Day 2 Details

Here are my Day 2 Details:

Here's the rick rack. It's a little bare right now and I want to add some beads; however, I don't have the right color... I want some pink ones. Soooo, this weekend I think a trip to the bead store is in order. I think I'm going to try a new one this time. Should be fun!


This is the buttonhole stitch fan treatment. Boy... I like this one alot. It's so elegant and spare... unfortunately, maybe a bit to spare... I was thinking this morning that I might add some lazy daisy stitches between the fans... we'll see.

I'm really enjoying the 100 Details in 100 Days. It's kinda like I've been given bits and pieces of a puzzle and I can make my own picture with them. Very cool... I love studying Sharon's picture and post, then letting it percolate thru my own creative screen and watching what comes out the other side. Fun times!!

Better Late Than Never!!

Here is my Day 1 Detail... finally!! I didn't get to work on it until Sunday night and I don't work very fast so it took until this morning to get the first detail done.


I think it would have been better with bugles but I didn't have the right color so I just winged it. Once it is incorporated with all the other seam treatments it won't be noticeable. And... this is a learning experience, correct??

I can tell I probably won't be able to do every detail of Sharon's and Annie's; however, I'm planning to do as many as I can!! :0)

On to the next challenge!!

100 Details...

from the ever prolific Sharon Boggon - a project of presenting 100 Details in 100 Days. Sharon challenged her friend Annie Whitsed to do the same and she is!! Then... Allison Aller decided to do a stitch-a-long, doing one of the details every day as they are posted. Sounds like a great idea to me... I'm in! There are a few others joining in also... Sharon has a list on her blog.

Of course, as always, I'm a bit behind since I didn't have any CQ blocks made up. But I had lots of ideas floating around in my brain so it didn't take long to get something put together. Here are the first 3 blocks I'll be using for my "100 Details Quilt."


Block 1


Block 2


Block 3

The centers are hand-dyed marbled cotton and the other patches are various bits and pieces I've been collecting... these are mostly from clothes. Thank goodness I was able to get the fabric organized last weekend... I never would have been able to find the right colors! I ended up with 4 shades of pink, 4 shades of purple and 4 shades of aqua green that blend with and complement the marbled cottons. The cottons are remnants from a dyer in Tucson that I got on eBay.

Tonight the stitching begins!!

Better pictures

Finally got some better pictures. At Hubbie's suggestion I just used the light from my Ott light instead of a flash and they came out better. Not great... but better!


Here is the full hanging.


The center of the web.


And this one shows the three treatments for the crossing web lines.

See ya's!

A Weekend "on the Web"

There has been progress on the Wedding CQ Web...

This is a horrendous picture but I had trouble getting a better one. Hopefully I will get a good picture when it is finished.

I made three types of lines on the web. Chain stitch using perle cotton, couched rayon thread and strings of beads of various shades of green. In the center I put a couple of beads and a star of bugles to echo the stars on the hearts.

Another horrible picture. I think I better read the camera manual again! But at least you get an idea of what it looks like.

Working on this large piece has been a bit of a challenge. I finally bought a table from an office supply store that is on casters. I strategically placed the table between my chair and the TV so I had prime viewing for Sunday's "Midsomer Murders." It worked very well for the long radiating lines of the web, allowing me to stretch out the thread and align it properly. The large wheels worked well too, allowing me to gently push the table away from me without pouring beads all over the place!

Beginnings of a Web

I spent the entire weekend working on my spider web. This is how far I got...

It's not a very good picture... sorry. Anyway, I got all the rays done. They are done with a heavy German rayon thread couched down with perle cotton. The German rayon is beautiful but a real bear to work with. It took a couple of trys to get the method down but we finally got along pretty good.

I have begun the cross pieces with strings of beads. The plan is to do some crossings with beads and some with thread to give it some interest. I did the beading Monday night but haven't touched it since. I think I'm a little burned out on it, but will get going again tonight. I need to get it done!

