August CQJP finished

I have finally finished my August block for CQJP 2012! In August, I seriously thought I would get caught up at last, but that was not to be. Going back to work always throws me for a loop, and this year we've got a lot of new technology to deal with at school. Add to that the fact that both boys are running cross country, but at different schools, and I've been going to meets left and right. Today I had a chance to just sit and stitch for awhile. It was wonderful:)

For each of my children's blocks, I'm adding a butterfly. For this one, I cut a butterfly out of gold Angelina that I had previously fused together. I beaded all around the perimeter of the butterfly, then added bugle beads for the body and two larger pearl beads on the wings.

Here's a small button and bead cluster I added to the left side of the photo. You can see that I used cream velvet ribbon to frame the photo. I couched the ribbon down with tiny crystallized beads.

On the right side of the photo, I made a line of chevron stitches and added gold sequins with pearlized beads. There's also a seam treatment of silk ribbon chain stitches with larger beads in between. I'm sorry the photos are a bit blurry. Sometimes my camera has trouble focusing when there's lots of shiny bits on the block.

Happy stitching!

First Friday UFO: progress on All Star Quilt

Happy 1^st Friday of September!

If you recall, last month when I started my series, “First Friday UFOs,” I was considering joining an “almost free” block of the month program from a local quilt shop, until I remembered all the UFOs (UnFinished Objects) that are sitting in my armoire. Instead of joining that program, I’m challenging myself to make at least one block of a UFO quilt per month.

In August, I worked on another block for my All Star Quilt. This block has the “Amish bars” pattern inside the star. Since the middle square is 6” square, I simply made each of the six stripes 1” X 6” (finished).

You can see the two different blue fabrics, each has small stars on it.

Have you been working on any UFOs lately? I’d love to see them.

Happy stitching!

August block beginning

I'm back, after taking a few weeks off blogging. I wasn't planning on being gone so long, but I started back to work two weeks ago, and it's been crazy-busy at school. Twelve of our classrooms were part of an addition in 1977 and they weren't up to the current fire code. They were gutted and totally rebuilt over the summer. The contractors did all the work, but there was some trouble-shooting I had to do to get things up and running. Then there was all the normal beginning of the school year technology work. Although I was running all over the place (including up and down stairs a lot), I much prefer that to sitting at my desk with nothing to do!

Add to that I did a sprint-distance triathlon last Sunday, and I haven't had the energy to blog recently.

But here we are at the weekend. All three of my kids are gone this weekend at a church retreat. So I don't have to drive anyone anywhere. The house is wonderfully quiet.

Here's my pieced block for August, with his birthday blurred out. I actually pieced it a few weeks ago, but didn't get a chance to show it here on my blog.

This is my younger son, my baby. I love that little bit of hair sticking up in the photo! His hair was darker back then, but nowadays it's more of a dishwater blonde.

With the kiddos all gone and my hubby taking a nap, I think I'm going to go in the studio and be creative.

Happy stitching!

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!