Bead-dazzling!

While I admit I've slowed down on my production of crazy quilt blocks and the Take A Stitch on (a) Tuesday project, I continue to delight and marvel in the work of the CQJP participants.  Yesterday I found this glorious treasure from Susan E., and with her permission, share it now with you:

As the days here edge toward autumn, this beach memory is something to savour.  Enjoy!

Sitting With It

I'm back in the classroom studio with my City & Guilds work, Module 7 now.  This module focusses on applique techniques of all kinds, beginning with 'bonded' or 'fused' applique design.  We're to re-visit our sketchbooks for intriguing shapes, creating templates in different sizes, and then auditioning shapes, fabrics and lay-outs for a fabric collage.

Here are my shapes, glued to light-weight cardboard (the back of a case used for cans of 'fake beer' -- the name my late hubby gave to my favourite soft drink, non-alcoholic beer).  I have 2 sizes of each of four shapes -- a leaf, a spool, a bottle with stopper, and a semi-circle that's really half a large washer I found on a road some time last year while out walking.  I've since found some full circles too.  Wonderfully heavy for tracing and using for sun-dyeing etc. -- but I digress.  :-)

This is the first composition I sent to Linda -- nothing fused, just placed.  All fabrics except the print are my own hand-dyes.  The print is just a wee piece of a large one given me by a friend who had a friend who was 'de-cluttering'.  (I never turn down donated fabric.  I can always find a use or another home for it!)  I wasn't sure about the pale pink version of the bottle on the right; I really liked the rest though.

Linda picked up on the leaf shapes, and suggested I do more with them, so I've just sent her this version, which I like much better:

(Pardon the cutting mat in the background!)  I realized the first version was 'nice', but not particularly ambitious.  This second version, I think, has more potential. You'll see I switched out the pale pink bottle for a print version (from whence came the negative shape on the upper left).  The larger leaf shapes at the bottom, in a finished piece, would actually dangle, perhaps from a pointed edge treatment (faced).  The quilting and applique stitches would deliberately unify the whole, suggesting stems and veins on the leaves, and echoing the curves in the shapes of both the bottle and the leaf motifs.  

For now, however, I have some other things going for the weekend, including a 50th Wedding Anniversary party for my friend B and her husband N (my cribbage buddies), and some time in my step-sis' garden at her cottage, weeding.  As for the collage, I'll be sitting with the design, and come back to it Monday or Tuesday with fresh eyes.

Oh...and I finished the beading on Block 19 for both Take A Stitch on (a) Tuesday (TAST) and the Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) -- I've submitted it for my June contribution.  Here it is in all its glittery glory:

TAST/CQJP - Featuring Half Chevron Stitch

Oh, and knitting?  Yes, there's some of that too.  Having enjoyed the soothing qualities of garter stitch for the past few months (the Dr. Who Scarf project), and having been given a shopping-bag-full of delightful, light-weight tweedy Patons Venus yarn in a yummy royal blue, I cast about for a simple cardigan for m'self.  I found the perfect pattern in Knitty's Spring-Summer 2011 edition -- the Corinne Cardigan.  It's a delightful knit based on a repeating short-row sequence, knit all-of-a-piece from side to side, and I was doing well till I split off for my first (the Left) sleeve.  Suddenly I wasn't all that certain I was going in the right direction.  I've found a helpful knitter on Ravelry who ran into a similar problem, and she's walking me through this tough patch.  Once I'm on track and have enough knit to show it off, I'll post a photo.  Promise!

WIP Wednesday

I often forget to post a WIP on Wednesday till it's over.  Today I was determined to make a showing on time!

So here's the little stack of crazy quilt blocks I assembled this a.m.-- including thread auditioned for the first one I'm going to embroider, featuring the Take-A-Stitch-(on a)-Tuesday stitch for Week 18, the Crossed Buttonhole:

Aren't they pretty?  They took almost 2 hours to put together (not counting cutting up 4 men's ties, which I did yesterday) -- largely because of the challenge of picking off-setting fabric, deciding what shapes to cut, etc. -- but it's all part of the crazy process.  :-)

Oh, and here's the finished Wheat Ear block (Week 17 of TAST) that I'm submitting to the Crazy Quilt Journal Project for my May sample:

WOW! Wheat Ear!

Gotta love that funky eighties fabric, eh?  Note: the tie fabric in the top left corner is right-side up; in the opposite corner, 'wrong'-side up.  Threads used: hand-dyed silk ribbon from The Thread Gatherer, assorted tapestry wool I found at a thrift store, and scraps of collected cotton floss (likely DMC, but I don't know for sure -- no labels!)

One Thing at a Time

That's what I have to keep reminding myself as I try to catch up on all that was left undone while I was down with that cold, and then out of town most of this past week.  I've been putting off my City & Guilds work for so long that Linda might think I've disappeared altogether!  No mind; I did a bit on Activity #6 (to do with quilt design and lay-out) this morning, so I should be able to post a finished lesson off before too long.

