Paula's Hearts

Here is an update on my Paula's Hearts Crazy Quilt. I have been working very slow on this as I seem to be stuck. I did the ribbbon embroidery in the middle and struggled with it as I haven't done a lot of it. I want to get this done for my quilt guilds' quilt show in May. I also want to get it done so I can give it to Paula.

Susan's Round Robin Block

This is the block I did for Susan from my "Just A Little Crazy Stitcher's Club" Friendship Round Robin. Her theme was Life in the Lily Pond. The blue wavy color fabric in the middle was her theme fabric and she dyed it using shaving cream. Everything she does, she does very well. This is her first time doing Crazy Quilting and she has impressed us all very much.

The splotchy blue and green fabric was the very first piece of fabric that I dyed years ago with my friend Sue Miller of Miller Dye Works. She also taught Susan to dye fabric.

This is the last block I had to do for this Round Robin. I am ready for a break.

TAST Feather Stitch

I am a little behind in my TAST stitching. Here is my feather stitch. This is my favorite stitch to do. You can do so many things with it.

Marci's Round Robin Block

I was looking at the work I had done on Marci's Round Robin block for my "Just A Little Crazy Stitcher's" Crazy Quilt club, and I decided that my block for her needed some more work. I wanted to do a Raggedy Ann embroidery with a punch needle.

I spent two days looking for my punch needle. I just knew that I had put it in "that safe place". I tore my sewing room apart, three times, and no punch needle. Argh!

I finally decided that I would go out and buy another one but wouldn't you know it, the place that once had had them, no longer did, so.... back home to look again. Well, the third time I looked in that box, there it was!

I made this little embroidery today. I think punch needle can be fun and has so many possible uses. It really is easy to do. I used a single strand punch needle for Ann.

TAST Chevron Stitch

This is my TAST Chevron stitch. I think it looks like I did a Herringbone stitch but I didn't. I added a lazy daisy and 2 straight stitches. This is one of my favorite stitches as I think it can be layered upon in many ways. This seam is from my "Paula's Hearts" quilt.

The Tast (Take a Stitch Tuesday) Challenge is hosted by Sharon B at http://inaminuteago.com

"Paula's Hearts" quilt

I have been working on my "Paula's Hearts" quilt again and have just about finished stitching the seams. I will be adding buttons and charms. See my blog posts from November, 2006 to see both blocks before I started stitching.

"Just A Little Crazy Stitcher's" Round Robin

My Crazy Quilt club, "Just A Little Crazy Stitcher's", regularly does Round Robins and we are about finished with our current one.

How this one works is everyone selects a theme for their quilt and some even include a theme fabric that must be used in the blocks along with other guidelines. We make our own prototype block. This will be used as a guide for the other blocks.

Every month, we each make and embellish a complete block for one of the members of the round robin. When we meet for our club, we swap the packet with the round robin blocks to another member of the group and they have a month to make a block to add to the packet.

We have 12 people in this current round robin, so at the end of the year of working on these, we will each have 12 blocks to make a complete crazy quilt.

This block is the prototype block for my quilt. I chose to have vintage hankies and prints of women in vintage dresses for my theme and fabrics.

For Pam's block, she had prints of Cats and Kittens and some vintage hankies that we had to use in our blocks. The print I chose had some purple and green in it so I added fabrics with these colors.


For Grace's block, she had the bird fabric for her theme. I made the block with a Spring look to it with flowers.

For Patty's block, she had an oriental theme and chose Japanese fabrics. I have a collection of Japanese fabrics myself so I was able to add a few of my own.

For Cindy's block, she chose the pretty aqua fabric with the ladies for her theme fabric. I really loved this fabric and put a silk ribbon embroidery sash across the front of one of the ladies.

For Marci's block, she chose Raggedy Ann and Andy for her theme. She included the fabric that had the motifs of the characters and a couple of other fabrics that we could use.

For Debra's block, she chose the center medallion fabric that had an oriental tone to it so I used vintage kimono fabrics to make the block.

For Anne's block, she chose a peacock theme. I got the idea for this block from the Bernina tote bag that was given out in Houston at the Quilt Festival this year.

For Gwen's block, she chose a Halloween theme. This was a very fun block to do. On one of the seams, I tried to made the stitches look like little brooms.

For Janell's block, she wanted an underwater theme and her theme fabric had fish in it. My husband plays golf and I thought it would be fun to make it look like someone had thrown their golf clubs in the water.

For Victoria's block, she chose the theme of Buttons and Bows and Kiddos. She always likes to challenge us with her colors. She chose the lacy blue and brown fabric that is in the center of the block for her fabric and I will say that it was the hardest blue color to match!

I have one more block to do yet and it is for Susan. I will post it next month when I have finished it. I think her theme is life in the pond but I am not sure.

TAST Cretan Stitch

This is my Cretan Stitch for the TAST Challenge. This was done on a Round Robin block for my "Just A Little Crazy Stitcher's" group. This is Victoria's block. I feel like this needs something else but am not sure what to do. I think that this is not one of my favorite stitches and so I guess I need to challenge myself more to try and make it something I like. I think this may be because I am not sure what to do with it to make it more of a layered stitch, which I like to do.

The TAST Challenge is a weekly stitch challenge by Sharon B. at http://inaminuteago.com/blog/index.php/take-a-stitch-tuesday-challenge/

TAST

Here is my take on the "Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge" started by Sharon B. at http://inaminuteago.com/blog/index.php/archives/category/take-a-stitch-tuesday/ for the Buttonhole Stitch and the Detached Chain Stitch. I put them together into one combination stitch. I used French Knots in the flower centers and at the end of the Buttonhole Stitches.

They ended up looking somewhat primitive. This is on Victoria's block that is part of a Round Robin I am in. The theme of her blocks is "Buttons and Bows and Kiddo's".