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...

Spellbinder Mystery Part 4

Here is the next part of the machine embroidery mystery I am doing. I love it.

Spellbinder Mystery Part 1-3

In addition to Crazy Quilting I also have an embroidery machine. I love to collect free designs from all over the web. One website, San Francisco Stitch Company is having a mystery project. Each week they are offering a free embroidery design with directions to make a small mystery project. Currently we are on week three. Here are the three designs sewed together as directed. So far it is pretty cute.

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.

Valentine's Day 2012