All six pieced blocks for the red-work Centennial Quilt are quilted, and two of the last 3 embroidered blocks have been washed, marked and sandwiched -- sitting next to my machine, just waiting to be quilted.

I am most behind, though, on the Crazy Quilt Journal Project/Take-a-Stitch-on-a-Tuesday challenge.  I've managed to finish the CQ block for TAST Week 16 -- French Knot was the featured stitch -- and posted it off to be displayed as my April contribution to the CQ Journal Project, so you might see it up there shortly.

I had great fun with this one, flipping the men's tie fabric so that some is the 'right' side and some is the 'wrong' size (I love doing that!) and playing with knots, beads, seed stitch, and other stitches.  I haven't formally titled these blocks but if I did, this one would be "Knots and Crosses".

Remember the Week 14-15 block, "Satin & Stem"?  My favourite craft shop -- The Crafty Lady in Lacombe -- scored a huge box of buttons a few weeks ago, and I've visited a couple of times, buying packets at three for a dollar, including two packs of three that I thought would fit S&S perfectly.  Here's what I've done so far:

Now...I have another 3 buttons with which I could create a mirror image on the bottom triangle...or not...I remain undecided at this point.  What do you think?

While I ponder the final outcome of this block, I'm deconstructing two more ties and will be working to catch up TAST Weeks 17 and 18.  "Wheatear" and "Crossed Buttonhole", respectively.  Oh -- and I haven't forgotten the bullion stitch tutorial that arlee posted, which I still have to check out.  Time to get off the computer and get going!

Catching up With

the (relatively) mindless...

When I watch my favourite programs online -- that would be The Quilt Show and PBS' Antiques Road Show -- I keep my hands going with a variety of handwork, including the crazy quilt blocks I've been making for the CQJP 2012 and TAST 2012.  My Week 10 TAST block was submitted for my March contribution to the Crazy Quilt Journal Project, as it was TAST challenge for the first Tuesday in March.  Week 11 featured 'Whipped Wheels' for which I had to turn to my assortment of embroidery handbooks, as I don't do these often.  This week's necktie selection was so pretty, though, that I think it steals the thunder from the featured stitch.  :-)

Of course, there's always some knitting in the 'mindless' category, and right now, the Dr. Who Scarf is filling the bill.  Here's a progress photo, draped over my living room chair:

Since I took that photo a few days ago, I finished the gold stripe (top), added a purple one and have now moved on to a large band of olive green...

and the meaty...

(C) 2012 -  DesignMatters 

Having finished my Module 5 of the C&G this past week, my tutor sent me Module 6 -- the focus of which is to plan, execute and display a finished quilt no smaller than 18" square and no larger than 39" square, using piecing as the central technique but adding other techniques learned to date. There are only 11 assignments, but they include everything needed to produce the requisite result and have me beginning with serious thought and research as to what I want to do and how I want to do it.

Step 1: read through the 64-page Module, making notes, and getting the juices flowing.  Stay tuned!

Slow Quilting of a Different Sort

It's been all about embroidery the past few days chez 3F.  First, I finished my Week 10 Take-A-Stitch(on)-Tuesday block remarkably early.  The stitch de la semaine (of the week) was Running Stitch. (I had great fun with this since this was also the week that my jogging moved up a notch closer to running.  I've gone from an estimated 12 minutes/mile to about 10.78 mpm, and with warmer weather, have lightened up the layers and taken off my hat!)

The wee charm on this piece was resurrected from my jewellry box.  Back when I was a Serious Runner (30 years ago) I wore this on a chain around my neck and was rarely without it.  The cute tape with footsteps on it was a recent find (Wednesday) at a scrap-booking store in Stettler (Pages in Time -- sorry, no website to be found).

But the focus of my work this week has been the 12" square piece I've been working on for the SAQA Western Canada exhibit, "Meet the Best of the West".  This piece hasn't come easily to me, as regular readers no doubt know.  I've struggled and sampled my way through it, fighting the Voices In My Head every step of the way to get my vision from photo into fabric.  I began to make some progress, though, when I began to hand stitch on the piece.  Here's just a taste of it:

While I've stitched I've been taking in online Inspiration to Quilt Expo -- interviews with the nominees for "Most Inspiring Teacher of 2011", quilt galleries, a demo area and of course a merchant mall -- and some more episodes of The Quilt Show, which I absolutely love.

Third in the embroidery line up is a project about which I'm not prepared to say much, but here's a peek:

I'll tell you this much: it's red-work.  This is the first of six embroidered blocks, to be assembled into a quilt with six red-and-white pieced blocks, plus sashing. Stay tuned...

And for a break in the evenings...some knitting on the Dr. Who Scarf, on which I'm making very steady progress: