Progress on Ati's block

This has been a busy week with son visiting. He brought over 500 fishing photos from his lodge that he wanted me to edit in my photo program...and this took up my stitching time but I did get some done on Ati's block and now starting on the stumpwork on branches, leaves and nest... Still haven't decided whether or not to bead the bird.....

Painting on Ati's block

Held my breath and painted on Ati's block (upper left-hand corner).... Since this is really an underpainting I wanted it to be be very soft. I will work throughout this area with SRE and stumpwork. At this time I plan on beading the bird but that may change. I just used acryllic craft paint..... I WAS very nervous about doing this and if I messed up, I would have had to make Ati a new block. But I had a vision and so I forged ahead...

Jo's entire block..finished

To begin with ..this was a very large block.(14" square) so it could handle some larger elements. Rita set the tone with the fabulous large rabbit which I adored.. Cobi and Cathy had some nice circular things happening lower left so I added more circular elements at the top.

Then I couldn't believe my good luck that it came to me with the whole center unadorned. So I had great fun doing the beaded calla lily with beads that were sent to me. Using as many of the beads left as I could, I beaded the holy heck out of the tatted doily and two long beaded seams. I wrote the names of all who contributed beads on the back of the block and on her booklet...

Jo's calla lily

I made the bead soup from the wonderful beads sent and then "digitized" the calla lily.



As always I bead in the lightest areas and the darkest areas first. Then I work from the soup from either side. If I'm starting from the dark I'll randomly add two dark beads and the next one lighter. The reverse if I'm working from the other side...and continue to blend until finished. Using a digitized image as a guide makes it easy to see the changes in value and light and shadow. The bigger the project the easier to work in more detail.....

Queen of Hearts Block

I'm hoping that along the way she will acquire lots of hearts, crowns and some precious jewels as befitting a queen. These are all gorgeous silks sent by secret sister, Cathy K., and will use some yummy reds sent by Maire for the next heart RR.

Calla leaf beaded

I started by seaching for rather simple images of calla lily leaves, chose one, and then "digitized" it as I discussed in the previous post.


I had my design already transferred to felt and basted on the block. I added a little dye to the leaf so the white wouldn't show through the beading. Then I put together my soup. Since the leaf has to contrast with the lily I chose the beads from the colors in Rita's rabbit and Cobi's embroidery. Most of these colors were sent to me by Cobi who had already worked on this block.... I should add here that I ADORE the little tins that AOL used to constantly send out. They are perfect for bead soups. When AOL stopped sending them I ordered a couple dozen online.

Then I started by outlining the leaf. I usually just do one row of outlining but the tatting made the felt a little lumpy so I added another row to the outline and one row up the middle with the lightest color in the soup.... Then NO MORE rows. All the fill in is with two and three beads at a time in various directions and always referring to my digitized image as a general guide.

The leaf is done and now I will make the creamy soup for the lily. It will be Wednesday before I work on it because tomorrow a friend is toting me to a bead store, fabric store and to lunch. On Tuesday another friend is toting me to my favorite thrift stores and to lunch. I feel like a real VIP and so lucky to have such great friends....

Calla lily prep

When I first started beading flowers, birds, etc. I used graph paper but I ended up with everything in rows and it looked like beaded cross stitch. I wanted a more painterly use of beading images and came up with this technique which uses the computer to help "see" the end product and "bead soups" to soften the transitions.

I have a calla lily charm that I loved and enlarged the design to a scrap of paper. Then I will transfer it to a piece of felt or interfacing and baste it on the block.

Usually I work from one image but this will be sort of a composite project and so I started by looking at lots of calla lilies and leaves online.

For reference this time I change an image to black and white and reduce the size to about the size of a postage stamp. If you don't reduce the size first and then try to enlarge the percentage you are working with something the size of a wall.

Then I look at the postage-size image at about 500% and then it is easy to see the light and dark pixels and all the shades in between.... I am waiting til the first of the week because I think a few more beads are coming and then the fun begins.......I can see right away that photographing shades of cream is going to be a problem so I am going to repeat this process with a colored bird on Ati's block and it will be easier to follow. Then I will submit it to CQMag...

