Crazy Quilt Day 20

After 20 days of working on my crazy quilt, I have two completed blocks and one ready to embellish!  This morning, I finished the February block.

I was undecided about how I wanted to make a vine along the right side of the block.  A feather stitch? A fly stitch? Or, maybe, a chain stitch? Decisions, decisions!  In the end, I opted to use a chain stitch with DMC light green cotton floss 368.  Next, I added beads for the centers of flowers.  (If I were to make this again, I would stitch the flowers and THEN add the beads.  It would make the lazy daisy stitches a lot easier.)

The larger beads are Pink Pearl 6/0 Czech Glass E-beads.  I used DMC rayon floss S818 to sew them on.  The smaller beads are Darice Jewelry Designer Glass Inside Luster Seed Beads 10/0-pink.  DMC rayon S899 matched perfectly to attach these beads.  Next, I added lazy daisy stitches to make the flowers, using the variegated pink DMC 4180 cotton floss.

 My stitches are not quite even; but they are improving, and I will take that.

It took me a few days to get up the nerve to make this little vine.  I had an idea in my mind and really hoped the final product would look like my mental picture.  It came pretty close.  (Though, I do admit, I used a white chalk pencil to sketch the vine on the fabric before I began.  I did not want my curves to end up pointy like they did with the stem stitched seam along the top of the block.)  I had so much making the vine, I was sorry I took so long!

The block simply did not look finished to me with the blank space in the red section to the left of "February."  So, I decided to make a silk ribbon flower using a straight stitch.  I found a 7mm cream-colored silk ribbon from the kit I had on hand.  Then, I used another pink pearl Czech bead for the center of the flower.  The straight stitches really did not turn out even.  The petals are longer on the left than they are on the right.  However, looking at the block as a whole, it does not bother me nearly as much, so I opted not to pull it all out and start again.  (I was not sure how well the fabric would handle a re-do, either.)

It amazes me that some floss, ribbons, buttons and beads can make such an amazing transformation.  I cannot wait to see how the January block unfolds!

February "Naked" Block

February block completed!