CQJP 2017 January Block Seams 6 & 7

The 6th seam on my CQJP 2017 January block was inspired by Valerie Bothell's Joyful Embellishments #186.

You may see Valerie's seam HERE. The stitch combination shared for #186 was the stem stitch, the cross stitch and the French knot.

Disclaimer: I add links to some of the products I use for your convenience. NOTE: if you visit Amazon through my blog and make a purchase, I do receive a small credit.

I used size 5 DMC B5200 snow white perle cotton for the stem stitch. EdMar Glory #083 variegated medium to pale dark pink floss created the cross stitches. Instead of adding French knots, I attached Mill Hill Petite Glass Seed Beads #42010 Ice beads with a strand of DMC 762 floss. (I secure each bead by wrapping the needle through the bead 3 times and then firmly secure the thread on the back of the fabric before moving on to the next bead.)

This was a fun stitch combination that I hope to use again.

The 7th seam was created following Joyful Embellishments #213. 

You may see Valerie's seam HERE.

This combination called for a straight stitch, detached chain stitches and French knots.

First, I planned where to place each stitch. I did not want the seam to cut off a flower and I wanted the elements evenly spaced.

I worked straight stitches and detached chain stitches with size 8 Anchor #786 green pearl cotton and topped the straight stitches with a French knot using size 8 Anchor variegated pink perle cotton. Between each flower, I worked a French knot with size 12 DMC #B5200 snow white pearl cotton.

I do love the way this one looks!

If you are wondering...

CQJP 2017 stands for Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2017. It is a personal challenge to create one crazy quilt block a month that is at least 8-inches square. You may learn more about it HERE and see other blocks that have been completed HERE.

Joyful Embellishments is a group Valerie Bothell created on Facebook. Monday through Friday, she shares new stitch ideas for crazy quilt seams and/or motifs. She has a Pinterest Board with each of the Joyful Embellishments stitching combinations that you may find HERE.

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

Other posts related to this project include:

How the block was pieced

Seam 1

Seams 2 & 3

Seams 4 & 5

My CQJP 2017 project may also be found on this Pinterest board.

CQJP 2016 February Block Seams 2 - 4 and TAST 2016 Stitch 36

The 2nd seam embellished on my February Crazy Quilt Journal Project 2016 February Block was inspired by Valerie Bothell's Joyful Embellishments #2: curved feather stitch + lazy daisy (also called the detached chain stitch.)

I traced a wavy ruler I purchased from Creative Memories years ago for scrapbooking and then followed the curvy line with a feather stitch using single strand of size 8 DMC #320 pearl cotton. 

The detached chain stitches were created with size 8 DMC #815 pearl cotton.

The 3rd seam was inspired by Doreen's beautiful example of the raised cross stitch flower stitch in the Facebook TAST group. 

Using a single strand of size 5 DMC #367 pearl cotton floss, I worked a feather stitch down the seam.

On the outer feather stitches, I alternated between adding raised cross stitch flowers and detached chain stitch flower buds. These were created with size 5 DMC #321 pearl cotton floss.

Using the same green floss, I added a small straight stitch to the feather stitches in between. I love the way this seam turned out!

TAST 36: Linked Chain Stitch

The 4th seam on my February block was created by tracing a vine from one of Sharon B.'s Crazy Quilt Templates Set 2.*

I followed the traced lines with the linked chain stitch, using size 8 DMC #125 pearl cotton.

Small flowers were added with clusters of 3 oyster stitches and a colonial knot using a strand of size 8 DMC #498 pearl cotton.

Leaves were then added, using the same variegated green floss and oyster stitches.

In case you are wondering...

CQJP 2016 is a personal stitching challenge to complete a block a month. You may learn more about it here. If you are interested in joining next year, sign ups for CQJP generally open up in November and close in December.

TAST stands for Take a Stitch Tuesday. It is a personal stitching challenge offered by Sharon B. on Facebook and on her blog, pintangle.com. You may read more about it here. If you follow the TAST Facebook group, you know there are some incredibly inspiring examples of these stitches being shared. Anyone may join at any time during the challenge. Thank you, Sharon, for offering TAST!

Joyful Embellishments is a Facebook Group run by Valerie Bothell of The Pink Bunny: A Crazy Quilt Blog. Stiches are introduced Monday through Friday. You may see all of the stitches introduced last year here on her Pinterest board.