Dragonfly for Jo

Started on Jo's block yesterday and since everyone added critters (snail, rabbit, and butterflies), I was obligated to add a critter also... Chose to add a dragonfly and I can never do a dragonfly without thinking of Kerry. The wings on this dragonfly were from silk that was a gift from Leslie.

Match made in heaven.

I've had this antique typing table for almost 50 years. When my kids were small it was in the family room and was a rolling game, craft, and homework table. I bought it from the original owner who had purchased around 1930 for a small town doctor's office.

For the last 30 years I have used it as a night stand by my bed. Now that I have my little red chest it is home to my old featherweight which I use more than any other machine I have. I am totally addicted to anything on wheels, especially my old hospital bedside tables and now this typing table is embarking on a new career. I'm still deciding whether to refinish or paint it....

Beaded Round Robins

Top going out!!
Finished block...new direction

I finished my Beaded Round Robin from last summer. It seems like I added about 10 lbs more beads this last week. I wish I had made my block smaller to begin with. The most problematic challenge was I had send my block out with a specifiic "top" marked and when it came back I decided that it needed to have the "top" in different direction . I knew this would drive me crazy until the end of my days. So even tho it involved making lots of changes, I had to do it. Is that obsessive or what?

We had two beaded round robins going at once last year and they were all gorgeous.

Some history from Ati about farmhouse on purse.

From Ati: The farmhouse on the button and purse is where I grew up .
You will wonder why the cows and the tulips are on the purse?
The iron cows and the iron tulips are on the gate near the road. The cows left and right on a stone post and the tulips on the top of the gate. It tells the history of the farm which was build in 1895 on the same place as the family farm before, which was partly from wood an a hundred years older, about 1750.
The new house in 1895 is made from bricks.

Thanks Ati for this history... Button is boxed and ready to go.

Button for Ati

On the left is a beaded purse knitted by Ati's mother. I painted a button for Ati to use on a CQ in memory of her mother. The button is large..perhaps about 1 1/4". One of my favorite blocks to work on was one that had Ati's mother's knitted lace on it. Below is the knitted lace and how I worked around it. She is so lucky to have these wonderful tangible memories... I'll be popping it into the mail to Ati in Norway Monday!!!

Don't mess with my bed!

I had a stool for my leg in a cast under my computer desk where one of Fritz's beds belongs . He is in complete denial and wedges himself in where his bed SHOULD be....So now his bed is back in place and I sit sideways at my desk to keep my leg elevated.. My dog defines the term "constant companion."

Went to the orthopedic doc today and he put my leg in a cast.....I had my choice of colors but they had no black which would have really coordinated better with my sweat pants.. He chastised me for waiting 11 days to get there I reminded him we were snowed most of those days plus 2 days were holidays and 2 days were weekend days. Anyway I am decked out in a bright blue cast for 6 weeks...and the big clumsy boot thing they gave me at emergency care is history..

January Challenge/Talking Block

This is one of the blocks I made up the other day from fabrics and trim from my secret sister. As I pulled these fabrics together they immediately began to talk to me and I have to do this block myself. I want to incorporate a lot of the 2009 Challenge techniques on it and will start with painting for January. I painted these violets on silk with ordinary craft acryllic paints as that's all I had. Notice I did it in the lower corner so if I messed up the section could be easily replaced.

I have used painting as a base for things like trees, etc. and stitched over it.... but never alone. Now I want to try painting a motif and embellishing it. Cathy K. started the challenges last year and I have found them so motivating and it keeps me trying new techniques..... Thank you Cathy!!!!

Spiders & Webs

I fell in love with a quilt that is a study of webs and spiders. It is also filled with flowers and all the other insects that are critical to a garden... You can see it here http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisa_in_nevada/
I thought it would be a fun theme for a RR and it should be starting before too long. I have my block ready to go and found a delightful image of Little Miss Muffet to put on it...

And now what????? Bridge Tallies???

I was asked what I was going to do with my queens. Well to start I'm going to print two of them on silk and use them on blocks for the Heart RRs.... But last night I realized that they would make GREAT bridge tallies. So I will make up several sets so I have them to use and also to give as prizes and hostess gifts. AND I think they would make precious invitations to a Valentine Tea. I actually think my brain works better with my leg elevated. I wonder if anyone has done a scientific study on this phenomenon.

