Velia's Block Complete...

...and on it's way home. I am sure she will like it...but if not, hope she sends it back to me. I loved working on this block. The other three ladies in this round robin (Alice, Colleen, & Ritva) did a great job of adding some luscious trims and beautiful stitching. As the last person to stitch, it was my job to make the block 'sing' with embellishing; especially since this robin had "Encrusted) as it's theme. In the crazy quilt world, 'encrusted' means heavily embellished. Of course, heavy means different things to different people...but I'm happy with the end results. Here are some close-up photos for your enjoyment.  

This photo shows the silk ribbon roses and feather stitches I added to the floral block. Alice had already placed pretty yellow seed beads in there. And, you can see a peak of the gorgeous seam treatment at top that Ritva stitched; and the one at bottom that Alice added.

Here is the finished wisteria done in perle cotton with silk ribbon leaves. You saw the braid trim on the seam above in prior blog posts; but I've added pearls and sequins to 'heavily embellish' it.

This is the main seam work I did. It is easily recognizable as mine (you know I love those five-prong flowers). The seams to the bottom were done by Alice...and she graciously agreed to let me play with them some to help my own seam not to be so over-powering. I was happy to add some detached chain stitches, some bugle beads, and some detached bullion roses. Detached flowers because I stitched them first in a hoop on some stabilizer...then couched them into place.

A close-up vies of the beaded cabochon. I debated on adding a button cluster in the floral fabric patch...where the silk ribbon roses went down...but, decided that this beauty was enough to stand alone.
It really is gorgeous in person! And, you can see some of Colleen't absolutely gorgeous feather stitched seam on the left side with the silk ribbon and beads added...just stunning! I was careful not to over-power her work. As a matter of fact, I tried to be harmonious with all of the prior stitching...but added some 'background' to areas...like a scattering of seed beads or some thin lines of back-stitching to create a lattice. That helped tie everything together and make the work or various folks appear to be done in unison.

Lastly, the spider. I know you saw her/him yesterday...but wanted to get a good photo of the web for you. This is not stitched in a normal twisted thread. I've had this spool of gold for a while, so long that it no longer has a label on it. It was not fun to stitch with as it stretched at the least tug...so I had to go extra slow to get it into place and couched down. It was like working with extremely think Christmas tree icicles (you younger folks won't know about them...but sewing with one is not great fun). But the effect is really great. I so wish I had a really good camera and light setup...but, this little $40 wonder camera will just have to do. So, hope you can make out enough details to help inspire you to stitch!

If you are just arriving at the blog...go back a few posts to see this block from where I began. There are loads more close-up photos of the progress.

Velia...it's on it's way home today! Coming priority mail...so you won't have to wait too long!