A Floral Seam & A New Book

Last night, I had a lot of fun playing with one of Sharon B.'s Crazy Quilt Templates. (This template is from Set 1. I am not affiliated with the templates, but did receive them in return for an honest review and I truly love them!)

First, I traced the wavy line along the seam on the foundation side of my fabric using light pencil marks. (I held it up to the light to be sure it was sitting where I wanted it.)

Then, I used a stem stitch and a strand of DMC white metallic thread to embellish the seam.

After that, I stem stitched curved stems shooting off of the top of each "hill" on the wavy seam. 

Detached chain stitches created leaves along the vine and flower stems.

Note: I use shorter strands of metallic threads than cotton. These threads fray easily, particularly if they are going through several layers of fabric (as found along seams). Using shorter strands decreases the likelihood the thread will fray, knot, and/or break while stitching.

Using red DMC metallic thread, I added sets of 3 detached chain stitches for petals at the tip of each stem and topped each of these flowers with a Mill Hill Petite Glass Seed Bead #42010.

Today, I am excited to say, I finished this block. I hope to get better photographs of it to share tomorrow.

(I have shared more progress photos on Instagram. And you may find links to other posts related to this project here.)

Even more exciting! Today I received my copy of Sharon Boggon's new book: The Visual Guide to Crazy Quilting Design: Simple Stitches, Stunning Results. (Please note, although I am not affiliated with the book, if you go to Amazon through my blog and make a purchase, I do earn a small credit. The cover price on the book is $29.95. At the time of this post, it is only $19.33 on Amazon here in the US and for Amazon Prime members, shipping is free. This book may be found here on Amazon.)

I have not read much of the book yet, but I have looked through all of the photographs. Just seeing all of the luscious colors and textures is inspiring me to work on more crazy quilting. So far, I would recommend the book just for the eye candy.

(Confession: I grinned seeing the template I used for the floral seam shared above on page 70 of Sharon's book.)

When I ordered the book (on the 12th), I was delighted to see it was the #1 New Release in Needlework. At the moment I am typing this post, it is listed on Amazon as the #1 Best Seller in Embroidery. Sharon, if you happen to read this post, congratulations!!! I am so excited for you.

Thank you all for stopping by!
Renee