Coming up for air...

Well, time sure flys when you are having fun, doesn't it?!?! Sheesh, I really need to spend more time here on my blog, don't I? I'll make that a belated New Year's resolution, howzat? ;0)

Anyhoo, further progress has been made. I want to give you some closeups of the bottom border... the woodland floor if you will. I'm really tickled at how it came out. My vision was pretty true on this portion of the quilt.

So, moving from left side to right side we have the following:








Here's a closer picture of the center portion of the bottom border:


Materials used to create the forest floor include:
- Crocheted leaves from thrifted doilies
- Butterfly and moth pins from antique stores & flea markets
- Beetles and tiny lizards from the interweb and garage sales
- Wood, shell and semi-precious beads from discarded necklaces and buttons from the stash
- A belt from a lace dress makes up the vine along with some chenille from SharonB

I had great fun putting all this together!

Now, for the center portion where we have a slightly off center Titania:

“Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night”

Cowslips:


A fairy lantern:


Bead embroidery:


That's all the closeups I have at this point. The quilt "finished" in a marathon of stitching and embellishing. It was squared up, a border was put on, everything was tacked down nice and tight and a false back put on. "One Midsummer Night" is on hiatus and has gone on a small journey to an exciting place. This is what she looks like now:

Click on the image and you'll wind up at flicker where you can see lots of detail in the "original" size under "All sizes."

When she returns from her journey, there will be more embellishing done and I'll take many closeups before she graces the wall of our bedroom. This has been a two and a half year journey of learning so very much about crazy quilting. I highly recommend tackling a large project at some point in your life as a crazy quilter; however, it may be quite awhile before I do it again! :0)

In other news, I have joined the the Bead Journal Project for this year. I'm excited about it but still haven't settled on a format and it's getting close to the end of January already! Stay tuned for more info on this rapidly developing story. LOL!

Thanks for staying with me through this last year of almost no blogging, I'll do better in the future. Pinky swear! ;0)

progress

Hey, ladies... hope all is well in your world this beautiful December day! It's been more than a few days; however, I have progress to show you. Here is the total quilt as it stood last weekend. Of course, it's still in pieces and chunks, but you can get the overall idea. I'll be putting narrow borders between the outer blocks and the center portion, but I'm not sure of the fabric yet.


Here's the center portion, all pieced together now. I've added leaves to the trees, as well as short stacks of beads and leaf beads to give it some depth and life. I also added a couple of button clusters in the upper reaches of the tree. I will probably add at least one more, but I'm not sure where it will reside.


Here's a closeup of some of the work on the tree. I spent ALOT of time doing buttonhole stitch leaves!!


Along the twisting runners and vines I have added vintage sequins as eglantine (sweet briar rose).


Now we are moving on to the blocks along the right and left borders. Here I've added a tall grass bunch to try and make it feel like you are peering through the grasses on the edge of the glade. Sort of. ;0) Anyhoo... here is the right border. I'll be putting a spider web and associated spider on the upper right portion of this bunch of grass. This is couched round satin cording.


And here is the left hand border, with another bunch of grass. This is some type of piping that I sewed on with beads. This bunch is slightly shorter than the right hand side.


Here is a closeup of this clump of grass with the addition of the crocheted leaves on the bottom. I'm putting these crocheted leaves all along the bottom of the quilt. My vision is working so far! WooHoo!


I have accomplished more this past week but have no pictures to share yet. I'm getting there! I'll try and update later this week and show you what further additions I have made. Love ya'!

How I spent my vacation

Hey, ladies, howze it goin'? Hope everyone is in fine fettle and stitching away!

I'm back from vacation... well, I was back 3 weeks ago actually. But, then, as usual, I was sick for a week after our vacation and then life kinda got in the way. I think that long involved road trips will no longer be a part of our vacation plans... too trying on this aging body! We had a really good time... well, most of the time anyway. I got quite a bit of stitching done on the tree. Lots and lots of buttonhole leaves...

This is the left side of the tree....


and here is the center portion...


Then we have the right side of the tree. I've been using some variegated threads I found at my local needlepoint shop for the first pass across the blocks. Here's a closeup of the leaves so you can see them a little better. As always, you can click on the picture and it will take you to Flickr where you can pick a larger size to look at if you wish.


This is a little blurry but I think you can tell what I have been doing. This was all done while I was on vacation. I stitched all the way across Texas, all the while I was at my mother-in-law's house and then I had to stop. I wore a hole in my needle-pushing finger and couldn't stitch anymore! Where was my thimble, you say... why, it would be at home where all good thimbles hide out. I was rather upset that I forgot it because I missed some quality stitching time!

Here is something else I was rather upset about...

