Button Quilt - Block 1

I started stitching on this little 6 inch block:



As I mentioned yesterday, I've always been fond of Sharon B's "I Dropped The Button Box Quilt". Scott's step mom has been giving me jars and bags full of old buttons that she finds at garage sales and flea markets so I thought it would be fun to do a bunch of small blocks to use my buttons on.

I emailed Sharon and asked if her quilt was still online somewhere and she kindly sent me the link. If you haven't seen it yet, do hop over. You can find it here.

I'll finish this up today and probably start on another button block. Judy asked if all the blocks would be blue. Nope! They'll be all different colors and of course, they must have glitter!

Take It Further March - Completed

I finished this up yesterday:



As you can see, I added some button clusters to give it a more garden-like feel. If you look at the cluster under the hummingbird, you can see a pair of vintage crystal earrings. They were clip on's so I had to cut the clips off of them. I had to top sew them down and hide the threads, to the best of the ability, underneath the crystals.

The concept was, Little Things or Details In Life. I chose the hummingbird because of the personal significance it has for me but I won't go into what that is here.

Now that I've completed the March block, and I must say, I always feel a little sad when finish up my challenge block, I decided on a small project:



I like to alternate large and small projects so last week when I was running my treadle machine, I pieced up a few 6 inch blocks. I've always been taken with Sharon B's "I dropped the button box" quilt. I looked for the link on her website and I don't see it. I will email Sharon and ask her if she still has a photo of it online somewhere.

Anyway, I have gobs and gobs of old buttons and thought it would be fun to use some of them on small blocks which I'll eventually sew into a quilt. I'll be starting on this one today.

Take It Further March - Day 4

I'm running a bit late today. I had troubles getting my photo to upload to Flickr. It's there now so here's an update on my March Take It Further block:



I have all of the seams beaded now so next I'll start adding some of the larger do-dads. I decided against SRE iris's under the bird. Scott's step mom just gave me a huge bag of vintage buttons that she found at a garage sale so I thought I'd do some button clusters on this.

I'm sure I'll finish this today as I just plan to relax, stitch and listen to movies all day. I haven't decided on what to stitch next. I have some new small blocks that I put together last week on my treadle machine. I may choose one of those. I like to alternate small and large projects.

Take It Further March - Day 2

This is actually kind of day 2 and 3. I just didn't get much done on it the 2nd day. Anyway, I have all of the seams stitched now:



The hummingbird isn't permanently attached yet. I may move him a bit. I pinned him on to get a feel of space there. I want to stitch some irises underneath him.

I'll start beading on this later today.

Also, I thought I'd mention that you can get a feel of "curved seams" but using lace and trim. Both pieces of lace are antique and they had a natural curve to them so I just went with it. It adds some movement without actually doing curved seams. Crocheted lace is great for this! It's very easy to manipulate so if you have some laying around, give a try!

Finally, I just have to tell you that I saw Robin's today! I was really surprised because it's only 19 degrees outside. I heard a familiar sound, but one that I hadn't heard in a long time. I looked up at the maple tree and there they were. Four big, fat robin birds, sitting up there singing away! I guess there's hope after all, that Spring might actually show up one of the days.

Take It Further March - Day 1

Just a quick update for today:



I'm off to clean out the cupboards in my kitchen.