*I am not affiliated with Sharon B.'s Crazy Quilt Templates. I did receive a set to review and will say that I absolutely love using them!

IHSW Update and CQJP 2016 February Block Seam 1

For International Hermit Stitch Weekend (IHSW), I worked two projects. 

First, I worked on my Heaven and Earth Designs Twilight Duel Chart based upon artwork by Ruth Thompson.

It is spring break here and both of my boys are home. I worked on this before the boys were up in the morning. This photo shows how the section I worked on before I began. 

This is how it looks now. The 127 stitches I added were all shades of blue and mostly filled in between these two white wing tips. Some stitches also filled in beneath the bottom wing tip.

My next full update on this piece will be on April 11th - the 2nd Monday of the month. I hope to have a lot more progress by then.

The second project I worked on has been silently screaming for my attention. I finally pieced my Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) 2016 February block last week. While my boys enjoyed a little bit of computer time together on Saturday, I embellished the first seam.

CQJP 2106 February Block Seam 1

Some of you are familiar with the Joyful Embellishments group Valerie Bothell began on Facebook last year. I am trying to incorporate the seam combinations (and motifs) I have not completed into some of my current works. I took a look at the Pinterest board Valerie set up with all of the stitches and decided to add #218 to my block. First, I used a mechanical pencil and lightly traced a curved line from Sharon B.'s Crazy Quilt Template Set 2 that was perfect for this seam. Using green size 8 Anchor pearl cotton, I stem-stitched along the traced line. Next, I added detached chain stitches (lazy daisies) to each vine. Finally, six French knots were added to the tip of each vine using size 8 DMC #498 pearl cotton.

You may learn more about IHSW here. I do hope you will stop by and see the stitching the other participants completed this weekend! You will find links to their blogs here.

I am also linking up with Monday Stitchery Link Party #50 at Super Mom - No Cape! (Wow, this link party has been going for nearly a year already!) I do hope you will stop by to see the free embroidery pattern and to check out the work other bloggers have shared. 

If you stitch, I do encourage you to join the fun! IHSW happens the third weekend of each month and the Stitchery Link Party is every Monday. 

This weekend, I also managed to work in our garden boxes and to pull a lot of weeds from the backyard. (There are still a lot to go, as the rains have kept me from them.) Our family also made a trip into Portland, Oregon. We visited Powell's City of Books (I LOVE Powell's and encourage you to visit if you are ever in Portland.) We had lunch at the Deschute's Brewery Portland Public House. (They have a gluten-free menu and worked with me to ensure my meal had no dairy or egg either.) Portland Saturday Market was our next destination. (Loving crafts as much as I do, visiting the vendors at Saturday Market is always a treat!) Then, we made our way to Guardian Games. Our eldest son went with us last year when a Dutch relative was visiting, but our youngest had never been. He was impressed (and possibly a little overwhelmed) by the number of games. We spent the evening playing the board game my eldest chose for his birthday gift. It was a wonderful weekend full of family time. 

I do hope you enjoyed your weekend! Thank you so much for visiting.
Renee

Please note: I am not affiliated with any of the shops or products linked to in this post. I added them in case anyone reading was curious. However, I did receive set 2 of Sharon B.'s crazy quilt templates to review and I do love using them.

CQJP 2016 January Block Seam 9 and Motifs 5, 6 & 7

The 9th seam on my CQJP 2016 January block was inspired by Valerie Bothell's Joyful Embellishments Stitch 2. However, I substituted French knots for the detached chain stitches so the stitching would not overlap the green vine to the right.

To create this seam, I traced a curvy line using a wavy ruler I purchased from Creative Memories for scrapbooking years ago. (Oops! This post was edited 2/20/2016. In the original post, I mistakenly stated this seam was created using a crazy quilting template.)

Next, the seam was embroidered with size 8 Anchor #0225 pearl cotton feather stitches.

Size 8 DMC #498 pearl cotton French knots were added to the tip of each feather stitch.

This was my best attempt at photographing the 5th motif on this block. 

The butterfly was created using size 8 Anchor #00047 pearl cotton to make four detached chain stitches for the wings, a straight stitch for the body, two more straight stitches for the antennae and two French knots at the tip of each of those.  

