The dragon is done and see what's next!

Impossible to not get glare on the sequins... He's pinned now to have a good blocking before he's off to Arlene in Australia...

I used as many different materials I could from my stash..  I especially like the Krienik gold bands of satin stitch on his neck... One tip I forgot to mention last time is to use clusters of beads to hide a difficult transition... I did that here with the finial on his tail... And folding a braid in half along his spine worked well also.. I took him along to work on several times this week and he always got lots of attention....

Here is my rough sketch and a few thoughts for my "perfume block" for Arlene in Australia...I'll try as many techniques and materials on this block as possible at it will be the next to last block.

I'm loving the layering of fabrics and cutting away so will do that on the bottle. This has been a new technique for me. It's a nice alternative to working off block and appliqueing a feature on.  I'll add more detailed photos as I do the layering this time.

I'm doing the bottle and flower cluster larger that I usually would but I want things to be large enough to try many things... The "A" initial may or may not remain... I can hardly wait to start with the gold ribbons as I have used very few so far in this goldwork challenge...

I'm ready to go back to regular crazy quilting but I know all this experimenting with gold materials will definitely make a change in my work.......

My golden peacock is finished!

This RR was a special personal challenge and every block has been an adventure in searching for new ways to explore with inexpensive gold materials..  This block is finished and I've used
7 different gold braids
2 kinds of gold cording
At least a dozen different kinds of gold  glass and metal beads
5 different kinds of gold threads
various gold buttons
4 kinds of pearl beads
sequins and crystals

In the process I've fallen in love with the Kreinik metallic threads.  I was nervous about using it to do bullion stitches for the feet but it was great. I tried felt padding and top stitching over laid cording....both new techniques for me.

The funky leaves are actually gold metal hearts I've saved forever to use as leaves...  Also I replaced the patch that was fraying.

A source to share....

Pat Winter sent me some  Kreinik metallic threads to try a while back and I love them... But they are not sold locally and I had gone over my budget when I was in LA.  But now I wanted golds and went looking for them on the internet and the prices varied widely... So if you use Kreinik metallic thread I found a great buy....  http://dcbcrafts.com/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1719_1720_1963 Their very fine metallic threads were just $2 a spool... 

The catch is there is a minimum of 3 spools in any color... but that's a perfect opportunity for a group buy.  Susie and I are combining our order and the shipping rates are incredibly cheap.  In fact if you can get an order to $100 the shipping is free....