Take It Further - January - Day 2

I spent most of my day yesterday doing machine finishing and bit of the hand-finishing. I didn't quite get my cellphone pouches completed but I'll work on those some more later today. My regular stitching time was a wee bit limited but I did manage to work one more seam on my January block:



I used one of Carol Samples Templates to mark the seam. I started with the chain stitch and then free-handed the lazy daisy stitches. Then I added the little black straight stitches. I'm thinking of adding to that seam on the top. I haven't decided what to do with it yet but I'm thinking I could make it even more interesting.

I'd like to thank Debra S. for mentioning that the point of this Challenge is to move beyond our comfort zone. Yes, that is quite true! And I very much intend to do so. That's why I chose to work with both the concept and the color scheme. On the other hand, I have to keep in mind that in the end, I want to have a nice quilt to hang on my wall. If the end of 2008 comes along and I don't like the blocks that I did, if they don't appeal to me visually and don't suit my personality and my decor, they will end up laying in a drawer and never make it into a quilt for my wall. I would find that very sad and I would feel that I have wasted my time. Escaping my comfort zone is not enough for me. Learning something new is not enough for me. In the end, I have to have a useful and beautiful quilt, something that I'm proud to display. So my intention is to make these blocks work on all levels and I know I can do that. For some blocks, I may be well outside of my comfort zone and for other blocks, I may have to walk the fence. Somehow though, I will work with both the concept and the color scheme and I will see to it that I personally find each of my blocks visually appealing and suitable for a wall-quilt.

I'll probably take about this a bit more as I work through this challenge so stay tuned.

I also want to answer a question that Dee asked of me. She asked how I go about adding lace and trim after my blocks are sewn up. I open up the seams, I tuck the ends of the lace or trim into the seams and then I take just a few tiny stitches to hold the seams down until I get my fancy stitches on there. I almost never chose my lace and trims until after the block is sewn. Thank for the question the Dee.

Before I end my post for the day, I thought you would enjoy seeing a photo of the my Kitten In A Basket Ornament:



This little one is already spoken for so I'll package it up now and ship it off to it's new owner tomorrow.

For today, I have some new beads that I want to organize. I like to keep my beads and sequins in little ziplock baggies so I have to sit down and take them out of the packaging and put them in the bags. I used to use the round, stackable plastic bead containers but they're so heavy, the weight of them put so much pressure on my roll-carts that the caster wheels broke off! My dear husband is at this moment, making wooden frames for the bottoms of the carts and attaching new casters to them. He told me that when he's done with this, I'll never have any trouble with my rolling carts again!

My stash is stored here in my computer room but when I stitch, I like to sit on the sofa in my living room so I roll my carts out there and then I have easy access to my entire bead stash!

Take It Further Challenge - January

I had my sewing day yesterday just as I had intended and I sewed up my January Take It Further Challenge block along with a few other things.

I started by pulling the DMC thread colors that matched Sharon's color palette and I thought to myself, "EWWWWW"! They just weren't colors that I would normally put together.

I doubled checked the DMC colors against my monitor and printout again and they did match up, however, and quite thankfully I'll admit, I did not have any fabric that matched DMC #964. The closest match I had in fabric is more like DMC #504. With a sigh of relief, I went for it:



My photo is a little fuzzy but this is the ready to stitch block with the original DMC floss colors. Since my light green fabric matched DMC #504, I switched the thread color as well and began stitching:



I did add some black crushed velvet to my palette to give it a very Victorian feel and to bring out the black in the image.

Now, onto a few special things about this block! First, the lace that I used on the bottom is from an actual Victorian cuff. It's hand crocheted and some of the tiniest crocheting I've ever seen! I bought it a flea market a few years ago and have been saving it for something special as it was quite pricy. I bought a second cuff at the same time, a little different than this one and hope to use it for this challenge later on.

The gold braids were a gift to me from one of my readers, Sandra G. I believe Sandra told me that the braids were from Germany and that they were old. I love my old stuff! Thank you Sandra! Again, I've been saving these for something really special.

The spider web of course, is a traditional Victorian crazy quilt motif and ya'll know I had to put a spider web on here or I just wouldn't be able to sleep!

The Herringbone stitch at the bottom left is an example of me not wanting to stop stitching! For some reason, I just kept on adding to that border until I couldn't add anymore. I thought perhaps some of my readers might enjoy using this seam treatment so I charted it out:



Click on the image to go to my Flickr site where you can download the large version.

