April block...a bit late

So life is always crazy at the end of the school year. This year the "end" of the school year was a longer time than usual, partly because of our trip to Europe over Spring Break. Now that I'm in my 40's, it seems to take me longer to recover from those trips.

So here, at last, is my April block for CQJP! This is the before photo. In the center portion, I printed out the words to a song that was sung at our wedding onto Extravorganza, which I layered over a piece of white satin. Maybe I'm being hyper-cautious, but I've blurred out the words, just in case there's a copyright issue! The song is called "I will be Here" by Steven Curtis Chapman. If you want to read the lyrics, they are over here at the K-Love site.

When I stitched the block, I modeled it after a block in one of my favorite antique crazy quilts. You guessed it: Maria Wilson Beardsley's CQ on pages 92 - 93 of Penny McMorris' book, Crazy Quilts. In Maria's quilt, the block is located in the lower right corner.

Here is the finished 6-inch block. Since the song lyrics take up so much of the space, there wasn't room for a whole lot of embellishing. I did a bit of embroidery, beading, and sequins at the two seams, then I made a button and bead cluster in the lower right.

From a CQ standpoint, it's not my favorite block for this quilt, but I love the song so much that it makes up for that :)

Now I need to go work on my May block!

Happy stitching!!!

Block 2 update

The end of the school year is always a busy time around here, since Mike and I are both teachers. Then two days after school got out, we left for a road trip out west to visit Mt. Rushmore, Badlands, Devil's Tower, Yellowstone, and Grand Tetons. It was a fun but busy trip! When we returned home, I added some beads to block 2 of my anniversary CQ, to show the new states Mike and I visited together: South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. I'm still working on other blocks for CQJP 2012, slowly but surely :)

March block finished

Wow - it's been longer than I realized since I've posted anything here. My only excuse is that the last week of March, my husband and I helped chaperone a group of students (from the high school where he teaches) on a trip to Europe. We had a wonderful time, but my jet lag was really bad when we came home. I think I'm finally recovered!

I finally finished my March block! Here's how the whole thing looks:

I decided to make a button cluster to echo the cross shape of the gold fabric:

Here's the upper left corner of the block, with beads and silk ribbon added:

The right upper corner also has beads and silk ribbon French knots:

I love the silk ribbon roses in this serpentine chain-stitch on the lower left corner:

Besides some different-sized beads in the lower right corner, I added a few flower sequins:

Now I need to get working on my April block!!!! My consolation is that school is out in just over a month, so I will have more time to stitch (and hopefully get caught up) during the summer months.

Happy Stitching!

(PS Am I the only person who's not impressed with the new look of Blogger's "compose" page? Also, I found it difficult to move my pictures around.)

A treat!

Guess what was waiting for me when I came home from work today? A package from Joggles! I just ordered it Monday, and it was here today, Thursday. Now that's what I call excellent service. Every time I've ordered from Joggles, I've been very impressed with their fast shipping times.

I was running out of Silamide beading thread, so while I was placing the order, I decided to get a few more things for my Anniversary CQ (the one I'm using for CQJP 2012). I had to reign myself in and not order too much, so here's what I got:

The top lace is a 2" Venise lace, (#14). Then I couldn't resist the cute Satin Puffy Hearts Trim in ivory (#AX09). I also got some Prima Venise Lace, Alencon Collection (#545499). Next to the Silamide are two bead packages. The one on the left is Miyuki Drop Beads in White Pearl AB (#471), the right bag is Toho Bead Mix in Summer Linen (#3212).

I can't wait to see how everything looks on my crazy quilt blocks :)

And by the way, I have no affiliation with Joggles. I'm just a very satisfied customer. If you're thinking of ordering from them, they are having a winter promotion with 13% off most items (not including classes and gift certificates). See the top of their home page for details.

Happy stitching!

Hello March block

We've gotten more snow here this weekend, which is the perfect time to sit by the fire and do some embroidery! Here is how my March block looked when I first pieced it. This block represents a huge part of my relationship with my husband: our shared faith. We are both Christians - Christ followers. We met at a small Christian college and our church plays an important role in our family. I made the cross by hand-appliqueing four rectangles onto the gold satin fabric:

This photo shows where I am with my embroidery so far. I'm finished with normal threads and flosses, but still have some silk ribbon embroidery to do before the really fun stuff: encrusting with beads and buttons!Here's a closeup of the upper left corner:

And the upper right corner:

The lower left corner:

The lower right corner:

There are three main resources I use for inspiration for my seam treatments: printouts from Sharon B's "Encrusted Crazy Quilting" class that I took a few years ago; Allie Aller's Crazy Quilting book; and Carole Samples' book Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches.

Happy Stitching!

Crazy for Roses part 3

Here are the blocks in the bottom row of my CQ, Crazy for Roses. This first block, on the left side, features a fan. The black velveteen curved piece on the outside of the fan actually has my city and state embroidered on it, but for privacy reasons, I blurred that out of the picture in PhotoShop. The black piece in the bottom left corner of this block has a rosebud that I painted on, using white acrylic paint, then I beaded around the outline of the rose. More silk ribbon roses are on each side of the fan:

This is the middle block of the bottom row. I embroidered a third quote about roses that I like. I also embroidered the outline of a rose on the red fabric. The lace on top of this block is a piece I cut off some extra lace I've had for 19 years. I originally bought the lace when I made a dress for my brother-in-law's wedding, but I bought too much.

This is the block on the right bottom of the quilt. I used a stencil and some acrylic paint to paint the butterfly on the right side. The gold heart in the bottom red patch has the initials of my three children.

I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but the borders for this quilt are made of red velveteen. When my daughter was 3 years old, I bought a few yards of velveteen to make her a Christmas dress. I was pregnant with my third child that fall, and I was absolutely exhausted, so the dress never got made. Seven years later, when I was making this quilt, I remembered that red velveteen sitting in my armoire and decided to use it for the borders. See, it's good to have a stash and not throw away fabrics and laces. You never know when they may be useful :)

Happy stitching!

Crazy for Roses part 2

Here are the blocks in the middle row of my crazy quilt, Crazy for Roses. I had trouble getting a good shot of the block on the left. I think the shiny fabrics kept making problems. The heart in the black velveteen patch in the center of the block was made with silk ribbon embroidery roses. Mike is my husband's name.

For the middle block, I embroidered my initials. I also used pearl beads to accent the letters. The large ribbon rose was purchased for this block:

The main part of this block is another quote, this time from an old Petra song (I think it's from the late 80's or early 90's). When I was making this block, I sent an email to Bob Hartman to ask if it was okay to use the words on the quilt. I was a bit surprised that he even emailed back, but he said that it was fine. The rose picture on the bottom of the block was one I found online at a copywrite-free website. Unfortunately it's been a few years and I don't remember what site. I printed it on transfer paper, ironed it onto cotton sateen fabric, and appliqued it onto the block.

That's all for now. Have a fantastic day of stitching!