The Partial Reveal....

The fans are joined and I'm so pleased with how it has turned out.  There are fifteen fans and thirteen triangles that are also embroidered to make the whole thing into an oblong.
Now I'm searching for the same colour of dupioni silk for the back that I used for the sashing.  Hopefully that won't be too much longer and then you will see my finished 2012 CQJP.

CQJP2012 Getting there....

I haven't been posting much sewing lately, mostly birthday cakes, and there's still one of those when  I get the photos.   But I have been sewing, but not stuff I can show.  I've been busy taking Stitchmap's Redwork Course, and doing a bit of sewing for my grand-daughters and those I will post after Christmas.

I've finished 15 fan blocks, trimmed them to 9 1/2" square and I'm ready to move on to the next step - putting them together.

After a lot of help from my friends and trips to the fabric store to test out colour combinations, I can finally say that cream will be the background colour for my fan quilt.  

Because the squares are on point, there are lots of triangles needed around the edge, and these will be filled with simple fan designs in neutral colours.  I'll use the same silk for the sashing, and I've ironed on the knitted interfacing to give the strips body and mainly to stop the silk from fraying. 

I'm off to Florida on Boxing Day for a couple of weeks and I plan to work on the nine fill-in triangles.  

I wish everyone a very peaceful holiday, and the best New Year!

August Block CQJP2012

Finished the August block, but only just before the September one is due!  This one is really the Technicolour Dreamcoat.  I used mostly Sassa Lynne variegated thread, and variegated silk ribbon with a good helping of orange and red.  

I used a selection of blue silk tie fabric for the block, but I don't remember why I chose to do so much orange and red embellishment.  But it worked OK. 

I know now because I'm in the middle of taking Stitchmap's Colour Theory Class and understanding the colour wheel a little more, I see that blue and orange are complementary colours. 

Here are a couple of close ups: 

  

CQJP2012 July's blocks

Here's my first block for July.  I used mostly  Caron Watercolours variegated thread for the fan part of the block.
Visit the CQJP2012 blog to feast your eyes.  

My swirls are improving.  These were drawn freehand with my disappearing pen.

I had a bit of fun with the various flowers.

This is my second block for July.
The embroidery here is all in a gold and silky thread.  

A close up of the buttons

A close up of the fan part.

CQJP2012 - 2nd Block for June

This is my second block for June.  
Lots of gold in it, I think I was influenced 
by all the lovely "Fool's Gold" dyb blocks 
making their rounds right now.

These are cast on stitches with a small pearl bead tucked in.

And this is the sketch in Miss Carole Samples book "Crazy  Quilt Stitches" that I used as inspiration.  (I have permission to use the sketches.)

Lazy daisy and beaded flowers..........

..... from this sketch in the book. 

Another row, but I wandered a bit from the original, below.

This is the centre part of the bottom section.  There's quite a lot of space to fill in on the bottom part of these blocks.  The lace motif was cut from a tablecloth and embellished.  The golden swirls were from a image search on Google: "swirly patterns free".  Hundreds turn up!

This is the top corner and a button cluster.  Some of the buttons are stacked, an idea from a friend.

CQJP2012 is a challenge for participants to complete one block a month for a year and make something at the end of it.  We each submit photographs of our blocks to the CQJP2012 blog.  You can check out all the amazing selection of finished blocks, here is the link: CQJP

June's CQJP2012 block

This is June's CQJP 2012 block and the 9th block in the fan design series.  It's all silk and the patterned pieces are from silk ties.

This is a close up from my block above.  I've been using the designs from Carole Samples book "Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches" as inspiration, and below is the sketch from the book.  This is called a holbein stitch design. 

This is my version of the long-armed feather stitch.  Below is the sketch from Carole's book.

This is from the stem stitch design page.

A row of whipped circle flowers.

The top corner

The bottom section. Lovely lace with tiny gold beads.

CQJP2012 May's blocks

These are my two blocks for May's Crazy Quilt Journal Project for 2012.  Both have beaded sections that are part of Nancy Eha's Seed Bead Botany online course.  I'm also using Miss Carole Samples "Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches" as inspiration.  The patterned fan segments are silk tie fabrics, the remainder of the block is plain silk from other clothing.

At the top is a branch of beaded wisteria.  On the left, simple beaded flowers and on the right blackberries and raspberries.  The half circle seam and the bottom seam are my interpretation of seams from the book. 

A second block for May.  The left beaded section is a spray of beaded fantasy flowers.  The seam on the right and the seam along the curved edge at the bottom were inspired by the Crazy Quilt book.

I have Miss Samples kind permission to use diagrams from her book. 

It's fun to adapt old quilting designs and use beads instead.

My embroidery is a mixture of both of these designs.

I actually didn't have room for the cross stitch star.  This is a nice design and would fill a large space.  I'll use this again I'm sure.
I have the templates to go along with the book and I'm using them for spacing. 

CQJP2012 - April's second block

This is the second block for April.  The beading in the lower corner is from Nancy Eha's Seed Bead Botany, an online course offered by Maureen Greeson.  

 I've been using Carole Samples book "Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches as inspiration  for the fan blocks for the CQJP2012 challenge.   Above on the left is the design from the book, and on the right my interpretation.  (Miss Samples gave her permission to me to reprint stitch diagrams from her book.)

CQJP2012 - April's block

April's block finished. The top beaded flower motif (thanks Karrin H. for the idea) I did as part of Nancy Eha's Seed Bead Botany online course.  The orange buttons going across are lovely old glass, all different.

I've been using Miss Carole Samples book: Treasury of Crazy Quilt Stitches, as a resource and inspiration for the fan blocks I am making for the CQJP2012 project.  She has very kindly given me permission to show sections of her book here.

I want to show the original stitch diagram from the book, and then how I have used it.  This one in the book, is from the "Band" stitcheries.

Closed stitch fly design.

Antique linear design large scale.  I copied this one, but used variegated thread that matched the silk fabric perfectly.  All the patterned fabric in these blocks are from silk ties.  Most of the plain silk fabric is not.  I wanted to use all ties, but it was too busy as most ties are well patterned.