So that's where I'm at for now. I pulled out my Penny McMorris book, or rather "the Holy Grail of crazy quilt books" as Allison called it earlier this week, to get a feel for more of the popular CQ motifs from the Victorian days. Not only did the Victorians love their elegant and ornate things, but they had a true appreciation for nature. Something I can very much relate to! This block definitely needs flowers so I'm thinking of either some pansies or some violets. Oh, and speaking of Allison, do stop by her blog to see her January block! She does some gorgeous and very creative things with flower images.

One last thing that I want to mention is that DMC #333 purple is quite, I'll use the word "loud"! I will be using it but I'll limit that color to beads. The color will be there, but it won't jump out of the block like it would had I used it for the stitching.

My plans for today include sewing up my latest cellphone pouches. I'm not sure I'll get the handwork done today but I at least want to assemble them. I also want to do some heavy duty stitching on my January block because at the moment, I'm really into it and it's all I can think about!

More Crazy Quilting

I finished up this little "Kitten In A Basket" ornament last night:



I'll be running my sewing machine for the next few days so I'll get this finished up along with a few other things that need finishing.

Today, I'll be sewing up my block for the Take It Further Challenge. If you remember, I chose "The Victorians" as my admiration theme. I also wanted to work with Sharon's color palette. The image I chose had a blue background and I knew it would be a challenge to work with it as it was. Allison suggested that I see if I can change the colors using my graphic software. Thank you Allison! That's exactly what I did.

Here is the original:



And here it is with a golden tint:



That gold tint gives it a definite antique look which I think will now work nicely with Sharon's color palette. I will pull the DMC floss colors out that match the palette and then from those, I'll pull my fabrics. Thank goodness for my large (and I'm not ashamed of it) stash! I like having a nice variety of things on hand to work from. I do not have a fabric store here in McHenry where I live. I have WalMart and although I'm thankful for the things I can get there, it most certainly, is not the ultimate in fabric choices!

Take It Further Challenge January Palette DMC Floss Colors

Sharon mentioned on her blog this morning, that perhaps someone could match up the DMC floss colors to the January Palette that she chose for the Take It Further Challenge. I left a message for Sharon saying that I would be glad to do that. So here it is:



I matched these based on the image on my monitor as well as from a printout. Please keep in mind, that all monitors and printers vary when it comes to color display. Also, these are the closest matches based on the floss colors that DMC offers.

I hope this helps!

Happy New Year!!!

We went to see National Treasure yesterday afternoon. Oh, that was so good! Just as good as the first one. These movies appeal to me because I have a fondness for American history. It's probably the same reason I like antiques so much. Moldy Oldy stuff as my sister puts it! Anyway, it was a very enjoyable movie. We went for dinner afterwards and when we came home, just sat and watched TV.

Sharon B. has announced the theme and color scheme for January for her Take It Further Challenge. Sharon's theme for January is "the feeling of admiration for another". I spent my morning thinking about this and was at first, a bit lost. I can't say I have a feeling of admiration for another person. Every person on the planet has unique gifts and abilities, no one greater than another.

I went through a list in my head of family members, friends, actors, singers, show hosts and I just couldn't think of anyone who I truly admire in any special way.

I finally just decided to put it out of my head for awhile knowing I would eventually think of something and if nothing else, Sharon also offers a color scheme to work with although for me, that feels like a cop-out. What I really want to do is to work with both the theme and the color scheme. So, I put it out of my head and started straightening up.

I sat down on the chair in the living room for a moment, looked over at my antique crazy quilt on the quilt stand and suddenly, I realized who I admired. It isn't actually a single person but rather a group of people, an era so to speak. The Victorians!

Now I can't say that I would want to actually live in those times. I really enjoy my modern day bathroom facilities! But the Victorians had a sense about them. A sense of style! They had a great love for ornate objects, beauty and elegance. They had a beautiful sense of fashion and etiquette. In the Victorian days, everything that had function also had form. Victorian women had incredible needlework skills, skills for the decorative art of needlework rather than the functional aspect of stitching and sewing. I truly admire the Victorians for their love of beauty and elegance.

So, my first block will be a tribute to the Victorians. I will find a photo of a beautifully dressed Victorian lady and use it as a focal point. I'll work around it using the colors from the palette that Sharon chose and I may even incorporate the years of the Victorian era 1838 - 1901 which are of course, the years that Queen Victorian reigned. Thinking about it now, perhaps I should just use a photo of Queen Victoria. It was really her love of ornate things which started the trend of that era. Something to think about. Of course, it was also Queen Victoria who said, "I take a bath once a month whether I need it or not". Ok, so I don't love every Victorian trend!

I'll need a sewing day to put my block together. I actually have a few things that need finishing and a few other blocks that need sewing up as well so perhaps tomorrow would be a good day to run my machine.

In the meantime, I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year!