Tuesday, May 27, 2014

CQI Heart DYB Round Robin 2014 - Set 1 Complete

CQI Heart DYB RR 2014 - Lisa B.'s block embellished by Renee Y.
The Crazy Quilting International (CQI) Heart Do Your Block (DYB) Round Robin (RR) that I signed up for earlier this year began on May 1st!

Earlier this month, I received the following set of blocks from Lisa B. of ivoryblushroses.blogspot.com. (Yes, this is the same blog with the fantastic pincushion tutorial!)

Click on any photo for a larger view.






I chose to work on the block in this last photos above.

Close up of the heart embellished by Renee Y. on Lisa B.'s block.
 A few close ups of the white-on-white work are below.
A couched heart with lazy daisy (detached chain stitch) leaves and two flowers at the top.
The butterfly is a Swarovski crystal bead.
Flowers and Bows
A gathered silk ribbon rose.
A tall vine flower.

This block was a true joy to work on.  

Most of the heart area was worked in DMC stranded floss and perle cotton (sizes 5 and 8) in shades of 498, 814, 815 and 816.  A couple of shades of DMC white flosses were used with strands of rayon floss and perle cotton floss (sizes 5, 8 and 12.)

The heart shaped beads are Mill Hill Glass Treasures #12082.  There are four hearts in a package.  I picked up two packages of these quite some time ago at Acorns and Threads, a cross-stitch store on Scholl's Ferry Road in the Beaverton/Portland, OR area.

My husband teased me as I worked on the white section.  I would show him my progress and he would tell me he couldn't see anything.  This was the most tone-on-tone work I had done.  And, with the shapes of the white patches being rather uneven because of the heart, I worried a lot about keeping things balanced.  So, I kept hoping it would all look okay when it was complete.  Imagine my delight when I showed the completed block to my hubby last night and he told me he thought this was my best work yet.  (It turns out the white-on-white grew on him and he really likes being able to find something new each time he looks at it.  Good thing, as I hope to make white-on-white curtains for our office doors some day!)

I do hope this is what Lisa had in mind for her oh-so-pretty blocks!

Thank you for stopping by.

Hugs,
Renee

8 comments:

LoriF said...

That's gorgeous, Renee! I must admit, I'm completely confused by the DYB process. Does each participant make a bunch of blocks (the # of participants, I'm assuming) and then send ALL of them to the next person in line, and you choose which block you want to work on? And then send ALL of them to the next person along? I looked at the instructions early on this year and went..."whut??"...so I passed on these ones.

LoriF said...

PS, I really like the way you've outlined the heart in beads; it's a great disguise, and it helps the heart really pop.

Wendy said...

Your block is beautiful! So how does the RR work? You work on one of the blocks, or all of them?

Renee said...

Thank you. I love using the Beaded Link Chain Stitch as a frame!

Renee said...

Thanks for asking. I waited months to jump into a swap once for the same "what?!" feeling, and wished I had asked more about it sooner. I will write a post explaining the process as I know it - and hope it is helpful!

Renee said...

Great question! I have had a few people ask, so I will write a post about the way the RRs I have been in worked.

Elizabeth Braun said...

Those really are gorgeous, Renee! Wish I could do something like that...=)

Renee said...

Lisa's blocks were so pretty to begin with! And, I have no doubt you could do something like that. (I find myself thinking those same words when I see your work!)