Ladies in Hats DYOB, Wilma's Block

What a lovely pieced block to work on! Wilma van Wagensveld did a great job of creating a nice surface (and a very pretty one as well) to stitch on. Here are my photos of seams, etc. for this small 6" block...going into the mail today!

Floral & Roses Traditional Block - Marcy's Block

Today, I finished my work on Marcy's block in the Floral & Traditional Round Robin over in the Crazy Quilting International group on Facebook. I followed Lydia, who had already done the area across the top of the block. Here is what I decided to do...and why:    

  I began by adding lace motifs. The center of the block has such a large area of floral print (which I'm guessing Marcy wants to keep and not hide) that it needs something to balance that size against. The lace is at the bottom left, the upper right, and the upper left.

  Since Lydia has already worked in the upper left area (where the lace needed to go to balance against the other two pieces) I decides to extend her motif visually by tucking smaller bits of lace up into the area. This pulls the eye over the top and down that side following Lydia's work and ending with the lace pieces. I tucked a little silk ribbon butterfly between the lace pieces to tie them to the silk ribbon work Lydia has included above them.

Next, was seam work. I choose the top seam and the long side seam on the left side. The first seam includes the "prongs" that I'm know for stitching as I love their look. The large flowers are actually "stacked sequins" with a tiny center bead to hold all of them together. Then, the space has a sweet little Fargo Rose with leaves to soften up all of those metallic/plastic sequins.  

Lastly was a wavy seam with little flowers and the tiniest of sequins which just sparkle in the light, but don't really draw attention to themselves otherwise. Here too is a ribbon butterfly filling the space between this seam and Lydia's work.

So, here is my finished area of work. There is a 3rd silk ribbon butterfly...can you find it? Hugs,

They're HERE!

 

  Just look what the UPS guy brought me today!   

  I've been stuffing envelopes getting them ready to ship.  

  The the postman will pick up tomorrow (after I carry these two heavy boxes downstairs and put them on Mom's front porch). Only have the five International Orders to take to the post office...whew!
There are a handful still in the Etsy shop...so if you want one at that 31% discount...get it soon. When they are sold out, you'll need to go to Amazon.com for them. BTW, Amazon (US and EUR) should have the book listed on their sites now as well.
Hugs!  

Latest Book - UPDATE

  Look what arrived yesterday! My book PROOF copy. It a printed copy of what will be printed...and it "always" needs corrections...things I just don't notice looking at the computer screen...but jump out at me when I see it on actual paper.   I have finished all of the changes and sent the new files back to the printer for their review. With a little luck...I can order books next week for shipment to everyone that has placed a Pre-Order Sale Price of 31% Off MSRP at Amazon. If the books come really early, I'll order a group...mail out and then catch any other orders that come in between then and 3 July.   Thought you might enjoy a few sneak peaks at some of the inside pages, so I'll show you some of the things that I found "to change"....ha!  

The front of the book has some seam designs aligned on strips of "faux fabric". There are also 3 inside pages like this but the fabrics are solid strips of color. Here, at the top of one of these pages...the top seam is all but "cut off". So, had to go adjust the bleed for the pages...realign and reduce some strips, then reposition the seams.

  Here, the Table of Contents didn't have all of the bullets lined up. I had checked the spelling...but did not pay attention to the indents. (Maryanne, I should have not tried to do this edit on my own...even though it is only a handful of pages...I am apparently ill-equiped to catch the small things. Ha!)  

 

In this bottom seam on Page #25, I'm thinking "where did that red ball come from?". Well, it should have been a stack of sequins...so had to go into Illustrator and redraw (then let that link into the InDesign master file) and finally export into the Adobe PDF file which the printer asks for.  

 

Here on page 73, the last seam of that page was "chopped off". Had to go in and move the entire group of seams up a smidge on that page.  

 

On page 94, these seams were "dancing cheek to cheek" as they all tried to crowd into the space. Went in and shifed the entire page group up/down to give these center ones some more room.  

 

Found on this page, the sequin groups in the top seam were "marching off the page". So, went in and re-aligned them in the proper space.   Hope you have enjoyed a little peek behind the curtain of creating a book; when you are acting as author and creator of the artwork.   Hugs!
 

Fancy Seam Designs available for Pre-Order Price at 31% Savings!

