Dragonflies Paradise

When last we left off on the Embellishment Sampler on International Quilting Weekend, I had finished the mounting quilt...and had a couple of the squares done..

The whole thing is done now! I really, really enjoyed working on this quilt..its going to hang in my office...at least for a while.

Here are detail shots of each of the squares:
This was the first one I did...I really love the colors that were in the kit and how the outer border has all of the same colors..such a lucky find in my stash!

This one is probably my favorite of the blocks..though...

 ..this one is a close second!

The center..which I think was the second block..on the original quilt, the quilter, Shelley Swanland, used a silkie with a dragonfly on it..and everyone oohed and ahhed about that dragonfly, but my kit came with the roses - not to fear..I found a dragonfly in my stash of bits and bobs...and the rest is history!  At first, I was just going to have the one dragonfly, but DH said he looked lonely...so I found the other two big dragonflies..then had the wild thought about adding the charm dragonflies..which came in a big tub of assorted buttons and other odd pieces that I got at Tueday Morning a long time ago...
So...the quilt was named 'Dragonflies Paradise'!
I attached the center block with plastic turquoise beads..they have a wee bit of iridescence...

For the outer corner blocks, I attached them with turquoise glass beads that have silver centers...

and the center sides (not really sure if this is the correct terminology!!) I used golden glass beads.

DH may be disappointed this quilt is not going to hang in the house, but eventually I will bring it back home again.. He says he likes looking at all of the different aspects...there is too much to take in at once!

What I Did for International Quilting Weekend

I binge watched a bunch of shows on The Quilt Show - every year they open up the prior years shows for free viewing...so I took advantage of that.. I think I watched 8 of them!

Learned a bunch of techniques...and once my 'creative juices' were revved up, I  turned my attention to the Embellishment Sampler that my quilting friend at work got me for Christmas...

It needed the mounting quilt - so that part is done!

I originally had a different blue floral for the outer border, but it just wasn't ringing any bells when I laid it out next to the partially embellished squares...so I rummaged around in my large florals bag and found a few other selections...this one won out...Originally, I had a bright green for the resting border, but my DH asked if I could find something to match the turquoise of the upper left flower..found just the right piece and I was good to go. The center is a vintage cotton hankie that I used Terial Magic on to make it board stiff...but since it is pretty thin, I backed it with a creamy muslin. Once the squares are finished being embellished, they will be attached to the mounting quilt with beads. 

I really like how this is turning out...DH keeps coming in to check the progress - I think he likes it too!

Landscape Friends Round Robin Progress

These are the Landscape Friends Round Robin pieces that I have worked on:

Kim's:

Kim's was round 1 for me..I added the dogwood blossoms which were made of felt rickrack, clear beads, florescent green thread and shaded with aquarelle crayons. I also did the seam treatments on the sun.

Ami's:

Ami's was round two for me. I added the fence, the flowers on the fence and the ruts in the road.

Kathi's:

Kathi's is round 3 for me. I went kinda wild with adding seam treatments on this one..knowing that I was the last one and did not have to leave some for a next person...I added the antique tatted lace and braid, the starfish, the oyster stitching, the shells embroidery and the real oyster shell in the sand area. I added the blue fish, a dophin and the coral by 'broidere pierce'..added some beaded and fiber seam treatments in the ocean part.

Can't wait to see what MINE will look like when the ladies get done with it!

Autumn in Turtle Valley Finished

I quilted and quilted yesterday...and finished the quilting on 'Autumn in Turtle Valley'..today I put a hanging sleeve and a label on it..so it is truly DONE!

The design of the quilt was from a pattern by Kathie Alyce - I took a class from her called 'Down the River, Down the Road' at Road to California. I decided I liked the look of the inset trees she did on a different pattern, so I added the tree...I took the piece with me to retreat and Ellen encouraged me to actually be brave and CUT the top to put the tree in...Nyla gave me the border fabric (It's a Patrick Lose fabric)...and Sharon let me hunt thru her scrap bag for the fall colored batiks for the leaves...Thank you, my friends!

Here is a detail shot of the top of the tree:

Here is a detail shot of the river with the quilted outlines of the turtles:

How I Spent National Quilting Day

On Saturday, which was National Quilting Day, a group of my crafty friends got together to work on quilting (and knitting) projects..we had lots of fun..lots of good food and got a bunch done! We did not know it was National Quilting Day when we set the date..it just worked out really well!

Three of us are quilters and one prefers knitting..she does really nice knitting!

This was a mystery quilt from Road to California's Lakeside Mystery that got sewn together into the center of the top..it needs borders and then will get sent out to be quilted..I love how my friend put the calla lily in the black diamond (a 'design opportunity' as the teacher said)...I think this may be my favorite mystery quilt ever! It is so vibrant!

These are paperpieced arcs that another friend is working on... She took a Judy Neimyer class recently and learned how to do the curved arcs..I think they are turning out really beautiful.

This is one of the things I was working on...I am adding dogwood blossoms to the tree..This is a base that is being passed around in a Round Robin. I bought some felt ric-rac at the Coastal Shop Hop the prior weekend and its turning out quite nicely for the dogwood blossoms...I snip off two sets of two 'bumps' of the ric-rac, dab red Aquarelle crayon to make the pink, then the felt pieces are attached using crystal beads and lime green rayon thread...I need to do the other side of the tree and maybe add a few leaves..

The lady that is currently working on my base (the Tuscan Landscape) has put a vine with hundreds of silk ribbon roses on it coming out of one of the pots! It looks gorgeous!

I also added more seam treatments and some beads to 'Autumn in Turtle Valley' but it does not look that different yet! But..its getting there...I hope to get done with it by the end of the next month..

Autumn in Turtle Valley

Here's the progress so far..if you click on the picture it will open up bigger. I still need to stem stitch all the green leaves, add a bit more embroidery and some beads (clear ones in the river for bubbles)..not sure what else..maybe a bird in the sky...one of my GF's thinks I should accentuate the turtles in the green batik, but I am not sure what would look right...then I need to figure out how to quilt this!

Butterfly Heart

I renamed the Crazy Heart quilt to Butterfly Heart...its finished! I put the last stitches into it last night. I blocked it by spraying the non-embellished areas with sizing..and ironing..but that made the wool a bit flat, so after it dried, I went back and steamed the quilted areas so the wool would puff up again..

Here is the full quilt. I love how the wool batting makes the quilting seem to pop out. Wool is my favorite batting to hand quilt...needle goes thru like a hot knife thru butter! I did end up having to tack the heart down - it looked too strange without it being tacked..so I took hidden quilting stitches along all the seams and it looks much better. The center butterfly was not originally quilted or embellished..but it looked poofy too, so I quilted around it...because there are so many layers at that point, I ended up doing one stitch at a time - it has much better definition now..I don't think I have seen the technique of using both encrusted crazy quilting and sane (traditional) quilting in the same piece..but I like how mine turned out!


















Here is a detail of the upper quilting...I added an orange outline of the butterfly in between the outline quilting of the butterfly feathers to make it stand out a bit - hopefully you can see it..the picture is a little dark to keep the flash from washing the orange out...














Here is a detail of the corner feathers - the butterflies are made of feathers too: