Tres' Chic

Before and after for my Paris/France Round Robin Block.  I received it a while ago, but have been remiss in posting. I think it is marvelous!

Wool Square Project

This Summer while driving to Milan, MI for the Blue Grass Festival, Fuzzy and I stopped at a rummage sale. It was my favorite kind of sale.. You take anything you want and pay whatever you think it is worth... The proceeds benefit the Susan Komen Foundation. There was TONS of stuff and they were almost done for the day. I happened upon this gem. It is a box full of pre-cut wool squares... Someone had probably intended to make a quilt. They have sat in my sewing room until recently.

   I was involved in a Secret Santa Swap and my giftee mentioned that she wanted a wool pincushion.  I consulted this website for directions and ended up with this.

 

It was fun to do... except for the choice that I made for the bottom of ultra suede... VERY difficult to hand sew through... However I think it turned out so nice, I am planning to make myself one.

Paris Round Robin

I have been so remiss in posting... lots of catching up to do.. hopefully over the Thanksgiving holiday. For now, here is the naked block of my latest Crazy Quilting Round Robin... the theme is Paris.

 

I was absolutely thrilled with the first additions... Cathy of Utah added this delightful spiderweb and the corset...!

American Quilt Society Show in Grand Rapids

Well, I have not been on my blog for a couple weeks. For two reasons: One, I have been really busy at work and we have been booked every free weekend. Two, I have gotten hooked on Listia, (a site where you "sell" items for points and then use the points to buy other things.  I have gotten some really cool stuff for crazy quilting, books, jewelry, craft items... But more on that later.

This past Wednesday Fuzzy and I traveled to Grand Rapids to take in the American Quilt Society Show. It was a great day and we have lots of pics. Probably take me half a dozen posts to cover them all. I am starting small today and posting pics of the crazy quilts in the show. A grand total of 4!

 

This is by Kerry Leslie, who is a member of CQI. It was in a special exhibition of quilts for Alzheimers's Awareness. The quilt was about 10 x 12".

Linda's Pet Round Robin Block

I really enjoyed the colors Linda chose for her block. I added the pink ribbon and tatting, then embellished the dragonfly fabric, with threads and beads. I thought it was too pretty to cover up. I finished with the feather stitch seam and flowers.

Wine Round Robin Comes Home

I was thrilled to receive my block back yesterday from the Wine Round Robin. Thanks to Kathy, Carol, Meg, and Beryl for their fantastic work. Here is the before and after:

Alice's "Fancy" Block

This is the first of the  blocks for the Pet Round Robin. This belongs to Alice and is in honor of her cat "Fancy"... I decided to embroider her name and embellish around.....  I can't believe it is almost two weeks since I last posted. I had a little client with a cold about three weeks ago and I have been suffering with a cough, sore throat since then. I am starting to feel a little better.....

Warm Day for Photos

I used the cropped closeup and transferred it to fabric for the focus of this block. It is my next Round Robin project.

My Work on Beryl's Wine Block

I added embellished wine label

Beaded cork, ribbon and neighboring seam

Completed block so far

Joyce's Finished Block

I finished and mailed off Joyce's block. I added the wire bird's next and eggs, the lace and beads on the lower left seam, and the birdhouse motif.  I hope she likes it...

Joyce's Bird Block

I received Joyce's bird block last week. She had lots of ideas for additions. She mentioned that she enjoyed religious (Christian) references. I could not come up with a bible verse concise enough to add with a bird subject, but I thought of the song "His eye is on the sparrow"... I hope she likes. I also beaded around a hummingbird earring and added that. I am thinking of what to do in the space above the sparrow quote, and in the lower left corner, then off to Joyce.

Block so far...

Ladies of Spring Block

I often watch television in the evening and don't like to sit without something in my hand. The round robins I am in keep me pretty busy. Often though, I am without a block to work on, so I pieced a block for myself, just for a diversion. The centerpiece of the block was a photo transfer I received that looked to be in a burlap type material. It was kind of neat. I also came across a little bag of straw hats at a garage sale and decided to add one to the block. The basket was made using water soluable stabilizer on my embroidery machine, and the nest was a beading experiment.  What do you think?

Swedish Block

I commited to making a block for the Crazy Quilting International Group. They wanted to make a block for all the countries that were represented in our organization. You didn't have to be from the country to make the block. I asked for the Swedish block as a tip to my paternal grandfather. I originally pieced the block seen below, but after a few months I had ideas, (dala horse, a Carl Larsson painting, ice skates, faux Swedish weaving, country flower and some Swedish folk art)  but did not know what to do about placement. I had difficulty knowing what to do first.

I asked for advice from a Crazy Quilting guru in our group. She took my ideas and photo-shopped them to show possibilities. She also advised that the silkie that I selected was too small and underwelming for the size of the block. She choose another Carl Larsson painting and showed me the difference.

Ok, now I had an idea where to start. Here is the completed block after I took Gerry's advice.. I think it looks pretty nice. The only change I may make is to put some trim along the seam under the ice skates to make them stand out better against the blue.

Well, I went ahead and did as I said, I believe adding the lace makes the skates stand out better, so here is the finished block ready to mail!

Overall, I am very pleased with it, and plan to make a similiar one so I can have one of my own.

Carol's Wine Block

After a few adjustments I finished my work on Carol's Wine block. I was the first to work on it. I dyed grape motif lace. Stitced a grape beaded seam, and a bunch of grape beads. I accented the red around the wine label, added trim to the curve and another lace grape motif. Hope she likes it. She chose really nice fabrics.

Sewing Round Robin

I received my block back from the Sewing theme Round Robin this week. Here are the before and after pics. I may make a sewing machine cover out of this block. I have a few more things I may add to the block first. Overall I am very pleased with the block, thanks to Lorrie, Sharon, Pegsue and Carol.

Lorrie's Finished Machine Cover Block

I finished up the last block in the Sewing Round Robin. This one is for Lorrie in Canada, she is using it to make a sewing machine cover. She requested butterflies, since no one had added any yet, I gave her three and threw in a dragonfly for good measure. I also added buttons, lace, charms and ribbon. It was bigger than the suggested 12" block so there are a few patches left for her to complete.  I hope she likes it. I have added the block before embellishement and after 4 worked on it!

Wine RR

A new Round Robin will be starting soon. It has a "wine" theme. Here is my block, pieced and ready to go.

Paisley's for Hubbie

My husband, Fuzzy has loved paisleys since the 60's when he wore a paisley tie each day to Catholic High School. So for a surprise this year I created a piasley wall hanging for him with the blocks from the round robin I was in earlier this year. I could not find any black background paisley to surround the blocks, so I went with the peace sign motif.  A little busy for some people, but he loved it....

Christmas Cracker Contents

From Deb S. in Oregon

From Meg in Moravia

  

From Wilma in the Netherlands

Sheryl's Ornament

My best friend from College lost her cat this summer. I made an ornament for her in memory.