Size 12 DMC #B5200 pearl cotton running stitches were added to create the butterfly's flight path, which includes 2 heart-shaped loops. (You may be able to see that better if you click the photo for a larger image.)

This small dragonfly lace motif (that I purchased from Crazyquiltingsupplies.com - please note, I am not affiliated with the website) became the 6th motif. Using a single strand of DMC Blanc cotton floss, I tacked it down with tiny white stitches.

For the 7th motif, I added "Love" using a strand of size 8 Anchor #00047 pearl cotton. This was my first attempt using the Vandyke stitch (this week's TAST stitch) on a curve. As you can see, I need more practice! The lower case letters were added with stem stitches.

Clusters of 3 French knots were used to fill in the surrounding area using size 12 DMC #B5200 pearl cotton.

There are only 5 seams and 2 motifs left to complete this block. (Did I say only? 12-inch blocks do take a while to finish!)

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

Valentine for My Sweetheart

Last October, I decided I should finally make a project and submit a photo to the Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine. My schedule was rather full, so I almost opted to wait. However, after looking through the types of submissions Pamela Kellogg hoped to receive for the Spring edition of the magazine (which had a submission deadline of November 1st), I decided to make a Valentine postcard for my husband. 

It definitely needed seams with hearts.

The base seam above was inspired by 

Joyful Embellishments Seam #86. 

This was another fun stitch to complete.

While ironing the crazy quilted panel to the Peltex to create this postcard, these flower sequins lost a bit of their shape from the heat. However, I still love this feather-stitched seam!

This was a fun way to dress up a Cretan stitched seam.

In hind sight, I should have used white to create the butterfly's flight path. Can you see that it reads, "Be mine"?

There is also a message in the spider's web.

I am not certain, but I believe this was the first spider 

I created with a heart-shaped bead.

After writing a brief love note on the back, 

I mailed it to my husband's work address.

I mailed it in a plastic sleeve.

My husband said a small hole wore into the plastic covering the spider, so I was thankful for that extra bit of protection.

Yesterday, my husband emailed me a picture of his Valentine, 

displayed in the center of his cork board at work.

Thank you so much for stopping by! If you crazy quilt at all, I  encourage you to submit some of your work to the Crazy Quilt Quarterly Magazine. Pamela Kellogg will be accepting submissions for the Autumn 2016 edition through May 1st. For more details and for a list of themes for this edition, check out this page on her blog. There is also a Crazy Quilt Quarterly Calendar Contest running through May 1st. You may find more details here (just click on the first photo in the post for a larger view of the contest rules.)

Renee

CQJP 2016 January Block Seam 3

The third seam on my Crazy Quilt Journal Project (CQJP) 2016 was partly inspired by the need to fix an oops and then embellished with a seam inspired by Valerie Bothell's Joyful Embellishment Stitch #161.

I added the trim along the seam because I oopsed when piecing this block. When the seam was sewn together, I did not realize I was too close to the edge of the bottom fabric. When I began stitching, the fabric above the trim pulled out of the seam. So, I hand stitched the fabric down and then sewed this trim down over the full length of the seam. It secured the fabric and dressed up the seam.

No ideas that I liked sprung to mind to further enhance this seam, so I looked through several seams from the Joyful Embellishment group Valerie Bothell set up last year and really liked #161. I did change it slightly by whipping the chain-stitched arches. 

I think my version of this seam would look better if the pistil stitches were a bit longer, but this block will be for a lap quilt I plan to wash and dry, so I am trying to avoid long stitches that may catch on anything in the future.

Sharon B.'s template set #2 came in very handy for this seam. I lined it up along the seam so the arches would not quite meet, leaving space for the pistil stitches in between. One of the only complaints I heard about Sharon's first set of templates was that they could be hard to find in your work station because they are clear plastic. One solution was to place a small sticker on each template, making them easier to spot. I keep mine in a plastic bag and put them back immediately after use, so I have not had that issue. The clear plastic did make it easier to line this seam up the way I wanted it!

Threads used: black Anchor size 8 pearl cotton + red (#00047) Anchor size 8 pearl cotton.

