Thank You Melissa!

Look at the beautiful block I just received in the mail!

If you have been reading some of the more recent posts...you have seen me post a few photos of a block that I was working on for Melissa. Now, I have my swap block back from her! And, isn't it gorgeous! Check out the silkie of the lady, surrounded by lovely hand-dyed laces!

And, did you notice that the block is just full of tatted pieces of lace! Glorious tatted pieces! Wonderful!

See this little bee...doesn't he look vintage. I have to get Melissa to tell me where she got that!
Thank you Melissa...I just love the block!

Melissa's Block is Ready to Go Home!

The beads have been added to Melissa's block. I still have to do the last tiny things...you know my own personal rule "When you are done...add three more things!" So, I will review all the work and place a tiny charm or bead here and there to finish it up. Then, it's into the mail to Melissa in California! Here is the final photo of the whole block! Beads do make a huge statement don't they!

And here are the closeup photos. First, the bottom left corner. I went back and added ribbon leaves to the little spiderweb roses in the top seam. Next, some Fimo clay roses were added and seed beads. I usually get questions about my rose beads...and I get them on Ebay whenever I see them. I wish I had a permanent supplier...with reasonable prices...I just love them! I also have a whole tub of modeling clay...unopened...and want to try making my own...but NO TIME for that yet! Someday...someday...! The snail trail seam through the monogram "M" has been adorned with some sequin flowers topped with bead flowers. The little butterfly sequin was sent to me from my friend Marina in Russia, I would love to find more of these! They are so pretty!

Next, the upper left corner. Some trios of Swarvoski pearls and more rose beads finish off the double herringbone seam. The wrapped cretin stitch seam has little flower beads dancing along it. And I completed the tiny chevron seam with French knots.

And, the upper right corner. The crochet flowers now have pearl centers and I've added a couple of green acrylic leaves. Between these, large rose beads have been stitched...with white pearl leaves.

 Finally, the lower right corner. You'll see I decided to finish the embroidery motif design by Mary Corbet of Needlenthread...with beads. And I just love how it turned out! The little acrylic "bell style" beads have a 3mm pearl above them...then inside are two seed bead size pearls and a 4mm pink pearl ends the string. These are stitched all as one unit...multiple times...then the thread is couched down between the top and bottom beads. Remember the beading rule...they have to be secure! The little "stars" on the seam line have French knots added to the spokes and a floral bead added to the center. The blanket stitch seam has 2mm pearls added to it. And a little lime green butterfly was put into the littlest patch.

I hope seeing the progress of Melissa's block in detail will inspire your own stitching. And if you are on the fence about crazy quilting...jump off! It's loads of fun!

Melissa's Lace and Fibers...

The time has come to add some more dimension and textures to the block...here's how it looks with the lace, ribbon and more fibers added. They make a big difference don't they! Let's look at closeups...

Here is the bottom left corner. The spiderweb roses are stitched in 6-strand pink rayon thread instead of silk ribbon. I didn't want them to compete with the silk ribbon roses I added to the center. They are not stitched, but are ready made and stitched down on top of a lace motif. Two little heart lace motifs are also stitched down next to the center one, this extends it out to fill in the center a little more...and in keeping with the theme of the project "Hearts and Flowers". A couple of butterflies found in the scrapbooking section of the hobby store add more dimension, and some little crafty hearts fill in some space in the littlest patch.

Now, the top left corner. A lace dragonfly and an embroidery patch butterfly have been added; along with a single little package rose. I've tucked two tiny velvet leaves under the rosebud.

And, the top right corner. Here is a good photo of two of the three crocheted flowers on the snail trail seam. I've had these for a little while...saving them...there are five in total, and Melissa's getting three of these little treasures.

Finally, the bottom right corner. No real change here yet...

The block is progressing nicely, everything is being worked in green, pink, and yellow to coordinate with the fabrics that Melissa used in her block. Next, the real fun begins! The beads go down! That is when the magic happens! IMHO! You know I love my beads! So more photos tomorrow perhaps!

Melissa's Stitches

The progress on Melissa's block continues...the motifs are decided on and the embroidery ones are stitched. So, it's on to the seams. Today, I'll show you the basic seams...before beads and such are added. Here is the block stitched...then I'll show you closeups.

Here is the lower left corner. The curves are simple wrapped back stitch and I traced objects (spool of beading thread, etc.) to help me make the curves. The others are straight stitched bases of herringbone and half circles...using the templates. The combination part is simple lazydaisy and straight stitches. You might note the little "stars" at the top of the one seam closest to the floral print...these are the 5-spoke stitches that will hold Spider-web roses.

 Next, here's the upper left corner. You can see the herringbone again, and the chevron and cretan base stitches...also from the templates come into view. The cretan is wrapped and the others have straight stitches and lazydaisy (detached chain) stitches added. Nothing hard...anyone can do this!

And, the upper right corner. You've already seen the heart motif...so the only addition is the chain stitch snail's trail...again, I used the half circle template to mark the line.

