April's Block but really only February's

Moving right along with the blocks for the 2014 CQ Journal Project.  

The finished quilt will have 20 blocks and I'm hoping to have it finished in the 12 months of 2014, which means I need to do 1 2/3 blocks per month.  

That is a daunting thought!  So far I have finished  4 blocks (4 x 3/3 is 12 thirds) and that is the equivalent of January and February (5/3 + 5/3 = 10/3) and 2/3 of this block to go towards March's block.  

Maybe that's altogether too much math.

This is my daughter Suzie as a baby.  The block is a bit wild, but it does go with her red dress!

The next block is Heather, my younger daughter.  I had this wonderful old fine lawn hankie edged with tiny rosebuds.  I didn't want to cut it up, so I laid the photo on top and folded the hankie around to make a frame.  I am without sewing machine while on holiday, and these blocks are all hand sewn, so they all look a little bubbly. 

CQJP 2014 March block finished

This is March's block and these are my grandparents on my mother's side.  The block turned out rather fancy, but I don't think that my grandmother had many beaded or sequinned clothes, they were very much from the working class.  She worked very hard to giver her four daughters a decent education and a chance for the future.

April's naked block.
This is Suzie, my eldest daughter at about 10 months old.  I remember making her the red dress for Christmas.  

Wedding Cake

As much as I don't like moths or butterflies, I think this cake looks very pretty.  The bride provided them and added them to the finished cake herself.

It was a real surprise to the guests when the cake was cut.   

Each colour strip was about 2" high.

March's CQJP Block

This is my mother's parents.  I met my Grampa many times, but my Grandmother died tragically when my mum was about 11 years old. 

I've also been working on other projects to do with my Crazy Quilt class running at the local quilt store.  I made this small drawstring bag as an end product sample from two small blocks.  

The pink side, with pretty simple stitches.  The basic block construction from the middle out.

Under the Sea side which is a bit more challenging and is put together as a scenic block.

I've had the class for over a year now.  It runs in 4-month sessions, and I have a couple of students who are now on their 5th session.  

I've been making a fabric book of samples of the things I teach and as more inspiration.  The "pages" are 12' X 7" and fold in half.  I wanted to be able to add stitching to the pages at any time, but wanted to hide the back also.

Some fool's gold work

Folded and gathered flowers and different kinds of leaves

This page is mostly simple silk ribbon

One of the stitch pages - feather and cretan

Silk ribbon flowers.  

I've added metal eyelet holes.  I'll use two rings to hold everything together.   I have 12 pages made so far and I'm finding it really useful.  I'm also working on an instruction book to go along with each fabric page.