This is at a rest stop in the middle of Texas... see that little puddle underneath the van? That would be the power steering fluid leaking out of the hole we found out was in the power steering line. The cowling that you see there, that big black thing? That is supposed to protect the engine from stuff popping up from the road. Well, whatever popped up from the road went right through the cowling, partially ripping it off, and then right through the power steering line! Gah.. what to do? Well, Glenn took off the cowling and we headed for Houston. Pretty soon we started hearing this terrible noise in the front of the van and we stopped at tiny gas station in Van Horn, Texas. We ground to a stop and there we sat. We couldn't start the van because something seemed to be all frozen up. Glenn called a Toyota dealer in San Angelo and found out that the belt he was looking at only powered the power steering pump so... he used a knife and cut off the belt! We gingerly turned the key and the van started right up! WooHoo! Off we went again with a frozen power steering pump, and consequently, no power steering... for another 300 miles. Long story short, we had to get the power steering pump and the belt replaced in Houston. What a mess!

Happy 35th Anniversary to us! Oh, yes, this all happened on our 35th Wedding Anniversary. Ah... the joys of the road trip! Luckily, I was so involved with getting everything ready for the trip with all the important things like piecing my quilt and sorting threads and beads that I didn't make reservations in San Antonio like I wanted to. We stayed with Glenn's sister for an extra day in Houston while the van was fixed.

And now, if I was a good blogger, I would be telling you about how I visited with Debra in Houston. I'd tell you all about her beautiful work that I got to see in person and I'd show you the goodies I brought to share with her. However, once again, I was so focused on getting things ready for the trip that I FORGOT that she lived so close to Houston! I didn't remember until we were headed back to Phoenix and by then it was too late. I was sooooo mad at myself I couldn't see straight! Sometimes I'm such a twit! My apologies, Debra! Next time!

OK, that's enough for now. I've made some further progress on the tree and I'll show you that in a few days... no, really! Only a few days!!! :0)

Robin Atkins comes to Phoenix

I had the distinct pleasure of attending a 2-day Improvisational Beading class taught by Robin Atkins. Wow, was it an eye opener! So much to learn and so little time... but I gave it a whirl! She started us out with the basics and then moved into more advanced stitches. First we practiced on a trial piece and then we moved into making our own pieces. More about that later!

I took a few pictures; however, I was too shy to take a picture of Robin while she was teaching (didn't want to disturb her) but I did get a great picture of her hands as she told us about her "Marriage Bag."

As she taught us the different advanced stitches, Robin would bring around examples of her work to show us how she had used that particular stitch. It was a wonderful way to see how the stitch looked on a beaded piece, as well as a great way to get up close and personal with the artist and her art.

Here is another of her pieces that I just love... Rosie!

Isn't she something else? There is so much going on with this little lady! Here's a close-up of her garden...


As you can see from Robin's post about her visit here, there were some talented people in that class. Apparently Lisa has a new love!

As I said earlier, by afternoon of the first day everyone was working on their own personal beaded piece. I started in on mine and got quite a few beads embroidered on it and then Robin said she wanted to show the class my piece... as she took it she said "I hope you don't take this wrong, but..." Oh, dear. Then she used my piece as an example of how improvisational beading should not start! Hoo boy, not the impression I wanted to leave her with! But I soldiered on and got a bit more improvisational with it instead of making it so symmetrical and I think she was a bit happier with it at that point. So was I!! I could see that I had planned it out in my head instead of being spontaneous and just letting it flow the way she had shown us. Wanna see it?

I started it with the buttons and then added the rhinestone beads around the top button and it was altogether way too symmetrical. The bottom part is where I actually started just beading without a plan. I like the way it is going and I'm going to use it as a practice piece as I work through the beading on my Midsummer CQ.

Oh, yes, there will be scads of beading around Titania! I think the techniques Robin taught during those wonderful two days will really help to bring some dimension and extra emphasis to many areas of the center portion. I can't wait to dig into it!

And, speaking of the center portion... all blocks have been pieced! WooHoo! ;0)

I had such a hard time piecing the tree... it took every evening of the past week. The center block and the left block took 4 evenings, then, this morning, I got up and pieced the top right block in 3 hours. Quite a steep learning curve! Of course, I can see where I need to do some revision on the piecing here and there but at least you can now see the idea that was in my head! On my monitor, these colors are pretty true. When I first envisioned this, it was going to be much softer, lighter tones; however, when the muse speaks, I listen! Of course, this is just the base and there will be many additions along the way!

We're off on a long road trip for the next couple of weeks, but I'll be stitching the entire way... WooHoo! Va-ca-tion!!

Still here!

I am still here! I've been doing some stash enhancement in anticipation of doing the final embroidery and beading on the center piece of the Midsummer Quilt.


I bought some Sassa Lynne threads and some beautiful ribbon from Maureen's Vintage Acquisitions.


She had the colors and the selection I needed all in one place which is nice. I also bought some flower beads and size 15 seed beads off of ebay and etsy... some place else, too, but I can't remember where... ah, I remember! Bead World... that's where I got them!


I also got these leaf beads at Bead World. They have a pretty nice selection of flower and leaf beads there.

This is my green bead mix I made up, along with some vintage flower sequins I'll be using quite a bit. They have a lovely irridescent shine to them!

