Tea Time II Block is home!

The finished Tea Time II block

I'm so pleased with this Round Robin block, that I have to share every little detail added by this group of talented ladies.  Nicki Lee, Carolyn, Cathy L. and Thearica's work is outstanding and fills every little space on the block.

Nicki Lee added tiny lace and beads, velvet flowers and ribbon to decorate this delicious looking cake.

Nicki's crochet flower and teacup sit above Cathy's blue SR flowers and "Tea Party".  Thearica's pretty pink hearts seam is so delicate.

Thearica's embroidery and birds on a branch fills the top corner perfectly.  Cathy's dyed lace is just the right piece on the white fabric. 

Nicki added the cabochon, Carolyn embroidered the dark pink seam.

The cake is decorated with Cathy's SRE.  The vine, delicate beaded trim and hummingbird were added by Thearica.

Cathy"s mug of tea and tiny bullion flowers.

Cathy's silk ribbon and bullion seam above Carolyn's teapot, teacup and cake patch and seam below.

Cathy added this unusual tea cup ribbon and worked the seams on the top and bottom of the ribbon.  The ric rac and such pretty embroidery is Nicki Lee's.

This elegant teapot arrangement and the flower beads are Cathy's lovely work.  The blue seam to the left is Carolyn's. 

Thearica added a "lace tablecloth" and these pretty charms.  

I think everyone will agree that this is a superb block and one that I will treasure. 

Candji's Silk Ribbon Embroidery RR #1 block

Candji's first nakid block went missing in action, so she quickly put together another for the CQI round robin.  This is a 16" x 16" block and here it is after I finished my additions to it.  I am the first stitcher to work on it and I started on the peach patch with a rose tree, some foxgloves, iris and little filler flowers.   The pink ribbon roses are quite tricky to do properly.  I used 13mm ribbon which gets pulled to the right side and then twisted many times.  Put the needle through to the back of the work very close to the place the ribbon came up, and fold the ribbon over at the half-way point, hold it and let it twist on itself. Gently pull the needle on the wrong side and this pulls the twists flat into folds which really look like roses.  The trick is to keep the shape of the folds without it unfolding all over the place.  I have many small stitches holding the petals in place.  I loved the look of the strip of green velvet and added big pansies in 13mm ribbon.  I kept the seam treatments small and quiet so as not to intrude on the SR embroidery. Note:  I changed the photos from centred to left alligned and somehow that changed their order around.   Sometimes I just don't understand Blogger's internal workings!

Shabby Chic sort of!

Completed block

I was inspired to create this block after an exciting visit to Value Village. This was back in April. It's now finished but I strayed a bit from the theme. I think it should be a bit softer looking. Anyway it is finished - my fifth finished block. One of the five is my CQ4Newbies newbie baggie swap and contest. But of course I can't show that photo yet because it is to be voted on in early June.

Close up of iris

Close up of herbaceous border

Close up of roses

Mothers Day Cards

My three children each have a son. Their ages are five, eighteen months and five months. We are getting together for Mother's Day at DD Heather's. There will be four generations, my mum, me and my two daughters and their husbands and the boys. My son and his family live in PQ, so we won't see them this time. I wanted to celebrate the fact that they are mums too, so I created a card especially for each of them. The photos are printed on vellum and lightly glued on to dupoini silk fabric that I embroidered with silk ribbon embroidery. I don't have a photo of the card for Lee-Ann in Quebec (I was rushing to get it in the mail), so I have just shown a copy of the photo I used.

Suzie and Jack

Lee-Ann and Caleb

Heather and Joshua

Getting on with it.

It's been just a bit over two weeks since I fell and broke my arm. I go tomorrow to the fracture clinic to make sure it's healing properly. Every day seems to bring improvement, and I hope that I will be able to drive soon. Mum and I took the "Flag" bus to the mall and then walked about 1km to the grocery store. It was drizzling with rain. Mum was exhausted after the hike and we sat for a while and had a coffee. We loaded up the cart with groceries and took a taxi home. Then we both had a nap! Mum will be 92 on Monday and I'm trying to make a cake without her knowing. I baked it yesterday, made the icing early this morning and will make the decorations this afternoon. I will get someone to take it by car to the Seniors on Tuesday where most of her friends go for crafts. I've also been working on the summer flower garden crazy quilt block. What's missing is silk ribbon embroidery which I found was difficult to do at the moment.

Busing it.

Because I cannot drive with one arm, today I took the "Flag Bus" to my hairdresser. We are lucky in our condo that the Flag bus actually makes a stop right outside our front door. The schedule is a little thin, about every two hours, but, hey, at $1.75 a ride, it's cheaper than a taxi and better than always asking for rides from friends. The bus just happened to let me off outside a book store that I have never been in before, and as I had about 35 minutes to kill before my hair appointment, I went inside to look. Well.....there was a rack of non-fiction books for 75% off and I came away with French Knot Pictures by Christine Harris, Garden Landscapes in Silk Ribbon Embroidery by Helen Dafter, and Silk Ribbon Machine Embroidery by Nancy Bednar, all for a total of $26. The machine embroidery book has some nice patterns that are easily adaptable to hand embroidery; I don't expect I'll every use my sewing machine for SRE!

My newest endeavour

I recently joined an online group called Crazy Quilting for Newbies. I had been fooling around with a square just for practice and it seemed like a group that would be very patient with new Quilters and I've found that is true They also have "round robbins" (RR) where one member makes their CQblock and then it gets passed around other members who add a bit of decoration or seam, and it finally comes back to the original member with lots of interesting stuff. Members are all over the world so you might get some very different embroidery or beads or other decorations from what is available to you. I've just joined two RRs one is an Under the Sea block, and the other a Summer Flower Garden. I've also joined a Newbie Baggie Swap where I made up a baggie of a certain amount of fabric pieces, ribbon, lace, embroidery thread etc and sent it to the hostess and in returned I receive a baggie from someone else