Stitches used: whipped chain stitched = chain stitched black arches whipped with red & red pistil stiches

As some of you may remember, I was kindly sent a set of Sharon B.'s Crazy Quilt Templates Set #2 and agreed to write an honest review of anything I liked or did not like. My biggest hurdle so far has been my hesitation to mark on the front of my blocks. By following Sharon's advice to only mark where my stitches will cover the markings, I have overcome my hesitations. Using the stencils on this block has been great fun! (In fact, my hubby was asking what I might like for my birthday this year and the first set of stencils was my reply.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Joyful Embellishments, TAST Week 1, and Stitchery Link Party 14

Almost all of the crazy quilting I have done recently has been either under-the-sea or Christmas themed. I have been itching to stitch a floral seam or two. So, I pulled this Oregon State University block out of hiding and went to work.

On July 1st, I completed this seam from the Joyful Embellishments group Valerie Bothell is running on Facebook. (The stitches are also listed on her board on Pinterest if you are curious but do not use Facebook.)

On July 2nd, I completed the seam above, also from the Joyful Embellishments group. I recently purchased my first flower-shaped sequins and I was SO excited to finally try them out. These orange ones were in a multi-colored package I purchased from Thearica on Facebook. (I honestly cannot remember if I found them at Supplies for Crazy Quilts and Other Crafts and Handmade Needlearts or at Supplies for Crazy Quilts and Other Crafts 2 and Handmade Needlearts.) I had so much fun with these. I love the way they play with the light.

A few days later, I used a fly stitch to create this vine and added little white sequin flowers I purchased through the closeout sale at Sew Victorian Crazy on Etsy.

This block has been loads of fun to work on. Unfortunately, I have had very, very little stitching time this week. But at least last week I caught up on a few Joyful Embellishment stitches while making progress on a future gift!  

I am linking up with the 14th Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape. If you hand stitch anything and have a blog, I encourage you to join! The free embroidery pattern this week has lily pads! There are also some gorgeous projects on the blogs that have linked up this week.

Today, I learned that Sharon Boggon at Pintangle.com has started TAST again (Take a Stitch Tuesday - you may read more about it here) and Week 1 is the Fly Stitch. It feels like cheating, but I plan to join in with the TAST Facebook group and share the flystitch flower vine above.

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

Monday Stitchery and Joyful Embellishments

Those of you that have been following my blog know I had hoped to finish my work on one of Mary's under-the-sea blocks to share today. Last Wednesday night, I wondered what I had been thinking?! Time crept up on me again and the trip we had planned to take to Lincoln City had nearly arrived.  Thursday was filled with chores and Friday with packing and driving.

We thought it would be fun to take a trip with the grandparents and cousins before my eldest heads off to college this fall. We left on Friday and returned home yesterday. It was a bit windy and chilly, but the sun was out and the company was wonderful. It was a perfect weekend at the coast.

We rented a house with an ocean view (translate this to read 'with 3 flights of stairs') and within walking distance of the beach. The house had a hot tub on the deck and a game room featuring a poker table, a pool table and a projector movie system. Basically, we were pretty spoiled. We were also within walking distance of Highway 101. We took the teens on a walk and this Prehistoric shop was so popular that we had to stop on our way to the Candyland store and on the way back to the house.

Last night, it was very clear I would not have time to stitch enough to share with you on Mary's under-the-sea block. What to share, what to share? It was a perfect opportunity to start on a new goal... (My second new project in 2 weeks, and my friend at Magpie's Mumblings and I were just discussing how I was NOT going to start anything new. I caved, what can I say...)

At the beginning of the year, Valerie Bothell started a group on Facebook called Joyful Embellishments. Every Monday through Friday she introduces a new stitch combination that may be used to embellish a crazy quilt. This morning, Valerie introduced stitch #116.

I joined the group last month, but had not decided if I wanted to put all the stitches onto crazy quilt blocks or if I wanted to create a booklet of stitches like the one Annet at Fat-Quarter created with her Take a Stitch Tuesday (TAST) stitches. (Here is a link to her completed booklet. I love it!) Last night, I decided on making a booklet of stitches. Valerie has a Joyful Embellishments Pinterest page that makes it super easy to find the stitches in order.

Using 2 strands of DMC 701 for the feather stitch and 2 strands of DMC 223 for the lazy daisy (also called a detached chain stitch), I completed Stitch 1 on 28-count Monaco evenweave.

I am linking with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #10 at Super Mom - No Cape. If you do any hand stitching, I encourage you to join in the fun. There is another great free pattern available today, too!

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee