Butterflies and Dragonflies - Meg

Linear style blocks, pieced of squares and rectangles are not my favorite type of crazy quilt patchwork...as I find them extremely boring. And, this block did not catch my muse's attention at all. Luckily, the theme was dragonflies and butterflies...so two seams came immediately to mind for that.

 This little butterfly seam is created with my templates, which I use all the time!

And this little dragonfly seam is #22 in my book, Embellishing Crazy Quilts.

 Since Meg stated that she was more "steam-punk" than Victorian...I included two large pendant style charms from Fire Mountain Gems...a dragonfly and a butterfly.Hopefully, the other ladies in the group will enjoy this block more than I did.It will go into the mail on Monday.  

Lace & Pearls -- Nicki

I am the last person in the Round Robin to work on Nicki's block for Lace and Pearls. When it came to me, I felt that it had plenty of pearls...but needed more lace.So, I started by adding a lovely piece received from The Netherlands...a parasol lady.

At the top of this lace, I added a velvet rickrack seam treatment with some pearls and silk threads.Lastly, a lovely lace heart sent to me by Annamaria of Romania...a dear and generous cyber friend. 

Some simple roses were added to the center of the heart, enough to draw some color from other areas of the block, but not too much to over-shadow the lovely lace.Hope you enjoy the photos...and I'm sure Nicki will love all the lace!

Wine for Meg

Finished up my part of Meg's block in the "Wine" crazy quilt round robin over on Crazy Quilting International this past week, but forgot to post. Life has been nuts!The ladies did a great job of filling up the space, but the center of the block needed a motif and here's my seam work.

 Here is the whole block...as it will get mailed to Meg in the next couple of days.

 

Midnight Fantasy - Lyn

Lyn sent along two blocks for the group to work on in the Midnight Fantasy Round Robin; but, she only required that we choose one to work on. 

But, you know that when I have a CQ Block in my hands...I really NEED to stitch on it! So, I decided that both blocks should be "tied together" so that they would be a unit. Well, not literally tied together..no ropes involved...just having some of the same elements.

 So, large machine embroidery butterflies, large sprays of pink rose buds, tiny cloisonne' butterflies, larger plum wire ribbon roses and seams with a touch of orange was my choice. 

 The blocks are headed to the last person in the group to finish up before going home to Lyn in Texas.

  This block also has a spray of smaller rose buds with beads below my colorful seam.

Wine RR - Beryls Block

This morning, I finished up my stitching on Beryl's round robin block, "Wine". Thought you might like to see the end result before I mail it out.Here are the closeups...two simple seams... 

 two bottles of wine...

 

and some embellishment of the fabric that Beryl used in her block.

Butterflies and Dragonflies - Arlene

Got Arlene's block to work on this week. And have picked out my lace for it; and that is stitched down. The center block has two morning glory blooms and the center turns them into a butterfly. Two lace ones help to fill the air. The blue rose is a machine embroidery piece that I have had for a while, and you just can't find a lot of use for a blue rose! But, on Arlene's block it is perfect! A wonderful home.Now, it's on to seam treatments...and beads and SRE!

Carol - Wine RR

Finished up my work on Carol's block for the Wine RR on CQI. 

 Added some silk ribbon work and a couple of tiny hand dyed butterflies; and a little grape seam to my monogram finished this week.

Wine Block - Carol

The tomatos, beans, corn, and peppers are planted. Mother is still looking for some other pepper plants...so the garden is not completely planted yet...But Almost! Days are busy...and the evenings are spent stitching. For the past couple of days, I've been working on a round robin crazy quilt block. 

Carol's block in the Wine RR.Started with a "C" in backstitch. Filled in with chain stitch starting at the inside curve of the letter.

Then, created some grapes from purple silk, little Yo-yo's...with a flat round bead tucked inside the center. 

 More sead beads for the leaf...and the monogram is complete. Next, need to stitch some seams...

Lace & Pearls -- Susan's Block

 Just mailed out my work on Susan's block to the next person in the block's rotation. Arlene worked on the block before me, and did a wonderful job of adding some lovely pearls (and gorgeous Silk Ribbon!). So, I thought that more lace was what was needed...and not a lot of beads in the area I wanted to work. Hopefully, you'll agree...and if no...well, don't tell my muse; cause she can get a "real" attitude sometimes! And, I'm just not up to dealing with her right now.

 My first step was to find the right lace...and I selected a really pretty large blue heart; playing off of the little heart beads that Arlene had already put down on a seam. The heart was really pretty...but how to adorn it? It was just not enough all alone. More silk ribbon seemed the obvious choice, but that would not work because it would just "fight" with the lovely silk ribbon already next to it. And, another issue was that there were a lot of seams meeting where the center of the heart would be. So, I decided that the heart needed a solid white center to cover up those seams. I stitched the heart to a piece of white satin, then put a "S" in the center for "Susan". 

 A little blue heart with song bird helped to fill in some space and balanced out the area. I thought about adding pearls to the lace areas...but, there were already enough and balance was achieved just with the lace. Hopefully, Susan will agree when she receives her block; and if not...she is welcome to add more or adjust anything that I stitched. I'm a firm believer that once a block is "yours" you should change it until it makes you happy. You, after all, are the one who is going to live with it from now on.

Butterflies & Dragonflies Begins

Got my block pieced today for the CQI Round Robin "Butterflies and Dragonflies" which mails out on March 15th. I love pastels!

Darlene's Wine Continues

I managed to get a little more stitched on the Wine Round Robin this week. A little "D" for Darlene, complete with a Swarvoski crystal bicone grape cluster.

 And added some sequins and bead grapes to the fabric motif already on the block. Next....a few seams!

Wine Round Robin Begins for Darlene

 

Just getting started on my work for Darlene in the CQI Round Robin "Wine". Isn't this a really pretty block to work on! The colors are not as in the photo...the "blue" is really very dark purple.

 My first element is a bunch of grapes. They are felt circles sewn down with blanket stitch. The little leaves are trimmed from velvet craft leaves, and the little curly vines are DMC Color Infusion memory thread that has been curled around a large needle to make tight little spiral springy vines. I'll be back when I have more done....

Roses, Roses, Roses...is back Home!

And isn't it glorious! I just love all of the beautiful stitching and ribbon work the ladies did! Thank you so very much to Cathy L., Meg W., Rita C., and Ruby R. for their beautiful work. Want to see some close ups? Of course you do!!!

So pretty, tiny little sweetheart ribbon roses, delicate lace trims, silk ribbon roses, and perfect bullion rose cluster. 

What a great idea...cross-stitching some roses on top of the fabric! I'm gonna borrow this idea for sure...cause I have some waste canvas around here somewhere! Ingenious...and beautiful!

Delicate little lace trim, fluttery little butterflies, and one is painted with pink nail polish...which I do myself too! Loved that!

Aren't these just stupendous! I love the ribbon work, and the charms...wonderful!

This large rose just proves that you don't have to shy away from large motifs! Just lovely.

Pretty, pretty little ribbon clusters...like walking along a garden path.

A second little fluttery butterfly, Very unique...made from layers of fabric cut to shape. Hope you enjoyed the eye candy...as much as I am. It's even more glorious first-hand of course...photos just never do our work full justice. I'm a happy, happy girl today...after having received this block back home!