Other news... since our house in Colorado sold last month we are out from under that burden. I called my realtors mortgage broker yesterday and found out that we can buy a house anytime with 0% down payment. Hurray!! Oh, I know it is not ideal but what it means is that we don't have to wait a year to buy a house and in Phoenix that is a good thing. Housing prices have gone thru the roof here... in 2004 they went up about 48%. It was slightly better in 2005, going up only something like 36%. The market is now flooded with homes, whereas last year there were bidding wars going on. It is now a buyer's market and that is a wonderful thing for us. And I am soooooo tired of living in a little apartment. Everything is still in boxes and there is no room to work correctly... whine!!!! LOL! Anyway, I am a very happy camper!!

I'm also planning my next 16 CQ projects... ;0) I have all these ideas in my head and I need to get started on some of them. First off, my youngest son and his fiance have asked me to make their ring-bearer's pillow for their wedding in September. Her wedding gown is off-white with emerald ribbons and the wedding will have an autumn/harvest theme going on. The plan is to make it a pillow case so they can remove the pillow and just frame up the CQ after the wedding. I'm still working out how that will be done but am anxious to get going on it.

All for now... will try to be a better blogger; however, Blogger doesn't always cooperate!!

Weekend Plans

Well... I chickened out and called the Wild Child last night to make sure I was making the right decision on the background treatment. He looked at the blog and immediately said... "Well, you know which one I like!!" And of course it was the spider web... I just feel better having his OK... it would be terrible to screw it all up at the very end!! So, I'll finally be working on the background this weekend.

I'll also be sorting out my crazy quilting fabric. As highlighted in this photo...

things have gotten a little bit out of hand!! At one time I had all the fabric sorted by color but most of it is pretty slippery and piling stacks of slippery fabric on book shelves is not truly conducive to keeping order. A quick trip to Tarjay this week and I'm ready to tackle the mess.

We just won't talk about the mess in the bead/lace/embellishments cabinet, 'K?

Background Plans for the Wedding Hearts CQ

So... I printed several copies of the heart template so I could do some playing and figure out how I would treat the background. Here is the original:



Here is design one:

I like this one alot; however, it would really only work as a pieced background. Since I have already attached the hearts to the solid background, it will have to wait for a later incarnation. heh... anyway...


here is design two:

This one makes me happy. I like the way the hearts are cradled by the quilting... how the quilting ripples outward like a pool of water from the hearts. I would use perle cotton interspersed with beads and probably french knots. I like that part, too... the combination of the simple stitches with the beads would be very cool.

Then we have design three:

This, I think, is probably the winner for this piece. You may or may not be able to tell on the not-so-great picture but the Wild Child has tattoos everywhere... and, he is an ornamental iron worker who makes tables that look like spider webs... and, he really liked the spider web on Leigh's goth pillow. So... I think this piece will have the spider web on the background. I must say that the hearts look like they are suspended on the spider web, and that's pretty cool, too.

I'll use this perle cotton and these bead mixes:


Keep your fingers crossed that I've made the right decision. Heh.

Applique Happens

I spent most of the weekend working on my Wedding CQ. The 7" Heart was finished with the addition of this to the lower left side:

This is a very large mother of pearl button surrounded by pearls and beads. I really didn't want to add the lines of pearls across the top; however, the button kept popping up above the pearls around it and it was making me crazy so I went with the extra pearls.

This "star" was addedto the upper left side:

This is two buttons and lots of FireOpal Swarovski crystals (so gorgeous) and other beads.

Then came the true test... attaching the hearts to the backing. I used hand-dyed cotton and simply appliqued them on thusly:

The addition of the hearts to the plain backing is going to work well, I think. I am adding batting (Warm & Natural cotton) and then another piece of the hand-dyed fabric on the back.

The next step is to quilt and embellish the quilt sandwich. I know it probably isn't true CQ, but the hearts look a little lonely on that wide expanse of backing and I've been wanting to do some other types of embellishing so I'm gonna go for it! I'm going to audition some threads, etc. tonight so we'll see what happens!