CQI Heart DYB Round Robin 2014 - Set 2 Complete

Kathy's CQI Heart DYB RR 2014 - embellished by Renee Y.

Yesterday, I finished embellishing Kathy's block in our Crazy Quilting International (CQI) Heart Do Your Block (DYB) Round Robin (RR).  (Click on any photo for a larger view.)

Kathy's CQI Heart DYB RR 2014 bare block

The fabrics were so fun to embellish! In her booklet, Kathy S. (a.k.a. Clothqueen) let us know we did not need to make the colors coordinate with the blocks others have embellished because each block will be used as a focal point in a set of place mats.  (I cannot wait to see them when they are done!)  So, I contemplated all kinds of ideas.  However, I just could not bring myself to stray from the pink and green theme Lisa B. (of ivoryblushroses.blogspot.com) created with her beautiful block. (It is pictured at the end of this post.)

In my experience, my pretty rayon flosses snag easily.  Metallic flosses can fray while stitching. For those reasons, this block uses only cotton flosses and size 8 pearl cotton.  (I have cross-stitched baby blankets with DMC cotton flosses and found they wash well.  In my experience, they have been colorfast, too.) I did opt to add the pink flower trim.  Each flower is securely tacked down.  And, I did my best to stitch around the raw sections that were cut, in hopes they will not fray when washed.

Like Lisa, I was planning to avoid the use of beads.  However, I do so love the shimmer beads provide.  The light pink Mill Hill Petite Glass Beads in my stash are tiny enough, I felt dishes would be able to sit on them with ease.  And, unless I am using one of the beaded stitches from TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday), I always firmly secure each bead.  (When I began crazy quilting, I found three stitches through each bead with a single strand of floss held them firmly in place and knotting the strand of floss three times on the back side of the fabric made the knot large enough that it would not pull through the fabric.  By knotting after each bead, if one bead falls off, the others on the block should remain in place.)  I will send some of these beads on with the block, so Kathy will have matching beads just in case any of the beads do fall off in the future.

This was such a fun block to embellish!

After tacking down the flower trim and stitching tiny green leaves around them, I used waste canvas to evenly stitch the herringbone seam pictured above. Above the herringbone seam, 2 strands of cotton floss, straight stitches, lazy daisy (detached chain) stitches, and petite glass beads created a cute flower seam.  Beneath the herringbone, I added clusters of three French knots with size 8 white perle cotton.

After all of the seams were embellished, I added the tiny butterflies.  Two of them have hearts in their flight path to add to the heart theme.

The second seam uses a light pink size 8 perle cotton.  Buttonhole stitches created the ground and stems. (I later tacked the straight edges along the seam down with a single strand of matching cotton floss, as I feared they might otherwise snag when laundered.) Straight stitched leaves and lazy daisy stitched petals topped with pink petite glass beads transformed the seam into flowers.

I used a strip of waste canvas to evenly space the chevron stitches on the third seam.  Lazy daisy stitches decorated the top of each and a petite glass bead dressed up the bottom.  I might have left the seam as it was, but I could see a tiny bit of the threads used to stitch the block together along this seam and I wanted to hide those.  So, I added three small straight stitches for a stem and leaves and a tiny colonial knot for flower tops.  I loved the way that turned out!

Finally, I added two hearts to the bottom of the block.  (I contemplated adding more to the dark pink sections at the top, but felt they would detract from the central heart too much.)

Two strands of green cotton floss were used to stem stitch the heart and (later - after placing the flowers) add lazy daisy leaves.  Two strands of variegated pink cotton floss were used to make lazy daisy flowers and stem stitched roses.  (I added the petite glass beads and then added stem stitches for the roses.  I made the five lazy daisy stitches for the other flowers and then topped the centers with a petite glass bead.)

Now two of Kathy's blocks are embellished.  On Monday, I will mail them to Tahlia and she will be able to select one of the four remaining blocks to dress up for Kathy.  

Thank you for stopping by!

Renee