Hearts and Flowers

Crazy Quilting for Newbies is a lovely friendly site which encourages new crazy quilters without being too regimented about fabrics or embellishments. The ladies there are full of encouragement and kindness. Just recently they began a "Hearts and Flowers Shower" for members who celebrated a momentous occasion, either happy or sad. Any member who wishes can send a partially done 8" CQ square on the hearts and flowers theme.

So far I have done two, and I could hardly stop myself from finishing each of them!

More hospital time

Well, all I can say is I ended up again in the hospital, with an infection this time, but I sat in my bed with a good assortment of threads and beads happily sewing away as the IV pumped antibiotics!

But now I'm home again and working on the 100 details and my RR of favourite things for CQ4N. I have Cathy's block to work on. It's big, so I have a few seams to do.

Here are Details 42a, 42b, both look much nicer in reality.

Detail 42a

Detail 42b

I think I can say that I have finally mastered bullions. As a fill in on the wall hanging I am doing, I made a bullion flower. I used #5 perle thread:

Details 35, 37, 38a & b, 39 and 40.

I had a few days in hospital last week which put me a bit behind, but now I'm caught up again!

Detail 35

Detail 37

Detail 38a

Detail 38b

Detail 39

Detail 39 was supposed to be " Up and down buttonhole worked in a feather stitch formation" but I kept getting mixed up on the feather stitch formation, which moves the 'v' from left to right. I tried a lot but I didn't succeed, I need help here!

Detail 40

The left side of the wall hanging is filling up nicely.

Details 34b, 36a and 36b

Detail 34b This was fun to do with the varigated thread, it filled a large space, and I tried to match the thread with the beads.

This is 36a and b.

And I finally found the way to do bullions without having an extra thread. Well, all it took was to read some instructions and follow them! Sharonb's original detail was done with wool, I used 6 strands of variegated floss.

These recent details are part of a big wall hanging I am doing for my living room. When it is finished it will be 4' x 2' 6". This is about 9" wide.

Musical cake

A 18" x 12" lemon cake. This old gentleman celebrating his 99th birthday used to be an orchestra conductor. The music top left is "Happy birthday to you".

Details 32, 33, 34 and 35

Detail 32 Detail 33 Detail 34 Detail 35

I was away for a couple of days and had lots of time to sew. The first detail, #32 is a barred chain with a regular chain in between and a rosette of caston stitches. Details 33 and 34 both use the cretan stitch, and detail 35's base is the herringbone.

Details 30 & 31

I'm learning so much doing the 100 details. Detail 30 is the up and down blanket stitch. It took a fair bit of practice, but once I got the hang of it, it was easy to do. Here's how it looks. This was my first attempt:The second go was more like Sharonb's example.

This is detail 31, the example showed yarn couched. I couldn't find yarn that fit, so I used some raffia and 4mm silk ribbon. I think it worked out very well.

Detail 37

A strip of braid, some straight stitches and seed beads and some upside down sequins. Somehow I missed doing #s 30 to 36! They will follow soon.

More angels

Can't seem to stop making angels! Here's a very simple one, straight stitches and fly stitches.

Detail 29

This is the palestrina stitch. SharonB's had a tail (I haven't figured out quite how to do that yet). This is such a tidy stitch, and I think could take the place of the french knot and be very neat. I'm very pleased with the bullions too, having them contained in the lazy daisy hides that extra thread I always seem to get.

Details 27 & 28

I didn't really have any fun doing #27. I just couldn't get the angles straight even though I did mark out the row. If it was on a small block I would definitely have unpicked, but it's on this 4' x 2' 6" hanging that I'm doing, and from a distance it looks OK! #28 doesn't look like much either, but in reality is quite pretty. The bugle & seed beads and lazy daisy stitches are all gold!

Falling Behind!!!

Maybe some of you have noticed that I haven't posted any new details of the "100 Details in 200 Days" in a while. The problem has been that I have run out of seams to work on. I have no blocks "on the go". Since I started CQing in March I have accumulated six completed blocks (which I think will make a nice wall hanging for my bedroom), but I don't want to start another block unless it is for a gift or RR. So this evening I decided to begin my big wall hanging for the living room, just so I could get some seams to work on. I hadn't planned on starting this big project so soon, but, hey, I 'm up for the challenge!

It will be 4' x 2' 1/2". The maroon bit that I have laid out above is about 8" wide and should provide plenty of seams for the next month of details.

Ready to send

Just a quick note to say that my Favourite Things RR block is pressed and ready to send to Sandi in Pleasanton California. Before it arrives back in Canada it will have passed through Springfield Ohio, Anaheim California, Plympton Massachusetts, Earlville Illinois and West Ipswich Australia. What a lot of miles!

Added on Monday 28th. Well it's on it's way to Sandi. At the last minute I removed the large pink bead that is the body of the bottom right angel. I thought it would be a bit bulky to go through the measuring thing at the post office. I'll sew it back on again when it comes home. Or....if any of my "Mums" group has something flat that would fit, please add it if you want to.

Shoulder bag

This bag came about because I was running out of seams for the 100 details in 200 days. I had bought a pattern at the Quilt Show in Lancaster PA in April and I was anxious to have a go at it. The front part of the bag is CQ and the back plain, and because there are only three pieces making up the CQ part, there weren't many seams, three, that's all! One of them is Detail 25 from the 100 details, another is a row of angels for the Christmas Motif at CQ4Newbies, and the third is one I made up. In the spaces I did some fern, a whirly thing and a fan which I really like. But now I am out of seams again for the 100 details.

It came together fairly easily except for the lining which I made with a nice piece of polished cotton, and cut the same size as the outside. It was just a bit too big and I had to trim it down a bit. Now all it needs is a chain or cord and some kind of fastener. The instructions call for velcro, but I want to use something else.

My favourite things RR

I've joined this round robin on CQEmbellishes. It's my first RR so I have been thinking about it for a few weeks, wondering exactly what my favourite things are that can be worked into a CQ block. Two things that I want to include are cake decorating and flowers. But I kept thinking that there was something else. It suddenly occurred to me when I was working on a seam for the Christmas motif for CQ4Newbies, that Angels are my other favourite things. My Christmas tree is covered in angels, my girls have kept them coming every year for ages! So, I'm hoping that my RR group, the "Mums" (chrysanthemums) will just fill my block with angels, cakes and flowers!

Here's my first little angel on my RR block. I think she needs a halo!

Just for interest's sake I took the bottom photo without my light box. Both were taken in full sun. The box works well. There's a photo of it under "Taking Photos" on July 1.