Quilts for Japan

Hopefully by the time the weekend is over this pile of "happy blocks" and a few other sets of blocks I have accumulated from various sane swaps will be a couple of quilts for Japan.

Prairie Point Leaves for Spring

Pics from Colleen's Spring block. She really didn't have many seams around a big flower center so I decided to do some stitching to make the flower stand out by stitching over the lines in the fabric and adding some bullions, buttonhole and pistil stitches to the center. Then I wanted to make the surrounding area sort of 3D - foliage around the flower. I started by making some prairie point leaves out of various green cotton fabrics in varying sizes. Then I also made some prairie point leaves out of a couple of types of green ribbon. I bunched those together around the flower center then added a some other flowers, butterfly, bee and lady bug. I really like how 3D it turned out and I hope Colleen does too. Oh, and I added some green doily foliage too.

Hey! I Won a Prize!!!

This booty is what I won for completing a CQ UFO (Crazy Quilt Unfinished Object) for Crazy Judyth's Challenge over on CQ for Newbies Yahoo Group. Thank you, C.J.! I never win anything.

This is my finished UFO. I have since added a tassel at the bottom. This adorable bellpull hangs on my bedroom wall now where I have pansy curtains, pansy postcards for a wallpaper border, pansy stuff...my bedroom is everything pansy except for my husband when he's in it.

And what follows are some closeups of the bellpull. I am glad C.J. challenged us to complete a UFO or I probably would still have blocks still buried on my bookshelf. I'm thankful to all who voted for my UFO since I was one of 3 prize winners. And I'm thankful to Judyth for such a wonderful prize.

Just One Star

Just One Star Project 

by United Notions/Moda Fabrics

I made 3 stars.

This project will end in 100 quilts for wounded soldiers to be distributed by the Semper Fi Fund. I am thankful all of my relatives past and present who have served their country have not been critically or fatally wounded in battle.

Hearts and Hands for Sendai

I belong to CQI (Crazy Quilting International) Yahoo Group. One of the moderators of the group, Hideko Ishida, lives in Sendai Japan. At CQI we are sponsoring a project to generate funds for the recovery effort in Japan called Hearts and Hands for Sendai. The CQI webpage has further details for those who wish to participate. CQ blocks should be fancy fabrics (most of mine were in the red category) and jewel tones. I looked at the color wheel and used an analogous color scheme - mostly red toned fabrcs for the base and blue and purple with hints of green for the stitching. All the purple looks kind of blue in my photo. The lace in the foreground is really, really a deep purple but it looks blue to me in the photo.

Chocolate Tour

I was in a Encrusted Round Robin (RR). I picked chocolate for my theme and made a 13 inch block. I got carried away with all the chocolate fabric in my stash. Then on it went to four ladies to embellish. Here's a tour of what all they did. I love it and I know it was a challenge for some ladies to work on it.

Luscious Lace

This is my work for a "Luscious Lace" RR at Crazy Quilting International. I added different pieces of lace from my lace bin - laces acquired from thrift shop purchases. I have some lace motifs I want to add to blocks in this RR but I haven't worked up the courage to dye any yet. I'm afraid I will ruin the pieces.

Here's another shot. Maybe the contrast is a little better on this one. I hope Arlene likes it.

And here is a close up of meandering chain stitch done with one strand of gold sulky thread. My stitches aren't even, I know. I can hardly see one strand of thread. But I tried. This is "Build A Seam" (BAS) stitch 65 over on CQI (Crazy Quilting International Yahoo Group).

Four Finishes

I have been taking a creative writing workshop for the last 6 weeks so, in addition to a 10 hr per day job and the grandkids, I've been busy. But it seems there is always time for stitching. I've fallen behind on my Civil War Quilt blocks, my Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt blocks, my Fairy Crazy Quilt and all other sorts of things for myself; however, I've kept up on my CQ RRs. And that is mainly because I can sit and veg out but still be busy and stress free while I stitch.

Unfortunately, the TV shows many people in many countries in distress; the news tells of children missing and abused; a cousin has been diagnosed with cancer. Sit, stitch, watch, listen, learn, give, love, pray...the mantra of the day.

This is for an English Garden RR. This is Rita's block and I have included foxglove, deliphiniums, lavender, roses, pansies, poppies, clematis - some of my favorite flowers.

Next up is Peggy Sue's Tea Time block for another CQI RR. I wish the sugar bowl showed up a little better. It was difficult for me to know what colors to use on this block so I used mostly purples to go with that little patch on the upper left.

This is Helina's Summer block. All of her blocks have now been mailed home. This was the last one for me to work on for this RR. Summer to me means tomatoes, lemonade, watermelon, ice cream, pinwheels and flowers. I hope it means the same to her.

And, finally, I have Lorries Winter/Christmas block. Her theme was "Jesus is the Reason for the Season."