Queens for Debbie Q. and Cathy K.

I did the first queen for Debbie in Maine because she especially loves the little girl images and Cathy K sent the image on the left for hers.. These Heart RRs are going to so much fun to watch...

Enough Queens Already

Well I think I'd better move on but I have certainly learned a lot about what to look for in an image, tried new tools in my software and improve my coordination with my mouse and software tools. If anyone is in the hearts RR and wants a queen of hearts let me know. You could send me your image or colors.

More Queens

It was fun making the Queenof Hearts card so I did a couple more while keeping my leg elevated tonite.These are rather rough because I was just fooling around. It would be fun doing a whole deck of cards.

I love surfing Google images but one has to be careful what you enter, When I entered "crowns" I came up with lots of pictures of teeth with crowns. When I entered "queens" a plethera of elegantly dressed young men appeared. When you enter any nursery rhyme, if you're not explicit, you get sexy girls in costumes of nursery rhyme characters...

"Altered Art" for Heart RR block

I wanted my own queen of heart card for my Hearts RR block so here is what I did.... I started with an antique playing card and erased the image. Finding a Mucha (my favorite artist) image, I manipulated it and added a crown and ended with my own playing card for my block. I love photo editing programs...... I'm excited for this RR to get going and want lots of fancy hearts and crowns on my block....

Headline: Deer runs over man

Since I am laid up DH has been feeding sheep. This afternoon he surpised a large doe in the barn having a snack of hay. It panicked and charged right into DH's chest, tossed him about 10 feet and he landed on his back hard. The doe ran right over him.

I knew they were sneaking in at night but they're having such a hard time with all this snow. I photographed this one this morning eating sunflower seeds under the bird feeder right next to the house.

DH is bruised and sore... but will approach barn with care from now on!!! Maybe I should put a bell around his neck....... p.s. the deer have extremely thick and shaggy coats this winter....not a sign of early spring.

Heart block- Think valentine

As I was looking at pieced heart blocks I found this free pattern at:
http://www.globnet.com/~flair/crazyheart.html

It is intended for a 4-5 inch block but I will enlarge it and do some adding to it.... This WILL be a valentine type hearts theme and a chance to dig out all my lovely reds....... I usually avoid so many pieces but I have so many lovely reds that it would be fun to use lots of them in a piece like this and use lots and lots of fancy seams.... First tho I think I will try to simplify the pattern..... Check back later...This is something I can do with my crazy leg elevated!!!!

Secret Sister Fabric Blocks

I pieced up 8 blocks today. This is my least favorite part of crazy quilting so when I do it I do several at a time..

All year my wonderful secret sister has been sending me all kinds of fancy fabrics and I tried to use mostly that in the blocks. The pastel pinks block on the left is for a Hearts round robin coming up. I am thinking more "Queen of Hearts" than valentine type heart theme. I'm envisioning an altered playing card as the focal point....

The jewel tones on the right is for the Anything Goes RR. These are NOT my colors so the stretch is great for me and perfect for anything goes. The bright fushia fabric is from a chinese dress I bought at a thrift store during the retreat and we all cut it up. I'm hoping the RRs will start up again soon....

Recovering

Would you believe this is me recovering with my broken leg??? I didn't think so.. But for 6-8 weeks I am supposed to stay off my leg that I broke pushing my husband's truck out of a snowbank by the driveway. We wanted to get the truck out by the county road which is plowed and we had a narrow opportunity as someone had cleared our road with a bulldozer. DH went to post office and grocery store and by the time he got home we were drifted in again. We've had almost 7 FEET of snow in 2 1/2 weeks. We've lived on this farm over 30 years and have never seen anything like it. It has broken every record...

We joke now about the best way to get ME out to the truck (about a mile) and the most viable is to bundle me up and stuff me in a sleeping bag, attach a rope to it and pull me out.... DH has pulled in groceries. etc. in a duffle bag so has a trail of sorts... Now that would be a picture..... I am opting to stay in the house and stitch.....