Working on my Peach Quilt Blocks

I thought I would post some of the progress I've made on my peach quilt. I have four of the twelve blocks nearing completion with only eight remaining blocks to embellish.

I love my color theme but they do not photograph as well as I would like. The velvets are luscious and the peach dupioni has a beautiful sheen.

I am guilty of finding projects I would like to do and setting my quilt blocks aside. Perhaps all of us are guilty of that. There are so many things to experiment with and I find myself easily distracted.

The picture on the right is a ruched ribbon rose made with 1 1/2" wide silk habotai ribbon. I purchased the ribbon from Vic with Ribbonsmyth and hand-dyed it in the variegated peach colors.

For those who haven't ruched I've include an example of how it is done. Using a matching thread do a running stitch in a "V" shape.

There is one important point to remember: when you come to the edge of the ribbon circle the thread over the edge and begin stitching on the reverse side. I hope you will be able to see this in the photo.

After making about 4 or 5 of the "V's" I gather the ribbon and begin again. I wish I could give you the yardage it takes to make the rose but I haven't stopped to do that. To make the rose you will circle the ruching and tack it down to your fabric. Continue to circle by placing the remaining length under the first layer. Do this until you like the size and shape of the flower.

Another design is my tiny table setting with the sterling silver flatware and napkin sitting beside a mother of pearl button. I wish I could take credit for this beautiful motif but I can't. With the permission of my dear friend and mentor, Jan, I have copied one she did on a recent quilt. I want to add some leaves and silk ribbon embroidery so I'm not quite finished but I just had to show you. I've used a small vintage motif for my place mat.

I showed her what I had done Tuesday at our quilting bee. I asked her if she had done the napkin with the silk ribbon. Her answer was no but she planned on adding one. It's great to have such a wonderful group of ladies who love to create and love to share their creations. What one doesn't think of the other one will.

Queen Anne's lace is a simple yet elegant flower and I've tried to reproduce it in ecru pearl cotton. Another one of those creative friends I was discussing earlier had a picture of this and I liked it so much I just had to see how it looked in thread. Linda is always sharing something beautiful with the group.

And my last photo is my initial B. The satin stitch is not one of my favorites but I decided my quilt needed my initial.

Yesterday I spent my day making a pair of dichroic earrings with a beaded bezel. Occasionally I get in the mood to bead and set my crazy quilting aside. With that project finished I'm ready to begin working on my quilt blocks once again.

Premier Estates Retreat

Our Lake Jackson group just returned from a great retreat in Wallis, Texas called Premier Estates. Over the years we've found this place to be our favorite. It's located in a small town and the setting is wonderful. There are two restored manor houses fully equipped to meet every need. We love it there and try to go at least twice each year.

Lynnis organized a wonderful project for the group to work on and most of us came home with a lovely brooch. I did mine in vintage pearls along with various other beads and crystals. You can see the tiny Swarovski butterfly in this picture.

I've used one of my crazy quilt blocks as the background for this photo. I will take pictures and show some of my progress soon.

CQMagOnline went live today so set aside some time to look through this issue. We've dedicated this first issue of 2009 in memory of Nora Creeach, our former editor. The magazine was important to her and she devoted much of her time to insure it's success. We are indeed grateful.

A Kodak Moment

I would like to introduce you to one of my dearest friends... her name is Lynnis. She is one of our infamous Lake Jackson Crazy Quilt Bee known as "Bee Crazy." Without doubt most of us fulfill the crazy part without even picking up our needle & thread. Some of us are also a little vindictive.

On a recent retreat we found out Lynnis has extremely sensitive eyes. She woke me up in the wee hours of the morning asking me to close the curtain - the light was bothering her. She said I was talking so she thought I was awake. It would seem I talk in my sleep.

Linda, another dear friend, shared the same room and encountered a similar problem. Lynnis and I were going to bed early and Linda wanted to read. She asked Lynnis if it would be okay. Lynnis had no problem with the reading but told Linda she could if she didn't turn on the light.

We thrive on these situations and use them to our fullest advantage. I have repeated this story countless times and will continue to do so. At our Tuesday Bee I presented Lynnis with this velvet eye mask. It's my original design and actually works so we have this problem solved.