My next book is at the printer! It is available on my Etsy Shop for a few days...at a 31% savings! Crazy Quilting-Volume III: Fancy Seam Designs. You will love this book!   Unlike book pre-sales in the past, I will only be ordering the EXACT number of books to be delivered from my Etsy Shop. So, if you do not get your order in by the deadline (midnight 2 July); you will have to get your copy at Amazon.com at the full MSRP of $31.95.    I really think you will enjoy this book. It includes 500-full color seam designs. These designs include thread embroidery and elements of Silk Ribbon Embroidery, Beads, Buttons, Sequins and more. You can use templates to create the base seam design (shown as black in these seams) or free-hand stitch these designs.
I do give you the template designs for scanning at the back of the book. But, I'm also going to create a free download document in the next few days for everyone that purchases a book from the Etsy shop so you can just download it and print directly to your vellum paper IF you are going to use templates for these designs.
You don't need the templates, just offering because that is MY own preferred method to create seams.
I'm super excited about this book...and know you will love it too!   Notes:   International Sales: if you are interested in this sales price; contact me so we can discuss. I have not authorized international sales on my Etsy Shop Site because the postage amounts are so un-realistic for international shipments in the past.

Book Series: the prior "thinking" about this continuing series was to introduce more patterns for embroidery motifs next; but they are taking months to create...so I pushed the seam book to the front. No worries, the motifs are still coming...just taking a huge amount of effort to get each illustration converted to vector drawings. Perhaps later this year, or next year...hugs!

Floral & Roses RR, Lydia's Block...Completed

My progress was slowed by a couple of days as I managed to pull my back out...just getting up from a chair. I mean really, WHO DOES THAT! But, today I seem to be all better (crossing my fingers)...so managed to put the beads on Lydia's Block. It is now ready to mail to the next lady in the Round Robin (Floral & Roses Traditional). Here are some close-up photos of the areas:

On the Blanket Stitch seam, I added some sequins and 3mm Swarovski bicone crystals to the prongs.

On the Straight Stitch seam, I added some of the little yellow striped beads that Lydia sent around with her block, thought they were so cute. Also, some sequins, 3mm Swarovski bicone crystals, and pearl rice beads.

On the little blue metalic Straight Stitch Seam, I added some sequins, sead beads, 3mm Swarovski bicone crystals, tiny bugle beads, and sead beads. I also added a wee little ribbon butterfly to the fantasy silk ribbon flower seam and a lace butterfly in the space between seams.

Lastly I added some lime green sead beads to the pink lace seam and created a button cluster for the doily area with buttons, glass leaves, porcelain roses, sequins, crystals, Swarovski crystal bicones, and metallic beads (these last were also from Lydia's furnished beads).

This block was so much fun, it was really hard to quit! I had "plans" in my head for the entire block...just had to make myself stop so the other ladies would have some space to work as well.

 

Floral & Roses RR, Lydia's Block...Day 2

 Got a little more stitching in late yesterday, so silk ribbon is complete. Next, on to beads-buttons-sequins!  

So, here is the "big picture" of what has been accomplished so far...

Close up view of a little fantasy flower design...using some pretty beads that Lydia included with her block...in just the right shade of purple/pink/silver of her block colors.

More fantasy flowers on this seam, just waiting for beads and sequins!

Had to include some roses...hence the name of the swap. This seam is also going to get beads and sequins next. :)

Last, added some lace leaves to the doily area...where the bead/button cluster will go.

Hope to get more stitching done today...but expecting company...so might have to skip a day. :)

 

Floral & Roses RR, Lydia's Block...Day One

So far, last month was nuts with so many appointments...and this month has begun the same way. But, none today...yea! Gives me time to work on Lydia's block...here is the beginning.    

The day is very overcast...so a lamp is needed, even though there is sunshine coming in the windows behind me.

  Thought I'd do a few seams, and a button cluster in the corner on the bottom left. So, I begin with my base seams along the sewn seam lines. Next, add some lace along the curved seam and a crochet piece on the curved patch.

Isn't the little doily pretty...it was a gift but I can't remember from who. It has been in my lace drawer. The floral lace piece is also a gift from Nicki Lee...who has the best dyed lace!

Lastly, here are the base seams. Not very fancy yet...but that will come with more layers of "pretty" added. So, enough for today...back at this tomorrow (after yet another appointment).
Hugs,

Windy, Breezy, Sleepy...

