Button Flowers And New Block

I only had a small amount of stitching time yesterday but it was enough to decide on what to do next with this little spontaneous button flower design:



I filled in the background leaves with the Buttonhole stitch and then added a line of beads down the center of each one.

I've already decided what my next step will be. I'm not sure if I'll have time to work on it later or not. I need to get into my stash and pull out a piece of black velvet or black velveteen. I have something really cool planned for this!

Is anyone going to take me up on my design challenge from yesterday? I was kind of hoping I'd have a few takers.

As for crazy quilting, I've chosen my next block:



Does anyone know who the man in the image is? This is not just a random photo that I chose. This is (was) a real person. Leave your guesses in the comment section!

I'm sure you've noticed by now that I like to work with themes and focal points. When I first pieced this block, I wasn't 100% thrilled with it. Scott however, felt that it was quite workable and would be a good challenge for me so I'm going to go with it.

I like crazy quilting for the challenging aspect of it. I approach it sometimes with several questions running through my mind:

In this case, the piece has to be very specific. I'm assuming that unless I make it very clear as to who this is, anyone who looks at it won't "get it". I'm sure they'll see the beauty in in, but they won't know who that is so I have several things in mind that will give the design clarity.

Another question that I ask myself before starting is in regard to color. What colors will convey the mood of this piece. So far, I think it's clear as to what era the man is from but I also want to insinuate the region in which he lived and the overall "style" of that time-frame and region. He is not an American and this is not a patriotic piece so there will be no red in the design other than what you see in the image.

Part of the challenge in this piece for me is that it's not my typical "garden themed block". I have to think about this man's profession and what it means to me. It can't be completely abstract because his work was not abstract. It was very structured. Once you know who this is, you'll understand where I'm going with this.

First and foremost, this piece must be absolutely elegant. It cannot be cutesy, it cannot be whimsical, it cannot be abstract. It must be elegant.

Stay tuned for my next journey....