Naked Stumpwork Block

I think that this will be the final block I need to make for the CQI RRs beginning in the new year.  This one is for the Stumpwork RR which I'm looking forward to participating in.  Stumpwork is 3-dimensional and you will see all kinds of things popping up from this block and the others that are also in this round robin.  I've been practicing some of the techniques on an earlier trial block  here.   So I'm all ready to go with the Bees, Butterflies and Beetles, the Asian theme block, and the Stumpwork block.  Still waiting for two more CQers to join in the Brazillian Embroidery  rr.!    I used a piece of material from my Christmas cracker from Alice as my centre for this block. 

Christmas Cracker Swap

Just take a look at all this lovely stuff!  All these ribbons, threads, fabric, lace and silkies were stuffed into just a piece of paper towel roll and covered with a very pretty piece of crazy quilting, from Alice.  It was so much fun to open up.  And it'll be more fun to use! 

Just the bestest present!

Thank you to my children Neil & Lee-Ann, Suzie & John, Heather & Jason for this wonderful gift.  Installed and programmed by Jason for my trip home from their house on Boxing day, I even got to use it.  Gerry K brought a similar GPS with her and used in the rental car at the Retreat in Colorado.  It got us out of a few pickles and always put us back on the right road.   

More Crazy Blocks

My goodness I've been working hard on my naked RR blocks! This one is for the Bees, Bugs and Butterflies RR at CQI. I think this is my most favourite block that I have pieced together, ever! The centre fabric is just one motif from a FQ that I bought recently. There are also lovely pieces of heavy maroon lace and thick maroon silk. These are definitely my colours. I also tried to follow Gerry K's guidelines about eye movement and repetition of colour. I'm not sure if I succeeded here, but I did work on the left hand side to get the gold silk piece in, where originally I had the top and bottom maroon pieces meeting. Just that change made a difference to my eye movement.

This one is very plain by comparison. It's for the CQI 2010 monthly challenge which will need some space for additional fabric and techniques. I made the fan by the paper piecing technique and appliqued it on. but there must be a much easier way as this took me hours to do. I also didn't know how to finish it off at the bottom. I'm going to look for a small piece of metal jewellery to put over it.

Busy, busy, busy....

How can it be 3 weeks since I blogged last! Time just slips away. I haven't done a lot of stitching, but I have managed to work on piecing some of the RR blocks that I have signed up for in the New Year. This is my naked block for the Asian #2 RR. The design is similar to part of a wall hanging that I liked and mentioned in a previous posting. The fan fabric only came in those vibrant (fluorescent!) colours, but I'm going to encourage my RR friends to bead/embroider/embellish over them to tone them down a bit!

This could either be for the Brazillian embroidery RR or the Stumpwork RR. I haven't decided yet.

And this is the design, on paper, for the CQI 2010 Challenge. The first few monthly challenges include curved piecing, fans, working with velvet, birds and 5-layer stitching. Stumpwork and Silk Ribbon embroidery are two more that I have signed up for and need to make blocks, but so far they are one or two short of being filled.