planning on packaging this up over the weekend and taking it to the post office after work Monday.

I can't wait to see what ornament I get in return! Since the swap is open until November 1st, you still have time to make an ornament or two and join in the fun :)

Happy stitching!

Classics Book Club

Have I ever told you that I LOVE books? I'm the person who is often bleary-eyed in the morning because I just couldn't put down that book and go to bed at a decent hour.

I just learned that Edie over at Life in Grace is hosting a new online book club called Read Well, Live Well, which will focus on reading different classic books. I'm very excited about this, because I love to read classics (as well as more modern books), but I don't have anyone to discuss them with.

The first book we're reading is Richard Fagles' translation of Homer's Odyssey. Do you feel up to an adventure? Come join us!

APQ Mystery block 7

Last night I finished block 7 for the American Patchwork & Quilting magazine mystery quilt. This block is only available online here. I chose to make this in purple and yellow because those are the school colors of the school I work at, and I've only used each color twice in this quilt so far.

I'm glad to be caught up with this mystery quilt, since I start back to work next Monday and life will get a bit crazy!

Now I'm just trying to get caught up on my CQJP crazy quilt blocks. I need to finish my July block and do all of August's. Yikes!

Happy stitching!

Knee Deep progress

I've been working on my McKenna Ryan "Out and About" mini-quilts. Each will finish at 12 inches square. I started with this one, Knee Deep. I bought it as a kit, so all fabrics were included. I've enjoyed the process of finding the "perfect" spot on the fabric for each applique element, then fusing it together.

This is my first time making a little quilt with fused, raw-edge applique. It's a fun, different method than I'm used to!

Happy stitching!

AP&Q Mystery block #6

For the October block of the 2012 American Patchwork and Quilting Mystery Quilt (block 6), I decided to use red and pink 1930's fabrics. Besides the fact that pink is a variation of red (making this an almost monochromatic block), I think this is a cheery color combination.

Happy stitching!

July block started

Monday was a bit surreal for me: my husband and I took our older son (the one whose picture is on my June CQJP block) for his first "college visit". Yikes...we're getting old!!!

This is the beginning of my July block for CQJP 2012.  This is my daughter's block. Like my son's, I've blurred out her birthday in Photoshop. The fabric on the right side of the block is a special piece of fabric. It came from a dress-up dress that she used to wear all the time. When she was about three years old, I bought the cream-with-gold-thread ladies' cocktail dress for a few dollars at a thrift shop. It was a perfect dress-up dress for her, and when she outgrew it, I confiscated it for my crazy quilting.

Here's the dress. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a photo until AFTER I had cut a piece for the CQ block!

Here's a close-up of the lace at the collar and the button in the front of the dress. (You'll notice some blue and pink marker, thanks to my daughter's art adventures while wearing this dress as a pre-schooler.) I'm thinking of using this button on her block, too.

That's all for now. Happy Stitching!

June block finished

Here is my completed block for June for CQJP 2012.  I have to say I absolutely LOVE the gold and silver braid that is framing the photo. I used one strand of black embroidery thread to stitch his name and birthday. (Like before, I blurred out his birthday. Maybe I'm being overly protective, but hey...I'm his mom. It's my right!)

Here's the button cluster in the upper left corner.

I used waste canvas with embroidery floss to make this grid. I need to remember to use that more often. It sure helps keep stitches straight! The French knots are silk ribbon.

I decided to include a butterfly on each of my children's blocks for this anniversary crazy quilt. It symbolizes the changes these wonderful kids have gone through and will continue to undergo as they head to adulthood. For Jarrett's block, I made a 3-D butterfly. I traced a butterfly from Carole Samples' wonderful book, Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches, onto some fusible web. After adhering the web to a scrap of cream batik fabric, I cut out the butterfly. I adhered that to another scrap of the batik and cut again. Voila! I saw this idea on a McKenna Ryan quilt. I attached the butterfly to the quilt block only on the center of the butterfly, adding some beads for the body, head, and antennae.

This is a little swirl I beaded with gold seed beads and one larger Swarovski pearl.

First Friday UFOs

Earlier this week, I got the fall newsletter from a local quilt shop. They are starting an “Almost Free” Block of the Month club in September that intrigued me. You pay $8.00 for the first month’s fabric. If you bring that finished block the next month, you get block 2 for free, etc. One of the colorways being offered is patriotic, which I love.

I was seriously considering joining this, but then I thought of all the UnFinished Objects (UFOs) that I have sitting in the armoire in my studio. Almost all of them have all the fabric already purchased for at least the quilt tops. If I made just one block per month for a UFO, I’d be able to finish up a few in the next year.

One appealing thing about doing the BOM with the quilt shop is the accountability of getting a block done each month.  I’m going to use this blog to help with accountability. On the first Friday of each month, I’m planning on posting about the UFO that I’m working on. For my purposes, a UFO is a project that I started at least 5 years ago. If I started it more recently than that, I’ll consider it a WISP (Work In Slow Progress).

The first UFO I’m going to work on is my “All Star” quilt. I was inspired by the All Stars quilt shown in the book Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes. This was one of the first quilting references I bought when I started my first quilt back in about 1993. I’m not using most of the blocks that they did, but I loved the idea of using patriotic fabrics and a variety of different star blocks.

According to my documentation, I started piecing this in March of 2001. (I was pregnant at the time, so I have a good excuse for why I didn’t finish this quilt sooner – babies take up a lot of time, and it doesn’t stop as they get older!) Each block is a 12” square. My plan is to have twelve blocks total. So far I have made six:



 I saw the idea for this flag star in a magazine.

 Log Cabin star

 I took a class at a local quilt shop and made this. The little triangle-squares were made with "Thangles" paper. I'm still not sure if I'm going to use this in the All Star quilt, since it's not the same type of stars as the others and it's all one fabric. I may decide to make it into a pillow, instead.

 String-pieced star

 Star with 4-patch

Rising Star

That's what I have so far. On the first Friday of September, I'll show you the new block(s) I've made for this UFO.

Happy stitching!

AP&Q Mystery Block #5

I did a bit of stitching and made block 5 (August issue) for the American Patchwork & Quilting magazine "Mystery Quilt 2012". Since block 2 has the three primary colors, I made this block with the three secondary colors. I love all the fun prints you can find in 1930's reproduction fabrics!

Happy stitching!