CQJP 2013 April Block Finally Completed!

Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2013 April Block Completed

It is 3 months behind schedule, but I finally completed my April block for CQJP 2013! 

You may recall that I originally labeled this bare block as Block 5.  At that time, it looked like this:

CQJP 2013 Block 5 before embellishing

I am still working on Block 4 - the one with the lightning fabric.  My "brilliant" idea definitely slowed me down.  On the bright side, I no longer want to toss the block and begin again.  The needle painting might just work out after all.  But, back to the April block...

This may look familiar!  I had so much fun working on the snowball I made for Donna in MT, that I decided to add some of those features to this block.

The swan pattern is from DMC Collection: Mini Motif Designs: Exclusive Creation by Mary Bartley Stockett.  

The cattails and lily pads were made using directions from Joan Gordon's Silk Ribbon Embroidery Bible.  (Although I used floss instead of ribbon, the sheep were made by referring to the same book.)

 

I wanted the seam-line with the brown beads to also resemble cattails.  However, I made them a bit too small.  My hope of adding two beads to each did not look right at all.  I think it turned out okay...

The addition of the sun, a few sheep on the hill, and some birds off in the distance helped complete the top.

However, the block was certainly bottom-heavy at this point.  Luckily, I found a few tree buttons hidden in my stash.  They helped even things out a bit.

Now, I am off to finally complete my Daring Bakers' June Challenge that should have been posted on my second blog, He Might Like It, on June 27th...   After that, I hope to complete my chores in time to work on my CQJP 2013 Block 4 and to begin piecing 6 blocks for my first Do Your Block Round Robin (it has a winter/Christmas theme and is with some amazing stitchers, so I can barely wait for it to begin!)

CQJP 2013 Block 4 - Before Embellishing

For those of you in the USA, I hope you have an amazing 4th of July.  Do you have special traditions for the 4th, or will you be making any fun red, white & blue treats?  If so, I'd love to hear about them!  (I made red, white & blue pancakes this weekend - they were dairy-free and sweetened with honey - the recipe will be posted at hemightlikeit.blogspot.com within the next day or two.)

-Renee