A Short Video of some Motifs/Techniques Learned in the Free Courses!
What a week for great things in the mail! My round robin block for the Lace & Pearls round robin over at CQI came back and it is gorgeous. There is so much silk ribbon work, I think I'll have to rename the robin to SilkRibbon meets Lace and Pearls!
Huge thanks to Arlene, Nicki Lee, Rita, and Susan for such a wonderful effort! Every bit of this block is just so pretty!
Here are some gorgeous close up photos for you to drool over!
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!
This Round Robin has been fun from the very beginning. So much so, that I almost forgot to take photos this round to share with you...oops! So, these are partially stitched at various stages.
First off, I added a couple of pieces of lace trim. Then decided to work around the Silkie area...with cross-hatched quilting (running stitch). The stitches cover the left, right, and bottom patch surrounding the photo...although it's hard to see in the photos.
Then, some feather stitching in ecru, light tan, and gold created the backdrop.
Next silk ribbon roses done in spider-web style; various shades of ecru, champagne, bisque, and tan...with glass leaves added.
Lastly, a Czech Glass Button Cabochon and a bit of lace on the seam.
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.
The Lace & Pearls round robin at CQI has begun, and Arlene's block arrived last week. I have until the 15th of February to stitch about 1/4th of the block...before passing it along to the next lady in the rotation. BUT, I have not been able to let it rest...immediately upon seeing the fabrics, my muse was thinking! So, I've been stitching a little on it each day....and am almost done. So, thought I'd give Arlene a little tease today...this photo doesn't give too much away....perhaps, she'll get the full picture tomorrow! Ha!
I told you yesterday that I was addicted to crazy quilt round robins...and here's more proof! I wanted to do a crazy quilt block with tons of lace and beads...and so added that idea to the CQI database. VERY quickly, other's signed up...so we all must be in the mood to Get Girly! So, here's my basic block...ready to get into the mail and be prettied up! You can see that I had to add the first piece of lace...I just was so eager!