I have enough of these funny stories about members in our Bee to write a book. Jan organized our group approximately ten years ago and Lynnis is a charter member. In addition to Lynnis, Jan, and myself we have 9 other crazy quilters: Julie, Linda, Dolores, Melanie, Maureen, Mary, Claudette, Chris, and Karen. Lynn is a charter member of our group who we have been unable to convert to crazy quilting but she does beautiful beading.

God has truly blessed my life with these wonderful friends. Each one is extremely talented and full of life. In many places our reputation precedes us. We definitely know how to have a great time together.

Lacking Motivation...

Where has all my motivation gone? I feel like it's lying dormant during this winter season and I'm not accomplishing much. I've spent the last several days trying to decide what I could post - something new and exciting! In the absence of exciting I thought I would show you the latest work on my peach quilt block.

In this motif I've repeated the rose pattern in the fabric with silk ribbon embroidery. I've used 7mm silk ribbon that I've hand-dyed using a combination of Ranger and Ribbonsmyth dyes.

This second picture is one of the twelve blocks I've been working on. I'm disappointed with the color quality of the photos. The fabrics are much more vibrant and beautiful than they appear in the photos. I love how the blocks are coming together and think I'll be really pleased with the finished quilt.

I would love to complete it this year but I'm not sure I will meet that deadline.

I wanted to post one additional picture. It's a gift I received from my dear friend Debi. She is a natural when it comes to beading and comes up with some of the most beautiful designs. She has given me this lovely necklace pictured here.

Our local Lake Jackson Bee has another quilting retreat beginning on the 19th. of this month. Perhaps I will come back with lots of new things to share.

Tree of Life

I love one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts and this is my favorite. I commissioned a dear friend to make it for my mother-in-law's Christmas gift.

As I understand wire-wrapping is an ancient art form that has been around for hundreds of years. Dolores does gorgeous work and I love this piece she made for me.

The large Swarovski stone is my mother-in-law's birthstone and the four surrounding smaller stones are her children's birthstone.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with health and happiness. May God richly bless you and your family.

My Rose Block

Each year I look forward to creating a block for our yearly breast cancer awareness wall hanging. We evolved from Victoria Adams Brown's Way to Women's Wellness Foundation and the infamous ArtBras. This will mark our fourth year and I'm so pleased to be a part of this small group of very talented and equally dedicated ladies.

At present we are a closed group since we can only accommodate a certain number of blocks. We do love to share our work, however, and you can see all the past and future blocks on our Flickr site.

Each year someone suggests a theme and a color choice. This year Jan suggested shades of pink and Victorian rose with our theme being roses. Of course I was thrilled with the flower choice - I do love to make roses!

Several days ago a design popped into my head and I couldn't rest until I gave it a try. I'm attaching several pictures. I've appliqued five base petals in different shades of pink onto the Victorian rose dupioni. These are embellished with silk ribbon embroidered roses. One petal has bullion roses done with Edmar threads.

The three top petals are embellished in the same way and attached to the base petals. It is my intention for those to remain upright and give dimension to the block. I've placed some trim in the center for this picture but will replace that with rolled roses along with some silk leaves.

Fan Block Completed

In my last post I included a picture of my pieced fan block. Today I wanted to share pictures of the finished block. I used Carole Samples' new workbook entitled:
"MOMMY'S TIES"
Fancy FANS Blocks
The WORKBOOK.

I've always loved her "needlework lace" and the workbook has more detailed instructions on how to accomplish this. The stitching is done with #12 Perle cotton in ecru. Miss Carole says it was her intention to mimic real lace trim when she designed her original fan quilt which is her trademark. She has definitely accomplished this with her beautiful stitching.

Part 3 of the workbook is entitled "Designing the Needlework Lace" and it gives you instructions on how to design your own lace. I am really pleased with my first attempt. Carole is an excellent instructor. I hope many of you will have the opportunity to take her class in the future.

If you would like a copy of the Workbook you might contact Valerie Bothell with the Pink Bunny.