CQI UTS RR #2 - Annette's Blocks Arrived!

Look what showed up in my mailbox the end of last week! 

Annette Graves pieced these beauties with her lovely silkies.

Kathy Semone received this set of blocks first and embellished the turtle above. I particularly love her beaded stitch above the turtle and the fun swirls enhanced in the dark blue fabric beneath him.

Next the blocks were sent to Barbara Nicki Lee Seavey. I just love the golden highlights she added to the mermaids hair. As always, the use of her pretty laces just amazes me.

Now, I have the blocks.

It leaves me with quite a decision to make.

Which one do I want to embellish?

That is a very good question. 

I think I have decided. I am curious,

if you received these blocks which one would you work on?

For those of you wondering what a round robin is, this post may help. 

Crazy Quilting International (CQI) is a group that meets on Facebookand on Yahoo! You may see some of the work members have done at the CQI blog.

Thank you for stopping by!
Renee

CQI Under the Sea Round Robin #2 - Kathy Semone's Completed Block!

Today, I finished embellishing this block for Kathy Semone.

Above is a photo of the block prior to embellishment.

If you have followed my recent posts, you will recognize the mermaid above. I have been working on her as a part of Kathy Shaw's free Intermediate Crazy Quilt Course (ICQC) #102. She is also one of two free mermaid designs freely available at Shawkl Designs. (If you have finished ICQC #103 and are interested in taking ICQC #104, registration is open through the tomorrow, the 10th. Details are here.)

The green sea star charm was originally silver - I made it green as a part of ICQC #102.

Sneak peeks of this block were also shared as part of my TAST posts. I used barred chain stitches and satin stitches taught by Sharon Boggon at Pintangle.com.  The bodies of the jellies above were created with padded satin stitches, which is a variation of the satin stitch that is also taught through TAST.

Above is a photo of Kathy's two completed blocks. The one on the left was embellished by Barbara Nicki Lee Seavey and the one on the right was embellished by me. I do hope Kathy likes her blocks!

For those of you wondering what a round robin is, this post may help. 

Crazy Quilting International (CQI) is a group that meets on Facebook and on Yahoo! You may see some of the work members have done at the CQI blog.

Thanks for stopping by!
Renee

WIP Wednesday 10/07/2015

This week, my work in progress has been Kathy's block for our Under the Sea Round Robin. I shared a sneak peek yesterday in my TAST post and should share the completed block on Thursday or Friday.

Kathy's block will likely include at least one of these charms I colored as part of Kathy Shaw's free Intermediate Crazy Quilt Course (ICQC) #102.

And, it is confession time... I splurged during the last Heaven and Earth Designs (HAED) sale and purchased 2 new charts. They are both Storykeeps (relatively small for HAED charts) based on artwork by Randal Spangler. One is SK Effects of Caffeine. The other is SK History of Chocolate. 

Justification for a new start: My current WIPs are too large or require too many supplies to work well as travel projects. And I could have done a lot of stitching during the many hours I spent in waiting rooms with an ill relative last month.

Justification for buying 2 charts: I planned to buy 1 chart, but shipping was the same for 2 and they were 35% off. Therefore, it was more economical to buy 2. And, the total purchase was less than the amount of money I had saved for craft supplies over the past few months. (See how my brain works?!)

Perfect timing: The charts arrived on Saturday. I found most supplies already in my stash on Sunday. Unexpected tire issues on my car lead to over 2.5 hours in a lobby waiting on Monday, so I managed over 300 stitches on the first day. (Without a travel project, what would I have to show for that time?! You see how dangerously enabling my logic is?!) 

I am only allowing myself to work on this project while in waiting rooms, etc., so updates will be sporadic and progress will be slow. This also allows me time to wait for a good sale or coupon before buying the few threads I am missing.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Next week, I hope to have more to share.
-Renee

Last Week's Goals:

1. Link up with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #26 at Super Mom No Cape on October 5th. (If you missed the party on the 28th, you may check it out here!) It will be an update on my HAED QS Red Hearts cross-stitch! I had 3,072 stitches completed when I last shared my progress. It has over 5,000 stitches now. Done! If you missed the post, it is here. 

2. Finish a project to add inventory to my Etsy shop. 

3. Share progress with the ICQC 102 course from Shawkl Designs. Work on a mermaid was shared in my TAST post (see #4), and the charms above are also progress.

4. Share a TAST Week 13 post on October 6th. Done. 
If you missed the post, it is here. 

5. Finish embellishing one of Kathy's blocks for the CQI UTS Round Robin. I made progress - part of which is seen in #4.

This Week's Goals:

1. Link up with the Monday Stitchery Link Party #27 at Super Mom No Cape on October 12th. (If you missed the party on the 5th, you may check it out here!) It will be an update on my HAED Twilight Duel cross-stitch! I had 1,422 stitches completed when I last shared my progress. It has over 3,700 stitches now and should have more by then. 

2. Finish a project to add inventory to my Etsy shop. 

3. Complete my ICQC 102 course from Shawkl Designs.

4. Share a TAST Week 14 post on October 13th.

5. Finish embellishing one of Kathy's blocks for the CQI UTS Round Robin. (These need to be mailed prior to the 15th. I am aiming for Friday, the 9th.)

6. Share Annette's blocks for the CQI UTS Round Robin. (They were mailed to me earlier this week and should be here soon!)

7. Finish a Halloween fabric postcard. (Or will it be a mug rug? Decisions, decisions...)

TAST Week 13: Satin Stitch

TAST Week 13: Satin Stitch

Although it is difficult to see in this photo, I used a single strand black DMC floss (#310) and a satin stitch to fill in the mermaid's hair on her head. After that, I couched down a strand of size 12 black DMC perle cotton with a strand of black DMC floss to cover the long, wavy strands of hair floating in the water in this under-the-sea scene. 

(This block was pieced by Kathy Semone and the mermaid is part of a Kathy Shaw's free Intermediate Crazy Quilt Course #102.)

My most frequent use of the satin stitch has been creating seahorses on under-the-sea themed blocks.

This seahorse was added to Sandy B.'s block that I embellished as part of a round robin. 

And this one was added to Mary B.'s block that I embellished in the same round robin.

(I shared how I made these seahorses in this post.)

 

I also used the satin stitch to create this cup of cocoa on my first crazy quilted Christmas stocking for a crazy quilting challenge in 2013.

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. This week, the satin stitch was introduced. Variations of this stitch were also introduced.  I hope to share examples of the padded satin stitch, the outlined or raised satin stitch, and possibly even the diagonal satin stitch in the near future. If you follow the TAST Facebook group, you know there are some incredibly inspiring examples of these stitches being shared. Thank you, Sharon, for offering TAST!

Thank you for stopping by!

Renee

HAED QS Red Hearts Progress - October 2015

On my last update, I had completed 3,072 stitches on the Heaven and Earth Designs Quick Stitch chart QS Red Hearts. (There is a photo of the artwork this chart is inspired by on the sidebar to the right.)

Page 1 was 39.18% complete. The full chart was 6.54% complete.

Since that post, I have added 2,597 stitches. So, this is where I am now with 5,669 of 46,990 stitches complete.

Page 1 is 72.31% complete and the full chart is 12.06% complete. 

My next progress update will be shared on the first Monday of November. I hope to have page 1 finished by then, so you will be able to see her lovely face. (I fear her facial area looks a little creepy right now!)

I am linking up with the Monday Stitchery Link Party at Super Mom - No Cape! again this week. It is a great place to visit for a free embroidery pattern and to find links to more eye candy. If you do any hand stitching and have a blog, I encourage you to join the fun!