Tale of Two RRs

This is the final block I need to work on for the Fool's Goldwork RR hosted at CQI Yahoo Group. Wendy requested a peacock theme and so here's my peacock. I cut the peacock from gold ribbon, and padded it with felt. I then trimmed the body/feather with gold trim. Rest of body was stitched with 3 different gold threads.

Before I added the peacock I had embellished all the seams with treatments of white (or was it ecru?) perle #8. It would have bothered me if those seams were bare but I also didn't want them to detract from the peacock.  The bottom of the block has some other chicken peacock scratch stitched with various gold threads and beads. I added a butterfly also cut from gold colored organza ribbon and trimmed in gold threads to break up the white space but it occurred to me after I was finished that the butterfly is as big as the peacock and it reminded me of those old Japanese movies where two giant creatures fight each other. Who would win? Butterfly or peacock. Ah, my mind wanders...Anyway...when I thought I was finished I thought that dark brown triangle looked like a tumor protruding from Mr. Peacock so I think I toned it down with a trail of bullion roses made of 2 strands DMC and 1 strand gold DMC antique effects. Some of the leaves are stitched with DMC pearlescent and sparkle more than shown here.

I wasn't sure I would like the fool's goldwork because I'm not a gold/sparkly person; however, I have really enjoyed this, have a book on real goldwork to use for further ideas and have an entire tub of gold stuff I need to use up. So...maybe something will be in the works soon (or not).

Hosted on the CQ4Newbies Yahoo Group is a "Brown Color Study" RR. The block and all embellishments are supposed to be done in brown. Each lady sends her block around to others in their group to embellish and then eventually each block makes it's way back to each owner.

This is Toni's block and it had a lot of rectangular spaces. I find it difficult to stitch seams on blocks made in this style but look at each block as a challenge so..

Since it is hot here and I'm without A/C (I did go to work and experience some today, though) my thoughts of course led to fans. I embellished a long seam with my rendition of chain stitch/buttonhole fans with lazy daisy handles of variegated perle. Below that I added a variegated silk ribbon fan since I needed something to stand out on that striped brown.

Continuing on with fans...Toni's block had an Asian looking dragon in the fabric she used in the middle of the block So, I stitched an Asian lady with fan next to it. (Yes, that's supposed to be an Asian lady with fan and some bonsai in the background.) That's a stray thread near the bottom of the lady's kimono on the right. I think each of my pics has a stray thread somewhere. I also added a feather stitch/bullion seam between dragon and dragon  Asian lady.  Like the peacock block I used two strands of DMC plus one strand of antique effects brown metallic thread on the bullions. That's why they look kind of stripey. 

 And finally...I crocheted a little brown basket and added cast-on flowers/beads to it. And the seam above is satin ribbon, french knots and kiko flower stitches.

And here's what it looks like before it passes on to the next lady to stitch on (except I somehow managed to chop off some of the top half of the block in the photo.

Oh, one last thing...I'm not sure I showed MY brown color study block that is going around for the other ladies to embellish. I wonder what everyone will choose to do.

In Between Sane and Crazy

It's never boring around here. I always have my choice of sane or crazy project to work on after a hard day on the job. And I always like challenges. I think they keep the mind functioning.

Another challenge I hope to work on in 2012 is Sharon Boggon's "Take a Stitch Tuesday" .

I love gingham so decided to make some 4.5 inch squares into little canvases to stitch on for the TAST challenge. I figured it already has some lines marked for me to follow while stitching. If there are some stitches that involve circles I guess I will use some pastel polka dots for the "canvas". The 4.5 inch squares are bordered with 2.5 inch white on white strips and I figured I could stitch on those too. Then it will turn into a lap quilt. Crazy, huh?

This is my work on Rita's rose block. It is for a rose themed RR over on CQI (Crazy Quilt International) yahoo group.

And this is how Rita's block looks after Ruby and I have worked on it. Now there are two more stitchers to go.

And, yuck, I don't really like orange but I am participating in an Orange Study RR with some ladies on the CQforNewbies yahoo group. This is my stitching on Doris' block. I added some pale orange eyelet trim, tatted a little butterfly, crocheted a few flowers, added some kiko stitch flowers, a bullion flower, some leaves...

...and this is how Doris' block now looks after Doris and I have stitched on it.

Tone on Tone

I've finished my Tone on Tone block for Cheryl so my stitching for this RR is complete.

I've found it easiest to stitch neutral tone on tone blocks. The other colors are more of a challenge.

Dinosaurs and Dragons

I've been at a family reunion camp out. Our pop up camper came apart at the seams when a storm whipped up winds between 70-90 mph. My two 6 year old granddaughters and husband and I ran for the car and were ready to run for the bathhouses until my husband's brother came out and told us to go to his huge (mobile home sized) camper. Power was out all day. We left the family reunion a couple of days early and the DGDs will have something to remember!

I have a few more days off work so finished up this tone on tone RR which is brought to you by the color ORANGE which is not one of my favorites. Diane said she might make a wallhanging for her grandson out of the blocks so lace should not be added. Everyone that worked on blocks before me assumed her grandson was a young boy so I went along with the age group and added a dinosaur to the block I stitched on. That's supposed to be a beetle down toward the middle bottom. I now have orange threads and beads in my stash.

This is my dragon I made for my Asian Challenge block (later to become a pillow for my sister). I stitched it first on green felt ala Gerry Krueger's bird tutorial. It's all done in two threads - one metallic and the other just plain old DMC. It's really more work than I felt like doing for my baby sister...but....it's done. Now I will have to make something of equal value for my two bros and my other sis before Christmas. Sheesh! What have I done?

Tone on Tone

This is Ruby's block in the pink color study RR after Nina and I have worked on it.

I added the ribbon around the girl, bullion teddy bear, doll in pearlescent pink. I wish I hadn't used that pearlescent and used single strand floss instead, but there it is.

The large silk flower with jewel center, crocheted medallion and dark pink silk ribbon rose were already there from Nina's work. I added a piece of lace highlighted with sulky, an embroidered cupcake, a yoyo heart, felt hearts and all the rest of the flowers.

This is Rita's tone on tone block. First I embroidered a flower fairy, then I added some different laces (one piece was already on block) and embroidered between them. Then I added some flowers. Picture is dark but I couldn't get anything to show up when pic is lightened up with flash on my camera. Oh, and I kind of like the beads dripping from her hand that turns into a bead flower.

Staying Neutral

Neutral: Lacking hue; achromatic; lacking saturation.

I try to keep a pile of different neutrals on hand for all my sane quilting blocks. It's a personal challenge to find different ones when I shop. A lot of swaps call for WOW (white on white) or COC (cream on cream) and it is amazing what variety of neutrals people find. Neutrals are also supposed to give the eye a place to rest.

In the Tone on Tone CQ RR I recently received a set of neutral colored blocks and had to pick one to stitch on. As you can see, there are a variety of neutrals; however, in order to make a difference on the block I had to also create some contrast with my stitching.

Lace, bullions, french knoots, button with cast-on stitch and beads.

Main focus was these bullion stitch flowers and leaves I added in the large middle area of Candji's block. The leaves kind of mimic the ones in the cloth.

Rambling ribbon, star button, herringbone stitch with further embellishment plus half wheels on another seam.

Couched rambling satin cord, cream colored roses, kiko stitch flowers, beads, butterfly button.

Entire block. Those stitches in the lower left corner were already on the fabric.