Monday, July 13, 2009

Hello, darlings... nice to see you...

it's been a looooonnnnnngggggg time! (Name that singer!)

I've been working on my Midsummer CQ... beading all the outer blocks. It has been an interesting journey, going back over the blocks and really seeing the stitches on the seams again. The beads I've chosen have been matched pretty closely with the background fabric. There have been some purple and green added in here and there because I want to pull the center colors out into the border a bit. Here are the blocks I've been beading, from lightest to darkest:

Beaded block 1
This is the block closest to the moon on the left side. I used iridescent beads on this and it really sparkles in person.

Beaded block 2
More iridescent beads along with some opaque ones since this is farther from the moon.

Beaded block 4
This is back over on the right side where it's a little darker.

Beaded block 5
As I look at these in closeup, they really arent't very good pictures. Sorry 'bout that! You can kinda see the beading though, and I knew if I didn't get a blog post up soon, I never would!

Beaded block 6
Getting quite dark now, moving farther down to the forest floor.

Beaded block 7
This one is nearly at the bottom so it is even darker.

I've so enjoyed going back over these blocks as I beaded them. I look at some of the seam treatments and think "How the heck did I do that?"... too funny!

I was supposed to piece the inner portion over the long 4th of July weekend; however, my sewing room was such a mess that I spent most of the day finding my way to all the flat surfaces! Once I found work space I couldn't get started... I was stuck and didn't know where to begin. I finally started pulling fabrics and realized that I didn't have enough greens.

A couple of Goodwill stops later I had a pretty good selection of green fabrics so I tried once again this weekend to piece the center portion. I still couldn't see how I was going to do it... My first vision wasn't working and it took me hours to really figure out what I wanted to do. Now that I have a reworked vision to go with, I'm hoping I can get started this week. I did manage to pull the muslin backing out and begin cutting it to size... that's a start at least!! ;0)

That's all for now... I've received some lovely squishy mail recently so I hope to post about that later this week. Wish me luck on my piecing, it should be quite the adventure!

9 comments:

Debra Dixon said...

I certainly understand how it feels to get stuck mid-stream. It takes real determination to push forward and figure out the problem. Good for you!

Silver Surfer said...

lovely work. I know how much work you have put into this. I used to make wedding dresses..

Anonymous said...

Beautiful work!!! Debbie (Maine)
campmoxie@yahoo.com.au

Susan Elliott said...

The beading on these blocks with the stitching is just lovely! Can't wait to see what you do about the green and I know exactly what you mean about finding your work surfaces...I have the same disease...

Anonymous said...

That was a delightful tour around the blocks Marty. This is going to be such a treasured piece when you finish it.

Rissa said...

Lovely! I do a lot of thrift store shopping for recycled fabric. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Who knew we could be so trendy. :-D

Rian said...

It's such a beautiful piece!

allie aller said...

Glad to see you back at it, Marty. The cumulative effect when all the elements go together will be just dazzling...good luck with your green piecing, too!

Karen said...

love this!! and the one in the posts below, simply lovely!