Sounds like a group of cartoon characters...but instead, adjectives for my day!  Woke around 3:30 a.m. to the sound of loud popping, cracking, and howling...it was so windy out that the aluminum siding at the back of the apartment was quivering with wind whipping under it. As the headboard of my bead is on this wall...the sound woke me up.
Then, I woke the dog...and he realized it was stormy...so up on the bed he came. Normally this is not his place of sleep, but I allow it if it is stormy...poor thing just shakes with fear. So, there we lay listening to the wind...trying to go back to sleep...when the lights went out. No electricity...and it began to get humid and hot as the HVAC unit was also now off.
As I tossed and turned (only having half the bed now to do that in)...finally just gave up and got up. It was light out, and the trees were just swaying in the winds. So, I opened all of the windows that I could (the ones that don't have furniture in front of them, but that's story for another day)...and the breeze was great.
But, with no electricity...there was no phone, no internet, no television, no radio...just the charge on my Kindle..so I began to read. That didn't last long, as I was too tired to concentrate. 
So, I when outside to see the damage. My fear was that the huge old pecan tree in the front yard might have lost some large limbs OR that one of the vehicles may have gotten some damage. But, thankfully, all was good. The yard was littered everywhere with small leafy twigs and tiny branches but no large objects. The rugs were blown off the porch and some flower pots turned over.
I went next door to check on Mother and my Sister-in-law...and visited a bit. Then I went back upstaires (home) to empty the dishwasher. That I could accomplish without electricity. The house was much cooler now that a breeze was blowing through the windows.
So, went back to bed! The dog came too. :)
The electricity was out for about eleven hours...and the cable/internet a couple of hours more. So, it has been a relaxing and almost non-productive day.

Whew, What a Weekend!

Honestly, I'm pooped!   Daughter had lower back surgery the first of this month; so I've been trying to help out as much as possible....while living more than an hour from her. I've made two trips this month to pick up the grand-daughter (giving Mom a break) and have carried frozen meals each time.   So, this is a "weekend of cooking" as my grand-daughter was picked up Friday afternoon. So far, in the freezer are large containers stacked...and labeled. The weather is going to be bad this afternoon and early evening...high winds, rain, tornado warning. So, Aidan will be "staying" one more day...and missing a school day tomorrow...because Nana is not driving in this mess. She has 13 days of school left this year...so, I'm not overly worried about missing one day (and it is a no-test day). Yeah...all you teachers go ahead and write me...but, I won't be changing my mind. I'm not driving in this stuff!   Anyway, I've been busy cooking Stuffed Pasta Shells with Sauce (3 lg); Cheesy Ranch Noodle Casserole (2 lg); Hashbrown Breakfast Casserole (3 med); Chili (2 lg); Spaghetti Noodle Bake Casserole (2 lg); Beef Stew (1 lg); Broccoli Potato Bacon Cheddar Casserole (2 lg); and Potato Salad. 
I'm considering pumpkin pies and carrot cake...but am too tired to stir anything else. So, they will wait until tomorrow morning...and may magically turn into cupcakes instead. :)
Also, keeping up with registrations for the latest BCQC-1...which has over 80 ladies signed up! I love large groups...they are so much more fun! (and work). But, who is afraid of a little extra work when it comes to crazy quilting! NOT ME! Hugs to all...I'm going to take a nap!
😉
 

One of THOSE days...

Have spent 3+ hours looking for a file on this computer. Not in any of the "places" it should be...but I know I would not have deleted it...so, that means that I was not paying attention...and it SAVED into a folder that I had been in immediately before. Now...which folder? There are only about 400 on this computer (and over 56,000 photo files...so I'm serious!).   Then, took a break...went to Pinterest to relax. Got "pulled in" by the idea of changing over to a business account...then changed my mind half way so deleted the "request"...and found that it actually deleted my entire Pinterest account. Now, have to hope they can help and get me back...or I have lost years of photos/albums.   Think I'll just go back to bed.  

Challenge - 2018 Calendar Contest

Are you working on a block for the 2018 Calendar Contest? If you have forgotten, it's all about musicals! You have the opporunity to get really creative!   Photos are due May 31st so you still have time.
Here are the guidelines again

I'm looking forward to seeing some very fun blocks!