Work has been a bear lately and we've also had company in town so it has been hard to get some major quality embroidery time in; however, I've actually managed to get a bit done, believe it or not! I wanted to show you how I was doing the ferns in the corners. I started them with just a fern stitch, but it seemed way too sparse and not very fern-like at all. I decided I needed to fill in the leaves alot more so I just started adding straight stitches alongside the lines of fern stitch. Here is the plain fern stitch...


and here is the fern stitch with the straight stitches added in to make it more "ferny." (Yes that is a word!) (maybe...)

I've used different greens for the various ferns and it has helped it to seem more... ferny! ;0)

We are going on a road trip in a few weeks and I want to get the whole center pieced so I'll have it with me to fill the hours on the road... and sitting on the couch in my mother-in-law's house. ;0) I'll be back in a day or so with the tale of how I spent my weekend! It was fun!!!

Still working away on the Midsummer CQ

Although I've been quiet on this little blog, I have been working away on the Midsummer CQ project. I've decided that 2.5 years is long enough and it WILL be finished by the end of the year!

So, without further ado, here's what I have been up to. When last we left Titania she was wingless and indecisive. Due to popular opinion, including my own, I went with the plain purple wings and here's where we stand today (click to embiggen, then go to all sizes):


I fused her wings to the block and then couched some lovely purple sparkly braid around the outer edges to help with the fraying. I also stitched some tiny metallic thread to emphasize the shape of the wing as well has help hold the fabric down (it didn't fuse very well because of the wrinkles). Then, I backstitched with teeny tiny stitches all the way around her dress and hair as well as the tree. Her hair is also backstitched throughout to try and give the impression of lots of curls (we are rather fond of curls in my family!). Getting this far has helped me get a good feel for how everything in the center portion will work but I won't do any more until she is brought together with all the other center blocks.

And, speaking of center blocks, here are the three bottom blocks of the center portion. I set them up so you can see how they will fit together:


I used Allie's curved piecing method to give some flow to the picture. Of course I haven't seen her do it in person but once I got going it fell into place pretty quickly. At least it did for the left and center blocks... I waited a couple of weeks before I did the right hand block and had to completely re-learn how to do it! I think once I have lots of foliage and flowers and sprinkles and fairies and all that lovely stuff added it will look pretty good. At least I sure hope so! The vines curling around the long seams are running stitch and I plan on adding some leaves and flowers to them. In my mind's eye I see those vines curling through the grasses and ferns on the edges of the glade, rather like bindweed. I just started working on the ferns this week and am really enjoying figuring out how to add depth and life to them. They are done with fern stitch and lazy daisy stitches. I'm so looking forward to exploring this forest glade!

I've also nearly completed the beading of all the seams of the outer blocks. I've been taking each section to work and beading during my lunch hour. Everybody oohs and aahs over it, then says I'm crazy! Yup, that would be me, crazy for crazy quilting... LOL!!

Yesterday I hit Bead World here in Phoenix to pick up some leaf and flower beads. That place really makes me drool! I barely managed to control myself but I still spent too much, as always! Ah, well, they will be lovely on the quilt!

OK, that's about it for tonight. Take care, lovely ladies, and hope to "see" you soon!!

Piecing and which wings?

I have managed to get some piecing done... finally and at last. I took the lower left hand block of the center and began to work on it, feeling my way along, trying to make it work. I wanted to do several things with the center portion. I wanted to
- use colors that allow the Titania block to blend in rather than stand apart
- follow the curve of the light from under the tree to the outer edge
- use Allie's curved piecing method
- make the seams of the pieces curve to mimic grass and foliage

This is what I came up with:
.
It's 11"x15" and it took me awhile but I think I managed to do what I wanted to do. When I got it finished I was rather taken aback at how bright and intense it was... I guess I have been working with neutrals for so long that the color was rather shocking! Here's how the upper right corner of this block matches up color-wise with Titania's block:

I'm pretty tickled that I was able to blend it so well... hopefully I will keep my matching mojo going. ;0)

Meanwhile, I have been playing with Titania and adding some details and shading here and there. I used colored pencils to intensify the colors on the tree, deepen the shadows and give a little more life to her face with eye shadow and lip color. Then I ironed the whole block to set the color. I've never used that technique before but it worked quite well and really made a difference.

Next, I started working on her wings. I wanted to really get the feeling of Titania's block set in my head and to do that, I need to give her wings... so to speak! I had some marbled fabric so I played with that first:

I reaslly wanted this to work but I think they might be a little bit too much. They kind of take away from her rather than add to her. Here's the second try:

This is a textured fabric I picked up somewhere and I like it alot. On this one I laid the wings back a little bit, thinking that that's how they would be if she was sleeping. I'm not sure about that part, but I do like the fabric. I also tried some white organza but it completely disappeared against the background so I didn't even take a picture.

I've been looking at these so long, though, that I can't really see which would work anymore. So, which one do you like better and why?