Friday, July 28, 2006

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 38

I have a real treat for you today! Gina from Patra's Place blog has graciously granted me permission to create a pattern from several of her vintage embroidered peacock pieces. The peacock she posted the other day is gorgeous! If you download the pattern, please take a moment to hop over to Gina's blog and leave a thank you comment for her.

Ginas Peacock

I'm not great at cleaning up a hand-drawn pattern on the computer but I'm sure this is enough for you to work with. I use a light box to trace my designs onto fabric but you can tape it to a window too. Use light pencil marks or a quilter's washout blue pen to trace. Refer to the photo for floss colors and stitches used.

Again, please take the time to say thank you to Gina.

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Recent Finishes

I've completed a few more projects so I thought I would share photos with you.

First, is my Bonnet Lady handbag. I just love the colors in this. It has a bit of crayon tinting in the design and some beads for sparkle.

Bonnet Lady Bag Front

Next is my Victorian Butterfly handbag. The lace is vintage and I brought the embellishments down a bit from the block in into the lace by using a large Mother Of Pearl button and some beads.

Butterfly Bag Front

The last of my finishes is my Strawberry Fields quilt. Again, I brought the embellishments out from the block by adding some handpainted lace butterflies to the border. I also added sequins and beads to them for sparkle.

Strawberry Quilt Front

Last but not least, not one of my finishes but rather something my mom made, a cute little crocheted strawberry cellphone pouch. She embellished this with some felt strawberries which are hand appliqued on and then a few felt flowers. This little bag is also lined!

Strawberry Cellphone Pouch 1

I've added these items to my Etsy shop.

See, I told you I had alot to share today! I'm off to stitch and relax now.

Working With Color - Continued

Continuing on with how I balance my blocks using color, if you look closely at the lace applique, it has a bit of a curve to it. This automatically adds some movement to the piece and minimizes the harsh lines of the piecing.

As I mentioned in my last post on this, opposites attract or in the case of crazyquilting, opposites are attractive. To further balance the block and add even more movement to it, I added some curly vines directly opposite of the applique above the tulip hankie.

In the top left corner, I did another vine with red buttonhole flowers. In the bottom right-hand corner, I did a feather stitch with yellow flowers on one side and red flowers on the other.

Last but not least, directly oppostie of the blue lace, I did some blue lazy daisy flowers. Do you see the method to my craziness?

I left one seam unstitched. I'd like to use some buttons there but that's usually one of the last things I add.

Now, based on what I've done so far and what I've explained as far as how opposites are attractive goes, can anyone tell me what color flowers I'll be using on the curly vine at the top? Look at the block, and let me know if it's obvious to you.

The next step in the layer process are beads and sequins. First I'd like to recommend that you use only bead thread and not sewing thread. Sewing thread will loosen up in time. Beading thread is available in Walmart, Michael,s, Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's. If you use beading thread, your beads, buttons and charms will stay put.

Tomorrow I'll explain how I work with beads and other embellishments to further balance a design.

If anyone has any questions so far, please don't hesitate to leave a message for me here at the blog, on my Flickr site or send an email. I'm happy to answer any and all questions.

Crayon Fruit Completed


Crayon Fruit
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
I completed this little project last night.

I'll have more posts for you later today so please stop back.

100 Details In 100 Days - Day 37


Motif Basket 2
Originally uploaded by Kitty And Me.
As promised, here's another little basket motif for your crazyquilt projects.
Try adding a little satin ribbon bow to the handle. You could try replacing the sold purple flowers with a varigated thread. That would look great too!

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