Lastly, the lower right corner. I've added a couple of little zig-zag bases in the smallest patches...and filled in around the motif with straight stitch "stars" and some blanket stitches. One of the little zigzag bases has a stem and little straight stitch leaves...these will be some sort of flower. Nope, I don't know what kind yet...but I'll decide that later on.

I'll start adding fibers and laces next...anything except beads. And, I'll be back with more photos then!

Melissa's Heart and Bow

I'm still working on Melissa's block (see posts for 1/7 and 1/9). I finished the embroidery motif of the little bow with hearts. Here's a reminder of the design traced on to the tissue paper and basted to the block.

The design is a little hard to make out in the picture....but here is the finished (without the beads) embroidery.

It turned out to be really sweet. I'll still add some little pearl beads to the tiny flowers. But, that will be later on when I start beading on the block...so I don't snag my embroidery thread on those beads! I added a little butterfly done in 4mm ribbon. This little fellow is included in my templates files on the Yahoo site. So, if you have not yet signed up to get those files downloaded...just go to Yahoo Groups...and join the ShawklBlogFiles group. I'll be uploading all the stitch charts and stitch photos for TDiTM in the next few weeks too...and have other tutorials there as well. It's not an active "group" with lot's of messages and such (well at least not yet I suppose...depends on how "wordy" y'all get!) But, is just a quick stop place for me to upload the files I would like to share with you.
Okay, back to stitching!

Melissa's Drop Flowers

Okay, I'm a little further along on Melissa's block...see earlier post on 1/7/2011 Here is a reminder of one of the motifs I'm going to embroidery. I traced the design onto tissue paper, and basted that to the block.

I thought that I'd share a few process steps with you. I like working with tissue paper, because it is fast...and I don't draw directly onto the project (which means I can change my mind if I wanted to move it before actually stitching). In this design I will not embroidery the flower heads...I am debating beads or silk ribbon...and have not yet made up my mind. But for the stem and leaves...it will be embroidery. To start, I stitch these areas in a simple backstitch in olive green perle cotton, size 8 thread.

Now, you can see from the photo that stitching through the tissue paper can be done without tearing it to shreds. I think there a few things to remember when doing this however...mostly, be gentle in handling...for obvious reasons. Also, having the block in a frame...and you can barely see the side of my little Q-snap frame in this photo...is key to keeping the work flat, taut, and easy to handle. Work carefully in a needle up, needle down motion...not both steps together as a continuous flow. That helps to not "disturb" the tissue while you are working.

Here's what the design looks like when the tissue paper is removed. Very simple and basic at this stage. The point is, you don't have to stitch the entire image...just get the basics in with the tissue paper as a guide. Next, I'll go to the bottom of the stem and work upwards wrapping the backstitches...and then the leaves will be wrapped as well.

And, here is the end result after the backstitches have been turned into Wrapped Backstitch. I added some little detached chain (Lazy Daisy) stitches along the design as well. You might note that these are not in the same place or size as in Mary's original design that was traced on to the tissue paper (scroll up and you'll see this). But, Mary works a lot in silk threads and embroidery floss strands...I don't usually...most of my crazy quilt (and hence embroidery) is done is perle cotton. If I want fine details I use size 12...but for the most part...I stitch in size 8.
Whenever I finally make up my mind on what type of flower heads to use...I'll photograph them and let you see a finished motif!

Melissa's Hearts and Flowers Block

Here's a crazy quilt block I'm beginning to stitch on for a cyber pal, Melissa. She pieced the block...and swapped with me. We are both going to keep the theme "flowers and hearts" in mind as we embellish each block. Oh, and you might want to check out Melissa's blog "Honey Bee's Bliss" as she is a whiz at silk ribbon...and I love looking at all her eye candy on her site!

This will be mailed by mid February...so, I thought I had better get started. My first thought was to do some seams, but then I had a second thought that the block was so small...about 9 inches...and I might stitch myself into a fix if I didn't figure out what motifs I might want to add. Embroidery is the first medium that jumps into my mind...so off I went to hunt some designs.

The first was easy, a simple monogrammed "M"...for Melissa of course! And this one was so fast to stitch, I just couched some 7mm silk ribbon down with silk thread in a matching color. Add a rose and some French Knots...done! Yeah!!

 The next motif was a bow with hearts...and I'm working on that so will have some photos later this week I think of a finished product. I don't remember where I got this little heart from...but most likely it was the Flickr Pool I belong to called Hoop Love Vintage Transfers. Check them out! They have some great embroidery motifs you can use on your own projects...and contribute some to the pool too!

 That one's a little hard to make out...perhaps this last one will be better. By the way, these were printed and then I traced the image on to tissue paper...so any errors are my own poor tracing skills...not the creator of the design. LOL! This last little flower is from a design of Hanging Flowers that Mary of NeedlenThread posted. If you have not checked out her site...you are missing a wealth of embroidery knowledge! It is my very favorite site to visit!

So, I'm off to stitch some more!